Adobe Walls

[Pitchy]

We drove the 16 miles down a dirt road to see where the battle at Adobe Walls took place, not much there but a few monuments but was cool to stand where the famous shot was taken.

[pwl44m]

Nice Pic, welcome Home Pitchy.
Perry

[Rusty]

Thanks for the picture, I've never seen that before.

[Pitchy]

Thanks fellers, here`s more about the battle.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Ba ... dobe_Walls

[Nath]

Hi Pitchy.

Nath.

[Pitchy]

Hi Pitchy.

Nath.

Hi Nath.

[Borregos]

Hey Pitchy, good to see you
Looks interesting, nice pics

[Pitchy]

Thanks Pete
Another neat place we went was Canyon State park south of Amarillo.
Second largest canyon in the US and the park is at the bottom so 10 percent grade going in.

[markinalpine]

Welcom back, Pitchy.
Is the third picture a view of the bluff where the Indians were watching from when Billy Dixon shot one off his horse?
Mark

[Pitchy]

Welcom back, Pitchy.
Is the third picture a view of the bluff where the Indians were watching from when Billy Dixon shot one off his horse?
Mark

Thanks, I`m not positive, those hills looked to me to be the most likely candidates.

[GoatGuy]

You got the correct picture, Pitchy. Like I mentioned to you,...a somewhat long drive and not much to see when you get there, but well worth the effort. How often does one get to stand in the long gone footprints of a small, rugged group of men who saw history made with Dixon's shot?

[gamekeeper]

Thanks for the picture, I've never seen that before.

I would love to visit these historic sites someday too.....

Glad to see you're having fun Pitchy....

[CowboyTutt]

Wow, Texas is a long way for me in far NorCal but I need to go there someday. If anyone ever wants to duplicate the Billy Dixon shot, I happen to know of a place that offers the opportunity and its A LOT of fun!

http://www.gunblast.com/AndyTuttle_FOBD.htm

And if you want more articles about what transpired there, we have lots of them here:

http://www.coyotecreative.net/SubSites/FOBD/index.html

Regards,

-Tutt

[rjohns94]

Thanks pitchy.

[Pitchy]

Cool beans there Tutt, thanks for sharing.

You bet rjohns94

[Blaine]

Do we know if it was a Hail Mary, or actually an aimed shot?

[MrMurphy]

Aimed shot, at a group of Indians on horseback (fairly large target). Somewhat like the WW1 section-firing with volley sights... "big group of guys over there, 2,000, fire!"

As I read an account once, 'surprising everyone, but most especially the Indian, he hit one".

Five or six guys on horseback is about the size of half a platoon as a group target. It can be done, but a lot of luck was involved.



The battle of Omdurman in the 1890s involved whole companies and battalions volley firing starting at around 2,000 yards and in at an entire army which charged them on horseback. The army never made it into contact range, the charge broke a couple hundred yards out. That was with .303 Lee-Metfords and Martini's. If you're not aiming at one specific guy, hits can be achieved at some crazy distances.

[gundownunder]

Thanks Pitchy
I was looking at the pic of the memorial with all the names, and of the ones I could read I actually found one I recognize other than Billy Dixon, Bat Masterson.

I recall reading somewhere that Billy Dixon claimed it was just a lucky shot achieved after several attempts, and then he only winged the guy.

[rangerider7]

I have been to both places. Cool! RR7

[Pitchy]

I was looking at the pic of the memorial with all the names, and of the ones I could read I actually found one I recognize other than Billy Dixon, Bat Masterson.

I wonder what Masterson was doing there, maybe he was young then before he got into doing things like hunting outlaws.

Here`s a couple more pics.

[Griff]

ISTR that Masterson started out as a buffalo hunter in his teens with two brothers (not present at Adobe Walls).

