 The turmoil caused by the Civil War would compel a mass exodus from the Indian territories. The first phase of this began in early 1861 as many Native Americans were already dealing with hardship due to a failed crop of corn that left them little to eat. With the tribal divisions that had been simmering for decades erupting once again, matters were made even worse. Morris Shepherd, the nine-year-old slave of a Cherokee planter, recalled the raids conducted by the Ketuwa Cherokee, the pro-Union Cherokee nicknamed the Pin Indians, that killed his father when he was nine. I will read this phonetically as his words are spelled in the records, quote, They would come into night and hamstringed the horses, and maybe set fire to the barn. Job Scarle and Tom Starr, two of the Ketuwa on the raid, killed my pappy one night just before the war broke out, end quote. As news of the war and the state spread, many of the Indians who were well off enough to do so packed up their belongings and moved to safer lands. Many of the slave-owning Indians moved to Texas and started planting on unused soil there. The Muscogee National Treasurer, himself the owner of about a hundred slaves, took thirty of his slaves with him to Texas, instructing them to bury the Muscogee National funds along the way. Non-Indian residents of the Indian territories fled as well, which made life even more difficult for those who remained. Some of the non-Indians who left, for example, were millers, which forced Native American women to return to the old and less efficient practice of grinding flour with their old hand mills. Others who vacated were blacksmiths, doctors, merchants, teachers, and missionaries. Some of these non-Indian residents were Northerners who, with the onset of the war, were increasingly distrusted, so they moved back north, usually with the help of pro-Union Indians like the Kitua Cherokee. The Muscogee Nation faced similar divisions as the Cherokee, and ones that would lead to the first Indian Territory Civil War battles, small as they were. On August 5, 1861, many of the pro-Union Muscogee, known as the Loyal Creaks, remember that the British had long ago named them the Creek Indians and the names stuck, deposed two of their chiefs for signing the Treaty with the Confederacy. These Loyal Creaks rallied around another Muscogee leader, one of the wealthiest in the tribe, named Apothol Yehola, who was a slave owner, but was also adamantly opposed to the Confederate alliance and wanted to remain neutral. These Muscogee would take part in the early exodus, attempting to migrate to Kansas, but on the way they would face violence at the hands of Confederate Allied Native Americans. Their move is known as the Trail of Blood on Ice. I'm Chris Calton, and this is the Mises Institute podcast, Historical Controversies. In the previous two episodes, we looked at the long history of the quote-unquote civilizing process of the five civilized tribes as the Cherokees, Muscogee, Chickasaws, Choctaws, and Seminoles were called, and they're forced removal to the West in the 1830s. We saw how this created tribal divisions that in 1861 would play out similarly to the border states like Kentucky and Tennessee in regards to what action to take in light of the Civil War. Officially all five tribes allied with the Confederacy for a variety of reasons. Slavery was a common practice in the tribes. They felt culturally closer to the South. The federal government had stopped payments of the obligated annuities promised in the previous treaties as well as evacuating the forts in the Indian territories that helped protect the civilized tribes from raids by so-called wild Indians. And by the end of the year, it looked like the Confederacy was on its way to winning the war, meaning that the five tribes had a vested interest in being in the good graces of what looked to be the new nation that they would share borders with going forward. But part of the reason I compare these tribal divisions to border states like Kentucky and Tennessee is because like those states, not everybody got on board with the decision of their formal governments. I talked last time mostly about the Cherokee divisions between the Ketuwa society, usually known by their nickname the Pin Indians, who were pro-union, pro-full-blooded and generally more anti-slavery, though that was less of a priority. And the pro-Confederacy Cherokee who joined the Knights of the Golden Circle as a counter to the Ketuwa's political dominance. But the Muscogee division with the Loyal Creeks, who opposed the official decision to side with the Confederacy, is the one that concerns us more today. Notice that I tend to refer to the Muscogee people by their own name rather than referring to them as the Creeks. This is mostly just a matter of habit, since that's how they're typically referred to in the literature. But the unofficial term Loyal Creeks is how this faction was referred to in the source documents, so don't get confused by the name jumping. Apotho Yehola, emerging as the leader of the Loyal