Keywords

adobe walls, red river war, battle of adobe walls, 1874-1875

Abstract

Adobe Walls became the site of two major engagements between the whites and Indians, first in 1864 and ten years later in 187 4. In 1843, William Bent established a trading post near a crossing of the Canadian River in the panhandle area of north Texas. The original structure was probably constructed from wood. Two years later, in 1843, the fort was rebuilt out of adobe or sun-dried brick. It was a formidable structure that with walls about 30 feet (9 meters) high, but the fort proved to be in a dangerous area, and Indian raids soon made the location too dangerous for the whites to remain. William Bent abandoned the site in 1849 after blowing up the walls, so no one else could use the fort, but much of the adobe structure remained as ruins.