Qualla: Battle of Honey Springs

Battle of Honey Springs: Introduction

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit U.S. Department of Agriculture Lance Cheung/Photojournalist, Public domain. When the rain started falling on July 17, 1863, it did more than soak the rolling Oklahoma prairie. It ruined the cheap Mexican gunpowder that Confederate troops depended on, turning their muskets into useless clubs. That downpour at Elk Creek, near present-day Checotah, decided the largest Civil War battle ever fought in Indian Territory -- a battle remarkable not only for its outcome but for who fought it. On both sides of the line, white soldiers were the minority. Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Seminole warriors stood alongside African American troops in a fight that defied the simple black-and-white narrative of the war.

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Image: U.S. Department of Agriculture Lance Cheung/Photojournalist | Public domain

Battle of Honey Springs: A Territory Torn Apart

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit U.S. Department of Agriculture Lance Cheung/Photojournalist, Public domain. When the Civil War erupted, the United States abandoned the Five Civilized Tribes in Indian Territory. The Confederacy moved quickly to fill the vacuum, offering protection, economic resources, and sovereignty in exchange for alliance. General Douglas H. Cooper raised Native troo...

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Image: U.S. Department of Agriculture Lance Cheung/Photojournalist | Public domain

Battle of Honey Springs: Wet Powder and Cold Steel

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit U.S. Department of Agriculture Lance Cheung/Photojournalist, Public domain. The Union force that marched south from Fort Gibson carried Springfield rifles, ten 12-pounder Napoleon howitzers, and plenty of ammunition. The Confederates waiting at Honey Springs had obsolete smoothbore muskets and flintlock shotguns loaded with powder purchased from Mexico -...

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Image: U.S. Department of Agriculture Lance Cheung/Photojournalist | Public domain

Battle of Honey Springs: The Aftermath on the Prairie

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit MPR1776, CC BY-SA 3.0. After the battle, the exhausted Confederates withdrew, leaving their dead on the field. General Blunt, suffering from a high fever brought on by encephalitis, ordered his troops to camp overnight at the battlefield to treat the wounded and bury the dead of both sides. Confederate...

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Image: MPR1776 | CC BY-SA 3.0

Battle of Honey Springs: Hallowed Ground Preserved

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit U.S. Department of Agriculture Lance Cheung/Photojournalist, Public domain. The battlefield, straddling Muskogee and McIntosh Counties northeast of Checotah, sat quietly for over a century before gaining recognition. In 2013, the National Park Service designated it a National Historic Landmark. The American Battlefield Trust and its partners have since a...

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Image: U.S. Department of Agriculture Lance Cheung/Photojournalist | Public domain