The American Indian as Participant in the Civil War

by Annie Heloise Abel

Footnote 349: [(return)]

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: [(return)]

Weer to Moonlight, July 2, 1862, Official Records, vol. xiii, 460.

Footnote 351: [(return)]

—Ibid., 452, 456, 461.

Footnote 352: [(return)]

Daily Conservative, December 27, 1861.

Footnote 353: [(return)]

Ross to Weer, July 8, 1862, Official Records, vol. xiii, 486-487; Moore, Rebellion Record, vol. v, 549.

proposed to remain true, as had ever been its custom, to its treaty obligations. To fortify his position, he submitted documents justifying his own and tribal actions since the beginning of the war.[³⁵⁴] Weer was naturally much embarrassed. Apparently, he had had the notion that the Indians would rush into the arms of the Union with the first appearance of a Federal soldier; but he was grievously mistaken. None the less, verbal reports that reached his headquarters on Wolf Creek restored somewhat his equanimity and gave him the impression that Ross, thoroughly anti-secessionist at heart himself, was acting diplomatically and biding his time.[³⁵⁵] Weer referred[³⁵⁶] the matter to Blunt for instructions at the very moment when Blunt, ignorant that he had already had communication with Ross, was urging[³⁵⁷] him to be expeditious, since it was "desirable to return the refugee Indians now in Kansas to their homes as soon as practicable."

There were other reasons, more purely military, why a certain haste was rather necessary. Some of those reasons inspired Colonel Weer to have the country around about him well reconnoitered. On the fourteenth of July, he sent out two detachments. One, led by Major W.T. Campbell, was to examine "the alleged position of the enemy south of the Arkansas," and the other, led by Captain H.S. Greeno, to repair to Tahlequah and Park Hill.[³⁵⁸] Campbell, before he had advanced far, found out that there was a strong Confederate force at Fort Davis[³⁵⁹] so he halted at Fort Gibson and was

Footnote 354: [(return)]

Weer to Moonlight, July 12, 1862, Official Records, vol. xiii, 487. The documents are to be found accompanying Weer's letter, ibid., 489-505.

Footnote 355: [(return)]

Blunt to Stanton, July 21, 1862, ibid., 486.