Chapter 80 Far From the End
Chapter 80 Far From the End
"It is well that war is so terrible- otherwise we would grow fond of it."- Lieutenant General Robert E. Lee 1861
"Although a soldier by profession, I have never felt any sort of fondness for war, and I have never advocated it, except as a means of peace."- General General Ulysses. S. Grant 1869
"It is far too late to turn back at this juncture. We have two roads upon which to travel. One is victory, the other death."- President Robert Toombs 1861
North Carolina: The North Carolina campaign in 1861 was what many Union commanders hoped to be the start of the end of the Confederacy. Many across the country believed that General Lee could hopefully pull off his earlier victories in Virginia and overrun the Carolinas, capturing the traitorous South Carolinians by Christmas and reaching the Gulf in Spring. The truth however was easier said than done. During his conquest of Virginia, Lee ran into little resistance as the state had mostly turned Unionist after the Battle of Petersburg and the Confederacy had little hold of Virginia with Governor Letcher not preparing Virginia for siding with Montgomery. In contrast North Carolina had spent months as a loyal member of the CSA and had the largest population of troops to supply with. Reinforcements for the North Carolina theater came in the form of South Carolina and Florida while Georgia sent a few regiments with most having gone to Tennessee. When these reinforcements came together, General Samuel Cooper would come to lead a force of 155,000 men versus Lee's now 120,000. In addition to this temporary numerical superiority, North Carolina had begun a program of defense building in the state to form a strong metaphorical wall against the might of Virginia. Lee's first attempt in an invasion ended in failure in the First Battle of Greensboro on September 16th-17th where Lee and his men faced off against Cooper directly in what was the largest battle of the year. lee and 60,000 men of the Army of Virginia faced off against 75,000 Confederate troops in a bid to capture Greensboro which was an important railway hub in central North Carolina that could lead directly to both Charlotte and Raleigh. The main reason for the battle's commencement was due to a combination of misinformation and espionage when a Confederate Captain had a brilliant idea to put false orders and information about Greensboro wrapped around a cigar and abandon it on a campside near the side of the road for when the Union forces advanced. Union troops found the Confederate campsite and discovered the cigars which were delivered to Lee. Believing his Virginian counterpart being so stupid as to reveal his major plans around the cigar, Lee ordered a general advance on Greensboro to claim the town. When the Union forces arrived and prepared for an assault, they were to shocked to discover that the town had been heavily fortified and that the Confederates had been lying in wait. Confederate cavalry had then begun an encirclement of the Union positions which forced Lee to enter into a standoff. On the first day both sides were even with relatively little breakthroughs and the town of Greensboro having been heavily shelled upon. It would be the second day that the tide would go into the Confederacy's favor as a Union cavalry charge meant to break to perform a thrust into Greensboro failed when Brigadier General J.E.B Stuart got shot in the knee, collapsing Union morale (though Stuart was able to escape the battlefield with his surgery being successful). At the same time the Union left flank came under assault and was starting to crumble. Luckily for Lee, Stuart's failed charge had at the same time decimated the elite of the Confederate cavalry, allowing Lee to sound a general retreat to five miles of the border. The Battle of Greensboro would become a major morale boost for the Confederacy as they had managed to protect the heart of North Carolina from invasion, it came at a cost however as the Confederates suffered 11,354 casualties while the Union suffered 8,763 casualties.
Battle of Greensboro
After the loss at the Battle of Greensboro some critical Democrats had called for Lee to be replaced for his failure. However President Lincoln was understanding of the circumstances after Lee submitted a full report on the battle's failures and decided to give the Virginian another chance. Not wanting to waste this mercy by Lincoln, Lee went to work on reorganizing the Army to fill the gaps brought by the battle and come up with a new strategy. Looking at the big picture, Lee observed that North Carolina was the most heavily fortified as well as the highest contributor of troops to the Confederate cause. In order to conquer North Carolina alone it would need to take months to get close to Raleigh. When reviewing reports of the other theaters however, Lee also noticed that some cracks were starting to form in the Confederate lines that could lead to multiple breakthroughs. While most of the American public wanted a swift victory, Lee decided to take his time and face Cooper in a war of attrition for the Tar Heel state. Lee's plan would be to wait for a breakthrough in 1862 when his fellow generals across the various theaters would begin a full drive into the heart of the Deep South. At that time the North would be fully mobilized and Lee would be able to begin a march to Charleston with North Carolina at that point hopefully being in capitulation with the destruction of the state's infrastructure, resources, and manpower. For the rest of 1861 Lee would form three miniature fronts in North Carolina. North Carolina "West" where Lee's III Corps would support Hooker in securing Western North Carolina, North Carolina "Center" where the majority of Lee's Army with the I and IV Corps moving slowly in center North Carolina and doing battle with Cooper's forces. Lastly there would be North Carolina "Atlantic" which would be Major General Stonewall Jackson and the II Corps taking the oceanside of North Carolina in order to strengthen the blockade. Multiple battles would be fought in North Carolina in the rest of the fall and early winter of 1861. Tactically they were even with a slightly higher number of Union victories but a near amount of Confederate amounts to match. Strategically the war was going in Lee's theater as the III corps had managed to capture Western North Carolina under Hooker's leadership, Jackson had managed to capture the Ablemarle Sound, and Lee had advanced his forces to near 25 miles North of Greensboro. This would be the end of the easy period of North Carolina as the dawn of 1862 would begin the stiffest resistance in the state.
Missouri: Among military historians the American Civil War (Along with the Mexican War with the Rio Grande river) is generally considered to be the last major war in modern history to have rivers play a critical strategic role in total warfare. This is not to say that rivers would never become a factor as they would be important in the Great War such as German usage of the Rhine river and control of the Danube in the Balkans front. However over time with an increase in technological advancement, rivers would come to play a role of that of a reliable asset rather than a critical component necessary to win a war. Nowhere else was river doctrine so important than the control of the Mississippi river. The Mississippi was the lifeblood of America in the 19th century due to its critical role in within the domestic economy thanks to the quick transportation of goods from the North to the South along with its connection to other important rivers such as the Red River and the Ohio River. If the Union were to obtain full control of the Mississippi then it would be free to enter into the Gulf Coast and divide Arkansas and Louisiana from the rest, while encircling Mississippi and Tennessee. In contrast if the Confederacy were to obtain full control then they would have an unbreakable connection from East to West and move upstream to obtain control of the border states. With those two important goals in mind both sides got straight to work on securing dominance of the Trans-Mississippi theater.
In August Major General William Rosecrans arrived with 45,000 men of the Army of the Mississippi to secure control of Missouri and begin preparations of the river campaigns for next year. With the arrival of multiple regiments of regular troops, the Union garrisons and Jayhawks were able to beat back the Bushwakers and destroy any large form of organized Confederate resistance. By the end of 1861 Confederate militias were limited to territory along both the Kansas and Arkansas borders, while the Union had established several camps along the Mississippi. In the battle of Neosho, Rosecrans defeated a Confederate militia of 10,000 men with his larger force of 15,000 and captured the entirety of the Missouri splinter government with the exception of Major General Price who escaped to Arkansas to continue his campaign of guerilla warfare. The capture of the splinter government gave the Union a major propaganda victory as it ensured that for the rest of the war Missouri was seen as a Union state and not a Confederate one. Despite the fact that Rosecrans had the ability to reinforce both Grant or Sherman in Kentucky or Tennessee, or give aid to Kansas; he was prevented by doing so with a direct order from Abraham Lincoln to hold formation in Missouri and see to the creation of the River Navy. Many military historians have come to criticize Lincoln's decision over the years as there have been many arguments that Rosecrans' forces would have been beneficial to either one of the mentioned theaters instead of lounging around in Missouri. However in the long run it has been proven to be strategically sound thanks to Rosecrans' leadership in the Conquest of the Gulf towards the end of the war. For the meantime Rosecrans put his skills to work as the man had a high amount of experience in civil engineering, allowing him to have a personal oversight in the creation of the River monitors. Meanwhile Rosecrans' Confederate counterpart Lieutenant General P.G.T Beauregard would quietly see to the creation of the Confederacy's own river navy while training the men of the Gulf Department, at the same time sending some troops to aid Price in Missouri and Quantrill in Kansas.
