Civil War re-enactment tells story of life in Indian Territory

By Cathy Spaulding
Phoenix Staff Writer

September 26, 2008 11:52 pm

— RENTIESVILLE — It was only a demonstration with no actual blood shed, but the constant grimace on Macey Sneed’s face showed all the grossness involved with battlefield amputations during the Civil War.
Macey, a fourth grader at Checotah Intermediate School, stood with her “injured” arm extended as re-enactor Walter Eskridge explained the bloody measures that had to be taken to treat injuries sustained during Civil War battles.
The surgery was one of many living history lessons offered during education day at Honey Springs Battlefield, a Civil War site northeast of Checotah. The site is having a three-day re-enactment of the Civil War battle through Sunday. The re-enactment will feature artillery demonstrations, drills, period dance instructions and a Sunday morning “revival’ featuring 19th century hymns. The Oklahoma Historical Society co-sponsors the re-enactments, which are held every three years.
The Battle of Honey Springs, fought July 17, 1863, is considered the climactic Civil War engagement in Indian Territory. The battle helped ensure Union control of Indian Territory and prevented Confederate troops from attacking Fort Gibson.
Friday’s education day drew between 1,700 and 2,000 students from Checotah, Tulsa, Sand Springs, Pocola, Henryetta and other towns, said Battlefield Superintendent Ralph Jones.
“Our idea is to help students understand that the Civil War also took place in Indian Territory,” he said.
Wearing a straw stovepipe hat, Eskridge portrayed a doctor who treated injured people on the battlefield. Friday morning, he and Macey demonstrated what might happen if someone gets shot in the arm.
“My first job is to check the wound and pluck out pieces of clothing, grass, parts of the bullet,” he said.
He told the fourth graders that he would stitch most of the wound with either regular thread or horse hair.
“I’m also looking for the formation of pus,” he said.
Eskridge said injured people were discouraged from swatting flies away from their wounds because “the flies settled on the wounds and laid eggs.”
“The eggs would turn into maggots and the maggots would eat the dead skin,” he said.
Here is when Macey started wincing.
He said surgeons often gave chloroform or whiskey to the injured to help ease the pain. If they were out, surgeons had patients bite a leather strap. He took a knife, then a saw from the table in front of him to show tools used in amputations.
“If I can do the amputation within 24 hours, there was a 75 percent chance of survival,” he said. “If I could not do it within 24 hours, there was a 20 percent chance.”
At a nearby tent, students learned a more genteel aspect of Civil War life — courtship and marriage. Oklahoma Historical Society volunteer Teresa Brown, an assistant U.S. attorney in Oklahoma City, wore a long, blue dress and straw hat as she played period songs on a banjo. Students paired up and danced.
Students also learned how soldiers fired muskets and cooked over campfires.
“I learned that you have to have two teeth to tear the paper off the gunpowder and dump it into the gun,” said Sarah Scroggins of Checotah Intermediate School.
Checotah teacher Amy Johnson said about 350 students in third, fourth and fifth grades went to the re-enactment.
“They learned about what life was like back then,” she said. “When they see it, they learn it.”

If you go
WHAT: Honey Springs re-enactment and living history encampment.
WHEN: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. today, 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Sunday.
WHERE: Honey Springs Battlefield. From Rentiesville exit on U.S. 69, go north to Rentiesville Road, turn east to the Down Home Blues Club, turn north. Follow the signs.
ADMISSION: $5, or free for children ages 12 or younger.
INFORMATION: 473-5572.

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