Stop Twelve

Stop twelve as the trail goes through the pony kill site.

NPS / Christian Schroll

Quick Facts

Location:

Washita Battlefield National Historic Site

Amenities

1 listed

Benches/Seating

Horses were power on the Southern Plains. Killing the ponies kept the warriors from raiding into Kansas. It also kept them from hunting bison. Without them, the Cheyenne lost transportation, status, and a valuable part of their way of life.

In your life, is there anything so valuable that you could not live without it?

As groups of mounted Indians from the villages upstream gathered on nearby hilltops, Lt. Col. Custer ordered a strategic retreat and the destruction of the village’s remaining supplies and horses.

The captured Cheyenne women were ordered to corral the ponies here against this rock ledge. Their throats were slit, and, when that took too much time, they were shot. 650 horses were left to die.

This act was demoralizing and discouraged retaliation as the 53 captives were taken away. They were held at Fort Hays, Kansas, for seven months until June of 1869.

The horse bones remained on site until 1935, when they were taken away to be ground into fertilizer.