Creeks, is also useful in understanding that slavery was not the point of issue for the pro-union Muscogee. Apotho Yehola's decision to remain neutral was based on two considerations. The first is that he, as chief of his community within the Muscogee nation, gave his allegiance to the United States in 1814, and he believed it would be dishonorable to break his word. The second consideration was his attempts to communicate directly with Abraham Lincoln. President Lincoln, as well as the Secretary of State William Seward, had not concerned themselves much with the Indian nation upon coming into office because of the obvious matters they were dealing with in the East, but their neglect is part of what drove the five nations into the hands of the Confederacy. But Apotho Yehola sent a letter to Lincoln to remind him of the obligations of the federal government according to the treaties. It is interesting how Apotho Yehola refers to Lincoln as the government, with phrases like, you said, in reference to promises made by Lincoln's predecessors. Apotho Yehola wrote, quote, you said that in our new homes we should be defended from all interference, and that no white people should ever molest us, but the land should be ours as long as grass grew or waters run. And should we be injured by anybody, you would come with your soldiers and punish them. But now the wolf has come. Men who are strangers tread our soil, our children are frightened, and the mothers cannot sleep for fears. I was at Washington when you treated with us, and now white people are trying to take our people away to fight against us and you. I am alive, I well remember the treaty, my ears are open, and my memory is good, end quote. Apotho Yehola was pointing out the very issue that drove a lot of Indians to support the Confederacy, but he was appealing to the president to do something to rectify the problems. As the letter was being delivered, the Loyal Creeks called a council of the other Indian tribes, not just the five civilized tribes, but other tribes as well, Muscogee, Cherokees, Chickasaws, Seminoles, Catoes, Shawnees, Seneca's, Kwaipaws, Kikapoos, Delaware's, Ways, Piancashaws, Wichita's, and Comanches, alternate delegations of pro-union, pro-neutrality, or anti-Confederate factions to the council. Only the Choctaws who were most uniformly on the side of the Confederacy were entirely absent. Although values and loyalties were not homogenous here, the consensus was that these tribes should remain neutral in the war. When Lincoln's reply to Apotho Yehola finally came, he encouraged the discourse of action. They should remain neutral as the conflict between the Union and the Confederacy didn't concern the Indians. But this was of little help and the members there knew it. It was of course disingenuous to say that the conflict did not concern the Indians, especially when the Union treaties were being violated because of the war. They evacuated the forts because they needed men, and they halted the payment of annuities because the government was worried the money would fall in a Confederate hands. At least from a military perspective, these were all reasonable decisions, but it did mean that the statement that the war did not concern the Indian tribes rang hollow. But the flip side to this was that many Native Americans wanted no part in the war anyway, so a neutral faction was attractive and Apotho Yehola offered refuge for anybody who joined him. By November, 27 tribal towns within the Muscogee nation had joined Apotho Yehola and so did many Seminoles and pro-neutrality Indians from several other tribes, such as the Kwaipaws and the Wasages, who also officially joined the Confederacy, dividing their tribes. Many of the Indians joining him were members of the so-called wild tribes, which upset many of the other members of the five nations. Apotho Yehola also promised refuge for Muscogee slaves who joined him, which further escalated tensions. In the last episode, I mentioned the Muscogee law passed in early 1861, mandating that any free blacks living in Muscogee territory had to choose a master or they would be sold into slavery to the highest bidder. Add to this the migration to Texas that wealthy Indians were making, in which they would not take all their slaves with them. They would usually take their male slaves but leave the females behind, splitting up families. So Apotho Yehola's promise of refuge was an opportunity for freedom that many slaves looked to when they faced the prospect of being separated from their own loved ones. But there's only increased hostilities within the Muscogee nation and slave owners in particular did not look kindly on Apotho Yehola's actions. So now he was acting against the decision of the Muscogee national government, making alliances with wild Indians and encouraging slaves to run away, even though he himself owned a large number of slaves. In more than three days time, more than 150 Muscogee slaves ran away to join Apotho Yehola. At first the leaders of the other civilized tribes were not concerned with