The Battle of Adobe Walls

"The narrative is one that tells how 28 buffalo hunters from Kansas vanquished 800 Indians in the Texas Panhandle." -Salt Lake Herald, Jan. 6, 1908 How did 28 buffalo hunters trapped at the buffalo hunting rendezvous Adobe Walls vanquish over 800 Comanches and Kiowas in The Second Battle of Adobe Walls, fought on June 27, 1874? In 1908, Edward Campbell Little (1858 -1924) would answer this question in a short, 25-page work titled "The Battle of Adobe Walls," that would appear in the January 1908 issue of Pearson's Magazine. In introducing his work, Little writes: "The Kansas buffalo hunters invaded the Texas Panhandle and the Llano Estacado in force in the spring of 1874; in five months it is said they slew a hundred thousand bison. The deserted Adobe Walls, a station established by Spanish friars, French Canadian hunters or General Howe's soldiers, was selected as the rendezvous for these hunters, who came from Dodge City, one hundred and seventy-five miles away. Three "business houses" and a blacksmith shop gave token of approaching civilization, and about them congregated all the adventurous spirits of the Southwest, far from the protection of any military post." About the author: Edward Campbell Little was a U.S. Representative from Kansas. He attended the public schools of Abilene, Kansas and graduated from the University of Kansas in Lawrence in 1883. For several years, he was connected with the Santa Fe Railroad. After studying law, he was admitted to the bar in 1886 and commenced practice in Lawrence. Little served as chairman of the Republican State convention in 1888. In 1889, he was the city attorney of Ness City, and from 1890 to 1892, he was prosecuting attorney of Dickinson County. He served as delegate at large to the Republican National Convention in 1892. In 1892 and 1893, Little was Minister Resident to Egypt. In 1896 and 1897, he was the private secretary of Governor John W. Leedy. He unsuccessfully ran for senator in 1897. During the Spanish-American War, from 1898 to 1899, he was lieutenant colonel of the Twentieth Regiment, Kansas Volunteers. This service earned him the Spanish War Service Medal, and the Philippine Campaign Medal. In 1908, he settled in Kansas City, Kansas. Little was elected to the Sixty-fifth and to the three succeeding Congresses, from Kansas's 2nd congressional district, and served from March 4, 1917, until his death in Washington, D.C. on June 27, 1924