“Westward through Washita” lecture by Kevin Bowles Mohr, Museum of the Western Prairie

The Museum of the Western Prairie will host “Westward through Washita,” a lecture by Kevin Bowles Mohr, National Park ranger at Washita Battlefield National Historic Site on Tuesday, September 5, at 7 pm. This lecture is free and open to the public.

“The morning was still and bitter cold when two cultures clashed.” Thus begins the story of the Battle of the Washita where Lt. Col. George A. Custer led the Seventh US Cavalry on a surprise dawn attack against the Southern Cheyenne village of Peace Chief Black Kettle on November 27, 1868. Mohr will share the story of this important event, which occurred a few years after the Civil War as the West received an influx of pioneers and veterans in search of gold and free land. The indigenous people, like the Cheyenne Indians, who occupied this territory were considered by some merely an obstacle to remove. The Battle of the Washita signaled the end of an era of freedom for the Great Plains Indians.

This event is hosted by the Western Trail Historical Society.