Apotho Yehola, considering the matter a Muscogee problem. But in early November, Colonel Douglas Cooper, who commanded the Choctaw Chickasaw Regiment of Confederate soldiers, got word that Apotho Yehola and his now seven or 8,000 followers was planning an attack on his Confederate camp. Rumors were that he might even have 1,000 Kansas J-Hawkers with him. This was all taking place while John C. Fremont was still in charge of Missouri, and Cooper was worried about what would happen if they joined forces. No such attack was actually being planned, but the concern was real. Confederate Allied Indians went to Apotho Yehola's camps to encourage his followers to return home, hoping to avoid violence between and within tribes. But this was a no-go. Cooper started to refer to them as the Tory half of the Creek Indians, an obvious reference to the British loyalists in the American colonies during the Revolutionary War. And on November 15th, he led 1,400 Indian soldiers, as well as the 9th Texas Regiment toward one of Apotho Yehola's camps. When they arrived three days later, they found the camp abandoned. Instead of an attack, Apotho Yehola had actually been planning a move. In 10 days prior to Cooper's arrival, Apotho Yehola had ordered his followers, which included roughly half of the Muscogee people, many members of other tribes, free blacks and runaway slaves, and two or 300 slaves who were owned by loyal Greeks to move toward Kansas. The total number of people who participated in this exodus amounted to as much as 9,000. But despite Cooper's fears, most of these were not fit for combat. Still he had about 2,000 combat capable men with him, which wasn't anything for Cooper to sneer at anyway. Cooper led his men to follow them and on the way they ran into some of Apotho Yehola's followers, who had fallen behind the rest of the group. They informed the Confederates that the group was headed toward the Red Fork of the Arkansas River, but the easily identifiable trail left behind by the large group in their wagons, livestock and horses was easy to follow regardless. Colonel Cooper crossed to the river on November 19th, where he would initiate the first Civil War battle to take place in the Indian territory, the battle of Round Mountain. Apotho Yehola's people were aware that they were being pursued by Confederates and they moved as quickly as they could. But since they were having to move children, the elderly, wagons of supplies and livestock, they could move nowhere nearly as fast as Cooper and his soldiers. As Cooper closed in on them, he sent a slave ahead to order the fugitives to stop. They refused, but as the fugitives continued moving, those who could fight, led by seminal war chiefs, broke away to hold off the Confederates. When Cooper's men came to the fugitive camp shortly after sunset on November 19th, they again found it abandoned. But because it was dark, the Confederates charged the camp, not realizing it had been deserted. As they charged, the loyal Indians started a prairie fire before meeting the Confederates in combat. Here, Texas volunteers would fight, but so would Confederate Seminoles, Chickasaws, and Muscogies, facing other members of their own nations. The loyal Indians were only identifiable by the yellow corn-shuck badges that they wore, and the Confederate Indians also wore identifiable badges. With the fire and smoke creating confusion, the loyal Indians fought the Confederates for 15 minutes before forcing them to retreat. The next morning, Cooper's men came back to the camp to find the loyal Indians gone, having left after executing the wounded and captured Confederates. The total Confederate losses were minor though, less than a dozen. The loyal Indians saw somewhere between 80 and 100 casualties. In addition to their dead and wounded, the loyal Indians also lost 12 supply wagons and several horses and cattle to the Confederates. As the Texans went about burying their dead, the Confederate Indians took scalps from the loyal Indians who were killed in the previous night's fight. Both parties moved slowly over the next few weeks, giving the loyal Indians time to regroup and also take in newcomers who continued to join them. They were headed to a Cherokee settlement at Bird Creek called Chusto Tulasa. I'm probably slaughtering some of these names, so as always, be patient with me for that. At the beginning of December, Cooper started hearing rumors that apothea-holus people were intimidating other Indians who refused to join them, as well as destroying crops, and they were even planning an attack on a nearby town. Again, these rumors do not appear to be true, but they were enough to put Cooper back in action against the loyal Indians. But Cooper did receive a message from apothea-holus saying that his people wanted peace, and Cooper responded by saying that he had no interest in shedding Indian blood. Cooper asked apothea-holus what terms he wanted, but as he waited for a reply, his Confederate Allied Indian soldiers started to abandon him. Apparently, while the two sides waited