The USS Essex patrolling in St. Louis
Appalachian Mountains: The Appalachian Front while being a generally overlooked theater in the American Civil War, was nevertheless one of the most important as control of the Appalachians would determine the victories on three others; North Carolina, Tennessee, and Kentucky. On one side General Joseph Hooker had the upper hand in manpower and resources with his 55,000 man army having manpower come from Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Ohio, along with direct arms and ammunition from their factories. On the other was Braxton Bragg who led a 40,000 force who were all natives to the Appalachia area and were all high quality fighters. In order to overcome their opponents strengths, the two had to make wise strategic moves to secure victory. At the start of the campaign Hooker immediately went to work by securing Virginia from any Confederate sympathizers. His next two objectives would be to secure the Appalachians in Kentucky while beginning an advancement into North Carolina to provide a defense for Eastern Tennessee and support Lee's efforts into North Carolina. Operations in Kentucky took little over a month to complete as Leonidas Polk had not fully arrived in the area which allowed Hooker to secure the Eastern half of the state. Grant's easy victories against Polk made the Army of Kentucky wary of advancing further East which allowed Grant and Hooker to connect with the Army of the Ohio taking charge of Eastern Kentucky. With his work in Kentucky done, Hooker directed his attention to the much more difficult task of securing North Carolina. In North Carolina, Hooker found his aggressive tactics to be undermined thanks to the rough terrain of the Appalachians and Bragg's unwillingness to engage in direct battle. Had the general campaign gone in a sole battle between the two Appalachian Armies, then Bragg would have been the eventual victor and Hooker stalled in his planning. However the turning point of the campaign would be the Battle of Tennessee and Holsten River Valley where President Toombs ordered a second invasion of Eastern Tennessee from North Carolina upon seeing the success of Forrest in the state. This would prove to be a huge strategic blunder as Hooker managed to surround Bragg's armies on both sides of the valley thanks to the arrival of Lee's III corps in the west and the friendly transportation through East Tennessee. The Valley war as the two battles were called would last all throughout November and December as Bragg and Hooker clashed multiple times over the gateway to Tennessee. At first both sides were matched with Hooker's thrusts and encirclement being met by a highly mobile Confederate guerilla force. As time went by the battle started to go in the Union favor as Bragg like Polk, went about micromanaging the entire army with multiple conflicts with his direct subordinates. Unlike Polk who still maintained a high popularity with his men due to his charisma, Bragg openly insulted his subordinates and the troops that served him, once remarking "These bastards fight like Injuns, ferocious but without reason." The situation got worse as winter started to kick in with Bragg catching pneumonia but still persisting in his stance of maintaining direct control of the battle to decisively defeat Hooker in a large engagement instead of continuous skirmishes like his generals said. In contrast while Hooker was a hothead, he managed to get along well with most of his men and had his aggressive personality truly shine on the battlefield with his organization skills leading to multiple large attacks to decimate Confederate formations while his well run administration of the Army kept unit cohesion intact across the vast battlefield of the Vally's. Morale was high among the Union troops and Hooker's multiple victories in the Battle and his direct leadership in the charge against Bragg earned him the nickname "Fighting Joe." With winter snow beginning in mid-December and the threat of being entraped by Hooker, Bragg ordered a general retreat towards Georgia. The Valley War was costly for both sides with Hooker suffering 10,205 casualties while Bragg suffered 17,489 casualties. The prevention of another invasion into Eastern Tennessee and the higher body count for the South ensured that the victory belonged to Hooker. For the rest of the year and early 1862, Hooker would work closely with Major General George McClellan of the III Virginia Corps to capture Western North Carolina, a relatively easy task with the high Union sentiment and Cooper's focus on the central part of the state. Meanwhile Bragg would spend his time licking his wounds and looking towards defeating Hooker in North Carolina under Cooper's planned counterattack.
The Valley War (Left) Union Propaganda Leaflet showing "Fighting Joe" (Right)
Kentucky: The Kentucky Campaign in 1861 can be described as a mess that was only surpassed by both Kansas and Tennessee. This was not to say that the conduct of Generals Grants and Polk were poor in their respective performances, but rather the fact that the state was being invaded by two opposing armies while it nearly collapsed in itself between allegiances to both the North and the South. The first few weeks of the war was simply both sides trying to find their bearings as the Union and Confederate Armies would run into an equal amount of support and resistance by Unionist and Dixie sympathizers throughout the state. The first major battle would be the Battle of Mayfield on October 10th where General Grant defended the town against Polk's advance which was aimed at a potential invasion of either Indiana or Illinois. It was here that the nation would be introduced to the two distinct styles of the opposing Generals with Grant starting to show his brilliance to the nation at large while Polk began his reputation as the Confederacy's most incompetent battle commander. General Grant was known for years within the Army as a close friend to Lee and the two would often develop war games to fight against each other playing to the strengths of Lee's tactical maneuvering and Grant's strategic use of attrition. Grant was also a war hero from the Oregon war and worked closely with the Quartermaster corps which gave him an expertise in running a large army. In contrast Leonidas Polk had virtually no experience in warfare before Fort Sumter with his vocation being an Episcopal bishop. The only reason he had managed to achieve command of such a large force was due to his appointment into the Confederate Army be Vice President Jefferson Davis who was a close friend of Polk's, and Toombs ordering Polk to take command into Kentucky due to his misguided belief by Davis that Polk was a capable general. The Battle of Mayfield would set the course for the Kentucky campaign as Grant launched endless assaults using his higher troop count of 35,000 against Polk's 25,000 to overwhelm the Louisianan thanks to a well organized and ferocious Union advance combined with a strategic bombardment of Polk's exposed supply lines. Meanwhile Polk had spent nearly the whole battle arguing with his subordinates over the proper direction of the fight while making several strategic blunders due to his ego wanting to take control against the more sound advice of Polk's generals. By the end of the Day Grant was able to defend the town relatively intact with 1,985 casualties while Polk suffered 4,132 casualties. After Mayfield Kentucky became a race to the borders as both Generals made it a point to take as much territory as they could before winter. Polk steadily advanced but it was more due to the nonexistent presence of Union forces in Southern Kentucky thanks to Nathaniel Bedford Forrest's work in Tennessee. The final major battle before the end of the year was the Battle of Lexington on December 15th where Polk attempted to take the large city as a gateway to Frankfort. Once again the battle turned into a Union victory thanks to Polk's incompetence (which including a misfire of an artillery piece that destroyed 1/5th of the emplacement) and Grant's aggressive tactics which pushed back the Confederate flanks and performed numerous pincer movements with the Union cavalry. By the end of the year Southern Kentucky would be under Polk's control while Grant controlled the Northern and Eastern portions of the state. 1862 would see Grant finish the job.
