Battle of Blanco Canyon

Battle of Blanco Canyon
Part of the Comanche Campaign
Blanco Canyon, seen from the west rim, on Highway 82
Date October 10, 1871 Location Near Blanco Canyon, Texas 33°39′52″N 101°10′32″W / 33.66444°N 101.17556°W / 33.66444; -101.17556 (Blanco Canyon Battlefield) Result Inconclusive, Comanche village escapes capture
Belligerents
United States 4th Cavalry Regiment (United States), Tonkawa scouts	Comanche Kotsoteka and Quahadi Band
Commanders and leaders
Ranald S. Mackenzie (WIA) Clarence Mauck	Quannah Parker
Strength
600 men, including 20 Tonkawas[1]: 159	300-400[1]: 178
Casualties and losses
1 dead, 2 reported wounded, including Col. Mackenzie.	5[1]: 177
Blanco Canyon Battlefield class=notpageimage| Location within Texas

The Battle of Blanco Canyon was the decisive battle of Col. Ranald S. Mackenzie's initial campaign against the Comanche in West Texas, and marked the first time the Comanches had been attacked in the heart of their homeland. It was also the first time a large military force explored the heart of Comancheria. On 12 August 1871 Mackenzie and Colonel Benjamin Grierson were asked by Indian Agent Lawrie Tatum to begin an expedition against the Kotsoteka and Quahadi Comanche bands, both of whom had refused to relocate onto a reservation after the Warren Wagon Train Raid.^[1]: 158 Col. Mackenzie assembled a powerful force consisting of eight companies of the Fourth United States Cavalry, two companies of the Eleventh Infantry, and a group of twenty Tonkawa scouts.^[1]: 158