Warren Wagon Train raid

Texas

About a hundred and eighty Kiowa warriors watched General Sherman ride past and let him go, because a shaman had told them to wait.

historicalmilitary

On a May morning in 1871, roughly a hundred and eighty Kiowa warriors lay hidden in a thicket of scrub on the Salt Creek Prairie. Down the road came General William Tecumseh Sherman with an inspection party of about eighteen men. The warriors outnumbered the soldiers ten to one. They let him ride by untouched. One reason may have been simple arithmetic. Even a losing troop of soldiers would have cost them too many men. The Kiowa told it differently. The night before, the shaman Mamanti had prophesied that a small party would come first, and a larger one behind it, carrying far more worth taking. Three hours later, ten mule-drawn wagons loaded with army corn and fodder came into view on the Jacksboro road. The Kiowa overwhelmed them. Seven teamsters were killed. Five got away, and one of them, Thomas Brazeale, walked twenty miles to Fort Richardson to report it. The officer who heard the story was Sherman himself.

This is the first of 3 parts. The rest runs about 3 minutes and is read to you as you drive past. Hear the whole piece.

What this was written from
Although the Kiowa war party outnumbered the US Army troop by ten to one, they did not attack, maybe because the Army troopers would have inflicted too many casualties.

Written from Wikipedia, used under CC BY-SA 4.0.

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