near each other, the Confederate Cherokees and the First Cherokee Mounted Rifles Regiment had been talking with some of the nearby loyal creeks. The two parties agreed that they had no real conflicts between them, and the Confederate cause had little to do with them. When Cooper's messenger returned from his trip to receive apothea-holus demands, he informed the Confederates that the loyal creeks were ready for battle. With this, four companies of Confederate Indians crossed over to join the loyal creeks and many others just went home. They had no interest in another fight like they faced at Round Mountain. Not every Indian abandoned, but enough did for Cooper to fill the strain. The attack that Cooper's messenger said was about to happen never came. So the next morning, on December 9th, Cooper decided to bring the fight to apothea-hola. The loyal Indians were fortified and the battle of Chusto Tolasas, it was called, was hardly a battle at all. It consisted of several quick charges and ambushes, but apothea-hola's war chiefs had prepared well for it, picking a location that would be difficult for the enemy to traverse. In the post-battle account, Colonel Daniel McIntosh gave his analysis, quote. First, from all appearances, it was a premeditated affair by them. They had placed to their forces in a large creek, knowing by marching across the prairie that the Confederates would be likely to pass and reach of the place. Second, the grounds they had selected were extremely difficult to pass and in fact, most of the banks on the creek were bluff and deep waters so that forces could pass across only at some particular points which were known only to them. Third, this place was fortified also with large timber on either side they occupied and on our side, the prairie extended to the creek where the enemies were bedded, lying in wait for our approach. Having completed the above plan, they sent out to us a small portion of their forces to make the attack in order to draw us down to their desired and selected place which was done on our rear guard and immediately we marched on to our enemies, end quote. This was the style of warfare that became the stuff of legend, of course. The Indians did not follow the combat practices that formerly trained soldiers were accustomed to. In addition to not knowing quite how to deal with this kind of combat, the recent defection of some of the Confederate allies added to the confusion. The account of Colonel Sims of the 9th Texas Cavalry illustrates this. He was describing the attacks led by his immediate subordinate, Lieutenant Colonel Quayle, who was moving into support some of the remaining Confederate Allied Choctaw. Sims said quote, he advanced with his command on to the creek to the left of the Choctaw regiment. Not finding the enemy there, he returned and charged a ravine on the right of the Choctaws which he succeeded in taking under a heavy fire from the enemy. Driving them from their position, he marched on and charged other ravines still farther on the right. But when he got into the ravine, the Indians who had possession of its mouth opened a raking fire upon his men. He ordered them to charge down the ravine which they did and put the enemy to rout. A party of Indians still kept up a heavy fire upon them from the right who were at first supposed to be Choctaws as they were wearing our badges, but they were deserted Cherokees and creeks. In the last charge with Colonel Quayle, there were about 20 Choctaws who acted with the greatest bravery, end quote. So this testimony shows the difficulties that formerly trained Confederates faced when meeting the unique combat styles of the Indians. And it also mentions the troop confusion brought about when they came upon recent defectors who had switched aside with the loyal Indians, but were still wearing the badges of the Confederate allies. The Confederates were impressed by their Indian allies as well. Another soldier gave his account quote, the Indians here show marked bravery. One half breed Perryman killed a foe from behind a tree, took the captured gun and killed a second, scalped the two, took both guns and brought one pony out, himself escaped unhurt, end quote. The way the battle was directed by Apothea, the whole as men was to avoid large scale combat anyway. The purpose of the battle was to delay the Confederates. Joseph Bruner, the child of a loyal Creek woman gave his testimony decades later quote, to comprehend it, you must bear in mind that Apothea was taking all of his followers with him, women, children and even the aged and sick. The women and children fled in advance under orders. The soldiers were to follow, end quote. Cooper claimed victory in the battle, but Apothea, homeless warriors accomplished to their goal, which was to buy time for everybody else to move. When their task was accomplished, they simply fled the battlefield. Only 15 Confederates were killed in the battle and Cooper reported that 400 fugitives had been killed, though these numbers really aren't clear at all. And we are pretty much