The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 74, July 1970 - April, 1971 Page: 508
616 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
portant battles of the Mexican War. Later he left the army, studied
law, and, in 1857, established a law practice in Paris, Texas. Elected
to the Texas legislature in 1861, he declined the office and temporarily
joined the state militia when it marched into the Indian Territory
to establish Confederate claim on Forts Washita, Cobb, and Arbuckle.
In August of that year, after he had returned to Paris and organized
the company of Lamar Rifles, Maxey went to Richmond and re-
ceived a commission as colonel to organize a regiment of Texas
Infantry.'
He organized the gth Texas Infantry and marched with it to Mem-
phis where he joined General Albert Sidney Johnston. Maxey fought
in the campaigns of 1862 and 1863 in Tennessee and Mississippi
and was promoted to brigadier general. Serving under General Joseph
E. Johnston in the Vicksburg campaign, Maxey became so dis-
couraged at the fall of that strategic point, the retreat of the army,
and Johnston's lack of plans for a campaign in the near future,
that he wrote to President Davis and asked to be transferred west
of the Mississippi River.' His request was granted, and on December
11, 1863, he replaced Brigadier General William Steele as com-
mander of the Indian Territory," an area in which he already had
some experience.
Though Federal troops had abandoned the forts in the Indian
Territory in 1861, they had moved slowly southward from Kansas
during 1862 and 1863 until they had recaptured more than half
of the vacated area." By April, 1863, they had occupied Fort Gibson
on the Arkansas River (see Map I). Steele still held Fort Smith a
few miles down the river, but, growing discouraged about the lack
of guns, powder, and supplies, and about the lack of discipline among
his troops, he evacuated the fort in November. A few weeks later,
after very little fighting, General James G. Blunt and his Union
forces took over the post. Thus they held both Forts Gibson and
Smith.' This was the situation when Maxey succeeded Steele as
commander in December.
8For biographical data on Maxey see The Dictionary of American Biography, XII, 435.
For a characterization and physical description of Maxey see New York World, April 14,
188o.
"Maxey to Marilda Maxey, July 23, 1863, Lightfoot Family Papers.
"Anderson to Maxey, December 11, 1863, Maxey Papers (Gilcrease).
OGary N. Heath, "The First Federal Invasion of Indian Territory," The Chronicles of
Oklahoma, XLIV (Winter, 1966-1967), 410; William J. Willey, "The Second Federal
Invasion of Indian Territory," ibid., 42o.
7Willey, "The Second Federal Invasion of Indian Territory," 423, 428.508
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 74, July 1970 - April, 1971, periodical, 1971; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101200/m1/520/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.