Scarcely had Blunt established his headquarters at Fort Smith, when political influences long hostile to him, Schofield at their head,[869] had accumulated force

[Footnote 866:  Quantrill’s bold dash from the Missouri to the Canadian had been projected in a spirit of bravado, deviltry, and downright savagery, and had undoubtedly been incited by the execution of Ewing’s notorious order, Number Eleven [Official Records, vol. xxii, part ii, 473].  That order, as modified by Schofield, had authorized the depopulating of those counties of Missouri, Jackson, Cass, Bates, and a part of Vernon, where the guerrillas were believed to have their chief recruiting stations and where secessionist feeling had always been dominant.  It was at once retaliatory and precautionary and on a par with the instructions for the removal of the Acadians on the eve of the breaking out of the French and Indian War.  The banished Missourians have, however, as yet found no Longfellow to sentimentalize over them or to idealize, in a story of Evangeline, their misfortunes and their character.  History has been spared the consequent and inevitable distortion.]

[Footnote 867:  Britton, Civil War on the Border, vol. ii, 224.]

[Footnote 868:  Quantrill to Price, October 13, 1863, Official Records, vol. xxii, part i, 700-701.]

[Footnote 869:  In the matter of domestic politics in Kansas, particularly as they were shaped by the excitement over the guerrilla outrages, Schofield belonged to the party of Moderates, “Paw Paws” as its members were called in derision, (cont.)]

sufficient to effect his removal.  He was relieved, under Schofield’s orders of October 19, and Brigadier-general John McNeil then assumed command of the District of the Frontier.[870] Colonel Phillips continued in charge at Fort Gibson,[871] his presence being somewhat of a reassurance to the Cherokees, who, appreciating Blunt’s energetic administration, regretted his recall.[872]

Had the Federal Cherokees been authoritatively apprised of the real situation in the Indian Territory farther south, they need never have been anxious as to the safety of Fort Gibson.  Steele’s situation was peculiarly complex.  As private personage and as commander he elicits commiseration.  Small and incapable was his force,[873] intriguing and intractable were his

[Footnote 869:  (cont.) and Blunt, like Lane, Wilder, and others, to that of the Extremists, or Radicals.  Of the Extremists the “Red Legs” were the active wing, those who indulged in retaliatory and provocative outrages.  Schofield’s animosity against Blunt, to some extent richly deserved, amounted almost to a persecution.  He instituted an investigation of the District of the Frontier and it was upon the basis of the findings of the committee of investigation that he ordered Blunt’s retirement [Schofield to Townsend, October 3, 1863, Official Records, vol. xxii, part ii, 595-597; Blunt to Curtis, November 30, 1864, Ibid., vol. xli, part iv, 727-729].  For evidence of continued animosity see the correspondence of Champion Vaughan, Ibid., vol. xxii, part ii, 738, 742.]