Hayfield Fight - The Fight

The Fight

On the morning of August 1, 1867, pickets on a hilltop warned the soldiers and civilians in the hayfield of the approach of a large number of Indians. Lt. Sigismund Sternberg of the U.S. Army's 27th Infantry his 20 soldiers and the 9 civilians quickly took refuge inside the corral. The Indians occupied the rifle pits outside the corral while the soldiers took cover behind the logs in the corral. After the first volley from the soldiers the Indians rushed the corral, anticipating that the soldiers would take twenty or thirty seconds to reload their muskets. They were surprised when take heavy fire continued to be directed at them by the soldiers with their faster firing breech-loaders rifles. The Indians broke off the attack, which gave the defenders time to improve their defenses by digging trenches and filling wagon boxes with dirt to stop bullets. Lt. Sternberg attempted to direct the defense standing up and was killed by a bullet. Sergeant James Horton took command but was soon wounded. A civilian, D. A. (Al) Colvin, then directed the defense. The Indians charged the corral again from the bluffs on the east and south of the corral and were again repulsed, but another soldier was killed and two wounded. Indians then attempted to set the grass and the lattice-work wall around the fort on fire with flaming arrows, but the wind direction changed and the fire died out. Sniping between the two sides continued all morning. No reinforcements came from Fort Smith although the sounds of the battle should have been audible to the soldiers in the fort.

The Indians withdrew about noon and the soldiers were able to re-fill their water barrel in the river. The Indians resumed the attack that afternoon, but the soldiers were firmly entrenched, the Indians had little ammunition, and arrows had little effect on the soldiers behind the log barriers. The Indians, however, showered the pack animals with arrows, killing or wounding most of 22 mules in the corral. About one p.m., a Lt. Palmer guarding a train of wagons loaded with wood witnessed the fight from a hilltop and brought back the news to Colonel Murray inside Fort Smith that the corral in the hayfield was under attack by 500 to 800 Indians. Later, Private Charles Bradley escaped from the corral and galloped to the fort to inform Murray of the attack. However, it was not until 4 p.m. that Murray sent out a small force of 20 mounted soldiers to investigate. They quickly came under attack. Murray then sent out a full company of soldiers with a howitzer. The soldiers made their way to the corral about sundown. Most of the Indians had already given up the attack and departed. At 8:30 p.m. all the soldiers were back in Fort Smith.

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