depending fully on Cooper's own tabulation, which was likely exaggerated. It's also possible because of the previous night's defections that Cooper was counting some of his own Confederate allies who had been killed as being defectors who had been killed. So even by the standards of the time, the casualty counts here are remarkably uncertain. The delayed tactics of the loyal Indians were more successful than anybody realized as Cooper was hesitant to pursue them any further as he was now worried about the several hundred deserters that he feared might go and spread desertion among even more Confederate Allied Indians. Cooper went to Fort Gibson to speak to John Ross, the principal chief of the Cherokee. And while they debated what should be done about the deserters, a measles outbreak started spreading through their camps as well. For the deserters, Cooper wanted them court-martialed following military protocol. Stan Weidy, the more pro-Confederate Cherokee leader who is John Ross' primary rival, wanted the deserters to be executed. John Ross offered a conciliatory solution. He employed any deserters who did not stay with Apotho-Yahola to remember that the tribe had signed a treaty with the Confederacy and he reformed the regiment, offering pardons to any deserter who rejoined. Cooper was okay with this as he needed John Ross on his side and he was more concerned with Apotho-Yahola. He turned his attention back to the fugitives. After receiving reinforcements, Cooper came up with a plan to cut off Apotho-Yahola's escape to Kansas. They could follow the Arkansas River and route the fugitives at Chustinala, attacking them from the North so that they could not escape into Kansas. But Cooper did not go himself this time, sending Colonel James McIntosh, leader of his reinforcements, to go without him. This McIntosh, by the way, was not related to the McIntosh who led the Confederate Muscogies. So in this episode, we're actually dealing with two McIntoshes who are completely unrelated to each other. On December 22nd, he led his men once more to hunt down the loyal Indians. Since it was the winter, they moved slowly but on Christmas night, they stopped only 12 miles from Chustinala. While they were camped, a small group of Apotho-Yahola's Indian warriors popped up. McIntosh sent some of his men to check on them but he stopped them from giving chase, assuming it was an attempt to draw the Confederates into an ambush. But his men decided that they were going to attack the next day anyway. It was so cold on the morning of December 26th that the mounted Texans walked beside their horses to keep their blood flowing. They moved toward the camp at Chustinala where they could still see smoke rising from the campfires. The non-combatants had already moved elsewhere so the Confederates stopped to set up their own fires, maybe a quarter mile away, where they could rest and eat. But roughly 1700 loyal Indians were set up on a hillside nearby waiting for the Confederates. While the Confederates were setting up their fires, the loyal Indian warriors started to fire off their guns, yelling out turkey gobbles to taunt the Confederates. They were intentionally visible to the Southern soldiers. But below them, at the base of the hill, most of the 1700 loyal Indians were hidden behind rocks and trees. As the Confederates moved toward the Indians on the hill, the hidden Indians fired on them. McIntosh ordered his men to charge up the hill while the Indians shot either firearms or arrows at them from behind trees and rocks. The terrain was very much to the advantage of apothole a homeless man. But they were short on ammunition and they quickly ran out. Some of the Indians fled, but others stubbornly held their position, even with no working weapons. One Texas cavalryman left such a testimony, quote. Some of those Indians were very brave and daring and would not leave. One big feathered cap fellow stood out from behind the trees and continued shooting until he fell. I had shot both barrels of my gun and one of my holster pistols at him before he fell, end quote. As some of the Indians ran out of ammunition, they turned to using their rifles as clubs. A couple dozen fought this way, but they were all torn down except for one who killed a Confederate officer, climbed on his horse and found two pistols in the saddle that he used to make his escape. Aside from these few brave or reckless Indians, most of the rest of apothole a homeless men emptied their weapons and took off one or two at a time. The Confederates went after them, killing several as they tried to escape. This time the Confederate victory was clear and decisive and by four in the afternoon, McIntosh and his men were occupying the apothole a homeless camp. According to McIntosh, quote, we captured 160 women and children, 20 Negroes, 30 wagons, 70 yoke of oxen, about 500 Indian horses, several hundred head of cattle, 100 sheep and a great quantity of property of much value to the enemy. The stronghold of a word I won't attempt to pronounce was completely broken up and