Battle of Mayfield
Tennessee: 1861 Would see the survival of East Tennessee at stake as the state became surrounded at all sides by an advancing Polk, North Carolina, Tennessee and the advance of General Forrest, and Georgia with the beginning of a new offensive in the south. Under any normal conditions the young secessionist state would've fallen and become reabsorbed back into Eastern Tennessee. Luckily the new state had reinforcements in the form of the 80,000 Army of Tennessee and the leadership of William Tecumseh Sherman, soon to be known as Total War Sherman. While East Tennessee had temporarily ensured its survival with the defeat of Bragg at the Battle of Greeneville, they would soon find themselves under attack by Lieutenant General Nathan Bedford Forrest with the Army of the Cumberland coming west from Nashville while Major General James Longstreet would come from the South with Longstreet leading two a corps of Georgian regiments into the southern half of Eastern Tennessee, capturing the important town of Chattanooga on September 25th. Against these two large foes, Sherman set to work on creating the modern doctrine of tactical warfare by training what would be described as the most efficient and deadly fighting force of the Union by General Cooper after the war. Combining a ragatag group of Tennessee Loyalists, Virginians, reinforcements from Kentucky, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, Sherman set out to create a highly mobile force which would be able to quickly meet any enemy threat in East Tennessee and give total annihilation to the enemy. Sherman divided his army into four corps, each with the task of defending one of the borders. Sherman's first task would be to head west to meet Forrest in the Battle of Mufreesboro. While Forrest was predicted to win due to his higher number of troops in 30,000 compared to Sherman's 22,000; these same troops were the ones who performed the subjugation of Tennessee and thus were highly demoralized for having to brutally enforce southern loyalty against their fellow statesmen. In contrast Sherman's force was composed of half the East Tennessee volunteers who were itching for revenge for Forrest's atrocities. When the battle commenced on October 3rd, it soon became a one sided affair as multiple companies of Forrest's command deserted to the Union side to fight with their brethren while others were overwhelmed by the Union surge of livid East Tennesseans who fought bloody close combat. Forrest himself had fought well with him personally leading the cavalry to overwhelm Sherman's own cavalry formations, but with his infantry and portions of artillery in dismay, Forrest had to retreat back to Nashville or face the possibility of Sherman ordering an entrapment. High on his victory against the Confederates, Sherman continued limited operations in the area for a week before moving his command to the II Corps to meet Longstreet's advance. It was during this week that Sherman experimented in his doctrine of total warfare by raiding the countryside around Nashville and destroying any and all farmland while securing the crops to feed the Union army. All infrastructure which could've helped the Confederacy was burned or destroyed by TNT while rebel training camps were overrun. At the same time Sherman began to introduce the slavery question back into the war by liberating Confederate slaves from Tennessee in order to hurt their laborforce, something which East Tennesseans supported due to their high abolitionism, while other southern regiments were alarmed at the act. For the rest of the year Sherman spent his time trying to contain Longstreet's advance which he was able to halt with the Battle of Dayton on December 14th. With Hooker proving successful in the Appalachia and signs showing that Grant would be providing reinforcements soon, Sherman opted to maintain a high defense around East Tennessee's borders by gradually reclaiming territory for the state at a slow pace while sending multiple strike battalions into the countryside to disrupt Confederate lines and deny them the countryside as winter set in.
Kansas: During the fall of 1861 the Kansas-Nebraska territory was beginning to feel the full effects of the civil war with the beginning of a devastation to the territory that would scar the region for the rest of the decade. During the summer of 1861 both sides had been very active in raiding each other's territory and setting ablaze to the property of slaveholders and abolitionists. No one was safe as anyone within the lands of Kansas-Nebraska was caught in the crossfire. Then the worst case scenario happened during harvest time. You see much like modern day Kansas, Kansas-Nebraska back the was a largely agrarian state where its settlers relied on subsistence farming and herding for their livelihoods. In 1860 it was estimated that a near 95% of the Kansas economy relied on agriculture as there were few areas of development and most rail lines didn't even come close to the borders of Kansas. When it came time to harvest the crops in order to prepare for winter, both the Abolitionist and slaveowners had run into two problems. Firstly, the frequent raids against both sides were focused on ruining the property of the target and thus most small farms had their crops burned or destroyed with the farmers themselves having few extra seeds or funds to plant more. Secondly, even if the crops were kept intact the farms would not be able to be harvested due to the large loss in manpower with the freeing of slaves, farmers leaving to join the Army, and death of several women and men on the frontier. With most farms having been ruined in the fighting over the summer, there were few if any fields which were able to be cultivated, starting a mass famine which would continue until mid-1864. The Great Kansas Famine as it would later be called in American history, managed to cause the deaths of over 10,000 Americans on both sides through disease and malnutrition. The lack of supplies caused the siege of Topeka to temporarily cease in the winter of 1861 as Governor Quantrill's men were too tired to continue enforcing the perimeter around the town, not that it did much good overall as the Union garrison was unable to find much food without having to take it from the settlers by force. Some minor relief came on both sides with the arrival of Indian regiments from Oklahoma to aid the Confederacy, along with two Union regiments arriving to reinforce Topeka, the Missouri 9th and the Minnesota 2nd. Unfortunately this did not mean the end of fighting as both Union and Confederate raiders continued their attacks with a renewed vigor due to the need for food, only causing the situation to worsen in the long run. The deciding factor in the war for Kansas would have to wait until next year as Major General Stephen Kearney was on the way with reinforcements from Oregon while Arkansas was preparing an expedition to secure the territory in the hands of slavery once and for all.
Oklahoma: Today in the minds of the American people and most amateur historians exists a misconception that Oklahoma was fully for the support of the Confederate States of America. This notion is rather easy to understand from a point of view due to the United States treatment of the American Indian and their recent history such as the Trail of Tears which only occurred three decades before. However it was not the case as Stand Watie's appeal to the Confederacy in Montgomery was only made from the will of a select few from the five civilized tribes who claimed to represent leadership of them as a whole, a process that would later be repeated to the United States advantage in the Indian Wars and Reservation treaties. While many members of the Five Civilized Tribes welcomed the Confederacy as a chance to take revenge on the "White Men" in Washington and create a state of their own, others chose loyalty to the Union. The main opposition figure in Confederate Oklahoma was a Muskogee Chief named Opothelyahola, or as he was commonly known in the United States after the war, Chief Opo. Opo was a Creek Indian who was born in 1798 and was originally from present day Elmore Country, Alabama. Over the years Opo became an influential chief within the Creek nation due to his great oratory skills and high education in the ways of American culture. Opo's early claim to fame came in 1826 when he managed to negotiate the Treaty of Washington with President John Quincy Adams which revised an earlier unfair treaty to the Creek and protected their lands, helping to shape Opo's belief that compromise was possible with the white people. Unfortunately this success would not last as Opo and his people were forced off their land in 1835 to commence the Trail of Tears. Unlike many other Indians at the time, Opo did not directly blame the government as he saw it as the south's fault with Georgia's encroachment and disrespect of Federal treaties while Andrew Jackson, a southerner, was responsible for defying the Supreme Court. In the 25 years since then, Opo had risen to become one of the head leaders of the entire Creek nation and earned a great amount of respect from the fellow tribes. When word had reached Oklahoma of Stand Watie's declaration of loyalty to the Confederacy, Chief Opo made a declaration of loyalty to Washington and renounced Watie as a renegade who did not have the best interests of the Muskogee Creek at heart. In weeks the Muskogee Creek reservation gained thousands of Indians from across the territory, most were Chickasaw or Seminole Indians with a high mix of mulattos who did not want to fight for a nation that supported the repression of those with black descent. At the same time thousands of Indians, most notably a large minority of Cherokee, decided to use the chaos of the Civil War to escape Indian territory and head across the Red River into Texas. This group of migrants did not want to support either side of the conflict and hoped to find new land in Texas where civilized Indians were treated as citizens. This began the first trek of what would be called the Southern Exodus, most notably the migration of tens of thousands of American Indians into Texas to escape the persecution of the United States federal government.
