Note (return) — IX. THE REMOVAL OF THE REFUGEES TO THE SAC AND FOX AGENCY

General Blunt's force continued to hold the northeastern part of the Cherokee country until the end of October when it fell back, crossed the line, and moved along the Bentonville road in order to meet its supply train from Fort Scott.602 Blunt's division finally took its stand on Prairie Creek603 and, on the twelfth of November, made its main camp on Lindsay's prairie, near the Indian boundary.604 The rout of Cooper at Fort Wayne had shaken the faith of many Indians in the invincibility of the Confederate arms. They had disbanded and gone home, declaring "their purpose to join the Federal troops the first opportunity" that presented itself.605 To secure them and to reconnoitre once more, Colonel Phillips had started out near the beginning of November and, from the third to the fifth, had made his way down through the Cherokee Nation, by way of Tahlequah and Park Hill, to Webber's Falls on the Arkansas.606 His return was by