There were other reasons, more purely military, why a certain haste was rather necessary.  Some of those reasons inspired Colonel Weer to have the country around about him well reconnoitered.  On the fourteenth of July, he sent out two detachments.  One, led by Major W.T.  Campbell, was to examine “the alleged position of the enemy south of the Arkansas,” and the other, led by Captain H.S.  Greeno, to repair to Tahlequah and Park Hill.[358] Campbell, before he had advanced far, found out that there was a strong Confederate force at Fort Davis[359] so he halted at Fort Gibson and was

[Footnote 354:  Weer to Moonlight, July 12, 1862, Official Records, vol. xiii, 487.  The documents are to be found accompanying Weer’s letter, Ibid., 489-505.]

[Footnote 355:  Blunt to Stanton, July 21, 1862, Ibid., 486.]

[Footnote 356:  Weer to Moonlight, July 12, 1862, Ibid., 487-488.]

[Footnote 357:  Blunt to Weer, July 12, 1862, Ibid., 488-489.]

[Footnote 358:  Weer to Moonlight, July 16, 1862, Ibid., 160-161.]

[Footnote 359:  Campbell to Weer, July 14, 1862, Ibid., 161.]

there joined by Weer.  Meanwhile, Greeno with his detachment of one company of whites and fifty Cherokee Indians had reached Tahlequah and had gone into camp two and one-half miles to the southward.[360] He was then not far from Park Hill, the residence of Chief Ross.  All the way down he had been on the watch for news; but the only forces he could hear of were some Indian, who were believed to be friendly to the Union although ostensibly still serving the Confederacy.  It was a time of crisis both with them and with him; for their leaders had just been summoned by Colonel Cooper, now in undisputed command north of the Canadian, to report immediately for duty at Fort Davis, his headquarters.  Whatever was to be done would have to be done quickly.  There was no time to lose and Greeno decided the matter for all concerned by resorting to what turned out to be a very clever expedient.  He made the commissioned men all prisoners of war[361] and then turned his attention to the Principal Chief, who was likewise in a dilemma, he having received a despatch from Cooper ordering him, under authority of treaty provisions and “in the name of President Davis, Confederate States of America, to issue a proclamation calling on all Cherokee Indians over 18 and under 35 to come forward and assist in protecting the country from invasion."[362] Greeno thought the matter over and concluded there was nothing for him to do but to capture Ross also and to release him, subsequently, on parole.  These things he did and there were many people who thought, both then and long

[Footnote 360:  Greeno to Weer, July 15, 1862, Official Records, vol. xiii, 473; Carruth and Martin to Coffin, July 19, 1862, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Report, 1862, 158-160.]

[Footnote 361:  Greeno to Weer, July 17, 1862, Official Records, vol. xiii, 161-162.]