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Note: Ramsey was born in Kiamitia County IT, what is now Choctaw Co. OK. His father was a white man from NY and his mother was a Choctaw woman named Nancy ???. Ramsey was their only child. Nothing more is known about Nancy. Either she died or David divorced her as he did his next two wives. Sometime after Ramsey was born, his father, David, acquired a large quantity of land in Blue county, 2� miles north of the town of Bokchito, OK. The farm was known as Bettsville. This was about one mile from Armstrong Academy and they used that as a Post Office address. Ramsey grew up here but nothing is known about his boyhood.
In early 1862, with the Civil War spreading into Indian Territory, the First Choctaw Mounted Regiment, Confederate States Army, was organized at Atoka. In a list compiled by Asa King, Sheriff of Blue County in 1861, Ramsey Betts, his half brother David and some of the Durant boys were listed as Warriors of Blue County, Choctaw Nation. This was apparently a list of men eligible for military duty. Ramsey joined the regiment on Aug. 15, 1862 and was assigned to Company E. The regiment was commanded by Col. Samson Folsom. This unit saw action throughout Indian Territory and even into Missouri and Arkansas. They suffered several casualties at the battle of Newtonia, MO. They were in both battles of Cabin Creek, the battle at Ft. Gibson and a battle outside Ft. Smith, in addition to several smaller skirmishes.
The following report was copied from a special edition of "The Merry Green Press".
UNSCRUPULOUS PLUNDER & LOSSES REPORTED AT POISON SPRING "The Federal column captured at Poison Spring west of Camden on April 18, contained wagons laden with corn, bacon, bed quilts, women's and children's clothing, hogs, geese and other property stolen by soldiers. Confederates under command of Brigadier General Samuel B. Maxey, attacked the Federal forage train commanded by Col. James M. Williams at Poison Spring.
The train consisted of 198 six-mule wagons, artillery, and strong escorts of infantry and cavalry. The Infantrymen of the First Kansas Colored had earlier stripped the houses of the region of little baby frocks, shoes, stockings, women's bonnets, shawls and cloaks which they hoped to take home to their families in Kansas.
The Confederate Force, including Indians of the 1st and 2nd Choctaw Regiments, commanded by Col. Samson W. Folsom, reportedly broke for the plunder of the train, at one point, with demoniac war whoops which disconcerted even their own men.
One hundred seventy wagons, four cannon and their caissons, and hundreds of small arms were captured along with stolen items. The Federal loss was 301 of 1160 present on the field. Of 438 oficers and men in the battle, the 1st Kansas Colored Infantry lost 182 men, 117 listed as killed.
Captain Rowland of the 18th Iowa has informed our Camden correspondent that three days afterwards, a burial detail was sent to the field where six white officers and eighty men of the 1st Kansas Colored Infantry were found. The white dead were all scalped and stripped of clothing which was carried off by the rebels. To add insult to the dead officers, they were laid on their faces and a circle of their colored soldiers made around them. Some wounded soldiers were bitten by rattlesnakes. Confederate losses were 16 killed, 88 wounded and 10 missing."
As far as is known, Ramsey came through the war unscathed. The regiment was included in the surrender at Doaksville on June 23, 1865, one of the last Confederate units to surrender.
After the war, Ramsey returned to Blue County and became a Baptist preacher. He founded the Philadelphia Baptist Church on the bank of the Blue River. The community of Philadelphia grew around it. I was told by Mrs. Lucille Brimage, of Durant, OK, one of the Bryan Co. Historians and also related to the Betts line, that the Philadelphia Baptist Church was first called the Ramsey Church. It was located approximately 2 to 3 miles southwest of the present town of Blue on the old hiway to Durant (old US 70). Nothing remains of the settlement except the cemetery and it is on private property. The town was named after the town of Philadelphia, Mississippi from whence many of the Blue County Choctaws came. Philadelphia, MS was and still is the capitol of the Mississippi Choctaw Tribe. On May 20, 1882, R. Betts was granted a letter of dismissal from the church. Don't know if that is Ramsey.
Sometime before or during the war Ramsey and Emaline married. Emaline bore a son, Ely, in 1864. He only lived two years. The rest of their children were also born in Blue County. After Ramsey and Emaline received their land allotment, they moved to Atoka County, near Boggy Depot. This was before April 1900. There Ramsey was instrumental in the founding of the Ward's Chapel church. He preached there for many years in addition to riding a circuit and preaching to the Indians in their language. Emaline assisted him in his ministry. Although she could not read a word, she knew her bible and was a very religious woman.
A very interesting document was found in the records of the Western District Court of Arkansas (Federal Court). A complaint filed in said court charged Ramsey Betts with theft of one third sack of flour valued at $2.00 from Cesar Fisher, Mrs. Fisher and Annie Ike. The writ was signed by the U. S. Commissioner at Ft. Smith on 14 Sept. 1872. The charge was dismissed by direction of the District Attorney on Sept. 25, 1872. No other information or details were found.
See Emaline's story for the rest of Ramsey's biography.
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