The 1,700 pro-Union defenders were secluded in the underbrush along the slope of a rugged hill. On December 25, he was informed that Cooper’s force could not join him for a while, but he decided to attack the next day, despite being outnumbered and severe cold weather conditions. McIntosh left Fort Gibson on December 22, with 1,380 men. McIntosh and Cooper, planned a combined attack with each of their columns moving on the camp from different directions. The third and final engagement, the Battle of Chustenahlah occurred on Decemnear Skiatook, Oklahoma. Confederate casualties were 15 killed and 37 wounded. Their loss was estimated by Cooper as 500 (some accounts suggest 412). Chief Opothleyahola and his band moved off in search of security elsewhere. Cooper camped there overnight but did not pursue the Federals because he was short of ammunition.

For almost four hours, Cooper attacked and attempted to outflank the Federals, finally driving them east across Bird Creek just before dark. The second engagement, the Battle of Chusto-Talasah also known as 'Caving Banks,' was fought on Decemnear Sperry, Oklahoma. After a short fight, Opothleyahola’s men set fire to the prairie grass and retreated. Darkness prevented Cooper's counterattack until the main enemy force was within 60 yards. The Federal response chased the Confederate cavalry back to Cooper’s main force. The Confederates located and followed stragglers the 4th Texas blundered into Opothleyahola’s warriors on the tree line at the foot of the Round Mountains. Charging cavalry discovered that Opothleyahola’s followers had recently abandoned their camp.

Cooper’s men arrived there around 4:00 p.m. The actual location is in dispute as some historians believe it to be near Keystone, while others believe it to be near Yale, Oklahoma. The first engagement, the Battle of Round Mountain occurred on Novemnear the Red Fork of the Arkansas River. Loyal Indian warriors fought Cooper in a series of battles in the winter of 1861–62 that led to the withdrawal of the Union sympathizers to Kansas in a bitter trek known as the 'Trail of Blood on Ice.' Cooper attacked Unionist tribes in the Indian Territory, Upper Creek Chief Opothleyahola resisted and led Indians loyal to the Union from McIntosh County, Oklahoma north to Fort Row, Kansas. Old tribal rivalries were renewed, with some aligning with the North and others with the South. With the secession of eleven Southern states in 1861, both the Union (American Civil War) and the Confederate States of America vied for control of the Indian Territory.

The land of blood and ice