USA > Arkansas > A history of southern Missouri and northern Arkansas : being an account of the early settlements, the civil war, the Ku-Klux, and times of peace > Part 11
USA > Missouri > A history of southern Missouri and northern Arkansas : being an account of the early settlements, the civil war, the Ku-Klux, and times of peace > Part 11
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Ridding the Country of Bushwhackers.
It soon became very rare to hear of a rebel scout north of the mountain. Both rebel and Union men who claimed protection by the Federal authorities began to repair and improve their farms again. During the time that the author was in command of the post, which continued up to the time that peace was made, his command had routed and completely driven from the country all irregular and roving bands of rebels and bushwhackers and had had numbers of small engagements in which there had been from eighty to ninety of the most desperate class of men that ever lived, killed, which was shown in the adjutant general's report. After they had been driven out of the county, they located in the counties of Oregon, Shannon and Dent, and at once commenced pillaging and robbing all classes of citizens, irrespective of their political adher- ence. Col. Freeman sent a courier through the lines with a dispatch, stating the condition of affairs, and asking that
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an armistice be entered into between Col. Freeman's scouts and the scouts which might be sent out from the post, with an understanding that they were going to aid each other in routing and driving out these irregular bands.
While engaged in that work they were not to fire on each other, but to co-operate. The author was to enter into the agreement if it could be effected. Col. Freeman sent Capt. Cook into Oregon and Shannon counties to lo- cate those roving guerrilla bands, and in some way, un- known to either Col. Freeman or myself, they gained the information, and while Capt. Cook was in Oregon county locating them, they waylaid him and killed him. Col. Freeman, realizing the fact that they had come into posses- sion of the whole scheme, came to the conclusion that we had better abandon the agreement. He organized scouts and captured and shot some of the most desperate char- acters that were leaders, while the author kept a vigilant watch to keep them from crossing over into Texas or ad- joining counties. At the time peace was made, it was ad- mitted by the law-abiding people, irrespective of party, that the command of Col. Monks had completely rid the country of all irregular bands of rebels and had made it safe, in a short time after he had taken command of the post, for forage trains and all other classes of citizens to pass on the wire road from Rolla to Springfield unmolested, and that very often they passed through without an escort.
Battle at Mammoth Spring.
Col. Wood, commanding the Sixth Missouri cavalry, left Rolla on the 7th day of March, 1862, with about two hundred and fifty men, for the purpose of making a scout south into the counties of Oregon and Howell and Fulton county, Arkansas, to ascertain the strength of the rebel forces in that portion of the country; reached Licking and
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went into camp. The next morning he broke camp and marched to Jack's fork, in Shannon county, and on the morning of the 9th marched to Thomasville; on the 10th he marched to Mammoth Spring, Arkansas. On reaching Mammoth Spring they learned that there was a rebel force in camp on the south fork of Spring river, just below Sa- lem, and on the morning of the 11th they broke camp and marched upon the rebels. On reaching the rebel encamp- ment they found they had cut timber and blockaded the road, so that it was impossible to reach the forces, except on foot. In coming within a few hundred yards of the rebels, lying concealed behind the timbers, they opened fire upon the advance of the Federal forces. The Federal forces had two small pieces of artillery that they unlimber- ed and brought into use. The rebels having no artillery, were soon dislodged from the first line of works, and they stubbornly fell back about one quarter of a mile, and went in behind the second fortifications that had been hurriedly erected. After fighting for an hour and a half or two hours the Federal force being greatly outnumbered, and the re- bels having themselves so obstucted, Col. Woods saw that it was useless to further continue the fight and retreated. On the next night he reached Howell Valley just below West Plains and went into camp and on the morning of the 13th they broke camp and marched in the direction of Houston, Missouri, reaching Houston sometime after night. The Federal loss in the battle referred to was seven killed and wounded. The Confederate loss was said to be twenty - five or thirty killed and wounded. Colonels Cole- man and Woodside were commanding the Confederates.
