The American Indian as Participant in the Civil War Part 17

[Footnote 327: Of Clarkson, Pike had this to say: "He applied to me while raising his force for orders to go upon the Santa Fe' road and intercept trains. I wrote him that he could have such orders if he chose to come here, and the next I heard of him he wrote for ammunition, and, I learned, was going to make (cont.)]

Pike, "of all forces that now are or may hereafter be within the limits of the Cherokee, Creek, and Seminole countries."[328] As fate would have it, Clarkson was the one of these two to whom the work in hand first fell.

The Indian Expedition was prepared to find its way contested; for its leaders believed Rains,[329] Coffey, and Stand Watie to be all in the immediate vicinity, awaiting the opportunity to attack either singly or with combined forces; but, except for a small affair between a reconnoitering party sent out by Salomon and the enemy's pickets,[330]

the march was without incident worth recording until after Weer had broken camp at Cowskin Prairie. Behind him the ground seemed clear enough, thanks to the very thorough scouting that had been done by the Indians of the Home Guard regiments, some of whom, those of Colonel Phillips's command, had been able to penetrate Missouri.[331] Of conditions ahead of him, Weer was not so sure and he was soon made aware of the near presence of the foe.

Colonel Watie, vigilant and redoubtable, had been on the watch for the Federals for some time and, learning of their approach down the east side of Grand River, sent two companies of his regiment to head off their advance guard. This was attempted in a surprise movement at Spavinaw Creek and accomplished with some measure of success.[332]

Colonel Clarkson was at

[Footnote 327: (cont.) forays into Missouri. I had no ammunition for that business. He seized 70 kegs that I had engaged of Sparks in Fort Smith, and soon lost the whole and Watie's also. Without any notice to me he somehow got in command of the northern part of the Indian country over two colonels with commissions nine months older than his."--Pike to Hindman, July 15, 1862, _Official Records_, vol.

xiii, 858.]

[Footnote 328: _Official Records_, vol. xiii, 845-846.]

[Footnote 329: Rains had made Tahlequah the headquarters of the Eighth Division Missouri State Guards.--PIKE to Hindman, July 15, 1862, Ibid., 858.]

[Footnote 330:--Ibid., vol. xiii, 458, 460.]

[Footnote 331:--Ibid., 460.]

[Footnote 332: Anderson, _Life of General Stand Watie_, 18. This incident is most (cont.)]

Locust Grove and Weer, ascertaining that fact, prepared for an engagement. His supplies and camp equipage, also an unutilized part of his artillery he sent for safety to Cabin Creek, across Grand River and Lieutenant-colonel Lewis R. Jewell of the Sixth Kansas Cavalry he sent eastward, in the direction of Maysville, Arkansas, his expectation being--and it was realized--that Jewell would strike the trail of Watie and engage him while Weer himself sought out Clarkson.[333]

The looked-for engagement between the main part of the Indian Expedition and Clarkson's force, a battalion of Missourians that had been raised by Hindman's orders and sent to the Indian Territory "at the urgent request of Watie and Drew,"[334] occurred at Locust Grove on the third of July. It was nothing but a skirmish, yet had very significant results. Only two detachments of Weer's men were actively engaged in it.[335] One of them was from the First Indian Home Guard and upon it the brunt of the fighting fell.[336]

[Footnote 332: (cont.) likely the one that is referred to in Carruth and Martin's letter to Coffin, August 2, 1862, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, _Report_, 1862, p. 162.]

[Footnote 333: Britton, _Civil War on the Border_, vol. i, 300-301.]

[Footnote 334: Report of General Hindman, _Official Records_, vol. xiii, 40.]

[Footnote 335: Weer to Moonlight, July 6, 1862, Ibid., 137.]

[Footnote 336: Carruth and Martin reported to Coffin, August 2, 1862, that the Indians did practically all the fighting on the Federal side.

In minor details, their account differed considerably from Weer's.

