The 4th U.S. Cavalry’s surprise attack on Comanche, Cheyenne and Kiowa villages in Palo Duro Canyon ended the Red River War that had gripped the Texan Panhandle in the late summer and fall of 1874. When troops came roaring down the sides of the canyon, they destroyed the tribes’ ability to continue fighting. Those who were not killed and managed to escape into the plains quickly became desperate having had to abandon their belongings and supplies when they fled. As winter set in, many who faced starvation chose the alternative of giving themselves up at Ft. Sill to face forced removal to reservations.Included in one group of these surrendering bands of warriors was a white child of about six years old. He spoke a little English, but not much more than his adopted family. This child, whom the Indians called Bearfoot, was believed to have been taken from his parents during one of the raids along the Red River Valley, perhaps as much as three or four years earlier. It was clear to the fort’s physician that the boy had lived with the Kiowa longer than with his own family.
The boy was kept behind when the Kiowa were removed to reservations farther west and was placed in the care of Reverand Micah Horton, the Methodist chaplain at Ft. Sill, and his wife, Rachel. The Reverend and his wife, had no children, so after confirming as best they could that he was an orphan, they adopted Bearfoot. Never being able to determine just who his parents were or when he was born, he was given a new name, Norman Horton, and a new birth date, the day he arrived at Ft. Sill. The Reverend insisted that Bearfoot keep his Indian name as well. “In this small way,” he wrote on a page in the front of his Bible, “we recognize the power of God to use even the savage to bring the blessings to our house.”