USA > Oklahoma > A standard history of Oklahoma; an authentic narrative of its development from the date of the first European exploration down to the present time, including accounts of the Indian tribes, both civilized and wild, of the cattle range, of the land openings and the achievements of the most recent period, Vol. I > Part 33
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44
CHAPTER XL
-
THE WANE OF WAR IN THE INDIAN TERRITORY
The winter of 1863-4, like both of the preceding winters, saw considerable suffering in the Indian Territory. Indeed, it probably affected more people, because of the greater number who were living in exile in refugee camps, than it had done before. True, the refugee Cherokees who had become attached to the cause of the Union, had returned from Kansas and had settled under the pro- tection of Fort Gibson in its immediate vicinity, but the Creeks and Seminoles who liad followed Opothleyohola and Tustennuggee out of the territory, and who had never been able to return to their own country, were either quartered in the refugee camps at Fort Gibson or still living in Kansas. On the other hand, the families of those Cherokees and Creeks who had chosen to side with the Confederacy, had abandoned their homes and had gone to the Red River country, in the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations. Thus. although the Federal troops never penetrated very far into the Choctaw Nation with a force of much consequence, and although they never more than reached the border of the Chickasaw Nation, the most prosperous settlements in both reservations (located in the Red River country) were thronged with refugee families who had to be fed regardless of the fact that they had no money with which to buy food. So, even if the war did not reach the Red River in Oklalioma in the form of actual hostilities, that region was indirectly impoverislied nevertheless.
The Confederate troops in camp in the Red River country- Doaksville, Fort Washita, Boggy Depot, Fort McCulloch and Arm- strong Academy-suffered great privations also, lacking as they did in the matter of camp equipage and commissary supplies. They were also deficient in the matter of hospital equipment and medical and surgical supplies. However, the loss from deatlı in the winter encampments was probably not nearly so great as it would have been had it not been for the prevailing practice of granting large numbers of leaves of absence. Even as it was, however, there were many deatlıs and not only were the graves of such soldiers un-
314
315
HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA
marked, but even the location of such burial grounds has in some instances been forgotten.
During the winter, and, indeed, during the first half of 1864, there was but little if anything in the way of military operations on either side in the Indian Territory, aside from the participation of part of its Confederate forces in an Arkansas campaign. The reasons for this must be apparent when it is borne in mind that the Federal forces were a long way from their base of supplies and that the Confederate troops were lacking not only in arms, ammuni- tion, clothing and commissary supplies, but also that their horses were not in fit condition for active campaigning at that season of the year. On both sides, most of the troops had been mounted in the beginning-cavalry, mounted infantry or mounted rifles-but the hardships of the service through which they had gone had wornl out or destroyed practically all of the horses with which they had entered the service.1
There was one diversion during the winter, however, which is worthy of recording, namely, the expedition which marched south- westward into the Creek and Seminole settlements along the Cana- dian River and the Little River and then southward on the Texas Road into the Choctaw country, in February, 1864. It was under the personal command of Col. William A. Phillips, and consisted of detachments of the First and Third Indian Home Guard regiments and a battalion of the Fourteenth Kansas (cavalry) regiment. Scouting up and down the Canadian, a great deal of corn and other forage was captured and either destroyed or appropriated; also live stock, wagons and other property which were deemed to be of value to the enemy. After waiting vainly for some expected reinforcements, Colonel Phillips started southward on the Texas Road with 450 mounted troops and one piece of artillery. With this small force he penetrated as far as the Middle Boggy, within twenty miles of Fort Washita. As there was a large amount of military stores-ammunition and commissary supplies-at Fort Washita, Gen. D. H. Cooper, who was in command of the Con- federate forces, appealed to Gen. H. E. McCulloch, who was in command of the northern sub-district of Texas, for reinforce-
1 The soldiers of the Indian Home Guard regiments had fur- nished their own horses and, when these were worn out or lost, it was impossible to secure remounts. Although horses were believed to have been plentiful in Texas, the Confederate troops in the north- ern part of that state and in the Indian Territory had almost if not quite as much difficulty in securing fresh horses as did the Federals.
