The American Indian as Participant in the Civil War

By Annie Heloise Abel, Ph.D.

Professor of History, Smith College

1919

XIII. ASPECTS, CHIEFLY MILITARY, 1864-1865

The assignment of General Maxey to the command of Indian Territory
invigorated Confederate administration north of the Red River, the
only part of the country in undisputed occupancy. Close upon the
assumption of his new duties, came a project[897] for sweeping
reforms, involving army reorganization, camps of instruction for the
Indian soldiery, a more general enlistment, virtually conscription, of
Indians--this upon the theory that "Whosoever is not for us is against
us"--the selection of more competent and reliable staff officers, and
the adoption of such a plan of offensive operations as would mean the
retaking of Forts Smith and Gibson.[898] To Maxey, thoroughly familiar
with the geography of the region, the surrender of those two places
appeared as a gross error in military technique; for the Arkansas
River was a natural line of defence, the Red was not. "If the Indian
Territory gives way," argued he, "the granary of the Trans-Mississippi
Department, the breadstuffs, and beef of this and the Arkansas army
are gone, the left flank of Holmes' army is turned, and with it not
only the meat and bread, but the salt and iron of what is left of the
Trans-Mississippi Department."[899]

[Footnote 897: Maxey to Anderson, January 12, 1864, _Official
Records_, vol. xxxiv, part ii, 856-858.]

[Footnote 898: To this list might be added the proper fitting out of
the troops, which was one of the first things that Maxey called to
Smith's attention [Ibid., vol. xxii, part ii, 1112-1113].]

[Footnote 899: This idea met with Smith's full approval [Ibid.,
vol. xxxiv, part ii, 918].]

Army reorganization was an immense proposition and was bound to be a
difficult undertaking under the most favorable of auspices, yet it
stood as fundamental to everything else. Upon what lines ought it to
proceed? One possibility was, the formation of the two brigades, with
Stand Watie and Cooper individually in command, which had already been
suggested to General Smith and favored by him; but which had recently
been found incompatible with his latest recommendation that all the
Indian troops should be commanded, _in toto_, by Cooper.[900] One
feature of great importance in its favor it had in that it did not
ostensibly run counter to the Indian understanding of their treaties
that white troops should be always associated with Indian in the
guaranteed protection of the Indian country, which was all very well
but scarcely enough to balance an insuperable objection, which Cooper,
when consulted, pointed out.[901] The Indians had a strong aversion
to any military consolidation that involved the elimination of their
separate tribal characters. They had allied themselves with the
Confederacy as nations and as nations they wished to fight. Moreover,
due regard ought always to be given, argued Cooper, to their tribal
prejudices, their preferences, call them what one will, and to their
historical neighborhood alliances. Choctaws and Chickasaws might well
stay together and Creeks and Seminoles; but woe betide the contrivance
that should attempt the amalgamation of Choctaws and Cherokees.

[Footnote 900: This is given upon the authority of Maxey [_Official
Records_, vol. xxxiv, part ii, 857]. It seems slightly at variance
with Smith's own official statements. Smith would appear to have
entertained a deep distrust of Cooper, whose promotion he did not
regard as either "wise or necessary" [Ibid., vol. xxii, part
ii, 1102].]

[Footnote 901: Cooper to T.M. Scott, January, 1864 [Ibid., vol.
xxxiv, part ii, 859-862].]

[Illustration: FACSIMILE OF MONTHLY INSPECTION REPORT OF THE FIRST
CREEK REGIMENT OF MOUNTED VOLUNTEERS.]

It seems a little strange that the Indians should so emphasize their
national individualism at this particular time, inasmuch as six of
them, the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Cherokee, Creek, Seminole, and Caddo,
professing to be still in strict alliance with the Southern States,
had formed an Indian confederacy, had collectively re-asserted their
allegiance, pledged their continued support, and made reciprocal
demands. All these things they had done in a joint, or general,
council, which had been held at Armstrong Academy the previous
November. Resolutions of the council, embodying the collective pledges
and demands, were even at this very moment under consideration by
President Davis and were having not a little to do with his attitude
toward the whole Maxey programme.

In the matter of army reorganization, Smith was prepared to concede
to Maxey a large discretion.[902] The brigading that would most
comfortably fit in with the nationalistic feelings of the Indians and,
at the same time, accord, in spirit, with treaty obligations and also
make it possible for Cooper to have a supreme command of the Indian
forces in the field was that which Cooper himself advocated, the same
that Boudinot took occasion, at this juncture, to urge upon President
Davis.[903] It was a plan for three distinct Indian brigades, a
Cherokee, a Creek-Seminole, and a Choctaw-Chickasaw. Maxey thought "it
would be a fine recruiting order,"[904] yet, notwithstanding, he gave
his

[Footnote 902: _Official Records_, vol. xxxiv, part ii, 917.]

