How We Know What We Know · Archeological Surveys & Interviews

How We Know What We Know · Archeological Surveys and Interviews. Honey Springs Battlefield. Many resources provide information including battle reports, diaries, letters, and newspapers. Interviews with those who participated in or were affected by the war, as well as their published memoirs, also provide firsthand information. During the 1930s, the Oklahoma Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration interviewed American Indians and other pioneers who settled the territory and state. These interviews and questionnaires are contained in the Indian-Pioneer Papers housed in the Oklahoma Historical Society's archives., Archaeological surveys at Honey Springs provided tangible evidence of Federal and Confederate positions where the heaviest fighting took place, as well as where the Federal bivouac area and Confederate camps were located., "We git in a big cave in dat cliff, and spend de whole day and dat night in dar, and listen to de battle going on. Dat place was about half-a-mile from de wagon depot at Honey Springs, and a little east of it. We can hear de guns going all day, and along in de evening here come de South side making for a getaway. Dey come riding and running by whar we is, and it don't make no difference how much de head men hollers at 'em dey can't make dat bunch slow up and stop. After while here come stop. After while here come de Yankees, right after 'em, and dey goes on into Honey Springs and pretty soon we see de blaze whar dey is burning de wagon depot and de houses." , Lucinda Davis, , former enslaved person, Caption: , Lucinda Davis, approximately 89, when interviewed for the 1930s Oklahoma Writers' Project , (Courtesy Library of Congress)