316
HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA
ments.2 This expedition, which was daring and in its conception and execution because of the smallness of the force with which it was performed, was undertaken primarily for its moral effect. There is no doubt but that the expeditionary force would have been larger had there been more available mounted men, and if it had been larger, the scope and extent of its operations would have been correspondingly greater.3
The assignment of General Maxey to the command of the Con- federate forces in the Indian Territory did not put an end to the spirit of discord and contention which had wrought such mischief while Generals Pike and Steele were in command. With utter dis- regard for the rules of military procedure, General Cooper wrote directly to President Davis at Richmond (ignoring the intermediate superiors) and urged his claims to an assignment to the command of the forces in the Indian Territory.4 Nearly five months later (July 21, 1864), by direction of the Confederate secretary of war, the Indian Territory was constituted a separate military district and Gen. Douglas H. Cooper was assigned to the command of the same. Without putting this order into immediate effect, Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith, commander of the Trans-Mississippi Depart- ment (whose confidence General Cooper had not gained), let the
2 Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Vol. XXXIV, Part II, letter of Col. William A. Phillips, pp. 329-30. and letter of Gen. D. H. Cooper, p. 970.
3 In a circular addressed to the soldiers of the expeditionary force just before its departure, Colonel Phillips said in part : "Do not kill a prisoner after he has surrendered. But I do not ask you to take prisoners. I ask you to make your footsteps severe and ter- rible."-Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Vol. XXXIV, Part II, p. 190.
4 Letter of Douglas H. Cooper to Jefferson Davis, Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Vol. XXXIV, Part II, p. 1007. General Cooper had been a captain of the regiment of Mississippi volunteers of which Jefferson Davis was colonel dur- ing the war with Mexico. This fact probably accounts not only for his boldness in taking up the matter directly with the president of the Confederate States but also for the final decision of the latter in which he had to overrule the judgment and wishes of Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith. The expression of adverse opinions concerning the wisdom and necessity of promoting General Cooper had been made so plain in the correspondence of General Smith that there can be no doubt that the assignment of the former to the command of the District of the Indian Territory was in the nature of a personal appointment.
317
HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA
matter rest for a time and then requested that the order be re- voked. In reply he was informed that the order was imperative and that it must be put into effect." General Maxey was thereupon assigned to a new command in Texas.6
Another incident which was embarrassing, if indeed it was not prejudicial to the discipline of the command, was the attempt of an officer of one of the regiments from Texas to secure an official ruling according precedence to white officers over Indian officers regardless of seniority or date of commission. The contention met an adverse ruling from Generals Cooper and Maxey, whereupon a protest against "subordinating" white officers to those of "an inferior race" was duly forwarded to the commander of the Trans- Mississippi Department.7
In the official circles in the Federal forces in the Indian Terri- tory there were also visible the effects of powerful influences whichi were directed toward the accomplishment of certain selfish per- sonal ends. Col. William A. Phillips, who had been first assigned to the command of the Indian Home Guard Brigade by General Schofield, always commanded the confidence of General Curtis, not only while the latter was in command of the Department of the Missouri but also after the Indian Territory came under his juris- diction as commander of the newly organized Department of Kan- sas. Unfortunately for Colonel Phillips, however, there was a dis- trict commander intermediate between the department and brigade commanders. After the Indian Territory was included in the Department of Kansas the command at Fort Gibson was made a part of the District of Southern Kansas, of which Gen. James G. Blunt was in command, with headquarters at Fort Scott. As already stated, General Blunt was regarded as an active member of the radical group in Kansas politics. Colonel Phillips was a Kansas man and, although belonging to the same political party,
5 Ibid., Volume XLI, Part III, p. 971.
6 Gen. E. Kirby Smith's respectful nonconcurrence in the new arrangement is expressed in his letter to the adjutant and inspector general of the Confederate Army, Ibid., Vol. XLVIII, Part I, pp. 1408-9. The assignment of General Cooper to the command of the District of the Indian Territory resulted in the advancement of Gen. Stand Watie to the command of the Indian Cavalry Division and Col. William Penn Adair to the command of the First Indian Cavalry Brigade.
7 Correspondence of Generals S. B. Maxey and D. H. Cooper and Col. Charles De Morse, Ibid., Vol. XXXIV, Part IV, pp. 698- 700.
