Chapter 9 - Camp Watie
Chapter 10 - Tell All the Negroes Howdy
Chapter 11 - Second Battle of Cabin Creek
Rose Cottage, Plantation of Chief John Ross, Circa 1860, near Tahlequah, Indian Territory
Chapter 9 - Camp Watie
The Red River, Choctaw Nation, 1863, Cherokee Mounted Rifleman Unit
Aristocracy, master and slave, didn't exist in Camp Watie. Only survival of the fittest and guerilla warfare ruled. Colonels and privates were all in tattered condition several years into the war. But tonight they would take leave of battle and orders, rest in their too few tents on full bellies of 'whatever stew' and hardtack; an unholy combination of bread and brick.
"Riders coming in!" announced an Indian scout. "Friendlies".
Sally had written Stand to tell him she would come to camp the first chance she got. And there she was with family help from home, looking weary, with a heavy load as big as Texas in her heart that only the father of her dead son Mesksa could share. A five year old recent victim of being a war refugee who had been mourned only in self sacrificial silence. Along with that was the equally great concern for the health and character of another son fighting this war with his father, now at the age of seventeen.
Stand ran to the small caravan and reached up to help his wife from the wagon. "My dear Sally!" was all he could speak before the tears welled up from his stout proud body.
"Thank you, Grady!" He told the driver.
"My dear half!" Sally comforted him.
Quiet conversations together, anywhere, were few and cherished. Sally traveled to camp whenever possible and sometimes when not so possible. They held each other in comforting embrace gently broken by questions of a concerned mother.
"Grady tells me that Charles and Saladin have killed a prisoner."
Stand nodded in the affirmative.
Sally worried, "Tell my boys to always show mercy as they expect to find God merciful to them. I do hate to hear such things.....it almost runs me crazy to hear such things. I find myself almost dead sometimes thinking about it. I am afraid that Saladin never will value human life as he ought. Where is Saladin?"
"He's on a scout with Moses Fry to Fort Smith. You heard Fry was dead. Fry is not dead but is now a Major and commands a battalion!" Stand joked as he tried to ease the serious look on his wife's face.
Sally appealed to him as she caressed his weathered, weary face. "Stand, if you should ever catch William Ross, don't have him killed. I know how bad his mother would feel. Keep him 'til the war is over. I know they all deserve death, but I do feel for his old mother and then I want them to know that you do not want to kill them just to get them out of your way. I want them to know you are not afraid of their influence. Always do as near right as you can."
Stand took the opportunity to remind her that the time had come to leave the territory for good, that they couldn't hold out without water, food or money and more terror from the Pins and Union forces, raiders and troublemakers like William Quantrill. The Cherokee Nation had become a combat zone of destruction between the North in Kansas and the South in Texas. Their homeland was becoming known as the land of the chimney because so many homes had been burned that the landscape only held brick columns and cockleburs in the place of crops and groomed plantations.
"Sister Nancy I do not think will live through the summer," Sally said. "She wants me to go and stay with her near Mt. Tabor, while she lives. She can't walk across the house. If I go to Texas, I will get me a house in Bellview so the children can go to school. You must write and let me know when it is safe to go." She shook her head and smiled, "It looks like I can't live and not hear from you."
"Let me hear from you often and let me know how you are all doing," her husband instructed. "Whenever the troops go into winter quarters I will go home to you, wherever home will be. I have not been as well this year as I used to. Can't get rid of this bad cough. Saladin is well. The wild Indians from Kansas are getting to be very troublesome on the western border. Colonel Adair crossed the Arkansas River below Gibson but we have not heard from him since. Adair has stirred up the Pins no doubt before now. All agree that the Feds are short of provisions, since the failure of the enemy to occupy Texas."
He continued, "Quantrill crossed the Arkansas River near the Creek Agency and killed eight men. Creeks. One of them shot a little boy and killed him. Some of the Creeks who were along returned today and brought this news. I have always been opposed to killing women and children although our enemies have done it. Yet, I shall always protest against any acts of that kind," he insisted.
Stand reluctantly reported, "Two days ago a part of Quantrill's men fired on the guard at Boggy Depot. Killed one man and wounded another. A few days ago a party of Missourians took off Shelton's black boy Peter. In the fray Wiley Forester was killed. No property is safe anywhere, stealing and open robbery is of every days occurrence. I am very tired of this camp. We have very bad water." He complained as he spat the last drop of it on the ground.
