Battle of Dove Creek

Seeing an good opportunity to flee to Mexico, the Three Fires Confederation of Kansas joined with an group of Kickapoo and other Indians of Kansas and Oklahoma, to attempt to escape to Mexico while their American enemy were fighting their civil war. Exactly how many Kickapoo, Ojibway, Ottawa and Potawatomi took part in the 1864-1865 departure to Mexico, is quite difficult to ascertain, but it may have been between 3500 and 5000. The number of Confederate soldiers who fought in the Battle of Dove Creek was near 500, and the number of Indian warriors who fought in the January 1865 battle may have been between 500 and 700. That alone suggests that the number of Indians fleeing to Mexico may have been near 5000. The Confederates did not want the fleeing Kickapoo, Ojibway, Ottawa and Potawatomi to reach Mexico, for they knew that the war that the Mexican Kickapoo, Ojibway, Ottawa, Potawatomi and Seminole were already waging on Texas would only intensify, which it did after the Indians made it to Mexico successfully. Anyway, the battle started off well for the Confederates, as they captured nearly all the horses of the fleeing Indians, but the Indians regrouped then inflicted an horrible defeat on the Confederates. Around 80 or more Confederates were killed or wounded in the January 1865 battle, while the Indian casualties were near 40.