CHECOTAH — Honey Springs Battlefield will hold its annual memorial service on Saturday, July 19, at 10:30 a.m. to honor the 162nd anniversary of the Battle of Honey Springs near Checotah. The service will be held outside on the lawn of the visitor center.

This year’s event will include opening remarks from Molly Hutchins, director of Honey Springs Battlefield, and the presentation of the colors by the 24th Missouri Infantry, 1st Arkansas Mountain Artillery. The Rev. Samuel Cunningham of Mount Olive Baptist Church in Checotah will lead the invocation. There will be remarks from OHS Executive Director Trait Thompson and OHS State Historian Dr. Matthew Pearce. After the speakers, there will be an artillery salute and performance of “Taps” by Jim Spillars of Fayetteville, Arkansas.

The service commemorates the largest of approximately 107 documented Civil War military engagements throughout Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma. The engagement took place at the Honey Springs settlement, Muscogee (Creek) Nation, on July 17, 1863, just two weeks after the famous Battles of Gettysburg and Vicksburg. Approximately 9,000 Union and Confederate troops, mostly Native and African Americans, were involved in the Battle of Honey Springs. Of those, approximately 200 total casualties were suffered. After a decisive Union victory, Confederates lost control of Indian Territory north of the Arkansas River. The Union victory also ensured Federal control of Fort Gibson in Indian Territory and Fort Smith in Arkansas.

For more information, call 918-617-7125 or email honeysprings@history.ok.gov.

Honey Springs Battlefield is located east of US Highway 69 between Oktaha and Rentiesville. The Visitor Center is located on a hill near the Oklahoma Blues Hall of Fame in Rentiesville. Take the second left after reaching the Oklahoma Blues Hall of Fame Museum (driving from the west).