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Chapters
7-12
CHAPTER VII.
ONE thing could never
be learned at Richmond, or, if learned, never acted upon-and that was the great
importance of the Trans-Mississippi Department. It was the military Botany Bay
of the Confederate States, commanded continually, except when Hindman Was over
it, by generals relieved from duty in Virginia because of their ignorance and
unfitness for any position whatever. The shifting of these incubuses only
changed the responsibility geographically, and the same ruinous effects which
would. have attended their retention on one side of II. river did attend them on
the other. No portion of the Confederacy required more genius and more energy
than the Trans-Mississippi Department. Isolated almost entirely after the fall
of Vicksburg; exposed to continual temptations from Yankee cotton speculators;
populated by a people possessing the worst ideas of the most Democratic form of
liberty; heterogeneous in all its elements; and its people opposed, from the
very nature of their habits, to all restraints or discipline-it required the
iron-will and military cruelty-if this can be allowed -of Bragg; the holy faith
and stern religious enthusiasm of Stonewall Jackson. The very opposite of both
was given in an evil hour, and T. H. Holmes assumed command when the materials
might have been' fashioned into splendid columns to support an edifice
magnificent in all its proportions and fair to look upon.
General Holmes had
been once a keen and vigorous thinker. Plans came to him unbidden and so rapidly
that he only caught glimpses of them. Mental suffering, old age, and a life of
great exposure had told heavily upon his physical development and
correspondingly upon his intellectual faculties. The tenacity and vigor of
youthful reasoning were all gone, and he seemed anxious for the opinions of
others, and more than complacent in adopting their suggestions and changing his
own preconceived ideas for those of some subordinate in whose military
philosophy he had confidence. Thoroughly conscientious, intensely Southern, and
devoted, body and soul, to the cause, he had all the political elements
necessary to make a great commander, without the more vital ones of firmness,
perspicacity, and that wonderful faculty which, after creation, carries
everything before it to completion.
lie owed his
appointment to one of Mr. Davis' idiosyncrasies, and it will serve to show upon
what little matters sometimes hinges the fate of a people. A digression
sufficiently abrupt, therefore, for its relation, will be tolerated. Malvern
Hill had been fought, upon which Magruder won a wreath of bloody laurels and an
order retiring him from command. The complaint was not that he did not fight,
but that he fought too much. A sublime accusation, which had more of honor in it
than condemnation. It soothed somewhat the old hero's mortified pride-and he was
proud, too, as Hannibal. After reporting to the Secretary of War, then Mr.
Randolph, and discussing sociably military matters and things, Mr. Randolph
informed him that he (Magruder) had been assigned to the command of the
Trans-Mississippi Department; that the necessary orders would be issued
immediately; and that the President desired to see and converse with him
personally about affairs over beyond the Mississippi. The next day Magruder
called upon Mr. Davis officially, was received with great dignity, and ushered
into
his private cabinet.
"How do you propose to conduct military operations in the West?" asked the
President, in his driest, most impressive and emphatic tones. Magruder drew his
tall form up and answered concisely, while the battle-light of Malvern came back
to his eyes: "I propose to fight, sir-fight continually and always in Missouri.
I am in favor of giving General Price all the men he wants, and will go with him
into Missouri and make the battlefield there; I propose to go with General Price
to St. Louis; I propose to use his name as long as it will bring a thousand men.
do not care who has the laurels; it may be proclaimed from Dan to Bersheba that
General Price is the commander; that the campaigns are his campaigns; that
Magruder is a subordinate officer when he is the Chief, sir-but one 'thing I
will do, wherever and whenever the enemy is met he shall be fought-fought, sir,
as long Ill! I have B cartridge or a bayonet." The patriot spoke then-the
soldier had spoken in front of Yorktown, at Williamsburg, upon the bare, red
crest of Malvern.
:\11'. Davis had
listened eagerly until Magruder favored giving to General Price unlimited power,
when his eyes blazed too, and, with a quick nervous jerk, he snatched the pen
from behind his ear hurriedly and threw it with an impetuous motion upon the
floor without uttering a word. Not then could Magruder fathom this outbreak of
passion, and the next day he started to Vicksburg. A telegram overtook him at
Raleigh, North Carolina, and he was ordered to return to Richmond; and was
finally sent over the river iu a subordinate capacity. Before this interview,
however, President Davis had had a conversation with General Price, in which he
taxed Price with a desire to separate the Trans-Mississippi Department from the
rest of the Confederacy, and General Price had indignantly denied any such
intention. A denial with Mr. Davis meant much or little as he pleased, and in
this case he did not believe the denial. Magruder's opinions again alarmed his
suspicions, but to make everything certain, he placed over all of them, his
devoted personal friend, General T. H. Holmes. He might fight or not as he
pleased-he was to watch and to prevent. He might have genius, and skill, and
energy-he was known to be faithful and devoted. The sequel proves much, though:
weak, vacillating,
and totally devoid of
energy-his entire administration revolved around the axis of a simple love he
held for some wealthy Arkansas widow. He replaced Hindman,· when Hindman was the
only man with brains
and will as pitiless as the grave. He found an army created from the woods by
the magic wand of Hindman he destroyed it; he blundered at Helena, and delayed
striking a blow until Vicksburg was in its death agony. He warred upon the
cavalry because they took but few prisoners among the Union men and
bushwhackers, and cantoned his infantry in unhealthy localities until they died
by regiments and brigades. And during all the long time of his willful, woeful
waste, he was sighing tenderly over labored love-letters and lingering fondly
around his bewitching syren, when every breeze brought to his ears the prayers
for work and action.
General Hindman had
wrought wonders during his short administration, and was purifying and
organizing his vineyard with rough impatient hands. He found no army, but his
idea of the conscript law rigidly enforced brought one from the mountains and
the canebrakes. There came up a great cry for arms and ammunition, and General
Hindman built manufactories; opened laboratories; dug up the earth till
saltpeter was found in-abundance; discovered rich lead mines; imported machinery
for making percussion caps; brought in cotton cards for the women to make
clothes; established vast government tan-yards; manufactured beautiful salt from
mines deemed hitherto worthless; and stimulated home industry by every species
of favorable and
practical legislation. He killed desertion at a blow. He remorselessly shot it
from the army by one vast, righteous, justifiable slaughter. Traitors, Union
sympathizers, croakers and peace men were stripped bare of their possessions,
and if they did not bend they were broken. The priest at the altar, the preacher
in the pulpit, the husbandman in his field, the bridegroom during his honeymoon,
the aristocratic slaveholder, the poor young farmer, and the gawky mountain lad,
all had to lay hold of the ropes manfully, and pull steadily for the South and
her deliverance. Hindman was tyrannical, but it was the tyranny which inspired
the first Napoleon to say': "Bullets first-speeches afterward." He was accused
of cruelty, but it was the cruelty which crushed the opposition and the mutiny
out of Arkansas, and made her tremble with loyalty through every pore. He was
called ambitious, but it was the holy ambition to blend, fuse, weld, concentrate
all hatred, defiance, power, energy, skill, intellect, into the most crushing
shape, and hurl it like 8 thunderbolt upon a common foe. That tyranny, cruelty,
and ambition so much talked about were needed, and saved Arkansas from a
position taken by Texas in later years, and which placed upon her young brow a
dark, red scar of dishonor and of shame. Hindman understood the magnitude of the
struggle, the fearful gulf over which leaned the Confederacy, and he became
terribly in earnest. The activity of his intellect knew no bounds, and the
intuition of his genius saw too far for the period. Expanding all elements into
vigorous life, gathering tribute from every avenue of supply, taxing
Arkansas and her
people until their nerves and hearts were strong with actual tension, he was
almost ready for a blow, when the good old granny limped over from Richmond,
possessory orders in his pocket, and a Lieutenant General's stars upon his
collar. Being deaf, he did not hear the murmurs of distrust which greeted him,
and so with a patience characteristic of most lovers and old men, he
deliberately went to work and destroyed all the foundations laid by Hindman with
such admirable skill, precision and forethought.
In this connection,
it can do no harm to explain the action of Hindman in enforcing the conscript
law, and how, despite the unfavorable congressional legislation upon the
subject, it was sufficient in his hands to give plenty of soldiers.
Direct and positive
orders from General A. S. Johnston had withdrawn or were withdrawing, when
Hindman took command, all the organized companies of the Trans-Mississippi
Department. The conscript act provided only for filling up these same companies,
prohibiting new ones, hence, had he enforced the law, as he was cursed and
denounced by many of the timid and indifferent for doing, the West would have
been hopelessly stripped of all means of defense, enabling the enemy to overrun
and occupy it at once and to concentrate the chief strength of the Union armies
on the States east of the Mississippi. Defeating this result was one of the most
important events of the war, and it was defeated by nullifying the conscription
law of the Confederate Congress, disregarding the policy of the Richmond
authorities, promulgating a new system known as "Hindman's system," and creating
the army that kept up resistance in the West nearly three years longer. To
credit for these actions Hindman was unquestionably entitled, though the
Confederate Government disallowed them, and relieved him from command on account
of "arbitrary" conduct. With more bitter enemies, perhaps, than any other
Southern commander, growing out of the stern necessities o( his position, and
exercising an authority almost despotic, Hindman passed through the struggle and
lives to this day without a stain on his personal integrity, or even a whispered
charge of having gained pecuniary profit from the exercise of his power.
The heaviest blow
struck now was the battle of Prairie Grove, and, as it did not affect its
object, it deserves classification as a failure and not as a disaster by any
means.
After the threatened
advance from Helena on Little Rock was found to exist only in General Holmes'
ill-grounded fears, General Hindman sought urgently for permission to move with
the army at once and attack General Blunt, hovering with a large force within
striking distance almost of the Arkansas river. Before doing so, however, Holmes
extorted the promise from Hindman that, even if successful in his attack upon
Blunt, he should return immediately to the river, and march back again forthwith
with his army to Little Rock. The forces for the battle were mostly raised,
organized, and equipped by Hindman, were in a fair state of discipline, and had
undergone several months of rigid drill. Their strength, of all arms, was nine
thousand and five hundred upon leaving Van Buren, of which number eight thousand
went into the fight, and being gradually marched from Little Rock to Fort Smith,
they were in good condition, well armed, clothed, and fed. Hindman, at Fort
Smith, heard, all the long day, Shelby's retreating guns, and rapidly crossed
Parsons' Missouri brigade to render assistance, if needed, for Carroll's
demoralized horsemen had spread fearful tales of destruction.
The Federal forces
stood thus exposed to attack: Blunt, upon his sudden check, at nightfall, by
Marmaduke, returned to Cane Hill, and took position for repairs: Herron,
lingering about Yellville and Huntsville, away to the cast, kept open no regular
line between his command and that of General Blunt, thereby exposing either to a
sudden blow without the assistance
of the other. Blunt
had ten thousand men, and the detached column of Herron was six thousand strong.
The palpable policy of the opposing general was to prevent, at all hazards, the
concentration of these two bodies, and throw himself in full force upon the one
nearest and most exposed, in order to destroy them· in detail. Blunt's column,
being nearest, was the
one chosen to attack,
and General Hindman requested General Holmes to hold General Herron in check
until Blunt could be overthrown, which would enable him to turn upon Herron with
success almost certain. Holmes promised ready co-operation, and having Parsons'
brigade of Texas Cavalry, with other unattached troops at his disposal, no
motive could be imagined to cause a change of policy. Certain it was, however,
that Holmes failed to redeem his promise, and actually withdrew all opposition
from Herron's movements, who, having ascertained Hindman's maneuvers, and
knowing Blunt's imminent danger, made forced and unmolested marches to his
relief. The troops withdrawn from Herron's vicinity were not even added to
Hindman's army, and it, therefore, became weaker in proportion as Blunt's became
stronger. Matters were very desperate, then, in the beginning, but by no means
hopeless, until the fatal error of Shoup, upon the field and in actual presence
of the enemy, lost a battle and neutralized the efforts of the campaign. But I
anticipate. the misfortune.
Marmaduke halted his
division at Dripping Springs, and informed General Hindman of the results of the
fight, who, in turn, ordered Marmaduke to retain his position, scout far to the
front, and prepare for immediate battle, as he intended to fight Blunt as soon
as he could reach him, meanwhile watching the crossing of his troops in person,
and hastening everything to a successful completion. Marmaduke moved on the
morning of December 1st, Shelby's brigade in advance, and found no enemy that
day in front, the infantry closing up well, and in fine spirits. The army
traveled light, and, having no wagons or tents, suffered dreadfully from the
cold, now intense amid the mountains. December 2d came in with a heavy
rain-storm, which hardened into sleet by noon, and even snow was falling freely
when the bivouac was commenced, about four o'clock. Captain George S. Rathbun,
with his Company F, of Shelby's regiment, was the extreme outpost on the main
road, and at five o'clock, just after he had established his lines, a large
scouting party of Federals attacked him, evidently to learn if he covered an
advancing army. Captain Rathbun, being extremely brave and intelligent, divined
their purpose, and maintained his ground so stubbornly that the enemy were
driven off,
leaving behind eleven
dead and five prisoners, the latter testifying separately that Blunt was still
ignorant of his danger, and supposed the pickets were only detachments from
Shelby's brigade. Thus far very well..
December 3d came in
clear and very cold, and about three o'clock in the evening, Shelby still
leading, his advance discovered suddenly the 6th Kansas drawn up in line of
battle on a large hill, every way disposed to give battle. Fortunately, the
infantry were several miles behind, and a sudden turn in the road below these
bold scouters prevented any information from being gained by even the advantages
of their extremely elevated position. Colonel Jeans, who was in front, received
orders to drive them from the hill, which he did in fine style, and pressing
them beyond so rapidly, they were forced to turn aside from the main road and
take a rugged pathway, which carried them into Cane Hill by a longer but safer
route. The· chase lasted un til night, when Colonel Jeans returned to camp with
twenty-two prisoners and forty-three horses, having killed thirty-two that were
seen upon the road. The prisoners were paroled and released expressly to carry
the information to General Blunt that only Shelby's command was approaching him,
which information was impressed upon them by every imaginable artifice. The
paroles amounted to little less than the paper upon which they were written, for
during the day of the battle four of these same men were actually re-captured
with the broken oaths
in their possession, but escaped well-merited punishment by swearing piteously
they were forced back into service by their officers.
December the 5th had
nearly ended without 1\ fight, and the brigade had just commenced bivouacking
when three hundred and sixty of Blunt's Buckskin Rangers rode up deliberately,
almost within the camp, and looked quite sneeringly upon the poor and meager
preparations for a supper, actually capturing two Confederate soldiers at a.
house not one hundred yards distant, attracted there by a report of some
delicious apples being hid away. From the days of Paradise a singular fatality
seems to have lingered around the apple, and Private Thomas Butler and his
companion had abundant leisure afterward, in a Leavenworth City prison, to
understand that coquetish Eve was not the only victim to misplaced curiosity.
Certain crawling skirmishers in gray, with guns at a trail, warned the practiced
eyes of Blunt's chosen Rangers that trouble was brewing, and they galloped off
without a scratch-the first and only time a similar affair happened to Shelby's
venturesome advance. On the evening of the 6th, and when within only eight miles
of Cane Hill, Blunt's advanced outposts were encountered in strong force,
dotting the large hills in front, and standing clear cut against the crimson of
a winter's sky-wary, watchful, and defiant. The whole army halted in full view
in the plain below, for the mask of secrecy was thrown away, that Blunt might
know he would have to fight to-morrow. Large fires were kindled, cattle killed,
and every preparation made seemingly for a night's bivouac, but these signs
portend little to old soldiers, and all expected some advance or fighting before
the sunrise. At Morrow's farm, the point of the divergence of the Fayetteville
and Cane Hill roads-which again meet at Prairie Grove, Hindman assembled his
general officers, the night of December 6th, for final instructions, which were
that Colonel Monroe, with one regiment of cavalry, should demonstrate at dawn on
the mountain crest overlooking Cane Hill, deceiving Blunt -.,into the belief
that the attack would be from that direction, and to constantly advise Hindman
of his movements. Before, however, this point had been reached, and while
Hindman was at Fort Smith, General Marmaduke wrote to him after Blunt was
checked in the pursuit over the . mountains, that the time had arrived for
attacking Blunt in force.
General Hindman sent
for General Marmaduke, and a conference was held at Hindman's headquarters in
which all the general officers participated. Hindman, Marmaduke and Fagan were
for immediate battle; Shoup, Frost, and Roan were rather lukewarm and undecided.
Marmaduke insisted that the movements should be made with all possible haste,
and Frost desired time to get shoes and clothing for his men, which was granted,
and two or three days of great moment lost, and in this conference at Morrow's
farm, the. night of December 6th, the plan of attack was discussed-Shoup and
Frost desiring to attack Blunt squarely upon his head at Cane Hill, Marmaduke
and Hindman proposing that the main body of the army should move east around the
position, attack Blunt upon his rear and left flank, and force him from his
well-prepared stronghold about Cane Hill. The latter plan had just been
discussed and adopted, and the necessary orders issued, when news came that
heavy reinforcements were approaching Blunt, between Fayetteville and Cane Hill,
showing that Holmes had drawn oft' the troops that were to prevent this
concentration, by threatening to move from Yellville toward Springfield.
General Herron, an
intelligent and energetic soldier, had marched to the help of his threatened
comrades with untiring strength, and was now at Fayetteville, twelve miles east
of Cane Hill, ready to join arms in battle if not prevented suddenly. Hindman
knew all this from Shelby's unerring scouts, and decided at once with promising
alacrity. Shelby got his orders to force in, at precisely four o'clock in the
morning, Blunt's entire guards, and, after giving them a good start over the
mountain, turn squarely oft' to the left and take the road to Prairie Grove, a
central position between Blunt and Herron, and by which neither could pass
without paying bloody toll, intending to follow rapidly himself and precipitate
his entire army in one sudden blow upon Herron, before Blunt could possibly
succor him. The better to impose upon Blunt, and detain him at Cane Hill, one
regiment of cavalry was placed under command of
Colonel James S.
Monroe, a skillful and daring Arkansas officer, who was to follow the retiring
outposts of Blunt, and detain him as long as possible at his camp after becoming
engaged.
Hindman's
determination to fight was wise and politic, as his force would have been more
demoralized by flight than by the chances of battle, and he announced to his
officers that the only change in the plan would be to put Parsons' brigade in
Blunt's rear, across the Fayetteville road, while the main body, instead of
moving on Blunt, as before designed, was to be thrown vigorously on the
reinforcing column, to destroy it if possible, before Blunt could recover from
his surprise.
Precisely at four
o'clock, Shelby's brigade left their glowing fires, and moved out in the cold
and the darkness to attack the watchful sentinels keeping stern guard over their
sleeping army. Shelby's regiment led, and Captain Scott Bullard's company,
deployed as skirmishers at the head of the column, disappeared in the heavy
woods for a surprise. The moon had gone down hours before, and the cold stars
twinkled in a frosty sky with a red, ominous light. The silence was oppressive,
and the crouching soldiers strained their eyes eagerly forward in the darkness
to catch the first defined object with semblance of a man.
The moon this night
had been eclipsed, too---:-and upon many of the soldiers the weird, mysterious
appearance of the sky, the pale, ghost-like phantom of a cloud across its
crimson disc-had much of superstitious influence. At first, when the glowing
camp fires had burned low and comfortable, a great flood of radiance was pouring
over the mountains and silvering even the hoary white beard of the moss
clustering about the blank, bare faces of the precipices. The shadows contracted
finally. The moon seemed on fire and burned itself to ashes. The gigantic
buckler of the heavens, studded all over with star-diamonds, had for its boss a
gloomy. yellowish, struggling moon. Like a wounded king, it seemed to bleed
royally over
the nearest cloud,
then wrap its dark mantle about its face, even as Caesar did, and sink gradually
into extinction. There was a hollow grief of the winds among the trees, and the
snowy phantasm of the frost crinkled and rustled its gauze robes under foot. The
men talked in subdued voices around their camp-fires, and were anxious to draw
from the eclipse some happy augury. Relief exhibited itself on every face when
the moon at last shone out broad and good, and the dark shadows were again lit
up with tremulous rays of light.
"Halt! who comes
there?" rang out a strong voice with a decided German accent. Forty rifles
flashed luridly in the gloom, and the faithful sentinel fell dead from his
horse. His comrades
were prepared,
though, and poured in a steady fire upon the head of the advancing column,
followed by a long, lurid flash from Shelby's brigade, a cheer, and a charge
over hidden logs and great rocks in the pathway. At the reserve post another
stand was made, but being pressed rapidly, a long, solid gallop told truly that
Blunt's outposts were falling back upon their main body. Colonel Monroe joined
in the cha.se here, and Shelby turned off toward Prairie Grove, as ordered. The
march was bitter cold and slowly made until daylight, the presence of the enemy
necessitating extreme caution, and the rocky and broken woods on either flank
requiring thorough scouting.
Colonel Shelby called
up from the rear at sunrise Major Shanks, and laconically gave him the orders
for the attack: "You will," he said, " take half of your regiment and half of
Thompson's and constitute my advance, keeping two hundred yards of interval
between your rear and my column. Attack anything and everything in sight, charge
from the moment you see the enemy, and I will support you with the entire
brigade. Forward, Major."
A battle light
gleamed in Shanks' calm, cold eyes, and he smoothed out a stray lock in his
charger's mane, as he lifted his plumed hat in salute and galloped off.
A great, red sun came
up over the tree-tops, but it was cold and angry. Soon afterward there came the
rippling shots of skirmishers, a sudden crash or two, a long, clattering volley,
and a shout went up that Shanks was hotly engaged. True enough, about a mile from where he received his
instructions, the old antagonist of Newtonia, Major Hubbard, was met with his 3d
Missouri regiment, and detachments from several others, escorting a train of
eight wagons, containing artillery and small arm ammunition, going to Blunt,
with thirteen other wagons loaded with clothing. Shanks saw nothing but the
enemy and counted nothing but the wagons. " Men follow! " rang out clear above
the roar of battle, and revolver in hand he dashed down upon the line covering
the valuable prize. Hot work at the starting, but riding down everything, Shanks
swept all opposition before him and circled the train with lines of steel.
Shelby, catching
inspiration from the wild battle-music, dashed up to Shanks' support only to
find him victoriously pursuing the routed enemy, striving frantically to gain
Herron's friendly cover. Coming into the main road leading directly to Cane
Hill, he stationed Gordon, dismounted, as General Marmaduke ·ordered, in the dry
bed of a creek, to hold the road leading to Cane Hill, while he dashed away
after Shanks with two pieces of artillery, under Lieutenant Luther Wayman. The
enemy had scattered in every direction through the woods, and Shanks to capture
them did the same, so Colonel Shelby, thinking his advance still before him in
the road, pressed on simply with his two guns and a few of his staff. Hubbard
formed about a hundred men and swept down upon the two guns before they had
unlimbered, shooting, slashing, and yelling for their surrender.
Riding up directly to
Colonel Shelby, whom he evidently recognized as the leader, he said: "You are
surrounded and overpowered-surrender your men immediately, Sir." Shelby was
taken all aback, but his wonderful self-possession remained unshaken. The
Federal cavalry were between his guns, around which clustered the artillerymen,
defending themselves from
saber strokes and
plying their pistols manfully. Wayman and Cloudesly, Pritchard and Alec Cooper,
Gus Armstrong and Charley Tyler, Bishop and Graham, were gashed and bleeding,
yet still hewing away with all the unscientific strength of their nervous arms.