Sally gazed at her husband, who seemed to have aged ten years in the last months of this war. She wondered if he thought the same of her. He continued his details of recent circumstances.
"After Park's death all sorts of lies were told that I had planned everything. I am sorry that I should be charged in public of an act of that kind but it seems that is my doom. Although these things have been heaped upon me and it would be supposed that I become hardened and would be reckless, but it still hurts my feelings. I am not a murderer!"
Watie's moral turmoil was apparent. "Sometimes I examine myself thoroughly and I will always come to the conclusion that I am not such a bad man at last as I am looked upon. God will give me justice. If I am to be punished for the opinions of other people, who do not know my heart, I can't help it. My great crime in the world is blunder. I will get into scrapes without intention or any bad motive. I call upon my God to judge me. He knows that I love my friends and above all others my wife and children, the opinion of the world to the contrary notwithstanding."
Sally worried about the character and honor of her family and people as much as she worried about the next meal for them. "I hear that Cooper will not give you any supplies. If he does not, I believe that they all are speculating of it and I hope that the last of them will sink."
She went on, "I do not want you to do anything of that kind. I would live on bread and water rather that have it said you had speculated of your people. I believe you have always done what you thought best for your people. If I thought you was working for nothing but to fill your pocket it would trouble me a great deal, but I know it is not, else it would have been filled before this time. I know that you are capable of making a living any where if we are let alone after the war is over. We are all sold out I believe."
Their conversation was interrupted by a group of arriving rowdy troops.
"Sister Sally! Did you bring some 'sure 'nuff coffee'?" Jim Bell asked jovially as he climbed from his horse.
"Sure 'nuff coffee?" She inquired as she patted his cheek.
"That's grounds that haven't been used a dozen times, Sister! We haven't seen sure 'nuff coffee in months!"
"Yes, and we brought some shore nuff Arkansas honey for your shore nuff coffee," she teased.
Jim clicked his tongue happily. "In luck, ain't I?!"
He put his arm around his sister, who was more than an older sibling. She was his friend and a confidant he admired and respected, who was also married to his friend and superior officer.
"Let's have some of that goulash and I'll tell you our plans," Jim said.
Sally had already considered what she must do. What all the women and children in Indian Territory must do. After a helping of the hot mess and more news of the war, Jim told Sally of the expected plan.
"The first day we can get home, I'll bring two hundred men. We will get you and Carrie and the children and any of the Negroes and other families who want to go. Tell the Negroes they'll have to choose..... Stay there and risk it, go to the fort and live under the Union Army in unspeakable conditions with the hundreds of others or come along to Texas. It's up to them. You need to make them understand that free people have to make choices about their own lives. We have some safe camp sites being built to rest on The Red River at Bonham and Paris. Half of our troops will see you safely to Mt. Tabor or a nearby camp. Dick Mayes and the other hundred will go with me up through Arkansas."
Sally looked slowly over and over at the men all surrounding her at the crackling campfire as she spoke. They were her brothers, uncles, cousins, children, husband and she held special affection for them all. She told them, "You have all heard before this time that Vicksburg has fallen. That seems to distress the people more than anything else. I forgot to tell you that General Lee had Washington and Baltimore. I hope they will make peace. I see by the papers that the people of New York are tired of the war and are crying for peace. I wish it was over with."
Stand always had a price on his head courtesy of the Pins and bandits loyal to no cause as well as Federal troops chasing him year after year through Missouri, Arkansas, Indian Territory and Texas but none were ever able to capture him. He became the only Indian to achieve the rank of Brigadier General in the Confederate or Union armies, receiving that appointment from Confederate States President Jefferson Davis. Legend passed down by his followers has it that he was the bravest man that ever put foot on Cherokee soil. The full bloods believed that this Indian general possessed a charmed life, and that the bullet was 'never molded that could kill Stand Watie'. Some thought he had the ability to foretell events of the battlefield and that he prophesied who would or would not fall in battle at a certain time and place.
The pro-southern Cherokee soon gained a reputation for being formidable soldiers. Their scouting endeavors led by William Penn Adair as 'chief of scouts' gained notoriety as far away as the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia. Watie and his forces remained dedicated to the treaty that they had signed with the Confederacy. For Stand Watie and the other 'Knights' it was survival of their way of life to dedicate themselves to the existence of this rebel government.