"When near Grand Saline, Colonel Weer detached parts of the 6th, 9th, and 10th Kansas regiments, and sent the 1st Indian regiment in advance. By a forced night march they came up to the camp of Colonel Clarkson, completely surprising him, capturing all his supplies, and taking one hundred prisoners; among them the colonel himself.

"The Creek Indians were first in the fight, led by Lieutenant Colonel Wattles and Major Ellithorpe. We do not hear that any white man fired a gun unless it was to kill the surgeon of the 1st Indian regiment.

We were since informed that one white man was killed by the name of McClintock, of the 9th Kansas regiment. In reality, it was a victory gained by the 1st Indian regiment; and while the other forces would, no doubt, have acted well, it is the height of injustice to claim this victory for the whites...."--Commissioner of Indian Affairs, _Report_, 1862, p. 162.]

The Confederates were worsted and lost their train and many prisoners.

Among the prisoners was Clarkson himself. His battalion was put to flight and in that circ.u.mstance lay the worst aspect of the whole engagement; for the routed men fled towards Tahlequah and spread consternation among the Indians gathered there, also among those who saw them by the way or heard of them. Thoroughly frightened the red men sought refuge within the Federal lines. Such conduct was to be expected of primitive people, who invariably incline towards the side of the victor; but, in this case, it was most disastrous to the Confederate Indian alliance. For the second time since the war began, Colonel John Drew's enlisted men defected from their own ranks[337]

and, with the exception of a small body under Captain Pickens Benge,[338] went boldly over to the enemy. The result was, that the Second Indian Home Guard, Ritchie's regiment, which had not previously been filled up, had soon the requisite number of men[339] and there were more to spare. Indeed, during the days that followed, so many recruits came in, nearly all of them Cherokees, that lists were opened for starting a third regiment of Indian Home Guards.[340] It was not long before it was organized, accepted by Blunt, and W.A. Phillips commissioned as its colonel.[341] The regular mustering in of the new recruits had to be done at Fort Scott and thither Ritchie sent the men, intended for his regiment, immediately.

The Indian Expedition had started out with a very definite preliminary programme respecting the

[Footnote 337: _Official Records_, vol. xiii, 138.]

[Footnote 338: Hindman's Report, Ibid., 40.]

[Footnote 339: Ritchie to Blunt, July 5, 1862, Ibid., 463-464.]

[Footnote 340: Weer to Moonlight, July 12, 1862, Ibid., 488.]

[Footnote 341: Blunt to Salomon, August 3, 1862, Ibid., 532; Britton, _Civil War on the Border_, vol. i, 304.]

management of Indian affairs, particularly as those affairs might be concerned with the future att.i.tude of the Cherokee Nation. The programme comprised instructions that emanated from both civil and military sources. The special Indian agents, Carruth and Martin, had been given suitable tasks to perform and the instructions handed them have already been commented upon. Personally, these two men were very much disposed to magnify the importance of their own position and to resent anything that looked like interference on the part of the military. As a matter of fact, the military men treated them with scant courtesy and made little or no provision for their comfort and convenience.[342] Colonel Weer seems to have ignored, at times, their very existence. On more than one occasion, for instance, he deplored the absence of some official, accredited by the Indian Office, to take charge of what he contemptuously called "this Indian business,"[343]

which business, he felt, greatly complicated all military undertakings[344] and was decidedly beyond the bounds of his peculiar province.[345]

[Footnote 342: Pretty good evidence of this appears in a letter, which Carruth and Martin jointly addressed to Coffin, September 4, 1862, in antic.i.p.ation of the Second Indian Expedition, their idea being to guard against a repet.i.tion of some of the experiences of the first.

"We wish to call your attention," wrote they, "to the necessity of our being allowed a wagon to haul our clothing, tents, etc. in the Southern expedition.

"In the last expedition we had much annoyance for the want of accommodations of our own. Unless we are always by at the moment of moving, our things are liable to be left behind, that room may be made for _army baggage_ which sometimes acc.u.mulates amazingly....