Chief Opothleyahola of the Muskogee-Creek. One of the most important Indians in American history who would play a large role in the formation of Sequoyah after the war.
At the start of the war the situation in the Indian Territory/Oklahoma was not well for the Union. During the Douglas administration more and more troops were sent north to Kansas or east of the Mississippi each year in order to quell the unrest within the United States. During Toombs' short term there were virtually no reinforcements at all and thus the Union was down to less than 1,000 men spread across the vast and undeveloped territory. With Stand Watie declaring the Confederate State of Oklahoma, Confederate-allied tribes surrounded the Union forts within the state, causing Union Major Tyler Hendricks to surrender all Union forces in Oklahoma and be forced to march his men to Missouri while Confederate tribes pillaged the forts to their benefit. However this was not the end of the fighting as Chief Opo still would not pledge fealty to the Southern Cross and led over 8,000 Indians to the Deep Fork River near present day Seqouyah City. Opo and his followers camped there for several months without conflict until a mixed Confederate force of 1600 men under Colonel Douglas Cooper arrived from Arkansas to force the Muskogee Creek to surrender and accept the leadership of Stand Watie. Once again Chief Opo refused and thus the Battle of Round Mountain came to be. On November 19th, 1861, the Battle of Round Mountain took place with Colonel Cooper personally leading several waves of Confederate cavalry against Opo's camp. However the Federal Indians had spent a good amount of time fortifying the camp and were able to create a well-placed encampment with multiple traps set up which destroyed a great amount of cohesion for the Confederate cavalry. Using knowledge of the land and numerical superiority, Chief Opo were able to drive back multiple waves of Confederate attacks and by nightfall the Confederate forces retreated having suffered 74 dead and 83 wounded. However the battle while in appearance a Federal victory, was in actuality a strategic victory for the Confederates as the Federal Indians suffered 156 dead and 182 wounded. Even worse they had used up a majority of the supplies and had to abandon camp. Once he was finished reorganizing his forces, Colonel Cooper gave chase to the Muskogee coalition across the plains. With a harsh winter coming in Chief Opo had two choices to save his people. Head north into Kansas which was overrun by Confederates, or head south to Texas which had a warmer climate and friendly Indian tribes who could come to their aid. Opothelyahola chose the latter.
For weeks the Confederates gave chase to the tired and hungry Muskogee. During that time Confederate ranks were filled with allied Indians which swelled Cooper's numbers to well over 2,000. Meanwhile with the the coming temperatures and low rations, the Muskogee had 340 perish on the trail. On December 5th the situation would become critical when the Muskogee crossed the Red River into Texan territory. The next day Cooper and his men arrived and although Cooper was warned repeatedly by his Indian subordinates that he would be stepping foot onto Texan land, the Colonel did not care as he was determined to win a glorious victory for the South, thus they would come to cross on the 7th, starting an unofficial Confederate invasion into Texan lands. Unknown to both groups at the time, they were under watch by the Texas Rangers, more specifically men of the Wichita and Lenape tribes. During the opening months of the Mexican War, the threat presented by Juarez had caused a general deployment of most Texan forces in East Texas to the Rio Grande river in order to defend the Republic from Mexico. In order to make up for the loss in manpower, the citizen tribes were asked to provide the defense for the frontier settlements due to the low amount of manpower available with the army regiments and a majority of the Rangers heading to fight Mexico. Though some politicians in Austin protested at the thought of having the protection of white settlements be in the hands of Indians, the Eastern Tribes responded with a firm promise of protection for their adopted homeland, few were as dedicated as the Wichita and the Lenape. When Wichita Rangers first spotted the Muskogee crossing the Red River they simply assumed that this was another band of refugees and thus left them be. The Rangers became alarmed however at the presence of Confederates as such an armed force was a firm invasion of Texas. They were even more afraid for the tribal districts in East Texas as they thought that the Confederates were rampaging against Indians as a whole and that they wouldn't hesitate to attack Texan tribal lands. The Ranger scouts headed back to Lamar where they were able to spread word throughout Texas of the invasion and of the current Confederate positions. Enraged at the thought of Confederate troops in the Lone Star Republic, local Ranger head Lieutenant Colonel Edward Mustang of the Wichita formed an armed group to repulse the invaders and protect the lands of Texas, drawing a couple of hundred volunteers from the local tribes and citizens of Lamar and Fort Worth. On December 26th the Battle of Wichita Falls took place as the Confederate regiment forced Chief Opo to make a final stand 10 miles southeast of Wichita Falls, The Muskogee falling in dozens as the Confederates attacked without rest. Just as all hope was about to be lost a miracle happened as a lone Wichita scout came into view bellowing a large war cry, the scout leading the way for 650 Texas Rangers, Indians, and settlers. During the attack the Confederates had left their rear flank exposed and thus were wide open to attack as the swift Texans overwhelmed their ranks with brutal close combat and rapid fire from the Texans colt pistols and repeating rifles. With the Texans coming to their aid the Muskogee were able to gain a second wind and counterattacked. Overwhelmed on all sides, Cooper announced a general retreat to Oklahoma and headed north with only 1200 men remaining of his original 2,000. Meanwhile the Texans suffered 54 casualties while the Muskogee had a fourth of their manpower eliminated with only over 6,000 Indians left.
Battle of Wichita Falls
The Battle of Wichita Falls is an important point in the Western theater of the war as it allowed the continuation of resistance in Oklahoma and prevented total Confederate domination of the plains, allowing a reprieve for Kansas which would immensely benefit it in 1862, along with the cancellation of a planned invasion of Missouri by Arkansas. The battle caused a huge diplomatic incident where President Juan Seguin had previously entertained Confederate ministers half-heartedly, was now entirely against the south and kicked the ministers out of Texas entirely, sending a message that the next violation of Texan sovereignty would lead to Texas joining the fight and annexing Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana. In reality this was one large bluff due to the immense resources spent fighting Mexico. Robert Toombs did not think so as he sent an apology to Austin of the invasion and demoted Douglas Cooper to Lieutenant Colonel, placing newly promoted Brigadier General Stand Watie as head of the Oklahoma theater. During the winter of 1861, the Muskogee would recover from their losses thanks to aid from the Wichita tribe by allowing the Federal Indians to stay within tribal lands in Wichita Falls. During this time Chief Opo would plot his return to Oklahoma to kick the Confederates out and reclaim his land. Spending time gathering resources and support from the Texans while training his men to become a full-fledged force. Opothleyahola would return.
