Preventing A Raid Into Kansas

The Battle of Old Fort Wayne [Battle of Maysville] was fought in Delaware County, Oklahoma; then part of the Indian Territory, on October 22^nd 1862.

The Confederates started building a force for a raid into Kansas in July 1862.  Colonel Douglas Hancock Cooper built a force made up of Chickasaws, Choctaws and Creeks, which he led through the Indian Territory to Old Fort Wayne.  Old Fort Wayne was an abandoned Union garrison on the edge of the Betties Prairie.  Cooper was within supporting distance of Confederate General John Sappington Marmaduke’s Texans near Lowell, Arkansas.   He placed pickets in Maysville a small town on the Arkansas and Indian Territory border.

Union Brigadier General James G Blunt had a Division of about 3,500 men.  He received information about the Confederates located at Maysville, and was told the force there would be around 7,000 men, including General Stand Watie’s Cherokees.  Blunt’s men made a night march leaving on October 20^th 1862 southward, arriving in Bentonville, Arkansas shortly after sunrise.  They made a second forced; 25 mile march, moving west on October 21^st 1862.

At 5 am on October 22^nd 1862 the Union 2^nd Kansas Cavalry drove in the Confederate pickets at Maysville.  After following them over three miles the Cavalry ran into Cooper’s battle line with a heavy wood to their back.  Although the Union thought they were going to be facing about 7,000, in reality there was only about 1,500 men in Cooper’s line.  Both sides entered into an artillery duel.  Once Blunt had all his men up, they attacked Cooper’s thin line, opening a whole in the Confederate center.  Within a half hour Cooper’s men were in retreat with Blunt pursuing them for seven miles.  The Union had about 14 casualties.  The Confederates reported 150 losses including 50 dead.

In The Indian Territories

The Battle of Old Fort Wayne was fought October 22^nd 1862 in eastern Oklahoma.

Confederates started concentrating forces in July 1862 at Fayetteville, Arkansas for a raid into Missouri.  After weeks spent recruiting, Colonel Douglas Hancock Cooper took his men through Indian Territory to Old Fort Wayne, located on the edge of Beatties Prairie.  He placed pickets in Maysville about four mile north, near the Arkansas and Indian Territory boarder.  This put Coopers troops in support of Confederate John Sappington Marmaduke’s Texans located at Cross Hollows, near Lowell, Arkansas.

The closest Union troops were at Pea Ridge, Arkansas.  The Union soldiers were part of John Schofield’s Army of the Frontier.  Schofield received information that there was a Confederate force under Cooper at Maysville.  The scouts told Schofield that it included two of Stand Watie’s Cherokee Regiment and numbered about 7,000 men.

About 5am on October 22^nd 1862 Union Brigadier General James G Blunt sent the 2^nd Kansas Cavalry to attack the Confederates at Maysville.  The 2^nd drove in the pickets and followed them three miles into Indian Territory.  At this point they came up against Cooper’s battle line.  Even though the Union report had Cooper’s force at 7,000 in truth they had only about 1,500 men and four guns of Howell’s Texas Battery, in a line about a mile long.  As the rest of the Union force came up they hit the center of the Confederate line hard, opening a wide hole in the line.  Cooper’s men put up a hard fight for about a half hour, before they were overwhelmed and went into retreat, with Union troops pursuing them for seven miles.

The Union lost about 14 men.  The Confederate’s saw about 150 wounded or dead, including 50 who reported to have been buried on the field.  The Confederates pulled back to Fort Gibson on the Arkansas River, leaving the Indian Territory north of the river in Union control.