Home |  PublicationsEncyclopedia |  Wolf Creek, Battle of

The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture

WOLF CREEK, BATTLE OF.

The largest intertribal battle on the southern plains was fought in mid-June 1838 in northwestern Oklahoma when allied Cheyenne and Arapaho attacked camps of confederated Kiowa, Comanche, and Plains Apache on Wolf Creek, about twenty miles above (southwest of) present Fort Supply (in present Ellis County). The Cheyenne and Arapaho had traveled from southeastern Colorado in search of their traditional enemies, the Kiowa, to avenge the deaths of Cheyenne Bowstring Society warriors slain in 1836 while raiding along the Washita River.

The Cheyenne and Arapaho fell upon the camps in the morning, killing many people who were either berry picking along Wolf Creek or hunting buffalo in the nearby hills. Some defenders went out and challenged the attackers, and others protected the camps. On both sides, the fighting was done by individuals or by small groups, armed with traditional weapons such as bows and lances; a few Cheyenne had guns. Repeated attacks during the day failed to overwhelm the Kiowa and their allies, and the attackers, their need for revenge satisfied, ceased fighting in the afternoon. An unknown number lay dead. The scene of carnage was witnessed three days later by a U.S. Army dragoon detachment escorting friendly Osage chiefs to a council with the Kiowa.

A positive consequence of the battle was a peace agreement made among the five tribes. Warriors who had tested each other in battle now faced a new menace in the form of Euroamericans who were entering the southern plains. Intertribal cooperation was desperately needed, and in the summer of 1840 at Bent’s Fort, in southeastern Colorado, representatives of the tribes came together to make peace. The resulting alliance lasted throughout the struggle with the United States during the Indian wars of the last half of the nineteenth century.

Bob Rea

Browse By Topic

American Indians

Explore

Events

Learn More

George B. Grinnell, The Fighting Cheyenne (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1955).

Stan Hoig, Tribal Wars on the Southern Plains (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1993).

James Mooney, “Calendar History of the Kiowa Indians,” in Bureau of American Ethnology, Seventeenth Annual Report, Part I (Washington, D.C.: GPO, 1898).

Citation

The following (as per The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition) is the preferred citation for articles:
Bob Rea, “Wolf Creek, Battle of,” The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=WO001.

Published January 15, 2010

Copyright and Terms of Use

No part of this site may be construed as in the public domain.

Copyright to all articles and other content in the online and print versions of The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History is held by the Oklahoma Historical Society (OHS). This includes individual articles (copyright to OHS by author assignment) and corporately (as a complete body of work), including web design, graphics, searching functions, and listing/browsing methods. Copyright to all of these materials is protected under United States and International law.

Users agree not to download, copy, modify, sell, lease, rent, reprint, or otherwise distribute these materials, or to link to these materials on another web site, without authorization of the Oklahoma Historical Society. Individual users must determine if their use of the Materials falls under United States copyright law's "Fair Use" guidelines and does not infringe on the proprietary rights of the Oklahoma Historical Society as the legal copyright holder of The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and part or in whole.