"It is well that war is so terrible- otherwise we would grow fond of it."- Lieutenant General Robert E. Lee 1861
"Although a soldier by profession, I have never felt any sort of fondness for war, and I have never advocated it, except as a means of peace."- General General Ulysses. S. Grant 1869
"It is far too late to turn back at this juncture. We have two roads upon which to travel. One is victory, the other death."- President Robert Toombs 1861
North Carolina: The North Carolina campaign in 1861 was what many Union commanders hoped to be the start of the end of the Confederacy. Many across the country believed that General Lee could hopefully pull off his earlier victories in Virginia and overrun the Carolinas, capturing the traitorous South Carolinians by Christmas and reaching the Gulf in Spring. The truth however was easier said than done. During his conquest of Virginia, Lee ran into little resistance as the state had mostly turned Unionist after the Battle of Petersburg and the Confederacy had little hold of Virginia with Governor Letcher not preparing Virginia for siding with Montgomery. In contrast North Carolina had spent months as a loyal member of the CSA and had the largest population of troops to supply with. Reinforcements for the North Carolina theater came in the form of South Carolina and Florida while Georgia sent a few regiments with most having gone to Tennessee. When these reinforcements came together, General Samuel Cooper would come to lead a force of 155,000 men versus Lee's now 120,000. In addition to this temporary numerical superiority, North Carolina had begun a program of defense building in the state to form a strong metaphorical wall against the might of Virginia. Lee's first attempt in an invasion ended in failure in the First Battle of Greensboro on September 16th-17th where Lee and his men faced off against Cooper directly in what was the largest battle of the year. lee and 60,000 men of the Army of Virginia faced off against 75,000 Confederate troops in a bid to capture Greensboro which was an important railway hub in central North Carolina that could lead directly to both Charlotte and Raleigh. The main reason for the battle's commencement was due to a combination of misinformation and espionage when a Confederate Captain had a brilliant idea to put false orders and information about Greensboro wrapped around a cigar and abandon it on a campside near the side of the road for when the Union forces advanced. Union troops found the Confederate campsite and discovered the cigars which were delivered to Lee. Believing his Virginian counterpart being so stupid as to reveal his major plans around the cigar, Lee ordered a general advance on Greensboro to claim the town. When the Union forces arrived and prepared for an assault, they were to shocked to discover that the town had been heavily fortified and that the Confederates had been lying in wait. Confederate cavalry had then begun an encirclement of the Union positions which forced Lee to enter into a standoff. On the first day both sides were even with relatively little breakthroughs and the town of Greensboro having been heavily shelled upon. It would be the second day that the tide would go into the Confederacy's favor as a Union cavalry charge meant to break to perform a thrust into Greensboro failed when Brigadier General J.E.B Stuart got shot in the knee, collapsing Union morale (though Stuart was able to escape the battlefield with his surgery being successful). At the same time the Union left flank came under assault and was starting to crumble. Luckily for Lee, Stuart's failed charge had at the same time decimated the elite of the Confederate cavalry, allowing Lee to sound a general retreat to five miles of the border. The Battle of Greensboro would become a major morale boost for the Confederacy as they had managed to protect the heart of North Carolina from invasion, it came at a cost however as the Confederates suffered 11,354 casualties while the Union suffered 8,763 casualties.
Battle of Greensboro
After the loss at the Battle of Greensboro some critical Democrats had called for Lee to be replaced for his failure. However President Lincoln was understanding of the circumstances after Lee submitted a full report on the battle's failures and decided to give the Virginian another chance. Not wanting to waste this mercy by Lincoln, Lee went to work on reorganizing the Army to fill the gaps brought by the battle and come up with a new strategy. Looking at the big picture, Lee observed that North Carolina was the most heavily fortified as well as the highest contributor of troops to the Confederate cause. In order to conquer North Carolina alone it would need to take months to get close to Raleigh. When reviewing reports of the other theaters however, Lee also noticed that some cracks were starting to form in the Confederate lines that could lead to multiple breakthroughs. While most of the American public wanted a swift victory, Lee decided to take his time and face Cooper in a war of attrition for the Tar Heel state. Lee's plan would be to wait for a breakthrough in 1862 when his fellow generals across the various theaters would begin a full drive into the heart of the Deep South. At that time the North would be fully mobilized and Lee would be able to begin a march to Charleston with North Carolina at that point hopefully being in capitulation with the destruction of the state's infrastructure, resources, and manpower. For the rest of 1861 Lee would form three miniature fronts in North Carolina. North Carolina "West" where Lee's III Corps would support Hooker in securing Western North Carolina, North Carolina "Center" where the majority of Lee's Army with the I and IV Corps moving slowly in center North Carolina and doing battle with Cooper's forces. Lastly there would be North Carolina "Atlantic" which would be Major General Stonewall Jackson and the II Corps taking the oceanside of North Carolina in order to strengthen the blockade. Multiple battles would be fought in North Carolina in the rest of the fall and early winter of 1861. Tactically they were even with a slightly higher number of Union victories but a near amount of Confederate amounts to match. Strategically the war was going in Lee's theater as the III corps had managed to capture Western North Carolina under Hooker's leadership, Jackson had managed to capture the Ablemarle Sound, and Lee had advanced his forces to near 25 miles North of Greensboro. This would be the end of the easy period of North Carolina as the dawn of 1862 would begin the stiffest resistance in the state.
Missouri: Among military historians the American Civil War (Along with the Mexican War with the Rio Grande river) is generally considered to be the last major war in modern history to have rivers play a critical strategic role in total warfare. This is not to say that rivers would never become a factor as they would be important in the Great War such as German usage of the Rhine river and control of the Danube in the Balkans front. However over time with an increase in technological advancement, rivers would come to play a role of that of a reliable asset rather than a critical component necessary to win a war. Nowhere else was river doctrine so important than the control of the Mississippi river. The Mississippi was the lifeblood of America in the 19th century due to its critical role in within the domestic economy thanks to the quick transportation of goods from the North to the South along with its connection to other important rivers such as the Red River and the Ohio River. If the Union were to obtain full control of the Mississippi then it would be free to enter into the Gulf Coast and divide Arkansas and Louisiana from the rest, while encircling Mississippi and Tennessee. In contrast if the Confederacy were to obtain full control then they would have an unbreakable connection from East to West and move upstream to obtain control of the border states. With those two important goals in mind both sides got straight to work on securing dominance of the Trans-Mississippi theater.
In August Major General William Rosecrans arrived with 45,000 men of the Army of the Mississippi to secure control of Missouri and begin preparations of the river campaigns for next year. With the arrival of multiple regiments of regular troops, the Union garrisons and Jayhawks were able to beat back the Bushwakers and destroy any large form of organized Confederate resistance. By the end of 1861 Confederate militias were limited to territory along both the Kansas and Arkansas borders, while the Union had established several camps along the Mississippi. In the battle of Neosho, Rosecrans defeated a Confederate militia of 10,000 men with his larger force of 15,000 and captured the entirety of the Missouri splinter government with the exception of Major General Price who escaped to Arkansas to continue his campaign of guerilla warfare. The capture of the splinter government gave the Union a major propaganda victory as it ensured that for the rest of the war Missouri was seen as a Union state and not a Confederate one. Despite the fact that Rosecrans had the ability to reinforce both Grant or Sherman in Kentucky or Tennessee, or give aid to Kansas; he was prevented by doing so with a direct order from Abraham Lincoln to hold formation in Missouri and see to the creation of the River Navy. Many military historians have come to criticize Lincoln's decision over the years as there have been many arguments that Rosecrans' forces would have been beneficial to either one of the mentioned theaters instead of lounging around in Missouri. However in the long run it has been proven to be strategically sound thanks to Rosecrans' leadership in the Conquest of the Gulf towards the end of the war. For the meantime Rosecrans put his skills to work as the man had a high amount of experience in civil engineering, allowing him to have a personal oversight in the creation of the River monitors. Meanwhile Rosecrans' Confederate counterpart Lieutenant General P.G.T Beauregard would quietly see to the creation of the Confederacy's own river navy while training the men of the Gulf Department, at the same time sending some troops to aid Price in Missouri and Quantrill in Kansas.