[Footnote 903: Boudinot to Davis, January 4, 1864 [Ibid., vol.
liii, supplement, 920-921]. Boudinot also suggested other things, some
good, some bad. He suggested, for instance, that Indian Territory be
attached to Missouri and Price put in command. Seddon doubted if Price
would care for the place [Ibid., 921].]

[Footnote 904:--Ibid., vol. xxxiv, part ii, 858.]

preference for the two brigade plan.[905] The promotion of Cooper,
implicit in the three brigade plan, was not at all pleasing to General
Smith; for he thought of it as reflecting upon Steele, whom he loyally
described as having "labored conscientiously and faithfully in
the discharge of his duties."[906] With Steele removed from the
scene[907]--and he was soon removed for he had been retained in the
Indian country only that Maxey might have for a brief season the
benefit of his experience[908]--the case was altered and Boudinot
again pressed his point,[909] obtaining, finally, the assurance of
the War Department that so soon as the number of Indian regiments
justified the organization of three brigades they should be
formed.[910]

The formation of brigades was only one of the Indian demands that had
emanated from the general council. Another was, the establishment of
Indian Territory as a military department, an arrangement altogether
inadvisable and for better reasons than the one reason that Davis
offered when he addressed the united nations through their principal
chiefs on the twenty-second of February.[911] Davis's reason was that

[Footnote 905: Maxey to Smith, January 15, 1864, _Official
Records_, vol. xxxiv, part ii, 875.]

[Footnote 906:--Ibid., vol. xxii, part ii, 1101-1102.]

[Footnote 907:--Ibid., vol. xxxiv, part ii, 845, 848.]

[Footnote 908: So Smith explained [Ibid., 845], when Steele
objected to staying in the Indian Territory in a subordinate capacity
[Ibid., vol. xxii, part ii, 1108]. Steele was transferred to
the District of Texas [Ibid., vol. xxxiv, part ii, 961]. The
withdrawal of Steele left Cooper the ranking officer and the person on
whom such a command, if created, would fall [Ibid., vol. liii,
supplement, 968-969].]

[Footnote 909: Boudinot to Davis, February 11, 1864, Ibid.,
968.]

[Footnote 910: Seddon to Davis, February 22, 1864, Ibid.,
968-969.]

[Footnote 911: Richardson, _Messages and Papers of the
Confederacy_, vol. i, 477-479; _Official Records_, vol. xxxiv,
part iii, 824-825. Davis addressed the chiefs and not the delegation
that had brought the resolutions [Ibid., vol. liii, supplement,
1030-1031]. John Jumper, Seminole principal chief, was a member of the
delegation.]

as a separate department Indian Territory could not count upon the
protection of the forces belonging to the Trans-Mississippi Department
that was assured to her while she remained one of its integral parts.
A distinct military district she should certainly be.

When Davis wrote, the ambition of Cooper had, in a measure, been
satisfied; for he had been put in command of all "the Indian troops in
the Trans-Mississippi Department on the borders of Arkansas."[912] It
was by no means all he wanted or all that he felt himself entitled to
and he soon let it be known that such was the state of affairs. He
tried to presume upon the fact that his commission as superintendent
of Indian affairs had issued from the government, although never
actually delivered to him, and, in virtue of it, he was in military
command.[913] The quietus came from General Smith, who informed Cooper
that his new command and he himself were under Maxey.[914]

It was hoped that prospective Indian brigades would be a powerful
incentive to Indian enlistment and so they proved. Moreover, much
was expected in that direction from the reassembling of the general
council at Armstrong Academy, and much had to be; for the times were
critical. Maxey's position was not likely to be a sinecure. As a
friend wrote him,

Northern Texas and the Indian Department have been neglected
so long that they have become the most difficult and the most
responsible commands in the Trans-Mississippi Department. I
tremble for you. A great name is in store for you or you fall into
the rank of failures; the latter may be your

[Footnote 912: _Official Records_, vol. xxxiv, part ii, 848;
Special Orders of the Adjutant and Inspector General's Office, 1864,
_Confederate Records_, no. 7, p. 15.]

[Footnote 913: Cooper to Davis, February 29, 1864, _Official
Records_, vol. xxxiv, part ii, 1007.]

