Chapter 4

[Footnote 810: See Blunt's official report, dated July 26, 1863 [Ibid., part i, 447-448].]

[Footnote 811: Anderson, _Life of General Stand Watie_, 21.]

[Footnote 812: With respect to the number of white troops engaged on the Federal side there seems some discrepancy between Blunt's report [_Official Records_, vol. xxii, part i, 448] and Phisterer's statistics [_Statistical Record_, 145].]

[Footnote 813: See Cooper's report, dated August 12, 1863 [_Official Records_, vol. xxii, part i, 457-461]. The following references are to letters that substantiate, in whole or in part, what Cooper said in condemnation of the ammunition: Duval to Du Bose, dated Camp Prairie Springs, C.N., July 27, 1863 [_Confederate Records_, chap. 2, no. 268, p. 159]; Steele to Blair, dated Camp Imochiah, August 9, 1863 [Ibid., 185-187; _Official Records_, vol. xxii, part ii, 961].]

flight across the Canadian; but enough of those more self-contained went thither in an easterly or southeasterly direction so as to create the impression among their enemies that they were retiring to meet the expected reinforcements from Fort Smith.[814]

But the reinforcements were yet far away. Indeed, it was not until all was over and a day too late that Cabell came up. A tragic sight confronted him; but his own march had been so dismal, so inauspicious that everything unfortunate that had happened seemed but a part of one huge catastrophe. He had come by the "old Pacific mail route, the bridges of which, in some places, were still standing in the uninhabited prairies."[815] The forsaken land broke the morale of his men--they had never been enthusiastic in the cause, some of them were conscripted unionists, forsooth, and they deserted his ranks by the score, by whole companies. The remnant pushed on and, in the far distance, heard the roaring of the cannon. Then, coming nearer, they caught a first glimpse of Blunt's victorious columns; but those columns were already retiring, it being their intention to recross to the Fort Gibson side of the Arkansas. "Moving over the open, rolling prairies,"[816] Nature's vast meadows, their numbers seemed great indeed and Cabell made no attempt to pursue or to court further conflict. The near view of the battle-field dismayed[817] him; for its gruesome records all too surely told him of another Confederate defeat.

[Footnote 814: Cooper intended to create such an impression [_Official Records_, vol. xxii, part i, 460] and he did [Schofield to McNeil, July 26, 1863, Ibid., part ii, 399-400].]

[Footnote 815: _Confederate Military History_, vol. x, 199.]

[Footnote 816: Ibid., 200.]

[Footnote 817: Cabell might well be dismayed. Steele had done his best to hurry him up. A letter of July 15 was particularly urgent [_Official Records_, vol. xxii, part ii, 933].]

In the fortunes of the Southern Indians, the Battle of Honey Springs was a decisive event. Fought and lost in the country of the Creeks, it was bound to have upon them a psychological effect disastrous to the steady maintenance of their alliance with the Confederacy, so also with the other great tribes; but more of that anon. In a military way, it was no less significant than in a political; for it was the beginning of a vigorously offensive campaign, conducted by General Blunt, that never ended until the Federals were in occupation of Fort Smith and Fort Smith was at the very door of the Choctaw country. No Indian tribe, at the outset of the war, had more completely gone over to the South than had the Choctaw. It had influenced the others but had already come to rue the day that had seen its own first defection. Furthermore, the date of the Confederate rout at Honey Springs marked the beginning of a period during which dissatisfaction with General Steele steadily crystallized.

Within six weeks after the Battle of Honey Springs, the Federals were in possession of Fort Smith, which was not surprising considering the happenings of the intervening days. The miscalculations that had eventuated in the routing of Cooper had brought Steele to the decision of taking the field in person; for there was just a chance that he might succeed where his subordinates, with less at stake than he, had failed. Especially might he take his chances on winning if he could count upon help from Bankhead to whom he had again made application, nothing deterred by his previous ill-fortune.

It was not, by any means, Steele's intention to attempt the reduction of Fort Gibson;[818] for, with such artillery

[Footnote 818: Steele to Blair, July 22, 1863 [_Official Records_, vol. xxii, part ii, 940-941].]

as he had, the mere idea of such an undertaking would be preposterous. The defensive would have to be, for some time to come, his leading role; but he did hope to be able to harry his enemy, somewhat, to entice him away from his fortifications and to make those fortifications of little worth by cutting off his supplies. Another commissary train would be coming down from Fort Scott via Baxter Springs about the first of August.[819] For it, then, Steele would lie in wait.