The USS Essex patrolling in St. Louis
Appalachian Mountains: The Appalachian Front while being a generally overlooked theater in the American Civil War, was nevertheless one of the most important as control of the Appalachians would determine the victories on three others; North Carolina, Tennessee, and Kentucky. On one side General Joseph Hooker had the upper hand in manpower and resources with his 55,000 man army having manpower come from Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Ohio, along with direct arms and ammunition from their factories. On the other was Braxton Bragg who led a 40,000 force who were all natives to the Appalachia area and were all high quality fighters. In order to overcome their opponents strengths, the two had to make wise strategic moves to secure victory. At the start of the campaign Hooker immediately went to work by securing Virginia from any Confederate sympathizers. His next two objectives would be to secure the Appalachians in Kentucky while beginning an advancement into North Carolina to provide a defense for Eastern Tennessee and support Lee's efforts into North Carolina. Operations in Kentucky took little over a month to complete as Leonidas Polk had not fully arrived in the area which allowed Hooker to secure the Eastern half of the state. Grant's easy victories against Polk made the Army of Kentucky wary of advancing further East which allowed Grant and Hooker to connect with the Army of the Ohio taking charge of Eastern Kentucky. With his work in Kentucky done, Hooker directed his attention to the much more difficult task of securing North Carolina. In North Carolina, Hooker found his aggressive tactics to be undermined thanks to the rough terrain of the Appalachians and Bragg's unwillingness to engage in direct battle. Had the general campaign gone in a sole battle between the two Appalachian Armies, then Bragg would have been the eventual victor and Hooker stalled in his planning. However the turning point of the campaign would be the Battle of Tennessee and Holsten River Valley where President Toombs ordered a second invasion of Eastern Tennessee from North Carolina upon seeing the success of Forrest in the state. This would prove to be a huge strategic blunder as Hooker managed to surround Bragg's armies on both sides of the valley thanks to the arrival of Lee's III corps in the west and the friendly transportation through East Tennessee. The Valley war as the two battles were called would last all throughout November and December as Bragg and Hooker clashed multiple times over the gateway to Tennessee. At first both sides were matched with Hooker's thrusts and encirclement being met by a highly mobile Confederate guerilla force. As time went by the battle started to go in the Union favor as Bragg like Polk, went about micromanaging the entire army with multiple conflicts with his direct subordinates. Unlike Polk who still maintained a high popularity with his men due to his charisma, Bragg openly insulted his subordinates and the troops that served him, once remarking "These bastards fight like Injuns, ferocious but without reason." The situation got worse as winter started to kick in with Bragg catching pneumonia but still persisting in his stance of maintaining direct control of the battle to decisively defeat Hooker in a large engagement instead of continuous skirmishes like his generals said. In contrast while Hooker was a hothead, he managed to get along well with most of his men and had his aggressive personality truly shine on the battlefield with his organization skills leading to multiple large attacks to decimate Confederate formations while his well run administration of the Army kept unit cohesion intact across the vast battlefield of the Vally's. Morale was high among the Union troops and Hooker's multiple victories in the Battle and his direct leadership in the charge against Bragg earned him the nickname "Fighting Joe." With winter snow beginning in mid-December and the threat of being entraped by Hooker, Bragg ordered a general retreat towards Georgia. The Valley War was costly for both sides with Hooker suffering 10,205 casualties while Bragg suffered 17,489 casualties. The prevention of another invasion into Eastern Tennessee and the higher body count for the South ensured that the victory belonged to Hooker. For the rest of the year and early 1862, Hooker would work closely with Major General George McClellan of the III Virginia Corps to capture Western North Carolina, a relatively easy task with the high Union sentiment and Cooper's focus on the central part of the state. Meanwhile Bragg would spend his time licking his wounds and looking towards defeating Hooker in North Carolina under Cooper's planned counterattack.
The Valley War (Left) Union Propaganda Leaflet showing "Fighting Joe" (Right)
Kentucky: The Kentucky Campaign in 1861 can be described as a mess that was only surpassed by both Kansas and Tennessee. This was not to say that the conduct of Generals Grants and Polk were poor in their respective performances, but rather the fact that the state was being invaded by two opposing armies while it nearly collapsed in itself between allegiances to both the North and the South. The first few weeks of the war was simply both sides trying to find their bearings as the Union and Confederate Armies would run into an equal amount of support and resistance by Unionist and Dixie sympathizers throughout the state. The first major battle would be the Battle of Mayfield on October 10th where General Grant defended the town against Polk's advance which was aimed at a potential invasion of either Indiana or Illinois. It was here that the nation would be introduced to the two distinct styles of the opposing Generals with Grant starting to show his brilliance to the nation at large while Polk began his reputation as the Confederacy's most incompetent battle commander. General Grant was known for years within the Army as a close friend to Lee and the two would often develop war games to fight against each other playing to the strengths of Lee's tactical maneuvering and Grant's strategic use of attrition. Grant was also a war hero from the Oregon war and worked closely with the Quartermaster corps which gave him an expertise in running a large army. In contrast Leonidas Polk had virtually no experience in warfare before Fort Sumter with his vocation being an Episcopal bishop. The only reason he had managed to achieve command of such a large force was due to his appointment into the Confederate Army be Vice President Jefferson Davis who was a close friend of Polk's, and Toombs ordering Polk to take command into Kentucky due to his misguided belief by Davis that Polk was a capable general. The Battle of Mayfield would set the course for the Kentucky campaign as Grant launched endless assaults using his higher troop count of 35,000 against Polk's 25,000 to overwhelm the Louisianan thanks to a well organized and ferocious Union advance combined with a strategic bombardment of Polk's exposed supply lines. Meanwhile Polk had spent nearly the whole battle arguing with his subordinates over the proper direction of the fight while making several strategic blunders due to his ego wanting to take control against the more sound advice of Polk's generals. By the end of the Day Grant was able to defend the town relatively intact with 1,985 casualties while Polk suffered 4,132 casualties. After Mayfield Kentucky became a race to the borders as both Generals made it a point to take as much territory as they could before winter. Polk steadily advanced but it was more due to the nonexistent presence of Union forces in Southern Kentucky thanks to Nathaniel Bedford Forrest's work in Tennessee. The final major battle before the end of the year was the Battle of Lexington on December 15th where Polk attempted to take the large city as a gateway to Frankfort. Once again the battle turned into a Union victory thanks to Polk's incompetence (which including a misfire of an artillery piece that destroyed 1/5th of the emplacement) and Grant's aggressive tactics which pushed back the Confederate flanks and performed numerous pincer movements with the Union cavalry. By the end of the year Southern Kentucky would be under Polk's control while Grant controlled the Northern and Eastern portions of the state. 1862 would see Grant finish the job.
