Fort McCulloch | |
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| Location | Bryan County, Oklahoma, USA |
|---|---|
| Nearest city | Kenefic, Oklahoma |
| Coordinates | 34°07′53″N96°23′45″W / 34.13139°N 96.39583°W |
| Built | 1862 |
| NRHP reference No. | 71000659 [1] [2] |
| Added to NRHP | June 21, 1971 |
Fort McCulloch was a Confederate military fort built by CSA Brigadier General Albert Pike in the Indian Territory during the American Civil War after the Battle of Pea Ridge.
After the southern states seceded from the United States of America, Albert Pike negotiated treaties between the Five Civilized Tribes and the Confederate government, promising that the Confederacy would take over the obligations that the Union failed to fulfill and take over defense for the Indian Territory. [3]
Pike was appointed commander of the Department of the Indian Territory in November 1861. His first assignment was to construct a fort north of Bacone College on the Arkansas River near Muskogee. He named this site Cantonment Davis. However, he and his troops were ordered to leave the site to support the Confederate troops at Pea Ridge. They never returned to Cantonment Davis. [4]
Pike's Native American troops participated in the Battle of Pea Ridge near Leetown, Arkansas in March 1862. The battle was a defeat for the Confederate Army. Pike then considered that his Indian Territory command post at Fort Davis, Cherokee Nation, was vulnerable to a Union attack. He retreated to the Choctaw Nation in southern Indian Territory. Pike chose a site on a bluff on the west side of the Blue River near Nail's Crossing, where he established Fort McCulloch, named for General Benjamin McCulloch, who fell in battle at Pea Ridge. [3]
The site, about 3 miles (4.8 km) southwest of the present-day town of Kenefic, Oklahoma, controlled military roads linking Fort Smith with Fort Washita, Fort Gibson and north Texas. The fort had earthworks, but no permanent buildings. Its importance diminished after Pike resigned his command in July 1862. It was not abandoned until the end of the war. Meanwhile, it served as a haven for pro-Confederate refugees. General Stand Watie used it briefly as a command post in 1865. [5]
Fort McCulloch was built to defend Texas from a Union attack. It had extensive earthworks designed to defend against any advance. [6]
The Battle of Pea Ridge, also known as the Battle of Elkhorn Tavern, took place in the American Civil War near Leetown, northeast of Fayetteville, Arkansas. Federal forces, led by Brig. Gen. Samuel R. Curtis, moved south from central Missouri, driving Confederate forces into northwestern Arkansas.
Brigadier-General Stand Watie, also known as Standhope Uwatie, Tawkertawker, and Isaac S. Watie, was a Cherokee politician who served as the second principal chief of the Cherokee Nation from 1862 to 1866. The Cherokee Nation allied with the Confederate States during the American Civil War and he was the only Native American Confederate general officer of the war. Watie commanded Indian forces in the Trans-Mississippi Theater, made up mostly of Cherokee, Muskogee, and Seminole. He was the last Confederate States Army general to surrender.
Brigadier-General Benjamin McCulloch was a soldier in the Texas Revolution, a Texas Ranger, a major-general in the Texas militia and thereafter a major in the United States Army during the Mexican–American War, sheriff of Sacramento County, a U.S. marshal, and a brigadier-general in the army of the Confederate States during the American Civil War.
Fort Towson was a frontier outpost for Frontier Army Quartermasters along the Permanent Indian Frontier located about two miles (3 km) northeast of the present community of Fort Towson, Oklahoma. Located on Gates Creek near the confluence of the Kiamichi River and the Red River in present-day Choctaw County, Oklahoma, it was named for General Nathaniel Towson.
Douglas Hancock Cooper was an American politician, soldier, Indian Agent in what is now Oklahoma, and Confederate general during the American Civil War.
The Army of the West, also known as the Trans-Mississippi District, was a formation of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War that was a part of the Army of Mississippi. It saw action in the Battle of Pea Ridge, Battle of Corinth, and Battle of Iuka and consisted of about 20,000 personnel.
Fort Gibson is a historic military site next to the modern city of Fort Gibson, in Muskogee County Oklahoma. It guarded the American frontier in Indian Territory from 1824 to 1888. When it was constructed, the fort was farther west than any other military post in the United States. It formed part of the north–south chain of forts that was intended to maintain peace on the frontier of the American West and to protect the southwestern border of the Louisiana Purchase. The fort succeeded in its peacekeeping mission for more than 50 years, as no massacres or battles occurred there.
The Indian Home Guard was a series of volunteer infantry regiments recruited from the Five Civilized Tribes of the Indian Territory to support the Union during the American Civil War. There was also a series of Confederate units of Indian Territory.
The trans-Mississippi theater of the American Civil War was the scene of the major military operations west of the Mississippi River. The area is often thought of as excluding the states and territories bordering the Pacific Ocean, which formed the Pacific coast theater of the American Civil War (1861–1865).
The Battle of Old Fort Wayne, also known as Maysville, Beattie's Prairie, or Beaty's Prairie, was an American Civil War battle on October 22, 1862, in Delaware County in what is now eastern Oklahoma.