[Footnote 914:--Ibid., 1008.]

fate, and might be the fate of any man, even after an entire and
perfect devotion of all one's time and talent, for want of
the proper means. In military matters these things are never
considered. Success is the only criterion--a good rule, upon the
whole, though in many instances it works great injustice. Good
and deserving men fall, and accidental heroes rise in the scale,
kicking their less fortunate brothers from the platform.[915]

With a view to strengthening the Indian alliance and accomplishing
all that was necessary to make it effective, Commissioner Scott was
ordered by Seddon to attend the meeting of the general council.[916]
Unfortunately, he did not arrive at Armstrong Academy in time, most
unfortunately, in fact, since he was expected to bring funds with
him and funds were sadly needed. Maxey attended and delivered an
address[917] that rallied the Indians in spite of themselves. In
council meeting they had many things to consider, whether or no they
should insist upon confining their operations henceforth to their own
country. Some were for making a raid into Kansas, some for forming an
alliance with the Indians of the Plains,[918] who, during this year
of 1864, were to prove a veritable thorn in the flesh to Kansas and
Colorado.[919] As regarded some of the work of the general council,
Samuel Garland, the principal chief of the Choctaws, proved a huge
stumbling block,

[Footnote 915: S.A. Roberts to Maxey, February 1, 1864, _Official
Records_, vol. xxxiv, part ii, 936-937.]

[Footnote 916: Seddon to Scott, January 6, 1864, Ibid.,
828-829.]

[Footnote 917: Moty Kanard, late principal chief of the Creek
Nation, spoke of it as a _noble_ address and begged for a copy
[Ibid., 960].]

[Footnote 918: Vore to Maxey, January 29, 1864, Ibid., 928;
Maxey to Anderson, February 9, 1864, Ibid., 958; same to same,
February 7, 1864, Ibid., vol. liii, supplement, 963-966.]

[Footnote 919: Inasmuch as the alliance with the Indians of the Plains
was never fully consummated and inasmuch as these Indians harassed and
devastated the frontier states for reasons quite foreign to the causes
of the Civil War, the subject of their depredations and outrages is
not considered as within the scope of the present volume.]

and Cooper was forced, so he said, to "put the members of the grand
council to work on" him.[920] It was Cooper's wish, evidently, that
the council would "insist under the Indian compact that all Choctaw
troops shall be put at once in the field as regular Confederate troops
for the redemption and defense of the whole Indian Territory." The
obstinacy of the Choctaw principal chief had to be overcome in order
"to bring out the Third Choctaw Regiment speedily and on the proper
basis." In general, the council reiterated its recommendations of
November previous and so Boudinot informed President Davis,[921] it
being with him the opportunity he coveted of urging, as already noted,
the promotion of Cooper to a major-generalship.

In January and so anterior to most of the foregoing incidents, the
shaking of the political dice in Washington, D.C., had brought again
into existence the old Department of Kansas, Curtis in command.[922]
Its limits were peculiar for they included Indian Territory[923] and
the military post of Fort Smith as well as Kansas and the territories
of Nebraska and Colorado. The status of Fort Smith was a question for
the future to decide; but, in the meantime, it was to be a bone of
contention between Curtis and his colleague, Frederick Steele, in
command of the sister Department of

[Footnote 920: Cooper to Maxey, February, 1864, _Official
Records_, vol. xxxiv, part ii, 959. The report reached Phillips
that the Choctaws wanted a confederacy quite independent of the
southern [Ibid., part i, 107].]

[Footnote 921: Although Davis's address of February 22 could well,
in point of chronology, have been an answer to the applications and
recommendations of the second session of the general council, it
has been dealt with in connection with those of the first session,
notwithstanding that Boudinot made his appeal less than a fortnight
before Davis wrote. In his address, Davis specifically mentioned the
work of the first session and made no reference whatsoever to that of
the second.]

[Footnote 922: _Official Records_, vol. xxxiv, part ii, 10.]

[Footnote 923: Ewing wanted the command of Indian Territory,
Ibid., 89.]