318
HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA
was regarded as a conservative by the ultra radicals and, after the assignment of General Blunt to the command of the district, he was so hampered and hindered and hectored that he had good reason to know that the radicals of his own state were not very anxious for him to make a good showing. Moreover, like General Steele, in the Confederate service, he could not and would not shut
WILLIAM A. PHILLIPS
his eyes to the operations of dishonest contractors. It was broadly hinted that an army officer of high rank was indirectly interested in the profits of a trading venture at Fort Gibson and at Fort Smith.8
8 Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Vol. XXII, Part II, letters of Col. William Weer, pp. 689-90; Gen. John M. Schofield, p. 690; Lieut. Col. W. T. Campbell, p. 714; Gen. John McNeil, pp. 727-8; Champion Vaughan, pp. 738-9.
319
HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA
Dishonest contractors and the connivance of military officers with traders were not all that Colonel Phillips had to contend with, however. Along in the summer of 1864 the practice of organiz- ing parties in Kansas for the purpose of stealing cattle in the Indian Territory and driving then over the line into Kansas be- came quite popular in certain circles.9 No distinction was made as between the stock belonging to Indians who were in alliance with the Confederate States and that which was owned by those who adhered to the Union. Colonel Phillips naturally did not approve of such high handed proceedings so he sent one of his officers to investigate. That such vigilance on his part was not ap- preciated by the interests, whose freebooting prerogatives were thus jeopardized, is evident from the fact that a few days later (July 30, 1864) Colonel Phillips was relieved of his command and ordered to report in person at Fort Smith, Fort Gibson meanwhile having been transferred to the District of the Frontier of which Gen. John M. Thayer was in command, with headquarters at Fort Smith. Col. Stephen H. Wattles, of the First Indian Home Guard Regiment, was assigned to the command of the brigade at Fort Gibson.10
After being kept off duty for a month he was assigned to court martial duty at Fort Smith, where he remained until nearly the end of the year, when he was reassigned to the command of the Indian Brigade at Fort Gibson. That his energy and alertness were missed is very evident from the several reverses suffered as well as the demoralization of affairs at Fort Gibson during the period that he was absent. Gen. Francis J. Herron, who inspected the District of the Frontier at the instance of Gen. Edward R. S. Canby, in command of the military Division of the West Missis-
9 Letter of Capt. H. S. Anderson, Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Vol. XLI, Part II, p. 265; also correspond- ence of Col. William A. Phillips and others, Ibid., Vol. XLVIII, Part I, pp. 870-4; also Letters of Gen. James G. Blunt and others, pp. 1134-6; also the annual report of Elijah Sells, superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Southern superintendency, with accom- panying correspondence of tribal agents and others, Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1865, pp. 252-94.
10 Letter of Gen. Francis J. Herron, Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Vol. XLI, Part IV, pp. 605-6. Gen. Herron bluntly asserted that Colonel Phillips had been removed from his command by the influence of McDonald & Company, trad- ers and contractors, and that the same firm was implicated in the business of driving Indian cattle out of the territory.
320
HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA
sippi, openly stated that the contractors controlled matters through- out the District of the Frontier and strongly urged that Colonel Phillips should be restored to the command of the Indian Brigade.
A general council of the Indian tribes that were in alliance with the Confederate States had been held at Armstrong Academy in the latter part of November, 1863. The purpose and practical effect of this gathering was to strengthen the determination of the people of all of the tribes concerned to the end that they might be held firm in their support of the Confederacy.11
After General Maxey assumed command in the Indian Territory he endorsed the suggestion previously made that three brigades should be formed from the Indian regiments in the Confederate service, provided that they could be recruited up to the proper strength. Two of these-the Cherokee Brigade and the Choctaw- Chickasaw Brigade-were at least nominally ready for organi- zation at that time (January, 1864). The organization of a Creek and Seminole Brigade, though seriously contemplated, was not effected, the troops of the Creek and Seminole nations being finally brigaded with those of the Cherokee Nation. This brigade was commanded by Col. Stand Watie and was designated as the First Indian Cavalry Brigade.12 The Second Indian Cavalry Brigade was commanded by Col. Tandy Walker, of the First Choctaw and Chickasaw Regiment.13
11 The "Reserve" Indians (of the agency on the Washita) were represented in the general council by George Washington, a Caddo chief, though most of the people of his own tribe and those affiliated with it were still living as refugees in Kansas and Colorado.