When all was in readiness, Fort Smith was vacated, not abandoned; inasmuch as a regiment under Morgan of Cabell's brigade was left in charge, but it was relinquished as department headquarters. Steele then took up his march for Cooper's old battle-ground on Elk Creek. There he planned to mass his forces and to challenge an attack. He went by way of Prairie Springs[820] and lingered there a little while, then moved on to Honey Springs, where was better grazing.[821] He felt obliged thus to make his stand in the Creek country; for the Creeks were getting fractious and it was essential for his purposes that they be mollified and held in check. Furthermore, it was incumbent upon him not to expose his "depots in the direction of Texas."[822]

As the summer days passed, Cabell and Cooper drew into his vicinity but no Bankhead, notwithstanding that Magruder had ordered him to hurry to Steele's

[Footnote 819: Steele to Bankhead, July 22, 1863 [_Official Records_, vol. xxii, part ii, 940]]

[Footnote 820: Duval to A.S. Morgan, July 18, 1863 [Ibid., 933]; Steele to Blair, July 22, 1863 [Ibid., 940-941].]

[Footnote 821: Steele arrived at Prairie Springs on the twenty-fourth [Steele to Blair, July 26, 1863, Ibid., 948] and moved to Honey Springs two days later [same to same, July 29, 1863, Ibid., 950-951]. On August 7, his camp was at Soda Springs, whither he had gone "for convenience of water and grass" [same to same, August 7, 1863, Ibid., 956].]

[Footnote 822:--Ibid., 951.]

support.[823] Bankhead had not the slightest idea of doing anything that would put Texas in jeopardy. In northern Texas sympathy for the Federal cause, or "rottenness" as the Confederates described it, was rife.[824] It would be suicidal to take the home force too far away. Moreover, it was Bankhead's firm conviction that Steele would never be able to maintain himself so near to Fort Gibson, so he would continue where he was and decide what to do when time for real action came.[825] It would be hazarding a good deal to amalgamate his command,[826] half of which would soon be well disciplined, with Steele's, which, in some of its parts, was known not to be.

As a matter of fact, Steele's command was worse than undisciplined. It was permeated through and through with defection in its most virulent form, a predicament not wholly unforeseen. The Choctaws had pretty well dispersed, the Creeks were sullen, and Cabell's brigade of Arkansans was actually disintegrating. The prospect of fighting indefinitely in the Indian country had no attractions for men who were not in the Confederate service for pure love of the cause. Day by day desertions[827] took place until the number became alarming and, what was worse, in some cases, the officers were in collusion with the men in delinquency. Cabell himself was not above suspicion.[828] To prevent the spread of

[Footnote 823: By August third, Bankhead had not been heard from at all [Steele to Blair, August 3, 1863, _Official Records_, vol. xxii, part ii, 953]. The following communications throw some light upon Bankhead's movements [Ibid., 948, 956, 963].]

[Footnote 824: Crosby to G.M. Bryan, August 30, 1863, Ibid., 984.]

[Footnote 825: Bankhead to E.P. Turner, August 13, 1863, Ibid., 965-966.]

[Footnote 826: Bankhead to Boggs, August 10, 1863, Ibid., 966.]

[Footnote 827: There is an abundance of material in the _Confederate Records_ on the subject of desertions in the West. Note particularly pp. 167, 168, 173-174, 192-193, 198, 204-205 of chap. 2, no. 268. Note, also, _Official Records_, vol. xxii, part ii, 956.]

[Footnote 828: Duval to Cabell, August 17, 1863, _Official Records_, vol. xxii, part ii 969-970.]

contagion among the Indians, his troops were moved to more and more isolated camps[829] across the Canadian[830] and, finally, back in the direction of Fort Smith. Ostensibly they were moved to the Arkansas line to protect Fort Smith; for Steele knew well that his present hold upon that place was of the frailest. It might be threatened at any moment from the direction of Cassville and Morgan had been instructed, in the event of an attack in prospect, to cross the boundary line and proceed along the Boggy road towards Riddle's station.[831] Steele was evidently not going to make any desperate effort to hold the place that for so long had been the seat of the Confederate control over the Southern Indians.