Arkansas; for Steele had control over all Federal forces within the
political and geographical boundaries of the state that gave the name
to his department except the Fort Smith garrison.[924] The termination
of Schofield's career in Missouri[925] was another result of political
dice-throwing, so also was the call for Blunt to repair to the
national capital for a conference.[926]

But politics had nothing whatever to do with an event more notable
still. With the first of February began one of the most remarkable
expeditions that had yet been undertaken in the Indian country. It
was an expedition conducted by Colonel William A. Phillips and it was
remarkable because, while it professed to have for its object the
cleaning out of Indian Territory,[927] its incidents were as much
diplomatic and pacific as military. Its course was only feebly
obstructed and might have been extended into northern Texas had
Moonlight of the Fourteenth Kansas Cavalry chosen to cooeperate.[928]
As it was, the course was southward almost to Fort Washita.
Phillips carried with him copies of President Lincoln's Amnesty
Proclamation[929] and he distributed them freely. His interpretation
of the proclamation was his own and perhaps not strictly warranted by
the phraseology but justice and generosity debarred his seeing why
magnanimity and forgiveness should not be extended betimes to the poor
deluded red man as much as to the deliberately rebellious white. To
various prominent chiefs

[Footnote 924: _Official Records_, vol. xxxiv, part ii, 167,
187.]

[Footnote 925:--Ibid., 188.]

[Footnote 926: Lane, Wilder, and Dole, requested that Blunt be
summoned to Washington [Ibid., 52].]

[Footnote 927: See Phillips's address to his soldiers, January 30,
1864, Ibid., 190.]

[Footnote 928: Phillips to Curtis, February 16, 1864, Ibid.,
part i, 106-108.]

[Footnote 929: Richardson, _Messages and Papers of the
Presidents_, vol. vi, 213-215.]

of secessionist persuasion he sent messages of encouragement and
good-will.[930] More sanguine than circumstances really justified, he
returned to report that, for some of the tribes at least, the war was
virtually over.[931] What his peace mission may have accomplished, the
future would reveal; but there was no doubting what his raid had done.
It had produced consternation among the weaker elements. The Creeks,
the Seminoles, and the Chickasaws had widely dispersed, some into the
fastnesses of the mountains. Only the Choctaws continued obdurate
and defiant. It was strange that Phillips should have arrived at
conclusions so sweeping; for his course[932] had led him within
hearing range of the general council in session at Armstrong Academy
and there the division of sentiment was not so much along tribal lines
as along individual. Strong personalities triumphed; for, as Maxey so
truly divined, the Indian nations were after all aristocracies. The
minority really ruled. At Armstrong Academy, in spite of tendencies
toward an isolation that, in effect, would have been neutrality and,
on the part of a few, toward a definite retracing of steps, the
southern Indians renewed their pledges of loyalty to the Confederacy.
Phillips's olive branch was in their hands and they threw it aside.
Months before they might have been secured for the North but not now.
For them the hour of wavering was past. Maxey's vigor was stimulating.

[Footnote 930: To Governor Colbert of the Chickasaw Nation
[_Official Records_, vol. xxxiv, part i, 109-110], to the Council
of the Choctaw Nation [Ibid., 110], to John Jumper of the
Seminole Nation [Ibid., 111], to McIntosh, possibly D.N.
[Ibid., part ii, 997]. For Maxey's comments upon Phillips and
his letters, see Maxey to Smith, February 26, 1864, Ibid.,
994-997.]

[Footnote 931: Phillips to Curtis, February 24, 1864, Ibid.,
part i, 108-109.]

[Footnote 932: For the itinerary of the course, see Ibid.,
111-112.]

The explanation of Phillips's whole proceeding during the month of
February is to be found in his genuine friendship for the Indian,
which eventually profited him much, it is true, but, from this time
henceforth, was lifelong. He stood in somewhat of a contrast to Blunt,
whom General Steele thought unprincipled[933] and who in Southern
parlance was "an old land speculator,"[934] and to Curtis, who was
soon to show himself, as far as the Indians were concerned, in his
true colors. While Phillips was absent from Fort Gibson, Curtis
arrived there. He was making a reconnoissance of his command and, as
he passed over one reservation after another, he doubtless coveted the
Indian land for white settlement and justified to himself a scheme
of forfeiture as a way of penalizing the red men for their
defection.[935] Phillips was not encouraged to repeat his peace
mission.

Blunt's journey to Washington had results, complimentary and
gratifying to his vanity because publicly vindicatory. On the
twenty-seventh of February he was restored to his old command or, to
be exact, ordered "to resume command of so much of the District of the
Frontier as is included within the boundaries of the Department of
Kansas."[936] His headquarters were at Fort Smith and immediately
began the controversy between him and Thayer, although scornfully
unacknowledged by Thayer, as to the status of Fort Smith. Thayer
refused to admit that there could be any issue[937] between them for
the law in the case was clear. What Blunt and Curtis really wanted was
to get hold of the

[Footnote 933: F. Steele to S. Breck, March 27, 1864, _Official
Records_, vol. xxxiv, part ii, 751.]

[Footnote 934: T.M. Scott to Maxey, April 12, 1864, Ibid., part
iii, 762.]

