Location: Cherokee County
Campaign: Occupation of Indian Territory North of the Arkansas
River (1863)
Date(s): October 6, 1863
Principal Commanders: Lt. James B. Pond and Maj. Gen. James G.
Blunt [US]; Lt. Col. William Clarke Quantrill [CS]
Forces Engaged: Detachments from three regiments and an escort
[US]; Quantrill's Raiders (approx. 400) [CS]
Estimated Casualties: 106 total (US 103; CS 3)
Description: After conducting many raids in Kansas, including
the massacre at Lawrence, Quantrill decided to winter in Texas. Along with other partisans, he headed south on the Texas Road
and captured and killed two Union teamsters who had come from a post called Baxter Springs. Quantrill decided to attack the
post and divided his force into two columns, one under him and the other commanded by a subordinate, David Poole. Poole and
his men proceeded down the Texas Road, where they encountered Union soldiers, most of whom were African Americans. They chased
and attacked the Union troops, killing some of them before they reached the earth and log fort. After the Union survivors
reached the fort, the Rebels attacked, but the garrison, with the help of a howitzer, fought them off. Quantrill’s column
moved on the post from another direction and chanced on a Union detachment escorting Maj. Gen. James G. Blunt and wagons transporting
his personal items from his former headquarters of the Department of the Frontier at Fort Scott to his new one at Fort Smith.
Most of this detachment, including the band and Maj. Henry Z. Curtis (son of Maj. Gen. Samuel R. Curtis), was murdered, but
Blunt and a few mounted men returned to Fort Scott. Blunt was removed from command for failing to protect his column, but
he was soon restored. The Civil War atrocities that transpired between Missouri and Kansas were a direct result
of the Kansas-Missouri Border War (1854-1861), which is commonly referred to as Bleeding Kansas. Touted as a massacre by some, Baxter Springs was another event that characterized the vicious Kansas-Missouri border
warfare.
Result(s): Confederate victory
Source: National Park Service