All this time, General Blunt had been patrolling the Arkansas for some thirty miles or so of its course[832] and had been thoroughly well aware of the assembling of Steele's forces, likewise of the disaffection of the Indians, with which, by the way, he had had quite a little to do. Not knowing exactly what Steele's intentions might be but surmising that he was meditating an attack, he resolved to assume the offensive himself.[833] The full significance of his resolution can be fully appreciated only by the noting of the fact that, subsequent to the Battle of Honey Springs, he had been instructed by General Schofield, his superior officer, not only not to advance but to fall back. To obey the order was inconceivable and Blunt had deliberately disobeyed it.[834] It was now his determination to do more. Fortunately, Schofield had recently changed his mind; for word had

[Footnote 829: _Confederate Military History_, vol. x, 202.]

[Footnote 830: Steele to Scott, August 7, 1863, _Official Records_, vol. xxii, part ii, 957.]

[Footnote 831: Steele to Morgan, August, 1863, Ibid., 951; August 8, 1863, Ibid., 957.]

[Footnote 832: Steele to Blair, August 7, 1863, Ibid., 956.]

[Footnote 833: Blunt to Schofield, July 30, 1863, Ibid., 411.]

[Footnote 834: Blunt to Lincoln, September 24, 1863, Ibid., vol. liii, supplement, 572.]

come to him that Congress had decided to relieve Kansas of her Indian encumbrance by compassing the removal of all her tribes, indigenous and immigrant, to Indian Territory. It mattered not that the former had a title to their present holdings by ancient occupation and long continued possession and the latter a title in perpetuity, guaranteed by the treaty-making power under the United States constitution. All the tribes were to be ousted from the soil of the state that had been saved to freedom; but it would be first necessary to secure the Indian Territory and the men of the Kansas tribes were to be organized as soldiers to secure it. It is difficult to imagine a more ironical proceeding. The Indians were to be induced to fight for the recovery of a section of the country that would make possible their own banishment. Blunt strenuously objected, not because he was averse to ridding Kansas of the Indians, but because he had no faith in an Indian soldiery. Said he,

There are several reasons why I do not think such a policy practicable or advisable. It would take several months under the most favorable circumstances to organize and put into the field the Indians referred to, even were they ready and willing to enlist, of which fact I am not advised, but presume they would be very slow to enlist; besides my experience thus far with Indian soldiers has convinced me that they are of little service to the Government compared with other soldiers. The Cherokees, who are far superior in every respect to the Kansas Indians, did very good service while they had a specific object in view--the possession and occupation of their own country; having accomplished that, they have become greatly demoralized and nearly worthless as troops. I would earnestly recommend that (as the best policy the Government can pursue with these Indian regiments) they be mustered out of service some time during the coming winter, and put to work raising their subsistence, with a few white troops stationed among them for their protection.

I would not exchange one regiment of negro troops for ten regiments of Indians, and they can be obtained in abundance whenever Texas is reached.

In ten days from this date, if I have the success I expect, the Indian Territory south of the Arkansas River will be in our possession ...[835]

Blunt's mind was made up. He was determined to go forward with the force he already had. Ill-health[836] retarded his movements a trifle; but on the twenty-second of August, two days after the massacre by guerrillas had occurred at Lawrence, he crossed the Arkansas. He was at length accepting General Steele's challenge but poor Steele was quite unprepared for a duel of any sort. If Blunt distrusted the Indians, how very much more did he and with greater reason! With insufficient guns and ammunition, with no troops, white or red, upon whom he could confidently rely, and with no certainty of help from any quarter, he was compelled to adopt a Fabian policy, and he moved slowly backward, inviting yet never stopping to accept a full and regular engagement. Out of the Creek country he went and into the Choctaw.[837] At Perryville, on the road[838] to

[Footnote 835: Blunt to Schofield, August 22, 1863, _Official Records_, vol. xxii, part ii, 465.]

[Footnote 836:--Ibid., 466. There seems to have been a good deal of sickness at Fort Gibson and some mortality, of which report was duly made to Steele [Ibid., 956; _Confederate Records_, chap. 2, no. 268, pp. 192-193].]

