The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1901-10-13
FORT COBB
WILL SOON
DISAPPEAR
Al! That Remains are a Few
Decayed Timbers,
DURING The CIVIL WAR
Confederate and Union In
dams Fought Battle There.

! river has been opened for settlement
there has been much discussion about
Fl. Cobb. TT. Cobb was established near
the confluence of Cobb creek and Wash
tia river. All there is left Of it are decay
ed trunks and these are half buried in
the rank growth OF grass.
The Kingfsher Free Press has the fol-
lowing story about TT. Cobb:
Frequently the inquiry has been heard
Of late. Was TT. Cobb ever q government
post or was it merely trading point Ike
many others in the unsubdued west with
a brevet title, conferred 10 give it courte-
Gus distinction? In the eventfuI years
since it was for time considerable of a
storm center, just preceding the great
/ cival war, the incidents which give it
place in the bulletins of that day had
become almost forgotten. even by the
older trans-Afissouri settlers and had
never come TO the ken Of those who
reached this region through accident OF
birth OF by voluntary immigration subse-
Quent to those history making years of
! internecine strife. FITS. Cobb, Arbuekle
and Washita were the three principal
! government forts, at the beginning Of
1861, in the Indian territory. west Of the
! 91th degree of longitude west of Green
witch. TT. Smith in Arkansas, on the
/ state line, and Ft. Gibson, sixty-five
miles away TO the northwest, on Grand
river, in the Cherokee nation, held the
J eastern flank of this then unknown eoun-
| try. The department OF Texas did guard
| duty south Of Red river and on the Next
can frontier
IN those days with unlimited privilege
| of choice, sites for forts were selected for
their eligibility. beauty and prolific ma
tural resources in every way, including
good water. fuel and pasturage as much
as for their defensibiiity No better loca-
ton for future towns can be found than
the abandoned military post sites held in
the west four decades ago, and this fact
seems to have impressed itself upon the
founders Of a modern town named for
and near by the old military post, on the
north bank Of the Washita river, near
the mouth of Cobb creek, twelve miles
west of Anadarko.
But to the events which once gave II
celebrity: on the 18th day of February,
1861, General David E. Twiggs surrender
ed the United States forces, arms. NUM-
tons and posts, in the Department of
= NAcSi- NaLiNh liiS To tTtn-
eraI McCulloch, commanding the Texas
state troops, at Indianola. The Red river
DIVIDED the, Indian TERRITORY, -fTomg that
state. then in a state of hostile aggres-
siveness. Soon after the state of Ar
kansas seized TT. Smith and the Little
Rock arsenal.
The CheroIees, Choctaws and Chicka-
saws. under Stanwstie. Coffey. Mcintosh.
Bill Ross and other leaders. were quite
as rampant secessionists and as fervent
in their hostility as their white brethren
of Texas and Arkansas. The Creeks and
SeminOles, together with a majority of
the Cherokees, were inclined to be loyal
Taking into account THE situation and
the governments inability to furnish re-
lief to the three beIea guered posts farther
west. it can be seen at a glance that they
must fall into tn enemy's hands or hustle
themselves out ofthe country. The south
expected to make an easy capture or
rather the example set by Twiggs would
be followed, knowing that a majority Of
the Indians preferred to cast their lot
with the south and the loyalty OF many
regular army officers had yet to be
tested.
1T happened. however. that Major s. D. I
Sturgis Of the Fourth United States cav
airy the ranking officer, was loyal 70 his |
government and faithful to his duty as a
soldier. He ordered that the three forts /
be dismantled. that ali military sup
plies on hand should be destroyed except +
the arms and stores necessary to protect +
and provision the troops on a long march 1
through a country devoid Of everything I
would help out cavalry command in +
the stress that lay before It.
The long drouth from the summer OF +
1859 until October. 1850. in the Indian and 4
Kansas territories. had left little but !
bare ground over the contemplated route
of travel, which lay well west Of the
Cherokee country. This was long before
cattle trails had been heard Of. The mil
itarv road IN use then ran from Fl Scott
to TT Gibson thence over the Boston
mountains 70 Fl. Smith Necessarily the
troops in retreat must travel By direction
rather than by following Travelled routes
all Of which were held by the enemy.
THE troops from FITS. Ar5uckle ard
Washlta were quietly rendezvoused AT r.
Cobb early IN March. ready 70 begin their
periIous j0urney. avoiding ans delay ~
commune a'ions 'hat "oeid s4sf n'''
their intentions 70 me aieft soatne1eIs
Fl LeaFenWoF1a vas tnsi o'i
point. but between them ara = az nor
than - niles o. land' clleHs Les
Rain fell copio1siy. s@ei.iHs me many
streams 70 De crossed mere we're ins
tEo Canadians. tne clmaTTon' Af&ansas
and Necsho. all dangerous irnlFd lzaents in
time 81 spring rains. They we're d.