The Last Comanche Raid
The last Comanche raid into the Chickasaw Nation occurred in the summer of 1866. It was never reported to the commander of Ft. Arbuckle and no mention will be found in the War Department records.
It would not be for another twenty years that the participants of the reprisal raid by the Chickasaws would begin to talk of the event.
Even though the Chickasaws were "civilized", they were considered in the same vain as the Comanche by the government. The Army would meet Indians fighting Indians with serious consequences.
In June of that year, the Comanches raided across the Chickasaw Nation to the western border of the Choctaw Nation. There were three hundred fifty Comanches taking part in the raid that began near the present day town of
Purcell and the Comanches continued south crossing Mill Creek near Harris' Mill.
The raiders continued on east to the Sealy settlement on Goose Creek. Here they began gathering horses, mules and cattle. They did not harm any of the Chickasaw farmers or ranchers unless they resisted and did not burn any of the buildings.
From here they rode on east to the James settlement on Delaware creek near the Chickasaw Rock Academy near present day Wapanucka. Here they turned south through a gap in the hills to the place of Mrs. Luffie Mosley the mother of Palmer Mosley, later the governor of the Chickasaw Nation.
Once again the Comanches stole every head of livestock in sight. The rapidly moving raiders were now being trailed by a Chickasaw mounted guard who were several days behind the raiders.
After the Mosley raid the Comanches turned to the Keel community on Pennington Creek northwest of Tishomingo. Upon reaching Blue River, the raiders crossed at the site of the old town of Bolton. They made their first camp in the Arbuckle Mountains at Rattlesnake Springs seven miles
southeast of Mill Creek. Their next camp was in the Arbuckles near the present day site of Springer. Their next camp was on Wild horse Creek west of the town of Davis.
Their next camp was on Cache Creek in the Wichita Mountains where they sent the livestock on north to a canyon where they split their forces in two with half camping while the other half took the stock up the Cache Creek Valley.
All this while, the Chickasaws were in hot pursuit with two hundred fifty men of their own armed with rifles and pistols. The Chickasaws became worried that the army might have gotten word that they were in pursuit of the raiders and feared retribution from the army.
A man was sent to Ft. Arbuckle to ask the army if they had heard of any Comanche raiding in the area. They scout was told that there were no reports and the scout left without imparting any information to the army about the current raid.
The pursuit continued and the Chickasaw scouts reported the main camp of Comanche had been discovered on Cache Creek. That night the two hundred fifty Chickasaws surrounded the Comanche camp. The Chickasaws had the camp completely surrounded and settled down for the night.
At dawn, a bugle call broke the morning stillness and two hundred fifty rifles sent a volley of leaden messengers into the Comanche camp. The Chickasaw's plan was so complete that the Comanches were cut off from their horses and escape was attempted on foot. Not a single Comanche escaped being cut down by the Chickasaw rifles.
Soon, a truce was called for by the Comanches and it was agreed that the Chickasaw could have their stock back and the Comanche could attend their wounded and bury their dead.
The Chickasaws returned to their farms and ranches with all their livestock without the loss of a single man. Word was never leaked by the participants of the reprisal raid for fear of severe consequences from the government. However, nothing was ever done about it.
Years later, the leaders of the Chickasaw reprisal raiders were identified as Scott Sealy, Gabriel Brown, Wash Colbert, Jim Daley, Alfred Humes, Jackson Billis, Willis Tuskatombee, Puckinchubbe, Jim Patterson, and Harris
Greenwood.
This was the last big raid by the Comanche into Indian Territory. As the years passed there would be small raids by young Comanche braves sowing wild oats but there would never be another raid of this magnitude in Indian Territory.
Contributed by Dennis Muncrief - June, 2003