A fighting style that set the Native America troops apart from their white counterparts was their habit of avoiding artillery fire and direct charges. Many southern soldiers found it odd that the Natives withdrew when heavy ordinance was unleashed and sought defensive positions away from the enemy. For the Cherokee, the objective was to fight and to win, not to stand around and wait for the enemy to shoot them down. A defensive position made it possible to continue the fight. The Union troops fought hard for every inch of territory that they managed to secure and the Confederates never gave up an inch without making the forces they saw as invaders pay dearly.
Doing as much damage to the enemy as possible became the rule. In late October of 1863, after seeing their families safely on their way to Texas, Jim Bell, Watie and other willing Knights scouted their way to Tahlequah and burned the old council house, killing several Pins in the process .
With that deed done, they proceeded to Park Hill near Tahlequah where they captured some of John Ross's family. But for the promise Watie had made only days before to his wife, it is likely none of the Ross faction would have survived. They also brought in some of Ross's Negroes. Unlike the edict to end slavery for the Southern Cherokee, Ross was able to retain his slaves with his new found alliance to the Union, even in exile. Before they left Park Hill, Watie ordered Ross's antebellum house, Rose Cottage, to be burned to the ground, killing several more Pins who refused to surrender.
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Chapter 10 - Tell All the Negroes Howdy
Life in the Civil War South
On July Fourth of the first year of the war, in a message to Congress, President Lincoln declared once more that he had 'no purpose, directly or indirectly' to interfere with slavery in the States where it exists. By 1862, freeing slaves became a tactical move to insure Union victory. The government decided to confiscate slaves as contraband of war. Privately, it is said by some historians, that Lincoln told his advisers, "We must free the slaves or be ourselves subdued. The slaves were an element of strength to those who had their service, and we must decide whether that element should be with us or against us."
This maneuver deprived the Confederacy of essential labor needed in their war effort by giving slaves a reason to escape to Union lines. It encouraged the enlistment of black soldiers and disloyalty to the masters and Confederacy, though many remained loyal to Cherokee families.
Lincoln, as President had no legal authority to 'free' the slaves, a duty held only by congress. Congress refused. The Emancipation Proclamation was executed as Commander in Chief by order of the Executive, Lincoln. The document freed only the slaves in the South joined with the Confederacy, not throughout the entire Union, though freedom was often offered to Northern slaves who served with Union forces.
"That on the 1st day of January, A.D.1863, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United Stead shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.
I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested as Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States in time of actual armed rebellion against the authority and government of the United States, and as a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing said rebellion....And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution upon military necessity."
Jim Bell could often be heard lamenting various forms of the same theme during this time and many decades later as well. "I would like to ask Mr. Lincoln what his plan is for his 'emancipated' slaves. What is he freeing them to do but be homeless, defenseless, hungry beggars driven to thievery? Bah!"
Daisy had dozed off for more than a few minutes in the hot Oklahoma dust bowl of 1937. The patient young woman checked her breath to make sure the condition was merely a cat nap. Just as suddenly she awoke, dipped a smooth whittled stick into a box of snuff for a lip full and started talking where she left off before her slumber.
"I'd like to go where we used to have picnics down below Webbers Falls before the war. Everybody went....white folks, colored folks, Indians. There'd be races and people would have things what dey was sellin' like moccasins and beads. They'd bring whole wagon loads of hams, chickens and cake and pie. The cooks would bring big iron pots, and cook things right there. There was great big wooden scaffolds and dey put white cloths on the shelves and laid the goods on it. People just go and help themselves, 'til dey couldn't eat no mo! Everybody goin' on races and gambling, drinkin', eatin', dancin', but it was all good behavior. Everything all right. Yes Lord, it was!"
"Go in the door, there on the hutch and bring me that shoe box," Daisy commanded as she pointed the way to the young civil servant. "I'll show you a picture, give to me not long ago. I'm so proud to have it. Right there is when Stand Watie and the other Cherokees had to go up to the congress right after the war and find out how bad they was gonna be punished for darin' to defy de Union! Later on when that treaty was made they all traveled to Tahlequah to hear it read. Accordin' to dat treaty, Cherokees and their slaves was to have equal rights. Brother Lewis and me both got our allotments. We will always be part of the Cherokee Nation."