" Surrender, do you
hear!" shouted Hubbard, presenting a revolver to Shelby's head, "surrender, or I
fire."
" You are mistaken,"
coolly replied Shelby-" it is you who are my prisoner. Call off your men, and
listen behind you."
Sure enough, Shanks
having finished his work of death in the bushes and hearing firing in his rear,
came tearing into the road between Hubbard and Herron, Captain John Jarrett
leading, thus cutting off the former from all retreat, while Thompson and
Elliott carne galloping up from the other direction. "I am caught," said
Hubbard, trying to smile, "nicely caught, and here is my sword. I ask only
quarter for my men." "Take back your sword, Major," generously answered Shelby,
" it was never stained, as I have learned, in the blood of the helpless around
Newtonia. I respect an honorable foe."
Three hundred and
seventy-three prisoners were sent under guard to the rear, together with the
twenty-one wagons, making a good .beginning for the day, beside a large number
killed and wounded. But more had yet to be done. The head of the infantry
appearing in sight, Shelby concentrated his brigade rapidly, and, after
accurately informing General Marmaduke of the position of affairs, 'Who was
rapidly making dispositions to attack with his united division, hurried away to
find General Herron's exact position, knowing full well he must be close at
hand. Two miles from the Prairie Grove Church, around which the battle surged
all day, his infantry was encountered advancing in line of battle, cavalry all
retired, skirmishers ahead of 110 naked front, wary and prepared for action.
Herron halted at Shelby's advance, and believing the whole army upon him,
offered battle in a wretched position. Then the fate of the day hung trembling
in the balance, and fugitive generals flitted ever and anon through the smoke of
the conflict, while victory smiled lovingly above the Confederate army with
outstretched
arms asking for
embrace. Putting Parsons in position, General Hindman went with him toward Cane
Hill to reconnoiter Blunt, having first ordered Shoup, with great emphasis to
strike
the reinforcements"
quick and desperately"-the precise words. Marmaduke's division fell back slowly,
fighting Herron's advance, step by step-both its leader and Shelby asking for
help to attack Herron in turn and destroy him. None came, and when Marmaduke had
fallen back upon Prairie Grove, the head of Herron's infantry pressing him,
Shoup had deployed in line of battle to repel attack, which was proper. But
after waiting an hour for the enemy to attack, he lost another hour in going to
the rear to say to Hindman that he thought his force insufficient to drive the
enemy. Blunt's cavalry and light artillery assailing Parsons had rendered it
impossible for Hindman to tell whether there was firing in the direction of
Fayetteville or not. In fact he had concluded that the enemy had retreated out
of reach, and he therefore' sent Major Wilson, of his staff, to recall Shoup
when he met the latter seeking him, two hours after he had received his orders
to attack nolens solens. Waiting for
Herron's attack meant waiting for Blunt, for concentration, for defeat, for
disaster. Sorrowfully, and under the shadow of a great darkness, Marmaduke and
Shelby took positions in the lines about Prairie Grove-the battle-field being
the crest of a large hill, about two miles east from the position taken by
General
Hindman. In these
defensive lines eight thousand Confederates waited until Herron, with six
thousand men, and Blunt, with ten thousand men concentrated their forces and
attacked-eight thousand sheep waiting until sixteen thousand wolves should come
and devour them because their shepherd was ignorant of his duty and incapable of
protecting them.
Colonel Monroe, at
Cane Hill, carried out his orders and attacked Blunt so fiercely that he thought
Hindman's entire army was upon him; and could only half believe Herron's
couriers begging him to march instantly to Prairie Grove, but Monroe failed to
inform Hindman of Blunt's retreat, probably because he was himself ignorant of
it. However great the doubts inspired by Monroe's masterly maneuvers in the mind
of General Blunt, the steady and infernal roar of Herron's artillery told very
plainly the point of real attack. Mark the heroic devotion of this man, and
compare his energy and promptitude in the face of terrible danger with the
dilly-dallying of Shoup who lingered fondly around the brow of the hill like
some asthmatic lover wheezes about his darling. He was a West Pointe!', too-an
honor, however-but he wanted to get some practical experience in the taking of
positions and in the formation of troops by " echelon," instead of pushing them
into the fight as if he meant business.
Blunt knew the upper
road between himself and Herron was in possession of Hindman, for every scouting
party sent out had been driven back or captured, and he marched directly to
Ray's Mill, eight miles north, crossed the Illinois river, a large mountain
stream, and thence east four miles to Prairie Grove. This distance he made in
little more than two hours, and perfectly unmolested.
Herron, in the low
swampy ground where Shelby left him in battle-line, took his own time to attack,
willing to give Blunt every opportunity to come to his assistance. Shoup, whose
love for the hill would not suffer him to leave it, but whose giant proportions
were not sufficient to cover his unfortunate mistake, formed his lines almost
entirely around its crest. Shelby on the right, Frost and Parsons on the left,
with Fagan and Shoup in the center, where the artillery was also massed.
Directly below this hill, and yellow and beautiful still in the early winter, a
large meadow lay spread out like a picture. Beyond this meadow were heavy swells
of timber, from which Herron soon emerged and formed his lines in full view of
the rival army. The battle commenced by a furious artillery fire-but from the
Federal side alone-the Confederates greatly deficient in the quality of guns,
and the marked superiority of the Federal artillery, both in metal and range,
wisely induced General Hindman to shelter his batteries, and to use them only in
moments of assault. Shelby, however, by constantly changing the position of his
guns, and by the reckless exposure of Collins and his devoted battery, succeeded
in keeping up a steady and defiant cannonading. If the Federal fire at Cane Hill
had been admirable,
here it was perfect
and unsurpassable. Forty-two pieces of field artillery, from every conceivable
point of the compass, filled the woods with shells as thick as pigeons in their
annual flights, and tore away trees, obliterated fences, and swept down
artillerymen like the breath of a hurricane. Infantry in the reserve fell
mutilated before the same balls which had killed one or two of the foremost
skirmishers, and the squadrons of cavalry on the flanks were riddled with
terrible impunity. Nothing makes a man shoot so coolly as not being shot at in
return, and from the necessary silence of Hindman's artillery, the Federal
batteries were as undisturbed as if practicing at a target.
This fire lasted
nearly two hours, quite long enough for Blunt to execute his plans and to save
Herron. Then a solid brigade of infantry, led by Colonel Black, of the 25th
Illinois, broke away from Herron's lines and marched beautifully to the assault
upon the right, where Shelby and Fagan were crouching all the long hours of the
artillery butchery. Further down the hill, and consequently nearer to the enemy,
stood Blocker's splendid four-gun battery, naked and pitiful in its utter
desolation. Wrested from its company, every horse killed, half its defenders
piled amid their cherished guns, it was now dreadfully exposed to the oncoming
tide of Federals sweeping up the hill like a "stream that bursts its banks."
Shelby marked its danger, and swore before high Heaven it should not perish
thus. Knowing that not a man could be spared from his brigade until after the
assault was repulsed, he ordered Lieutenant Collins, of Bledsoe's battery to
cover it by two gullS loaded with cannister. " When you see their hands upon the
wheels, Dick," said Shelby, "fire-not before."
Collins masked his
guns within two hundred yards of Blocker's battery and Shelby returned to meet
the assault.
In beautiful array
the Federals swept up the hill, through a young peach-orchard, regularly laid
out in long lines of trees, and right upon Blocker's battery, behind which, some
two hundred yards, and entirely hid, were Fagan and Shelby, waiting like tigers
in the lair. Tire 25th Illinois led, composed mostly of devil-may-care Irishmen,
and when they reached the battery and saw the fearful work of their own guns,
there was a fierce hurrah, and every man turned up his canteen and took a long,
hearty drink. All this was in plain sight; and almost every word spoken in their
ranks could be heard distinct and ringing.
" Be jabers" said
one, "but Rabb plays hell to-day with the rebs."
"And if ye'll be only
as safe as Rabb in his position a mile away this blissed aay," said another,
"Mistress Murphy will have no masses said for yer precious soul at all, at alL"
" Divil take you, Pat, for a nuisance," replied the first, "reminding one of
wives and childer this bloody moment. Ah! look out, boys, look out-there's hell
before us."
All this actually
passed while the brigade was advancing, and the Irishmen's caution arose from
seeing several Confederate skirmishers incautiously changing their positions
from bad to better covers. How the Confederates held their fire so long has
always been a mystery, but Colonel Black had reached to within fifty feet of
their position when a leaping, radiant tide of death swept the front and
withered the gorgeous array in the twinkling of an eye. Black, badly wounded,
tried to rally his men under even that fire. but slaughter was too hungry and
too insatiable; officers, soldiers, horses, and riders thundered back in
struggling masses, while Collins poured two fires into the seething crowd, and
Shelby's and Hawthorn's brigades, carried away by uncontrollable enthusiasm,
pressed them like very devils almost to their guns, and suffered greatly from
artillery as they were returning, but saving Blocker's battery by a bayonet
charge, under the order from General Hindman. All about the peach orchard,
around the recaptured battery, behind logs, stumps and trees, the dead and
wounded lay in great
heaps, and soon
agonized cries and piteous appeals arose upon the air from the poor sufferers,
as the cold, freezing winds penetrated their wounds with rugged ice daggers. One
gigantic Illinois man had his thigh shattered by a Minnie bullet clear up into
the body. Suffering a thousand deaths, he called to one of Shelby's brigade, and
said calmly, though his features were terribly distorted: "For the love of God,
friend, kill me and put me beyond such intolerable misery." "Are you in
yearnest?" replied the rough Missourian, "and may I have your overcoat and
canteen?" "Yes, yes-everything,' murmured the dying man. " Well, here goes-shut
yer eyes and hold yer breath-'t will be over in a minnit."
The soldier did as
desired; the Missourian placed his musket to his head and, blowing his life out
like a puff of smoke, he coolly took the promised articles and rejoined his
command. The canteen was filled with excellent liquor, which gave Corporal Miles
and Sergeant Parnell, of Company H, Shelby's regiment, an idea, and soon they
returned from the skirmish line loaded with canteens filled with the generous
fluid.
In this charge' were
two Irishmen from St. Louis-splendid, strapping fellows, full of fun and
devilment. They had the very day of enlistment made a solemn agreement between
each other to go into every fight, side by side, succor one another in distress,
and in the event of a wound that was not mortal, the one unhurt should bear the
other from the field. Charging furiously down the hill after the retreating F
eaerals, the oldest, Jerry, received an ugly bullet through his right thigh,
falling heavily. True to his promise, the youngest, Larry, gathered him up
immediately, threw him across his back and started to the rear. Meeting Dr.
Spencer Brown, engaged busily among the wounded, the doctor said to him: "Ah!
Larry, and why are you taking a dead man from the field." "Dead-and faith he's
not so aisy kilt." "But look up and see for yourself."
The faithful comrade
turned slowly around to get a glance at his companion's face, and, sure enough,
during the retreat a cannon ball had taken his head smoothly and evenly off
without Larry knowing the slightest thing about it. A wondering, half curious
expression came over his countenance, as if he did not half understand matters,
then, gently laying down the mutilated burden, he said with great gravity, "Be
gorrah, but he tould me he was wounded in the leg!"
After repulsing the
first attack, General Hindman commenced massing troops on his right, which he
intended, under the command of General Marmaduke, to hurl upon the enemy's left,
turn it and gain his rear, and had communicated the necessary orders, when the
desertion of Adams' regiment occurred, shaking his confidence in the rest of the
troops (naturally, though unjustly as the result proved), to such an extent that
he then gave up all other plans except that of holding the ground until
nightfall and retiring below the mountains. The desertion occurred during the
hottest portion of the battle with Herron, and the regiment went almost en
masse, their heroic leader and a few other officers and men remaining to fight
with other ranks.
Herron commenced his
terrible artillery fire again, while he reorganized the same brigade and sent it
back reinforced. The issue was even more disastrous than the first, though more
persistently and desperately pursued, and, again, the brigade was driven ba.ck.
losing many prisoners.
"What men are
fighting us." asked General Fagan, riding up on his splendid war horse, and
looking every inch a dashing cavalier, of a. young Federal Lieutenant, of the
25th Illinois, who had hid behind a log when the work was hottest, and thus
Buffered himself to be captured, "they come up daringly to certain death." "They
are the 25th Illinois, 7th Kansas, 4th Wisconsin and 9th Missouri," answered the
young Lieutenant, "and General Herron is anxious to know what brigades followed
his troops after the first repulse almost up to his guns?" "Shelby's and
Hawthorne's brigades," replied Fagan, "the first one is the same which captured
your wagons and cavalry this morning. Has Blunt arrived?" "Not in the moment
of assault, but his
advance could almost be seen," exultantly answered the Lieutenant.
It was, indeed, too
true. Wild and frantic cheers from the meeting hosts drowned the roar of battle,
and saddened many hearts ignorant until now of affairs. "Short greeting serves
in time of strife," and Herron and Blunt joined hands but for one moment, before
grappling the Confederate army with strengthened and sinewy arms. The shock
came, and it was terrific. Each leader knew the issue, and stripping away all
superfluities, marched boldly to the decision. For four dreadful hours the red
waves of battle ebbed and flowed around the hill, in and out amid the beautiful
woods of Prairie Grove, and almost upon the sacred altar of the quiet, country
church, pointing its tall spires heavenward, as if praying God's mercy on the
infuriated combatants. Blunt, grim and stubborn as a bull-dog, threw himself
upon General Parsons, and dealt him ponderous blows for an hour and more, when
Parsons closed suddenly upon him and bore him back, bleeding, through a large
orchard to the timber beyond, where he had massed thirty pieces of artillery in
one solid park. In this orchard were five gigantic ricks of straw, dry and
combustible almost as gunpowder. Hither some two hundred wounded Federals had
crawled, to burrow in the warm covering and find shelter against the bitter
cold. Shells from their own lines fired the frail protection, and before any
effort could be made at rescue their heart-rending cries told all the dreadful
agony of the conflagration. The sight afterward was sickening and appalling. Two
hundred human bodies lay half consumed in one vast sepulcher, and in every
position of mutilated and horrible contortion, while a large drove of hogs,
attracted doubtless by the scent of roasting flesh, came greedily from the apple
trees and gorged themselves upon the unholy banquet. Intestines, heads, a.rms,
feet, and even hearts were dragged about over the ground and devoured at
leisure. But, why dwell upon the disgusting scene? War has horrors enough in all
shapes without portraying the most offensive.
Herron, on the right,
had less success than Blunt, and was driven back at all points with greater
loss. Night alone closed the battle, leaving the Confederates in possession of
the field and believing in rictory, though somewhat scattered and demoralized.
After the sounds of
strife were all hushed, General Hindman calmly surveyed the field and the
difficulties of his position. Ordered by General Holmes to retreat whatever the
issue of the battle, it was certainly but just and obedient that the order
should be carried out strictly when the battle was a decided check. Beside, the
total lack of provisions; a concentration of the Federals; the heavy losses in
the army; scarcity of ammunition and extreme cold furnished strong and
additional reasons for abandoning the field after it was won. Twenty rounds of
ammunition only remained at dark. Enough was curried for the short affair
proposed to be had with Blunt, but not enough for a two day's fight with more
than double the force expected.
There was no other
ammunition nearer than Little Rock, and Hindman was forced to retreat or adopt
the suicidal policy of fighting another day, with his army destitute of
provisions and wanting in ammunition. He decided to retreat during the night,
leaving General Marmaduke with his cavalry to cover the retirement, and bury the
dead. This retreat had been a foregone conclusion from the first, and the bloody
fighting after Blunt arrived was simply done for life, and to gain time in order
to repair the fatal blunder of Shoup. The fruits of the day had all
been gathered by
Shelby-the prisoners were his, the wagons were his, the arms and ammunition were
his, and just after nightfall the tired and hungry infantry retired southward
from the field. When nearly the entire artillery and infantry forces had
disappeared, General Blunt sent in a flag of truce, asking for twenty-four
hours' time to enable him to gather up and bury his dead and care for his
wounded-they all remaining upon that portion ot the field held from the first by
the Confederates. It was granted immediately by General Hindman, and the work of
mercy at once commenced.
Few of Shelby's
soldiers will forget the horrors of their night. bivouac upon the gory field of
Prairie Grove. Around them in every direction lay the dead and dying, the full
glare of a cold battle moon shining; white on their upturned faces, and the
chilling wind singing freezing dirges among the naked and melancholy trees. Soon
upon the night air arose great heart-sobs wrung from strong men in their agony,
while the white hoar-frost hardened the fever drops into ice that oozed from
clammy brows. Death stalked in silently amid the sufferers /lnd plied his busy
sickle with cold, unerring hands. The night waned, the trees shivered, and the
cold, hard sky was rough with spirit-wings fleeing away from the blood and dust
of the trampled earth. Through all the long, long watches, the burial parties
from both armies flitted over the field with lights that gleamed like phantoms,
and mingled friendly in a common work of mercy. Daylight came slowly and
solemnly, yet the dead were not buried, and many wounded were dying slowly and
lingeringly in dark and lonesome places. Fires were strictly forbidden
all along the lines,
and sleep was necessarily an utter impossibility. During the night the dull
rumbling of laden wagons and the clatter of horses' feet on frozen ground, could
be plainly heard in the direction of Fayetteville, and scouts brought constant
word that Blunt Was being reinforced. The next morning, during the quietude of
the armistice, .General Hindman and Blunt held an interview within the lines
held by the Confederate cavalry. They met to agree upon certain terms for
conducting the war in the future, and to mitigate, if possible, some of its
unnecessary rigors, among other provisions, stipulating that hospitals and
hospital stores should not be captured; that speedy exchanges should be
encouraged; and that matters
affecting closely
these isolated districts should be arranger! by the nearest chiefs. This
interview lasted until about three o'clock in the afternoon, and was conducted
with the greatest possible courtesy on the part of the two commanders, who were,
both of them, attended by many officers who but the day before had met fiercely
in mid-battle. It is to be regretted that the arrangements were so poorly
carried out on the part of the Federals-for the burial party left by General
Hindman was arrested after its work was done, and sent North to languish in
lonesome prisons, although the men were unarmed and wearing across their
shoulders the badges of mercy and protection.
While this interview
was going on a loud shrieking wail came from the peach orchard where Herron's
soldiers fell thickest-a cry which will never be forgotten by those hearing it.
A number of ladies, actuated by feelings of love and mercy, came over during the
morning of the armistice, to nurse the wounded and to soothe the sick. One of
them, living only a few miles from Prairie Grove, found her only son upon the
gory field, lying stark and ghastly, clutching his musket in rigid grasp-a
swift, hot bullet through his heart having left upon his features the same
expression they bore in life-except the fixed stare of the eyeballs, which had
been dimmed by frost. He was a handsome boy, fair-skinned and fair haired, with
a soft down just beginning to grow from his childish chin. A veteran soldier who
had witnessed this spectacle, having been attracted to the spot by the frantic
screams of the nearly deranged mother, declared it to be the most heart-rending
sight he had ever seen during the last war or the war with Mexico.
A romantic little
incident occurred late in the fight of the 7th, which will serve to illustrate
that spirit of personal daring and prowess possessed in such an eminent degree
by the Southern soldiers. Colonel A. W. Slayback, then attached to the staff of
General Marmaduke, and a most dashing and gallant officer, too, concluded to try
an adventure thought of many centuries ago by thousands, no doubt, when knights
wore greaves and vizors, and when that war-cry rang over the won field of
.Bannockburn-" St. James for Argentine "-but not latterly in the days of rifled
cannon and rifled muskets. Slayback, however, rode deliberately from his own
lines toward some Federal cavalry in his front, and challenged anyone to single
combat. Quick as lightning, Captain Wilhite, a renegade Arkansan, belonging to a
regiment of renegade Arkansans, came boldly forth to within twenty paces and
fired at Slayback, who returned it immediately. Neither one struck, however, the
first time, but upon the second shot, Slayback's bullet inflicted an ugly wound
in his antagonist's leg, and Wilhite retired. Two other champions dashed out for
the honor of their dishonored regiment--and Major Robert Smith, likewise upon
the staff of General Marmaduke, and brave as a lion, went gallantly to
Slayback's rescue, when another round was fired without additional damage. A
third officer rode down from the Federal lines, and to make the contest even,
Lieutenant James T. Walton, of Marmaduke's escort chivalrous as Bayard-fell in
beside Slayback and Smith. Two rounds were now fired, another Federal fell, the
two others retreated, and strange and true to say, neither of the Confederates
received a scratch.
Leaving two companies
behind to finish the burial work, Colonel Shelby was ordered by General
Marmaduke to withdraw slowly from the field at half-past eleven o'clock in the
morning. Hind· man, Marmaduke, their staffs and escorts did not leave Prairie
Grove till four o'clock P. 1Il.-bringing with them Blocker's battery, the
indefatigable McCoy, of the escort, getting by some unknown means sufficient
horses for the purpose.
The night after the
battle, General Hindman was extremely anxious to ascertain the movements of
Blunt, and sent to Colonel Shelby for six daring and intelligent scouts, and the
communication closed thus: "I want men cunning as foxes, true as bloodhounds,
and who know how to die." For such work the adjutants were unwilling to make
details, and the order ran down the lines for volunteers. Fifty tired forms
sprang up from bivouac and stepped out boldly to the front. Six were
chosen-Tyler Floyd, Ben. Bowdry, Jim Rudd, Bill Fell, George Goodwin, and John
Corbin-six splendid soldiers to go out in the darkness upon a forlorn hope-to
meet and circumvent the enemy. They did it truly and well. Floyd penetrated into
the camp and talked with Blunt's sleepy sentinels; Rudd and Goodwin made the
entire circuit of his lines; Fell and Corbin counted the reinforcements coming
from Fayetteville-even to the pieces of artillery and caissons; and Ben. Bowdry
brought in much information, two horses and three prisoners.
Thus ended the battle
of Prairie Grove, desperate, bloody, gallantly fought, but the sacrifice was
made in vain, and the heroic soldiers laid down their lives without a
recompense. 'fhe losscs on both sides were unusually severe, the advantages,
however, being in favor of Hindman.
General Blunt
attempted no pursuit, and even if he were disposed to follow, after finding
Hindman gone, the terms of the armistice forbade it. Sadly and wearily Shelby
marched again to Dripping Springs, where he distributed the welcome clothing
captured in the thirteen wagons among his deserving soldiers.
Before leaving camp
at Dripping Springs, General Hindman sent over to Shelby a deserter named Phelps
for execution. In sight of the whole brigade, drawn up in hollow square, the
doomed man came out to death, a curious, wondering expression on his face, all
if he did not understand the solemn preparations. The firing party tied a white
handkerchief over his eyes, and the poor criminal knelt a few moments in silent
prayer, the cold breezes blowing his straggling locks about a brow very pale and
very rigid. It ended at last, and his freed spirit went shrieking down the wind
to the ocean of eternity.
Hindman re-crossed
his infantry at Fort Smith, and marched them toward Little Rock in three
separate detachments, leaving behind him at Dripping Springs, nine miles from
Van Buren, one regiment of Texas cavalry, under Colonel Crump. One brigade of
Arkansas infantry, under Colonel Shaver, held the south side of the river.
Crump's instructions were to picket on all roads crossing the mountains as far
as eighteen miles to the front, and to patrol between his picket stations and
scout beyond, day and night. Yet, in spite of these precautions, the Texans were
driven in rapidly, the Federals entering Van Buren with them, and soon began to
shell Hindman's headquarters and Shaver's infantry camp. Except the capture of a
few of the Texan cavalry, and a few supplies in Van Buren, nothing more was
lost.