his force scattered in every direction, destitute of the simplest elements of subsistence, end quote. Many fugitives fled of course, desperate to escape. One Muscogee elder named Spokogi trusted a woman with his bag of gold so she could escape while he stayed to fight. But the woman he entrusted the gold with, her name was Mary Hutpa, was a shell shaker. You've probably seen some televised recreation of this at some point. These are the women who wore turtle shells filled with pebbles around their ankles to set the rhythm during ceremonial dances. According to the testimony of Joseph Bruner who I cited earlier, quote, the flight was sudden. In their flight, the women threw away everything but their most prized possessions. Their haste could not be encumbered with anything that seemed unnecessary. So Mary threw away the bag of gold and kept her precious turtle shells. When Spokogi found he had lost his gold, they said he tried to swear in Whiteman's words his anger was so great, end quote. But this woman's actions were understandable. With the Confederates upon them, the escape took priority over any possession let alone somebody else's. One seminal survivor remembered the situation, quote, we were whipped and our people cut to pieces badly. Our men were killed and women and children were not spared. Those that escaped death did not escape without some wound being inflicted on them and all our horses and provisions were captured, end quote. As the loyal Indians fled, the Confederates and their Indian allies including Standwaiti who arrived after the battle chased the fugitives for miles. On the chase, they burned supply wagons. The second Cherokee mounted rifles flushed a group of fugitives out of a ravine killing the 15 men in the group and taking the women and children prisoner. Most of the people who were killed and caught were so in incidents like this where it was only a handful at a time as people were running out in all directions trying to get away from the violence more than they were trying to stay together. A survivor years later told one of the saddest accounts of the horror, quote. One time we saw a little baby sitting on its little blanket in the rocks. Everyone was running because an attack was expected but no one had the time to stop and pick up the child. As it saw the people running by, the little child began to wave its little hands. The child had no knowledge that he had been deserted, end quote. For those who escaped, the move north was another trail of tears. The same survivor who told the story of the abandoned child also said, quote. We faced many hardships. We were often without food. The children cried from weariness in the cold. We fled and left our wagons with much needed provisions, clothing and other necessities. Many of our friends and loved ones perished from sickness and we all suffered from the cold as it was during the winter that we were on our flight to a neutral country. When our provisions went low, some of the members of the tribe turned to eating horse flesh, end quote. Escape was not enough to mean survival. In the peak of winter, those who were able to get away from the Confederates still had to deal with the December cold without supplies. Several froze to death and the people with them had no choice but to leave the corpses where they fell, leaving them for the wolves. But similar difficult decisions met the Confederates, halting their pursuit of the remaining fugitives. But the Confederacy was adding the three battles against Apotho Yajola to their expanding list of victories. In the supplies they seized, they found letters from the Union government, finally making promises to help the loyal Indians and also evidence that the Union was trying to attract the plains tribes, the wild Indians, which would not sit well with the Confederate allies of the civilized nations who saw Lincoln's promises of supplies to the plains Indians as providing the means to wage war against the civilized nations. This then is the story of the Confederate Indians that often gets little more than a reference to the Cherokee Declaration of Causes if it's mentioned at all. As is pretty much always the case, the story is far more complicated than this bit of trivia indicates. And as we periodically return to the story of Native Americans in the Civil War, we will see that there is even more to it still. In the next episode, we will begin wrapping up the history of 1861 during the war by talking about the early efforts on both sides to build the Navy and for the Union to establish a blockade. And this will all lead us into 1862 where the Civil War on the water proves to be an important part of the story. Historical controversies is a production of the Ludwig von Mises Institute. If you would like to support the show, please subscribe on iTunes, Google Play or Stitcher and leave a positive review. You can also support the show financially by donating at Mises.org slash SupportHC. If you would like to explore the rest of our content, please visit Mises.org. That's M-I-S-E-S dot O-R-G.