The second[435] set of orders, dated July 8, was of a tenor much the same, just as insulting, just as peremptory.  The only difference of note was the substitution of the upper Indian country for Fort Smith as a point for headquarters.  In the sequel, however, the second set proved superfluous; for the first so aroused Pike’s ire that, immediately upon its receipt, he prepared his resignation and sent it to Hindman for transmission to Richmond.[436]

Hindman’s position throughout this affair was not

[Footnote 431:  July 3.]

[Footnote 432:  Official Records, vol. xiii, 854.]

[Footnote 433:  First, probably only in the sense that it was the first to be received.]

[Footnote 434:  Official Records, vol. xiii, 857.]

[Footnote 435:—­Ibid., 856-857.]

[Footnote 436:  Pike to Hindman, July 15, 1862 [Ibid., 858]; Pike to Secretary of War, July 20, 1862 [Ibid., 856].]

destitute of justification.[437] One has only to read his general reports to appreciate how heavy was the responsibility that rested upon him.  It was no wonder that he resorted to questionable expedients to accomplish his purposes, no wonder that he instituted martial law[438] in a seemingly refractory country, no wonder that he took desperate measures to force Pike to activity.  Pike’s leisurely way of attending to business was in itself an annoyance and his leisurely way of moving over the country was a positive offence.  He had been ordered to proceed with dispatch to Fort Gibson.  The expiration of a month and a half found him still at Fort McCulloch.  He really did not move from thence until, having sent in his resignation, he made preparations for handing over his command to Colonel Cooper.  That he intended to do at some point on the Canadian and thither he wended his way.[439] By the twenty-first of July, “he had succeeded in getting as far as Boggy Depot, a distance of 25 miles;[440] but then he had not left Fort McCulloch until that very morning.[441]

Pike’s definite break with Hindman was, perhaps, more truly a consummation of Hindman’s wishes than of Pike’s own.  On the third of July, as if regretting his previous show of temper, he wrote to Hindman a long letter,[442] conciliatory in tone throughout.  He discussed the issues between them in a calm and temperate spirit,

[Footnote 437:  In September, Hindman declared he had never had any knowledge of the order creating Pike’s department [Official Records, vol. xiii, 978].]

[Footnote 438:  He instituted martial law, June 30, 1862 and, although he believed he had precedent in Pike’s own procedure, Pike criticized him severely.  See Pike to J.S.  Murrow, Seminole Agent, October 25, 1862, Ibid., 900-902.  Hindman had authorized Pearce, June 17, 1862, to exercise martial law in the cities of Fort Smith and Van Buren and their environs [Ibid., 835].]

[Footnote 439:  Pike to Hindman, July 15, 1862.]