Pointing delicately at the old photo Daisy recited the names of the five men. "Sittin' there is John Rollin Ridge. Then is Saladin who was the oldest son of Stand Watie and Miss Sally Bell, fought right beside his father and uncles and cousins. He was made Captain and cited for bravery by General Cooper in a battle at Fort Smith. Next is Dick Fields and Cornelius Boudinot.
Last one sitting there so proud is William Penn Adair. He was tall and slim, wore his black hair down to his shoulders. He had to go back to Washington ten 'er fifteen years after de war for some business and died in dat awful place. Dey brought him back to Indian Territory to bury. Everybody love Master Bill. I just know them Cherokee all wailed when he went. Clem Rodgers named his son 'William Penn Adair Rogers' after Master Bill."
Daisy interrupted the note taker's writing. "Why, Child, you know him! That would be Will Rogers, dat funny man always raisin' Cain with de politicians you heard about! Died in a plane crash a couple years back. Mercy, mercy." Daisy recalled as she chuckled, "Do you remember that time Will Rogers said in dat movie he was in, 'I have Indian Blood in me. I have just enough white blood for you to question my honesty!'"
"But, back to Master Bill. One time word came that the Pins was after him. Near de end of de war, his company camped near de old home place and he jest couldn't resist visitin' and decided to stay de night. Next thing he knew dem Pin Indians was pulling him outta de bed! They wouldn't even wait for him to pull on his boots and took him in his stockin' feet. Federal Army was housed at Tahlequah so they took him there, but he was liberated a month or two later."
"When the war broke out, lots of Indians mustered up and went out of the territory. They taken some of their slaves with 'em. During the war, Master Jim would write Mistress Caroline all de time and always say, 'tell all the Negroes howdy!' She would read us every word....did we have enough corn or pork or somethin' else. Out dere in battle and Master Jim was a worrying about all of us! He got his best horse shot right out from underneath him. He was a' foot most a' the last year of dat war. Sometimes all dey could get to write on was an old used ledger paper. They was lean times ."
The old woman added, "Food was hard to come by last couple years of de war. One time me and the Bell's biggest girls decided we had ta kill an ol' cow. I wasn't much older than they was. All the grown ups was sick that time and Miss Caroline said someone had to kill dat cow before we all starve ta death. We weren't big 'nuff to hang it and skin it, so we tied her up by the horns and drawed up de rope 'round a tree real tight so she couldn't move. Then we slit it's throat 'til it bled out. All's we could do was cut out some chunks of meat to cook. That ol' cow shore was tough!" Daisy laughed at the recollection and went on to describe their experience.
"Patrollers and Pin Indians caused a lot of trouble after de war started. Master went to war like most of the men and left my mistress to look after de place. The Pins came to the farm one day and broke down doors, cut feather beds open and sent feathers flying in de wind, stole the horses, killed the sheep and done lots of mean things. Poor Mistress was trying to birth a baby boy with all dat goin' on. If ya was goin' to keep anythin' ya had to hide it. Lots of folks buried money and valuables everywhere. Clem Rodgers dug up one woman's china dishes after de war. Miss Charlotte sewed money in her clothes to keep de Pins and other scoundrels from findin' it."
"I recall," said Daisy, "Old Mrs. Fields told about how them Pin Indians done her family when the men folk was at war. Dey broke into the house, tore up the floor, poked holes in the ceiling trying to make dat old man tell where his young sons was. Dey wasn't even old enough to be in the army. Dey branded the bottoms of dat old man's feet with a burnin' hot Dutch oven lid, then cut his toes clean up to his toe nails. But he never told 'em!"
"Them boys was hidin' in a big ol' cave on Honey Creek. One of dem girls got bit by a civet cat up dere. When the other children wouldn't tell where they was, them Pins put ropes around their necks and they throw it over an old burr oak tree and drew 'em up and dropped 'em down four or five times trying to make 'em tell. Dey said them mean Injuns was wearing breech cloths and had their bodies all painted up. Dem cowards found the cave, but dey wouldn't go on back in it far enough to where the boys was hidin'. Not long after dat dey was goin' to Salina to get salt…..dat's de only place we could get salt. The trip was 'bout ten days. Pins took one boys pony and clothes and killed the other two."
