Thanks Ken, I felt sure you would put a picture to the whereabouts of Buck Creek. The illusive affair in the text does seem to be Maysville when observed a little closer. I am familiar with events surrounding the time frame though in the case of Albert Pike I have never paid that much attention to his career. I know from Hindmans letters to Holmes and a few other officers, to include Roane, who had a history with Pike, that Hindman had about enough of Pikes dealings. Though to be frank about it all Hindman was hustling anyone that got in his way of building an army in NW Arkansas and the IT during the fall and winter of 1862 & 63. I'm not sure I wouldn't have done the same thing given the weak support he was given by the administrations.

In some of the letters for this period Cooper mentions Bryan a good deal. I thought I would mention that. Hopefully I shall have these papers done within the next ten days and will pass them on to the site or Ken. These are not particularly easy to transcribe. Coopers hand writing is narrow and small and often hurried, though that isn't unusual by itself given the fact that there was a scarcity of writing materials along with the pressure of the moment.