The Final Engagement

The Final Engagement. Honey Springs Battlefield. The last organized Confederate resistance occurred here. As Federal troops pushed south along the Texas Road toward the Honey Springs Depot, they encountered the 1st Choctaw and Chickasaw Regiment. Armed largely with shotguns and antiquated weapons, they stalled the advancing Federal Army, buying time for other soldiers to retreat. Brig. Gen. Cooper was desperate to stem the blue-clad tide to save his artillery and supply train. Federal soldiers could see the smoke rising in the distance from buildings set ablaze by the Confederates at the Honey Springs Depot. , I pushed them vigorously, they making several determined stands but were each time repulsed. In their retreat they set fire to their commissary buildings... destroying their supplies....The enemy's cavalry still hovered in my front, and about 4 p.m. General Cabell came in sight with 3,000 reinforcements. My ammunition was nearly exhausted, yet I determined to bivouac on the field, and risk a battle in the morning if they desired it. , Maj. Gen. James G. Blunt, USA, Capt. Gillette's squadron ... was formed on the road, and for a short time held the advance of the enemy in check. The Choctaws, under Col. Walker ... charged the enemy, who had now planted a battery upon the timbered ridge 1,000 yards north of Honey Springs. With their usual intrepidity, the Choctaws went at them, giving their war-whoop, and succeeded in checking the advance of the enemy. , Brig. Gen. Douglas H. Cooper, CSA