Wearied, starving,
barefooted, Hindman's army struggled on manfully toward Little Rock; but a
dreadful snow-storm came on suddenly, and the weather grew bitter cold in a
night. Mules died by hundreds, and wagons containing supplies were mired in the
treacherous bottoms. Sickness entered the ranks and depleted them fearfully,
while plain, visible starvation glared from behind every cottonwood, and mingled
with the soldiers' dreams around their desolate camp fires. Finally, with the
spirits of his men unbroken, and their ranks thinned fearfully, yet close and
compact, the army reached Little Rock and went into winter quarters. While the
infantry marched down the Arkansas river on the south side, General Marmaduke
moved toward Lewisburg on the north side. Suffering equally as much the
poignancy of hunger and cold, Colonel Shelby yet rose sterner and greater as the
darkness thickened around him.
Everywhere along his
column, encouraging, cheering, threatening, and commanding, he infused some of
his indomitable spirit into his lI1('n, and they took their punishment like
Spartans. Lewisburg was reached, after a long and painful march, just as the
winter rains commenced so violently and cold. Here, in a heavy growth of timber,
he went into camp for a little needful rest, but never permitting for an instant
that relaxation of drill and discipline which carried his brigade to the height
of soldierly perfection, and strung its nerves and sinews like iron wires for
the desperate endeavors of coming days.
As Hindman was soon
recalled from the Trans-Mississippi Department by the Confederate authorities,
never to serve in it again, simple justice requires that he should be held
blameless for the misfortunes and failures, the imbecility and inaction which
ever characterized the efforts of his successors. The troops under his command
at Prairie Grove amounted to nine thousand and five hundred. Two thousand of
these were killed and wounded, two hundred deserted to the enemy from Adams'
regiment, three hundred more deserted on the march from the battlefield to
Little Rock, making accurate figures, and the sum total of losses even remotely
connected with the fight. Before he reached Little Rock, the cavalry, numbering
two thousand, and a Texas infantry brigade, numbering one thousand and five
hundred, were detached permanently from his command, making the total reduction,
from all causes, five
thousand; subtracting
this from nine thousand and five hundred, it will show a residue of four
thousand and five hundred men. When Hindman was ordered east of the Mississippi
river, in March, 1863, three months after the fight, the strength of his
division was seven thousand and five hundred men, this satisfactory condition
being solely the result of his wonderful energy and almost superhuman efforts.
In reality, Prairie Grove was not a disaster, and would have been a substantial
victory had every party to the battle come bravely and squarely up to the mark.
As it was, Hindman retired from the worsted enemy with four hundred prisoners,
over two thousand captured small arms, and a wagon train containing clothing and
ammunition.
CHAPTER VIII.
THB brigade had been
resting in camp at Lewisburg about a month, when a whisper ran through the tents
like the jarring of a nerve that a march to Missouri was contemplated. Every
eager ear listened, and every heart was tremulous with hope. These merry madcaps
had ever a passionate yearning for such desperate forays, and many would have
preferred going there to heaven, though the chances were often great against
reaching either.
The whisper deepened
into compact sentences, and finally took real shape and substance. Blunt still
hung upon the Arkansas river, showing signs of crossing and marching to Little
Rock, which induced General Hindman to order General Marmaduke, with his
division, consisting of Shelby's and Porter's Missouri brigades, to gain Blunt's
line of communication about Springfield, grapple the road leading from Rolla,
and hold it until Blunt was forced to let go the Arkansas river from sheer
starvation. Porter marched first and far to the right, with instructions to
concentrate in front of Springfield, if possible. Shelby broke camp on the last
day of the year 1862, and moved northward with prospects of cold work, hard
work, and hot work.
Winter, generally
relentless and unaccommodating, felt a thrill of pity in its frozen heart at the
brave adventure, and smiled approvingly upon the early days of marching, now and
then warming into cheerfulness and plucking the old brown beard of the giant
oaks with hands that had upon them gloves of genial sunshine. White river,
shrunken at this season to a fordable stream, was crossed at Forsythe, in Taney
county, Missouri, where the few remaining Van Winkles broke their usual winter
sleep long enough to gaze upon the sudden apparition with curious eyes. But one
exception marred the even tenor of the town, and that was rather a handsome
country girl, rejoicing in all the coquetry of a yellow bodice and white muslin
dress. She met the advance with violent demonstrations of affection, and asked
often for the" gineral."
"She wanted to see a
"real" gineral, she did." General Marmaduke happening to ride up just then, she
curtesied low to the gallant soldier, and overwhelmed him with questions about
where he was going, and how many soldiers he had; did he know Jim Pendegrass, in
Price's infantry, or Sam Stokes, in somebody's battery, and wound up with the
mild request that he would bring her a Federal scalp. How the General extricated
himself from the wiles of the witching syren was never known, but certain it was
that his table at supper had the thickest and sweetest sorghum molasses, and
great rashers of ham and eggs sputtered and smoked around" his plate, while the
fair Delilah stood at his bridle hand, blushing more vividly than the genial
firelight, as he whispered, in the pauses of the conversation: "My love is like
the red, red rose"
Let us hope the poor
girl held her own, amid such dashing cavaliers as Marmaduke, Moore, Rainwater,
Price, and Ewing.
The distance from
Forsyth to Ozark required two days' marching, and the latter place contained a
Federal garrison worthy of being looked after. The soft weather now began to
fail perceptibly, and the night Ozark was reached blew a breath of nipping
frost.
Major Ben. Elliott,
formerly of Company I, Shelby's regiment, had recruited a battalion of notorious
scouts and border men, and constituted the advance of Shelby's brigade, a kind
of perpetual forlorn hope, because it met the first shock of every imminent
danger, and was always "exposed to surprises and deadly ambuscades. The
schooling of this body of men, the old guard of the brigades, had something
peculiar about it, too. No matter how deadly the peril, no matter what numbers
assailed them, no matter how enfiladed or surrounded-they were never to rush
back upon the main body, or yield one inch in retreat. The reason was obvious:
In a sudden surprise or ambushment it is vitally necessary that the main body
shall have time to form and prepare for action, and more than one disaster has
resulted to various commands, from the sudden rushing in of the advance.
Therefore it was considered a promotion
to any soldier to be
allowed a transfer to the advance, and only men of tried courage could join this
corps, and many of them bore upon their bodies the scars of a dozen wounds. With
this advance, Major Elliott was ordered to take good guides, make a detour
around Ozark and cut off its garrison from Springfield. The enemy learning of
Shelby's approach, hastily fled, however, leaving their tents standing, their
fort filled with ammunition, and many valuable supplies stored in the town. The
fort, it is true, had been hastily fired. and the depot of supplies also-but the
flames were not strong enough at first to cheat the hungry soldiers of their
provisions.
Whatever was needed
was taken, and soon great bursts of flame rose vividly upon the midnight air, as
the fort, the barracks, tents, whisky, bacon, flour, and everything belonging to
the garrison caught fire and disappeared in the conflagration. All night the
flames raged unchecked, and by morning a vast heap of smouldering embers and
blackened beams marked the spot where a day before the stars and stripes had
floated proudly from the elevated steeple. Before this, Emmet McDonald captured
a little fort on Beaver Creek-to the right of General Marmaduke's line of
march-the garrison mostly escaping, giving Ozark the alarm and preventing a
complete surprise. Colonel McDonald made a precipitate charge at daylight upon
the fort in his front~ but its garrison did not remain to see it out, and left
hurriedly a strong stockade sans
cerefnonie.
Springfield was
reached by early morning, sleeping quietly in its prairie home, though
conscious, too, of its advancing enemies. At every house along the road two or
more Federal militia men were picked up and dragged from warm beds and pleasant
slumbers to feel the bracing air, while Captain Blackwell, Lieutenants McCoy and
Walton of Marmaduke's escort, with small detachments of men, reaped a plentiful
harvest of wagons, negroes, horses, Federals and overcoats-an article more
desirable than purple and fine linen. Blackwell rode up to one party of eleven
Federal cavalry returning quietly to Springfield, and, having dressed his
detachment in blue overcoats and pantaloons, concluded to play the" giraffe"
over them-a kind of bluff game only known to soldiers-for they were well armed
and mounted, and outnumbered him by two. Boldly accosting their leader, he
demanded authoritatively where they were
going. .. To
Springfield, capen," he answered, taking the disguised Blackwell to be of at
least that rank. "Where's your pass?" This was a stunner, and the guilty Federal
held down his
head in evident
confusion; thinking awhile, he answered like one telling a half fixed up lie:
"Why, capen, me and the boys thought we'd just slip down last night to a little
frolic a mile or so
off and be back again
afore roll call. That's no harm is it, and not agin orders ?" "Aha!" shouted
Blackwell, in a voice of thunder "You deserters eh! going to the d-d rebels, no
doubt. Surrender your arms instantly-you are the very chaps we are looking for."
Overwhelmed, conscience stricken, and really frightened, they ga.ve up their
Sharpe's rifles and revolvers, when Blackwell marched them off in triumph to
General Marmaduke instead of General Brown, where they found too late their
frolic had cost them dear.
Two miles from
Springfield in a strip of timber, General Marmaduke had his command dismounted,
and moved up to the attack, driving before him a large body of cavalry sent out
for observation. Thompson held the right, Gordon the left, with Collins' battery
and Jeans' regiment, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Chas. Gilkey in the center.
The lines were formed in the open prairie, under a heavy artillery fire, with
Major Elliott's battalion operating as cavalry, while still further to the left
maneuvered a detached regiment under Colonel Emmet McDonald. Skirmishing began
early and continued warmly during the reconnaissance of the enemy's position,
which was made out very strong and stood thus: In the center of the city was a
large and formidable earthwork, flanked by rifle-pits and long deep trenches for
infantry. Guarding the town from its southern approach, and still under the guns
of the redoubt a short distance in rear, frowned a very extensive and strongly
built stockade, inclosing the large brick female academy, now used as a military
prison.
As a good view of
Springfield was obtained, and as the fresh morning breezes swept the prairie
mists away to the southward, regiment after regiment could be seen marching up
from their barracks and disappearing in the rifle-pits and trenches, while the
banquettes of the earthwork and the embrasures of the stockade were blue with
uniforms and bristling with glittering steel. Every preparation was made
deliberately, and as the fierce word "charge" trembled almost upon the air,
General Brown, the Federal commander, with his glittering staff and a large
escort, rode boldly out to view the ranks of his antagonists. He had swept along
the entire front unharmed and far to the right, when Elliott's bold eyes caught
the game afoot, and he started swiftly to cut him off from Springfield. General
Brown calmly awaited the onset, but Elliott bore his followers down like the
grass beneath his horses' feet, and pressed him even to the very ga.tes of his
citadel, shooting him so severely that one year afterward having to fight him
again, he was found to be still suffering from his painful wound. It was time
for
the shock. Away to
the left McDonald's regiment could be seen advancing boldly upon a Federal
regiment, drawn up before the stockade, with that creeping, trailing motion
always so ominous of death and danger.
This chivalrous
leader was distinguishable all along his lines by his waving black plume and the
flashing bright blade of his drawn sword, eager to rush upon the stockade and
release its pining inmates. " Charge!" calling along the ranks like the voice of
one man, and three spears' length ahead of his best and bravest, his hat off,
and his long fair hair streaming in the breeze, Shelby led his eager soldiers.
Everything went down before them. The regiment in front of the stockade was
annihilated almost, the garrison
within killed or
dispersed, the first line of rifle-pits carried by assault, and away beyond the
Seminary, into a great graveyard rough with, tombstones, the terror stricken
fugitives were driven in dire confusion. Just beyond this graveyard was
stationed one piece of artillery served with fearful precision and sweeping the
streets at every discharge. Twenty daring spirits sprang away to capture it, and
amid the tempest of fire and the tossing billows of smoke could be seen the
forms of Major Bowman, and Rathbun, Ferrell, and Spafford, Will and Kit Moorman,
the two young Bulkleys, whose bright suns soon after set forever; Collins and
Jarrett; Woodsmall and Langhorne; Bob Vandiver and Bush Corder, Jim Gordon and
Tom Ustick; Shanks and Slayback; Winship and Lute McKinney; Sam McMerty and
Jesse Howard; John and Martin Kritzer; Ben Bowdry, Tyler Floyd, Seb.
Plattenburg. Charley Jones, and Lieutenant McDougall, pressing on for the death
grapple. One of the first to put his hands upon the gun, rushed Harvey
Plattenburg, of Dover, his fresh, boyish face lit up with the enthusiasm of
battle, his blue eyes swimming with delight, and his soft, sweet voice mingling
with. the rage and the roar of the conflict. The gun was manned by its captors
and dragged in triumph to the rear, where it soon joined in the incessant
cannonade under the skillful hands of Collins. It proved to be a most beautiful
field· piece, and was defended heroically by its Lieutenant commanding. Major
Bowman, of Jeans' regiment, dashed upon him and demanded a surrender. His answer
was a pistol shot which mortally wounded the generous Bowman. Though bleeding
deathfully he fired upon the Lieutenant, inflicting also 0. severe wound. Before
even the Confederates got within pistol shot of his gun-his cannoneers wished to
abandon it. The Lieutenant resolutely drew his revolver, threatened the first
skulker with instant death, and held them to it until they were killed about the
piece.
The Federals had
fired all the houses containing supplies that were exposed to capture, and the
flames fanned by a strong wind were encircling entire blocks in their insatiate
course. Amid stifling heat and smoke, the crash of falling timbers, blazing
roofs and hot coals falling in showers from the murky sky, the Confederates
fought, begrimmed with smoke and dust. Death too, was busy in their ranks.
Captain Titsworth, the brave, heroic giant fell mortally wounded. Lieutenant
John Buffington of the same company died leading his men into the stockade;
Maurice Langhorne was badly shot in the front of the fight; the boy hero,
Channing Bulkley, received a bullet through his dauntless heart charging
manfully upon the cannon; Major Bowman, cheering on his men, was also mortally
wounded, at the battery, and John Spafford got his death shot just in the swift
moment of triumph, while from Jeans' regiment the young McCoy and the gallant
8teigall were killed. Many more went down amid the gravestones, all about the
rifle-pits, beyond the sea of flames that roared around the stockade. From all
the embrasures of the earthwork hea\"y artillery swept the streets, and from the
concealed infantry a rain of bullets poured down upon the unsheltered
Missourians. Collins rushed his bl\ttery up into the very town, and opened at
point-blank range. Quick as lightning a regiment of Federal cavalry, riding over
and through his advanced skirmishers, swept down upon it, but Elliott was there
and barred their pathway like a lion. 'l'he wave recoiled in scattered fragments
from the sullen rock, and reeled back through the flames and smoke, shaken and
rent beyond redemption. Glorying in their conscious strength, and in the sweet
strains of martial music, a great blue column came down upon Shelby's brigade
struggling for life in the narrow streets and narrower alleys of the city. For
one brief moment they bore back the advanced Confederates, but rallying in and
around the stockade, they held their own with
unyielding tenacity.
General Marmaduke
soon became convinced that the town could not be taken by assault, and only
wished to continue the fight until darkness enabled him to draw off
successfully. The strength of its defensive works, and the number of its
garrison had been largely underestimated. Both were unusually strong, and the
Confederates were outnumbered five to one, or more, besides having to attack
these odds behind carefully arranged fortifications, armed with twenty pieces of
artillery. Up to this time a splendid fight had been made. Shelby captured one
stockade, dispersed its garrison, carried a line of rifle-pits, brought off one
piece of artillery and over two hundred prisoners, and piled their dead very
deep all about
the outer defenses.
No difficulty was experienced ill holding the position taken.
Once only after dark
did a sudden, massive body of infantry, which had marked well Cullins' position,
dash down to get his battery. Shelby had anticipated this and ambushed Captain
John Jarrett, with two companies between Collins and the earthwork, which killed
the first fire about thirty of the assaulting party and drove the others back
into the jaws of their welcoming fort. About midnight Shelby's brigade withdrew
by regiments from the gloomy and fire-scarred town, and marched like silent
specters across the cold gray prairie to their horses in the woods beyond,
leaving behind a strong line of mounted skirmishers to remain until daylight. On
their way back the hungry soldiers tarried long enough to visit the Hon. John S.
Phelps' splendid mansion, now silent and deserted: but unlike their enemies on
ten thousand other occasions, they simply took the necessary articles for food
and raiment.
The mellow and
delicious apples, the rusty bottles hid away many feet down under the earth, the
flour, bacon, beef, blankets, quilts, and shirts were all taken-but nothing
more. Christians
could do scarcely
less, pinched by cold and weak from hunger. Yankees did vastly more when warmly
clad and bountifully fed. Colonel Shelby, however, deprecated this action very
much, and would have assuredly stopped the appropriations had he been informed
in time-nor did his officers know of it either until too late.
General Brown made a
splendid fight for his town, and exhibited conspicuous courage and ability. He
did there what no other Federal Brigadier General ever did in front of Shelby's
brigade, he rode its entire length under a severe fire, clad in bold
regimentals, elegantly mounted and ahead of all so that the fire might be
concentrated upon him. It was reckless bravado, and General Brown gained by one
bold dash the admiration and respect of Shelby's soldiers. They fought him often
and often after Springfield, and had the fortunes of war placed him in their
hands, I am positively certain he would have been paroled instantly and sent to
his own lines with many mark" of soldierly esteem. f
CHAPTER IX.
CAPTAIN BLACKWELL, in
command of Marmaduke's escort, entered Marshfield suddenly, picked up a dozen or
so rusticating Federals, and took possession of five large stores filled with
everything needed by soldiers. Finding their proprietors unwilling to take
Confederate money at par-although the notes were worth something as containing
correct photographic likenesses of President Davis-and possessing a very
conservative disposition with his many other good qualities, Captain Blackwell
detailed five accurate salesmen, Peter Turley, James Walton, Arthur McCoy, James
Herndon, and Joel Whitehurst, to wait upon those' customers having the" six
months after a treaty of peace" bills. Business, previously quite dull, expanded
visibly under this new commercial arrangement, and soon every store became
crowded with anxious buyers. At night a large auction followed, the Southern
ladies attending in crowds and having heavy amounts of the proscribed money in
their possession. The uses made afterward of these funds by the bonafide
merchants were never ascertained, yet it is highly probable they were put
carefully away until a day of redemption came, which everyone among them
believed was near at hand, if their vociferant assertions of loyalty to the
Confederacy could be relied upon.
Porter, in advance
the second day's march from Marshfield, encountered a large force of Federals
half way on the main road between Marshfield and Hartville, and made instant
preparations to engage it. Some skirmishing followed, but before Shelby's
brigade got into action, the Federals retreated, leaving in Shelby's hands a.
captain and thirty men of the 4th Regulars, more daring than the rest, A race
began now between the two rival divisions for Hartville, which was won by the
Federals, they having the inside track, and the start, besides a thorough
knowledge of the country, General Marmaduke found three regiments of infantry
and three of cavalry, with six pieces of artillery, in position beyond the
eastern edge of the town, awaiting attack and admirably posted. The infantry
were concealed in a deep, dry ditch, directly behind a huge, new ten-rail fence,
with the cavalry on both Banks protected by
heavy timber, the
battery being advantageously posted upon a high hill in the rear. Shelby
dismounted his brigade to a man und marched boldly to the attack in front, while
Porter's brigade, in column of fours, was to advance by the road and charge the
left flank after Shelby should have delivered fire. Collins covered the advance
by a splendid volley from his guns, and in beautiful line the brigade marched up
to a bloody welcome. Not a crouching Federal could be seen, and the silence grew
oppressive. The air seemed dark with vast crowds of wild pigeons, darting and
whirling overhead in conscious safety, knowing that sterner thoughts and larger
game were on the wind. The dry, frosty leaves crinkled under the feet of the
solid infantry, with a. chill, foreboding sound, which seemed strangely out of
place where the silence was so profound. The grim brigade dressed its war-worn
ranks at the fatal fence, and a
thousand browned
hands had grasped the top-most rails, when a fire more deadly than human
imagination can conceive of, enveloped Shelby's and Jeans' regiments in a
curtain of flame, streaked and rough with hissing bullets. Every captain but
four in Shelby's regiment fell dead or wounded, and Jeans' entire front
shriveled up like a parchment. Even in this terrible moment the heroes did not
waver. Shelby and Marmaduke, exposed to fearful death, broke through the heavy
fence and shouted: "charge!" Shanks, Jarrette, Tucker and Adams, swept up the
hill nearly to the Federal battery, and forced it to be dragged away hurriedly
from reach. Shelby losing two horses and hard hit, was saved only by the
glittering cavalry
badge of the old
brigade upon his hat, yet he reeled in his saddle like a broken reed, while
Marmaduke's horse fell in the melee, and his overcoat was rent by bullets. Major
George Kirtley, the gentle and the brave, lay dead on the field of glory, and by
his side the peerless young Virginian, Captain Charley Turpin, beautiful in his
warrior manhood. The grim old Roman, Captain Garrett, fearfully wounded, still
cheered on his men, amid the dead and dying of his company lying all around him.
Captains Crocker and Thompson, Bob Carlyle and Sergeant Oscar Graves,
Lieutenants Elliott and Haynie, Graves, Huff, Williams, Bullard, and Bulkley,
brother of the poor boy killed at Springfield, were down and bleeding, besides
the names of fifty others I can not give. Janes' regiment suffered also in
proportion. Captain Dupuy, mortally wounded, died within an hour, and was
mourned as one of the "bravest of the brave;
Lieutenant Royster
was killed; Captains Jarrett and Burkholder were severely wounded; Maurice
Langhorne, faint from bleeding, won his bars for unyielding courage, and Shanks
fought steadily on a.mid his stricken comrades. Thompson, further to the right,
escaped the red ordeal and came gallantly up to the rescue.
Porter's heroic soul
caught fire at the sight, and leading his brigade up the hill at a charge, fell
mortally wounded, while the whole head of his column melted away before the
blasting fire.
Emmet McDonald, the
chivalrous and dashing young St. Louisan, fighting as another Bayard, received
his death wound, and Colonel John M. Wimer offered up his brave, calm life as a.
living sacrifice upon the altar of his country.
Lieutenant Colonel
Frank Gordon, even in the jaws of death, rallied his shattered regiment and
swept down upon the enemy's right to pay them back in blood. Thompson and Shanks
leaped the fence together on the left, and attacked rapidly. Short work at last.
Up to, and over the ditch, dashed the brigade, driving all before it. The
cavalry fled through the infantry in frantic efforts to escape; and the battery,
pressed swiftly, left its caissons and wagons upon the field. The battle ended
at dark, when Elliott, mounting his battalion, pursued the retreating Federals
far enough to find the flight a rout, and to capture their wagons, loaded with
wounded, and many prisoners besides.
Bleeding deathfully
and very pale, lay Emmet McDonald, listening to the receding sounds of strife,
and when Colonel Shelby bent over the dying dragoon and told him him of the
victory, his eyes brightened for a moment and then glazed forever, while his
pure spirit fled away to where the dark waves of eternity break upon an unknown
shore. Just before Shelby visited him, he had said to a comrade standing near:
"Tell the General (Marmaduke,) not to forget my last charge-the charge with the
rallied stragglers. Wasn't it a gallant charge?" His death was as tragic as his
life had been romantic. His lofty standard never lowered; danger was his
element; and the music of battle his greatest pleasure. Slowly and sadly the
dead and wounded were gathered" from the field of their fame, fresh and gory." A
cold, still, star-lit night fell all around the crowded watch-fires; the chill
frost rifted down upon the upturned faces of the dead and silvered their long
hair, thick and matted with blood. Tenderly they were placed in their narrow
homes by sobbing comrades, while the night waned, and the blasts blew a requiem
above their graves.
