The Turning Point

In April 1863, Colonel Phillips received the command that he had been waiting for -- the Union Army was to advance in force into Indian Territory and attempt to seize it so that the refugees could return home in time to get that year's crop in. The refugees were, by this time, in dire straits, having both depleted material resources from the surrounding area and taxed the welfare and generosity of the people of Kansas. In addition, typhus and smallpox were spreading among the Indians, and the Federal officials feared a wider epidemic. General Blunt ordered Phillips' Indian Home Guard Units, which now numbered five, to return to the Indian Territory taking all of the refugees with them.¹⁷⁵

On May 2, 1863, the Kansas First Colored Volunteers were ordered by General James Blunt to occupy a position at Baxter Springs, formerly the home of the refugees and within a day's ride from Indian Territory, for the expressed purpose of protecting Colonel Phillips's supply lines.¹⁷⁶ The Indian Home Guard had easily taken Fort Gibson in northeastern Indian Territory and established a post there. The "Texas Road," which Williams's troops protected, was a vital link in the Union line.¹⁷⁷ The Federal troops of the Indian Home Guard and the First Colored Volunteers, camped within twenty miles of each other, protected the refugees. Federal authorities, being confident of their safety, had returned the refugees to Indian Territory and asked them to attempt to return to their previous lives.

The troops of the Knights of the Golden Circle, still a force to be reckoned with in the Nation, were angry and frustrated. Stand Watie addressed his troops at Webbers Falls in late April "with a heavy heart, for evil times have come upon our country," noting that "disaster upon disaster has followed the Confederate arms in the Cherokee country."¹⁷⁸ Watie had sought to break up the January council of Keetoowah at Cowskin Prairie, but had been deterred by the presence of Phillips and Federal troops. The Federal troops now occupied several strategic positions adjacent to the Nation and had provided for the return of the loyal Cherokee and the recovery of at least a part of the Nation.

Even as Watie spoke, Federal troops were marching on his position. He had planned to have a Confederate Cherokee National Council the following morning to reelect a Principal Chief and to discuss the military situation in the Cherokee Nation. At dawn on April 25, 1863, the Keetoowah under the leadership of Colonel Phillips, having conducted a night march, attacked Watie's position and, again catching the Knights in the bedclothes, sent them scurrying with hardly a shot being fired. The Confederate Cherokee National Council was not held.¹⁷⁹

Shortly after the disruption of the Confederate Cherokee National Council, the Keetoowah National Council held a second meeting and followed up on the abolition of slavery with what historian William G. McLoughlin referred to as "one of the most controversial acts of the war."¹⁸⁰ The Council authorized the confiscation and sale of all personal property and improvements owned by those who were "disloyal" to the Cherokee Nation by their actions on behalf of the rebellion. The purpose of the act was to recover land stolen or destroyed by Confederate soldiers and to provide for the relief and assistance of the returning refugees.

However, the confiscation act can also be seen as an attempt to mitigate against the "progressive" influences in the Nation, such as mercantile capitalism, plantation agriculture, individualism, and racial polarization. Even William G. McLoughlin refers to the act as "an effort to redistribute the wealth by the Keetoowah who dominated the Indian Home Guard regiments."¹⁸¹ He also stated the intent of the Keetoowah was to inform the wealthy Cherokee that "they would no longer enjoy the large homes and plantations they had possessed before."¹⁸² These intents may be true, but they are also consistent with the "old ways" to which the Keetoowah were dedicated.¹⁸³

At the same time, in spite of the proximity of Federal troops, another kind of confiscation was going on,

Stand Watie and his nearly one thousand Confederate troops were able to take advantage of the fact that Federal troops, in spite of their force of arms, could not be in all places at all times. With the men enlisted in the army, the farms were managed by women and children who proved easy prey for the Confederate forces. Something had to be done.

On June 26, 1863, the First Kansas Colored Volunteers Infantry Regiment made its way from Baxter Springs into Indian Territory, where Major John Foreman and the Indian Home Guard from nearby Neosho joined it. On July 2, 1863, Major Foreman, commander of the point, sent back a message to Williams, the officer in charge, that the Indian Home Guard had encountered an undetermined number of Confederate troops under the leadership of Stand Watie. That evening, as General Lee planned his assault on the Federal position on Cemetery Ridge at Gettysburg, Colonel Williams planned his assault upon the Confederate Cherokee at Cabin Creek.¹⁸⁵

The following morning, the Confederate soldiers looked out across their lines to see a dense formation of Federal troops, caissons, and artillery. Marching from out of the midst of this mass came a long line of black and Indian troops bearing the colors and uniforms of the United States of America. Major Foreman and the Third Indian Home Guard led the assault; they jumped to their feet, yelling and screaming. Carrying their weapons above their heads, they attempted to ford the creek that separated them from the Confederate troops. A surprise Confederate musket barrage caught the vulnerable Keetoowah and they took heavy losses; twice Confederate muskets shot Major Foreman and his horse was shot out from under him. Losses were heavy, and losing Foreman was a serious blow for the Native American troops; they retired back across the creek.

