Buffalo Soldier tragedy of 1877
| Buffalo Soldier Tragedy of 1877 | |||||
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| Part of the Buffalo Hunters' War | |||||
 Caprock Escarpment north of Muchaque Peak |
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| Belligerents | |||||
 United States
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Comanche | ||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||
| Nicolas Merritt Nolan | |||||
| Units involved | |||||
| 10th Cavalry | |||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||
| 4 Soldiers dead + 1 Buffalo hunter deceased | |||||
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Buffalo Soldier tragedy of 1877 also known as the "Staked Plains Horror" occurred when a combined force of Buffalo Soldier troops of the 10th Cavalry and local buffalo hunters wandered for days in the dry Llano Estacado region of north-west Texas and eastern New Mexico during July of a drought year. The groups had united forces for a retaliatory attack on regional Native American groups who had been staging raids on white forces in the area, during what came to be called the Buffalo Hunters' War. Over the course of five days in the near-waterless Llano Estacado, four soldiers and one buffalo hunter died.
Due to the telegraph, news of the ongoing event and speculation reached Eastern newspapers where it was erroneously reported that the expedition had been massacred. Later, after the remainder of the group returned from the Llano, the same papers declared them "back from the dead."
A large band of Comanche warriors and their families, about 170, left their reservation in Indian Territory in December 1876, for the Llano Estacado of Texas. In February 1877 they attacked a group of buffalo hunters and stole their stock while wounding several hunters, one fatally. On March 18, the buffalo hunters struck back and then retreated while the Comanche did the same. The Comanche would continue sporadic raiding over the next several months. This basic event would be called the Buffalo Hunters' War or Staked Plains War and was the setting for the July 1877 "Staked Plains Horror".
In May 1877, a group of buffalo hunters led by James Harvey, a Civil War veteran and long-time buffalo hunter, was looking for a buffalo herd. Then after a series of Comanche raids led by Red Young Man, where much stock was taken and a few hunters killed, the game changed. The hunters started after a more deadly game on the Llano Estacado region of north-west Texas and eastern New Mexico looking for revenge against the Comanche. The men were a mix of former Union and Confederate soldiers, former trappers and mixed breeds and knew how to fight.
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