Lefors, Gray County
On Sept. 29, 1872, Col. Ranald S. MacKenzie (1840-89) found in this area a 262-tepee village of Comanches defying treaties that sought to confine them on Indian Territory reservations. MacKenzie's 231 U.S. Cavalry and infantrymen captured the village in half an hour and routed Chief Mow-Way's warriors, who made a desperate resistance from sheltering creek banks. That night the Indians succeeded in recapturing their horses from an army guard detail. This taught MacKenzie a lesson that led to his eventual victory in the 1874 campaign to subdue the Indians. (1972)