The Indian Territory in the Civil War Message Board

Re: Camp of 14th KS Cav - Feb. 11, 1864

Three companies of the 14th Kansas cavalry provided the vanguard for the Phillips' Expedition into Indian Territory of February 1-24, 1864. Col. William A. Phillips commanded the invasion, and Major Charles E. Willetts commanded the calvary vanguard and raids into the Creek and Seminole Nations, and subsequent attack on the Confederate outpost at Middle Boggy on February 13, 1864, where 49 Confederates were reported by the Federals to have been killed, with not fatalities of their own.

I wish to discuss two points related to the above, and seek your comments. Col. Phillips waited for 3-4 days in and around Hillabee for Col. Thomas Moonlight to bring the sizeable remainder (8 or 9 companies) from Ft. Smith to North Fork Town and join Phillips Expedition from there. Why did this not occur, given that BG. John Milton Thayer's, commanding at Ft. Smith, dispatch of Feb. 3rd reached Phillips on 2-8? It is clear that Col. Phillips was expecting Col. Moonlight to arrive and be commanding the 14th. Does anyone know why Col. Moonlight was replaced by Major John G. Brown?

I note that Major Brown was with General Sickles at Gettysburg in July 1863, where Sickles lost a leg in battle. Moonlight does not show up as being in command of the 14th Kansas, but shows up as being in command of the nine company detachment in Dept. of Arkansas monthly returnswhen in Ft. Smith. Apparently, when the 14th was first ordered by Thayer to join Phillips on February 3, Col. Moonlight did not want to serve under Phillips (or perhaps he outranked Phillips) because Moonlight was replaced by Major John G. Brown. (I think this is the "favor" BG Thayer had done for Col. Phillips, as mentioned in his 2-3 dispatch. The complication is that MG Samuel G. Curtis, commanding the Dept. of Kansas (since 1-1-64), will soon be at Ft. Gibson (2-7&8) and is coming down to Ft. Smith (2 - 9 to 12) to review the fort and his troops. Now, Gen. Thayer has a problem since he booted (sort of) BG James G. Blunt, Dept. of Kansas, out of Ft. Smith last month, courtesy of MG Halleck, but Thayer knows Blunt is now returning from Washington City blowing smoke.

The upshot of all of this Federal political infighting over who controls Ft. Smith is that the 14th Kansas cavalry detachment serving at Ft. Smith, who Col. Phillips is waiting for near North Fork Town (and Hillabee), has no commander from about 2-3 until 2-8-1864. On this date (2-8-64), Major John G. Brown is assigned to the command of the 14th Kansas battalion serving in Ft. Smith, and given orders to go west and join Col. Phillips. Brown's command rides nearly to North Fork Town by the evening of 2-11, but is too late to find or join Phillips, thus changing the thrust of the entire expedition. Major Brown returns to Ft. Smith and is promoted to Lt. Col. on 3-5-1864 after his safe return, never finding Phillips' Expedition.

The second point of discussion on the 14th Kansas deals with "How did the 14th Kansas maintain such a strong fighting force, given that Major Charles Willetts had only three companies of the 14th to command?" Several times the three companies were split into three separate columns when raiding the Creek and Seminole towns along the North and South Canadian Rivers, and around Hillabee.

Keep in mind that these three companies originally were to be the core of BG Blunt's body guard formed in Kansas in late 1863, but due to a large demand to serve, the call was expanded into a full regiment for general service, under General Blunt. After the Battle of Honey Springs and capture of Ft. Smith, Blunt was planning on leading a large army invasion into North Texas, and join Generals Grant and Sherman on the reviewing platform. It seems that Franklin County, Kansas, and "Bleeding Kansas" in general provided General Blunt's body guards with the best pistols and carbines money could buy in the Fall of 1863, including Remington pistols and Ballard/Spencer carbines. By the time Phillips left Ft. Gibson on 2-1-64, the Major Willetts three body-guard companies of the 14th Kansas apparently were armed to the teeth. Cavalry from Kansas had learned from Quantrill, kill or be killed.

On October 25, 1864, less than nine months later, at Mine Creek, Kansas, 2,500 Federal cavalry, armed with Spencer repeating rifles destroyed 7,000 Confederate troopers who were defending General Price's withdrawal using standard weapons. Maybe the high-powered weaponry the 14th Kansas carried at the Battle of Middle Boggy best explains how Major Willetts so overwhelmed Lt. Col. John Jumper's smaller Confederate defences. Any comments?

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Camp of 14th KS Cav - Feb. 11, 1864
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Re: Camp of 14th KS Cav - Feb. 11, 1864
Re: Camp of 14th KS Cav - Feb. 11, 1864
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Re: Camp of 14th KS Cav - Feb. 11, 1864
Re: Camp of 14th KS Cav - Feb. 11, 1864
Re: Camp of 14th KS Cav - Feb. 11, 1864
Re: Camp of 14th KS Cav - Feb. 11, 1864
Re: Camp of 14th KS Cav - Feb. 11, 1864
Re: Camp of 14th KS Cav - Feb. 11, 1864