most preliminary of steps towards the reorganization of his forces and
not much was he able to do until near the end of June. Two brigades
had been formed without difficulty and Cooper had secured his
division; but after that had come protracted delay. The nature of the
delay made it a not altogether bad thing since the days that passed
were days of stirring events. In the case of Stand Watie's First
Brigade no less than of Tandy Walker's Second were the events
distinguished by measurable success. The Indians were generally
in high good humor; for even small successes, when coupled with
appreciation of effort expended, will produce that. One adventure of
Watie's, most timely and a little out of the ordinary, had been very
exhilarating. It was the seizure of a supply boat on the Arkansas at
Pheasant Bluff, not far from the mouth of the Canadian up which the
boat was towed until its commissary stores had been extracted. The
boat was the Williams, bound for Fort Gibson.[949]
[Footnote 947: Williamson to Maxey, April 28, 1864, _Official
Records_, vol. xxxiv, part i, 845.]
[Footnote 948: It had not been Smith's intention that he should go
out of his own district, where his services were indispensable, until
Price's need should be found to be really urgent [Boggs to Maxey,
April 12, 1864, Ibid., part iii, 760-761].]
[Footnote 949: --Ibid., part i, 1011-1013; part iv, 686-687.]
It was under the inspiration of such recent victories that the
southern Indians took up for consideration the matter of reënlistment,
the expiration "of the present term of service" being near at hand.
Parts of the Second Brigade took action first and, on the twenty-third
of June, the First Choctaw Regiment unanimously reenlisted for the
war. Cooper was present at the meeting "by previous request."[950]
Resolutions[951] were drawn up and adopted that reflected the new
enthusiasm. Other Choctaw regiments were to be prevailed upon to
follow suit and the leading men of the tribe, inclusive of Chief
Garland who was not present, were to be informed that the First
Choctaw demanded of them, in their legislative and administrative
capacities "such co-operation as will force all able-bodied free
citizens of the Choctaw Nation, between the ages of eighteen and
forty-five years, and fitted for military service, to at once join the
army and aid in the common defense of the Choctaw Nation, and give
such other coöperation to the Confederate military authorities as will
effectually relieve our country from Federal rule and ruin."
The First Brigade was not behindhand except in point of time by a few
days. All Cherokee military units were summoned to Watie's camp
on Limestone Prairie.[952] The assemblage began its work on the
twenty-seventh of June, made it short and decisive and indicated it in
a single resolution:
Whereas, the final issue of the present struggle between the North
and South involves the destiny of the Indian Territory alike with
that of the Confederate States: Therefore,
_Resolved_, That we, the Cherokee Troops, C.S. Army, do
[Footnote 950: _Official Records_, vol. xxxiv, part iv, 694.]
[Footnote 951: --Ibid., 695.]
[Footnote 952: Stand Watie to Cooper, June 27, 1864, Ibid.,
part i, 1013.]
unanimously re-enlist as soldiers for the war, be it long or
short.[953]
No action was taken on the policy of conscription; but, in July, the
Cherokee National Council met and, to it, Chief Watie proposed the
enactment of a conscription law.[954]
As a corollary to reorganization, the three brigade plan was now put
tentatively into operation. It was, in truth, "a fine recruiting
order," and Commissioner Scott, when making his annual rounds in
August, was able to report to Secretary Seddon,
It is proposed to organize them into three brigades, to be called
the Cherokee, Choctaw, and Creek Brigades; the Cherokee Brigade,
composed of Cherokees, Chickasaws, and Osages, has already been
organized; the Creek Brigade, composed of Creeks and Seminoles, is
about being so, and the Choctaws anticipate no difficulty in
being able to raise the number of men required to complete the
organization of the Choctaw Brigade.[955]
Behind all this virility was General Maxey. Without him, it is safe to
say, the war for the Indians would have ended in the preceding winter.
In military achievements, others might equal or excel him but in
rulings[956] that endeared him to the Indians and in
[Footnote 953: _Official Records_, vol. xli, part ii, 1013.]
