CHIEF OPOTHLEYAHOLA

[evanstrail]

One of the accounts I have read about the Creek leader:

http://digital.library.okstate.edu/Chronicles/v009/v009p439.html

This account names him as Chief of the Upper Creeks, others refer to him as a leader or a speaker for the Creek, but say he was not an actual Chief.  Regardless, he was the leader of Creeks loyal to the Union in the early part of the Civil War, the Creek nation being divided, just as the Cherokees were, along political lines dating back prior to their removal from Georgia, Alabama and surrounding areas.

This account has a map showing his route to Kansas being up Hominy Creek then over the divide to near where the Walnut empties into the Arkansas (present Arkansas City) then east and north across southeast Cowley, central Chautauqua, and into Montgomery County before (presumedly) reaching the Verdigris and proceeding up it and/or Fall River to arrive at Fort Row/Coyville.

Fredonia's LASR site says "They followed the Verdigris and Fall Rivers into northern Wilson County to Fort Row (Roe) near Coyville." and states that "US 75 is officially designated the trail by Kansas Legislature" with historical markers at Caney and New Strawn. 

Other accounts I have read say Opothleyahola crossed Bird Creek and followed its north bank to its headwaters (west of Pawhuska), stuck north and then arrived at Fort Row approximately three weeks later, with no mention of where they went in between.

[evanstrail]

Online access to Civil War on the Border by Wiley Britton:

http://openlibrary.org/books/OL13501182M/The_civil_war_on_the_border_...

Chapter 13, page 164 is the story of the battles and flight of the Loyal Creeks under Opothleyahola in Nov-Dec 1861.  Does not shed any light on how he traveled (fled) from around Skiatook, OK beginning Dec 26, to his arrival several weeks later at Coyville, KS.

This online book is the first of two volumes written by Britton about the Civil War along the Kansas/Missouri border, including actions in NW Arkansas and the Indian Territory, the second being available to read online at:

http://openlibrary.org/books/OL7073146M/The_Civil_War_on_the_border...

[evanstrail]

Another early historical work on the Civil War in the Kansas/Missouri/Arkansas/Indian Territory area, used as source material in many later works, and still referenced in recent books on the subject:

Abel, Annie Heloise The American Indian as slaveholder and secessionist; an omitted chapter in the diplomatic history of the Southern Confederacy (1915)


http://www.archive.org/details/americindiasslav00abeliala

Map showing the retreat of the Loyal Indians on page 263

[flintauqua]

The story of the Loyal Creek (and other) Indians continues here:

http://www.cascity.com/howard/forum/index.php/topic,13043.msg181510.html#msg181510