Memorial service to be held at Honey Springs Battlefield

Honey Springs Battlefield will hold an annual memorial service on July 15.

CHECOTAH — Honey Springs Battlefield will hold its annual memorial service honoring the 160th anniversary of the Battle of Honey Springs near Checotah on Saturday, July 15, at 10:30 a.m.

John Beaver, curator for the Muscogee (Creek) Nation Cultural Center and Archives, will be the guest speaker.

The memorial service will be held outside on the lawn of the visitor center. The program will include welcome and opening remarks from site director Adam Lynn, and the presentation of colors by the color guard and the Muscogee (Creek) Nation Honor Guard. An invocation will be given by Muscogee (Creek) Nation Secretary of Veterans Affairs Grover Wind and music by Mvskoke citizen Anne Townsend-Edwards.

After the program, the Color Guard will retire the colors. The Friends of Honey Springs Battlefield will host its annual meeting following the retiring of the colors.

The service commemorates the largest of approximately 107 documented Civil War military engagements throughout Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma. The engagement took place at the Honey Springs settlement, Muscogee (Creek) Nation, on July 17, 1863, just two weeks after the famous Battles of Gettysburg and Vicksburg. Approximately 9,000 Union and Confederate troops, mostly Native and African Americans, were involved in the Battle of Honey Springs. Of those, approximately 200 total casualties were suffered. After a decisive Union victory, Confederates lost control of Indian Territory north of the Arkansas River. The Union victory also ensured Federal control of Fort Gibson in Indian Territory and Fort Smith in Arkansas.

For more information regarding the memorial service and Honey Springs Battlefield, call 918-617-7125 or email [email protected] or [email protected].

Honey Springs Battlefield is east of U.S. Highway 69 between Oktaha and Rentiesville. The Visitor Center is on a hill near the Oklahoma Blues Hall of Fame in Rentiesville. Take the second left after reaching the Oklahoma Blues Hall of Fame Museum — driving from the west.

Honey Springs Battlefield and Visitor Center is a division of the Oklahoma Historical Society. The mission of the Oklahoma Historical Society is to collect, preserve, and share the history and culture of the state of Oklahoma and its people. Founded in 1893 by members of the Territorial Press Association, the OHS maintains museums, historic sites, and affiliates across the state.

Through its research archives, exhibits, educational programs and publications the OHS chronicles the rich history of Oklahoma. For more information about the OHS, visit www.okhistory.org.

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