First Kansas Colored Volunteers: Contributions Of Black Union Soldiers In The Trans-Mississippi West by Major Michael E. Carter

Author:Major Michael E. Carter [Carter, Major Michael E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781782899303
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Golden Springs Publishing
Published: 2015-11-06T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 6 —OPERATIONS INTO ARKANSAS

With the Honey Springs depot completely destroyed, General Cooper and General Cabell moved further south into Indian Territory. While awaiting the arrival of reinforcements from north Texas, the Confederate leaders developed plans to once again make a movement against General Blunt and his forces at Fort Gibson. In the meantime, the First Kansas Colored Volunteers headed back to Fort Gibson on 18 July 1863 and reached camp at noon the following day. The week was spent performing regular guard detail and improving fortifications.

On 21 August, William Quantrill and over four hundred followers raced across the Missouri-Kansas border and sacked the town of Lawrence. Citizens of Lawrence were totally surprised and suffered greatly. In less than four hours, Quantrill’s band killed an estimated one hundred and fifty men and wounded many others. Albert Castel describes the damage in Civil War Kansas:

“The business center along Massachusetts street was destroyed, a hundred homes were burned, and another hundred damaged by fire. Dead lay scattered along the streets, ‘some of them so charred that they could not be recognized, and could scarcely be taken up.’ Bones were visible among the embers, and the sickening odor of burning flesh was oppressive.”{133}

At the time of the raid, the First Kansas Colored Regiment was garrisoned far south of Lawrence at Fort Gibson. Though not in a position to respond in force, they did send a small detachment of black soldiers to aid in chasing Quantrill out of the state. On 29 July, by special order the regiment relocated to Fort Davis, one-time Confederate outpost south of the Arkansas River near its junction with Grand River. The First Kansas Colored soldiers participated in another skirmish near Sherwood, Missouri on 14 August.

For the remainder of July through the early portion of August, Confederate General William Steele prepared to advance on Fort Gibson. Being heavily outnumbered and outgunned, General Steele attempted to combine the forces of General Cabell and Colonel Cooper with reinforcements from north Texas under command of Brigadier General Smith P. Bankhead. Hoping to avoid a defeat similar to the one experienced at Honey Springs, General Steele also sought to acquire additional artillery pieces and improved gunpowder, the poor quality of the latter being a major contributor to their recent loss. Through the summer of 1863, a confident General Steele slowly advanced his troops closer to Fort Gibson. On 24 July he encamped at Prairie Springs, a mere fifteen miles south of the fort. By 29 July though, he had fallen back to Honey Springs. In August, his determined attempts to mass forces against Fort Gibson ended in frustration. Desertions plagued General Cabell’s dispirited Arkansas regiments and in Texas, General Bankhead experienced difficulties recruiting men for his command and was ordered not to reinforce General Steele until he could mass two thousand soldiers. These difficulties forced General Steele to abandon offensive operations in favor of a more defensive stance. Lack of soldiers and artillery disappointed General Steele for he had hoped his presence would

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