DaveVanP
Sr. Member
- Oct 5, 2018
- 375
- 682
- Detector(s) used
- Minelab XTerra 705
Fisher F44
- Primary Interest:
- Prospecting
I recently returned to treasure hunting/metal detecting, due in part to learning the story below. I have lived in Kansas over 45 years, and only just learned of this:
Montgomery County, in Southeast Kansas was a long ways from the major battles of the Civil War. However, the horrific battles that divided the nation over 150 years ago once pierced the County's soil. The Rebel Creek Massacre, occurred on May 15, 1863 along the rocky banks of Rebel Creek, northeast of the present town of Independence.
According to accounts of the massacre, a band of 18-20 Confederate soldiers were dispatched from Jasper County, Mo., to make an expedition across southern Kansas and eventually into Colorado and New Mexico territories. The expedition had two objectives: to recruit men from the westward prairies to join the Confederate Army and to incite the western Indians against the Kansas settlers, a majority of whom held free state or anti-slavery views. They crossed into Kansas from Missouri at the present site of Baxter Springs, and travelled roughly parallel to the border with Indian Territory, and stopped their first night at the site of New Town, which had been a trading post until burned in 1861 by Federal troops (later rebuilt and renamed "Chetopa"). The Rebels continued westward the next day, reaching Rebel Creek which flowed into the Verdigris River northeast of present-day Independence (called "Hay Town", at the time). Somewhere along or near the creek, the Confederates made camp, were they endured a Kansas springtime thunderstorm. A band of Osage Indians on a mission to round up some lost ponies noticed the Confederate camp and approached the troops. The Confederates said they were Union troops en route to Humboldt, Kan., which was the location of a federal land office. The Osage asked the soldiers to follow them to Humboldt where their alleged identity could be verified. However, the troops resisted. While the Osages were attempting to round up the soldiers, one Osage was shot dead. The Osage scouts were out manned, so they sped to their village not far away (just north of present day Coffeyville) and told their fellow tribesmen of the incident.
The Osages quickly rounded up 200 tribesmen and began a quick pursuit of the Confederate murderers, who had just finished eating a meal next to Rebel Creek. When the Osage came upon the small Confederate force, the soldiers tried to fire their muskets but were thwarted by damp powder from the thunderstorm. Two whites were killed and two Indians were slain. The soldiers mustered enough strength to retreat to near a thicket of woods along the creek. However, the Osage were keeping the Confederates' trail hot and eventually forced the soldiers onto a sand or gravel bar on the Verdigris , where the creek emptied into it. With their firearms useless, they fought hand to hand with the Osage. But battling with hands would prove to be a deadly futility to the Confederates. In the end, 18 of the 20 soldiers were dead. Only two Osage had died. Two Rebels managed to slip away upriver and hid till darkness.
When news of the massacre reached the Union soldiers at Humboldt, the Union troops followed the Osage warriors to the scene of the battle and found the nude bodies of the Confederate soldiers, each badly mutilated, decomposed, beheaded and scalped. One officer, who was bald, had his beard "scalped" from his face as a trophy. And, as was the Osage custom, the scalped heads were totally severed from the bodies, and placed in a separate pile. Exposed to the early-summer heat, the bodies had already become badly decomposed by the time the Federal soldiers arrived. The troops quickly dug a deep trench in the ground and dragged the tattered bodies up the steep riverbank to their final grave up on level ground. The soldiers wore bandanas containing "medicine" (probably camphor or menthol) tied over their faces, but in spite of that, it was impossible to stay at the gruesome task for more than a few minutes at a time. Many Confederate belongings were found in the Osage possession. When Union officers asked for the papers that were on the Confederate bodies, the Osage first gave the papers to Big Hill Joe, an Indian chief who was educated at Osage Mission (present-day St. Paul). The papers revealed the dead troops were, in fact, Confederates; one attained the office of colonel (Col Charles Harrison). Other information revealed the goals of the expedition, including inciting Indians to battle Kansas' pioneers.
Of the two survivors of that Confederate expedition one soon died, but the lone survivor, [later] Col. Warner Lewis wrote in 1911 about his remembrances of the incident and how settlers in the area were able to conceal him from Indians by hiding him in thick brush. The settlers nursed Lewis' wounds and sores and fed him until he was able to return to his post in Missouri.
Prior to 1869 the State of Kansas' southern border was about 25 miles north of where it is now. The Osage Nation resided in the 25-mile strip between Kansas and the Indian Territory (Oklahoma). The Treaty of Drum Creek in 1869 ceded these lands to the US, and the Osage moved to a reservation in I.T. With the Osage occupying this area during the Civil War, there were no "towns" as such, just Indian villages, which is why I indicated these locations as "present-day location of..." Both Coffeyville and Independence were both established in 1869, though Independence was named "Colfax" for several months in 1869.
As far as is known, the EXACT site of the battle was never been determined, though the area is easily accessed. It is all farmland around the area, but the banks of both the Verdigris River and Rebel Creek are still heavily wooded with thick underbrush. I have not been able to find out if any serious artifact hunting or metal detecting has been done in the area, HOWEVER...the Verdigris is notorious for massive flooding occasionally, so it is likely little, if anything, remains after 155 years. Rumors of old-timers reporting human bones being found in the area are just that - rumors. If the bodies of the slain are still buried, it would require GPR to locate them, as the bodies had been stripped naked. Perhaps in their running fight, some equipment may have been lost, waiting to be found.