Colonel Shelby
visited every hospital, and spoke kind words of hope and comfort to the wounded
destined to be left behind. Seeing one of his most devoted Captains, Wash.
McDaniel, lying upon a pallet, a great, rough wound in his breast, he said to
him in a voice full of tenderness: "And you, too, Mac?" " Yes, Colonel, I'm hard
hit, but I will not die-mark that. I shall yet live to be a Colonel like
yourself, and strike a hundred blows for the Confederacy."
He kept his word
faithfully, and lives to-day crowned with unfading laurels. Toward two o'clock
in the morning, after all the requirements of mercy had been met, the brigade
started sorrowfully southward. Major Kirtley was borne from the field and buried
the night after the battle. Poor Captain Garrett stood up manfully under his
mortal wound, but he, too, died far away from his beautiful Missouri home, and
was buried among strangers. Grave after grave dotted the march southward, and
gap after gap grew into the grim ranks of Shelby's soldiers. Many slightly
wounded and unwilling to be left behind, struggled on day after day with their
comrades, suffering intolerable misery from pain, cold, hunger, (ever and
fatigue. In some cases nature gave way beneath the burden, and one by one-the
maimed soldiers dropped out by the wayside and waved a long and last adieu to
friends and comrades.
The body of Colonel
John M. Wimer, disinterred afterward, and borne from the bloody field of
Hartville, lay in the silent mansion of his stricken wife, surrounded by a few
tried, sorrowing friends, ere it was borne forever to its last resting-place.
Hither came the trusty agents of Missouri's cruel hyena, F. A. Dick, Provost
Marshal of St. Louis, and dragged the inanimate clay from the sacred precincts
of the death chamber, to bury it, unnoted and unmarked by stone or cross, in the
common Potter's field. Mrs. Wimer plead with all a woman's agony, and all the
eagerness of a maternal heart against the atrocity of the deed, but, the
shoulder-strapped, fanatical Federal, cursed down her supplications, and chilled
her yearning cries. Well for this petty phantom of a soldier that he never came
to the crimson field, where other opponents than weak and helpless women were to
be met; and that he hedged his cruel actions around
with walls, and
forts, and hosts of kindred soldiers. The pure and noble patriot will sleep just
as quietly and sweetly in his unknown grave as if a ton of white marble were
weighing Lim down, but, when the passions and the prejudices of the strife have
subsided, there will be a skeleton in Dick's house to haunt him to his death.
Hartville was a
stubborn, sudden, bloody fight-one of those combats so frequent between detached
bodies when they are evenly matched, and encounter each other with scarcely any
previous notice or preparation. Although in the battle the Federals had the
advantage of position, numbers, and a few moments of surprise, they were driven
from the field in disorder, leaving their dead and wounded behind. General
Marmaduke intended fighting the enemy, when first encountered in the morning,
but information reached him, false as it happened, that Hartville had been
occupied by the forces of General Davidson, then known to be in that vicinity,
and Hartville stood directly on the road he must travel southward. To fight a
battle with a superior force, and to attack from the north when in case of
disaster the retreat must be to the south, had no sense or plausibility to
recommend it to such a keen thinker as Marmaduke;
and when the Federals
left his front he determined to march at once for Hartville, and, if meeting
none of Davidson's forces there, attack the column under Colonel Wahring-the
column of the morning's encounter. This he did. The eagerness and impetuosity of
Shelby's troops, also reacted upon them fatally. Their skirmishers were not
sufficiently to the front, or, at least, the proper interval was not preserved
between the two lines. The main body pressed so rapidly upon the advance that
the fire intended for it, came leaping into the very bosom of the compact
brigade from point blank r:mge. Sufficient caution was not exercised by General
Marmaduke, it is true, nor by Shelby either. The first volley alone did the
bloody work, and the first volley might have been avoided. .
The retreat to
Arkansas was one of unusual severity. The night of the 18th of January was
ushered in by It heavy snow storm, which lasted ten hours, covering the earth to
the depth of two feet, and freezing hard enough to make traveling difficult and
fatiguing. Through interminable pine forests, blank and bare as a rainy sea, and
over vast wastes of alternate snow and ice, the brigade struggled on heroically,
to Batesville, Arkansas, eluding a large force under Davidson, intently watching
Marmaduke's retreat southward. Many soldiers were badly frost-bitten, and some
cases occurred of such fatal severity that amputation became necessary followed,
not unfrequently, by mortification and death.
At Batesville, new
sufferings awaited the tried command. The train left at Lewisburg, though
ordered to this point, was water· bound in the mountains, and remained there for
weeks, unable to advance or retire, consequently, the soldiers were forced to
bivouac upon the snow, and remain destitute of tents, cooking utensils, and even
a change of clothing. Crossing White river, swollen and filled with ice, after
great difficulty, a camp was established in the heavy timber on the southern
side.
Captain George S.
Rathbun, one of the best and most accomplished officers in the brigade, ably
assisted by his no less able Lieutenants, Ferrell, Martin and Bledsoe, having
been selected to ,to provost marshal duty in Batesville, fitted up his barracks
for sixty men. Colonel Wahring, leading a bold regiment of Federal cavalry,
toiled through the drifted snow into the town, and drove out its garrison.
Shelby crossed two strong detachments above and below the place to envelop
Colonel Wahring, but he was too wary to be caught in such a trap, and hurried
back to his frozen cantonment in Missouri, when Captain Rathbun returned to his
log fires and his passbook.
The citizens of this
delightful little Arkansas town and of the country round about were lavish of
their food and raiment upon Shelby's suffering soldiers. The sick were taken to
their houses, nursed, cured, and sent back comfortably clad. The old brigade
ever after kept green the memory of these generous people, and struck many
gallant blows for them upon dark and bloody fields.
After the deep snows
died away on the hill tops, and spring flashed up from the south great bursts of
sunshine, the work of drilling and reorganization commenced. Innumerable
detachments radiating from a common· center gathered up whole herds of fresh,
fat horses, delightful provender, and abundant supplies of invigorating
provisions. The welcome train came at last; green patches of inviting grass
sunned themselves in the valleys; modest violets peeped up here and there with
rain-wet eyes; .and then a bright sky bent over the happy and joyous command.
The bloom and beauty of Batesville lent their smiles to the drill tournaments,
and along the fronts of the parading regiments at eventide, whole groups of
pretty
girls gathered on
horseback to listen to the music of the bugles and the clash of arms. Here were
given the two flags presented by the ladies of Little Rock-Jeans' regiment
receiving one, and Captain Blackwell's company the other. Never were banners
more worthily bestowed, and none ever carried so long and so gallantly to
universal victory.
Superbly mounted,
splendidly armed, and full of hope and high endeavor, Colonel Shelby recrossed
White river early in March with his Iron Brigade, now three thousand strong, and
selected a beautiful camp among giant oaks, skirting fresh and sparkling
streams. This camp, in honor of one of Batesville's most lovely daughters, was
named " Camp Nannie Wilson.'? Rarely ever in life were blended so much purity,
beauty, patriotism and grace in the one, and so much nature, freshness and
tranquility in the other. Balls, promenades, flirting, coqueting and
match-making followed in rapid succession. The young, dashing officers put away
all battle visions, and lived as if life were one long gala-day of vows, and
sighs, and tresses of hair. Under the grand old oaks putting forth pouting buds;
over the clover-heads dewy and sheen; beneath the low, large moons lifting
realms of romance out of the sea, the weird waltzers
held their voluptuous
carnivals. They were long to tell what troths were plighted, and what dainty,
jeweled hands rested lovingly in great, brown ones down by the garden-gates, as
twilight lingered in the lily-beds, and the breath of low, mysterious roses came
up from their dim parterrels. Above all and over all, two tempting syrens
wove circle-like spells about the chief commanders, and ruled them sterner than
they had ruled their camp. Marmaduke quoted poetry in his general orders, and
Shelby bought a Flora's lexicon for the soft, sweet language of flowers. Ah! but
the gay days closed at last:
" Sweetest lips that
ever were kissed,
Brightest eyes that
ever have shone
May sigh and whisper
and he not list
Or look away and
never be missed,
Long and ever a year
be gone."
General Marmaduke
went to Little Rock for instructions, and telegraphed back to make immediate
preparations for another Missouri expedition. There came the sudden snapping of
heartstrings, the farewell kisses, the long last vows of eternal fidelity, and
the old brigade shook itself into lit compact mass of defiant soldiers again.
Then there came, too,
the presentation of lit magnificent warhorse to Colonel Shelby by his men, and a
great sham battle for the ladies' sake. Both passed off gloriously, and the
preparations. went on ominously for strife. The troops assigned to General
Marmaduke began to arrive in fine condition and march away northward, followed
soon by the General himself, and all was ready. Whispers of joy rang along the
ranks, and St. Louis became the watchword. All the wounded left at Hartville,
and who had recovered sufficiently to travel, joined their comrades with light
hearts and fell naturally into their familiar places in the ranks.
April budded up from
the South, coy and timid as a maiden, and April breezes blew out daintily the
silken banners soon to float upon the colder air of Missouri. Suddenly the
word "forward " came in the cheers of the men,
and Major David Shanks, leading the advance, marched away to gather new laurels
to deck his warrior brow. All Batesville gathered along the road by which
defiled the brigade, and prayed that glory and success might crown its efforts.
Many hearts were sad and many eyes red from weeping, but the parting ended at
last, how sorrowfully some would scarcely dare to tell.
CHAPTER X.
THE expedition to
Missouri-known as the "Cape Girardeau Expedition "-had for its objects the
employment of that portion of the cavalry nearest the border of Missouri; the
encouragement of the southern portion of the inhabitants in that State; and the
dealing of whatever blows might be feasible and telling upon the enemy's
isolated detachments and advanced outposts. Its strength could scarcely promise
more, for Marmaduke's entire command numbered only about four thousand.
In conjunction with
Shelby's brigade, and commanded by Colonel Shelby, there was a small brigade
under the able and gallant Colonel John Q. Burbridge, which gave Shelby a
division, his old brigade being led directly by Colonel G. W. Thompson. Colonel
George W. Carter, commanding a brigade of Texas cavalry, had been temporarily
assigned to General Marmaduke by General Holmes for the expedition, and was
composed of nearly fifteen hundred well mounted, soldierly fellows-eager for
battle and for raiding. Welcome and needful rest had given to the Missouri
portion of Marmaduke's command great health and spirits, and many daring
officers bad resolved to win new laurels before returning. Eight pieces of
artillery constituted the strength of that arm-four with Shelby and four with
Carter-and by rapid and vigorous marches General Marmaduke suddenly entered the
State, gathering in as he went Colonel Reeves' battalion of partisans, skillful
scouters, and thoroughly acquainted with that portion of the country selected
for future operations.
Cool, intelligent,
wary soldiers were sent to Memphis, St. Louis, and other points to gather up
information and rejoin the cavalry somewhere about Fredericktown. Captain
Aldridge Corder, attached to Shelby's staff, had Memphis assigned to him, with
the Mississippi river to St. Louis. Newton Hockensmith, of B:athbll.n's company,
whose skill and daring deserve immortality, penetrated to St. Louis; Isaac
Treadway, a reticent, collected soldier, operated below Memphis; and others went
to Rolla, to Pilot Knob, and even as low down as New Madrid. The information
being constantly furnished by some of these frequently came very opportunely,
and on several occasions the sudden appearance of some long-absent spy has
enabled Shelby to execute rapid and unlooked for movements.
At Patterson, a small
outpost very far down in the southeast, there had been stationed for some time a
Missouri Federal militia regiment under Colonel Smart, and also several
dependent Home Guard companies, the most bloody and murderous of which was
commanded by a certain Captain Leper. This outpost, covered by a detached fort
on a huge hill, seemed very strong naturally, and looked ugly and vicious on its
elevated position. General Marmaduke made excellent dispositions to surround the
town and capture its garrison, for Leper, as everyone knew, was a goodly prize,
and the rope had been duly prepared for the stretching. Shelby was to approach
from the west, swing round half way and meet Colonel Giddings, commanding a
Texas regiment, from the east, when, the circle being rendered complete, both
were to contract their folds until everything was crushed. With his usual skill
and strategy,
Shelby grasped every
road on his line, captured every picket-post, and moved on swiftly and silently
upon the unalarmed garrison. At the main outpost nearest the town, the videttes,
thirty in number, held a large log house with unusual tenacity, but Captain
Reck. Johnson carried it by a bloody charge, and fell badly wounded upon its
threshold, not, however, giving up his attack until the inmates shouted for
quarter.
All went well on the
west. Patterson had almost been reached when the sudden booming of artillery on
the east told that Giddings must be either hard pressed or had met a superior
force. The alarm given now fell swiftly upon the garrison, and Colonel Shelby
dashed furiously on, hoping at least to prevent the destruction of the valuable
supplies there, if not to gather in a few loiterers. Sure enough the town had
been hastily evacuated and many houses given to the flames; but, after great
exertions, these were extinguished and much valuable property saved. Giddings,
with a singularity of conduct not often developed in officers during active
service, met Smart's pickets advantageously posted and fun of fight. Not being
as smart as Smart, he
formed an elaborate line of battle, threw forward skirmishers, and actually
opened a vigorous fire with his artillery upon a dozen or 80 outlying videttes.
Major Rainwater, of Marmaduke's staff, one of the most promising young officers
in the army, and whose only fault was getting himself continually wounded, was
with Giddings, and remarked to him quietly, after all this absurdity: "This it!
not the way we fight." Colonel Smart, at Patterson, hearing the roar of heavy
guns, concluded at once that it was no attack of bushwhackers, which he had
previously insisted upon, and, gathering up his column, fled triumphantly into
Ironton, bearing with him the notorious Leper.
Quiet possession was
taken of the place by Colonel Shelby, and distribution made equally of the
stores captured in acceptable quantities. Scarcely, however had the guards been
sta.tioned, when &small detachment of Federals, under Captain Bartlett,
ignorant that the fort had changed hands during their absence, dashed into the
town pursued by Lieutenants Walton aud McCoy. They had picked up Major Lawrence,
Colonel Shelby's gallant Quartermaster, on the way in some how, together with
Hall Shindler and one or two others. Major Lawrence and Shindler, who took the
matter as an excellent joke, made no objection to Captain Bartlett's speed until
they had almost reached Shelby's brigade drawn up in line at
the crack of the
first gun, when he quietly asked: "Where have you been, Captain, not to know
those men before you are Shelby's ?"
'Shelby's be d-d,"
laughed Bartlett, "come and I will introduce you to Colonel Smart."
"It will be after the
war, then," answered Lawrence, .. and you had better surrender to me as
gracefully as I to you just now, Captain." Bartlett, being soon near enough to
find out his great mistake, handed his sword over sorrowfully as a man before
whose eyes floated visions of Dixie, blue beef, and corn whisky. In the main,
however, Bartlett was a clever young officer, and took his capture like a
philosopher. Riding with the column upon unlimited parole during the march of
the expedition, he so favorably impressed Colonel Shelby, that he released him
on his return to Arkansas, and sent him, with other captured officers, to Cape
Girardeau.
The burning of
Patterson has been unjustly and falsely attributed to the Confederates, and,
since the termination of the war, some zealous but contemptible fanatics have
been annoying many of the officers acting on this expedition with suits and
claims for fabulous damages. Captain Ben Bogy, of St. Louis, an excellent and
sterling officer, was one upon whom they attempted to fasten the crime.
Admitting that General Marmaduke, as the leader of the expedition, ordered the
destruction, Captain Bogy would not have been selected for the work, for his
duties were onerous and incessant in another direction. If it would be any
consolation for the Confederates to assume the responsibility of the actions of
the Federals in this matter, there is no man who would do it sooner and care
less about it than Captain Bogy. A brave, devoted, untiring officer, he ever
obeyed his orders with cheerfulness and alacrity. However, neither Captain Bogy
nor the Confederates are responsible for the burning of Patterson, and -if it is
deemed desirable to soothe the wounds of outraged loyalty by confiscating and
imprisoning as a retaliation, the suggestion is made that Colonel Smart and
Captain Leper be indicted for arson.
Before reaching
Patterson, General John McNeil had been heard of away down in Pemiscot county,
conscripting and forcing into the militia all available men lingering out from
either army. General Marmaduke dispatched Carter after McNeil, with instructions
to get into his rear and drive him into Pilot Knob, as papers had been captured
by Marmaduke's scouts containing orders for McNeil to march immediately upon
this point, its commander fearing attack. Three roads were open to McNeil-two
promis.ing escape, the other running by Fredericktown, and watched by the
Confederates. Marmaduke, relying upon McNeil obeying his orders, supposed,
naturally,
that the
Fredericktown road would be the one selected. Under no circumstances was Colonel
Carter to pursue McNeil should he disobey his orders, and move toward either New
Madrid or Cape Girardeau, and return at once to Fredericktown if such intention
was developed by McNeil.
From Patterson,
Shelby's brigade dashed into Fredericktown, gathered up about fifty Federals
there, and adjourned, rather unceremoniously, an Abolition court then in session
for the confiscation of Southern men's property. Elliott was thrown forward on
the Ironton road almost up to the town. He drove in its outposts, and hovered in
sight for two days.
Meanwhile, nothing
had been heard from Carter, nor did McNeil approach Pilot Knob by the road
expected. Trusty scouts sent out returned with no reliable information, and they
were replaced by additional ones with but little better success. Two days
expired. At length Marmaduke learned with surprise that McNeil had gone post
haste into Cape Girardeau, followed by Colonel Carter, who was now resting below
the town, upon the Mississippi river, unable to retreat, and in imminent danger
of being turned upon and crushed.
To extricate Colonel
Carter, General Marmaduke concentrated his remaining forces rapidly, and marched
directly upon Cape Girardeau, determined to attack the position fiercely with
Shelby's command, create the impression that he designed its capture, and, in
the time necessarily taken for defense by the Federals, withdraw Carter from his
perilous position.
This movement had
been preceded by a brilliant cavalry dash, and the hero was Major Charley
Rainwater, of Marmaduke's staff. There were stationed at a large bridge over
Whitewater, a stream between Fredericktown and Cape Girardeau, about a hundred
regular Federals, under Captain Shipman. Major Rainwater, leading some forty men
of Reeves' battalion, charged this bridge with reckless temerity, and found
three or four of its planks removed. Nothing daunted, he spurred his horse over,
followed by his men, and swept everything before him. The Federals fought
desperately, and Captain Shipman stood to his post, like a true soldier as he
was, encouraging his men . by his example until dreadfully wounded by Rainwater.
Few of the Federals escaped. Those not killed or wounded were captured, for
before the melee ended a detachment of Texans came from the other side and
completely closed every avenue of retreat.
A large garrison held
Cape Girardeau, protected by strong fortifications and two or three formidable
gunboats. Major David Shanks, fearlessly leading the advance, struck the 1st
Nebraska infantry and two regiments of cavalry half a mile in front of the
nearest redoubt, and engaged them at once, supported by Shelby's brigade
dismounted, and the brigade of Colonel Burbridge. The battle became stubborn and
severe directly, but the Federals were finally driven back at all points from
the timber and into the first line of fortifications, from which a terrible
artillery fire opened upon the advancing division, now wholly unprotected in the
valley below Collins rushed his battery to the front and engaged the heavy guns
at close range, suffering so greatly that volunteers ,were called for to man his
pieces. They came in dozens, and melted away almost as fast as they came. Shanks
and Elliott, in a large peach orchard on the extreme right, were charged
fiercely by a regiment of Federal cavalry, but they drove it back with loss
after ten minutes of hot fighting. The enemy left their fortifications at last,
and came down to grapple Shelby's command in the open field. The onset was
destructive, and lasted half an hour, but the Federals did not gain an inch by
their determined efforts, and retired again to comparative security, unwilling
to leave any more during the day the shelter of friendly walls. Major Blackwell,
Captain Woodsmall, Lieutenant Ferrell, old Mr. Gates, the patriarch of Hooper's
regiment, who had eleven sons, six grandsons, and a dozen nephews and cousins in
Captain Dickey's company, Martin, Tindell, Lynch, Delavan, Cootes, and one
hundred others were badly wounded and left in hospitals, while around the
battery, and among the peach trees where Shanks and Elliott fought, the dead lay
thick and in clusters. Once the word ... charge" rang along the lines, and
Shelby's skirmishers dashed up the large hill on which stood the nearest fort
almost to the guns, but the order was countermanded, and General Marmaduke
finally retired his troops under a terrific fire, after bringing Carter safely
from the bottom lands below the town. No other command engaged during the day,
and Colonel Shelby's brigade and Colonel Burbridge's brigade bore the battle
brunt alone. The capture of the town, from the first, had never been intended,
being strongly fortified, its garrison numbering twice the force of its
assailants, and having a position of remarkable natural strength. All the hot
hours of the fight the incessant screaming of steamboat whistles
told of arriving
reinforcements, and the departure of non-combatants for the Illinois shore.
Commissary and quartermaster supplies of all kinds were piled in the streets and
saturated with turpentine, in expectation of defeat. A united attack by
Marmaduke upon the forts, with his entire force, might probably have resulted in
their capture. This was Shelby's opinion.
After the battle had
been fought and won; after the Confederate banner had gone back before the tide
of opposing enemies, a scene occurred on the red and trodden field more heroic
than any soldier act in all the daring army. Two beautiful Southern girls
wandering with sad and disappointed hearts among the wrecks of the strife, found
unburied two Confederates-two of the volunteers who had rushed to Collins' guns
when the cry came for help. These girls, thrilling with maiden sensitiveness and
reserve, yet dug with their own hands a single grave for the dead heroes and by
dint of superhuman strength and nerve finally deposited the bloody and mutilated
corpses in their final resting-place; and that too while enduring the jibes and
sneers of a pitiless and brutal soldiery. Honor to the young and the beautiful.
One day our Ivanhoes will be written; one day song and story will embalm in
immortal prose or poetry this glorious episode, and weave a wreath of unfading
laurels for their recompense. The names of these two girl heroines were Miss
Mary E. Cook and Miss Priscilla Autrey,
and one of the two
soldiers thus interred was Columbus Elliott, of Lafayette county, Missouri-as
pure and as heroic a soldier as ever died for the Banner of the Bars. Through
the pages of this book the wounded of Shelby's brigade at Cape Girardeau desire
to return thanks to the Southern Indies of this beautiful town for their
generosity and attention. It was a dark hour when the ragged, suffering" rebels"
were brought-in with rough and festering wounds, yet the tender females defied
opposition, bribed sentinels, endured the malaria. of a hospital, and fed,
flattered, and caressed the suffering soldiers. If the rough. sturdy, valiant
Englishman, who was hacked and stabbed nigh unto death at Inkermann, had yet
love enough to raise his head to kiss the fleeting shadow of Florence
Nightingale as it lingered lovingly for a moment above his pillow, how must the
old Roman Gates, sixty-six years of age, have watched for Mrs. Wathen and her
beautiful daughter, as their cool fans ruffled the drooping of his long white
hair, and their cool hands wiped away the fever drops. Miss McKnight, Miss
Shepherd, Miss Cook, Miss Autrey, Mrs. Galasha, Mrs. Stone, and many other
ladies did nil possible for Shelby's wounded, and many Missourians to-day, happy
in the possession of life, will ask heaven's choicest blessings to rest upon
those who gave so much and so lavishly of their gentleness and sympathy.