[Footnote 837: Steele had crossed the line between the Creeks and Choctaws, however, before Blunt crossed the Arkansas. On August sixteenth, he had his camp on Longtown Creek and was sending a detachment out as far south as within about ten miles of Boggy Depot [_Official Records_, vol. xxii, part ii, 968]. A few days later, he made his camp on Brooken Creek, a little to the eastward [Ibid., 972]. By that time, Steele was evidently quite reconciled to the thought that Fort Smith might at any moment be attacked and, perhaps, in such force that it would be needless to attempt to defend it. Cabell was to move to a safe distance, in the neighborhood of Scullyville, from whence, should there be reasonable prospect of success, he might send out reënforcements. In the event of almost certain failure, he was to draw off betimes in the direction of Riddle's station, where flour was stored [Ibid.,].]

[Footnote 838: On the subject of roads and highways in Indian Territory, see Ibid., (cont.)]

Texas, his men did have a small skirmish with Blunt's and at both Perryville and North Fork, Blunt destroyed some of his stores.[839] At North Fork, Steele had established a general hospital, which now passed from his control.

Following the unsuccessful skirmish at Perryville, the evening of August 25, Steele was "pushed rapidly down the country,"[840] so observed the wary Bankhead to whom fresh orders to assist Steele had been communicated.[841] Boggy Depot to the Texan commander seemed the proper place to defend[842] and near there he now waited; but Steele on East Boggy, full sixty miles from Red River and from comparative safety, begged him to come forward to Middle Boggy, a battle was surely impending.[843] No battle occurred, notwithstanding; for Blunt had given up the pursuit. He had come to know that not all of Steele's command was ahead of him,[844] that McIntosh with the Creeks had gone west within the Creek country, the Creeks having refused to leave it,[845] and that Cabell had gone east,

[Footnote 838: (cont.) vol. xxxiv, part ii, 859; vol. xii, part ii, 997; Sheridan, _Memoirs_, vol. ii, 340.]

[Footnote 839: Blunt to Schofield, August 27, 1863, _Official Records_, vol. xxii, part i. 597-598; Steele to Snead, September 8, 1863, _Confederate Records_, chap. 2, no. 268, p. 223.]

[Footnote 840: _Official Records_, vol. xxii, part ii, 983.]

[Footnote 841: W.T. Carrington to Bankhead, August 22, 1863, Ibid., 975.]

[Footnote 842: Bankhead to Turner, August 23, 1863, Ibid., 977. Near Boggy Depot, "the Fort Gibson and Fort Smith roads" forked. At Boggy Depot, moreover, were "all the stores of the Indian Department." With Boggy Depot in the hands of the enemy, Bankhead's whole front would be uncovered [Bankhead to Turner August 20, 1863, Ibid., 972].]

[Footnote 843: Duval to Bankhead and other commanders, August 27, 1863, Ibid., 981.]

[Footnote 844: Blunt to Schofield, August 27, 1863, Ibid., part i, 597. He thought, however, that Stand Watie was with Steele but he was not. He was absent on a scout [Steele to Boggs, August 30, 1863, Ibid., part ii, 984].]

[Footnote 845: Steele to Snead, September 11, 1863, Ibid., part ii, 1012.]

towards Fort Smith.[846] It was Fort Smith that now engaged Blunt's attention and thither he directed his steps, Colonel W.F. Cloud[847] of the Second Kansas Cavalry, who, acting under orders from General McNeil,[848] had coöperated with him at Perryville, being sent on in advance. Fort Smith surrendered with ease, not a blow being struck in her defence;[849] but there was Cabell yet to be dealt with.

Steele's conduct, his adoption of the Fabian policy, severely criticized in some quarters, in Indian Territory, in Arkansas, in Texas, had yet been condoned and, indeed, approved[850] by General Kirby Smith, the

[Footnote 846: Cabell's brigade, as already indicated, had had to be sent back "to avoid the contagion of demoralization." [_Official Records_, vol. xxii, part ii, 983; Steele to Snead, September 11, 1863, Ibid., 1012].]

[Footnote 847: Cloud had arrived at Fort Gibson, August 21 [Cloud to McNeil, August 22, 1863, Ibid., 466].]

[Footnote 848: John McNeil was commanding the District of Southwestern Missouri. The orders originated with Schofield [Ibid., part i, 15].]

[Footnote 849: Cabell had taken a position on the Poteau. Steele had been much averse to his running the risk of having himself shut up in Fort Smith [Steele to Cabell, September 1, 1863, Ibid., part ii, 987].]

