Crosbyton, Texas

The trails of both Quanah Parker and

his nemesis, Col. Ranald Mackenzie,

crisscross Crosby County.

Mackenzie’s base of operations when

he made forays onto the Llano Estacado

in pursuit of the Comanche in the 1870s

was present-day Crosby County.

In 1871, Mackenzie camped at Dewey

Lake, no longer in existence, after a

skirmish with the Indians in Blanco

Canyon, the river-cut canyon that

crosses Crosby County north-south.

Mackenzie’s supply camp during the Red River War, 1874-1875, was just southeast of present-day Crosbyton on the Freshwater Fork of the Brazos River, now called White River. 

Many miles to the northwest, in 1874, Mackenzie and his troops destroyed five Indian villages in Palo Duro Canyon and killed most of the Comanche horse herd, slaughtering the horses in nearby Tule Canyon -- death blow to the Indians’ existence.

But not until June 2, 1875, did Quanah Parker and his free-roaming Kwahadi Band make the trek to Fort Sill to surrender and accept life on the reservation. When they made that final trip, accompanied by J. J. Sturm, an envoy of Mackenzie, the route was across present-day Crosby County, southwest to northeast, passing close to present-day Crosbyton. Along the way, they hunted a few buffalo.

Trails Cross

Crosby County

A map from “Colonel Ranald Slidell Mackenzie’s Administration of the Western Section of Indian Territory 1875-1877,” a 1971 thesis written by Cynthia Ann Chamberlain, also shows the approximate route taken by Quanah’s band of Comanches when they made the trip from their camp close to present-day Gail, Texas, to Fort Sill, Indian Territory, in the spring of 1875. The star added to Chamberlain’s map shows the approximate location of Crosbyton. Gail is about 70 miles south of Crosbyton.

Mucha-Que Peak is a striking geographical landmark visible to the south of U.S. 180