Last Raid

[Craig Tx]

From the Texas State Historical Association


Nolan Expedition goes on last Comanche raid in Texas

On this day in 1877, Capt. Nicholas Nolan and First Lt. C.S. Cooper led a party of forty Tenth U.S. Cavalry troopers and twenty-four buffalo hunters from a supply base at Double Lakes, Lynn County, to pursue marauding Indians and recapture stolen horses. When the Indian trails diverged, the pursuit was abandoned and a search for water was begun. Nolan turned back toward Double Lakes. The buffalo hunters turned southwest and found water. But Nolan marched another thirty-eight hours before reaching Double Lakes, eighty-six hours since his men had last had water. Four men were dead or missing, along with twenty-five horses and four pack animals. At the future site of Lubbock, the buffalo hunters found the horses and learned that the Indians were returning to Indian Territory. It is believed that this event was the last Comanche raid in Texas.


Craig