Battle of Mayfield
Tennessee: 1861 Would see the survival of East Tennessee at stake as the state became surrounded at all sides by an advancing Polk, North Carolina, Tennessee and the advance of General Forrest, and Georgia with the beginning of a new offensive in the south. Under any normal conditions the young secessionist state would've fallen and become reabsorbed back into Eastern Tennessee. Luckily the new state had reinforcements in the form of the 80,000 Army of Tennessee and the leadership of William Tecumseh Sherman, soon to be known as Total War Sherman. While East Tennessee had temporarily ensured its survival with the defeat of Bragg at the Battle of Greeneville, they would soon find themselves under attack by Lieutenant General Nathan Bedford Forrest with the Army of the Cumberland coming west from Nashville while Major General James Longstreet would come from the South with Longstreet leading two a corps of Georgian regiments into the southern half of Eastern Tennessee, capturing the important town of Chattanooga on September 25th. Against these two large foes, Sherman set to work on creating the modern doctrine of tactical warfare by training what would be described as the most efficient and deadly fighting force of the Union by General Cooper after the war. Combining a ragatag group of Tennessee Loyalists, Virginians, reinforcements from Kentucky, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, Sherman set out to create a highly mobile force which would be able to quickly meet any enemy threat in East Tennessee and give total annihilation to the enemy. Sherman divided his army into four corps, each with the task of defending one of the borders. Sherman's first task would be to head west to meet Forrest in the Battle of Mufreesboro. While Forrest was predicted to win due to his higher number of troops in 30,000 compared to Sherman's 22,000; these same troops were the ones who performed the subjugation of Tennessee and thus were highly demoralized for having to brutally enforce southern loyalty against their fellow statesmen. In contrast Sherman's force was composed of half the East Tennessee volunteers who were itching for revenge for Forrest's atrocities. When the battle commenced on October 3rd, it soon became a one sided affair as multiple companies of Forrest's command deserted to the Union side to fight with their brethren while others were overwhelmed by the Union surge of livid East Tennesseans who fought bloody close combat. Forrest himself had fought well with him personally leading the cavalry to overwhelm Sherman's own cavalry formations, but with his infantry and portions of artillery in dismay, Forrest had to retreat back to Nashville or face the possibility of Sherman ordering an entrapment. High on his victory against the Confederates, Sherman continued limited operations in the area for a week before moving his command to the II Corps to meet Longstreet's advance. It was during this week that Sherman experimented in his doctrine of total warfare by raiding the countryside around Nashville and destroying any and all farmland while securing the crops to feed the Union army. All infrastructure which could've helped the Confederacy was burned or destroyed by TNT while rebel training camps were overrun. At the same time Sherman began to introduce the slavery question back into the war by liberating Confederate slaves from Tennessee in order to hurt their laborforce, something which East Tennesseans supported due to their high abolitionism, while other southern regiments were alarmed at the act. For the rest of the year Sherman spent his time trying to contain Longstreet's advance which he was able to halt with the Battle of Dayton on December 14th. With Hooker proving successful in the Appalachia and signs showing that Grant would be providing reinforcements soon, Sherman opted to maintain a high defense around East Tennessee's borders by gradually reclaiming territory for the state at a slow pace while sending multiple strike battalions into the countryside to disrupt Confederate lines and deny them the countryside as winter set in.
Kansas: During the fall of 1861 the Kansas-Nebraska territory was beginning to feel the full effects of the civil war with the beginning of a devastation to the territory that would scar the region for the rest of the decade. During the summer of 1861 both sides had been very active in raiding each other's territory and setting ablaze to the property of slaveholders and abolitionists. No one was safe as anyone within the lands of Kansas-Nebraska was caught in the crossfire. Then the worst case scenario happened during harvest time. You see much like modern day Kansas, Kansas-Nebraska back the was a largely agrarian state where its settlers relied on subsistence farming and herding for their livelihoods. In 1860 it was estimated that a near 95% of the Kansas economy relied on agriculture as there were few areas of development and most rail lines didn't even come close to the borders of Kansas. When it came time to harvest the crops in order to prepare for winter, both the Abolitionist and slaveowners had run into two problems. Firstly, the frequent raids against both sides were focused on ruining the property of the target and thus most small farms had their crops burned or destroyed with the farmers themselves having few extra seeds or funds to plant more. Secondly, even if the crops were kept intact the farms would not be able to be harvested due to the large loss in manpower with the freeing of slaves, farmers leaving to join the Army, and death of several women and men on the frontier. With most farms having been ruined in the fighting over the summer, there were few if any fields which were able to be cultivated, starting a mass famine which would continue until mid-1864. The Great Kansas Famine as it would later be called in American history, managed to cause the deaths of over 10,000 Americans on both sides through disease and malnutrition. The lack of supplies caused the siege of Topeka to temporarily cease in the winter of 1861 as Governor Quantrill's men were too tired to continue enforcing the perimeter around the town, not that it did much good overall as the Union garrison was unable to find much food without having to take it from the settlers by force. Some minor relief came on both sides with the arrival of Indian regiments from Oklahoma to aid the Confederacy, along with two Union regiments arriving to reinforce Topeka, the Missouri 9th and the Minnesota 2nd. Unfortunately this did not mean the end of fighting as both Union and Confederate raiders continued their attacks with a renewed vigor due to the need for food, only causing the situation to worsen in the long run. The deciding factor in the war for Kansas would have to wait until next year as Major General Stephen Kearney was on the way with reinforcements from Oregon while Arkansas was preparing an expedition to secure the territory in the hands of slavery once and for all.
Oklahoma: Today in the minds of the American people and most amateur historians exists a misconception that Oklahoma was fully for the support of the Confederate States of America. This notion is rather easy to understand from a point of view due to the United States treatment of the American Indian and their recent history such as the Trail of Tears which only occurred three decades before. However it was not the case as Stand Watie's appeal to the Confederacy in Montgomery was only made from the will of a select few from the five civilized tribes who claimed to represent leadership of them as a whole, a process that would later be repeated to the United States advantage in the Indian Wars and Reservation treaties. While many members of the Five Civilized Tribes welcomed the Confederacy as a chance to take revenge on the "White Men" in Washington and create a state of their own, others chose loyalty to the Union. The main opposition figure in Confederate Oklahoma was a Muskogee Chief named Opothelyahola, or as he was commonly known in the United States after the war, Chief Opo. Opo was a Creek Indian who was born in 1798 and was originally from present day Elmore Country, Alabama. Over the years Opo became an influential chief within the Creek nation due to his great oratory skills and high education in the ways of American culture. Opo's early claim to fame came in 1826 when he managed to negotiate the Treaty of Washington with President John Quincy Adams which revised an earlier unfair treaty to the Creek and protected their lands, helping to shape Opo's belief that compromise was possible with the white people. Unfortunately this success would not last as Opo and his people were forced off their land in 1835 to commence the Trail of Tears. Unlike many other Indians at the time, Opo did not directly blame the government as he saw it as the south's fault with Georgia's encroachment and disrespect of Federal treaties while Andrew Jackson, a southerner, was responsible for defying the Supreme Court. In the 25 years since then, Opo had risen to become one of the head leaders of the entire Creek nation and earned a great amount of respect from the fellow tribes. When word had reached Oklahoma of Stand Watie's declaration of loyalty to the Confederacy, Chief Opo made a declaration of loyalty to Washington and renounced Watie as a renegade who did not have the best interests of the Muskogee Creek at heart. In weeks the Muskogee Creek reservation gained thousands of Indians from across the territory, most were Chickasaw or Seminole Indians with a high mix of mulattos who did not want to fight for a nation that supported the repression of those with black descent. At the same time thousands of Indians, most notably a large minority of Cherokee, decided to use the chaos of the Civil War to escape Indian territory and head across the Red River into Texas. This group of migrants did not want to support either side of the conflict and hoped to find new land in Texas where civilized Indians were treated as citizens. This began the first trek of what would be called the Southern Exodus, most notably the migration of tens of thousands of American Indians into Texas to escape the persecution of the United States federal government.