"Miss Daisy, were you where you could see any of the battles?" The pleasant scribe asked.
"I never was where the fighting went on, but I heard dat cannon go 'Bum! Bum!' and de little guns go 'Bang!' in all directions. I seen the soldiers come in after the fights.....they 'd be all shot up with blood soaking through the clothes, trying to help each other tie on a bandage......the awfulest sights I ever see." said Daisy grimly. "We seen lots of white soldiers in them brown butternut suits all over the place. Pretty soon all de young Cherokee men folks all gone off to de war, and de Pins was riding round all de time, and it ain't safe to be in dat part around Webbers Falls no mo'. Mammy say we went down in Texas to get away from the War. We went by Webbers Falls and filled de wagons. We left de furniture and only took grub and tools and bedding and clothes, 'cause they wasn't very big wagons and was only single yoke. We all went to places close to Paris, Texas. We stayed dere 'til de war was over. Some of our folks died there and Stand Watie sent a detachment to Indian Territory with the bodies. George Mayes was in the squad dat brought bodies back home."
Daisy conveyed how she learned of freedom for the slaves. "One day Master stay after he eat breakfast and when us Negroes come in to eat he say, 'After today I ain't your master any more. You all as free as I am.' We just stand and look and don't know what to say about it."
"Shall I continue to encourage them,
or shall I at once unveil to them the dread truth
that our country is to be hopelessly abandoned,
and that they are to receive
the reward of poverty and ruin
for their unswerving fidelity to the Southern cause?"
Letter to S. S. Scott, Confederate Commissioner of Indian Affairs
from Brig. Gen. Stand Watie Aug. 8, 1864
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Chapter 11 Second Battle of Cabin Creek
Indian Territory September, 1864
Throughout Indian Territory ran major trails of commerce and transport such as the Chisholm and Great Western. Others ran between the cattle lands in Texas and grazing and farm lands in Kansas. During the war the East Shawnee trail from Fort Washita was used to haul food, ammunition and supplies to Fort Gibson in Indian Territory. The Military Road crossed Cabin Creek about three miles above where it empties into the Grand River a few miles above present day Vinita, Oklahoma and would become a strategic battle site more than once.
In the summer of 1864 at Camp Jumper, ten miles north of Perryville in the Choctaw Nation, Stand Watie wrote to his wife the only news of the war the family was likely to obtain other than the usual persistent rumors.
"The Pins are now near the river opposite to Fort Smith. Creeks and few other troops about 1200 at Gibson. Lieut. Col. James Bell took a scout with a hundred men to near Fort Smith, killed one notorious Captain by the name of Gibbons who was a terror to the southern people and brought in three Federal prisoners. Arkansas river is very high, a portion of the cavalry force of my command is on the other side of the Canadian. Cooper with the Choctaws, Gans Brigade, is at Johnson's Station. Maxey is at Doaksville. There are some four thousand men at Fort Smith. The main army of the Federals at Little Rock. It cannot be long before a general move is made in the direction of Arkansas river. The union citizens of Washington and Benton Counties are moving out north."
The tattered and tired Cherokee recruits were cleaning their guns and scavenging ammunition, getting ready for the next encounter. It helped to have something to do to keep warm and forget how hungry they were.
"Anyone see Colonel Bell?" The private asked.
"He's probably off prayin' again somewhere," another joked.
Overhearing the remark, Cousin Hooley Bell walked up behind the young Indian recruit, smacking him along side the head just enough to knock off
his hat.
"You must be the camp jester. Do you know what a jester is, private?"
"No, Sir, Captain Bell!"
Hooley responded, "Well, I could stand here a day or two and try to teach you the basics of the finer things in life, like manners and education, and faith. But I figure I ought never try to teach a pig to sing. It just wastes my time and it annoys the pig."
"Captain Bell, Yes Sir! er, No Sir! er, what I meant was ..."
Cutting off the recruit, Hooley asked, " Does this train of thought have a caboose to it, Private? Get out of my sight. Now!"
Hooley approached Jim. "I need to bother you with some nation business, Uncle Jim. Someone has to make a trip to get cotton and wool cards, or we're going to have a lot of children facing a cold winter without clothes if the women can't spin. Not to mention us. I don't know about you, but my backside prefers to be covered."