Montgomery County, in Southeast Kansas was a long ways from the major battles of the Civil War. However, the horrific battles that divided the nation over 150 years ago once pierced the County's soil. The Rebel Creek Massacre, occurred on May 15, 1863 along the rocky banks of Rebel Creek, northeast of the present town of Independence.
According to accounts of the massacre, a band of 18-20 Confederate soldiers were dispatched from Jasper County, Mo., to make an expedition across southern Kansas and eventually into Colorado and New Mexico territories. The expedition had two objectives: to recruit men from the westward prairies to join the Confederate Army and to incite the western Indians against the Kansas settlers, a majority of whom held free state or anti-slavery views. They crossed into Kansas from Missouri at the present site of Baxter Springs, and travelled roughly parallel to the border with Indian Territory, and stopped their first night at the site of New Town, which had been a trading post until burned in 1861 by Federal troops (later rebuilt and renamed "Chetopa"). The Rebels continued westward the next day, reaching Rebel Creek which flowed into the Verdigris River northeast of present-day Independence (called "Hay Town", at the time). Somewhere along or near the creek, the Confederates made camp, were they endured a Kansas springtime thunderstorm. A band of Osage Indians on a mission to round up some lost ponies noticed the Confederate camp and approached the troops. The Confederates said they were Union troops en route to Humboldt, Kan., which was the location of a federal land office. The Osage asked the soldiers to follow them to Humboldt where their alleged identity could be verified. However, the troops resisted. While the Osages were attempting to round up the soldiers, one Osage was shot dead. The Osage scouts were out manned, so they sped to their village not far away (just north of present day Coffeyville) and told their fellow tribesmen of the incident.
The Osages quickly rounded up 200 tribesmen and began a quick pursuit of the Confederate murderers, who had just finished eating a meal next to Rebel Creek. When the Osage came upon the small Confederate force, the soldiers tried to fire their muskets but were thwarted by damp powder from the thunderstorm. Two whites were killed and two Indians were slain. The soldiers mustered enough strength to retreat to near a thicket of woods along the creek. However, the Osage were keeping the Confederates' trail hot and eventually forced the soldiers onto a sand or gravel bar on the Verdigris , where the creek emptied into it. With their firearms useless, they fought hand to hand with the Osage. But battling with hands would prove to be a deadly futility to the Confederates. In the end, 18 of the 20 soldiers were dead. Only two Osage had died. Two Rebels managed to slip away upriver and hid till darkness.
When news of the massacre reached the Union soldiers at Humboldt, the Union troops followed the Osage warriors to the scene of the battle and found the nude bodies of the Confederate soldiers, each badly mutilated, decomposed, beheaded and scalped. One officer, who was bald, had his beard "scalped" from his face as a trophy. And, as was the Osage custom, the scalped heads were totally severed from the bodies, and placed in a separate pile. Exposed to the early-summer heat, the bodies had already become badly decomposed by the time the Federal soldiers arrived. The troops quickly dug a deep trench in the ground and dragged the tattered bodies up the steep riverbank to their final grave up on level ground. The soldiers wore bandanas containing "medicine" (probably camphor or menthol) tied over their faces, but in spite of that, it was impossible to stay at the gruesome task for more than a few minutes at a time. Many Confederate belongings were found in the Osage possession. When Union officers asked for the papers that were on the Confederate bodies, the Osage first gave the papers to Big Hill Joe, an Indian chief who was educated at Osage Mission (present-day St. Paul). The papers revealed the dead troops were, in fact, Confederates; one attained the office of colonel (Col Charles Harrison). Other information revealed the goals of the expedition, including inciting Indians to battle Kansas' pioneers.
Of the two survivors of that Confederate expedition one soon died, but the lone survivor, [later] Col. Warner Lewis wrote in 1911 about his remembrances of the incident and how settlers in the area were able to conceal him from Indians by hiding him in thick brush. The settlers nursed Lewis' wounds and sores and fed him until he was able to return to his post in Missouri.
Prior to 1869 the State of Kansas' southern border was about 25 miles north of where it is now. The Osage Nation resided in the 25-mile strip between Kansas and the Indian Territory (Oklahoma). The Treaty of Drum Creek in 1869 ceded these lands to the US, and the Osage moved to a reservation in I.T. With the Osage occupying this area during the Civil War, there were no "towns" as such, just Indian villages, which is why I indicated these locations as "present-day location of..." Both Coffeyville and Independence were both established in 1869, though Independence was named "Colfax" for several months in 1869.
As far as is known, the EXACT site of the battle was never been determined, though the area is easily accessed. It is all farmland around the area, but the banks of both the Verdigris River and Rebel Creek are still heavily wooded with thick underbrush. I have not been able to find out if any serious artifact hunting or metal detecting has been done in the area, HOWEVER...the Verdigris is notorious for massive flooding occasionally, so it is likely little, if anything, remains after 155 years. Rumors of old-timers reporting human bones being found in the area are just that - rumors. If the bodies of the slain are still buried, it would require GPR to locate them, as the bodies had been stripped naked. Perhaps in their running fight, some equipment may have been lost, waiting to be found.
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