Indian Territory, 1862 Part III: Battle of Old Fort Wayne

 

Newtonia Taken

Newtonia was a big battle in terms of the Trans-Mississippi and the victors were enthused. A history of Shelby’s cavalry claimed that their victory “was decisive.”[1] This was hardly the case. While Salomon had been roundly beaten, his defeat did nothing to halt Union operations. He had simply gotten far ahead of thousands of other troops under his superior blunt and under Totten. The next day, October 1, General Blunt arrived with reinforcements. Schofield also departed Springfield and caught up with Totten’s division. Schofield took charge and ordered Blunt and Totten’s divisions to converge on Newtonia with their 12,000 men. An attack was projected at dawn on October 4. Colonel Douglas Cooper, aware of the oncoming Federals, called on General Rains for reinforcements. Rains said none could arrive. On October 3 part of Shelby’s brigade rode out and captured a few pickets, only to learn that Totten’s division was bearing down on them. On the same day Rains ordered Cooper to withdraw from Newtonia.

Nearby at Granby, Major Buster, who had barely made it in time to participate in the battle of September 30, also encountered advance elements of the Union and put up a short fight before retreating to Newtonia. Buster could not find any superior officer and took command himself, ordering Howell to deploy. Shelby showed up and prepared a defense. The civilians who had found themselves in the center of the last fight heard what was coming and fled into the prairie with their valuables. As it turned out Shelby wisely decided to retreat and he and the others headed south. Thus the Confederates abandoned the town that they had fought so long and hard to keep just a few days earlier.[2] These events also undid the Confederate concentration in southwest Missouri. General Hindman now planned to collect his forces in Northern Arkansas and then return to its northern neighbor. In the meantime Blunt had his eyes on the Arkansas-Indian Territory border.

Indian Territory, 1862 Part I: The Summer Expedition

 

When it comes to the Civil War in Indian Territory, historians tend to gloss over or sometimes ignore the events between the Battle of Pea Ridge and the expedition of summer 1863. However there were many important developments in the territory during this period that saw momentum shift continually between the Union and Confederacy and also escalated various forms of violence within the territory. These events were also influenced by actions across the border in Missouri and Arkansas. This series covers three periods of Indian Territory, 1862. The first section covers the plight of Indian refugees in Kansas and the attempt to establish a strong Union presence in the summer of 1862. The second centers around the Battle of Newtonia, which was actually in Missouri, but saw heavy involvement by Indian troops. The third covers the Federal incursion of late 1862, which finally established a strong Union presence in the territory.

 

The Refugee Crisis

In the early days of the war in 1861, the Confederacy obtained alliances with most of the Indian peoples in Indian Territory. The issue was that, like the borderlands to the east, the inhabitants were deeply divided as to what course they should take. While most of the leadership sided with the Confederacy (they shared many cultural traits such as slavery), many favored the Union and others did not want to get involved at all. In a series of battles, Confederate Indians, backed by white troops from neighboring states, assaulted pro-Union Indians. Thousands of refugees escaped to Kansas in the midst of winter. The suffering exiles wanted to get back to their homes. Many within the Federal government and army were keen on seeing that happen.

Stand Watie's Raid and the Second Battle of Cabin Creek

 

This is the last of a series looking at the battles that involved the 1^st Kansas Colored Regiment. After their participation in the Camden Expedition (read here), they returned to garrison and fatigue duties. With a year still left in the war and their placement in war-torn Indian Territory, it was inevitable that they would experience more violence in some form. This occurred during a major raid of northern Indian Territory, conducted by Cherokee Colonel Stand Watie and the Texan General Richard Gano. This raid climaxed with an assault on a wagon train at Cabin Creek, the sight of a 1^st Kansas victory. Though this blog post is centered around the Second Battle of Cabin Creek, the 1^st Kansas was only present in two smaller, related incidents. The first was a fight and massacre at Flat Rock Creek and the second a brief encounter after the raid in which the infantry did not engage. For the historical background of Cabin Creek, I refer you to my post on the July battle there.

