Buffalo Soldier Tragedy of 1877

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The Buffalo Soldier Tragedy of 1877, also called the Nolan Expedition of 1877 and referred to by some newspapers of the day as the Staked Plains Horror

Introduction

In the hot, dry month of July 1877, Captain Nicholas M. Nolan and his troop of Buffalo Soldiers (Company A, U.S. 10th Cavalry Regiment) set out from Ft. Concho, near present day San Angelo, Texas. They were heading to the Llano Estacado, the Staked Plains, in an attempt to round up some renegade Quahadi Comanche warriors and send them back to the reservation in Oklahoma. Along the way, they met and joined forces with a group of buffalo hunters. The hunters, who styled themselves as "The Forlorn Hope", also wanted to find the Comanches who had attacked their camps and stolen their horses. The hunters agreed to act as scouts for the soldiers and help them to find water.

They camped briefly at Double Lakes, near present day Tahoka, Lynn County, Texas, and soon proceeded Northwest toward Eastern New Mexico.

Not long afterward, the group ran out of water. Nolan and the hunters disagreed on the best way to proceed. The hunters wanted to move eastward toward Casas Amarillas, the Yellow Houses, near the border between Lamb and Hockley County. They had celebrated the 4th of July there earlier in the month and knew that water was available. However, Captain Nolan disagreed and the group split up. The hunters went on to Casas Amarillas, while Nolan and his men marched back toward Double Lakes, a distance of almost 60 miles. It took them two more days, traveling mostly at night to avoid the searing heat and to try to conserve their waning strength. The men drank their own urine, and the urine and blood of their dead horses to survive. Several men deserted, others were lost, and two were never found. Four soldiers died during the ordeal, but most of the men survived. Most of their animals perished.

The story made national news.

In the aftermath, several were court-martialed and dismissed from the Army.

"For a twenty-five-year veteran who had been on the Llano Estacado just two years before, Captain Nolan's leadership was hardly sterling. Indeed, had the events of the 1877 expedition occurred in a modern American army, Nolan, rather than his men, might well have the been the person court-martialed."- Paul H. Carlson^[1]

These are the known participants in this event.

Company A, 10th Cavalry Regiment

• Captain Nicholas Merritt Nolan (1835-1883)
• Lieutenant Charles Lawrence Cooper (1845-1919), discovered Col. Shafter's old wagon trail in the middle of the night leading the soldiers back to Double Lakes. Remained in the US Army until his retirement at the rank of Brigadier General. He died in 1919 and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
• Sergeant Thomas Henry Allsup (abt.1846-1922), remained at supply camp. Led rescue team to Double Lakes in search of Nolan after Umbles declared expedition lost. Remained in the Army until his retirement, Dec 15, 1897. He lived in Montana for a number of years and then moved to Los Angeles, California where he died in 1922.
• Sergeant John Fry (1849-1931), remained at supply camp. Honorably discharged in 1882 after his second term of service, and lived in San Antonio, Texas. He married Delia Roe in 1895 and together they had several children. He passed away in 1931 and was buried in the San Antonio National Cemetery.
• Sergeant Benjamin C Howard (abt.1850-), quartermaster, remained at supply camp.
• Sergeant Jim Thompson, became acting First Sergeant after the demotion of Umbles. Note: after an extensive search, have not been able to find a Sergeant Jim Thompson in this unit. There was an Aleck Thompson (abt.1848-) who was promoted to Sergeant around this time.
• Sergeant William Umbles (abt.1850-), dishonorable discharge.
• Corporal William H Barney (abt.1851-).
• Corporal Charles H. Gilmore (abt.1852-), dishonorable discharge.
• Corporal Elias Roberts (abt.1851-)
• Lance Corporal George W Fremont (abt.1849-), dishonorable discharge.
• Private Stephen Baldwin (abt.1855-), born in Georgia about 1855. He survived and served three terms in the U.S. Army.
• Private John H Bonds (1855-1877), born in Virginia, enlisted November 20, 1876, in Washington, D.C. Private Bonds died on the expedition, and his body was never found.
• Private _______ Carson
• Private Walter D. Cox (abt.1852-)
• Private Isaac Derwin (1852-1877), born in South Carolina, enlisted November 29, 1876, in Nashville, Tennessee. Derwin died during the expedition, may or may not have been buried in Lynn County or Lubbock County.
• Private William Fletcher (abt.1848-)
• Private Stephen Floyd (abt.1852-)
• Private Jerry R Freeman (abt.1846-)
• Private John E. Gaddie (1855-1910), survived, finished his term of service, and was honorably discharged March 31, 1881 at Fort Davis, Texas. Afterward he returned home to Kentucky where he married Mary F. Durrett. They later moved to Indianapolis, Indiana, where he passed away in 1910. He is buried at Crown Hill National Cemetery in Indianapolis.
• Private John T. Gordon (1848-1877), born in Norfolk, Virginia, enlisted at Baltimore, Maryland, December 26, 1876. Private Gordon died on the expedition and was probably buried in Lynn County, Lubbock County, or possibly even Terry County.
• Private Johnson Graves (abt.1854-1938), survived and served three terms in the Army. He then returned home to Virginia where he married and had a family of eight daughters and one son. He passed away in 1938 and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
• Private _____________ Higgins (may be Biggins)
• Private Pierce Huston (abt.1854-)
• Private John Isaacs (abt.1852-abt.1877), born in Baltimore, Maryland, enlisted at Baltimore, January 26, 1877. Private Isaacs died during the expedition, and his body was never found.
• Private James H Jackson (abt.1843-), transferred to 25th Infantry upon re-enlistment.
• Private Green Johnson
• Private Smith Johnson (abt.1851-1930), survived. Remained in the U.S. Army until his retirement in 1901, having served in West Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Montana, and Cuba. He married Fanny Dulap in Montana in 1892. After his retirement he made his home in San Antonio, Texas. He died in 1930 and was buried in the San Antonio National Cemetery.
• Private William Johnson
• Private Henry C. Miller (abt.1854-)
• Private Daniel Nash (abt.1845-), remained at supply camp.
• Private Alexander Nolan (abt.1854-), dishonorable discharge.
• Private John Peterson (abt.1852-)
• Private Alexander Rose (abt.1854-)
• Private Isaac Thompson (abt.1851-)