"You'll have to cross the Mississippi," his Uncle reminded him. "Since Vicksburg fell you know the Feds are holding the line, Hooley."
"Let me read the message from Boudinot about how bad it is," urged Hooley. Pulling a letter from his bag, he read, "For Gods sake and the sake of the naked refugees let some person go across the river and buy cotton cards, and let them do it quick, it will soon be too late."
"I see," said Jim. "Take Joe Martin with you. He's fast and dependable. With only two of you, hopefully you won't draw the Fed's attention."
"Scout brought you a letter, Colonel Bell," the recruit who had been looking for him announced.
"Thank you! It should be from Carrie. I've written to her a dozen times since I got one back. Excuse me, gentlemen, I will take the time to answer this while there is daylight. Perhaps you could not disturb me," said Bell, ignoring their chastising.
He found a more private spot out of the chilling wind and made himself a rest on his saddle and leaned against it carefully opening the several times folded paper.
"My dearest Jim,
You ask if I had rather have you stay at home than be colonel. I hardly know what to say. I don't believe you could stay at home if you would, and I don't think you would if you could. You are just trying to quiz me to see if I have any patriotism or vanity about me, ain't you?
Anyway, I will be honest, and confess that I am selfish enough to prefer having you stay at home than to have you General. Nevertheless, I am as true a Southerner as ever was but I do think you have been a target long enough to come home and rest awhile.
Aunt Maria has erysipelas, is some better. Josy was riding Cherokee to the pasture yesterday and got to running her and fell off and got bruised up pretty badly, no serious hurt though. Nannie Gibson has a daughter. This is a great country for babies.
You asked if I need anything. I need some tallow very much and need rain more. Get old Aunt 'what's her name' and Susy Riddle and some more of the regiment ladies to come and catch crawfish and make it rain. I wish they had a little more ambition. The Bible says take a lower seat and you will be invited up higher. A person, though, nowadays has to sort of send themselves up or they are not apt to be invited.
I am not in a very good humor with you about curtailing my potato patch and having cotton put there. The cotton will not do much good and the potatoes look fine. If I could get a barrel, I could make a barrel of pickles.
You must come home when you can. I want to see you. You don't know how much. Love to you and believe in the true love of your, Caroline"
What a simple and profound pleasure in the midst of this hell, he thought. Jim took the opportunity to answer Carrie's letter while he could. His search for a scrap of paper was successful and with the poor excuse for a pencil he found, he wrote:
"Dearest Carrie,
Since I wrote, Jessee Adair has taken the Small Pox, was breaking out thick this morning. We had to empress houses for hospital purposes. We may have some trouble on account of it, but it's more than I can stand to see poor soldiers lying out such times as that--- snow on the ground and the river frozen six inches thick. I think I will be supported in the matter and if not, it is time we were knowing that we are regarded no more than dogs.
I am satisfied that you have already heard rumors that we are ruined beyond remedy. How does it happen that you always hear everything from the common in it's worst aspect? It is bad enough to tell the truth or well enough to do so, but to go beyond that is criminal. It can do no good, but a great deal of harm, to exaggerate things as many of our people do.
But it is true out of five thousand, one thousand are without arms and many have not clothing to change, without shoes and what any one in their right senses would say was in a deplorable condition looking more like Siberian exiles than soldiers. Still I am constrained to say that they are never called on to make a stand against the enemy but they do so cheerfully and with a determination that no one would expect.
We are neglected. The Confederacy certainly does not know our condition. Good soldiers, but without the means of resistance, but we are neither discouraged or whipped and God forbid we ever shall be. Times are hard. NO One starved yet though. I have been in an almost nude condition. I have still got an old gray shirt and pants on. They are thread bear. There is some prospect of a fight soon, if the Feds and Pins stand their ground. Everything is quiet now, but I don't think it can last long.
I would like the best in the world if we had our country. How I would like to settle down again and hear the cows lowing, the hogs squealing, and see the nice garden and the yard with roses in it, the waving wheat and stately corn growing. And be conscious that there was no one in want and be blessed with the society of those I love most on earth, You and our children.
Sometimes I fear we will not be permitted to be situated so again, but you know that I have faith in a power that can always keep us out of trouble and can restore anything that we ask if he chooses. I would not be without this 'infatuation', as many please to call it and laugh at me for it, for nothing in the world. I could not think of going into a battle without it. So let us hope that what ever may come, we may be restored at last to each other.
