From the Annals of the Confederacy – Late in the Civil War in 1865, the Kickapoo Tribe defeated a force of about 160 Confederates and 325 state militiamen at the Battle of Dove Creek.  The site of the skirmish is about twenty miles southwest of present San Angelo.   Leading up to the battle, a reconnaissance party located an abandoned Indian campsite and decided to pursue the band. The pursuit was comprised of a militia force under Captain S. S. Totten and a separate Confederate regular army contingent led by Captain Henry Fossett.  Despite clear indications that they were pursuing a main band of the Kickapoos and not a warring party, the  pursuit continued in difficult winter conditions.  The troops even killed a Kickapoo man and woman that approached them waving a white flag after the soldiers and militiamen had rendezvoused near the Kickapoo camp on Dove Creek.  The combined forces, however, lacked a unified command and much in the way of tactical planning.  The quickly formed plan had the militia wading Dove Creek to  launch a direct attack from the north, while the Confederates would attempt to capture the Kickapoo horses to prevent a retreat.   The well-armed Kickapoos had a superior heavily-wooded position and easily dealt with the militiamen as they entered the dense thicket where the Indians were camped. The Confederate movement to seize the horses met with initial success but then fell apart during a counterattack, was splintered into three groups, and caught in a heavy crossfire. The defeated Texans lost as many as 50 men including many during a brutal retreat in a winter blizzard that finished off most of the wounded.  The Kickapoos who had been aligned with the Confederacy but were moving to Mexico as the war wound down were outraged over the attack and probably lost about 15 men.  They continued to move on to the Mexican border for refuge.