The warriors covered the escape.

The soldiers captured the camp.

And yet the Texas Historical Commission marker calls this “one of the most significant battles of the 1874-75 Indian campaign.” The Texas State Historical Association describes it as “the major battle of the Red River War.” Historians across the subsequent century have consistently identified Palo Duro Canyon as the strategic turning point of the campaign.

How does a battle with four recorded dead become a strategic turning point?