The Warren Wagon Train Raid, also known as the Salt Creek Massacre, occurred on May 18, 1871. Henry Warren was contracted to haul supplies to forts in the west of Texas, including Fort Richardson

Fort Richardson, Texas

Fort Richardson was an United States Army installation located one mile south of Jacksboro, Texas. Named in honor of Union General Israel B...

, Fort Griffin

Fort Griffin

Fort Griffin was a Cavalry fort established in the late 1860s in the northern part of West Texas, specifically northwestern Shackelford County, to give settlers protection from early Comanche and Kiowa raids...

, and Fort Concho

Fort Concho

Fort Concho is a National Historic Landmark owned and operated since 1935 by the city of San Angelo, the seat of Tom Green County in West Texas...

. Traveling down the Jacksboro-Belknap road heading towards Salt Creek Crossing, they encountered William Tecumseh Sherman

William Tecumseh Sherman

William Tecumseh Sherman was an American soldier, businessman, educator and author. He served as a General in the Union Army during the American Civil War , for which he received recognition for his outstanding command of military strategy as well as criticism for the harshness of the "scorched...

. Less than an hour after encountering the famous General, they spotted a rather large group of riders ahead. They quickly realized that these were Native American

Native Americans in the United States

Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...

 warriors, probably Kiowa

Kiowa

The Kiowa are a nation of American Indians and indigenous people of the Great Plains. They migrated from the northern plains to the southern plains in the late 17th century. In 1867, the Kiowa moved to a reservation in southwestern Oklahoma...

 and/or Comanche

Comanche

The Comanche are a Native American ethnic group whose historic range consisted of present-day eastern New Mexico, southern Colorado, northeastern Arizona, southern Kansas, all of Oklahoma, and most of northwest Texas. Historically, the Comanches were hunter-gatherers, with a typical Plains Indian...

.

The wagon train quickly shifted into a ring formation, and all the mules were put into the center of the ring. The warriors captured all of the supplies, killing and mutilating seven of the wagoneer's bodies. Five men managed to escape. One of which was Thomas Brazeale who reached Fort Richardson on foot, some 20 miles away. As soon as Col. Ranald S. Mackenzie

Ranald S. Mackenzie

Ranald Slidell Mackenzie was a career United States Army officer and general in the Union Army during the American Civil War, described by General Ulysses S. Grant as its most promising young officer...

 learned of the incident, he informed Sherman. Sherman and Mackenzie searched for the warriors responsible for the raid.

In the end, 3 of the 4 war leaders involved were arrested at Fort Sill

Fort Sill

Fort Sill is a United States Army post near Lawton, Oklahoma, about 85 miles southwest of Oklahoma City.Today, Fort Sill remains the only active Army installation of all the forts on the South Plains built during the Indian Wars...

: Satanta (White Bear)

Satanta (White Bear)

This article refers to the Kiowa chief Satanta. For the Irish hero Sétanta, please see Cú Chulainn.Satanta was a Kiowa war chief. He was a member of the Kiowa tribe, he was born around 1820, during the height of the power of the Plains Tribes, probably along the Canadian River in the traditional...

, Satank

Sitting Bear

Satank , was a prestigious Kiowa warrior and medicine man. He was born about 1800, probably in Kansas, and killed June 8, 1871. An able warrior, he became part of the Koitsenko , the society of the bravest Kiowa warriors. He led many raids against the Cheyennes, the Sacs, and the Foxes...

 (Sitting Bear), and Addo-etta (Big Tree). Satank attempted escape and was killed while traveling to Fort Richardson for trial. The other two were tried and convicted of murder

Trial of Satanta and Big Tree

The Trial of Satanta and Big Tree occurred in July 1871 in the town of Jacksboro in Jack County, Texas, Texas, United States. This historic trial of Native American War Chiefs of the Kiowa Indians Satanta and Big Tree for the murder of seven teamsters during a raid on Salt Creek Prairie near...

.