The First Kansas Colored Volunteers pushed forward from behind the Native Americans and assumed the Third Indian Home Guard's former positions, advancing across the creek. A second company opened up upon the Confederate troops, forcing them down behind their entrenchment and protected the oncoming African-American troops. The black regiment quickly broke the Southern earthworks and secured the far bank. The black soldiers then separated, and a cavalry assault from the Ninth Kansas Cavalry regiment swelled up from the midst of the infantry as the First Kansas provided supporting fire. The Confederate line broke under the ferocious assault and the Confederate Cherokee fled as the Federal troops pursued them for nearly five miles.

With a force of only 900 men, Colonel Williams and his rainbow army had defeated a Confederate force more than twice its size. His losses were one black soldier killed and twenty soldiers wounded. Confederate losses were estimated at fifty killed, fifty wounded, and nine prisoners taken. Going into the battle, the Federal troops knew that if they did not win that there would be no quarter given nor prisoners taken when colored troops were involved in an engagement. Following the battle, the "morale was high, the step lively, and the spirit of soldierly unity grew."¹⁸⁶ In another part of the world, Gettysburg and Vicksburg fell to the Union and the tide of the Civil War changed.

Williams's troops, led by the First Kansas Colored Volunteers and the Kansas Indian Home Guards, moved deeper into Indian Territory until they arrived at Fort Gibson, located on the border between the Creek and Cherokee Nations, halfway between Park Hill and Ebenezer Mission. Arriving at Fort Gibson, the Union forces learned that the Confederate Army was consolidating its forces and preparing for a decisive battle to determine the fate of Indian Territory. On July 11, 1863, General Blunt, Commander of the District of the Frontier, arrived at Fort Gibson with six hundred cavalry soldiers from Kansas and Wisconsin. General Blunt ordered the assembled troops to prepare for a major campaign against the Confederate forces.¹⁸⁷

On July 17, 1863, in what has come to be known as the "Gettysburg of the West," three thousand Federal troops under the leadership of William Blunt encountered six thousand Confederate troops led by Douglas Cooper at the Battle of Honey Springs. The First Kansas Colored Volunteers formed the center of the Federal line; the Second Indian Home Guard formed to the right of the First Kansas, and the First Indian Home Guard formed to the left of the First Kansas.¹⁸⁸ The Third Indian Home Guard, having led the charge at Cabin Creek, served as reinforcements for the Federal troops. Chaplains Evan Jones and John B. Jones were present at the battle and reported the results to John Ross. Before the assault on the Confederate troops, Colonel Williams addressed his troops:

When the battle was over, the Union forces had vanquished the Confederate forces, driving them South deep into Creek territory that had once been the stronghold of African-American settlements prior to the war.¹⁹⁰ The Southern casualties were 150 killed and buried in the field, 400 wounded and seventy-seven captured. Two hundred stands of arms and fifteen wagons were seized and burned at Honey Springs Depot.¹⁹¹ In addition, four hundred pairs of handcuffs were found at the depot. A black deserter from the Confederate army, David Griffith, reported that the handcuffs were to be used on "colored soldiers they expected to capture and send back south as trophies of their valor."¹⁹²

Colonel Williams, just as Major Foreman before him, was seriously wounded as his horse was shot out from beneath him under Confederate fire. He was carried from the field and taken to the rear. He joined the seventeen Union dead and sixty wounded in the makeshift Federal hospital. When General Blunt approached Colonel Williams, the first thing Williams asked General Blunt was, "General, how did my regiment fight?" General Blunt replied, "Like veterans; most gallantly, Sir!" Hearing of his soldiers' valor, Colonel Williams responded, "I am now ready to die!"¹⁹³

The tide of the Civil War in Indian Territory changed that day. Though the war was to drag on for another two years, there was never any doubt as to the outcome of the struggle. As Evan and John Jones watched, the very people who made up the constituency of their mission fought the battle that decided the fate of slavery in the Indian Nation. Though the conflict was over slavery, it was also about something much more -- it was about the idea of a nation founded on freedom, kinship, and equality. On that day in July, a new Cherokee Nation was born. As an ex-slave from Kansas noted, you can be free in a lot of places, but until your home is free, freedom has no meaning. This is the heart of the Keetoowah message: