Soldier Mound

Soldier Mound is a mile west of State Highway 70 and six miles south of Dickens in south central Dickens County (at 33° 32' N 100° 51' W). It consists of a curved ridge measuring some 1,500 feet across from east to west and 400 feet from north to south. Its highest elevation is 2,488 feet. In the early 1870s the hill was known as Anderson's Fort, after Maj. Thomas M. Anderson, who first fortified it with sandbags and rock walls. It was also called Lawton's Supply Camp, after Lt. H. W. Lawton, quartermaster for Col. Ranald S. Mackenzie. Mackenzie used the mound as a supply point during his campaigns of 1871–72 and 1874–75 against the Comanches and withdrew to it for recuperation after the battles of Tule and Palo Duro canyons. Elements of the Tenth and Eleventh Infantry attached to his command occupied the camps. The ridge is called Soldier Mound because it is the burial place of several soldiers, casualties of the struggle for control of the area; several Indians are also buried there. The hill was also the site of a buffalo hunters' camp during the 1870s, and the Spur Ranch located its headquarters nearby in 1878. In 1883 R. B. Faulkner built a store at the base of the hill, and for a short time a post office, known as Mound, existed in the small community that evolved there. The post office was discontinued in 1884. A rural settlement known as Soldier Mound is presently located one mile southeast of the landmark.