[Footnote 935: This matter is very much generalized here for the
reason that it properly belongs in the volume on reconstruction that
is yet to come.]

[Footnote 936: February 23, 1864, _Official Records_, vol. xxxiv,
part ii, 408.]

[Footnote 937: John M. Thayer to Charles A. Dana, March 15, 1864,
Ibid., 617.]

western counties of Arkansas[938] so as to round out the Department of
Kansas. To them it was absurd that Fort Smith should be within their
jurisdiction and its environs within Steele and Thayer's. The upshot
of the quarrel was, the reorganization of the frontier departments on
the seventeenth of April which gave Fort Smith and Indian Territory to
the Department of Arkansas[939] and sent Blunt back to Leavenworth.
His removal from Fort Smith, especially as Curtis had intended, had
no change in department limits been made, to transfer Blunt's
headquarters to Fort Gibson,[940] was an immense relief to Phillips.
Blunt and Phillips had long since ceased to have harmonious views with
respect to Indian Territory. During his short term of power, Blunt had
managed so to deplete Phillips's forces that two of the three Indian
regiments were practically all that now remained to him since one, the
Second Indian Home Guards, had been permanently stationed at Mackey's
Salt Works on the plea that its colonel, John Ritchie, was Phillips's
ranking officer and it was not expedient that he and Phillips "should
operate together."[941] Blunt had detached also a part of the Third
Indian and had placed it at Scullyville as an outpost to Fort Smith.
There were to be no more advances southward for Phillips.[942] Instead
of making them he was to occupy himself with the completion of the
fortifications at Fort Gibson.[943]

[Footnote 938: Thayer to Grant, March 11, 1864, _Official
Records_, vol. xxxiv, part ii, 566.]

[Footnote 939:--Ibid., part iii, 192, 196.]

[Footnote 940:--Ibid., part ii, 651. Blunt would have preferred
Scullyville [Ibid., part iii, 13].]

[Footnote 941: Blunt to Curtis, March 30, 1864, Ibid., part ii,
791.]

[Footnote 942: Blunt to Phillips, April 3, 1864, Ibid., part
iii, 32; Phillips to Curtis, April 5, 1864, Ibid., 52-53.]

[Footnote 943: Curtis had ordered the completion of the fortifications
which might be taken to imply that he too was not favoring a forward
policy.]

Among the southern Indians, Maxey's reconstruction policy was all this
time having its effect. It was revitalizing the Indian alliance with
the Confederacy, but army conditions were yet a long way from being
satisfactory. In March Price relieved Holmes in command of the
District of Arkansas.[944] A vigorous campaign was in prospect and
Price asked for all the help the department commander could afford
him. The District of Indian Territory had forces and of all the
disposable Price asked the loan. Maxey, unlike his predecessors, was
more than willing to cooeperate but one difficulty, which he would fain
have ignored himself--for he was not an Albert Pike--he was compelled
to report. The Indians had to be free, absolutely free, to go or to
stay.[945] The choice of cooeperating was theirs but theirs also the
power to refuse to cooeperate, if they so desired, and no questions
asked. The day had passed when Arkansans or Texans could decide the
matter arbitrarily. Watie was expected to prefer to continue the
irregular warfare that he and Adair, his colonel of scouts, had so
successfully been waging for a goodly time now. Formerly, they
had waged it to Steele's great annoyance;[946] but Maxey felt no
repugnance to the services of Quantrill, so, of course, had nothing to
say in disparagement of the work of Watie. It was the kind of work, he
frankly admitted he thought the Indians best adapted to. The Choctaws
under Tandy Walker were found quite willing to cross the line and
they did excellent service in the Camden campaign, which, both in the
cannonade near Prairie d'Ane on the thirteenth of April and in the
Battle of Poison Spring on the

[Footnote 944: _Official Records_, vol. xxxiv, part ii, 1034,
1036.]

[Footnote 945: Maxey to Smith, April 3, 1864, Ibid., part iii,
728-729.]

[Footnote 946: For Steele's opposition to Adair's predatory movements,
see _Confederate Records_, chap. 2, nos. 267, 268.]

eighteenth of April, offered a thorough test of what Indians could do
when well disciplined, well officered, and well considered. The Indian
reinforcement of Marmaduke was ungrudgingly given and ungrudgingly
commended.[947] The Camden campaign was short and, when about over,
Maxey was released from duty with Price's army. His own district
demanded attention[948] and the Indians recrossed the line.

Price's call for help had come before Maxey had taken more than the
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 reenlistment,
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 cooeperation 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.]