[Footnote 954: --Ibid., 1046-1047. The general council of the
confederated tribes had recommended an increase in the armed force of
Indian Territory and that it was felt could best be obtained, in these
days of wavering faith, only by conscription. The general council
was expected to meet again, July 20, at Chouteau's Trading House
[Ibid., 1047]. In October, the Chickasaws resorted to
conscription. For the text of the conscription act, see Ibid.,
vol. liii, supplement, 1024-1025.]
[Footnote 955:--Ibid., vol. xli, part ii, 1078. For additional
facts concerning the progress of reorganization, see Portlock to
Marston, August 5, 1864, _Confederate Records_, chap. 2, no. 259,
p. 37; Portlock to Captain E. Walworth, August 27, 1864, Ibid.,
pp. 42-43.]
[Footnote 956: The most significant of Maxey's rulings was that on
official precedence. His position was that no race or color line
should be drawn in determining (cont.)]
propaganda work he had no peer. At Fort Towson, his headquarters,
he had set up a printing press, from which issued many and many a
document, the purpose of each and every one the same. The following
quotation from one of Maxey's letters illustrates the purpose and, at
the same time, exhibits the methods and the temper of the man behind
it. The matter he was discussing when writing was the Camden campaign,
in connection with which, he said,
... In the address of General Smith the soldiers of Arkansas,
Missouri, Texas, and Louisiana are specially named. The soldiers
from this Territory bore an humbler part in the campaign, and
although they did not do a great deal, yet a fair share of the
killed, wounded, captured, and captured property and cannon can be
credited to them. I had a number of General Smith's address struck
off for circulation here, and knowing the omission would be
noticed and felt, I inserted after Louisiana, "and of the
Indian Territory," which I hope will not meet General Smith's
disapproval.
I would suggest that want of transportation in this Territory will
cripple movements very much....
During my absence General Cooper urged General McCulloch to help
him in this particular; General M. replies he can do "absolutely
nothing." I am not disposed to complain about anything, but I do
think this thing ought to be understood and regulated. Supplies
of breadstuffs and forage, as well as clothing, sugar, etc., all
having to be drawn from beyond the limits of this Territory, a
more than ordinary supply of transportation is necessary. To that
for the troops must be added that made necessary by the destitute
thrown on the hands of the Government and who must be taken care
of. I do not expect General Smith to investigate and study the
peculiar
[Footnote 956: (cont.) the relative rank of officers [Maxey to Cooper,
June 29, 1864, _Official Records_, vol. xxxiv, part iv, 698-699]
and he held that Confederate law recognized no distinction between
Indian and white officers of the same rank. Charles de Morse, a Texan,
with whom General Steele had had several differences, took great
exception to Maxey's decision. Race prejudice was strong in him. Had
there been many like him, the Indians, with any sense of dignity,
could never have continued long identified with the Confederate cause.
For De Morse's letter of protest, see Ibid., 699-700.]
characteristics of command here so closely as I have. He hasn't
the time, nor is it necessary. In my opinion no effort should be
spared to hold this country. Its loss would work a more permanent
injury than the loss of any State in the Confederacy. States can
be recovered--the Indian Territory, once gone, never. Whites, when
exiled by a cruel foe, find friends amongst their race; Indians
have nowhere to go. Let the enemy once occupy the country to Red
River and the Indians give way to despair. I doubt whether many of
the highest officials in our Government have ever closely studied
this subject. It is the great barrier to the empire State of the
South from her foe now and in peace. Let Federalism reach the Red
River, the effects will not stop there. The doctrine of _uti
possidetis_ may yet play an important part.
I believe from what I have heard that Mr. Davis has a fair
knowledge of this subject, and I think from conversations with
General Smith he has, but his whole time being occupied with his
immense department--an empire--I trust he will pardon me when I
say that no effort of commissaries, quartermasters, or anybody
else should be spared to hold this country, and I only regret that
it has not fallen into abler hands than mine....[957]
Military reorganization[958] for the Indian troops had, in reality,
come too late. Confederate warfare all along the frontier, in the
summer and autumn of 1864, was little more than a series of raids,
of which Price's Missouri was the greatest. For raiding, the best of
organization was never needed. Watie, Shelby, Price were all men of
the same stamp. Watie was the greatest of Indian raiders and his mere
name became almost as much of a terror as Quantrill's with which it
was frequently found associated, rightly or wrongly. Around Fort Smith
in July and farther north in August the Indian raided to good effect.