[Footnote 850: "The general commanding is satisfied that the Fabian policy is the true one to adopt when not well satisfied that circumstances warrant a different course..." [G.M. Bryan to Steele, September 8, 1863, Ibid., 999]. Smith believed in "abandoning a part to save the whole" [Letter to General R. Taylor, September 3, 1863, Ibid., 989]; but President Davis and men of the states interested had impressed it upon him that that would never do. It must have been with some idea of justifying Steele's procedure in mind that Smith wrote to Stand Watie, September 8th [Ibid., 999-1000]. Watie had lodged a complaint with him, August 9th, against the Confederate subordination of the Indian interests. To that Smith replied in words that must have made a powerful appeal to the Cherokee chief, who had already, in fact on the selfsame day that he wrote to Smith, made an equally powerful one to his own tribe and to other tribes. Watie's appeal will be taken up later, the noble sounding part of Smith's may as well find a place for quotation here.

"I know that your people have cause for complaint. Their sufferings and the apparent ill-faith of our Government would naturally produce dissatisfaction. That your patriotic band of followers deserve the thanks of our Government I know. They have won the respect and esteem of our people (cont.)]

person most competent to judge fairly; because he possessed a full comprehension of the situation in Steele's command. Smith knew and others might have known that the situation had been largely created by envy, hatred, and malice, by corruption in high places, by peculation in low, by desertions in white regiments and by defection in Indian.

The Confederate government was not unaware of the increasing dissatisfaction among its Indian allies. It had innumerable sources of information, the chief of which and, perhaps, not the most reliable or the least factional, were the tribal delegates[851] in Congress. Late

[Footnote 850: (cont.) by their steadfast loyalty and heroic bravery. Tell them to remain true; encourage them in their despondency; bid them struggle on through the dark gloom which now envelops our affairs, and bid them remember the insurmountable difficulties with which our Government has been surrounded; that she has never been untrue to her engagements, though some of her agents may have been remiss and even criminally negligent. Our cause is the same--a just and holy one; we must stand and struggle on together, till that just and good Providence, who always supports the right, crowns our efforts with success. I can make you no definite promises. I have your interest at heart, and will endeavor faithfully and honestly to support you in your efforts and in those of your people to redeem their homes from an oppressor's rule...

"What might have been done and has not is with the past; it is needless to comment upon it, and I can only assure you that I feel the importance of your country to our cause..."

That Smith was no more sincere than other white men had been, when addressing Indians, goes almost without saying. It was necessary to pacify Stand Watie and promises would no longer suffice. Candor was a better means to the end sought. Had Smith only not so very recently had his interview with the governors of the southwestern states, his tone might not have been so conciliatory. In anticipation of that interview and in advance of it, for it might come too late, some Arkansans, with R.W. Johnson among them, had impressed it upon Governor Flanagin that both Arkansas and Indian Territory were necessary to the Confederacy. In their communication, appeared these fatal admissions, fatal to any claim of disinterestedness:

"Negro slavery exists in the Indian Territory, and is profitable and desirable there, affording a practical issue of the right of expansion, for which the war began..." [July 25, 1863, _Official Records_, vol. xxii, part ii, 945].]

[Footnote 851: Only two of the tribes, entitled to a delegate in the Confederate Congress, seem to have availed themselves of the privilege in 1863, the (cont.)]

in May, Commissioner Scott[852] set out upon a tour of inspection, similar to the one he had made during the days of the Pike regime. On his way through Arkansas, he stopped at Little Rock to consult with General Holmes and to get his bearings before venturing again among the tribes; but Holmes was ill, too ill to attend to business,[853] and no interview with him was likely to be deemed advisable for some time to come. Scott had, therefore, to resume his journey without instructions or advice from the district commander, not regrettable from some points of view since it enabled

[Footnote 851: (cont.) Cherokee and the Choctaw, which may account for the persistence with which, in one form or another, a measure for filling vacancies in the Indian representation came up for discussion or for reference [See _Journal_, vols. iii, vi]. It became law in January, 1864 [Ibid., vol. iii, 521]. A companion measure, for the regulation of Indian elections, had a like bearing. It became law earlier, in May, 1863 [Ibid., 420, vi, 459]. In the _Official Records_, fourth ser. vol. in, 1189, _footnote o_, the statement is made that the name of Elias C. Boudinot appeared first on the roll, January 8, 1864; but it must be erroneous, since Boudinot, as the delegate from the Cherokee Nation, was very active in Congress all through the year 1863. His colleague from the Choctaw Nation was Robert M. Jones. On December 10, when Indian affairs had become exceedingly critical, Representative Hanly moved that one of the Indian delegates should be requested to attend the sessions of the Committee on Indian Affairs (_Journal_, vol. vi, 520). This proposition eventually developed into something very much more important,

"_Resolved_, First, That each Delegate from the several Indian nations with whom treaties have been made and concluded by the Confederate States of America shall have and be entitled to a seat upon the floor of this House, may propose and introduce measures being for the benefit of his particular nation, and be heard in respect and regard thereto, or other matters in which his nation may be particularly interested.

