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"CHARGE of the FIRST KANSAS (colored)"

Notes:

1. There were no cowards at Honey Springs. (I know, I looked...)

2. A part of the battlefield is haunted. (I know, I saw...)

The "Battle of Honey Springs" (Elk Creek, Shaw's Inn) July 17, 1863, decided which side controlled Indian Territory for the remainder of the civil war. On the evening of July 16, the First Kansas (colored) left Fort Blunt on a mission that decided the Honey Springs battle.

Assigned to a brigade of "mostly Indians and negroes,"1 the regiment crossed the Arkansas River on three large flatboats (ferries). Around 10 P.M. the black troops started a march towards Honey Springs, 20 miles south of the Arkansas on Texas Road.

In recent days, black troops heard from slave refugees Gen. Cooper had 6,000 confederates near Elk Creek. They said large numbers of troops arrived daily and believed 10,000 rebels would attack Fort Blunt Saturday or Sunday (July 18-19).

Gen. Blunt's strategy was to surprise Cooper with a Friday morning attack before more reinforcements arrived. The black troops liked Blunt's plan and marched in the night past Chimney Mountain and down Texas road. They knew Blunt would order a charge at Elk Creek and he would select them to lead the charge.

Around sunrise, the regiment's hope for a surprise attack vanished 5 miles north of Elk Creek. A cavalry skirmish with Cooper's advance halted the march. When the march continued, everyone knew the confederates would be alert and ready from then on.