Buffalo Hunters

• James Harvey (abt.1851-), leader.
• Charles A. Arnim (abt.1861-1895) aka Charles "Squirrel-Eye" Emory, born in Central Texas of German ancestry. Began working on the plains as a skinner and hunter while still a teenager. Adopted his brother's alias, using the last name Emory, working as a sometime gambler, blacksmith, and cowboy. Later survived the 1886 gunfight at Tascosa where four were killed. He passed away in 1895 of cancer.
• William "Bill" Benson (abt.1846-abt.1910), went the longest without water, 96 hours. Appears to have lived in Lubbock County for several years, and is one of the 25 people enumerated in the 1880 Census. He later moved to New Mexico, where he is said to have died.
• Harold Bradstreet ?
• Harry Burns
• Sam Carr
• John R. Cook, wrote a memoir, "The Border and the Buffalo"
• George Cornett
• Henry Deacon
• Joe Freed
• Jim Foley
• Powderface Hudson
• Mortimer Newton "Wild Bill" Kress (1841-1914)
• Louis Keyes (-1879), survived. Keyes was said to have been of mixed race and part Cherokee. He was shot to death during a poker game in 1879.
• John "Jack" Mathias (1844-1902), survived. Later moved to Arizona, where he died in 1902. Having no wife or children, Jack left his sizable estate to be divided between his brothers and sisters.
• Frank Perry
• Wayne Solomon "Sol" Rees (1847-1913)
• Alfred "Alt" Waite
• Richard "Dick" Wilkinson (abt.1854-)
• George Williams
• Hiram Ball "Hi" Bickerdyke (1854-1909) (remained at supply camp). Bickerdyke was the son of famed Civil War nurse Mary Ann "Mother" Bickerdyke. He moved to Montana where he worked as a scout for the Army and as a rancher. He died in Montana in 1909.
• Billy Devins (remained at supply camp)

Others

• Quanah (Nocona) Parker (1845-abt.1911), Comanche chief sent as an emissary from Fort Sill to persuade Red Young Man's band to return to the reservation.
• Jose Piedad Tafoya (abt.1834-abt.1913), a former Comanchero acting as guide for the buffalo hunters. Returned to his home to resume ranching in New Mexico, where he died about 1913.
• the "Boston Boy", an unnamed civilian traveling with the buffalo soldiers from Fort Concho.

Opponents

• Red Young Man (Ekawakane), leader of the Comanche party (other sources say he was killed earlier that year.
• Cotopah
• Esatema
• Hishorty
• Herman Lehmann (1859-1932), a white captive living with the Comanche
• Watsacatova

Research Notes

The following soldiers were listed as participants in Carlson's history of the event, however according to the regimental return of July 1877, all of these appear to have remained at Ft. Concho:

• Private William Davis (abt.1853-), detached duty
• Private William A. Dobbin (abt.1855-), detached duty
• Private Dover Charles Johnson (abt.1854-1927), detached duty
• Private Frank Neal (abt.1850-), detached duty
• Private Jerry Nicholson (abt.1851-) (listed as Nichols), sick in hospital
• Private Edward Y. Weston (abt.1854-1886), detached duty

The following person was listed in Carlson's history of the event as one of the hunters, naming the book The Border and the Buffalo, by John R. Cook, as a source. However, he is only mentioned in the poem at the end of the book and it is not clear that he was one of the party with the hunters .

• Tom Sherman, ran a dance hall in Dodge City and also apparently at Ft. Griffin.

Some accounts of the story suggest that one of the hunters may have died, but the name of this person has not been found.

Sources

1. ↑ Carlson, Paul H., The Buffalo Soldier Tragedy of 1877, Texas A&M University Press, College Station, Texas, 2003, p. 133

• "A Fearful March on the Staked Plains", The United States Army and Navy Journal and Gazette of the Regular and Volunteer Forces, Volume 15, 1877 (Nolan's Account). https://books.google.com/books?id=ggw_AQAAMAAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=September%2015%2C%201877%20%20Army%20and%20Navy%20Journal&pg=PA84#v=onepage&q&f=false
• Ancestry.com. U.S., Buffalo Soldiers, Returns From Regular Army Cavalry Regiments, 1866-1916 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012. Washington, D.C.; National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) Ancestry Sharing Link
• Cook, John R., The Border and the Buffalo, Crane & Company, Topeka, Kansas, 1907. https://archive.org/details/borderbuffalount00cook/page/n7/mode/2up
• Nunn, W. Curtis, "Eighty-Six Hours without Water on the Texas Plains". Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 43, July 1939 - April, 1940, periodical, 1940; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101111/m1/380/: accessed September 30, 2023), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association. (includes Surgeon King's and Lt. Cooper's accounts)
• Carlson, Paul H., The Buffalo Soldier Tragedy of 1877, Texas A&M University Press, College Station, Texas, 2003.
• Hooker, Forrestine Cooper, Child of the Fighting Tenth, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Oklahoma, 2011
• https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/nolan-expedition-1877 Nolan Expedition of 1877 at Handbook of Texas Online.

See Also

• Buffalo Soldier Tragedy of 1877 at Wikipedia