The Cherokees point with pride to a rugged, rocky hill near Claremore, county seat of Rogers County, called Claremore Mound, as the scene of a victory won by them in a battle with the Osage. The Battle of Claremore Mound was fought in the Summer of 1828, before many Cherokees had settled in Indian Territory, but they were westward bound and many of them were temporarily camped in Arkansas. The Osage were a roving tribe of half-civilized Indians who claimed all of Eastern Indian Territory and a portion of what is now Western Arkansas, as their hunting grounds and they resented the approach of the Cherokees. Upon several occasions the Cherokees missed some of their horses and cattle and finally traced them to the Osage camps. The Cherokee, becoming tired ‘of the spoliations charged to the Osage, went on the warpath and encountered their enemy at Claremore Mound. The Osage had the advantage of location, using the mound as a fortress, but the Cherokees had guns while the Osage warriors had only their old-time bows and arrows as weapons. The Osage were defeated, with a loss of about two hundred of their number – in killed and wounded. Thomas Chisohn, grandfather of Senator Robert L. Owen, was among the leaders of the Cherokees in this battle.
Several other battles occurred between these two tribes, in each of which the Cherokees were the victors, but a treaty of peace was finally agreed upon at Fort Smith, Arkansas.
It is estimated that about four-fifths of the land in this county is well adapted to the production of all the staple crops of the temperate zone, although much of it is still virgin soil, the native grass being always a sure and profitable crop. Corn, oats, wheat, barley, alfalfa and prairie hay are produced abundantly throughout the county, while the bottom land produces good crops of cotton and potatoes. Livestock raising is also a favorite industry with the Rogers County farmer, and herds of well-bred cattle, hogs and horses are quite numerous. The mild winters enable the farmers to keep their cattle on pasture during almost the entire year. Some special attention is being given to raising good poultry, fruit and berries, but the favorable surroundings justify a much more intensive and intelligent development of these industries than they have heretofore received.
Source: Benedict, John D. Muskogee and northeastern Oklahoma, including the counties of Muskogee, McIntosh, Wagoner, Cherokee, Sequoyah, Adair, Delaware, Mayes, Rogers, Washington, Nowata, Craig, and Ottawa. 3 v. illus., ports., facsims. 28 cm. Chicago, S.J. Clarke Pub. Co., 1922.