I have just seen a man from camp -- says the Feds and Pins are in Fort Gibson. Our forces are just across the river. The prospect is good for a fight. How I wish I had my horse. I feel lost without him. As expected, we met up with Jarrett and Dr. Dupree here. Col. Adair is anxious to go home and would be off by this time were he not under arrest. General Steele arrested him for disrespect. His trial will be removed to Little Rock. Col. Adair has or will prefer charges against General Steele. It would take me a month to write you everything.
Kiss all the children, and make them walk with you every evening and tell them they must learn very fast. I want to see you! You don't know how bad. I am, as ever Yours, Jim"
"Colonel Bell! Colonel Bell, Sir!!" One of the destitute Confederate Indians screamed as he stomped across a shallow icy creek.
"You're getting the last pair of shoes we got wet, private. Look at that heel flapping! We won't get any more. What's the ruckus?" Bell wondered, as he tucked away his correspondence.
"General Watie says everybody gotta talk right now. Urgent word from a scout," the private relayed.
Hooley, Moses Fry and Bill Dupree were already in Watie's tent making plans. Watie explained. "A Union supply train has been spotted headed to Fort Gibson with about three hundred wagons, couple thousand mules and horses and all the supplies for the Sutler of the fort."
One thing was still believed by all, if they could capture the goods so desperately needed to fight this war, they could prevail. If they could stop the supplies from aiding their enemy, all the better. The Confederacy had stopped supplying them with anything months ago and if not for their families sustaining all their needs, they would have been finished a year before. The Confederacy was either deflecting provisions and troops to the eastern front or selling what was meant for the Cherokee volunteers, even though they were virtually the only force holding the states around them. As in all war, corruption and graft was rampant.
Jim thought out loud. "What a time to be short of horses! We'll need to ride double and ride hard to intercept them at Cabin Creek before they know we're coming. Maybe everyone will have a ride back in a wagon! Pray there's food and ammunition. Let's get to it!"
Watie yelled orders to a sergeant. "Get me a fresh rider and the best horse we've got! We've got to get word to General Gano's Texas troops. We must raise a couple thousand men. We have to take 'em with force and by surprise!"
Saladin stepped forward saluting his father. "I'm the fastest rider we got, General, and I know the road. " The seventeen year old had become an accomplished scout in service to the Confederacy. He spent his young life watching his entire clan outrun Pins. He swore he could smell them a mile away.
"Mount 'em up, Captain Watie!" Stand acknowledged as his eldest child climbed on the anxious horse. "God's speed, Son."
Dr. Dupree conceded, "I swore I'd never go back to Cabin Creek after the whipping we took there a year ago. The Feds must have chased us for five miles! Lord, please let there be medical supplies!" A graduate of Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia in 1848, Dupree and other Civil War battle surgeons had ample opportunity under the worst of circumstances to practice their skills. At the outbreak of the war, Texas mobilized and appointed Dupree as Medical Examiner and Superintendent of Conscripts, Eastern District of Texas. He was present and tended the wounded at the Battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas as well as Cabin Creek and other conflicts.
Even as the Union Sixth Cavalry marched to Cabin Creek, Watie and Gano raced to intersect the supply train. On the way they burned tons of hay and killed a party of forty Federal blacks engaged in the harvest. They continued on the Texas Road to Cabin Creek, where they captured the Federal supply train holding clothing, food and a million and half dollars worth of provisions meant for refugees and freed slaves holding up at Fort Gibson as well Federal troops in the area.
After the successful attack, the Confederates burned damaged wagons, killed the injured mules, and took over the remaining one hundred plus wagons and mule teams. Their victory was sweet, and even though these supplies sustained them for a few more months and fed their refugee families for a time, the success of the capture came too late to positively effect their outcome in the war.
Throughout the Confederacy, the second battle of Cabin Creek became legend. General Douglas issued a proclamation of the victory, stating:
" The brilliancy and completeness of this expedition has not been excelled in the history of the war. Firm, brave and confident, the officers had but to order and the men cheerfully executed. The whole having been conducted with perfect harmony between the war-torn veteran Stand Watie, the chivalrous Gano, and their respective commands."
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