Without Quarter: The Wichita Expedition and the Fight on Crooked Creek - Hardcover

Chalfant, William Y.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0806123672 ISBN 13: 9780806123677

Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press, 1991

Synopsis

Without Quarter is the story of the first major U.S. army expedition against the Comanches between the Mexican and Civil wars. Late in 1858, under the leadership of Captain (Brevet Major) Earl Van Dorn, units of the Second Cavalry marched north form Fort Belknap, Texas, and established a temporary post, Camp Radziminski, at the southwest edge of the Wichita Mountains. Scouring the country north, east, and west in search of Comanches, the Wichita Expedition precipitated two major engagements, known as the Battle at the Wichita Village and the Battle of Crooked Creek. During the latter fight, the soldiers killed or captured all the inhabitants of a Comanche village.

William Y. Chalfant gives a detailed account of the expedition, first setting the historical context, then tracing events to the climax at Crooked Creek on May 13, 1859.

About this title

About the Author:

William Y. Chalfant, a practicing attorney and a director of the Kansas Historical Society, is an avid student of western American history.

From Publishers Weekly:

``Lords of the South Plains,'' the Comanche Indians were accomplished warriors on horseback who fiercely resisted the expansion of white civilization west of the Mississippi in the 19th century. Their raids from the Santa Fe Trail to Texas settlements led to intervention by the U.S. military. Here Chalfant ( Cheyennes and Horse Soldiers ) examines the army's surprise attack in 1859 on a small Comanche village along Crooked Creek in western Kansas that, resulting in the deaths of 49 Comanches and only two soldiers, contributed to subsequent subjugation of the Comanches in 1875. Chalfant also follows the troops, led by Maj. Earl Van Dorn, on earlier, even more lopsided action on Rush Creek, in what is now Oklahoma. This brief report, emphasizing tactical and military aspects of the confrontations, leaves much of the story unexplained.

Copyright 1991 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
• Publication date: 1991
• ISBN 10: 0806123672
• ISBN 13: 9780806123677
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 184