Usually, when he raided in the upper part of his own country, Federal
[Footnote 957: Maxey to Boggs, May 11, 1864, _Official Records_,
vol. xxxiv, part iii, 820.]
[Footnote 958: For progress reached in reorganization by October,
see orders issued by direction of Maxey, Ibid., vol. liii,
supplement, 1023.]
supply trains were his objective, but not always. The refugees were
coming back from Kansas and their new home beginnings were mercilessly
preyed upon by their Confederate fellow tribesmen, who felt for the
owners a vindictive hatred that knew no relenting.
Watie's last great raid was another Cabin Creek affair that reversed
the failure of two years before. It occurred in September and was
undertaken by Watie and Gano together, the former waiving rank in
favor of the latter for the time being.[959] A brilliant thing, it
was, so Maxey, and Smith's adjutant after him, reported.[960] The
booty taken was great in amount and as much as possible of it utilized
on the spot. Maxey regretted that the Choctaws were not on hand
also to be fitted out with much-needed clothing.[961] It was in
contemplation that Watie should make a raid into Kansas to serve as
a diversion, while Price was raiding Missouri.[962] The Kansans had
probably much to be thankful for that circumstances hindered his
penetrating far, since, at Cabin Creek, some of his men, becoming
intoxicated, committed horrible excesses and "slaughtered
indiscriminately."[963]
Had the force at Fort Gibson been at all adequate to the needs of the
country it was supposed to defend, such raids as Watie's would have
been an utter impossibility. Thanks to Federal indifference and
mismanagement, however, the safety of Indian Territory was
[Footnote 959: Cooper to T.M. Scott, October 1, 1864, _Official
Records_, vol. xli, part i, 783; Watie to T.B. Heiston, October 3,
1864, Ibid., 785.]
[Footnote 960:--Ibid., 793, 794. Cooper described it "as
brilliant as any one of the war" [Ibid., 783] and Maxey
confessed that he had long thought that movements of the raiding kind
were the most valuable for his district [Ibid., 777].]
[Footnote 961: Maxey to Boggs, October 9, 1864, Ibid., part
iii, 990.]
[Footnote 962: Cooper to Bell, October 6, 1864, Ibid.,
982-984.]
[Footnote 963: Curtis Johnson to W.H. Morris, September 20, 1864
[Ibid., part i, 774].]
of less consequence now than it had been before. The incorporation
with the Department of Arkansas and the consequent separation from
that of Kansas had been anything but a wise move. The relations of the
Indian country with the state in which its exiles had found refuge
were necessarily of the closest and particularly so at this time when
their return from exile was under way and almost over. For reasons
not exactly creditable to the government, when all was known, Colonel
Phillips had been removed from command at Fort Gibson. At the time of
Watie's raid, Colonel C.W. Adams was the incumbent of the post; but,
following it, came Colonel S.H. Wattles[964] and things went rapidly
from bad to worse. The grossest corruption prevailed and, in the
midst of plenty, there was positive want. Throughout the winter,
cattle-driving was indulged in, army men, government agents, and
civilians all participating. It was only the ex-refugee that faced
starvation. All other folk grew rich. Exploitation had succeeded
neglect and Indian Territory presented the spectacle of one of the
greatest scandals of the time; but its full story is not for recital
here.
Great as Maxey's services to Indian Territory had been and yet were,
he was not without his traducers and Cooper was chief among them, his
overweening
[Footnote 964: _Official Records_, vol. xli, part iii, 301.
