Honey Springs, OK

Date(s): July 17, 1863

Location: Please click on link below for map.

Campaign(s): Operations to Control Indian Territory [1863]

Battles in Campaign:

Situation:

Commanders:

• Union: Maj. Gen. James G. Blunt

• Confederate: Brig. Gen. Douglas H. Cooper

Principal Forces:

• Union: District of the Frontier

• Confederate: 1st Brigade, Native American troops

Description:

• Union and Confederate troops had frequently skirmished in the vicinity of Honey Springs Depot.

• The Union commander in the area, Maj. Gen. James G. Blunt, correctly surmised that Confederate forces, mostly Native American troops under the command of Brig. Gen. Douglas H. Cooper, were about to concentrate and would then attack his force at Fort Gibson.

• He decided to defeat the Confederates at Honey Springs Depot before they were joined by Brig. Gen. William Cabell’s brigade, advancing from Fort Smith, Arkansas.

• Blunt began crossing the swollen Arkansas River on July 15, 1863, and, by midnight on July 16-17, he had a force of 3,000 men, composed of whites, Native Americans, and African Americans, marching toward Honey Springs.

• Blunt skirmished with Rebel troops early on the morning of the 17th, and by mid-afternoon, full-scale fighting ensued.

• The Confederates had wet powder, causing misfires, and the problem intensified when rain began.  After repulsing one attack, Cooper pulled his forces back to obtain new ammunition.

• In the meantime, Cooper began to experience command problems, and he learned that Blunt was about to turn his left flank.

• The Confederate retreat began, and although Cooper fought a rearguard action, many of those troops counterattacked, failed, and fled.

• Any possibility of the Confederates taking Fort Gibson was gone.

• Following this battle, Union forces controlled Indian Territory, north of the Arkansas River.

Photo Gallery:²

Roadside marker with description of Battle of Honey Springs.	Entrance to the Honey Springs Battlefield	Model of the Battle of Honey Springs at the Interpretive Center	Model of the Battle of Honey Springs at the Interpretive Center
Model of the Battle of Honey Springs at the Interpretive Center	Model of the Battle of Honey Springs at the Interpretive Center	A Nervous Rest, the U.S. Bivouac	The Army of the Frontier
The March from Fort Gibson	Bivouac	3rd Wisconsin Cavalry	2nd Indian Home Guards
		Smith's Battery of Kansas Artillery	1st Kansas Volunteer Infantry, Colored
	3rd Indian Home Guards	2nd Colorado Infantry
1st Indian Home Guards	6th Kansas Cavalry	Hopkins' Battery of Kansas Artillery
The Battle Begins	The Federal Right - Judson's Brigade	"Follow me!" - The U.S. Infantry and their Weapons	U.S. Cavalry
U.S. Artillery in the Field	Breaking the Confederate Line	The Federal Left - The Phillips' Brigade	Waiting for History
The Confederate Center	5th Texas Partisan Rangers and Lee's Light Battery
The Texas Road			29th Texas Cavalry and 20th Texas Cavalry
	The Confederate Right	1st and 2nd Regiments of Cherokee Mounted Volunteers
	Breaking the Line - Hand-to-Hand Combat	Scanland's Squadron and Gillette's Squadron	The Confederate Left
1st and 2nd Regiments of Creek Mounted Volunteers	Battle for the Bridge
	How We Know What We Know - Official Reports
Defending the Bridge and Other Fighting along Elk Creek			Crossing Elk Creek - The Toll Bridge and Fords
How We Know What We Know - Letters, Diaries and On-the-Spot Reporting	Farming and Communities along the Texas Road		Honey Springs Depot on the Texas Road
How Do We Know What We Know? - Soldiers' Letters	Battlefield Archaeology	The Confederate Headquarters and Reserve Units	The Final Engagement
	The Confederate Counterattack		1st Choctaw and Chickasaw Regiment
Treating the Wounded		Burying the Dead	The Armies Rest and Recuperate
Confederate Monument at Honey Springs	Monument to Confederate Soldiers who Fought at Honey Springs	1st Regiment Kansas Colored Volunteers Monument	Five Civilized Tribes at the Battle of Honey Springs Monument
Monument to Union Soldiers who Fought at Honey Springs

Classification³: B

Casualties⁴:

• Union: 79

• Confederate: 637

Results: Union Victory

Battlefield Websites: 

• Battle of Honey Springs - Reenactment

• The Battle of Honey Springs: The Civil War Comes to Indian Territory - National Park Service

• Battle of Honey Springs - Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture

Recommended Resources:

¹ National Park Service summary.

² Please click on the image to enlarge it. You may copy the images if you include the following note and link with each image: "Courtesy of civil-war-journeys.org."

³ Classification:

• A - having a decisive influence on a campaign and a direct impact on the course of the war

• B - having a direct and decisive influence on their campaign

• C - having observable influence on the outcome of a campaign

• D - having a limited influence on the outcome of their campaign or operation but achieving or affecting important local objectives

⁴ Casualties are someone killed, injured, wounded, captured or missing.

Revised 06/05/2008