After Adobe Walls, the escalation was rapid.

Raids on settlements, wagon trains, and surveying parties intensified.

The Army organized its five-column response.

By September 1874, the people who had gathered in Palo Duro Canyon had been through three months of escalating conflict and were attempting to prepare for winter in a location they believed was secure.

They were wrong about the security.

The Kiowa Shaman And The Promise Of Safety

One of the more humanly significant details in the Palo Duro Canyon story is the role of the Kiowa shaman Maman-ti.