Breaking the Confederate Line

In the confusion of battle, the 2nd Indian Home Guard on the right crossed into the line of fire of the 1st Kansas, and Lt. Col. Bowles ordered the 1st Kansas to cease firing so they would not kill fellow soldiers. Lt. Col. F. W. Schuarte of the 2nd Indian Home Guard ordered his troops to fall back from the line of fire. Confederate Col. Bass assumed the Federals were retreating and ordered the 20th and 29th Texas Cavalry, both fighting dismounted, to charge. The Confederates attacked just as the 2nd Indian Home Guard cleared the rifles of the 1st Kansas. The Texans' advance was checked by fire from the 1st Kansas, the superior firepower of the Federal infantry was devastating, and the Confederate center began to collapse. Bowles recalled that his men moved to within 300 yards of the enemy line and then to within 40 paces of the concealed foe before Col. Williams ordered them to fire, producing two long lines of smoke and flame. Firing was incessant along the line except on the extreme right, where some of the Indian troops had ridden into the brush between the two sides. After Bowles ordered them to fall back and to the right, the enemy believed the Federals were giving way and pressed forward as if pursuing a retreating foe. Advancing to within 25 paces, they were met by a volley of musketry that sent them back in confusion and disorder. Their color-bearer fell, the colors were raised and shot down twice more, and they were left on the field as the enemy fell back.

Oklahoma · United States