As the summer days passed, Cabell and Cooper drew into his vicinity but no Bankhead, notwithstanding that Magruder had ordered him to hurry to Steele’s

[Footnote 819:  Steele to Bankhead, July 22, 1863 [Official Records, vol. xxii, part ii, 940]]

[Footnote 820:  Duval to A.S.  Morgan, July 18, 1863 [Ibid., 933]; Steele to Blair, July 22, 1863 [Ibid., 940-941].]

[Footnote 821:  Steele arrived at Prairie Springs on the twenty-fourth [Steele to Blair, July 26, 1863, Ibid., 948] and moved to Honey Springs two days later [same to same, July 29, 1863, Ibid., 950-951].  On August 7, his camp was at Soda Springs, whither he had gone “for convenience of water and grass” [same to same, August 7, 1863, Ibid., 956].]

[Footnote 822:—­Ibid., 951.]

support.[823] Bankhead had not the slightest idea of doing anything that would put Texas in jeopardy.  In northern Texas sympathy for the Federal cause, or “rottenness” as the Confederates described it, was rife.[824] It would be suicidal to take the home force too far away.  Moreover, it was Bankhead’s firm conviction that Steele would never be able to maintain himself so near to Fort Gibson, so he would continue where he was and decide what to do when time for real action came.[825] It would be hazarding a good deal to amalgamate his command,[826] half of which would soon be well disciplined, with Steele’s, which, in some of its parts, was known not to be.

As a matter of fact, Steele’s command was worse than undisciplined.  It was permeated through and through with defection in its most virulent form, a predicament not wholly unforeseen.  The Choctaws had pretty well dispersed, the Creeks were sullen, and Cabell’s brigade of Arkansans was actually disintegrating.  The prospect of fighting indefinitely in the Indian country had no attractions for men who were not in the Confederate service for pure love of the cause.  Day by day desertions[827] took place until the number became alarming and, what was worse, in some cases, the officers were in collusion with the men in delinquency.  Cabell himself was not above suspicion.[828] To prevent the spread of

[Footnote 823:  By August third, Bankhead had not been heard from at all [Steele to Blair, August 3, 1863, Official Records, vol. xxii, part ii, 953].  The following communications throw some light upon Bankhead’s movements [Ibid., 948, 956, 963].]

[Footnote 824:  Crosby to G.M.  Bryan, August 30, 1863, Ibid., 984.]

[Footnote 825:  Bankhead to E.P.  Turner, August 13, 1863, Ibid., 965-966.]

[Footnote 826:  Bankhead to Boggs, August 10, 1863, Ibid., 966.]

[Footnote 827:  There is an abundance of material in the Confederate Records on the subject of desertions in the West.  Note particularly pp. 167, 168, 173-174, 192-193, 198, 204-205 of chap. 2, no. 268.  Note, also, Official Records, vol. xxii, part ii, 956.]