Fort McCulloch

Pike first began a post called Cantonment Davis on the Arkansas River near present Muskogee, then left it to fight at Pea Ridge in March 1862. After that defeat he judged his headquarters in the Cherokee Nation exposed and fell back to the Choctaw Nation, choosing a bluff on the west side of the Blue River near Nail's Crossing, where military roads from Fort Smith, Fort Washita, Fort Gibson and north Texas met. The fort had earthworks but no permanent buildings. Pike resigned in July 1862, yet the post was held until the war's end, sheltering pro-Confederate refugees.

What the plaque says

Fort McCulloch Earthworks 1.5 mi. S.E. Constructed early in 1862 by Gen. Albert Pike, C.S.A. as major Con- federate stronghold in southern Indian Territory. Named for Gen. Ben McCulloch, who fell at Pea Ridge. Fort had 18 pieces of artillery; 3,000 soldiers garrisoned there. Pike shortly relieved of command and post abandoned. He then devoted years to Masonry. Oklahoma Historical Society and State Highway Commission 1950

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Choctaw Cultural Center — 12 mi
  The Choctaw Nation's history told from the Chahta side at Calera, with galleries from Nanih Waiya to the Trail of Tears and the reservation today, a living village and daily stickball.
• Chickasaw National Capitol — 17 mi
  The red granite capitol the Chickasaw Nation finished at Tishomingo in 1898, forced out of at statehood, used as the county courthouse for most of a century and reclaimed by the Nation in 1992.

More markers nearby

• Nail's Crossing — 1.5 mi
• General Douglas Hancock Cooper — 8.1 mi
• Fort Washita — 8.1 mi
• Durant — 11 mi