January 19th, 2010 – Our 82nd Meeting!
The next meeting of the Clarksville (TN) Civil War Roundtable will be on Wednesday, January 19th, 2010 in our new home at the Bone & Joint Center, 980 Professional Park Drive, right across the street from Gateway Hospital. This is just off Dunlop Lane and Holiday Drive and only a few minutes east of Governor’s Square mall. The meeting begins at 7:00 pm and is always open to the public. Members please bring a friend or two – new recruits are always welcomed.
OUR SPEAKER AND TOPIC:
“They Fought Like Veterans: Honey Springs and the Civil War in the Indian Territory”
The Civil War in the Indian Territory, now the State of Oklahoma, is very much overlooked despite the number of battles fought there. The Five Civilized Tribes (Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek and Seminole) were split in their North-South sentiments. The Choctaw and Chickasaw were openly pro-Confederate and the larger percentage of the Cherokee was also in that camp. Their battle flags bore red stars in addition to the white stars for the Confederate states. The Seminole and Creek were more pro-Union.
The war in this region began before the Trail of Tears and the secession of the Southern states only exacerbated the sentiments for all sides. Much of this was based on the civil war within the Cherokee Nation. The Creeks and Seminoles also experienced a split of sorts between them and the Cherokee and Creek were also in argument – over slavery. Many of the US Government Indian Agents were from the South and they brought their beliefs with them which carried great influence. Among them was Elias Rector, who resigned and joined the Confederacy along with Albert Pike, the Confederate government’s Indian Agent.
Treaties were signed and sides were chosen and Indian units were raised for both sides. Confederate Indians would fight with Ben McCulloch and Albert Pike both inside the Indian Territory as well as in other states like Arkansas. Confederate Indian cattle would help feed Southern armies for a time. The resulting choices the tribes made affected them greatly for the next four years. A number of Union campaigns invaded Indian Territory with the goal of forcing it back into the Federal camp and several battles were fought like Honey Springs. These campaigns and battles will be the focus of this month’s program by our own Michael Manning, Chief Ranger of Fort Donelson National Battlefield.
Michael Manning is a 21-year veteran of the National Park Service. He previously served in various other NPS areas including Horseshoe Bend National Military Park, Alabama, Fort Larned National Historic Site, Kansas, and Scotts Bluff National Monument, Nebraska. He previously served as the military-related National Historic Landmarks coordinator for the NPS in Oklahoma. He holds a BS degree in Criminal Justice from Northeastern State University, Tahlequah,Oklahoma and an MA degree in Military History from the American Military University. He served five years with the U.S. Navy Seabees as well as another seven years as a First Lieutenant in the Military Police Corps of the U.S. Army Reserve and National Guard. He is also a graduate of the Land Management Police Training Program at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, Georgia. Mike began his historic interpretation work while still a student at Northeastern State University by first volunteering then becoming a part-time Historic Site Attendant with the Oklahoma Historical Society at Fort Gibson Historic Site.
Please join us as Michael Manning of the Clarksville CWRT tells us much more about the Civil War in the Indian Territory.