Southern-Trails-L Archives

From: "Coffee" <>
Subject: [SouthernTrails] Lone Wolf Mountian
Date: Sat, 5 Oct 2002 22:21:17 -0500

Lone Wolf Mountain in Northeastern Mitchell County Texas is the highest
elevation in the county. It was named for Kiowa Indian Chief Lone Wolf and
is the site where the Indian chief finally buried the remains of his son,
Tau-ankia (Sitting-in-the-Saddle) and his nephew, Guitan
(Heart -of-a-Young-Wolf) . In 1871, Tau-ankia was killed after a skirmish
with a patrol of the 9th U.S. Calvary on Rich Coffey's cattle range.
Lone Wolf's nephew Guitan was killed by elements of the Fourth U.S.
Cavalry in Edwards County on Dec.10, 1873 after returning from a raid into
Mexico. In May 1874, embittered by his favorite son's death, Lone Wolf
returned with a war party to Kickapoo Springs in Edwards County to recover
the body of his nephew and on the return trip north, recovered the body of
his son on Coffey's cattle range in what later became Coleman County.
During their return through Coleman County, a group of Kiowa renegades led
by Big Foot attacked and killed the Bill Williams family on Sand Creek in
what later became Brown County. Mr. Williams survived the massacre and was
recruited by Capt. William Jeff Maltby of the Texas Ranger Frontier
Battalion. The rangers camped several weeks along the banks of Sand Creek,
from where he and his company patrolled the neighboring counties.
Eventually, Maltby, Williams and others trailed Big Foot and destroyed him
and his band.
Lone Wolf's party successfully eluded cavalry patrols and attacked
an encampment of the Ninth U.S.Cavalry on the North Concho River at
Johnson's Station and escaped with twenty-three cavalry horses. The fresh
mounts enabled Lone Wolf to escape the pursuing troops. He reburied the
remains of his son and nephew on a rocky hill in Kiowa country. The hill
and the creek flowing from it later became know as Lone Wolf Mountain and
Lone Wolf Creek in what later became Mitchell County Texas.
In 1902, fires were seen on top of the mountain. It is said that two
wagonloads of Oklahoma Indians encamped there, stayed about five days, and
left a large hole in the mountain. It is said that the Indians came to
recover the bones that were buried there twenty-eight years before.

Jerry Coffee
Plano, Texas

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