Camp Radziminski

E1580 Rd, Mountain Park, OK 73559, USA
GPS Coordinates: 34.72494, -98.94922

Location: Four miles northwest of present Mountain Park, Kiowa County, Oklahoma.
Directions: On U.S. Highway 183, one mile north of Mountain Park, Kiowa County.

Established Sept. 1858, by four troops of crack 2nd Cav. under Major Earl Van Dorn. Named in memory of Lt. Charles Radzimisnski, a former member of the Regt. E. Kirby Smith. Cornelius Van Camp, Fitzhugh Lee, W. B. Royall all served there. Permanent type buildings never erected; post abandoned by Army, Dec 6, 1859

In September 1858 Bvt. Maj. Earl Van Dorn led soldiers of the Second U.S. Cavalry and First Infantry from Fort Belknap, Texas, in pursuit of Kiowa and Comanche raiders -- raids which were triggered by food shortages caused by the deliberate killing off of buffalo in an attempt to decimate Native American populations (click here for more information on this). Reaching the vicinity of present Tipton, in Tillman County, Oklahoma, Van Dorn ordered the construction of a camp on the left bank of Otter Creek. The post contained no permanent structures. The camp was moved twice to arrive at its final location. The camp was also known as Camp Otter Creek and Otter Creek Station. It was moved in November 1858 to obtain better forage a few miles upstream. It was relacted a final time in March 1859 to a more sheltered site on the right bank of Otter Creek, four miles northwest of present Mountain Park in Kiowa County.

From his base of operations at Camp Radziminski, Van Dorn led his troops against the Comanche at the Battle of the Wichita Village near present Rush Springs, Oklahoma, in October 1858, and at Crooked Creek in southwestern Kansas in May 1859. Abandoned after the completion of Fort Cobb in December 1859, Camp Radziminski was briefly used by the Texas Rangers in their warfare against the Comanche. The site of Camp Radziminski near Mountain Park was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1972 (NR 72001067).

Sources:
* Fortwiki.com. (2019). Camp Radziminski - FortWiki Historic U.S. and Canadian Forts. [online] Available at: www.fortwiki.com [Accessed 25 Jan. 2019].

* May, J. (n.d.). Camp Radziminski | The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. [online] Okhistory.org. Available at: www.okhistory.org [Accessed 25 Jan. 2019].