Two Federal surgeons
there, Drs. McClellan and Martin, were soldiers in everything, and the officers
of the 1st Nebraska infantry made friends who returned their kindness with
interest.
At Shelby's swift,
deadly fight upon the DuvaIl's Bluff and Little Rock railroad, this regiment
went to the waIl, after fighting stubbornly and well. Treated elegantly, paroled
kindly, the Nebraskians were sent under an escort to Rolla, and not required to
serve out weary months and months in filthy prisons until exchanged. Surely seed
sown sometimes by the wayside springs up and expands into luxuriant harvests!
The army, after its
repulse, withdrew to Jackson unmolested. That night, however, General Vandiver,
who had been waiting quietly at Pilot Knob with five thousand men until
Marmaduke
developed his plans,
marched up on the camp and attacked the nearest regiment, commanded by Colonel
R. C. Newton, of Arkansas. A night attack, especially to raw troops, has
something unearthly about it, and this i regiment; in spite of the strenuous
efforts of its gallant commander, fell back in confusion behind the Iron Brigade
that gathered around General Vandiver's advance darker than the midnight,
riddling it by one long, close, withering volley. Nothing more was attempted
then, and both sides rested quietly until day dawn.
Here Colonel Shelby,
supported by General Marmaduke, organized one of those sudden demonstrations he
loved so well when in danger, and which invariably mystified 'and puzzled the
enemy. He gave to one of his most daring scouters, Lieutenant Josiah L. Bledsoe,
a hundred and fifty picked men, ordered him to gain Vandiver's rear, and fire
the gigantic bridge over Mill creek, on the Iron Mountain railroad. For a guide
and adviser, Captain Muse accompanied Bledsoe, and both together they marched
off to carry out their perilous instructions. The bridge was gained after
innumerable hardships, fired, and all St. Louis trembled at the audacity of the
attempt, for everyone thought Marmaduke's whole force must be upon the city.
Vandiver's alarm became so great that he detached four of his best cavalry
regiments to follow Bledsoe, who eluded them all and got safely back with the
loss of one man, having
fought and traveled
three days and nights.
Daylight had scarcely
broken ahove the quiet spires of good old Jackson when Vandiver attacked in
force. Early as he had been Marmaduke was earlier, leaving only a strong rear
guard behind. With this, skirmishing continued during the entire day. The next,
Colonel Carter bringing up the rear with his brigade, became hard pressed and
forced to give ground faster than desirable. At the crossing of Whitewater his
last line had been broken through, and fell back pell mell upon Shelby's
brigade, formed to rescue it. That far the wave came but no further. Elliott
barred the road with his impassable battalion, and Thompson swinging round
struck the Federals full on their right flank, cutting the column in two and
rolling up both bleeding enui;! like a string of tow. l\umbers of prisoners were
captured, and the pursuit quieted for the day. Indeed, so swift and so unerring
were the blows struck by Colonel Shelby on this retreat, that General Marmaduke
held him continually in the rear thereafter.
At Bloomfield,
Vandiver had so far recovered his assurance as to tempt another issue, and threw
forward a brigade supported by artillery against Shelby's brigade. The fight
waxed hot and bloody. Shelby held his position for an hour against heavy odds,
and retired slowly and unmolested. Forty miles from Bloomfield the St. Francis
river ran square across the road, bank full and swift as a racer. Major
Lawrence, l\8 good at engineering as in his quartermaster's department, was
ordered on post-haste to construct a substantial bridge before the army arrived.
The task he knew well would certainly be a gigantic one, but this accomplished
officer understood no such word as fail. Before he reached the river, however,
some of Marmaduke's engineers had preceded him, and everything was prepared when
the command arrived, Shelby still pressed incessantly and fighting the whole
way. He formed line of battle just two miles from the swollen river, posted his
battery, threw forward skirmishers, and told his men very calmly that upon them
depended the fate of the army.
" Gentlemen," he said
to his officers who had visited him for final orders, "remember, not an inch
must be yielded no matter how great the danger. If we go down, all shall go
together, and our artillery shall be saved if I lose my brigade."
The Federals, sure of
overwhelming success the next day, went contentedly into bivouac, lit great camp
fires, and spent the night in songs and merriment. Not a flame flitted across
Shelby's silent and watchful front, lying out dark in the midnight under the
waning stars.
The bridge built by
General Jeff. Thompson and Major Robert Smith, of General Marmaduke's staff, was
a curiosity in its way, and neither evidenced much engineering skill nor
mathematical ingenuity. The infantry, that is, the dismounted men, barely
managed to cross on it-one at a time-like Indians on a war-trail; the horses
were pushed in below, and made to swim over, while a huge raft was constructed
by Major Lawrence for the artillery, and, piece by piece, slowly and laboriously
it was ferried over. All night she hoarse words of command rang out upon the
air, mixed and varied incessantly with the plunging of frightened horses and the
shouts of lusty swimmers. Everything in advance got safely across. Marmaduke,
J eff. Thompson,
Burbridge, Slayback, and other earnest and energetic officers stood by the
bridge continually, urging, commanding, threatening, and hurrying. At length
Shelby's battery withdrew; then his regiments; then the skirmishers, one by one,
until just at daylight everything had safely crossed, except Captain George
Gordon, with a large detachment holding an outpost that could not be
relinquished. There were shouts of disappointed vengeance and there were cries
of baffled rage, when Vandiver's ten thousand outwitted soldiers found the prey
had escaped. Four thousand Confederates, wearied from a month of incessant
marching and fighting, had calmly faced about upon a swollen river, held the
ground until their less disciplined comrades passed, and then as calmly went
away themselves, without losing a horse or wetting a musket. The blue coats
swarmed down to the water's edge and
poured a furious fire
against the opposite bank, but Collins was waiting, so naturally, it seemed he
knew their leader's counsels, and threw a hundred or two shells into their
disappointed faces, which marred the fair array, and sent it back broken to the
cover of the woods. Captain Gordon held on devotedly until he believed the army
to be safely over, when he gathered up his isolated soldiers and boldly struck
up the river. Baffled in three attempts to cross, and almost surrounded, he
finally cut through to the water, plunged boldly in and went swiftly across
under a galling fire which wounded a dozen of his little band. He was welcomed
back with shouts of joy and triumph. The pursuit ended at St. Francis river, and
the command marched by easy stages to Jacksonport, where a few brief days of
rest were permitted it.
In the rear
continually on the retreat from Cape Girardeau, and doing much good service,
too, rode Major John Thrailkill. At a stream near Bloomfield, when hard pressed,
he formed his detachment suddenly on the crest of a sharp ridge in conjunction
with Captain Bob Adams, and, after half an hour's bloody battle, succeeded in
checking Vandiver's entire advance. At the bridge across the St. Francis,
Thrailkill's eminent qualities as a bold, determined man, were again called into
action, and he labored incessantly in pushing over the horses. Colonels Carter
and Shelby were the last to cross the tottering, crazy bridge, which was
immediately cut away by Major Thrailkill and Lieutenant Tom Keithly, lest, bad
and unserviceable as it proved to be, some use might be made of it by the enemy.
Captain Arthur St.
Clair was detailed by Shelby to command an ambush party of two hundred picked
marksmen to hold the river a short time after the bridge went down.
sharpshooters, mostly from the old Southwest regiment and unerring riflemen,
found a splendid shelter behind a bluff bank on the south side, that protected
and concealed them at the same time. St. Clair rode out in full view on a
milk-white horse, and waved his hat as a signal for his men to fire, just as the
Federals came down to the water's edge on the opposite bank-about a hundred and
fifty yards from the lurking riflemen. It was the signal for the volley, and it
was not only a volley of thunder, but it carried with it the thunderbolt. Forty
of the enemy fell dead before the close, accurate fire, and many wounded were
borne shrieking away to the rear. One hour afterward, when many of the Federals
had again appeared, this sudden fire was repeated, with similar success, upon a.
compact mass huddled closely together, viewing with curiosity the fragments of
the destroyed bridge. Captain St. Clair received a bullet through
his hat as he
galloped off, having obeyed his orders, and carried out his instructions to the
letter.
General Marmaduke's
retreat from Cape Girardeau had been admirably conducted throughout in the
presence of a largely superior cavalry force, supported constantly by infantry
and abundant artillery. Had Vandiver and McNeill used energy, intelligence, and
courage, results might have been different, and the losses inflicted upon the
Confederates frightful. McNeil had no roads before him for pursuit when Shelby
withdrew fighting from his front, but unreliable and erratic, he chose the one
upon which there was the least danger, and by following which he could inflict
the least possible damage upon his antagonists. To the east of the road traveled
by General Marmaduke ran a. parallel one from Cape Girardeau-better, smoother,
and shorter to Whitewater bridge. By taking this road, pressing forward
vigorously, and leaving only one regiment in rear of the Confederates, McNeil
had it in his power to gain this bridge in Marmaduke's front and hold him there,
despite his most desperate efforts, until Vandiver closed in upon his rear. It
was not done, nor even attempted to be done, and General
Marmaduke wondered
and shuddered at the same time when the river was passed without a fight.
At the crossing of
the St. Francis river the timidity and caution of Vandiver were as remarkable as
unnecessary. For a month four thousand cavalry had been marching, fighting,
retreating, starving, and suffering greatly from fatigue and incessant motion.
Ammunition was scarce; some of the troops composing the expedition were
demoralized; the horses of all were jaded and worn completely down. A combined,
vigorous, determined attack upon General Marmaduke in the evening preceding his
night withdrawal, while promising bloody and sturdy fighting, also promised
great and grave results. Vandiver could commit no greater mistake in giving
Marmaduke an unmolested night-he certainly never granted favors before nor since
more thankfully and devoutly received.
CHAPTER XI.
VICKSBURG in its
death agony had long before made mute appeals to General Holmes for help and
succor, but the crisis had culminated before he struck, and the blow rebounded
upon himself. Generals Price and Marmaduke urged upon General Holmes an attack
upon Helena, that a diversion might be made if possible in favor of Vicksburg;
and also to annoy the enemy; interrupt the navigation of the Mississippi river;
and, by attracting the eyes of the Federal Government to the Trans-Mississippi
army, draw upon it some of the heavy blows being delivered against Johnson,
Pemberton, and Lee.
On the 28th of June,
1863, Shelby's brigade was in motion for Helena, whither tended infantry,
cavalry, artillery, in imposing array. The entire country between Jacksonport
and the Mississippi river became one vast lagoon streaked innumerably by now
swimming streams and bottomless bayous. Still it rained day after day, and camp
after camp was flooded in a night. Regiments were separated by almost impassable
streams, and headquarters were often cut off by a wilderness of water. Through
all the dreary chillness of another flood and triumphant above the war of
elements, the Iron Brigade struggled on to rendezvous its military ardor
unquenched by exposure and its powder dry for the conflict.
July the 3d, 1863,
found Helena girt about by walls of living men, and sitting quietly on her river
home, conscious yet careless of the hot ordeal in store. Price was there, and
Fagan was there, and from the plains of Texas came the rough riders to water
their steeds in the swift Mississippi. Up from Vicksburg were borne the cries of
bra.ve men in their dire necessity, and every heart should have been nerved for
strife, and every soldier should have resolved to conquer or die.
The position, very
strong naturally, had been more than usually well fortified. General Holmes'
plan of attack was excellent, and would have been successful but for the
indifference of some and the ignorance of others. It required a combined and
general attack at sunrise precisely, upon the morning of the 4th, against all
points of the Federal defenses. No further orders were to be given, but with the
sun every commander was to hurl his division upon the enemy. Near the house of
General Hindman, which was just beyond the southern suburbs of the city, stood
a. battery of four heavy guns, protected by earthworks and rifle-pits, this was
to be carried by General Fagan, from the south, at sunrise. Next to the work
assigned him stood another stronger one, mounting three heavy guns, the
Graveyard Fort, which General Price was to storm at sunrise from the west.
Further north' still, stood Fort Soloman,
mounting also three
heavy guns, which General Marmaduke was to attack at sunrise from the North; and
further yet to the extreme north General Walker had to march down the valley
directly upon the city at sunrise and attack the rifle-pits in front. Here are
three forts disposed of, Fort Hindman, Fort Soloman, and the Graveyard Fori-but
in the center of the town there arose, in huge proportions, a vast square
redoubt, protected by cllsemates, rifle-pits llnd abattis-it was the city's
citadel, and commanding all the other works, of course it mu be within reach of
them also. This redoubt was to be subjected to a concentrated fire from its
consorts for a given period, and then to be assaulted on all sides
simultaneously. Thus far very good. Nothing could be better than the plan-no
complications, no details, no confusion. Each commander had his work marked out,
and at the sunrise signal he was to march evenly on, fight everything before
him, take ms fort or be cut to pieces-nothing more.
Shelby, leading his
brigade, struck a heavy blockade about two miles from the town, through which he
was forced to cut his way, that the artillery might not be left behind-he being
the only commander taking guns into action. The narrow ridge running almost up
to Fort Soloman became so pointed and sharp as he advanced, that the cannon
wheels could not rest upon its summit, and bounded halfway down its sides at
every discharge.
In plain view, the
Mississippi river lay wrapped in an impenetrable vail of fog, that whirled and
twisted in vast formless clouds upon the sleeping town, and on the giant trees
upon its banks. At sunrise it lifted sufficiently to see glimmering through the
gloom the dark sides and the inevitable black, pitchy smoke of an ironclad
escorting a large steamer, whose roof and decks were blue with uniforms. Shelby
opened directly upon the crowded boat; the ironsides answered immediately, and
from all the bastioned walls and grim redoubts of Helena, there went up on this
Independence Day a crash and thunder of artillery more discordant than a war of
elements. From the town a splendid six gun battery ran out and took position in
the plain below to silence Collins' guns; the iron-clad shelled him all day, and
Fort Soloman plied its busy Parrotts almost beyond endurance. Under this heavy
and enfilading fire, Shelby.
formed his brigade
for the charge, Captain John Clark leading the forlorn hope against the Fort,
and Captain St. Clair and Lieutenant James Walton leading the skirmishers
covering the line of battle-both positions of imminent
peril.
The issue was joined;
the river tied its bonnet of sunbeams on and lay very quiet, listening to the
great bursts of artillery, the ringing of impatient bugles, and the shouts and
groans of agony. General Price hurled his splendid and massive division against
the Graveyard Fort and swept it like a hurricane, turning its guns upon the
central redoubt as ordered, while Colonel Lewis pressed on furiously into the
town, leading a brave brigade, and carrying all before him.
General Fagan swooped
down upon Fort Hindman with his gallant Arkansans, but was driven back after a
desperate effort-his men showing determined and conspicuous valor-after which
suicidal skirmishing followed, and firing at long range.
Neither Marmaduke nor
Walker charged. The success of these two officers required a cordial
co-operation which was never given; and the failure of Walker to advance, in
General Marmaduke's opinion, so jeopardized his (Marmaduke's) left flank, as to
make an assault out of the question. The unsuccessful attack of General Fagan,
the failure of Marmaduke and Walker to attack at an, and the driving back of
General Price's division, decided the battle. Shelby, waiting impatiently for
orders to advance, asked permission to assault Fort Salomon, but was refused.
From the ridge over· looking the town, Shelby's brigade watched the gallant
advance of Price's infantry into the heart of Helena fighting fiercely at every
corner, the houses vomiting flames of death, and the great grim citadel sweeping
the streets at every discharge of its twenty guns. Then the infantry which had
repulsed Fagan hemmed in the heroic Missourians and bore them back inch by inch,
killing and capturing as they advanced. During the fearful struggle, and having
more troops than could swarm about Lewis' decimated brigade, General Prentiss
concentrated a fearful fire upon Shelby from artillery and infantry. The noble
and chivalrous John Clark, tender and pure as a woman, fell mortally wounded
leading his forlorn hope almost to the ditches of Fort Soloman. St. Clair,
Cogswell, and Jim Walton urging on the skirmishers, were badly shot, Turner was
killed, and Colonel Shelby, braving death as if holding a charmed life, and
having two horses previously killed under him, at last received a dreadful wound
that shattered his wrist, plowed through his arm,
and caused
intolerable agony. Faint from loss of blood and reeling in his saddle, he was
forced from the field long enough to have the arm bandaged. Around Collins'
battery the slaughter became dreadful. Major Smith, General Marmaduke's
Quartermaster, fell shot through the heart in the act of sighting one of the
guns; yet Collins, Connor, and Kelly plied the hail of canister and grape upon
the gathering, threatening masses below. Fagan and Price were retreating from
the vicinity of Helena, pursued heavily. Lewis and most of his brigade were
captured or killed. Walker had long withdrawn when General Marmaduke ordered
Shelby's brigade from the field, just as its leader, very faint and pale,
galloped back to his soldiers. The retreat was painfully executed under a
withering fire. The battery was in imminent danger, its horses all killed; its
wheels bullet-rent and riddled. Scarcely able to sit his horse, his wound still
bleeding freely, Shelby dashed down the ranks of his brigade, shouting:
"Volunteers to save the battery. Shelby's brigade never lost a battery, and with
God's help it
never shall! Come,
boys, come to the front."
Oh! it was a glorious
thing to see that old, decimated, battered brigade then, with its old tattered
flag above it, and the low, murky powder-pall settling everywhere darker and
darker. Gathered in the rear were Federal infantry, and cavalry, and artillery,
not three hundred paces away, pressing on furiously, too, and shouting and
killing as they came. Captains Collins and James Kelley, and Lieutenants Connor,
and Inglehart, and Harris, and Coleman Smith, black with powder, and worn with
fighting were still at their posts, dragging and tugging at the dead horses and
trying to extricate them from the harness. "Volunteers, away-the battery is in
danger!" That cry had never yet been unheeded-the battery was the brigade's
darling. Not one, fifty-but a thousand cool soldiers yelled out a great cry of
courage and started back. "Fifty, only fifty," ordered Shelby, "and go with
them, Colonel Gilkey. Bring the battery with
you or remain
yourself." Back to the rear a hundred paces went Gilkey with his forlorn hope.
Back to the rear there, hotter than the July sun, and fatal and swift to swallow
up, went Langhorne, Garr, Winship, Cravens, Slayback, Stangel, Wood Noland, the
brothers Kritzer, Jim Tucker and Bob Tucker, Hodge, Frank Jack· son, Geo.
Gordon, Tom Paine, John Corder, Jo. Knox, Will Buford, Jim Kirtley, Tom Young,
Will Dysart, Typ. Kirtly, Felix Graves, Will Wayman, Wm. Orndoff, Captain
Simpson and Lieutenant Ridge, Seb. Plattenburg, Kit Moorman and Clay Floyd,
Lieutenant Mark Dye and Lucien Major, Lieutenant Tom Walton and Lieutenant Jas.
Wills, Captain Nunnelly, Renfro, and John Wyatt Lewis, Lum White, and Will
Hickman, and I wish I knew them all to name them -peerless soldiers going back
into the" jaws of death, into the mouth of hell"-less than three hundred. Nobly
did Gilkey obey his orders. The dead horses were cut from the traces, prolonges
were instantaneously attached, and, with a great shout the guns were started.
Everyone worked for dear life and dear honor. Over the matted barricade they
were dragged and hurried. Back came the guns, but not all the young heroes sent
to rescue them. Fifty eager volunteers sprang away to the grapple-fifteen came
away again unhurt. Twenty were sleeping calmly enough now, and fifteen more
bleeding and waiting until they might be borne from the field. With such
soldiers and such sacrifices, was it any wonder why Shelby never lost a battery?
Missouri gave no
purer sacrifice to the god of battles than was offered up to liberty when
Captain John Clark fell, dreadfully and mortally wounded, leading the forlorn
hope upon the works of Helena. Loved and worshiped by the company, honored and
trusted by all who knew him; he crowned the record of a stainless life by an
immortal death, and fell a Christian and a hero, fighting as another Bayard, for
the green fields and the blue skies of his nativity. Gentle as a woman,
fearless, heroic, and lovable, no man so endeared himself to his friends and won
such eminent regard from all who knew him.
The death of Major
Robert Smith, too, left a void upon the staff of General Marmaduke not easily
filled. Brave, energetic, intelligent and devoted, he had upon a dozen hotly
contested fields given great promise of future greatness.
Thomas Paine, of
Company C, Shelby's regiment, fell, too, at Helena, having wounds yet unhealed
from previous battles. He was a model soldier, brave, and tried, and steadfast
as a mountain. Colonel Shanks, Pack Bowdry, Lieutenant James Walton, Captain
Arthur St. Clair, George Garr, and thirty others from the brigade were badly
wounded, but managed to stand up until supported by comrades beyond the reach of
the enemy. Crushed in spirit, sullen, dejected and unnerved, General Holmes rode
slowly from Helena, following the footsteps of his repulsed and beaten army. He
remarked gloomily, afterward, that to him death upon the field WllS preferable
to disaster, and that he had prayed for it earnestly when the attack proved a
failure. General Holmes certainly did expose himself throughout the day
recklessly and gallantly, seeming by his actions to be courting death.
The capture of
Helena, even had it been successfully accomplished, would have been too late to
help Vicksburg, for the surrender of this beleaguered city was an accomplished
fact before the battle ended. True, the effect upon the army would have been
something if victory came, and its vast stores of ammunition, medicines,
artillery, supplies and equipments were worth then more than an army with
banners; but man proposed and God disposed. Yet even Providence seemed loitering
for propitiation, and had every commander done his whole duty and marched boldly
forward as the crisis and the country demanded, success was eminently probable.
From the bloody
attack upon Helena, Shelby's brigade moved slowly back to Jacksonport, and
Colonel Shelby, suffering greatly from his wound, went up to Batesville for rest
and medical attendance, Dr. Webb, Chief Surgeon of Jackman's brigade, and an
able physician and devoted friend, attending him. Rest for the soldiers,
however, seemed impossible. Six thousand cavalry, under General Davidson, came
down Croly's Ridge from toward Rolla, Missouri, and threatened General Marmaduke
at Jacksonport. A bold front and instant preparations to meet them caused a
change of policy, and General Davidson, when within eight miles of his foe,
turned suddenly about and hurried into Helena.
The brigade,
commanded now by Colonel G. W. Thompson, had many sick but few deaths in this
unhealthy encampment around Jacksonport. and the reckless soldiers resorted to
continual practical jokes and escapades to keep off the gloom and the malaria of
the marshes. There had been in Smith's regiment a poor fellow -lingering between
life and death for some time, and at last the dark hour seemed drawing near. It
happened also, that a Texas regiment over the way lost one of its members the
morning in question, and some of
his comrades had dug
for the soldier a. deep, comfortable grave, at the roots of a gigantic oak.
Midway between the camp of the Missourians and Texans lived an old carpenter
named Uncle Joe Harrington-a kind, good-hearted man, who had managed by hook or
by crook to scrape together some pretty fair tools for these days of scarcity,
and rather than lend them to the careless soldiers, invariably made all the
coffins required himself. He had just finished a neat, modest one for the poor
Texan, when Jack Rector, and one of his companions equally as devilish,
sauntered into Uncle Joe's shop. "Whose coffin, Uncle Joe 1" asked Jack. " Don't
know-some Texan just died-wanted my tools as usual, and I done the work myself
rather than trust you good-for-nothing fellows."
Jack winked at his
comrade and retired immediately from the shop. " Well," inquired his friend,
joining him a few minutes afterward, "what is it?"
