In September 1871, Colonel Ranald S. Mackenzie and the 4th U.S. Cavalry received permission to lead an expedition from Fort Griffin in Shackelford County against Comanche who had refused to move to their designated reservation at Fort Sill in Oklahoma Territory. Soon after midnight on October 11, 1871, the Comanche surprised Mackenzie’s cavalry as it camped on the Freshwater Fork of the Brazos River, now the White River, near the mouth of Blanco Canyon. Numerous warriors infiltrated the camp to delay the army’s advance into the Texas panhandle, then stampeded the camp, scattering and taking dozens of horses. Mackenzie, Lieutenant Robert G. Carter, and a small contingent of soldiers pursued them for more than forty miles, during which two Comanche and Private Leander Gregg were killed, Carter’s leg was crushed when his horse slipped, and Mackenzie was shot in the leg while returning to Blanco Canyon. The pursuit ended soon after the wounded and sick retreated to the post on November 5. Mackenzie’s command marched more than 500 miles before returning to its posts. The clash became known as the Battle of Blanco Canyon, brought the first contact between Quanah Parker and the Quahadi Comanche and Mackenzie and the U.S. Army, and marked the beginning of the end of Comanche dominance in the panhandle, concluding with the Red River War of 1874.