"Second. That, furthermore, it shall be the duty of the Speaker of this House to appoint one Delegate from one of the Indian nations upon the Committee on Indian Affairs, and the Delegate so appointed shall have and possess all the rights and privileges of other members of such committee, except the right to vote on questions pending before such committee"--_Journal_, vol. vi, 529. The Speaker appointed Boudinot to the position thus created.]

[Footnote 852: In February, upon the nomination of President Davis and the recommendation of Secretary Seddon, Scott had been appointed to the position of full commissioner [Ibid., vol. iii, 69].]

[Footnote 853: During the illness of Holmes, which was protracted, Price commanded in the District of Arkansas.]

him to approach his difficult and delicate task with an open mind and with no preconceived notions derived from Holmes's prejudices.

Scott entered the Indian Territory in July and was at once beset with complaints and solicitations, individual and tribal. On his own account, he made not a few discoveries. On the eighth of August he reported[854] to Holmes upon things that have already been considered here, defective powder, deficient artillery, and the like; but not a word did he say about the Cooper[855] and Boudinot intrigues. It was too early to commit himself on matters so personal and yet so fundamental. The Indians were not so reticent. The evil influence that Cooper had over them, due largely to the fact that he professed himself to be interested in Indian Territory to the exclusion of all other parts of the country, was beginning to find expression in various communications to President Davis and others in authority. Just how far Stand Watie was privy to Cooper's schemes and in sympathy with them, it is impossible to say. Boudinot was Cooper's able coadjutor, fellow conspirator, while Boudinot and Watie were relatives and friends.

Watie's energies, especially his intellectual, were apparently being exerted in directions far removed from the realm of selfish and petty intrigue. He was a man of vision, of deep penetration likewise, and he was a patriot. Personal ambition was not his besetting sin. If he had only had real military ability and the qualities that make for discipline and for genuine leadership

[Footnote 854: _Official Records_, vol. xxii, part ii, 1097.]

[Footnote 855: On August 14, Cooper complained to Smith that Steele had been given the place that rightfully should have been his [Ibid., 987]. Smith looked into the matter and made his reply, strictly non-partisan, September 1st [Ibid., 1037]. The authorities at Richmond declared against Cooper's claims and pretensions, yet, in no wise, did he abandon them.]

among men, he might have accomplished great things for Indian Territory and for the Confederacy. Almost simultaneously with the forwarding of Scott's first report to Holmes, he personally made reports[856] and issued appeals,[857] some of which, because of their grasp, because of their earnestness, and because of their spirit of noble self-reliance, call for very special mention. Watie's purpose in making and in issuing them was evidently nothing more and nothing less than to dispel despondency and to arouse to action.

Watie's appeal may have had the effect designed but it was an effect doomed to be counteracted almost at once. Blunt's offensive had more of menace to the Creeks and their southern neighbors than had Steele's defensive of hope. The amnesty to deserters,[858] that issued under authority from Richmond on the twenty-sixth of August, even though conditional upon a return to duty, was a confession of weakness and it availed little when the Choctaws protested against the failure to supply them with arms and ammunition, proper in quality and quantity, for Smith to tell them that such things, intended to meet treaty requirements but diverted, had been lost in the fall of Vicksburg.[859] Had not white men been always singularly adept at making excuses for breaking their promises to red?

In September, when everything seemed very dark for the Confederacy on the southwestern front, desperate efforts were made to rally anew the Indians.

[Footnote 856: Watie's report to Scott, August 8, 1863 [_Official Records_, vol. xxii, part ii, 1104-1105] was full of very just criticism, but not at all factional.]

[Footnote 857: The appeal to the Creeks, through their governor, is to be found in _Official Records_, vol. xxii, part ii, 1105-1106, and that to the Choctaws and Chickasaws, Ibid., 1106-1107.]

