Osage Battalion

The Osage Battalion was a Native American infantry unit of the Confederate States Army. Recruited from among the Osage tribe, whose loyalties were split between the Union and Confederacy, it did not meet its 500-man establishment. From spring 1863 a four-company battalion of 200 men served under Brigadier General Douglas H. Cooper in the Trans-Mississippi Department. The unit transferred to the First Indian Brigade under Native American Brigadier General Stand Watie. It fought at the Second Battle of Cabin Creek and, during Price's Missouri Expedition, at the Battle of Byram's Ford. The battalion surrendered to Union forces on June 23, 1865, one of the last Confederate units to lay down its arms.

Osage Battalion
A group of Osage pictured at the Fort Smith Council in 1865. The Osage Battalion's Captain Black Dog II is far left and Captain Ogeese Captain is third from left.
ActiveSpring 1863 - June 23, 1865
CountryConfederate States of America
Allegiance Confederate States Army
BranchInfantry
TypeBattalion
Size200 men
EngagementsAmerican Civil War
Commanders
Notable
commanders		Broke Arm

Background

Most of the Osage tribe lived in South Eastern Kansas, a newly admitted state which remained generally in Union hands throughout the war.[1] The Indian Territory, modern Oklahoma, lay immediately to the south of Kansas and had recently been designated a home for the Five Civilized Tribes of the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole.[2] The Osage were split into two major groups, the Great Osage and the Little Osage, and then into separate semi-autonomous bands.[1] Prior to the war the two major American influences upon the Osage were the Jesuit mission at Neosho County, whose members generally favoured the Union, and the prominent merchant John Mathews, who favoured the Confederacy.[1]

After the outbreak of the American Civil War, the Confederacy was keen to sign military treaties with the tribes to secure their western frontier and diplomatic advances were made towards the Osage.[3] The Osage were encouraged to sign a treaty by Mathews, the former US Indian agent Andrew J Dorn, and representatives from the Cherokee, who had chosen to side with the Confederacy. Mathews had been appointed a colonel in the Confederate army and led a unit of white, Cherokee and Osage men in the Indian Territory. The Confederate cause was helped when the leader of the Jesuit mission left the territory. The White Hair, Big Hill, Clermont and Black Dog bands of the Great Osage signed a cooperation treaty with the Confederacy on October 2, 1861. The Confederacy annexed much of the Osage territory, including that belonging to the Little Osage who had not signed the treaty.[4] The Confederate government appointed Dorn as its Indian agent to the Osage and Louis Pharamond Chouteau, of mixed white and Osage heritage, was appointed the official government interpreter.[5]

Formation
Black Dog II pictured in 1876

The treaty required the Great Osage to raise a 500-man unit for military service with the Confederacy, which was known as the Osage battalion.[5] Chouteau was appointed adjutant and quartermaster of the unit, and an Osage named Broke Arm was its commander.[6][5] Two of the company commanders were Captain Black Dog II (also known as Young Black Dog, the son of Osage chief Black Dog) and Captain Ogeese (or Augustus) Captain.[7][8][9] The Osage became the only Native American tribe outside of the Five Civilized Tribes to join the Confederate Armed Forces in any significant number.[10]

Recruitment to the battalion was hindered by the killing of Mathews by Union forces, which led to the withdrawal of the White Hair and Big Hill bands from the treaty.[9] Other issues included the Union's occupation of much of the Osage reserve throughout the war, and the high level of support for the Union among the Osage people (many instead joined the 2nd Indian Home Guard Regiment, formed in Kansas in 1862).[5][11][12] Company A was formed at Harveyville, Kansas and drilled at Wilmington and the battalion was formed by Spring 1863.[13][6] It consisted of 200 men split into four companies; both men and officers were drawn from the Osage community.[6][12][14] Being a Plains Indian tribe with relatively little European influence, the men of the battalion were initially reluctant to wear standard Confederate uniform and equipment.[15] From June 23, 1863, the battalion formed part of General Douglas H. Cooper's brigade of the Trans-Mississippi Department and participated in raids on Union territory.[6][16][17]

During this period the Confederacy made several payments of gold to the Osage, though their ability to administer the reserve was hampered by the Union occupation. Distributions of currency, food and stores were made to Osage refugees in Indian Territory, rather than Kansas.[18]

First Indian Brigade
Stand Watie pictured after the war

During Major General Samuel B. Maxey's spring 1864 reorganisation of Confederate forces in the Indian Territory, the Osage Battalion became part of Brigadier General Stand Watie's First Indian Brigade of the Army of the Trans-Mississippi from May 10.[19][20][11]

The Osage Battalion fought at the Second Battle of Cabin Creek, where the Confederates captured 130 wagons and more than 1,800 horses and mules from a Union supply train.[21] They were also part of Price's Missouri Expedition in late 1864, forming part of the rearguard.[22][15] During the expedition the unit fought at the Battle of Byram's Ford (also known as the Battle of the Big Blue).[13] By early 1865 Chouteau reported that the battalion was in good spirits but lacked for uniforms and requested fresh supplies.[23]

Surrender

The American Civil War is considered to have ended on May 9, 1865, but isolated units continued to be active after this time.[24] The Osage battalion surrendered to Union forces on June 23 at Fort Towson near Doaksville, Indian Territory, as part of a ceremony with the Cherokee, Creek and Seminole of Watie's command.[25][26][27] Watie was the last Confederate general to capitulate and this ceremony marked the "last formal surrender of any significant body of Confederate troops".[27][28]