12 Col. Stand Watie was promoted to the grade of brigadier gen- ,eral in May, 1864. His brigade consisted of the First Cherokee Regiment (Col. Robert C. Parks), the Second Cherokee Regiment (Col. William Penn Adair), Cherokee Battalion (Maj. Joseph A. Scales), the First Creek Regiment (Col. Daniel N. McIntosh), the Second Creek Regiment (Col. Chilly McIntosh), Creek Squadron (Capt. R. Kenard), Osage Battalion (Maj. Broke Arm), and the Seminole Battalion (Lieut. Col. John Jumper). The Cherokee Regiment of Col. John Drew was never effectively reorganized after its demoralization subsequent to the Battle of Pea Ridge and the Second Cherokee Regiment, commanded by Col. William Penn Adair, was not organized until later. The nucleus of the Second Cherokee Regiment was the independent battalion which had been organized and commanded by Maj. J. M. Bryan, with which several independent companies were consolidated. In the election of field officers, William Penn Adair, who was a private in the ranks, was chosen as colonel of the regiment.
13 The Second Indian Cavalry Brigade consisted of the follow- ing organizations : the First Chickasaw Battalion (Lieut. Col. Lem-
321
HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA
. In the latter part of March, when the Federal army of Gen. Frederick Steele in Arkansas began the advance from Little Rock toward Camden, a part of the Confederate troops in the Indian Territory, namely, Gen. Richard Gano's Texas Brigade and Col.
TANDY WALKER
Tandy Walker's Choctaw Indian Brigade, under the personal com- mand of Gen. S. B. Maxey, was transferred to Arkansas for service with the army of Gen. Sterling Price.14 The principal action in
uel M. Reynolds), the First Choctaw Battalion (Lieut. Col. Jackson McCurtain), the First Choctaw and Chickasaw Regiment (Lieut. Col. James Riley), the Second Choctaw Regiment (Col. Simpson Folsom), and the Reserve (Caddo) Squadron (Capt. George Wash- ington):
1+ Under the terms of their treaty with the Confederate States, the Choctaws were not required to go beyond the bounds of the In- dian Territory, so their action in thus marching to reinforce the army of Gen. Sterling Price was voluntary on their part. Vol. 1-21
322
HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA
which the Indian Territory troops were engaged in this campaign was that known as the battle of Poison Spring (Arkansas), which was fought April 18, and in which the Confederates were victorious. The Choctaw Brigade, under Col. Tandy Walker, captured a Fed- eral battery and aided in taking a large wagon train loaded with forage.15 Immediately after the close of the Camden campaign, the two brigades under General Maxey's command returned to their former stations in the Indian Territory.16
During the spring of 1864 there was some scouting done by the Confederates behind the Union lines. Colonel Adair, with a force of about 325 men, crossed the Arkansas River early in April. Quantrill, the guerrilla leader who had been in Northern Texas since the preceding autumn, also started north about the same time. The military authorities as well as the people of Northern Texas and the adjacent portion of the Indian Territory had had abundant reason to be thankful for the departure of the guerrilla chief and his followers.17 The activity of the Federal forces at
15 Tandy Walker, was born in Mississippi, October 11, 1814. He was of mixed Choctaw and white blood. His father was prominent in the affairs of the Choctaw Nation, during the early part of the last century, and he, too, occupied an influential position in the councils of the tribe after its settlement in the West. He was the first principal chief, or governor, of the Choctaw Nation under the Skullaville Constitution. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he entered the Confederate military service in the First Choctaw and Chickasaw Regiment, becoming lieutenant colonel of that organiza- tion and, on the promotion of its colonel, Douglas H. Cooper, to the grade of brigadier general, he succeeded to the command of the regiment with the rank of colonel. Upon the organization of the Indian Territory troops into the Indian Division, under the com- mand of General Cooper, Colonel Walker was given command of the Choctaw and Chickasaw brigade in which position he dis- tinguished himself as a capable leader. He was a man of liberal and progressive views, though, like Col. E. C. Boudinot, of the Cherokee Nation, his popularity was not enhanced thereby. He died at his home, at Skullaville, February 2, 1877.
16 The Choctaws were complimented in orders and reports of district and department commanders, as were also the officers and men of Gano's Texas Brigade. A more detailed account of the operations of General Maxey's division in Arkansas may be found in the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Vol. XXXIV, Part I, pp. 841-9.