[Footnote 858:--Ibid., 980.]

[Footnote 859: Smith to Principal Chief, Choctaw Nation, August 13, 1863, Ibid., 967; Bryan to Hon. R.M. Jones, September 19, 1863, Ibid., 1021.]

Proposals[860] from Blunt were known to have reached both the Creeks and the Choctaws and were being considered, by the one, more or less secretly and, by the other, in open council. Israel G. Vore,[861] who had become the agent of the Creeks and whose influence was considerable, was called upon to neutralize the Federal advances. In a more official way, Commissioner Scott worked with the Choctaws, among whom there was still a strong element loyal to the Confederacy, loyal enough, at all events, to recruit for a new regiment to fight in its cause.

Nothing was more likely to bring reassurance to the Indians than military activity; but military activity of any account was obviously out of the question unless some combination of commands could be devised, such a combination, for example, as Magruder had in mind when he proposed that the forces of Steele, Cooper, Bankhead, and Cabell should coöperate to recover Forts Smith and Gibson, something more easily said than done. It was no sooner said than brigade transfers rendered it quite impracticable, Cabell and Bankhead both being needed to give support to Price. In charge now of the Northern Sub-district of Texas was Henry E. McCulloch. From him Steele felt he had a right to expect coöperation, since their commands were

[Footnote 860: Steele to Snead, September 11, 1863, _Official Records_, vol. xxii, part ii, 1013; Bankhead to Steele, September 15, 1863, Ibid., 1016.]

[Footnote 861: In the spring of 1863, Vore was engaged in disbursing funds, more particularly, in paying the Indian troops [Steele to Anderson, April 17, 1863, _Confederate Records_, chap. 2, no. 270, pp. 197-198]. In November, 1862, the Creeks had requested that Vore be made their agent and the appointment was conferred upon him the following May [Scott to Seddon, December 12, 1863, _Official Records_, vol. xxii, part ii, 1095]. The Creeks were inclined to be displeased at the delay, especially as they later had no reason to regret their choice [Moty Kanard to Davis, August 17, 1863. Ibid., 1107]. It was Cooper, apparently, who suggested sending up Vore to have him work upon the Creeks [Ibid., 1000].]

territorially in conjunction, and to consult with him he journeyed to Bonham.[862]

Viewed in the light of subsequent events, the journey was productive of more evil than good. With Steele absent, the command in Indian Territory devolved upon Cooper[863] and Cooper employed the occasion to ingratiate himself with the Indians, to increase his influence with them, and to undermine the man who he still insisted had supplanted him. When Steele returned from Texas he noticed very evident signs of insubordination. There were times when he found it almost impossible to locate Cooper within the limits of the command or to keep in touch with him. Cooper was displaying great activity, was making plans to recover Fort Smith, and conducting himself generally in a very independent way. October had, however, brought a change in the status of Fort Smith; for General Smith had completely detached the commands of Indian Territory and Arkansas from each other.[864] It was not to Holmes that Steele reported thenceforth but to Smith direct. Taken in connection with the need that soon arose, on account of the chaos in northern Texas, for McCulloch[865] to become absorbed in home affairs, the

[Footnote 862 His destination was apparently to be Shreveport, the department headquarters [Crosby to Bankhead, September 23, 1863. _Confederate Records_, chap. 2, no. 268. p. 251].]

[Footnote 863: Cooper's headquarters, in the interval, were to be at Fort Washita [Ibid.,], where a company of Bass's regiment had been placed in garrison [Duval to Cooper, July 15, 1863, Ibid., p. 145].]

[Footnote 864: _Official Records_, vol. xxii, part ii, 1045.]

[Footnote 865: McCulloch was being greatly embarrassed by the rapid spread of unionist sentiment and by desertions from his army. The expedient of furloughing was restarted to. To his credit, be it said, that no embarrassments, no dawning of the idea that he was fighting in a failing cause, could make him forget the ordinary dictates of humanity. His scornful repudiation of Quantrill and his methods was characteristic of the man. For that repudiation, see, particularly, McCulloch to Turner, October 22, 1863, Ibid., vol. xxvi. part ii, 348.]

separation from Arkansas left Indian Territory stranded.