The 1st Cherokee Mounted Rifles was a Confederate States Army regiment which fought in the Indian Territory during the American Civil War. It was formed from the merger of two predecessor units the First Regiment of Cherokee Mounted Rifles, and the Second Regiment of Cherokee Mounted Rifles. The first commander was Col. John Drew, while the second was Stand Watie.
The Battle of Middle Boggy, also known as the 'Battle of Middle Boggy River or Battle of Middle Boggy Depot, took place on February 13, 1864 in Choctaw Indian Territory, 4 miles (6.4 km) south of what is now Allen in Pontotoc County, Oklahoma. Advancing down the Dragoon Trail toward Fort Washita, Union Colonel William A. Phillips sent out an advance of approximately 350 men from the 14th Kansas Cavalry and two howitzers to attack a Confederate outpost guarding the Trail's crossing of Middle Boggy River. The Confederate force was led by Captain Jonathan Nail and composed of one company of the First Choctaw and Chickasaw Cavalry, a detachment of the 20th Texas Cavalry and part of the Seminole Battalion of Mounted Rifles. The outpost was about 12 miles (19 km) from Muddy Boggy Depot, which was held by the Confederates. The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture says that the battlefield was 15 miles northeast of the depot, whereas the battlefield marker says the distance was 12 miles. The Confederate force at the outpost, consisting of 90 poorly armed men, were caught off guard when Willetts attacked them. Outnumbered and outgunned, the Confederates held off the Union cavalry attack for approximately 30 minutes before retreating to the rest of Lt. Col. John Jumper's Seminole Battalion, who were not at the main skirmish. The Confederates retreated 45 miles (72 km) southwest down the Dragoon Trail. The Union advance continued south toward Ft. Washita the next day, but when the expected reinforcements did not arrive Philips' Expedition into Indian Territory stalled on February 15, near old Stonewall.
During the American Civil War, most of what is now the U.S. state of Oklahoma was designated as the Indian Territory. It served as an unorganized region that had been set aside specifically for Native American tribes and was occupied mostly by tribes which had been removed from their ancestral lands in the Southeastern United States following the Indian Removal Act of 1830. As part of the Trans-Mississippi Theater, the Indian Territory was the scene of numerous skirmishes and seven officially recognized battles involving both Native American units allied with the Confederate States of America and Native Americans loyal to the United States government, as well as other Union and Confederate troops.
The Cherokee in the American Civil War were active in the Trans-Mississippi and Western Theaters. In the east, Confederate Cherokees led by William Holland Thomas hindered Union forces trying to use the Appalachian mountain passes of western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee. Out west, Confederate Cherokee Stand Watie led primarily Native Confederate forces in the Indian Territory, in what is now the state of Oklahoma. The Cherokee partnered with the Confederacy in order to get funds, as well as ultimately full recognition as a sovereign, independent state.
The Treaty with Choctaws and Chickasaws was a treaty signed on July 12, 1861 between the Choctaw and Chickasaw and the Confederate States. At the beginning of the American Civil War, Albert Pike was appointed as Confederate envoy to Native Americans. In this capacity he negotiated several treaties, one of the most important being with Cherokee chief John Ross, which was concluded in 1861. The treaty was ratified and proclaimed on December 20, 1861 by the Confederacy. The Choctaw and Chickasaw also duly ratified the treaty.
The Choctaw in the American Civil War participated in two major arenas—the Trans-Mississippi and Western Theaters. The Trans-Mississippi had the Choctaw Nation. The Western had the Mississippi Choctaw. The Choctaw Nation had been mostly removed west prior to the War, but the Mississippi Choctaw had remained in the east. Both the Choctaw Nation and the Mississippi Choctaw would ultimately side with the Confederate States of America.
On the eve of the American Civil War in 1861, a significant number of Indigenous peoples of the Americas had been relocated from the Southeastern United States to Indian Territory, west of the Mississippi. The inhabitants of the eastern part of the Indian Territory, the Five Civilized Tribes, were suzerain nations with established tribal governments, well established cultures, and legal systems that allowed for slavery. Before European Contact these tribes were generally matriarchial societies, with agriculture being the primary economic pursuit. The bulk of the tribes lived in towns with planned streets, residential and public areas. The people were ruled by complex hereditary chiefdoms of varying size and complexity with high levels of military organization.
The ambush of the steamboat J.R. Williams was a military engagement during the American Civil War. It took place on June 15, 1864, on the Arkansas River in the Choctaw Nation which became encompassed by the State of Oklahoma. It is popularly termed the "only naval battle" in that landlocked state. It was a successful Confederate attack on the Union Army's lines of supply. The Confederate forces were Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw and Creek Indians led by General Stand Watie, who was a Cherokee.
Fort Davis, Oklahoma was established in 1861 on the south bank of the Arkansas River two and one-half miles northeast of present-day Muskogee, Oklahoma to serve as a Confederate States of America headquarters in Indian Territory. The fort's name honored President of the Confederate States of America Jefferson Davis. First called Cantonment Davis, its purposes were to help retain the loyalty of the Indian Territory to the Confederacy and to prevent Union Army invasions into Texas from the north.
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