Note (return) — IV. THE ORGANIZATION OF THE FIRST INDIAN EXPEDITION

Stand Watie's scouting had brought him, April 26,268 into a slight action with men of the First Battalion First Missouri Cavalry at Neosho, in the vicinity of which place he lingered many days and where his men269 again fought, in conjunction with Colonel Coffee's, May 31.270 The skirmish of the later date was disastrous to the Federals under Colonel John M. Richardson of the Fourteenth Missouri State Militia Cavalry and proved to be a case where the wily and nimble Indian had taken the Anglo-Saxon completely by surprise.271 From Neosho, Stand Watie moved down, by slow and destructive stages, through Missouri and across into Indian Territory. His next important engagement was at Cowskin Prairie, June 6.