County commissioners got an impromptu lesson in Hemphill County history on Monday, taught by Beth Ramp Sturgeon and Remelle Farrar, who came to the courtroom seeking their support of a resolution commemorating the Battle of Lyman’s Wagon Trail battle, which began 146 years ago this week. The battle commenced on Sept. 9, 1874—146 years ago this week—and continued for five days, on a site between Canadian and the Washita River in southern Hemphill County.

Captain Wyllys Lyman was leading 36 wagons pulled by mules when the caravan was attacked by 200 Indians. There were 66 soldiers, 36 civilian teamsters and two civilian scouts under his command when they were ambushed near the Canadian River, and chased for miles by Kiowa, Cheyenne and Comanche warriors.

“As you think through this week, they are sitting on that hill...all week long,” said Beth Ramp Sturgeon, whose family ranch was at the center of the battle. “Those brave men bled on our hill over the Washita, beside Blaine Eubank’s house, and on our land.”

Sturgeon and Farrar urged the court to sign the resolution (at left), kicking off a four-year campaign “to educate the folks in Hemphill County...to make sure they know of the bravery of Wyllys Lyman. Farrar said the Texas Historical Commission has never been successful in conveying this important part of the Red River War history, “simply because everything happened on private land...that is still private land,” she said. “This is another opportunity to bring people to Hemphill County.”

“As you think of this through this week,” Sturgeon said, “they were sitting on that hill all week long. On the last day, they were waiting on horse-drawn ambulances to come. Thirteen U.S. Congressional Medals of Honor were given to the men who fought in that battle.”

Farrar called it a clash of cultures, noting the brilliant strategy of the Kiowa, Cheyenne and Comanche warriors, who knew all they had to do was wait for the soldiers to die of thirst. “We want to tell this story from both sides,” she said.

Commissioners unanimously agreed to sign the resolution.