Medicine Bluffs
Medicine Bluff Creek, Fort Sill, OKProminent landmark noted, described, and explored by all early expeditions and held in deep reverence by the Indian tribes of this area from time immemorial. General Marcy and his Red River Expedition of 1852, and Generals Sheridan, Custer, and Grierson on campaign of 1868-69 are historically associated. The Bluffs are rich in legend as well as history. Fort Sill was established adjacent to the Bluffs January 8, 1869.
The significance of the Bluffs in the Indian mystique derived in part from the fact that there are four of them, and four was a sacred number to the tribes of the region. A medicine men's rock cairn stood on the summit of Bluff No.3. Here the sick were brought to be healed or disposed of by the supernatural and young warriors in lonely vigils presented their shields to the rising sun for power. Legends say that this was also a famous place for Indian suicides. The enormous fissure in the Bluffs was known as the "Medicine Man's Walk."
The first. U.S. expedition to explore the sources of Red River, the Marcy Expedition, camped opposite the Medicine Bluffs on 19 July 1852. BG (then CPT) Randolph B. Marcy and GEN (then LT) George B. McClellan explored the area with a company of the 5th Infantry and Delaware Indian scouts. GEN Marcy recommended the site as an ideal location for a military post to control the South Plains tribes.
When Fort Sill was established near the bluffs in 1869 it was known to the Indians as "The Soldier House at Medicine Bluffs." Today the Medicine Bluffs continue to dominate the immediate skyline of the Fort Sill landscape as they have for ages past.
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1974.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.