Back in Indian Territory, the men in the 1^st Kansas Colored found themselves working in hay collecting detachments. This hay fed the horses, mules, cows, and other animal essential for transporting supplies or providing food and milk. These detachments were constant targets of raids and many small fights ensued. In these casualty-light skirmishes, either the Federals drove off the mounted raiders with a few volleys or the Confederates got to the hay and set it on fire. Since the assailants came in small bands, the Federals were not prepared for any sizeable raiding force. This is one factor that would lead to disaster in September of 1864.[1]

 

Wagons for Indian Territory

Stand Watie

In three years of war, Indian Territory was in a bad place. Battles, raids, internecine violence, and theft had absolutely devastated the countryside. Most of the Indians still living in the warzone were soldiers themselves. The families of pro-Union soldiers sought refuge in Kansas and those on the other side went to Texas. Neutral Indians either tried to lay low or took refuge with the others. Thousands of pro-Union refugees remained in Indian Territory and clustered around Fort Gibson. This boosted the logistical drain on the Union’s Trans-Mississippi forces and necessitated continual supply runs. In the summer of 1864 the Arkansas River flooded, enabling steamboats to travel in. This was a swifter alternative to long, dragging wagon trains.[2]

Both sides found themselves in straitened circumstances, but the Confederates had the worst of it. Their morale throughout Indian Territory was at an all-time low. Desertions occurred at an alarming rate, and so many of the quitters were going over to join the Union side that one general groused it would be better to simply hunt them down and kill them as soon as they ran off. [3] Desperate to turn things around, Colonel Stand Watie, the head of the pro-Confederate Cherokees, had been pushing for a major raid since the start of the 1864. One officer, reporting the Indian’s request “to create a diversion with the enemy” between Forts Smith and Gibson, commented, “This has been a favorite expedition with Colonel Watie for some time.”[4]

The Scalpings at Pea Ridge

The involvement of American Indians in the Civil War is a subject that has gradually gotten more attention in recent years. One incident with them, however, has long had a place in the American consciousness, albeit an incident reduced to an amusing or exotic anecdote to a lesser-known major battle in the West. The Battle of Pea Ridge, fought from March 7-8, was the largest battle west of the Mississippi River and also the largest to involve Indian units. Nearly 900 Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, and Chickasaw Indians marched out of Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma) to fight alongside Confederate units. After the Battle of Pea Ridge these Indian troops became the center of a controversy: the mutilation and scalping of killed and wounded Federal soldiers.

Historians have identified the culprits of these mutilations as the two Cherokee Regiments, the 1^st Cherokee Mounted Rifles under Colonel John Drew and the 2^nd Cherokee Mounted Rifles under Colonel Stand Watie. To understand why these Indians joined ranks with the Confederates, one would have to go back decades to the removal of Cherokees from their land in northwestern Georgia. The controversial treaties and resultant Trail of Tears towards the designated Indian Territory created antagonistic political divisions within the Cherokee Nation. On one side was Stand Watie and the Southern Rights Party. The Southern Rights Party consisted mostly of mixed-blood Cherokees who supported black slavery (which was practiced in the Cherokee Nation). With ties to white southern families and wealthier social status, they held significant political influence and were naturally inclined to pitch in with the Confederacy. On the other side was the National or Pin Party. Its members were more likely to be full-blooded Cherokees and more hostile to the idea of slavery. Ironically Stand Watie, the most prominent member of the Southern Rights Party, was three-quarters Cherokee while President John Ross, who relied on the support of the Pins and opposed an alliance with the Confederacy, was mostly white and a slaveholder himself. These two factions had in the past engaged in vicious blood feuds within Indian Territory. Wishing to end the fractious bloodshed and preserve his people, John Ross was able to soothe tensions with a general amnesty.[1] The divisions remained, however, and the Southern Rights Party eventually maneuvered the Cherokee Nation into the Confederate camp.

The First Battle of Cabin Creek (June 30-July 2, 1863)

 

This is something of a follow-up to my post on the Battle of Island Mound. This covers the next significant battle of the 1^st Kansas at Cabin Creek. Though I am going through the regiment’s battles, this post is not primarily focused on them outside the opening. While the Battle of Cabin Creek saw more men and had more significance in a strategic sense, I actually found even less information on the fighting itself then I did on Island Mound.  Thus this is more of a prelude on a planned future post covering the Battle of Honey Springs.

 

The 1^st Kansas Joins the U.S. Army

After Island Mound, the 1^st Kansas Colored Regiment saw no action for a long while. It still experienced a major event at the start of 1863. Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation went into effect. This proclamation declared all slaves in rebellious territories free and further authorized the use of black soldiers in the armed services. The 1^st Kansas Colored Regiment was now officially recognized as part of the US Army and would also receive Federal pay. On January 8 Brigadier-General General James G. Blunt, who was assigned command of the Department of Kansas and was expected to deal with the mostly Confederate-held Indian Territory, personally inspected the regiment at Fort Scott. The order and discipline of the soldiers impressed him and Blunt determined to utilize them when for his major 1863 campaign.