Battle of Honey Springs Memorial Event

A memorial service marking 158 years to the day of the Civil War engagement at Honey Springs will be held on Saturday, July 17, at 10:30 a.m. The event is free, open to the public, and will take place outside on the lawn of the Visitor Center. Featured speakers include Honey Springs Battlefield Site Manager Adam Lynn, OHS Executive Director Trait Thompson, and OHS Northeast Regional Director David Fowler. The presentation of colors by the color guard will precede an invocation given by Reverend Mark Watson of the First United Methodist Church in Checotah.

The Friends of Honey Springs Battlefield will host its annual meeting following the retiring of the colors. Battlefield tours will be given by students from the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma (USAO) at the conclusion of the program. To learn more about the USAO Guided Tours, click here to view all USAO tours in June and July on the OHS website calendar.

The service commemorates the largest of approximately 107 documented Civil War military engagements throughout Indian Territory, in present-day Oklahoma. The engagement took place on July 17, 1863, just two weeks after the famous Battles of Gettysburg and Vicksburg. Approximately 9,000 Union and Confederate troops, mostly American Indians and African Americans, were involved in the Battle of Honey Springs. Of those, approximately 200 total casualties were suffered. After a decisive Union victory, Confederates lost control of Indian Territory north of the Arkansas River. The Union victory also ensured Federal control of Fort Gibson in Indian Territory and Fort Smith in Arkansas.

For more information regarding the memorial service and Honey Springs Battlefield, please email alynn@okhistory.org or call 918-473-5572.

Union cavalry charge at Honey Springs, engraving based on a sketch by James R. O’Neil, 1863.