Chief Opothleyahola of the Muskogee-Creek. One of the most important Indians in American history who would play a large role in the formation of Sequoyah after the war.
At the start of the war the situation in the Indian Territory/Oklahoma was not well for the Union. During the Douglas administration more and more troops were sent north to Kansas or east of the Mississippi each year in order to quell the unrest within the United States. During Toombs' short term there were virtually no reinforcements at all and thus the Union was down to less than 1,000 men spread across the vast and undeveloped territory. With Stand Watie declaring the Confederate State of Oklahoma, Confederate-allied tribes surrounded the Union forts within the state, causing Union Major Tyler Hendricks to surrender all Union forces in Oklahoma and be forced to march his men to Missouri while Confederate tribes pillaged the forts to their benefit. However this was not the end of the fighting as Chief Opo still would not pledge fealty to the Southern Cross and led over 8,000 Indians to the Deep Fork River near present day Seqouyah City. Opo and his followers camped there for several months without conflict until a mixed Confederate force of 1600 men under Colonel Douglas Cooper arrived from Arkansas to force the Muskogee Creek to surrender and accept the leadership of Stand Watie. Once again Chief Opo refused and thus the Battle of Round Mountain came to be. On November 19th, 1861, the Battle of Round Mountain took place with Colonel Cooper personally leading several waves of Confederate cavalry against Opo's camp. However the Federal Indians had spent a good amount of time fortifying the camp and were able to create a well-placed encampment with multiple traps set up which destroyed a great amount of cohesion for the Confederate cavalry. Using knowledge of the land and numerical superiority, Chief Opo were able to drive back multiple waves of Confederate attacks and by nightfall the Confederate forces retreated having suffered 74 dead and 83 wounded. However the battle while in appearance a Federal victory, was in actuality a strategic victory for the Confederates as the Federal Indians suffered 156 dead and 182 wounded. Even worse they had used up a majority of the supplies and had to abandon camp. Once he was finished reorganizing his forces, Colonel Cooper gave chase to the Muskogee coalition across the plains. With a harsh winter coming in Chief Opo had two choices to save his people. Head north into Kansas which was overrun by Confederates, or head south to Texas which had a warmer climate and friendly Indian tribes who could come to their aid. Opothelyahola chose the latter.
For weeks the Confederates gave chase to the tired and hungry Muskogee. During that time Confederate ranks were filled with allied Indians which swelled Cooper's numbers to well over 2,000. Meanwhile with the the coming temperatures and low rations, the Muskogee had 340 perish on the trail. On December 5th the situation would become critical when the Muskogee crossed the Red River into Texan territory. The next day Cooper and his men arrived and although Cooper was warned repeatedly by his Indian subordinates that he would be stepping foot onto Texan land, the Colonel did not care as he was determined to win a glorious victory for the South, thus they would come to cross on the 7th, starting an unofficial Confederate invasion into Texan lands. Unknown to both groups at the time, they were under watch by the Texas Rangers, more specifically men of the Wichita and Lenape tribes. During the opening months of the Mexican War, the threat presented by Juarez had caused a general deployment of most Texan forces in East Texas to the Rio Grande river in order to defend the Republic from Mexico. In order to make up for the loss in manpower, the citizen tribes were asked to provide the defense for the frontier settlements due to the low amount of manpower available with the army regiments and a majority of the Rangers heading to fight Mexico. Though some politicians in Austin protested at the thought of having the protection of white settlements be in the hands of Indians, the Eastern Tribes responded with a firm promise of protection for their adopted homeland, few were as dedicated as the Wichita and the Lenape. When Wichita Rangers first spotted the Muskogee crossing the Red River they simply assumed that this was another band of refugees and thus left them be. The Rangers became alarmed however at the presence of Confederates as such an armed force was a firm invasion of Texas. They were even more afraid for the tribal districts in East Texas as they thought that the Confederates were rampaging against Indians as a whole and that they wouldn't hesitate to attack Texan tribal lands. The Ranger scouts headed back to Lamar where they were able to spread word throughout Texas of the invasion and of the current Confederate positions. Enraged at the thought of Confederate troops in the Lone Star Republic, local Ranger head Lieutenant Colonel Edward Mustang of the Wichita formed an armed group to repulse the invaders and protect the lands of Texas, drawing a couple of hundred volunteers from the local tribes and citizens of Lamar and Fort Worth. On December 26th the Battle of Wichita Falls took place as the Confederate regiment forced Chief Opo to make a final stand 10 miles southeast of Wichita Falls, The Muskogee falling in dozens as the Confederates attacked without rest. Just as all hope was about to be lost a miracle happened as a lone Wichita scout came into view bellowing a large war cry, the scout leading the way for 650 Texas Rangers, Indians, and settlers. During the attack the Confederates had left their rear flank exposed and thus were wide open to attack as the swift Texans overwhelmed their ranks with brutal close combat and rapid fire from the Texans colt pistols and repeating rifles. With the Texans coming to their aid the Muskogee were able to gain a second wind and counterattacked. Overwhelmed on all sides, Cooper announced a general retreat to Oklahoma and headed north with only 1200 men remaining of his original 2,000. Meanwhile the Texans suffered 54 casualties while the Muskogee had a fourth of their manpower eliminated with only over 6,000 Indians left.
Battle of Wichita Falls
The Battle of Wichita Falls is an important point in the Western theater of the war as it allowed the continuation of resistance in Oklahoma and prevented total Confederate domination of the plains, allowing a reprieve for Kansas which would immensely benefit it in 1862, along with the cancellation of a planned invasion of Missouri by Arkansas. The battle caused a huge diplomatic incident where President Juan Seguin had previously entertained Confederate ministers half-heartedly, was now entirely against the south and kicked the ministers out of Texas entirely, sending a message that the next violation of Texan sovereignty would lead to Texas joining the fight and annexing Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana. In reality this was one large bluff due to the immense resources spent fighting Mexico. Robert Toombs did not think so as he sent an apology to Austin of the invasion and demoted Douglas Cooper to Lieutenant Colonel, placing newly promoted Brigadier General Stand Watie as head of the Oklahoma theater. During the winter of 1861, the Muskogee would recover from their losses thanks to aid from the Wichita tribe by allowing the Federal Indians to stay within tribal lands in Wichita Falls. During this time Chief Opo would plot his return to Oklahoma to kick the Confederates out and reclaim his land. Spending time gathering resources and support from the Texans while training his men to become a full-fledged force. Opothleyahola would return.
Also, will Geronimo be making an appearance in this TL? After all, I do really want him to kick some ass, preferably that of the Mexican Army.