Choctaw
Regiment, under Colonel Sampson Folsom, to Fort Gibson and had
assigned Cooper to the command north of the Canadian, which meant,
of course, the Cherokee country. Cooper's own regiment was the First
Choctaw and Chickasaw, of which, two companies, proceeding from
Scullyville, had already posted themselves in the upper part of the
Indian Territory, where also were the two Cherokee regiments, Watie's
and Drew's. The remaining eight companies of the First Choctaw and
Chickasaw were encamped near Fort McCulloch and would have, before
moving elsewhere, to await the reorganization of their regiment, now
near at hand. However, Cooper was not without hope that he could
effect reorganization promptly and take at least four companies
to join those that had just come from Scullyville. There were six
companies in the Chickasaw Battalion, two at Fort Cobb and four on the
march to Fort McCulloch; but they would all have to be left within
their own country for they were averse to moving out of it and were
in no condition to move. The three companies of the Choctaw Battalion
would also have to be left behind in the south for they had no
transportation with which to effect a removal. The Creek commands,
D.N. McIntosh's Creek Regiment, Chilly McIntosh's Creek Battalion, and
John Jumper's Seminole Battalion, were operating in the west, along

the Santa Fe Trail and towards Forts Larned and Wise.

June 17 might be said to mark the beginning of the real controversy
between Pike and Hindman; for, on that day, not only did Hindman
reiterate the order to hurry that aroused Pike's ire but he encroached
upon Pike's prerogative in a financial particular that was bound,
considering Pike's experiences in the past, to make for trouble.
Interference with his commissary Pike was determined not to brook,
yet, on June 17, Hindman put N. Bart Pearce in supreme control at
Fort Smith as commissary, acting quartermaster, and acting ordnance
officer.[413] His jurisdiction was to extend over northwestern
Arkansas and over the Indian Territory. Now Pike had had dealings
already with Pearce and thought that he knew too well the limits of
his probity. Exactly when Pike heard of Pearce's promotion is not
quite clear; but, on the twenty-third, Hindman sent him a conciliatory
note explaining that his intention was "to stop the operations of the
commissaries of wandering companies in the Cherokee Nation, who"
were "destroying the credit of the Confederacy