Wattles was not at Fort Gibson a month before he was told to be
prepared to move even his Indian Brigade to Fort Smith [Ibid.,
part iv, 130]. The necessity for executing the order never arose,
although all the winter there was talk off and on of abandoning Fort
Gibson entirely, sometimes also there was talk of abandoning Fort
Smith. So weak had the two places been for a long time that Cooper
insisted there was no good reason why the Confederates should not
attempt to seize them. It is interesting that Thayer notified Wattles
to be prepared to move just when there was the greatest prospect of a
Confederate Indian raid into Kansas.]
ambition being still unsatisfied. In November, at a meeting of the
general council for the confederated tribes, Maxey spoke[965] in his
own defence and spoke eloquently; for his cause was righteous. General
Smith was his friend[966] in the sense that he had been Steele's;
but there soon came a time when even the department commander was
powerless to defend him further. Early in 1865, Cooper journeyed to
Richmond.[967] What he did there can be inferred from the fact that
orders were soon issued for him to relieve Maxey.[968] He assumed
command of the district he had so long coveted and had sacrificed
honor to get, March first,[969] General Smith disapproving of the
whole procedure. "The change," said he, "has not the concurrence of my
judgment, and I believe will not result beneficially."[970]
But Smith was mistaken in his prognostications. The change was not
just but it did work beneficially. Cooper knew how to manage the
Indians, none better, and the time was fast approaching when they
would need managing, if ever. As the absolute certainty of Confederate
defeat gradually dawned upon them, they became almost desperate.
They had to be handled very carefully lest they break out beyond all
restraint.[971]
[Footnote 965: _Official Records_, vol. xli, part iv, 1035-1037;
vol. liii, supplement, 1027.]
[Footnote 966: In July, 1864, orders issued from Richmond for the
retirement of Maxey and the elevation of Cooper [Ibid., part
ii, 1019]; but Smith held them in abeyance [Ibid., part
iii, 971]; for he believed that Maxey's "removal, besides being an
injustice to him, would be a misfortune to the department." The
suppression of the orders failed to meet the approval of the
authorities at Richmond and some time subsequent to the first of
October Smith was informed that the orders were "imperative and must
be carried into effect" [Ibid.,].]
[Footnote 967: _Official Records_, vol. xlviii, part i, 1382.]
[Footnote 968:--Ibid., 1403.]
[Footnote 969:--Ibid., 1408.]
[Footnote 970:--Ibid.]
[Footnote 971: The evidence for this is chiefly in Cooper's own letter
book. One published letter is especially valuable in this connection.
It is from Cooper (cont.)]
Phillips was again in charge of their northern compatriots[972] and,
at Fort Gibson, he, too, was handling Indians carefully. It was in a
final desperate sort of a way that a league with the Indians of the
Plains was again considered advisable and held for debate at the
coming meeting of the general council. To effect it, when decided
upon, the services of Albert Pike were solicited.[973] No other could
be trusted as he. Apparently he never served or agreed to serve[974]
and no alliance was needed; for the war was at an end. On the
twenty-sixth of May, General E. Kirby Smith entered into a convention
with Major-general E.R.S. Canby, commanding the Military Division
of West Mississippi, by which he agreed to surrender the
Trans-Mississippi Department and everything appertaining to it.[975]
The Indians had made an alliance with the Southern Confederacy in
vain. The promises of Pike, of Cooper, and of many another government
agent had all come to naught.
[Footnote 971: (cont.) confidentially to Anderson, May 15, 1865.
_Official Records_, vol. xlviii, part ii, 1306.]
[Footnote 972: For Phillips's own account of his reinstallment,
see his letter to Herron, January 16, 1865, Ibid., part i,
542-543.]
[Footnote 973: Smith to Pike, April 8, 1864, Ibid., part ii,
1266-1269. It was necessary to have someone else beside Throckmorton,
who was a Texan, serve; because the Indians of the Plains had a deep
distrust of Texas and of all Texans [Smith to Cooper, April 8, 1864,
Ibid., 1270-1271; and Smith to Throckmorton, April 8, 1864,
Ibid., 1271-1272].]
[Footnote 974: Smith issued him a commission however. See
Ibid., 1266.]
[Footnote 975:--Ibid., 604-606.]
APPENDIX
LITTLE ROCK,[976]
December 30, 1862.
SIR: My letters, in respectful terms, addressed to your Adjutant
General, when I re-assumed command of the Indian Country, late in
October, have not been fortunate enough to be honored with a reply.
