Cabell Drive
Cabell Drive is named after William Lewis Cabell. He had a variety of roles in the Confederate army and ended up being promoted to brigadier general.
This is the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) entry for him. https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fca02
This entry by the TSHA for William Lewis Cabell should tell you a lot about TSHA and history. The TSHA materials on history will give you information about an individual or event, but it will often lack critical items which can change the whole picture.
In this case what is omitted is that Cabell was a war criminal.
In the book, "Ruled by Race: Black/White Relations in Arkansas from Slavery to the Present," by Grif Stockley, Univ. of Arkansas Press, he details what happened at Poison Springs and points out that W.L. Cabell was a war criminal for allowing his troops to commit these crimes. Note, the Washington Telegraph was a paper in Arkansas. In the following I put the footnote numbers as used in the book in square brackets [ ] and the footnotes follow the text.
From pages 52 - 53:
"The Poison Spring Massacre
It was the Battle of Poison Spring (sometimes referred as Poison Springs) on April 18, 1864, that has drawn the attention of historians assessing Arkansas race relations during the Civil War. In a symposium held in Little Rock on January 26, 2002, six historians evaluated the Battle of of Poison Spring from a number of perspectives in order to clarify what has become one of the enduring controversies in Arkansas history. There work has resulted in a book entitled All Cut to Pieces and Gone to Hell: The Civil War, Race Relations, and the Battle of Poison Spring. Edited by Mark K. Christ, the book tells the story of 438 officers and men from the 1st Kansas Colored Infantry who were assigned to provide protection for a forage train of 198 wagons that was taking five thousand bushels of corn for Union troops in Camden. Texas was the ultimate destination of the commander of the Union forces, Major General Frederick Steele, who was leading a force of nine thousand men from Little Rock to Shreveport, Louisiana, to join Major General Nathaniel Banks. Food was a problem, and the hungry invaders had already taken what they could find from the horrified and terrified residents of Camden. One their way back to Camden the troops encountered "lead elements of 3,621 Confederate cavalry and horse artillery who were converging on Poison Spring as quick as their mounts could carry them." [22] What occurred next -- the deliberate slaughter and mutilation by Confederate troops including Arkansas of African Americans who had surrendered -- is indisputable. Poison Springs was a military disaster for federal troops who were outsmarted by Confederates who anticipated their foraging efforts. Cut off from the larger federal fore at Camden, the train escort of 438 officers and men from the 1st Kansas Colored Infantry and 197 troopers from other units had the help of a 501 man relief column but were not match for the 3,621 Confederate cavalry and horse artillery. It took three assaults before the 1st Kansas Colored collapse under the weight of four Confederate brigades. Why General Steele, who could hear the artillery fire from Poison Spring, never sent reinforcements from Camden has never been answered. A massacre of hideous proportions was soon underway as Confederate "execution squads from the Twenty-ninth Texas Cavalry roamed the the battlefield to finish off the First Kansas Colored's wounded. [23] The Texans were said to chant as they murdered their victims, "Where is the First Kansas Nigger now?" The answer would come back, "All cut to pieces and gone to hell by bad management." Fighting for the Southern command Choctaw Indians stripped and scalped their victims, and according to the Washington Telegraph, added the following twist under the heading Choctaw Humor: after the battle "the Choctaws buried a Yankee in an ordinary grave. For a headstone they put up a stiff Negro buried to the waist. For a footstone another negro reversed out from the waist to the heels. [24] Arkansas troops under General Cabell were assigned to drive off the captured wagons. "Each Arkansan vied to see if he could crush the most 'nigger heads under his wagon wheels." [25] In all the Confederates killed 117 men of the 1st Kansas Colored. They took no black prisoners. In all, 125 white federal prisoners were taken. A few days later Confederates attacked another wagon train three miles out of Camden at Marks' Mill. Once more, William Cabell led Arkansas troops, and "again reports surfaced of the murder of blacks."
[22] Christ, All Cut to Pieces, 112.
[23] Christ, All Cut to Pieces, 124.
[24] Christ, All Cut to Pieces, 125.
[25] Christ, All Cut to Pieces, 126.
For those not used to the laconic nature of footnotes what these three footnotes are saying is that the material for the quoted text can be found in Mark K. Christ's book, "All Cut to Pieces and Gone to Hell: The Civil War, Race Relations, and the Battle of Poison Spring," on pages 112, 124, 125, and 126.
In the book there is an picture of Cabell with the caption:
"Arkansas General William L. Cabell, the commanding offiers of Confederate troops who refused to allow unarmed African Americans to surrender at the Battle of Poison Spring, 1865"
This wasn't the only massacre of African American troops by Confederates during the Civil War. There were many other occasions. The most notorious case was the massacre at Fort Pillow.
Reading Material:
1. For the Battle of Poison Spring, "All Cut to Pieces and Gone to Hell: The Civil War, Race Relations, and the Battle of Poison Spring," by Mark K. Christ would be an excellent source.
2. The classic work on the experience of African American troops in the Civil War which covers everything to great detail is Dudley Cornish's work, "The Sable Arm: Black Union Troops in the Union Army, 1861-1865," which is available in paperback. There are many used copies available for less than $10, many copies less than $5. I would like to warn you that you should choose a book dealer with a rating of 95% or better.
There are a great many other books on the topic and which are good. However, Cornish explains how some of the Hague Conventions on the conduct of war arise from the American Civil War atrocities against African American troops. However, if you choose another book that is fine.