"The cold nights of autumn and winter will overtake us in the next expedition and we ought to go prepared for them. We must carry many things, as clothing, blankets, etc."--General Files, _Southern Superintendency_, 1859-1862.]

[Footnote 343: _Official Records_, vol. xiii, 460.]

[Footnote 344:--Ibid., 487.]

[Footnote 345: Weer, nevertheless, was not long in developing some very p.r.o.nounced ideas on the subject of Indian relations. The earliest and best indication of (cont.)]

The military instructions for the management of Indian affairs outlined a policy exceedingly liberal, a policy that proceeded upon the a.s.sumption that stress of circ.u.mstances had conditioned the Indian alliance with the Confederacy. This idea was explicitly conveyed in a communication from Weer, through his acting a.s.sistant adjutant-general, to John Ross, and again in the orders issued to Salomon and Judson. Ross and his people were to be given an opportunity to return to their allegiance, confident that the United States government would henceforth protect them.[346] And the military commanders were invited to give their "careful attention to the delicate position" which the Indian Expedition would occupy

In its relation to the Indians. The evident desire of the government is to restore friendly intercourse with the tribes and return the loyal Indians that are with us to their homes. Great care must be observed that no unusual degree of vindictiveness be tolerated between Indian and Indian. Our policy toward the rebel portion must be a subject of anxious consideration, and its character will to a great degree be shaped by yourself (Judson) in conjunction with Colonel Salomon. No settled policy can at present be marked out. Give all questions their full share of investigation. No spirit of private vengeance should be tolerated.[347]

After the skirmish at Locust Grove, Colonel Weer deemed that the appropriate moment had come for approaching John Ross with suggestions that the Cherokee Nation abandon its Confederate ally and return to its allegiance to the United States government. From

[Footnote 345: (cont.) that is to be found in his letter of July twelfth, in which he gave his opinion of the negroes, whom he found very insolent. He proposed that the Cherokee Nation should abolish slavery by vote.]

[Footnote 346: J.A. Phillips to Ross, June 26, 1862, _Official Records_, vol. xiii, 450.]

[Footnote 347: Phillips to Judson, June 28, 1862, Ibid., 456.

Orders, almost identically the same, were issued to Salomon. See Phillips to Salomon, June 27, 1862, Ibid., 452.]

his camp on Wolf Creek, therefore, he addressed a conciliatory communication[348] to the Cherokee chief, begging the favor of an interview and offering to make full reparation for any outrages or reprisals that his men, in defiance of express orders to the contrary, might have made upon the Cherokee people through whose country they had pa.s.sed.[349] Weer had known for several days, indeed, ever since he first crossed the line, that the natives were thoroughly alarmed at the coming of the Indian Expedition. They feared reprisals and Indian revenge and, whenever possible, had fled out of reach of danger, many of them across the Arkansas River, taking with them what of their property they could.[350] Weer had done his best to restrain his troops, especially the Indian, and had been very firm in insisting that no "outrages perpetrated after Indian fas.h.i.+on" should occur.[351]

Weer's message to Ross was sent, under a flag of truce, by Doctor Gillpatrick, a surgeon in the Indian Expedition, who had previously served under Lane.[352] Ross's reply,[353] although prompt, was scarcely satisfactory from Weer's standpoint. He refused pointblank the request for an interview and reminded Weer that the Cherokee Nation, "under the sanction and authority of the whole Cherokee people," had made a formal alliance with the Confederate government and

[Footnote 348: Weer to Ross, July 7, 1862, _Official Records_, vol. xiii, 464.]

[Footnote 349: That there had been outrages and reprisals, Carruth and Martin admitted but they claimed that they had been committed by white men and wrongfully charged against Indians [Commissioner of Indian Affairs, _Report_, 1862, 162-163].]

[Footnote 350: Weer to Moonlight, July 2, 1862, _Official Records_, vol. xiii, 460.]

[Footnote 351:--Ibid., 452, 456, 461.]