Battle Creek (Armstrong County)

Battle Creek rises at the breaks of the Llano Estacado south of Paloduro and the JA Ranch headquarters in southeastern Armstrong County (at 34°48' N, 101°12' W) and flows southeast for twenty miles, across the sloping mesquite plains of northern Briscoe County, before emptying into the Prairie Dog Town Fork of the Red River near the boundary between Briscoe and Hall counties (at 34°38' N, 100°57' W). The stream is so named because it was the site of a battle at Palo Duro Canyon on August 30, 1874, when troops under Col. Nelson A. Miles fought off an attack by about 500 Cheyenne warriors. Most of the action, which lasted five hours, occurred at the head of the creek (see PALO DURO CANYON, BATTLE OF, and RED RIVER WAR).