17 During his stay in Texas, Quantrill was not only regarded as irregular and insubordinate by the military authorities but also as an irresponsible desperado by the civil population of that section. His men were dressed in Federal uniforms and, when marauding
323
HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA
Fort Gibson, combined with heavy rains which put all of the streams at a flood stage seriously interfered with the success of both ex- peditions, however. During the remainder of the spring and the
STAND WATIE
fore part of the summer most of the operations of Confederate troops in the Indian Territory were on such a scale that they would
in a community the inhabitants of which were all Confederate sympathizers, invariably posed as "jayhawkers" (i. e., freebooters who were supposed to be on the Union side). Under such circum- stances it was small wonder that the Confederate military district commanders in Texas and the Indian Territory were anxious to facilitate the return of Quantrill to Missouri. A more detailed ac- count of his behavior in Texas may be found in the letter of Gen. Henry E. McCulloch, Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Vol. XXXIV, Part III, pp. 742-3. See also the letter of Gen. D. H. Cooper, ibid., pp. 746-7, and letter of Gen. Henry E. McCulloch, p. 945.
324
HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA
be termed scouts rather than campaigns. The Federals were not in sufficient force to do more than act on the defensive.
The most active and efficient scouting commander in the Con- federate Indian service was Gen. Stand Watie. Although he had attained the rank of brigadier general, he could not, in the strict sense of the term, be called a military man. His command was always lacking in the essential elements of drill and discipline and he was careless in matters of form and punctilio. Regardless of his shortcomings in such matters, however, he had what some other- wise capable commanders lacked, namely, a degree of personal magnetism that made him a natural leader of men and, with it, an unwavering devotion to the cause which he had espoused and which impelled him to strive with all the earnestness of his personality for what he believed to be right. He seldom operated at the head of a large force and was seen at his best when, scouting with a mounted force of 200 to 300 men, he appeared suddenly at some point where his presence was not expected to overwhelm and cap- ture an outpost of the enemy which had not been sufficiently strengthened; or, mayhap, to fall upon a belated wagon train laden with much needed supplies for which the enemy had not provided sufficient escort. His operations may be compared with those of Francis Marion, who was known as "the Swamp Fox" of South Carolina during the War for American Independence. Though the names of many of the popular military idols of his day are ceas- ing to be household words, that of Stand Watie is still held in affectionate remembrance among the descendants of his devoted followers.18
18 Stand Watie was born about 1806 at Oo-yoo-ge-lo-gi, near the present Town of Rome, Georgia. His father, Oo-wa-tie, was a Cherokee of pure Indian blood and his mother was a half-blood, her father having been a white man by the name of Reese. Neither of his parents could speak English. His given name was Degataga which, rendered into English, signifies "standing together," whence came his English given name, Stand. His surname was a contrac- tion of his father's given name. Elias Boudinot, also known as Buck Watie (Gah-li-gi-nah), was a brother of Stand Watie and was two or three years his senior. Major Ridge was his father's brother. He did not learn to speak English until he was a grown man and always betrayed a slight accent in conversation. He signed the treaty of New Echota, under the terms of which the Cherokees were removed to the West, and it was said that the conspirators who planned the assassination of the Ridges and Boudinot, in June, 1839, intended to kill him also but he was warned and prepared to defend himself. After the tragic death of his brother, uncle and
325
HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA
The frequent scouting expeditions from the Confederate camps south of the Arkansas River had the effect of discouraging all at- tempts at farming by the refugees who had returned from Kansas, except in the limited area which was within the range of the guns of Fort Gibson. Five thousand more refugees arrived at Fort Gib- son from Kansas June 15, 1864. These, with the Cherokees, Creeks and Seminoles which had been previously located there under the protection of the military post, swelled the aggregate to 16,000 people. Four hundred Chickasaws, who were included among the more recent arrivals, were sent down to Fort Smith, which was con- sidered to be nearer their own home.
The same day that the last caravan of refugees arrived at Fort Gibson, a battery of artillery, operating with Gen. Stand Watie's command, attacked a Federal supply steamer, the J. R. Williams, at Pheasant Bluff, just below the mouth of the Canadian. The steam- boat was grounded on the opposite side of the river and its mili-
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.