Long before the 1874 battle, Palo Duro Canyon functioned as a traditional refuge and seasonal campsite for Comanche, Kiowa, Kiowa Apache, Cheyenne, and Arapaho bands, whose sheltered canyon floor provided water, timber, grass, and protection from harsh Plains weather, making it a favored winter camping ground and a place to pasture large horse herds. By late September 1874, during the Red River War, several villages had gathered there believing the canyon's steep walls made them safe from attack. On September 28, 1874, Colonel Ranald S. Mackenzie's Fourth U.S. Cavalry located the encampments and struck at dawn, scattering the villages before they could mount a unified defense. The soldiers captured more than 1,400 Indian ponies; after giving several hundred to scouts and allies, troops systematically shot the remaining herd, and also destroyed winter food stores and lodges, crippling the tribes' ability to sustain themselves or fight further and hastening their surrender onto reservations. The canyon's function as a native stronghold and grazing ground ended with this defeat. Today the site lies within Palo Duro Canyon State Park, one of Texas's most visited state parks, where the canyon serves a very different purpose as a recreational destination for hiking, camping, mountain biking, and horseback riding, and as the setting each summer for the outdoor musical drama Texas, which dramatizes the region's Panhandle history.