[CowboyTutt]

Wow, what a strange coincidence. I checked an old email account I don't use much and I had received a very interesting email through GunBlast. Check this out guys! Special thanks to Kyle for sending this email to me. -Tutt

Dear Andy,

I was reading your post http://www.gunblast.com/AndyTuttle_FOBD.htm when I got to the following sentence,

"Those warriors were evidently having a powwow about something — perhaps how best to prepare for the third day of battle; perhaps how best to withdraw; and, perhaps something else — exactly what they were discussing we will never know."

I wanted to tell a story I was told about the incident.

I served as pastor of First Baptist Church, Spearman Texas. It is just 20 miles north of Adobe Walls. I went there in 1992 and served until 1997.

While there I was fascinated by the story of Billy Dixon and his famous shot. I had the opportunity to become good friends with J.B. Buchanan http://www.spearmanreporter.com/jbbucha ... mills.html. He was in his late 80's when I knew him.

He had lived in the Hansford county area all his life, being born on the frontier. He knew Billy Dixon. They used to go to Billy's place to get the mail as Billy was the postmaster of Stinnet, the town just south of Adobe Walls.

J.B. and I worked closely together as I help negotiate the deal to get him to donate his windmills to Spearman.

One day he told me this story:

"We were sitting around the pot bellied stove, I was a young man at the time, and my Dad was having coffee with Billy.

My dad said to Billy, 'We have heard you tell the story about shooting that Indina off the horse a bunch of times, but Billy, why did you shoot that Indian?'

Billy sat back in his chair and paused a second and said, 'He was shakin' his butt at us.'

J.B. was a proper Methodist and I was a young Baptist pastor so he blushed a little when he told me the story, It had the ring of truth to it. We had know each other for several years when he told me, so i don't think it was a sugar stick story that he used to show off.

I've often wanted to get it to someone who might care about the story.

J B's son is still alive and might be able to corroborate the the story.


Kyle Henderson

[JerryB]

Great story Tut.

[RKrodle]

Adobe Walls is located on the Turkey Track ranch, my nephew worked that area of the ranch about six years ago. I wish I would of made it out there when he was working there. Lots of neat old history around that area.

[GonnePhishin]

From literally millions of Buffalo roaming the Great Plains states of the US and Canada, to less than a thousand by the end of the 19th century. Another great example of American Ingenuity and the Free Enterprise system

[Old Savage]

Yeah, the dinosaurs are gone too.

[markinalpine]

And all those bison eating grass and passing gas. The buffalo hunters no doubt delayed "Global Warming" by a hundred years.
Mark

[CowboyTutt]

Mic McPherson, who is on the Board of Directors of the Friends of Billy Dixon had this to say about the story.

Dear Andy,
You can pass this along.
The only problem with this story is that Billy Dixon could not possibly have seen that detail at that distance against the glare of the morning sun in the same direction and, as I have the eyes of an eagle 5/20 and 10/20 and I have trouble seeing our target as more than a white area, I am confident of that limitation. Now, if he had a really good looking glass or scope he might have seen such detail but no account mentions that any such tool existed at Adobe Walls and it is very unlikely that it did.
This does not mean that I do not believe that Billy told that story and perhaps that Indian had been riding close by at a gallop and mooning them before riding up on that hill.
The other issue is this, Billy could not possibly have shot for a specific person in that group and he does not claim to have done so in his biography. Therefore, I suspect that he was having fun, else, perhaps mixing a detail from earlier in the event with a detail from the final shot, taking poetic license if you will.
Take care,
Mic

I have to admit that the FoBD target array is nothing but a big white blob as seen by the naked eye at 1548 yards. So I imagine Billy Dixon was shooting "center of blob" when he took his shot. I just wasn't sure that he didn't have an old time scope available although I had never heard of that either. Maybe an indian came by earlier and mooned everybody. Good story nonetheless.

-Tutt

[KirkD]

Good to see photos of Adobe Walls. Thanks for posting those. Very interesting.

[Ysabel Kid]

Thanks for the picture, I've never seen that before.

+1 - me neither!