The Battle of Round Mountain took place on November 19th, 1861 in present day Oklahoma. This is one of the Civil War battles where Native American troops were engaged.
Confederate Colonel Douglas H. Cooper, commander of the Indian Department, wished to remove Chief Opothleyahola, commander of a band of Unionist Creeks and Seminoles from the department.
Cooper set out on November 15, 1861, with about 1,400 men to attack Opothleyahola. Cooper’s force rode up the Deep Fork of the Canadian River where they found Chief Opothleyahola’s camp deserted.
On November 19, Cooper learned from captured prisoners that part of Opothleyahola’s band was erecting a fort at the Red Fork of the Arkansas River. Cooper’s men discovered Opothleyahola’s men that afternoon and a pitched battled ensued. After a short fight, Opothleyahola’s men set fire to the prairie grass and retreated.
The next morning, Cooper advanced on Opothleyahola’s new camp but found that the Federal forces had fled. This was the first of three encounters between Opothleyahola’s Union bands and Confederate troops. The chief was forced to flee to Kansas at the end of the year.
The Confederate loss in the engagement was 1 captain and 5 men killed, 3 severely and 1 slightly wounded, and 1 missing. Opothleyahola lost about 110 killed and wounded.
