August 1, 2011

By the outbreak of the Civil War, Samuel Maxey, a native of Kentucky, had immigrated to Texas, where he became active in raising a Confederate regiment. A West Point graduate, Maxey was later commissioned as a brigadier general and placed in command of the Indian Territory in 1863. On April 18, 1864, he led a Confederate military force that included Native Americans to a bloody victory at the Engagement at Poison Spring. Many Confederate soldiers, including Maxey’s Indian troops, were suspected of committing atrocities against African-American Union troops involved in the engagement.