CALLAHAN COUNTY, Texas (KTAB) – Listen, what do you hear? Is it the buzz of a dragon fly, or maybe the hum of your cars air conditioner. It’s these small details that make up our world. Too often we take them for granted and just let them pass us by.

If you frequent I-20 through Callahan county you may or may not have seen this sign. Just east of Putnam. 

It marks the location of a skirmish long ago between two warring factions, but who and when?

In 1840, on the heels of the battle of San Jacinto, the Comanche Indians had established themselves as a force to be reckoned with. 

Their Empire, known then as Comancheria stretched from New Mexico to Oklahoma City and from southern Kansas to San Antonio

“when you’re sitting here in Abilene, watching the news you’re actually in the heart of Comancheria.”

They were the dominant tribe of Southwest America and most others knew to stay out of their way, that is until the Texans got involved.

“the Republic of Texas needs to figure out where it’s frontiers really are. And so after chasing the indigenous peoples out of East Texas into the Cross Timbers the next logical step is, lets press out onto the plains and see where we go. They’re following the Trinity river they’re following the Brazos river. And one of these encounters results in a skirmish between the Texas militia and some of the Comanches. Hence, Battle Creek.”

It’s on this very creek that nearly 200 years ago, the Texas militia men of general James F. Smith met the fiercest tribe in Texas.

“they had faced Comanches before but they’d never faced Comanches on the Comanches home turf.”

Even this small and seemingly insignificant battle played its part in the larger role of shaping Texas as we know it today. What other little details do we pass by each day without knowing?