3. A short online source is at The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/american-civil-war/resources/blacks-blue
In online sources you need to be careful that they don't minimize what happened to African American troops.
This is the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) entry for him. https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fca02
This entry by the TSHA for William Lewis Cabell should tell you a lot about TSHA and history. The TSHA materials on history will give you information about an individual or event, but it will often lack critical items which can change the whole picture.
In this case what is omitted is that Cabell was a war criminal.
In the book, "Ruled by Race: Black/White Relations in Arkansas from Slavery to the Present," by Grif Stockley, Univ. of Arkansas Press, he details what happened at Poison Springs and points out that W.L. Cabell was a war criminal for allowing his troops to commit these crimes. Note, the Washington Telegraph was a paper in Arkansas. In the following I put the footnote numbers as used in the book in square brackets [ ] and the footnotes follow the text.
From pages 52 - 53:
"The Poison Spring Massacre
It was the Battle of Poison Spring (sometimes referred as Poison Springs) on April 18, 1864, that has drawn the attention of historians assessing Arkansas race relations during the Civil War. In a symposium held in Little Rock on January 26, 2002, six historians evaluated the Battle of of Poison Spring from a number of perspectives in order to clarify what has become one of the enduring controversies in Arkansas history. There work has resulted in a book entitled All Cut to Pieces and Gone to Hell: The Civil War, Race Relations, and the Battle of Poison Spring. Edited by Mark K. Christ, the book tells the story of 438 officers and men from the 1st Kansas Colored Infantry who were assigned to provide protection for a forage train of 198 wagons that was taking five thousand bushels of corn for Union troops in Camden. Texas was the ultimate destination of the commander of the Union forces, Major General Frederick Steele, who was leading a force of nine thousand men from Little Rock to Shreveport, Louisiana, to join Major General Nathaniel Banks. Food was a problem, and the hungry invaders had already taken what they could find from the horrified and terrified residents of Camden. One their way back to Camden the troops encountered "lead elements of 3,621 Confederate cavalry and horse artillery who were converging on Poison Spring as quick as their mounts could carry them." [22] What occurred next -- the deliberate slaughter and mutilation by Confederate troops including Arkansas of African Americans who had surrendered -- is indisputable. Poison Springs was a military disaster for federal troops who were outsmarted by Confederates who anticipated their foraging efforts. Cut off from the larger federal fore at Camden, the train escort of 438 officers and men from the 1st Kansas Colored Infantry and 197 troopers from other units had the help of a 501 man relief column but were not match for the 3,621 Confederate cavalry and horse artillery. It took three assaults before the 1st Kansas Colored collapse under the weight of four Confederate brigades. Why General Steele, who could hear the artillery fire from Poison Spring, never sent reinforcements from Camden has never been answered. A massacre of hideous proportions was soon underway as Confederate "execution squads from the Twenty-ninth Texas Cavalry roamed the the battlefield to finish off the First Kansas Colored's wounded. [23] The Texans were said to chant as they murdered their victims, "Where is the First Kansas Nigger now?" The answer would come back, "All cut to pieces and gone to hell by bad management." Fighting for the Southern command Choctaw Indians stripped and scalped their victims, and according to the Washington Telegraph, added the following twist under the heading Choctaw Humor: after the battle "the Choctaws buried a Yankee in an ordinary grave. For a headstone they put up a stiff Negro buried to the waist. For a footstone another negro reversed out from the waist to the heels. [24] Arkansas troops under General Cabell were assigned to drive off the captured wagons. "Each Arkansan vied to see if he could crush the most 'nigger heads under his wagon wheels." [25] In all the Confederates killed 117 men of the 1st Kansas Colored. They took no black prisoners. In all, 125 white federal prisoners were taken. A few days later Confederates attacked another wagon train three miles out of Camden at Marks' Mill. Once more, William Cabell led Arkansas troops, and "again reports surfaced of the murder of blacks."
[22] Christ, All Cut to Pieces, 112.
[23] Christ, All Cut to Pieces, 124.
[24] Christ, All Cut to Pieces, 125.
[25] Christ, All Cut to Pieces, 126.
For those not used to the laconic nature of footnotes what these three footnotes are saying is that the material for the quoted text can be found in Mark K. Christ's book, "All Cut to Pieces and Gone to Hell: The Civil War, Race Relations, and the Battle of Poison Spring," on pages 112, 124, 125, and 126.
In the book there is an picture of Cabell with the caption:
"Arkansas General William L. Cabell, the commanding offiers of Confederate troops who refused to allow unarmed African Americans to surrender at the Battle of Poison Spring, 1865"
This wasn't the only massacre of African American troops by Confederates during the Civil War. There were many other occasions. The most notorious case was the massacre at Fort Pillow.
Reading Material:
1. For the Battle of Poison Spring, "All Cut to Pieces and Gone to Hell: The Civil War, Race Relations, and the Battle of Poison Spring," by Mark K. Christ would be an excellent source.
2. The classic work on the experience of African American troops in the Civil War which covers everything to great detail is Dudley Cornish's work, "The Sable Arm: Black Union Troops in the Union Army, 1861-1865," which is available in paperback. There are many used copies available for less than $10, many copies less than $5. I would like to warn you that you should choose a book dealer with a rating of 95% or better.
There are a great many other books on the topic and which are good. However, Cornish explains how some of the Hague Conventions on the conduct of war arise from the American Civil War atrocities against African American troops. However, if you choose another book that is fine.
3. A short online source is at The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/american-civil-war/resources/blacks-blue
In online sources you need to be careful that they don't minimize what happened to African American troops.