"If Tom Saunders will
only die now," referring to the sick soldier in Smith's regiment," he'll have a
better resting-place than many of us hereafter. I propose to steal coffin, grave
and all;" "Capital!" shouted the other one, not a whit more conscientious than
Jack, "and would you believe it, Tom did die not half an hour before I left
camp."
Returning and finding
the breath scarcely gone from poor Tom, Jack communicated his plan to a dozen
others and soon started two new hands for the coffin, who saluted Uncle Joe, and
asked: "Is our coffin done?"
"Who's coffin ye
arter?"
" The one Captain
Simpson had made this morning."
"For what troops?"
"Texas troops of
course, Uncle Joe."
"Oh! yes-there it
is---two dollars specie-ten dollars Confederate money."
"All right, here's
your Confed," and the Missourians shouldered the coffin, and hurried off in
triumph. Inclosing the body with becoming gravity, as time pressed and discovery
became momentarily more imminent, Tom Saunders was at last borne to the deep,
dark grave beneath the sober oak. Uncle Bob Rennick performed the burial
ceremony, and the soldiers lowered down and covered up the coffin just as the
body of the Texan was seen approaching from the direction of the neighboring
camp. Explanations followed, not very complimentary at best, but the joke was so
unnaturally ludicrous and ghastly that the Texan's friends finally turned the
whole thing into a downright laugh, and gracefully yielded the palm to Shelby's
brigade of being composed of the" d--st rascals in the army," vowing· as the two
parties separated, "that they would get even yet for having to dig two graves
instead of one."
This is only an
incident among ten thousand of such events, and shows how exposure and
familiarity strip all terror from the face of death, and laugh. and mock him
even in his own terrible province. The story took wings, and hundreds of the
neighboring people came to see the grave" Jack Rector stole."
Marmaduke crossed
White river immediately for Little Rock, now threatened by a large force
advancing under General Steele, and rested for several days beyond Little Red
river, in the neighborhood of Searcy. Before leaving this camp a fleet, light
draught boat, rendered bullet proof by a dextrous combination of cotton bales,
came up White river from Des Arc to the mouth of Little Red river, and thence up
that stream almost to the camp of Shelby's brigade, shelling the woods on either
side and showing a bold, defiant bearing. Colonel Thompson was sent forward with
the brigade to capture this boat, by taking position with Collins' battery
below, and attacking her with sharpshooters above. The roads being in horrible
condition and almost impassable for artillery, Collins could not reach his point
until the prize, now thoroughly alarmed, had passed down swiftly in retreat.
Colonel Gilkey, leading the foremost regiment, dashed on in pursuit overtaking
the boat a mile below, and being splendidly mounted and desiring to cripple her
movements by killing the pilot, exposed himself recklessly and needlessly as did
also Major Shanks. Poor Gilkey paid for his temerity with his life, and fell
mortally wounded within ten feet of the cotton covered boat. Shanks, not well
yet of his Helena wound, also received a severe shot in the hand, and the
regiment coming up tried vainly to check her speed, but, being bullet-proof and
impervious she pressed on and finally made good her escape. The dying Colonel,
idolized by his men, was carried slowly and sorrowfully into camp, where, after
lingering in agony for a few hours he went away peacefully to join
the great hosts of
his comrades gone before. In the large prairie around Brownsville, Shelby's
brigade first met the advance of Steele's army debouching from Duvall's Bluff
upon
the capital of
Arkansas. It was Davidson's cavalry division in magnificent trim, having in its
ranks the white stallions of Merrill's Horse, and the plumed hats of the 4th
regular cavalry.
In the latter part of
August, Marmaduke moved his brigade from Des Arc to form a junction 'with
General Marsh Walker, commanding his own and Shelby's brigade, at Brownsville,
with the view to oppose the progress of General Steele, who was in the act of
moving from Duvall's Bluff on White river against Little Rock, then and for some
time previous held by General Price, during the sickness of General Holmes, the
district commander. The movement was accomplished in a day and a night, and
Marmaduke reported to Walker, as his ranking officer for duty. The second
morning after the concentration of the three brigades at Brownsville, the
pickets reported the advance in force of the Federal cavalry under General
Davidson. Dispositions were quickly made. General Walker having decided neither
to offer nor accept battle, but merely to check the rapidity of the enemy's
advance, took charge of the main
column and moved out
in retreat; and Marmaduke at his own request was assigned to the command of the
rear. Lieutenant Colonel Ben Elliott's battalion was thrown forward on the
prairie east of the town, in hopes to draw the enemy into a charge, and thence
into an ambuscade of dismounted men and artillery. The enemy deluded by the
weakness of the line charged in handsome style; but unfortunately stopped short
just at the moment when all were most anxious for them to continue to move
forward. The artillery opened and the enemy retired with admirable celerity; and
were followed by a counter charge that picked up a few prisoners. The run across
the prairies on the part of Elliott's men, in their attempt to inveigle the
enemy into the snare, was peculiarly brilliant in point of ludicrousness, as was
also the retreat of the Federals when the artillery opened upon them. Numbers
were unhorsed on
either side, who,
with a few killed or captured made up the list of casualties.
After this little
episode the enemy showed no disposition to come against the position in front,
but seemed rather inclined to follow the line of timber a. mile or so south, and
thus to isolate the rear, if possible, from the main command. The greater
portion of the troops that had remained in Brownsville were ordered forward to
join General Walker, and Marmaduke formed and brought off the rear-guard,
consisting of Elliott's battalion, and a section of Bledsoe's battery, under
command of Lieutenant Dick Collins. In this order the retreat was continued
during the day. The enemy, by wide detours to the right and left, attempted to
pass around the rear, but the attempt always failed. At times, apparently
annoyed by their want of success in their flanking operations, they showed a.
vicious inclination to charge the rear, and by dint of saber and spur to
override and crush it; but a few well-directed shots from the
artillery always
induced them to abandon the design, and halted and sent them backward with a
sudden, jerking nervousness that was not at all heroic in its precipitance.
Merrill's White Horse brigade, that had acquired much fame in chasing citizens
over the country in Missouri, proved itself very expert at this bastard kind of
Cossack warfare. They advanced with wonderful impetuosity, and retreated with an
impetuosity even superior to that of their advance whenever a shell exploded
near them.
The main body of the
command, under General Walker, was not disturbed by these small affairs of the
rear-guard, but held its leisurely line of march during the day. The enemy gave
over the pursuit at Bayou Two Prairie, and went into camp some hours before
sunset, while Marmaduke moved on and made camp at Reed's Bridge, on Bayou Metre,
late at night.
The two points are
twelve miles distant from each other, with no water between them. The next day,
and the next succeeding three or four days, the Confederates moved out to meet
the enemy, and they moved out to meet the Confederates, and for that length of
time they vibrated back and forth, skirmishing constantly, with occasional
dashes of heavier fighting. In the rapid and desultory series of actions thus
resulting, no officer did better service than Captain Charley Bell, with a
section of light prairie guns. Requiring but two horses to move them, capable of
being carried backward or forward at a run, and worked by a hardy set of men,
they remained always on outpost, and at every dash or stand added to their
reputation.
Bayou Metre was
within sound of the guns of the earthworks thrown around Little Rock on the
north side of the river, in which were stationed the cavalry's infantry friends.
Twice or thrice, as the firing was more than ordinarily brisk, they had visits
from officers among them, who came out to observe and criticize, to see how
outpost affairs were conducted, to give good advice and to show on occasion how
the thing could and should be done. But their stay with the front, somehow, was
always short. It may have been that there were too few men engaged, and that the
number of killed and wounded did not foot up largely enough to satisfy their
sanguinary ambition; but, at any rate, it chanced that after remaining on the
field a very reasonable length of time, after seeing some advances and
counter-advances, after hearing once or twice the bugles clang out sharp and
clear, followed by a sweep of dismounted men through the heavy woods, to
out-flank or cut-off some opposing party that had advanced too far, or followed
by a rapid dash of horsemen across an open field or along the road,
or the sudden
wheeling into position and opening of a battery at short range, they concluded
to reserve their skill and the exhibition of their mettle to the grand infantry
day that was shortly to take place, and so left the horsemen to their fate and
to the Federals.
The Bayou Metre was a
low, sluggish stream, with a miry bed, abrupt banks, and its sides fringed with
a heavy growth of timber. It was difficult to cross, and presented the only
water at which a command could conveniently camp after leaving Bayou Two
Prairie. It was spanned by a substantial bridge when the enemy advanced, on the
third or fourth day of operations, and the fight was entirely for water. They
had felt their way cautiously before, but that morning advanced with
determination. The skirmishing was exceedingly sharp, and the artillery practice
as close and deadly as rifle shots. But the rear-guard, composed of Gordon's
regiment and Marmaduke's escort company, held their ground stoutly, and were
determined not to be driven back upon the bridge too rapidly. The vigor of their
resistance, and the deliberation with which they retired, gave ample time for
completing the dispositions of the forces for battle. The men were dismounted,
their horses sent to the rear, and the command deployed into a. strong skirmish
line, taking advantage of the unevenness of the ground and the heavy
timber along the
southern bank of the stream. The artillery was advantageously posted to rake the
road and sweep the bridge. General Walker took up his position something more
than a mile in the rear, at a house selected for a hospital, and kept with him
Burbridge's regiment, the largest in Marmaduke's brigade, as a body-guard.
Captain John Mhoon, an accomplished engineer officer, had prepared the bridge
for destruction by giving it a. thorough coating of tar and other inflamma.ble
material; and as the last of the rear-guard crossed it, the torch was applied.
The smoke rolled upward in dark and heavy masses, and the enemy, seeing they
were about to lose their best means of crossing the stream, made a savage dash
to secure possession of the bridge and extinguish the flames. Instantly the
artillery flashed full upon them, and a thousand rifles rang out along the line.
The struggle was fierce but brief. The enemy rolled heavily back, enveloped in
sable clouds of smoke, formed their ranks, and rapidly completed their
preparations for a more vigorous attack in force, to drive the Confederates from
their position and effect a crossing. They lost no time in useless delays, but
came on at once and in earnest. Their artillery was well planted, and was served
with steadiness and precision. They opened with twelve or sixteen guns.
Marmaduke's artillery, though inferior in strength, replied as promptly and as
vigorously. For nearly an hour the ring of musketry along the line was
incessant, and the deep-toned artillery lent its voice to swell the dispassion
of harmonious discord. The effort was determined, but unavailing. Their line
gradually fell back out of range, and only the occasional note of a heavy gun,
or the sharp crack of a random rifle, told that they still held their position
and were not yet inclined to relinquish their efforts.
The gallant Major
Bennett, of Young's battalion, with a hundred men, had been sent to guard a
crossing some two miles lower down the bayou, that entirely turned the position.
The enemy attacked him with great fury, but he resisted with a vigor superior to
the fury of their attack. He informed Marmaduke, however, that he was heavily
pressed, and feared he could not hold his ground. Marmaduke replied that he
could spare him no men, and that he must beat back the enemy and make good his
position. Bennett replied that he would do it, and did do it.
At this juncture of
affairs General Walker made his appearance on the field, but after a stay of not
more than fifteen minutes, retired again to the rear. The enemy, after
considerable delay, advanced to the attack, and for nearly an hour the battle
raged fiercely. The day was hot and close, and they were evidently suffering
greatly for water, indeed, they would frequently make their way stealthily to
the banks of the bayou, at some point more than ordinarily well sheltered from
the' fire of the men, for the purpose of drinking, and several were killed in
the act of filling their canteens. The second attack was as unsuccessful as the
first. The Confederates stood their ground firmly and fought with coolness; and
the enemy were again, despite their strenuous efforts, compelled to retire
without having shaken the line at a single point. Still they did not like to
acknowledge themselves beaten by a cavalry command that they had sneered at
because of their ragged clothes, their unsoldierly equipments, and their unshod
horses.
They prepared,
therefore, to make a third and more decisive effort. Their artillery opened with
renewed spitefulness, and their whole force moved forward with a determination
to force Marmaduke back at every hazard. They fought long anti stubbornly, but
without effect; their soldiers had evidently lost heart, and considered
themselves hopelessly overmatched. But this time they did not withdraw in order,
and when beaten back, still kept up an irregular and scattering fight.
Marmaduke, perceiving that their lines were broken and in confusion, moved
Captain Bell's light prairie battery down near the bridge, in open view of the
enemy, and in point-blank range of their guns. They did not hesitate to pay it
their respects. At the first fire Captain Charley Bell was mortally wounded,
Major Rainwater seriously; men and horses mangled generally, and the little
battery entirely disabled. Marmaduke, who had gone with it in person, lost no
time in withdrawing it to a more retired position. He determined, however, to
satisfy the enemy with artillery, if possible, and for that purpose massed his
six guns in a commanding position and opened a vigorous. fire upon them. But
this was not before Lieutenant Dick Collins, unable to determine the situation
of some of the enemy's guns that were annoying the line, crossed the bayou and
worked his way from point to point, despite the fire of their sharpshooters,
until he had thoroughly reconnoitered their position, and then returned prepared
for more effective action. Marmaduke took up a position to the front and on the
flank of his guns, to observe their execution and direct their fire. Thus
prepared, the guns opened simultaneously with a thunderous burst of sound. The'
first few shots informed the enemy that the guns were massed and were
concentrating their fire; and they very promptly trained all of theirs to the
point of concentration in response. By a natural impulse the men along the
entire line on both sides, in a great measure, ceased operations, and employed
themselves in watching the progress and results of the duel.
The enemy at first
put their shots in well; but as Dick Collins worked his guns down closer and
closer upon them, and made their position warmer and warmer, their firing became
less regular and accurate, until, as shot after shot took effect upon them, they
entirely lost their coolness and precision, and sent their shells recklessly
through the tops of the trees, destroying much foli:lge and frightening the wild
birds terribly. They attempted, as a last resort, to change their position, and
thus escape the fury of Collins' guns; but the second or third shot found them
out again j until at last, completely beaten, they abandoned the field
precipitately, with two of their guns disabled.
Thus, notwithstanding
their utmost efforts for eight or nine hours, the enemy had failed to make an
impression upon the lines, and the merely random firing along their own,
indicated that they were about to yield the contest and withdraw. Under these
circumstances, Marmaduke thought it desirable to have an interview with General
Walker, and determine whether it was advisable to press the enemy in their
retreat, or to put the troops into camp where they were. Shelby was wounded and
confined to his bed; Greene was absent on account of sickness, consequently
there was no brigade commander present who could Le left in command of the
forces, while Marmaduke rode to the rear to consult General Walker. He therefore
directed Major Henry
Ewing, of his staff, to 'explain the situation of affairs to General Walker, and
request his temporary presence on the field. Major Ewing reported to General
Walker as directed, but could get no reply from him. Marmaduke then addressed
him a note, the same in substance as his verbal communication, but he treated
the note with contempt, ordered his Assistant Adjutant-General to preserve it,
as he had Marmaduke right where he wanted him, and still refused either to
comply with the request or to give an answer.
While these matters
were under discussion, the enemy withdrew in a. badly damaged condition, leaving
upon the field the fragments of their broken artillery carriages, numbers of
dead horses, and many of their killed. The Confederate loss was heavy; but
theirs, judging from the number they left behind them, must have been much more
serious. Indeed, the bare mention of the affair did not fail to arouse their
anger for many days afterward. The soldiers of the two commands, for some time
immediately succeeding, picketed on opposite sides of the Arkansas river, then
low and shrunken to the mere proportions of a. creek, and were frequently in the
habit of making small truces of their own, and entering into friendly
conversation. But however amicably these interviews began, they soon ran into
that sharp, personal kind of badinage to which soldiers are particularly given,
and almost always ended, on the part of Marmaduke's troopers, in some allusion
to Bayou Metre and the unburied Federal dead, which almost as certainly brought
a rifle-ball in response, in utter violation of treaty obligations. So
accustomed did the Confederates become to this uncourteous kind of retort, on
the part of their adversaries, that whenever they had made up their mind to
speak the' unpleasant words, they instinctively looked around for shelter, and
prepared to resume warlike operations.
Several hours after
nightfall the command was ordered back into camp near the intrenchments. In this
quiet and secluded retreat several days were passed in doing nothing, except
outpost duty, and cultivating amicable relations with the infantry, very much to
the dissatisfaction of both officers and men. The battle of Bayou Metre had been
gallantly fought, and among the best and bravest dead on that field of' glory,
lay Captain John Percival, of Waverly; Captain Powell, of Platte; and Captain
Charley Bell, of Saline. Tried in a hundred previous battles-young, heroic,
devoted-they yielded up their lives in the moment of exultant victory, amid the
thunder of the contest, and the wild shouts of infuriated combatants. There
could be no fitter eulogy than their death-no grander monuments than the lowly
graves where the violets bloom and the eternal waves murmur forever the story of
their fame.
After this fight,
Steele withdrew his forces to Bayou Two Prairie, and staggering under the blows
struck Davidson, halted long for recuperation, while his detached cavalry
scoured the whole country for information. . General Marmaduke, covering the
entire front of Holmes' army, was constantly in the saddle, and made heavy calls
upon the brigade for daring scouts and bold, outlying pickets. Among the
dauntless young officers that crowded to his call for the honor of their brigade
in its wounded leader's absence, came Maurice Langhorne, George Gordon, Bob
Adams, Brown Williams, Charley Jones, Arthur McCoy, Lieutenant John McDougall,
Will Ferrell, James Wills, John Toney, Salem Ford, Tom Walton, Jeb Plattenburg,
William Edwards, Henry Wolfenbarger, William Moorman, Captains Dickey, Silas
Crispin, Grooms, Mark Dye, and a host of others equally zealous.
With these General
Marmaduke crowded his front, and night or day. in sunshine 01' storm, by
lonesome roads and sudden halts some one of these hovered about the enemy,
fighting their pickets, ambushing their rear, drawing horses from the foragers,
burning up commissary wagons, capturing straggling soldiers, and hourly sending
back valuable information about the movements of General Steele.
Holmes receiving a
sick furlough at this period, General Price assumed command and issued stirring
battle orders. Thousands of spades dug into the yielding earth, and thousands of
negroes worked continually upon the fortifications growing upon the northern
side of the Arkansas river into great lines of circumvallation.
Every day they were
strengthened and every day the army gained confidence in themselves and their
leaders. Thoughts of approaching battle noted more powerfully than quinine upon
the emaciated fever and ague patients, while the sickly conscripts forgot their
diarrhea and their lumbago in the distant firing of advanced outposts. Every
approach was at last barricaded, and every soldier had his position behind the
embankments assigned him for the death struggle.
In the meantime,
however, the duel between General Marmaduke and General Walker had taken place,
and a brief statement of causes leading to the unfortunate occurrence may
explain fully its origination.
The conduct of
General Walker during the retreat of the cavalry from Brownsville to Little
Rock, determined General Marmaduke to change in some measure the official
relations between them. Having in view a friendly separation of forces, he asked
explicitly of Colonel T. L. Snead either to remove his division from Walker's
command or accept his unconditional resignation. The first was done, and to it
General Walker took offense and demanded explanations, affirming that the course
pursued by Marmaduke cast imputations upon his courage. Marmaduke replied that
he had never accused Walker of cowardice, but that his conduct had been such
upon several occasions that he would no longer serve under him. A challenge
followed instantly from General Walker and was as promptly accepted by his
antagonist. Colonel R. H. Crocket, of Texas, was the friend of the former, and
Colonel John C. Moore,
of St. Louis, the
friend of the latter. The preliminaries were speedily arranged, and at six
o'clock on the morning of September 6th, 1863, on the farm of Godfrey Lefevre,
seven miles below Little Rock, on the north side of the river, the meeting took
place. The weapons were Colt's navy revolvers, all the barrels of which were
loaded, and the distance fifteen paces. Colonel Moore won the word and the
position for his principal, and both General Marmaduke and Walker fired the
first shots almost simultaneously and without effect. At the second fire General
Walker fell mortally wounded and was immediately conveyed in the ambulance of
his opponent to Little Rock. He died the next day. General Marmaduke and his
second were arrested at once and held in close confinement. The officers of his
division, however, in view of the expected approaching battle, unanimously
petitioned General Price for their release, and :Marmaduke himself, anxious to
lead his troops in a conflict believed by everyone to be imminent and
inevitable, united in their request, although from the first he contended that
as he had been arrested without consultation and confined without precedent, he
should at least be released without request or tried upon charges at once.
This 'unfortunate
duel was not one of Marmaduke's seeking, and in requiring from General Price
another commander for his troops, he was actuated solely from motives of
interest to them and a desire to preserve the pride and purity of their
organization intact. In seeking other leaders than General Walker, the request
for a change implied no imputation upon coura.ge, and only when pressed ,lid he
explain fully his opinions. Marmaduke was finally released from arrest and led
the cavalry against the enemy-nor were charges ever preferred in any manner
thereafter.
The next day after
Marmaduke's release, General Steele having determined that it was impossible to
force the fortifications in front of Little Rock, decided to attempt a crossing
of the river below the town with a portion of his forces, and thus compel
General Price either to evacuate his works or to isolate him in them. With this
object in view he drove back with his artillery Dobbins' brigade, (formerly
Walker's), composed of Dobbins' and Newton's Arkansas regiments, spanned the
river rapidly with a pontoon, and pushed his cavalry, supported by his infantry,
across. General Price sent hurriedly for Marmaduke, and ordered him to cross the
river with his brigade at the lower pontoon, to assume command of all the
cavalry, and to hold the enemy in check, while the infantry could be crossed at
the upper pontoon. General Price also informed him that Shelby's brigade,
stationed on the left ot the works, some two
miles distant, had
already been ordered to report to him for service. Marmaduke hastened to put his
orders into execution, moving his troops to the pontoon at a gallop and crossing
them over as rapidly as possible. He found, upon his arrival on the field that
the enemy had effected a crossing in force, and were advancing rapidly up the
south bank of the river, pushing Dobbins' brigade steadily before them. He made
his dispositions for battle without delay, and succeeded at once in checking the
Federal movement, and driving their more advanced regiments back upon the main
body. The enemy quickly reinforced and pushed forward, determined to win their
way by rapid fighting.
The Confederate
troops met them firmly, and the enemy having advanced rather conspicuously a
section of artillery, Burbridge's and a portion of Jeffers' regiments made a
furious dash at it, beat back the regiments supporting it, and captured and bore
it off. At the same time the whole Federal line was thrown into confusion and
retired disorderly. Marmaduke only awaited the arrival of Shelby's brigade,
momentarily expected, to press his advantage to a decided issue. Shelby, hearing
the firing of the guns, and learning the situation of affairs, could repress his
restless impatience no longer, but arose from his sick-bed, emaciated to a
shadow, his arm in a sling, and, against the positive orders of the watchful and
cautious Webb,
mounted his horse,
and placed himself at the head of his brigade, as it passed through town for the
first time since the day at Helena, amidst the wildest acclamations of his men,
and came down upon the field of battle at a sweeping gallop. Never were the
Missouri cavalry in a better condition to do good service than they were that
day. Their success at Bayou Metre, the advantages they had gained upon the field
where they stood, Shelby's unexpected appearance among them, and the fact that
they fought to protect the infantry, aroused all the latent fire of their souls,
and determined them to give the enemy such striking evidence of their fighting
qualities, that they should ever after remember the day below Little Rock as a
dark one in their calendar. Marmaduke appreciated the high morale of his
command, and had just indulged in the premature boast that" the enemy should not
sleep in Little Rock that night,"
when General Price,
having safely conveyed his infantry and baggage train out of town, ordered him
not to fight below the town, nor in it, but gave him permission to form his
troops and check the enemy if they attempted pursuit beyond. Such an order, of
course, admitted of no alternative, and consequently, instead of pressing the
advantages he had already gained, Marmaduke countermanded his orders, and
immediately began a movement in retreat, by retiring successively one brigade
behind another, and thus always presenting a front to the enemy, capable of
checking them, if they attempted to close upon him too rapidly. The Federal
infantry on the opposite side of the river threw their field batteries into
position, and shelled him furiously as he withdrew, being at perfect liberty to
do so because of the dismounting of a battery of siege guns, placed on the south
bank of the river, that should have protected his exposed flank. Their
bombardment, however, did no greater harm than to cause some awkward deflections
in his lines, and occasionally to put on foot an unskilled rider. But as the
different brigades approached the streets of the town, it became necessary to
abandon this safe order of march, and the enemy pressing him just at the moment
that many of the officers and men were engaged in .saying tender and pathetic
farewells to their friends, a motley scene of confusion ensued-the soldiers of
the opposing armies became badly
mixed, and it was
somewhat difficult amidst the dust and turmoil to tell friend from foe. But this
scene quickly passed and in a few minutes the command had cleared itself of the
complicated streets of the town, and stood in battle array, just on the edge of
the fairgrounds, and ready to receive the enemy. But the enemy's cavalry did not
deem it advisable to accept the challenge that was thus offered. They might well
be content with the capital of the State and the rich valley of the Arkansas,
gained so cheaply and with such inconsiderable loss.
