On September 28, 1874, Colonel Ranald S. Mackenzie led U.S. Army cavalry down a narrow trail into Palo Duro Canyon in the Texas Panhandle, attacking a massive encampment where Comanche, Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Kiowa families had gathered for winter. The troops routed the camp, capturing nearly 2,000 horses while families fled up the canyon walls with only what they could carry. Mackenzie ordered the systematic destruction of all lodges, winter supplies, and food stores, then slaughtered the captu