DUANE
Duane's take
Here's what the official marker has to say, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now settle in, because this one starts the way a lot of stories out here start — with somebody getting hit first, and somebody else having to decide what to do about it. A Kiowa war party attacked a mail stage, and that set the whole thing in motion.
Captain Curwen B. McLellan got his orders, and on July 6, 1870, he rode out of Fort Richardson with 56 men of the 6th Cavalry. Fifty-six men.
Remember that number. It's about to become very relevant. Six days of riding brought McLellan's command to the north fork of the Little Wichita — six miles northwest of where this marker stands — and on July 12 they encountered what was waiting for them.
A war party of 250 Kiowas, led by a man known as Kicking Bird. You do that arithmetic yourself. Fifty-six against two hundred and fifty.
McLellan took stock of the situation, there was a brief skirmish, and then he made the call that a lot of commanders would have been too proud to make. He ordered his troops into retreat. But this wasn't a rout — it was a fighting retreat, a defensive battle, step by hard step across the middle fork of the Little Wichita and then the south fork, his men holding together under pressure that would've unraveled a lesser outfit.
The Kiowas gave up the chase on the 13th. Two men did not make it home. Corporal John Given and Private George Blume were killed.
And when the dust settled and the army took account of what those 56 men had done across those river crossings, 13 Medals of Honor were awarded for heroism. Thirteen. Out of fifty-six men.
That's not a retreat. That's a story.
What the marker says
In reaction to an Indian attack on a mail stage, Capt. Curwen B. McLellan set out on July 6, 1870, from Fort Richardson with 56 men of the 6th Cavalry. On July 12, McLellan's command encountered a war party of 250 Kiowas led by "Kicking Bird" near the north fork of the Little Wichita (6 miles NW). After a brief skirmish, McLellan ordered his troops into retreat, fighting a defensive battle across the middle and south forks of the Little Wichita. The Indians gave up the chase on the 13th. Corporal John Given and Private George Blume were killed; 13 Medals of Honor were awarded for heroism. (1974)