Timber and brush concealed the main Confederate force aligned on either side of the Texas Road as the 20th and 29th Texas Cavalry, the 5th Texas Partisan Rangers, and four guns of Capt. Roswell W. Lee's battery waited to repel advancing Federal troops. The 1st and 2nd Creek Regiments guarded the Elk Creek fords west of here while elements of the 1st and 2nd Cherokee Regiments defended the east fords. After rain during the night left the woods damp, the Confederates watched the open prairie and the Texas Road for the approaching enemy, and the heaviest fighting of the Battle of Honey Springs occurred there. General orders issued at Elk Creek on July 14, 1863, by Brig. Gen. Douglas H. Cooper organized the brigade with the 1st and 2nd Cherokee Regiments as the right wing under Col. Stand Watie, the 1st and 2nd Creek Regiments as the left wing under Col. D. N. McIntosh, the center under Col. Thomas C. Bass consisting of the 20th Texas dismounted Cavalry, 29th Texas Cavalry, 5th Texas Partisan Rangers, and Lee's Light Battery, and a reserve attached to headquarters made up of Scanland's Squadron, Gillette's Squadron, and the 1st Choctaw and Chickasaw Regiment under Col. Tandy Walker.