The Battle of Locust Grove was a small-scale confrontation of the American Civil War in the Indian Territory on July 3, 1862. About 250 Union troops commanded by Colonel William Weer, surprised approximately 300 Confederate troops commanded by Colonel James J. Clarkson, who were encamped near Pipe Springs. The Confederates, unable to form a battle line, were quickly dispersed into a thicket of locust trees. The skirmish resulted in about 100 Confederate soldiers dead and about 100 wounded or captured. Their commander was one of the prisoners. The Union claimed that its losses were three killed and six wounded. The Union troops also captured most of the Confederate supplies, including 60 wagons, 64 mule teams and a large quantity of other supplies. A number of Confederate troops escaped capture and took off for Tahlequah and Park Hill.
Weer and his men spent the Fourth of July at the battle site dividing the captured clothing among the victorious soldiers and apportioning all other captured supplies among the various units. After breaking camp, Weer and his men proceeded to Flat Rock, about 14 miles (23 km) from Fort Gibson, which was then held by the Confederates.
“Federal troops suddenly attacked a Confederate camp along the ridge near here at dawn, July 2, 1862. The surprised Confederates hardly returned fire before their officers and heavy supplies were captured. Yet, hot fighting in the woods lasted nearly all day.”
On April 8, 1864 Weer was arrested for misappropriation of prisoner funds, drunkenness and neglect of duty. He was convicted following a court martial and cashiered from the army on August 20, 1864.
The American Civil War (1861–1865) was the deadliest conflict in American history, killing an estimated 620,000 to 750,000 soldiers and an unknown number of civilians. The Confederate States of America, formed by eleven seceding Southern states, faced the Union in four years of warfare across 23 states and territories. Major engagements included First and Second Bull Run, Antietam (the bloodiest single day in American history, September 17, 1862), Chancellorsville, Gettysburg (July 1–3, 1863), Vicksburg (surrendered July 4, 1863), and Sherman's March through Georgia and the Carolinas (1864–1865). President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, transforming the war's stated purpose to include the abolition of slavery and enabling the enlistment of approximately 180,000 Black men in the United States Colored Troops. Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. The war resolved the question of secession and ended American slavery, though Reconstruction would face sustained resistance in its attempt to secure civil rights for formerly enslaved people.
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