Battle of Massard Prairie
On July 27, 1864 Confederates led by Gen Richard M. Gano surprised an outpost of the Sixth Kansas Cavalry at nearby Caldwell's Place. The Federal force was routed with the loss of 25 killed and wounded, 127 prisoners and much equipment. The Confederates lost 34 men.
Massard Prairie is a vast grassland on the edge of Fort Smith. On July 27, 1864, Confederate forces came down out of the nearby mountains and virtually annihilated a battalion of Union cavalry. It was one of the most complete Southern victories of the Civil War in Arkansas and involved one of the last great open field cavalry charges. Confederate reports describe it as a “brilliant dashing affair.”
For a small battle, Massard Prairie was significant for a number of reasons. Unlike most battles fought in western Arkansas, it was a clear Confederate victory; Pea Ridge is usually remembered for the participation of Native American troops, however, they played a much more significant role at Massard Prairie and the Confederate reports are unique for their mention and high praise of the Choctaw minister Tiok-homma. And, the battle offers one of the very few accounts of actual scalping in a Civil War battle.
In 1864, Massard Prairie extended for miles in all directions and was used as a grazing range by Union troops and local citizens. With limited forage in Fort Smith, Union Gen John Thayer sent a herd of horses out to graze on the prairie with 4 companies from the 6th Kansas Cavalry, a unit that had taken part in some of the largest battles of the war in the West. The soldiers set up camp in a grove of trees along a small stream, arranged by company around a central parade ground and mess area.
Confederate troops, having just participated in the Red River Campaign, were moving north to the Arkansas River when they learned that soldiers assigned to guard the herd were camped in an exposed position in the "Picnic Grove" on the prairie. Around 100 "Arkansas Feds," the name given by Southern troops to Union soldiers from Arkansas, were also camped on the prairie just across the stream from the Kansas cavalrymen.
In late July 1864, Confederate troops were operating in Indian Territory just west of the Arkansas border garrison town of Fort Smith. The commander, Gen Douglas Cooper, learned from scouts that several Union units were camped in isolated positions around Fort Smith. Deciding to launch an immediate attack, Cooper ordered Gen R.M.Gano and 500 of his men to be ready to move by 3:00 PM on the afternoon of July 26.
Expecting reinforcements of Native American troops, he hoped that Col S.N. Folsom with the 1st and 2nd Choctaw Regiments would attack a Union camp south of Fort Smith on the Jenny Lind Road. If pursued by
Union reinforcements coming from Fort Smith or a second camp on Massard Prairie, Folsom was to retreat to the western end of Devil’s Backbone.
Cooper ordered another unit of Choctaws, under LtCol Jack McCurtain, to prepare an ambush and wait for Folsom’s retreat. If the Union pursued, Folsom was to join forces with McCurtain and surprise the Yanks along the slope of the Devil's Backbone ridge. Meanwhile, Gano, with his 500 men, would come in behind the Union forces and attack them from the rear.
It was an inspired plan, but the Choctaw units failed to show with as many men as expected. Taking advantage of a discretionary section of his orders, Gano changed Cooper’s plan and decided upon a sudden descent onto the prairie. Moving into the mountains just south of town on the night of July 26, 1864, Gano planned to attack at dawn. The Union knew Confederates were in the area, but took few precautions. They were taken completely by surprise when Gano struck on the morning of the July 27th.
The Confederates came down the mountainside and stormed across the prairie at dawn. A Union picket was overwhelmed. The Union soldiers, according to 6th Kansas Lt. Jacob Morehead were going about their normal routine when the Confederate cavalry came down the mountainside. " …As soon as the alarm was given that the enemy was in the prairie, which was about 6 a.m., I sent immediately for the herd, which had been out grazing since daylight, and was about three quarters of a mile southwest of camp. I formed my men on the right of camp to protect my herd as it came in and until it could be secured, but before the horses could be brought up the enemy charged on us, which stampeded the herd and left the men on foot to fight as best they could."
Union soldiers quickly formed a line of battle through the center of their camp, only to find themselves under simultaneous attack from three sides. Gano himself charged against the Union right, while a mixed force of Choctaws and Texans attacked the Union left. A third force moved through the grove and struck the center. Perhaps the best fight of the morning was put up by the men of Company B, 6th Kansas, who repulsed “ three distinct charges ” against the right flank of the Union line before the line gave way. The fight, which had not gone well for the Union force since the start, now turned into chaos. The Confederates withdrew quickly after the battle and although the Federals reported that they made a pursuit, it could not have been too enthusiastic because they turned back before running into Cooper’s planned ambush at Devil’s Backbone.
The Union crumbled and the battle turned into a running fight across 2 1/2 miles of open prairie. A large part of the Union force was finally surrounded at an old house and taken prisoner. Other survivors scattered for cover. When it was over, the Confederates had a total victory. Of the 200 Union soldiers in camp when the battle began, 10 were killed, 17 wounded, and 117 captured. The Confederates reported the capture of 200 Sharps rifles, 400 six-shooter pistols, horses, sutler’s stores, and camp equipment.
One of the Confederates killed was the Choctaw minister Tiok-homma or Red Pine. Tiok-homma’s body, along with those of the other Confederate dead, was left on the ground at the battlefield. An eyewitness to the battle later described watching Union Cherokee reinforcements scalp the Confederate dead when the arrived at the scene. The bodies were then buried in a trench on the battlefield, the location of which has since been lost.
This battle led to the Battle of Fort Smith a few days later and helped clear the way for the dramatically successful Cabin Creek in the Cherokee Nation (Oklahoma) expedition a couple of weeks later.
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