This will reach you through another medium, and so that others besides
yourself shall know its contents. I am no longer an officer under
you, but a private citizen, and _free_, so far as any citizen of
Arkansas can call himself free while he lives in this State; and
I will see whether you are as impervious to _all_ other
considerations, as you are to all sense of courtesy and justice.
You were sent out to Arkansas with certain _positive_ orders,
which you were _immediately_ to enforce. You _knew_
that "Gen Hindman never was the commanding General of the Trans.
Mississippi Department," and was not sent there by the War Department;
and that, _therefore_ and _of course_, all his orders were
illegal, for want of power. You _knew_ that he never had any
right to interfere with my command in the Department of Indian
Territory, to take away my troops and ordnance, or to send me
_any_ orders whatever; and that _therefore_ I was
_wholly_ in the right, in all my controversy with him. You
_knew_, also, that in stripping the Indian Country of troops,
artillery, arms and ammunition, he had been guilty of multiplied
outrages, contrary to the will and policy of the President, forbidden
by the Secretary of War for the future, and hostile to the interests
of the Confederacy.
I had been advised by the Secretary of War, on the 14th of July,
before _you_ were unfortunately thought of [in] connection with
the Trans. Mississippi Department, that Gen. Magruder was assigned to
the command of it; and that although I would be under his command,
it was not doubted that my relations with him would be pleasant and
harmonious, and that I would have such latitude in command of the
Indian country, as might be necessary for me to
[Footnote 976: Scottish Rite Temple, Pike _Papers_.]
act to the best advantage in its defence. And by the same letter I was
advised, that it was regretted I had met with so many embarrassments
in procuring supplies; and that an order had been issued from the
Adjutant and Inspector General's Office, to prevent the pursuing of
such courses as I had complained of, in the seizure of what I had
procured; and the Secretary said it was to be hoped that neither I nor
any other officer would hereafter have cause to complain of supplies
being diverted from their legitimate destination. And that Gen.
Magruder might fully understand my position, &c., a copy of my letter
of 8th June, to General Hindman, stating in detail the plundering
process to which the Indian Service had before then been subjected,
was furnished to the former officer. Three several copies of this
letter were sent me, that it might be certain to reach me.
I do not repeat the substance of that letter, for _your_ benefit.
You have known it, no doubt, ever since you left Richmond. You told me
in August, that the War Department was fully informed in regard to the
matters between myself and Generals Van Dorn and Hindman. You spoke
it in the way of a taunt, and as if the Department justified them
and condemned me. You _meant_ me so to understand it. You are a
_very_ ingenious person; inasmuch as you _knew_ the exact
contrary to be true. When I afterwards received the Secretary's
letter, I remembered your remark, and did not doubt, and do not now
doubt, that when you were substituted for Gen. Magruder, you received
the same instructions that had been given _him_ and were yourself
furnished with a copy of the same letter, for the same purpose.
At all events, you were sent out to put an end to his outrages, and to
avert, if you could, the mischiefs about to spring from them. But when
you reached Little Rock, you found him there, and you found that the
troops, artillery, ammunition and stores that had reached and were on
their way there from the Indian Country, under his unrighteous orders,
_and which it was your duty to restore to me_, were too valuable
to be parted with, if that could be in any way avoided. Probably you
foresaw that you might, by and by need to seize money and supplies
procured by me. Twenty-six pieces of artillery, a supply of fixed
ammunition and other trifles, on hand, with $1,350,000 in money, and
over 6,000 suits of clothing in prospect, were the bait Hindman had to
tempt you withal; and for it you
sold your soul, as Faust sold his to Mephistopheles. Your Lieutenant
became your master; you found it convenient to believe his version
of every thing, and to justify him in every thing, and you ended in
making all his devilments your own, and adopting the whole infernal
spawn and brood, with additions of your own to the family.
You told me in August, that you had been prepared to judge me
favorably, until you read my address to the Indians on resigning my
command, but after that, you could not judge me fairly. I did not in
the least doubt the _fact_; but I did _not_ believe the
_reason_. What, moreover, had _you_ to _judge_ in
regard to _me_? You were not sent to _judge_ any body.
Hindman was the criminal you _were_ to operate upon.