Note (return) — XII. INDIAN TERRITORY IN 1863, JULY TO DECEMBER INCLUSIVE

contagion among the Indians, his troops were moved to more and more isolated camps829 across the Canadian830 and, finally, back in the direction of Fort Smith. Ostensibly they were moved to the Arkansas line to protect Fort Smith; for Steele knew well that his present hold upon that place was of the frailest. It might be threatened at any moment from the direction of Cassville and Morgan had been instructed, in the event of an attack in prospect, to cross the boundary line and proceed along the Boggy road towards Riddle's station.831 Steele was evidently not going to make any desperate effort to hold the place that for so long had been the seat of the Confederate control over the Southern Indians.