BATTLE

Our Civil War not only divided our Nation, it divided familys. And, our American Natives were no exception. The Osage Nation in Kansas was also divided on the issues. A battle between Union supporting Osage and Confederate Calvary Officers occoured South East of Independence Kansas. This monument marks the event.

Here is the complete text from the monument:
In May, 1863, a mounted party of about twenty Confederates,
nearly all commissioned officers, set out from
Missouri to recruit troops in the West. Several miles
east of here they were challenged by loyal Osage
Indians. In a running fight two Confederates were
killed and the others surrounded on a gravel bar
in the Verdigris river about three miles north of
this marker. Ignoring a flag of surrender, the Osages
scalped and cut the heads off all but two of the party.
These, wounded, hid under the river bank and escaped.

After the war when settlers began staking claims on
the Osage reservation, Congress authorized removal of
the tribe to present Oklahoma. In 1807 a treaty was
signed in a grove on Drum creek, three miles southeast.
Ironically, the cheap lands to which the Osages were
removed became a great oil field and for a time they
were the wealthiest people per capita in the world.
The monument just piqued our imagination and prompted further digging into the incident, we were curious about the two survivors and how they made it, being wounded and all. It turns out that they walked eighty miles to safety and one of them died as a result of his wounds. It took months for the remaining Calvary Officer to recover enough to get back to his unit for duty and report the out come of their mission. As they crossed the river one time they lost a pair of shoes and during the eighty mile walk through hostile territory they took turns wearing the shoes that remained and the other wraping their feet with clothing articles.