Civil War Battlefield in Oklahoma? Who Knew!

While visiting Eufaula/Checotah earlier this winter, I spotted a sign about a battlefield just 4 miles north of Checotah, OK. I did not get a chance to check it out until now. It is called Honey Springs Battlefield and has only been developed by the State Historical Society for several years now. People usually don't think of Oklahoma being in the Cival War or even being important, but this battle secured Oklahoma for the Federals (Union). It was fought mostly by Indians from the Five Civilized Tribes, Blacks from Kansas and a few Texas boys. The Indian tribes were divided and I'm sure brother fought against brother just like in the south. The Blacks from Kansas were Union and the Texans, of course, Confederate.

 

The battle was fought along the old Texas Road, which now is Hwy 69 running from Texas all the way north through Oklahoma to Missouri.

And of course, there was a bridge to fight over. Honey Creek, hence the name of the battle, is now a small creek, barely 10 feet wide and only inches deep, but back then in places it was over 1/4 mile wide and 30 feet deep. Since it was a trade road long before the Civil War, there was a toll set up on the original wooden bridge. (And I thought toll roads were a modern invention) This is where the confederates thought to hold the union soldiers, but it wasn't to be.

This is what is left of the subsequent bridge which was built following the Civil War, and how the creek looks today.

The Texas Road was a major trade road through Indian Territory back in the mid 1800s.

Along the road into the battlefield, I spotted this building and sign. Yes, they have blues at least one Saturday a month and multi-day festivals over holidays.

As we came back into Eufaula we saw smoke and went to see what was going on. The RV park owners were doing some digging for new utilities and a natural gas line was hit. The people who witnessed this say the RV exploded before bursting into flames. We got there within minutes and as you can see, there wasn't much left. Luckily the RV owners were gone, but I understand this was a brand new RV.

Hubcap Annie. (Although she is actually made out of wheels.)