Fort Smith, moreover, was about to become Blunt's headquarters and it was while he was engaged in transferring his effects from Fort Scott to that place that the massacre of Baxter Springs occurred, Blunt arriving upon the scene too late to prevent the murderous surprise having its full effect. The Baxter Springs massacre was another guerrilla outrage, perpetrated by Quantrill and his band[866] who, their bloody work accomplished at the Federal outpost, passed on down through the Cherokee Nation, killing outright whatever Indians or negroes they fell in with. It was their boast that they never burdened themselves with prisoners. The gang crossed the Arkansas about eighteen miles above Fort Gibson[867] and arrived at Cooper's camp on the Canadian, October twelfth.[868]

Scarcely had Blunt established his headquarters at Fort Smith, when political influences long hostile to him, Schofield at their head,[869] had accumulated force

[Footnote 866: Quantrill's bold dash from the Missouri to the Canadian had been projected in a spirit of bravado, deviltry, and downright savagery, and had undoubtedly been incited by the execution of Ewing's notorious order, _Number Eleven_ [_Official Records_, vol. xxii, part ii, 473]. That order, as modified by Schofield, had authorized the depopulating of those counties of Missouri, Jackson, Cass, Bates, and a part of Vernon, where the guerrillas were believed to have their chief recruiting stations and where secessionist feeling had always been dominant. It was at once retaliatory and precautionary and on a par with the instructions for the removal of the Acadians on the eve of the breaking out of the French and Indian War. The banished Missourians have, however, as yet found no Longfellow to sentimentalize over them or to idealize, in a story of _Evangeline_, their misfortunes and their character. History has been spared the consequent and inevitable distortion.]

[Footnote 867: Britton, _Civil War on the Border_, vol. ii, 224.]

[Footnote 868: Quantrill to Price, October 13, 1863, _Official Records_, vol. xxii, part i, 700-701.]

[Footnote 869: In the matter of domestic politics in Kansas, particularly as they were shaped by the excitement over the guerrilla outrages, Schofield belonged to the party of _Moderates_, "Paw Paws" as its members were called in derision, (cont.)]

sufficient to effect his removal. He was relieved, under Schofield's orders of October 19, and Brigadier-general John McNeil then assumed command of the District of the Frontier.[870] Colonel Phillips continued in charge at Fort Gibson,[871] his presence being somewhat of a reassurance to the Cherokees, who, appreciating Blunt's energetic administration, regretted his recall.[872]

Had the Federal Cherokees been authoritatively apprised of the real situation in the Indian Territory farther south, they need never have been anxious as to the safety of Fort Gibson. Steele's situation was peculiarly complex. As private personage and as commander he elicits commiseration. Small and incapable was his force,[873] intriguing and intractable were his

[Footnote 869: (cont.) and Blunt, like Lane, Wilder, and others, to that of the _Extremists_, or _Radicals_. Of the Extremists the "Red Legs" were the active wing, those who indulged in retaliatory and provocative outrages. Schofield's animosity against Blunt, to some extent richly deserved, amounted almost to a persecution. He instituted an investigation of the District of the Frontier and it was upon the basis of the findings of the committee of investigation that he ordered Blunt's retirement [Schofield to Townsend, October 3, 1863, _Official Records_, vol. xxii, part ii, 595-597; Blunt to Curtis, November 30, 1864, Ibid., vol. xli, part iv, 727-729]. For evidence of continued animosity see the correspondence of Champion Vaughan, Ibid., vol. xxii, part ii, 738, 742.]

[Footnote 870: _Official Records_, vol. xxii, part ii, 666.]

[Footnote 871: For the condition and movements of the Indian Brigade from November 20, 1863, to December 20, 1863, see _Daily Conservative_, January 3, 1864.]

[Footnote 872: The resolutions, commendatory of his work, to which Blunt refers in his letter to Curtis of November 30, were passed by the Cherokee National Council, October 20, 1863. The text of them is to be found, as also Chief Christie's letter of transmittal, in _Official Records_, vol. xxxiv, part ii, 790-791.]

[Footnote 873: Steele reported that on October first he had "Seminoles, 106; Chickasaws, 208; Creeks, 305; Choctaws, 1,024; Choctaw militia, 200, and whites, 999" [_Official Records_, vol. xxii, part i, 34]. Concerning the condition of his entire command, the best understanding can be obtained from the inspection report of Smith's assistant inspector-general, W.C. Schaumburg, [Ibid.,