Holding the position
until after it became dark, Marmaduke moved out after the retreating column in
the direction of Benton. The next day the enemy's cavalry ventured out to see
what had become of the army, skirmished lightly with it for five or six miles,
and then withdrew. Their last exploit is, however, worthy of record. They placed
their artillery on a hill a half or three quarters of a mile in the rear of
Marmaduke's rear-guard, and proceeded to fight & furious engagement of an
hour's duration with the spirits of the air and the phantoms of their
imaginations, greatly to the astonishment and fright of the rustic farmers and
women and children of the surrounding country. Their victory was complete-the
only one they had gained for some time-and the battle, according to their
account, sanguinary in the extreme. The Confederates were gazetted afterward for
a large number of killed and wounded.
Thus, on the 7th of
September, 1863, the capital of Arkansas was abandoned without a blow, except
from Marmaduke, the valley given up to inferior numbers of the enemy, and
another dark stain left upon the escutcheon of the young Confederacy. Nothing
could have been more desirable for General Price than the dispositions of
Steele, for they involved a separation of forces and a destruction of that unity
of action so essential to armies when evenly balanced in numbers. A
concentration of his cavalry on the south bank of the river, and the
interposition of one brigade of infantry, would have driven Davidson into the
Arkansas, and crushed the left wing of Steele's advance. There was time for
either-or both, but neither the one nor the other seemed contemplated or
attempted. &treat was the fatal word written on all the faces and whispered
among all the regiments. Without firing a gun or seeing an enemy,
the infantry
divisions were ordered from their fortifications, erected with so much care and
really formidable, marched hurriedly across the pontoon bridge, and through the
streets of the desolate and devoted city, about being abandoned to its cheerless
fate. The last infantryman and the last wagon crossed safely over. The last,
lone gun-boat-the Missouri,-lying high and dry upon the shore, was fired,
together with the bridge and all the barracks on the northern side. Vast columns
of smoke darkening the sky, red flames leaping and twisting up into the clouds,
the iron-ela.d on fire and reeling beneath the incessant shocks of her exploding
bombs, formed a lurid back ground of awful magnificence, against which the
doomed city
towered in all its
helpless beauty, and in all its abandoned pleasures. Steele's skirmishers
quietly rested on the opposite shore and looked on with curious eyes at the
sudden spectacle, wondering, doubtless, . why such a policy should be pursued as
lost a capital and withdrew an army larger than their own.
History looks in vain
for the palliation of the offense; prejudice can find no excuse for the result;
and posterity must seek other leaders than those at Little Rock to crown with
laurel leaves. General Steele took quiet possession of the city. The telegraph
wires bent beneath flaming bulletins that electrified the loyal North. Every
abolition heart in Arkansas thrilled
with joy; and from
the mountains about Yellville, and from the swamps about Clarendon, dirty
pilgrims journeyed to this new Mecca, now purified by psalm singing, Puritans,
and reeking with the hallelujahs of enfranchised negroes.
Comparisons are
unfortunate, but history demands them. A pale-faced, emaciated, wounded soldier,
still bleeding from an ugly shot at Shiloh, came to the Trans-Mississippi
Department when it was bare of soldiers, penniless, defenseless, and dreadfully
exposed. Assigned to duty by Beauregard, he hoped to win the approval of the
Richmond authorities. What soldiers Van Dorn had left were mutinous, illy armed,
and badly equipped.. Lawlessness prevailed in every part of Arkansas, and the
insecurity of life and property was very great. The men of the mountains warred
with. the men of the plains; the Highlanders wasted over again the flocks and
the substance of the Lowlanders. Hindman arrived in June, 1862. Two months
before-in winsome April-the veteran Arkansans and Missourians had gone to
Corinth, to fight again a second Shiloh, and to die there. Curtis, reinforced
largely after the severe battle givehim by Van Dorn, held his negro revels in
Batesville, and his cotton rollings about Augusta. He was marching on Little
Rock~ Blunt, more soldierly and more honorable, came away from
Fort Scott southward
with his stubborn Kansans and his worthless Indians. He held no revels and stole
no cotton. He was marching on Fort Smith. Against Curtis, Hindman hurled his
militia in regiments, in battalions, in companies, in squads-singly. Everything
was to fight. The slaves fought, and encompassed an army about with fallen
timber in a night. The elements fought: dykes were cut and the country flooded.
The citizens fought: every tree revealed the sinister muzzles of family
fowling-pieces and flint-lock rifles. The women fought: they wasted their
supplies or kept them from the suffering Federals. Curtis was girt about with
lines of fire in the day-at night ten hundred negroes felled trees as thick as
logs in rafts upon his roads of travel. Upon Blunt were thrown the Texas
militia, as the Arkansas militia had been thrown upon Curtis. The Texans of the
pampas met the Kansans from the prairies, and the Indians of the South met the
Indians of the West. The Texans were excellent horsemen, and worried Blunt. The
Choctaws were excellent scouts, and annoyed Blunt. He halted without retreating,
and waited. He was fifty miles from Fort Smith, however, and Curtis was a
hundred and more from Little Rock.
Hindman worked like a
demigod; small as he was, he seemed a giant. He made a levy en maue; sent cotton to :Mexico and
got arms; he made gunpowder, percussion caps, boots, shoes, hats, clothing,
muskets, brigades, and divisions. He improvised two gunboats and held White
river. He fortified the Arkansas and darkened its current with his batteries.
With three thousand men he drove Curtis into Helena; with three thousand more he
drove Blunt into Kansas; with one thousand more he drove Fitch from White
river-and with his seven thousand men combined he held Arkansas from west to
east, the Indian Territory, all of Texas and a portion of Missouri. What
superhuman power had Hindman with which to do all this? What divine attribute
mingled with his earthly nature? What gave him wings to soar above obstacles and
triumph over numbers? Intellect and energy. In ten months he created an army
of fifty thousand
soldiers; saved a Department; kindled the fire of opposition in four States;
taught his people great lessons in the art of manufacturing, and, better than
all, put his hands upon the head of Shelby and blessed him as the rising young
hero of the West.
Removed because the
audacity and impatience of his genius were grasping after a war of aggression;
because he shocked the deranged nerves of gouty politicians by the rigor of his
conscriptions; because he put devotion to the South on one side and death upon
the' other; because he stripped the ranks of his army bare of incompetent
officia.ls as a naked swimmer, there came after him men who gave up the rich
grain-growing valley of White River; the garrison at Arkansas Post; half the
Indian Territory; all of Missouri; Little Rock with its redoubts and earthworks,
defended by more soldiers than Steele could muster to its assault; and with it
the key to the Arkansas Valley-the heart of the department--and later, the
Washita. and all its
tributaries.
Two incidents in
Hindman's battle-life and I close his record in this book: after his arrival at
Little Rock, and before he had a brigade assembled to meet Curtis, he dispatched
messengers to General Bragg and to the Secretary of War, with communications
detailing exactly the condition of the .department, the scarcity of arms, the
dearth 'of soldiers, the panic of the people, and the threatening attitude of
the Federals, expressing great fears in conclusion, that, should Curtis advance,
Little Rock would be without a garrison and powerless for defense. The documents
fell into Curtis' hands, and the urgency of their appeals convinced him of their
truthfulness and the utter weakness of Hindman. The Federal general squared
himself around threateningly and pushed along slowly southward, gathering up,
however, as he went, all the cotton within his lengthy reach. Meanwhile,
Hindman's great brain was stimulated by the
imminence of the
danger, and as a last resort he opposed finesse to force-chicanery to firm lines
and massive battalions. He and his chief of staff, Colonel R. C. Newton, an
officer of distinguished courage, devotion and ability, formed plans suddenly
thus: a mail was fixed up ostensibly to cross the Mississippi river with letters
to the Arkansas soldiers beyond, and dispatches for the Richmond authorities.
Newton went to a hundred or more ladies and gentlemen whom he knew well, and who
had fathers, husbands, lovers, children and brothers over there under Lee and
Beauregard, and unfolded to them privately Hindman's wishes and plans. The old
patriarchs wrote to their sons and bade them be of good cheer, for five thousand
splendidly armed Texans had just arrived, and Little Rock was safe. Brothers
wrote to brothers describing some imaginary brigade to which they were attached,
and went into ecstacies over the elegant new Enfields arriving from Mexico. The
young girls, true to the witchery and coquetry of their sex, informed their
lovers under Cleburne and Gates, in delicate epistles, of the great balls given
to the Louisianians, and how Mary Jane lost her heart here, Annabel Lee there,
and Minnie Myrtle somewhere else, importuning the absent ones to make haste
speedily with the war and come home, for the Louisiana and Texas gallants would
take no denial and were nice and fascinating. Everybody wrote that could write,
and, under the sense of great peril, wrote naturally and well. Every letter was
submitted to the ordeal of Hindman's acute diplomacy and Newton's legal acumen.
Then Hindman wrote concisely and plainly that his efforts for the defense of the
department were bearing healthy fruit. The people, alive to their danger, were
volunteering by thousands. The scarcity of arms, looked upon as being an almost
insurmountable obstacle, had been in a measure overcome, so that with a large
number just arriving, and with several thousand more a Mexican firm at Matamoras
were willing to exchange for cotton, he had great hopes of soon attacking
Curtis. Then followed a list of his new organizations, and the names of many
officers appointed by himself for whom he asked commissions. To get this mail
now into Curtis' hands with all its heterogeneous contents-its paternal
lectures, its school-boy scra.wls, its labored love-letters, its impassioned
poetry, its calm, succinct statements of military facts, was the uppermost
question in Hindman's mind. Fate, which always favors the brave and the
beautiful, favored Hindman.
A young Missourian-a
daring, handsome, intelligent, athletic soldier from St. Joseph-Lieutenant
Colonel Walter Scott, volunteered for the perilous mission, asking only a.
swift, strong horse and greenbacks enough for the journey. He had himself the
rest-the nerve, the arms, the knightly valor. Toiling through swamps, swimming
bayous, keeping lonely vigils about lonesome, guarded roads, he reached at last
the vicinity of Curtis' army. Up to this time his beautiful sorrel mare-his
petted" Princess "-had been led tenderly along, watched and nursed as a man
waits upon a fickle beauty. Upon her fleet limbs depended the fate of a
State-upon her strung sinews the life of a rider. Bold and determined, and
resolved to win all or lose
all, Scott rode
calmly up to the nearest pickets, and, alone as he was, and ignorant of the
country as he was, fired upon them. It was returned without damage, and he
retreated back a little to bivouac hungry in a swamp by the road side. The next
morning, with the dew on the grass and the song of "half awakened birds"
thrilling on the air, he rode out broad and good into the pathway, and fired
closely upon the head of thirty Federal Illinois cavalry coming out to pillage
and to burn. They dashed after him fiercely. Princess, quivering with suppressed
speed, pulled hard
upon the bit and flecked her spotless coat with great foam splashes. Round and
round wheeled Scott, firing now at the enemy almost upon him, and then dashing
off followed by a handful of bullets. The saddle-bags were safe yet and he must
win. At last, feigning great exhaustion for his mare he held her in with an iron
hand, though using his spurs mercilessly, every stroke going into his own flesh.
First his overcoat went, then one pistol, then another-he had two left yet,
though-then his heavy leggins, then the large cavalry roll, then as a last
resort the precious mail went down in the road before the rushing Federals:
Potent as the golden apples of Atlanta, the Illinois men stooped to gather it up
and were
distanced. Scott,
after turning a bend in the road caressed his poor, tried beauty and gave her
the reins with a soft, sweet word. The sensitive creature dashed away superbly,
and carried her rider far beyond all danger, and Scott soon returned to Little
Rock to receive thanks for services well and faithfully done.
This ruse had the
desired effect upon Curtis, and he halted and wavered. His own dispatches
captured afterward revealed the fact, for in them were pleading supplications
for reinforcements. Hindman only wanted time, and the time he gained enabled him
to save the department and drive back Blunt and Curtis. Another: Commanding a
corps at Chickama.uga, he was moving up to engage under a terrific fire. The
evolutions of the line, over a wretchedly broken country, had separated two of
his brigades about his center, and this center was nearest the enemy. The leader
of a Federal infantry division marked the fatal gap, and instantaneously massing
his regiments in solid column, dashed down to enter it. It was a fearful moment.
The dark blue wedge seemed driven on by invisible hands, and ahead of all,
bestriding a magnificent coal-black charger, the commander cheered on his men,
his naked
blade flashing in the
sunlight, his glittering regimentals conspicuous above the more sober uniform of
his staff, and his clear, steady voice ringing out musically over the field.
Hindman knew his
danger and he knew the remedy. In his ranks was a company of skirmishers armed
with the Whitworth rifles, and, fortunately, not ten rods away, a Lieutenant of
this company, was operating with a dozen marksmen. Hindman called him up,
ordered him to fire upon the Federal commander and kill him if possible, well
knowing the effect of his death upon the men. Coolly, as if on dress parade, the
young officer stepped out with his men to the front and took deliberate aim
under a galling fire. twelve rifles cracked simultaneously, Rider and steed went
down together, and the black mane of the horse waved over Lytle. Three bullets
struck him-seven his horse-a wonderful fire and remarkable for terrible
accuracy. This daring and gallant officer was Major General Wm. H. Lytle, the
author of that immortal poem beginning: "I am dying, Egypt, dying." His fall had
the desired effect. His division, no longer inspired by the heroic example of
its leader, halted and retreated in disorder, the gap in the Confederate lines
was closed, and Hindman pressed on furiously during the entire day.
Kind and generous to
the body of his fa.llen enemy, he placed l\ guard over it, removed Lytle's saber
and pistols, and afterward sent them, together with the body, under a. flag. of
truce, to his sisters at Cincinnati.
CHAPTER XII.
GENERAL STEELE only
wanted Little Rock, and therefore gave General Price all the time he required to
reach Arkadelphia, and to look back with a pleased, wondering expression that he
was not pursued. The army slowly settled into camp, and Colonel Shelby took a
dreary position upon a river almost dry and in a forest destitute of leaves. It
was while near Arkadelphia that he had his characteristic interview with General
Holmes. Visiting the old man on, business, now more morose and excitable than
ever, he received a torrent of reproaches as a welcome.
"Ah! sir, you command
a. set of d--d robbers. They steal nil the horses, live on the best of the land,
drink all the whisky, and give me more trouble than all the balance of the army
put
together; but they
will fight, sir, they will fight."
"Courage is a very
common commodity among soldiers," coldly replied Shelby; "and how do you know my
men are the robbers you seem to think?"
"Because everybody
says so, sir; everybody, do you hear?"
"Perfectly, General,
but I do not believe what everybody says."
"Oh! of course not-'t
would be strange if you did."
"Very well, but I
will illustrate my meaning. For instance," and he looked hard at the General, a
bold light in his eyes, " everybody says you are a complete old granny, but I do
not believe it. I invariably deny it, sir."
"You are right, sir,
you are right," quickly answered General Holmes." you are a man of sense and
judgment, and while I think of it, you haven't taken a horse too many, sir-you
have a fine command, sir, and I will do them justice yet."
Prospects of further
campaigning were gloomy in the extreme, and the long, wet, weary months of a
Southern winter seemed already' advancing with splashing feet along the miry
roads, and upon the dark, clammy soil of the cotton-fields. The future had
nothing in store but intolerable beef, everlasting rain-storms, awl a life of
cooped-up starvation and misery. Suffering yet great pain from his wound,
Colonel Shelby determined to obtain permission for an expedition to Missouri,
that he might strike a series of rapid blows, recruit his decimated and war-worn
ranks, and keep alive in the hearts of his friends that spirit of opposition and
hatred of Federal rule worthy to be ranked among the best virtues of the human
heart.
Wait a little, said
Shelby to one of his natures-his selfish nature -wait a little. They think I can
command a regiment very well, and, under orders, maybe a brigade, but they do
not know what thoughts are burning in this brain of mine. Wait until I am alone
with my own men on the great prairies of Missouri, where blood, and courage, and
physical endurance have free and powerful sway. Red tape shall fall away from my
superiors like burnt tow, and I will electrify and dazzle the army. They fear
for my freezing these delicate commanders of ours. Not when hourly fights keep
the blood warm, and the long steady gallop circulates it fiercely. They speak of
danger, too. Yes, ahead it is dark and terrifying, but I intend to familiarize
my men with it until they can sport with it, court it, and toss it away as a
child does a plaything. What lost White river ?-danger. Helena ?-danger. Little
Rock ?-danger. The Arkansas and the Washita ?-danger, danger, always danger.
Dangers are all around us. In the ague of the swamps, the fever of the camps,
the dearth of food, the bullets of the field, the incompetency of generals, and
I want to get away a little. Give me only a thousand men and I will march one
thousand miles, fight one hundred fights-freeze, starve, suffer and endure-but I
will triumph. They don't know Jo. Shelby yet-wait a little. If I ride from river
to river-from the Washita with its lilies to the Missouri with its icicles, what
then? If I kill, wound, and capture one thousand men, burn a dozen forts, gather
to the ranks five hundred soldiers, mount, arm, and equip all-what then? I am
lucky, or fortunate, or successful. Precisely, and the country needs just some
such luck. She is weak, awl emaciated, and tottering fearfully. I will bring
tonics from the North and cordials, and lint, and bandages. Only the tonics will
be the music of battle,
the cordials shouts
of victory, and lint and binding the great, strapping bronzed Missourians
returning southward with the memories of great things dared and heroic things
accomplished. Wait a little!
There now appeared
upon the scene of politics a man to whom Missouri owes much, and whose Roman
principles, unshaken loyalty, pure patriotism, unselfish devotion to the common
cause, and . firm and bitter opposition to all military puppets and humbugs,
endeared him to the army and increased his usefulness as the war went on. This
man was Thomas C. Reynolds, Governor of Missouri, and" friend of all who needed
friend." There was a species of fascination about the man not easily described
unless it were called the fascination of the will, which everyone knew to be
indomitable and unbending. Plain, frugal, unostentatious, and simple in his
habits, he bored into the heart of every question with the pitiless auger of
common sense, and crushed pretense and hypocrisy with iron hands. Having a large
and comprehensive mind himself, and understanding thoroughly the science and
ethics of war, he made no allowance for imbecility in commanders whose position
required knowledge, and whose ignorance entailed upon the country blunders more
fatal and quite as dreadful as crimes. Sensitive to a great degree, quick to
perceive and to execute, he held the honor of Missouri as a priceless gem
confided to his keeping, and the fame of her soldiers as part of his patrimony
to be defended. Intimate with President Davis and General Smith, he was the
friend and correspondent of one-the adviser and supporter of the other. That
this influence had been used continually for the public good, few knew at first,
but as plans under his hands took form and practicability, as tried and true
officers were rewarded, and as merit became the standard of promotion all were
convinced that a great power stood behind the throne-silent, but terribly in
earnest, and burning with thoughts that stretched beyond the hour and the
occasion. To this man went Colonel Shelby and frankly told his plan, asking
assistance in developing, it, und power to strike the blow, giving his views in
substance that the department was in a. critical position, and boldness was
needed to make a. diversion until the danger to the Arkansas army should be
passed; that it was then disorganized, disheartened and demoralized, and should
Steele advance he would give much trouble; that he. was reputed to be an officer
of great ability, but of excessive caution and deliberation, and if so, a daring
operation in his rear would be likely to make him pause in any projected
advance, and as winter was approaching, that pause would save the army from
attack until the next spring. But that in any event, detaching a force into
Missouri would revive the spirits of the troops, infuse confidence into the
people, who always suppose there is strength and security at home when men can
be spared for a distant expedition; that beside, he could occupy a large force
of the enemy in Missouri, and incidentally aid operations east of the
Mississippi; that his intelligence was that Missouri was almost stripped of
Federal troops, but infested by guerrillas, and men anxious to join the Southern
standard; that he felt sure of General Smith's approval, and that he would see
General Price in order to procure his cordial co-operation as commander of the
Arkansas District.
Reading greatness and
the ambition of the gods in every line of the young leader's face, Governor
Reynolds promised him help and his influence with General Smith. The generous
Marmaduke, opposed to the expedition himself, yet obtained for it the
indorsement of General Holmes; and General Price, at Shelby's request, added
also his recommendation in its favor. The intelligence that the policy of
retreat was to cease and the offensive to be assumed, though by only a part of
the forces, had an instantaneous effect in reviving the spirits of the army of
Arkansas and the confidence of the previously alarmed and dejected people. After
waiting patiently for orders, Shelby at last received instructions to take eight
hundred men, two pieces of artillery, twelve ammunition wagons, and to penetrate
Missouri as far as practicable, inflict what damage he could upon the enemy, and
gather unto his friends the greatest advantage possible. Governor Reynolds
seriously thought of accompanying the expedition in person, and really began
making preparations for the journey, but, other matters claiming his attention
suddenly, the desire was abandoned. Even under his calm methodical exterior, and
his cold, philosophic, reasoning conversation, there burned a flame of eager
romance, and a spirit of knightly chivalry as true as filled the bosom of good
Sir Launcelot.
Preparations for
raids to Missouri were never long in making, and this one grew as swiftly as a
young man's love. Captain George P. Gordon commanded two hundred men from
Shelby's regiment; Major David Shanks two hundred from his own regiment;
Lieutenant Colonel Hooper two hundred from Thompson's regiment; Major Ben.
Elliott one hundred from his battalion; besides, there was the inevitable
advance of fifty men, led now by Captain Tuck Thorp, a worthy pupil of Elliott's
hardy schooling, which, together with the two guns under the command of
Lieutenant David Harris, of Collins' battery (the young commander himself being
unable to ride from severe illness), made probably the aggregate of eight
hundred men-a small number, truly, to march five hundred miles into an enemy's
country and fight every hour in every day for twenty consecutive days.
The day of starting,
September 22, 1863, came out of the east warm and pleasant. General Price and
Governor Reynolds watched the light-hearted veterans defiling past them with
cheers, and the latter detained their leader just long enough to wish him God
speed, and to impress upon his mind caution, rapidity of movement, and excessive
watchfulness, adding, as he pressed his hand with a generous frankness, "You
shall not fail, General-the buff sash of a Confederate Brigadier awaits the
successful issue."
