pon the savages, impressing them with the power and
promptness of the government.

Early in the spring of 1865, Carson was ordered, with three companies,
to put a stop to the depredations of marauding bands of Cheyennes,
Kiowas, and Comanches upon the caravans and emigrant outfits travelling
the Santa Fe Trail. He left Fort Union with his command and marched
over the Dry or Cimarron route to the Arkansas River, for the purpose of
establishing a fortified camp at Cedar Bluffs, or Cold Spring, to afford
a refuge for the freight trains on that dangerous part of the Trail. The
Indians had for some time been harassing not only the caravans of
the citizen traders, but also those of the government, which carried
supplies to the several military posts in the Territory of New Mexico.
An expedition was therefore planned by Carson to punish them, and he
soon found an opportunity to strike a blow near the adobe fort on the
Canadian River. His force consisted of the First Regiment of New Mexican
Volunteer Cavalry and seventy-five friendly Indians, his entire
command numbering fourteen commissioned officers and three hundred
and ninety-six enlisted men. With these he attacked the Kiowa village,
consisting of about one hundred and fifty lodges. The fight was a very
severe one, and lasted from half-past eight in the morning until after
sundown. The savages, with more than ordinary intrepidity and boldness,
made repeated stands against the fierce onslaughts of Carson's
cavalrymen, but were at last forced to give way, and were cut down as
they stubbornly retreated, suffering a loss of sixty killed and wounded.
In this battle only two privates and one noncommissioned officer were
killed, and one non-commissioned officer and thirteen privates, four of
whom were friendly Indians, wounded. The command destroyed one hundred
and fifty lodges, a large amount of dried meats, berries, buffalo-robes,
cooking utensils, and also a buggy and spring-wagon, the property of
Sierrito,[50] the Kiowa chief.

In his official account of the fight, Carson states that he found
ammunition in the village, which had been furnished, no doubt, by
unscrupulous Mexican traders.

He told me that he never was deceived by Indian tactics but once in his
life. He said that he was hunting with six others after buffalo, in
the summer of 1835; that they had been successful, and came into
their little bivouac one night very tired, intending to start for the
rendezvous at B