Th e Battle of Adobe Walls on June 26, 1874, involved an estimated 700 Comanche warriors led by chief Quanah Parker attacking the frontier town of Adobe Walls in the north Texas panhandle. Th eir target was the 28 buff alo hunters (and one woman) who were violating native American traditional hunting grounds by harvesting the hides of the Native Americans’ critical food supply. Th ree hunters and an estimated 27 Native Americans were killed in the ensuing exchange of gun re over three days. On the third day of the siege a buff alo hunter, Billy Dixon, shot at and hit a native American at a distance of almost one mile (1,500- plus yards). That incident apparently led the Comanches to abandon the siege. Th e subsequent leadership decisions of Quanah Parker resulted in profound changes in relationships between the two sides of the decades-long con flict.
Richard Hummel grew up in Elkhart, IN, and graduated from Elkhart High School in 1958. He attended Wabash College, graduated from Kalamazoo College in 1962 and earned graduate degrees at Indiana University, finishing with a Ph.D. in sociology in 1976. Hummel joined the Eastern Illinois University Sociology-Anthropology Department in 1969 and taught a variety of courses during his 31-year career. He retired in 2001. Since 2009 he has developed summer programs for the Five Mile House Foundation. He is especially interested in topics celebrating local history events, the Parker family story being a recent example.
Richard Hummel, professor emeritus of sociology at Eastern Illinois University, presents this overview of the Comanche tribe’s reliance on the buffalo for survival and the effect of the dwindling herds on Quanah Parker and his people. Traditional Native American hunting grounds were being wiped out by buffalo hunters who made a living by harvesting the animals’ hides. This conflict came to a head on June 27, 1874, when Quanah and his tribe battled with buffalo hunters in the Second Battle of Adobe Walls. The outgunned Comanches were eventually forced to give up the fight, and this battle had a profound impact on Quanah as he made future decisions to ensure the survival of his people.