Shelby was still
looked upon by many at this time as a young and promising officer, very good to
command a regiment, or even a brigade, under superior officers, but neither
cautious enough nor skillful enough to mark out a bold campaign for himself and
pursue it with unerring precision, daring, and determination. Some knowing
critics made him too slow, others too reckless, others too cautious, and even
some were tempted to predict that the expedition was to be a failure, and the
men, together with their leader, .must be either killed or captured. "Those who
laugh best laugh last." Let the sequel tell.
Beyond Caddo Gap,
Shelby met Colonel David Hunter, with one hundred and fifty recruits from
Missouri, coming to join the army at Arkadelphia. Colonel Hunter had been an
infantry
officer of much
promise, and was a bold, capital scouter and fighter before being an infantry
officer. Wishing to resume the cavalry service, he resigned his position as
Colonel of a Missouri regiment under General Parsons, and received permission to
recruit a cavalry regiment. While about this work in his native State the
following affair took place: At a point somewhere between Cassville and
Fayetteville the road ran directly beneath an overhanging ledge of rocks, and
behind these rocks Hunter stationed his men carefully to watch for a large
Federal detachment known to be approaching f!'Om the south. Waiting in eager
suspense an hour and more, the enemy were at length discovered riding merrily up
in column of fours, laughing and singing unconsciously. Not a gun was fired
until the Federal line reached from right to left of Hunter's ambush, when he
gave the signal-a sharp and sudden
pistol shot-and then
the merciless fusilade opened. Eighty were killed upon the spot, one hundred
more were wounded, while riderless horses and terrified men rushed franticly
from beneath the deadly rocks. Hunter's soldiers were mostly armed with
double-barreled shot-guns loaded with buck-shot, which will account sufficiently
for the terrible effectiveness of their fire. The enemy called it a butchery and
not a battle, but the warfare then carried on upon the borders of Arkansas and
Missouri by the Federals was cruel and unsparing. Old men were murdered, women
violated, and even bays were made to answer for the loyalty of their fathers.
Those men pouring such volleys of death into the enemy's ranks were near their
desolated homes, and had with them their starving families going southward for
food. Hunter, when met, had more women and children with him than there were
men, but he detailed some of the oldest from his detachment to accompany the
families further south, and turned back with the remainder to follow Shelby's
troops, all enthusiastic and consoling themselves
with promises of
great things ahead. Fighting commenced the fourth day out and continued without
intermission until within about the same distance of Arkadelphia on the return.
A band of Confederate deserters and Union jayhawkers were first encountered in
the mountains above Caddo Gap, which numbered two hundred desperate villains.
Major Elliott discovered their lair about sundown, which he attacked at dark and
carried at the sacrifice of one man. Seventy-nine were killed and thirty-four
captured, among whom stood the leader, low-browed and sullen, a notorious
Captain McGinnis. All but three of this number were tried by military commission
and shot the next morning, and the country rid thereby of a host of cut-throats
and marauders. This Captain McGinnis had much of the gloomy old Puritan blood in
his composition.
When led out to die
he was allowed the ordinary time for prayer: "Oh, God!" he began, "bless the
Union and all its loyal defenders; bless the poor ignorant rebels who persist in
hardening their hearts and stiffening their necks; bless Mrs. McGinnis and her
children ; bless the Constitution, which has been wrongly interpreted, and
eradicate slavery from the earth." "Come, hurry, hurry, old man," broke in the
captain of the firing party, "the command has gone an hour, and I will get far
behind." "I am ready, young man, and may heaven have mercy on your soul," were
his last words on this earth. Six bullets crashed within his breast, and he fell
back dead near the theater of his many crimes-he and his gang having murdered
over twenty old men in the neighborhood. Near the Arkansas river, and two miles
from Roseville, Thorp, well in advance, came suddenly upon the 1st Arkansas
cavalry, and detachments of three Illinois infantry regiments, strongly posted
right across the road. This 1st Arkansas was composed principally of deserters
from the Confederate conscripts in Arkansas, Union
men, and runaway
negroes. Thorp, hard pressed, yet knew his duty too well to fall back upon the
main body, and fought for fifteen minutes at great disadvantage. Shelby, hearing
firing in front, dashed up in a gallop, rode down the three hundred Federals
unconscious of all danger, and captured everything but a few cavalrymen, whose
swift horses saved their riders. Among the prisoners were two women and three
little girls-the oldest scarcely ten years of age. While the firing continued
they all huddled closely behind a large white oak tree, and prayed and cried
alternately in piteous accents. When their father was brought in pale and
bleeding, such intense grief was distressing to behold. The little things
crawled upon his breast, looked down into his face and called plaintively to the
wounded man: "Father, father do not die-father, don't bleed so-it makes you pale
and sick," and the mother sitting by all the time wringing her hands and glaring
down upon her husband with eyes too hot for tears. Strong men turned away,
shuddering, and a purse was made up instantly, of genuine greenbacks for the
helpless family. Happily the man recovered, and in the end his wound proved a
real windfall. From the supplies taken, Colonel Shelby gave him at least twelve
months' provisions,
to say nothing of blankets, overcoats, and Confederate money showered down upon
his bed in the leaves. On leaving, Colonel Shelby pressed a purse into the
woman's hand, but what it contained he himself could scarcely have told. "But be
sure the Recorder of his many actions knew, anu reckoned it to the uttermost
farthing when He wrote down the kind action on the credit side."
Whoever among the
prisoners were identified as deserters were instantly shot; the negroes thrashed
soundly and sent back to their masters, while the regular Federal soldiers
received kind treatment, and were paroled the next night after crossing the
Arkansas river. Near Ozark the river was forded, and Colonel Cloud, with his
often defeated Kansas 6th Cavalry, again encountered. This time, however, he was
not disposed to measure swords, and retreated precipitately upon Lewisburg,
which had been fortified and strongly garrisoned some ti'lIle previously, while
Colonel Shelby hurried on through the silent streets of Ozark, glimmering dusky
in the tardy daylight, and up amid the gloom and solitude of the familiar Boston
mountains, so often
the scene of former perils and triumphs. Here another jayhawking band was
surprised by Major Shanks and utterly destroyed, fifty-four being killed and
none wounded or taken. Indeed, so unerring were the blows struck by Shelby
against these mountain plunderers, that ever after this remarkable raid his
lines were given 8. wide berth, and the leaders fled from his presence as from
the breath of a pestilence.
One day's rest amid
the mountains-ten miles south from Huntsville-and no more. There shuddered out
of the sky cold, gloomy weather indeed. The frosts fell and the ice gathered at
night all about the zigzag edges of the dying streams, and on the yellow surface
of the eddies where the scattered leaves drifted thickest and dryest. A cold
steel sky lowered above the naked trees, and the winds had a dash of snow,
ominous of great bare prairies and northern storms. Every bird had fled from the
apple trees along the route, but the pink and golden fruit hung thick for the
gathering, not slowly done nor with unsmiling faces.
Huntsville saw the
broad-barred banner just as the sun went down; but it gleamed on to Mud Town,
where miles of telegraph were destroyed, and through the fire-blackened streets
of Bentonville, where naked walls and crumbling chimneys pointed heavenward
their accusing fingers, and asked for punishment upon Sigel and his bloody
Hessians. At Bentonville, Colonel Coffee was met with about one hundred men; a
battalion recruited by himself for border service. These, too, joined the
invading forces and mingled their waves with the quick, impetuous stream. Here
plans were formed and steps taken for immediate work. Three detachments under
Brown Williams, Lieutenant James Wills, and Captain Lea all splendid scouters,
were thrown forward to the country about Springfield, and ordered to sever
effectually all communication from St. Louis, while Colonel Shelby, secure in
the rapidity and mystery of his movements, was to strike Jefferson City or
Booneville.
Colonel Horace Brand
accompanied Colonel Shelby on this expedition as far as Huntsville, Arkansas,
under recruiting orders from Governor Reynolds. Energetic. brave and
intelligent, and being desirous of recruiting a regiment or more for the
Confederate service, he sought and obtained permission to march at once for
Northeast Arkansas, where recruits might be obtained in abundance. Colonel
Shelby gave him a strong escort and orders to gather his men together rapidly
and make a vigorous demonstration against Rolla, in Missouri, in order that the
raid might have larger and freer scope. Colonel Brand, therefore, left Shelby on
the upward march at Huntsville, and entered at once upon the discharge of his
duty. His
separation is
introduced here that his sad fate may be reached by and-by, and the black murder
duly chronicled in its appropriate place.
At Neosho,
twenty-five miles from Bentonville, lived a garrison of four hundred Federals,
well fortified in the large brick courthouse, and having four or five hundred
splendid horses, together with Sharpe's rifles, revolvers, cavalry overcoats ad
infinitum. To capture the town cost a resolution, and a resolution with Shelby
meant instant execution. George Gordon made a night march and surrounded the
town on the east, Coffee on the north, Hooper on the west, and Shelby advancing
from the south, with Shanks and the artillery, began the attack. Before
separating, however, a single red sumac plume was displayed in each soldier's
hat to prevent mistakes and afford instant recognition, the only uniform
attainable out there and absolutely necessary, as so many of the ragged fellows
had dressed up in captured Federal clothing, until the lines looked blue as
indigo and loyal as " Bleeding Kansas." Had one mind pervaded the expanded
battalions, and one man directed their movements after the separation, the
result could scarcely have been more satisfactory. Shelby was in sight when
Gordon, Coffee and Hooper joined hands and narrowed the circle around the doomed
town.
Gordon had stubborn
fighting at first with a detachment convoying a large train, but Captain Charley
Jones, Lieutenant Ferrell, Captain William Moorman, Lieutenant McDougal, Captain
Judge, Shindler, and Captain Ben. Neale deployed their companions among the
wagons, drove back the guards to the fort and closed up in time on the east.
Glorying in their massive fortifications and little dreaming Harris was going
then into battery not three hundred yards away, the Federals showed a bold front
and shouted to their assailants to come on. The first shells from the three-inch
Parrotts struck fairly and well, tore through the brick walls like pasteboard,
killed five men in their headlong course, and exploded far beyond Coffee's lines
to the north. Others followed in rapid succession, bearing death upon their
flight, and boring great gaps in the frail shelter. Up from the highest steeple
went a white truce flag, and four officers galloped down for parley. " Your
terms, Colonel?" asked the leader.
" Unconditional and
immediate surrender," answered Shelby. It was accepted, and in half an hour the
town had changed hands and the horses too. This capture proved a godsend.
Four hundred fine fat
chargers, four hundred new navy revolvers, four hundred Sharpe's rifles, and
four hundred splendid cavalry overcoats, with pantaloons, boots, spurs, hats,
under-clothing, medicines, blankets, socks, and commissary supplies all thrown
in; with now and then rare demijohns of glorious Bourbon. To many readers this
exultation seems mercenary and undignified, but to the members of Shelby's
division, to whom the Confederacy never furnished a single garment, nor a
pistol, nor a carbine, I need offer no explanation. Their country, very poor,
bankrupt, and weak from starvation, could only say to them:
"I give you shelter
in my breast-Your own good blades must win the rest"
Attracted by
artillery firing so unusual in this self-constituted domain of the Federals, a
large scout galloped down from Newtonia to investigate matters, but Lieutenant
Selby Plattenburg met them half way, killed their captain and fifteen of his
worst mounted men, and rode on up to the gates almost of Newtonia. In the
capture of Neosho the Confederates had but twenty-two men wounded, and seven
killed; unfortunately among the former was the peerless, daring, generous
Lieutenant James Walton. Torn from his command by a dangerous wound, and
scarcely well, too, of the one received at Helena, he was left behind never to
rejoin his comrades again. His high spirit chafed sadly under the blow, and
prison bars held the body while his thoughts were lingering amid the ranks of
his tried brigade; but his memory was kept ever green through all the bloody
months, and many earnest prayers went up for his safety
and deliverance.
Short stay at
Neosho-just long enough to parole the prisoners and then away to Bower's mill, a
militia harbor, covered with the blood of murdered Southerners, and crammed with
prostitutes and stolen goods. Fire is more powerful than water, and purified and
drank up many ghastly stains not then dry in the valley. Not a house stood when
the rear guard passed, and not one vestige of life remained except the terrified
women clinging to one another in counterfeited dread. "Be sure your sins will
find you out," has come down unto many hearts through the shadow of a great
darkness, and it screamed in the flames that raged and crackled about the
polluted houses, and went away shrieking upon the winds which carried the
vengeance blow to Neosho and Newtonia.
All that long, cold
night the march continued. Greenfield was surrounded at daylight, its garrison
of fifty militia captured, its supplies taken, and its court-house burned,
because it had been used as a fort by the Federals. Right on then to Stockton,
which had witnessed Livingstone's heroic death, and the slaughtered innocence of
gray-haired men. Twenty-five militia holding the court·house here were killed or
captured, and the fine brick structure given to the flames. All along the road
old" men and women had brought from their houses every article of furniture and
piled them in great heaps, expecting Colonel Shelby to kill, burn and destroy as
he advanced. Not an article was touched nor a single private dwelling entered.
The column passed sternly by all this want of confidence, and many hearts grew
light, and many old matronly eyes filled with tears when they saw the last of
Shelby's soldiers go down behind the nearest hill. Guilty and conscience
stricken, they justly feared that retribution would follow the many acts of
barbarity practiced upon the Southern families in the neighborhood, whose houses
had been destroyed and whose substance was divided among the spoilers. The
desire for vengeance was indeed strong, and it required all the iron will and
determination of Shelby himself to restrain his men from bloody reprisals, as
many of them rode by the places where once their quiet homes had stood in all
the domestic beauty of that delightful country.
Humansville felt a
surprise and blow which paralyzed and crushed its garrison. Gordon, swinging
round to its rear, cut off the retreat of one hundred and fifty Federal cavalry,
and they surrendered after losing seventeen killed. Every man, now superbly
mounted, clothed, and armed, felt long of wind and fierce of mood as a
bloodhound.
Warsaw saw next the
strange and triumphant banner gleaming like a meteor in rapid marches, and its
garrison, deployed along the banks of the Osage, showed a bold front. Gordon
again put in practice his eminent flanking qualities, and crossing four miles
below the town came upon the rear of the incautious Federals, while Elliott
crossing above from the west cut off all escape in that direction. Hooper,
dismounting his regiment to 110 man, plunged waist deep into the cold and rapid
river, and charged across under a. distressing fire, but carried the heights
beyond in fine style, pursuing the enemy through the streets of Warsaw, where
Gordon and Elliott joined in the chase, strewing the road with dead and dying
for miles. Seventy-nine prisoners were captured here, besides vast quantities of
stores of every kind and description.
The country around
Cole Camp lay before the bold brigade like a beautiful panorama, flecked with
goodly houses, prolific orchards, delightful fields, and inexhaustible supplies
for men and horses. It was a German paradise before the devil came in the shape
of Shelby's brigade, and drew its flaming sword upon the quiet inhabitants. The
outlying scouts and the army of detached companies all around Shelby's line of
march had glorious work. Dan. Ingram reveled in the delicious cider; Peter Trone
made love to innumerable moonfaced girls; Dave Shanks devoured their sour-crout
and patted the matronly frows under their double chins; Hooper chatted about
crops and Bologna sausage, swearing his forefathers came from
Amsterdam, or
Rotterdam; Langhorne traded saddles twenty times and got one at last to suit
him; Blackwell sang "Villikins and his Dinah" over rousing bumpers of sparkling
catawoa; Plattenburg begged books, magazines, or newspapers; McCoy talked Irish
to the Dutch and Dutch to the Irish; Toney wrote letters to his innumerable
sweethearts in Missouri and made every house a post office; Gordon went in
heavily upon cheese and Genitan apples; Judge Shindler discussed politics and
the emancipation proclamation; Newt. Hart and Ed. Stonehill sought news from St.
Louis, and inquired about the girls there; Coffee electioneered for Congress and
explained his position; Maury Boswell bought wooden shoes to feed his horse in;
Elliott stood aloof, a grim Saul among the prophets, listening only for bugle
blasts and rattling musketry. The deceptions practiced upon the simple natives
were often grotesque and
amusing. Being clad
in complete Federal uniform, for the soldiers had no other, and it was either
blue or nakedness, the impositions were easily kept up. But for all this
singular complacency on the part of the Confederates, they took ample pay. Great
Connestoga horses came quietly in by droves; fat Devonshire cattle added to the
commissary train; furloughed militia darted out from every haystack and brush
patch to have one good shout for Lincoln before the awful truth was revealed,
and hundreds of houses gave up their burnished Enfield rifles and new
cartridge-boxes to the recruits flocking to the Southern standard. One tall,
lank, kill-dee of a looking fellow darted out from the brush just in front of
Shelby and stood
looking with
exultation upon the advancing column, a splendid Mississippi in his hand, and a
new Colt's revolver around his waist.
"'VeIl, boys, I'm
glad to see you, sartin," he said, mistaking the blue coats for Federals. "I
heerd Jo Shelby wns coming this way, and I ·sorter made it up with Nancy to
h!l\·e a pop at him with this here weapon," tapping significantly the barrel of
his gun.
" Ah !" said Shelby,
very quietly and repressing by a gesture the mirth of his soldiers, "what
command do you belong to?"
"Well, gineralI
suppose you are a gineral, from the feather in your hat and your big crowd
behind-I doesn't belong exactly to enny regiment, but I'm a good Union man as
anybody, and me and a parcel of the boys jist formed a kind of gurilla company
for home service, you know, drawing our arms and ammunition from Warsaw."
" Very well, and whom
do you fight? There are no rebels here, I reckon."
"Bless yer soul,
plenty of them, and d--d bad ones too, but we have been workin' on 'em lately,
and only day afore yesterday we killed old man Beasly, Tom Mays, and two of
Price's men just home from the army." Shelby's face hardened instantly, and his
lips closed firm and ominous. "Did these men make resistance, and were they
lying out in the brush?"
"No, not exactly
that, but they were rebels, you know."
"Precisely, just such
rebels as you see before you, brave men and true men. You are a common murderer
and a private thief. Major Elliott, place a guard over this man, and take him to
the rear."
The change that now
took place in the poor wretch's countenance was pitiable to behold. He turned
white, trembled all over, and tried to gasp out some apology, some excuse, but
his lips failed to utter a syllable. Imminent death was written on every muscle
of his face, and he handed over his arms with the sigh of a man who had looked
his last on earth and sky.
Florence, with its
pretty maiden name, lay right ahead, silent and completely deserted. Every man,
woman and child had fled, no one knew where; the houses were left unstripped of
everything, and the domestic animals were wandering about in seeming grief. All
the stores filled with goods were locked in the usual manner, and pianos opened
and prepared for music, stood covered with beautiful, new publications. A great
dread seemed to have enveloped the deserted town, and its inhabitants had rushed
away as if the lava waves of
Vesuvius were about
to overwhelm them. One peculiarity of the place struck everyone with surprise,
and it was the vast quantities of eggs in every house, store, barn and tenement.
Hogsheads were filled with them, boxes, barrels, buckets, pans and baskets
contained countless thousands, and :ret the numbers were only half enumerated.
It may be safely presumed that the frigid welcome destroyed no appetites, and
that the old French proverb was in no manner reversed that night, which says:
('It is impossible to make an omelet without breaking some eggs."
Tipton on its
railroad home next felt the shock of battle, and read a thrilling episode of war
by the light of its burning depot and the flames from consuming cars. Its
garrison thought once of defending the town, and ambushed behind the large,
frame house belonging to Major Williams, poured a deadly fire upon Thorp's
advance pressing forward through a narrow lane, but Gordon broke the fence on
the left, and through the gap poured the avenging brigade, sweeping everything
before it. Never a halt or a. fire any more. Never a bold, brave heart in all
their band to haul down the "good, old Stars and Stripes," that soon trailed in
the filth and the mire of the streets. Far out on the prairie toward Syracuse
the terrified Federals maintained their frantic gallop, and swiftly grew a
lessening spot upon the gray surface of the level earth. The work of destruction
was finished, the railroad torn up for miles, the necessary
supplies taken and
distributed, when Colonel Tom Crittenden came gayly down from toward Sedalia in
quest of war and brave endeavor. Ah! but Shelby had prayed many times to measure
swords with this Kentuckian he knew so well, and who had drilled in Lexington,
Missouri, years before, and shouted himself hoarse the day when Sumpter fell in
mistaken and counterfeited glee. Crittenden, in despite of disloyalty to his
native South, had a keen eye for art and was ever tasteful and particular. He
formed a long, blue line tipped with steel and dressed like a lady for a ball.
Crittenden drew his sheathed sword too, harmless as a cambric needle, and
decked, perhaps. with a scented bunch of bonny blue ribbon, and waved it toward
Shelby's grim line forming in the front. Shelby looked at his antagonist with
quiet determination, and his orders rang out above the hoarse preparations for
battle.
"Colonel Coffee, hold
your command well in hand for the reserve; Lieutenant Harris, charge with your
battery as I charge, and unlimber when you see their line waver, for I'll ride
it down like the prairie grass under foot."
Not a shrub big as
man's hand marred the level earth. One thousand men under the Stars and Stripes
faced one thousand men under the Stars and Bars, led by chieftains from the same
State, associates in boyhood, but" fitting representatives. of the races that
have been antagonistic for four thousand years, Patrician and Proletarian."
Time! Three lengths ahead
of his bravest there
rode Joe Shelby down upon the waiting Federals, his hat off, and his long, fair
hair streaming in the battle breeze. " Charge I" But this one shout rang from
right to left,
and the spurs struck
deep, and the revolvers gleamed dark in the sunlight. Bah! it was a sight to
haunt one's dreams to see that gay line of Federals shrivel up before a pistol
cracked or a saber whirled, and break away to the rear in groups of flying
horsemen. And that man leading the press, ahead of his fleetest and swiftest
riders, was the Kentuckian, the bold dragoon, the dashing Lieutenant Colonel Tom
Crittenden. Harris opened fire as ordered and sent a few shells into the
disordered mass, which only accelerated its speed and scattered its material,
when Shelby reined up suddenly with a muttered curse: " By heaven, I thought
that man would fight his men, a Kentuckian, too, a Kentuckian, and man to man
with us !"
Captains Charley
Jones and Wave Anderson, with only two companies, followed the flying Federals
through the streets of Otterville, killing and capturing many of the badly
mounted. No rest for criticisms now-no time for remarks upon the unexpected
flight of this superb body of cavalry, but away to BoonevilIe ere Crittenden's
fleet steeds had carried tidings of the leader he qid not dare to meet. Before
reaching Tipton in the morning, however, Colonel Shelby had sent forward a scout
under Captains Warner Lewis and William Edwards to reconnoiter the town. They
gained the railroad some few moments before a locomotive, and, maybe. one car
came rushing along toward Sedalia. Captain Lewis was a new hand, was not equal
to the emergency, and did not know how to capture the train. Instead of
displacing a rail upon the track, he attempted to check the speed of the iron
horse by a volley, but it bounded away
unhurt, bearing off
its passengers, one of them being Lieutenant Colonel Crittenden, the very man,
of alI others, Shelby was after. Crittenden had time to reach Otterville and
return with a large force before his antagonist finished his work at Tipton, and
Captain Lewis will remember to his dying day the lecture Shelby read him on the
capture of railroad trains. Crittenden, in the event of his capture, would have
been treated hospitably, though, for many of his old Lexington acquaintances
were there, and the worst fortune Blackwell and Shepard intended for him was II.
little horseback exercise for health's sake, and an opportunity to air his new
regimentals in the land of roses and magnolias.
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