Capture of Willie and Bud Ball

In the mid-1800s, proximity to Indian reservations made Wise County a flashpoint of confrontation between Native American tribes and Anglo American settlers. On September 20, 1865, eight-year-old cousins James (Bud) Ball and William (Willie) Ball set off on a two-mile walk to a neighbor’s house to borrow a hand saw. On the journey home, as Bud and Willie stopped to play in a creek they were overtaken and captured by a band of Comanche and Kiowa Indians. Three days later, the bands split up with the Comanche taking Willie and the Kiowa taking Bud. On October 24, 1865, Bud Ball was recovered and delivered to the Kaw Indian Agency near Council Grove, Kansas (about 300 miles north of Wise County). Willie Ball was located with the Nocona band of Comanche after spending the winter of 1865-66 on the plains with the tribe. He was recovered around mid-March and arrived at the Kaw Indian Agency on June 6, 1866. One year after their capture, they were both returned home. In October 1868, Willie and his brother-in-law, John Bailey, were working in a cornfield near the Ball Ranch when a large band of Kiowa appeared, led by Tan-Guadal (Red Cap or Red Feather). They attempted to recapture Willie once again. John Bailey, armed with a revolver, charged Tan-Guadal. Both men fired simultaneously and both fell dead, Tan-Guadal with a bullet and John with an arrow. Willie escaped and the Kiowa retreated. John Bailey was one of the first burials in what would become the Ball Knob Cemetery. Tan-Guadal, a noted Kiowa warrior, was also buried nearby.