In the aftermath of the war the Osage were summoned to the US government's Fort Smith Council in September 1865, but were not made to sign new agreements. This was in contrast to the Five Civilized Tribes, who were told they had forfeited all previous treaty rights by signing treaties with the Confederacy.[29]

See also

References
  1. Cheatham, Gary L. (2003). ""Within the limits of the Southern Confederacy": the C.S.A.'s interest in the Quapaw, Osage, and Cherokee tribal lands of Kansas". Kansas History. 26 (3): 176.
  2. Spencer, John D. (2006). The American Civil War in the Indian Territory. Bloomsbury USA. ISBN 978-1-84603-000-0.
  3. Cheatham, Gary L. (2003). ""Within the limits of the Southern Confederacy": the C.S.A.'s interest in the Quapaw, Osage, and Cherokee tribal lands of Kansas". Kansas History. 26 (3): 174.
  4. Cheatham, Gary L. (2003). ""Within the limits of the Southern Confederacy": the C.S.A.'s interest in the Quapaw, Osage, and Cherokee tribal lands of Kansas". Kansas History. 26 (3): 177.
  5. Cheatham, Gary L. (2003). ""Within the limits of the Southern Confederacy": the C.S.A.'s interest in the Quapaw, Osage, and Cherokee tribal lands of Kansas". Kansas History. 26 (3): 178.
  6. "1st Osage Battalion, CSA". Battle Unit Details - The Civil War. National Park Service. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  7. Confederacy, United Daughters of the (2005). The United Daughters of the Confederacy Magazine. United Daughters of the Confederacy. p. 15.
  8. "Black Dog. Osage Chief. 20 Oct 1910". Muskogee Times-Democrat. 20 October 1910. p. 1. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
  9. Cheatham, Gary L. (2003). ""Within the limits of the Southern Confederacy": the C.S.A.'s interest in the Quapaw, Osage, and Cherokee tribal lands of Kansas". Kansas History. 26 (3): 179.
  10. Kerby, Robert Lee (1991). Kirby Smith's Confederacy: The Trans-Mississippi South, 1863-1865. University of Alabama Press. p. 40. ISBN 978-0-8173-0546-8.
  11. Cottrell, Steve (1995). Civil War in the Indian Territory. Pelican Publishing Company. p. 77. ISBN 978-1-4556-0228-5.
  12. Journal of the Indian Wars. Savas Publishing Company. 1999. p. 39.
  13. Fritts, Dora Denny (1998). A Kopp Family Tree. D.D. Fritts. p. 31.
  14. Corden, Seth K.; Richards, William B. (1912). The Oklahoma Red Book. p. 245.
  15. Stephenson, Wendell Holmes (1947). The Journal of Southern History. Southern Historical Association. p. 170.
  16. Brock, Robert Alonzo (1876). Southern Historical Society Papers. Virginia Historical Society. pp. 35–36.
  17. Handbook of North American Indians. Smithsonian Institution. 2001. p. 282.
  18. Cheatham, Gary L. (2003). ""Within the limits of the Southern Confederacy": the C.S.A.'s interest in the Quapaw, Osage, and Cherokee tribal lands of Kansas". Kansas History. 26 (3): 180.
  19. Gibson, Arrell Morgan (1980). The American Indian: Prehistory to the Present. D. C. Health. p. 371. ISBN 978-0-669-97154-5.
  20. Brock, Robert Alonzo (1876). Southern Historical Society Papers. Virginia Historical Society. pp. 72–73.
  21. "Warren awarded Davis Gold Medal for Confederate history". Claremore Daily Progress. 8 September 2010. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
  22. Andreas, Alfred Theodore (1976). History of the State of Kansas: containing a full account of its growth...also, a supplementary history and description of its counties, cities, towns and villages... Atchison County Historical Society. p. 1538.
  23. Litton, Gaston (1995). Cherokee Cavaliers: Forty Years of Cherokee History as Told in the Correspondence of the Ridge-Watie-Boudinot Family. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 210. ISBN 978-0-8061-2721-7.
  24. "May 9, 1865: The American Civil War Officially Ends". The Sextant. US Naval History and Heritage Command. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
  25. Morris, Lerona Rosamond (1930). Oklahoma, Yesterday--today--tomorrow. Co-operative publishing Company. p. 291.
  26. Gelbert, Doug (1997). Civil War Sites, Memorials, Museums, and Library Collections: A State-by-state Guidebook to Places Open to the Public. McFarland & Company. p. 120. ISBN 978-0-7864-0319-6.
  27. Our Native American Heritage. Reader's Digest Association. 1996. p. 59. ISBN 978-0-89577-867-3.
  28. Gordon, Alice; Dunn, Jerry Camarillo; White, Mel (1990). Texas and the Arkansas River valley. Stewart, Tabori & Chang. p. 375. ISBN 978-1-55670-124-5.
  29. Gibson, Arrell Morgan (1985). "Native Americans and the Civil War". American Indian Quarterly. 9 (4): 405. doi:10.2307/1183560. ISSN 0095-182X. JSTOR 1183560.
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