Maman-ti (Sky-Walker) had been given the title of Do-ha-te by the Kiowa. He was not a chief but certainly was a planner of battles, a leader of raids. He was not interested in credit or prestige but was content to lead, advise and let others collect the glory. The Kiowa considered him a medicine man and prophet who lived “in the shadows of the past” and whose magic was both great and terrible. His gifts came through the Owl Spirit. He would retreat to his lodge to pray, chant and be visited by the Spirit. After a time, his followers outside would hear the rustle of owl’s wings and Maman-ti would appear from the lodge with a plan or instructions.

In January of 1871, Maman-ti and a war chief named Quitan led a raiding party into Texas. Along the Salt Creek Prairie between Fort Belknap and Fort Richardson the Kiowa came across two groups of teamsters. One was a large set of wagons and the closer group was only three wagons and driven by three black men. The raiders attacked the three wagons with the large party far in the distance. The larger party “forted up” while the smaller group tried to run for their protection. They didn’t make it, despite the brave effort of one of their number.

Behind the dead body of one of his horses, the man fought to give his companions a chance at escape. He had cut the horse loose from the harness and wagon and made his stand with a Henry rifle as the 25 Kiowa warriors sweep down. As brave as the effort was, all three teamsters lost their lives and the warriors moved in to take scalps.

The Kiowa were amused by the kinky hair and tossed the bloody scalps back and forth in a game that they soon grew tired of. They left the scalps on the ground, considering the hair too short to be a suitable trophy. When the Kiowa had plundered the three wagons, gathered the teams of horses and left, the other teamsters came in to inspect the bodies. The cavalry buried them in a common grave.

The two men who failed to make their escape were Dennis Cureton and Paint Crawford. The man who died behind that dead horse trying to protect the others was Britton Johnson. The teamsters and soldiers counted 173 spent rifle and pistol shells around Johnson where he had made his stand. He was a man known to all who tried to make Forks of the Trinity, the Fingers of the Brazos and the Cross-Timbers of North Texas their home during the middle of the 19th century. He was in some part the inspiration for the central character in Alan LeMay’s novel The Searchers.

Brit Johnson was born a slave in Tennessee. The year of his birth is usually given as 1840 although there are a few documents that seem to dispute that. By the mid-19th century, he was in North Texas where his master Moses Johnson had taken root in the Peters colony. Although legally a slave, Britt ran the Johnson ranch as a foreman with complete freedom. He owned his own cattle and horses, ran freight and owned a wagon. He probably had some education because of his duties. Although his situation was not widespread, it was not uncommon in the open frontier of that region of Texas where it was rare for any slaveholder to have more than one slave and independence was a requirement for everyone. At least three counties of the area recorded more free blacks than slaves.

The Civil War left a wild and dangerous region even more unprotected and it did not go unnoticed by the Comanche and Kiowa. The summer and fall of 1864 was an especially busy raiding season for the high plains nomads.

In the fall of ’64, Brit Johnson returned to his home to find his son Jim dead and his wife Mary and two daughters captured. A 14-year-old boy who lived close by was also missing but his body was found a few miles away where he had been killed and discarded.

Johnson began a nine-month search for his wife and children. He rode the reservations of what is now Oklahoma as well as a string of lightly manned Texas forts, made contacts in Indian camps from the Red to the Canadian.

The captives of ’64 had been scattered widely as the Comanche and Kiowa headed for winter camps as they finished their raiding. Many ended up somewhere around the Washita range, others like Elizabeth FitzPatrick were taken as far north as the Arkansas River in northwest Kansas.

The accounts of how Johnson managed the rescue of his family vary. Some have him living with the Comanche north of the Washita and arranging ransom through them. Many accounts claim he was befriended and helped by Comanche medicine man Esahabity in an effort to begin peace talks.

Although I didn’t bother to look it up, I do remember a movie several years ago titled “Black Fox” loosely based on Johnson’s recovery of his family and some others. I don’t remember much about it but wouldn’t recommend it as a history lesson.

After the war, Brit moved his family to Parker County where he became a freighter between Weatherford and the forts to the west. And that is what he was doing that January of 1871 when he met his fate 4 miles east of Salt Creek.

That wasn’t the only raid of importance that Maman-ti inspired in 1871. That May the Do-ha-te was camped on the North Fork of the Red River with about 100 Kiowa and Comanche. Among them were the Kiowa chiefs Satanta and Satank. Old Satank was set on vengeance for the death of his oldest son who had been killed in a raid the year before.

They crossed into Texas, cached blankets and other supplies to lighten their load. They intended a big haul from the Texans to the south. They settled on high ground close to the same Salt Creek Prairie, a favorite spot because there was so much open space and it was a common route for freight wagons serving the forts.

Maman-ti retreated into his lodge to receive inspiration from the Owl Spirit. After a time, those around the lodge heard the owl wings and the Do-ha-te brought out the instructions. There would be two wagon parties coming by. The first one would be the smallest and they should pass by because a much larger one would come later.

About noon a vehicle with an escort of riders came through, the smaller party to be left alone. Early the next morning ten wagons belonging to Henry Warren appeared and were attacked. Some of the teamsters made it to a grove of trees and tried to hold out, others were killed. The raiders collected seven scalps and the loot of ten wagons.

It was a good haul but the long-range outcome was not so good. The first party had been an escort for General William T. Sherman and Inspector General Randolph Marcy, two of the most senior officers in the army. They were on an inspection tour because of the demand for help in preventing and punishing the raids from beyond the Red River. Sherman felt that the demands were over-blown and was set to see for himself. When he arrived at Fort Richardson, he was confronted by a large group of settlers. Sherman had only softened his opinion slightly until two freighters who had escaped from the Warren train stumbled into the fort. Combined with the seven burned and mutilated bodies and a realization that it could have been him instead of the teamsters, Sherman determined to intensify the effort against the hostiles of the south plains.

The effort came too late to save Brit Johnson. But this real-life Ethan Edwards had not just proven his courage in his desperate fight east of Salt Creek. A few years before he had not only shown his skill and courage but also a devotion to his family that should remind us all of why those ties are at the root of any enduring society or community.