Col. Woods being in command of the post at Houston, learning that there was considerable of a rebel force, stand - ing at West Plains, Missouri, under the command of Cole- man and others, organized a scout and on the 24th day of
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February, 1862, broke camp and marched in the direction of West Plains, for the purpose of attacking the rebel for- ces stationed at that place, taking two small mounted howitzers strapped on mules, made a forced march, and in the early part of the day on the 25th reached West Plains. West Plains had a frame court house in the center of the square where the present court house is located. The road at that time led due north where Washington avenue is located until it struck the hill; also there was a road which led east where East main street is now located and on passing what was known as the Thomas Howell farm, turned directly north in the direction of Gunters Valley. The rebels had a strong picket thrown out on both roads; a part of the rebel command was quartered in the court house. Woods being advised of the condition of the rebels and where they were all quartered, supposing that they would take advantage of the court house when the attack was made, selected a high position where the road first struck the hill, planted his artillery, divided his forces and made a flank movement, ordered them to strike the lower road and advance on the pickets and as soon as they were fired up- on, to charge them, while he would remain with the other part of the force in readiness to dislodge them with his ar- tillery in case they used the court house as a fortification. On the advance coming in sight of the rebel pickets, they fired and retreated with the Federal forces pursuing. The rebel forces at once rallied their forces and took possession of the court house. As soon as Col. Woods saw them file into the house he leveled his cannon and fired a shell which struck the house near its center and passed clear through; that was the first artillery that the rebel command ever had heard. They filed out of the house faster than they went into it; then Col. Woods moved with his forces directly upon the forces near the court house when a generel engage-
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ment ensued. The rebels retreated west on the road near where West Main street is now located and a running fight was continued for about one mile, when Woods abandoned the pursuit, marched back into West Plains, and again re- turned to Houston. The losses on both sides were light, several, however, being killed or wounded.
"Uncle Tommy" and His Crutches.
I will relate an incident which occurred during the fight. Old "Uncle Tommy" Howell as he was familiarly known, resided just below the town spring a short distance from the road ; he had a sister living with him who was an old maid, and was known as "Aunt Polly". Howell being one among the early settlers of Howell Valley, had taken an active part in organizing Howell county, which took its name from him and he had been once representative of the county. The author heard him relate the circumstance in a speech delivered in West Plains after the war was over. He said when the fight came up that he was sitting on his front porch : all at once he heard firing commence, and heard horses feet and saw the rebel pickets coming on full gallop horseback, with the Federals close onto them with pistols in hand firing on them; he had been afflicted with rheumatism for years and one of his legs was drawn crook - ed and he hadn't attempted to walk without a crutch for several years; when he saw the men coming and the others shooting at them, he supposed that every shot was killing a man; he said they came right by his door and he never became excited while they were psssing; as soon as they got near the court house they then made a stand, where it appeared to him that there were thousands of shots being exchanged every minute. They had all passed his house and he was sitting there unmolested, when his sister, who was known as "Aunt Polly" ran out on the porch and
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cried out at the top of her voice "Lord a massy, Uncle Tommy, run for your life; you have been a public man and they will kill you, sure." He said it so excited him that he sprang to his feet. All below his house the valley was covered with hazel brush and snow was lying on the ground. He first looked toward where the firing was going on and said "My God! they certainly have got them very near all killed in this time" for he was under the impression that every shot killed a man. He started southwest from his house, ran about a quarter of a mile, jumped over behind a log; he had hardly gotten still when he imagined he heard the horses feet of the Federals in pur- suit of him ; he raised up and looked, could not see any person, so ran about another quarter, jumped over behind another log and as soon as he got still, the first thought came into his mind that they were still in pursuit, for he could hear the horses' feet, but on reflecting a moment he found that it was his heart beating; he said he could still hear the firing and he thought they intended to kill them all before they quit. He liad a son-in-law by the name of Hardin Brown living on the Warm fork of Spring river, about twenty miles distant, and he started on foot and never stopped traveling until he reached his house. On reaching the house, his daughter asked him how, in the name of God, he ever got there without his crutches. He said that was the first time that he had thought of his crutches. He began to notice his legs and the crooked leg was just as straight as the well leg. He said that it com - pletely cured him of his rheumatism and he had the use of that leg just the same as he ever did the other leg, and never used a crutch afterwards. After the war he removed to Oregon county and was elected to the legislature, and died a member of the legislature.
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Disposing of Union Men.
In the spring of 1862 there was a man by the name of Mawhinney, living about six miles below West Plains, in Howell valley, a Union man, but who had taken no part either way, except to express an opinion. About fifteen men belonging to a rebel scout went to his house, called for their dinners, some of them had him shoe their horses, and after they had their horses shod and got their dinner, they told him that they wanted him to go with thein. His
wife said to them "It ain't possible that after you have been treated as kindly as you have been you are going to take Mr. Mawhinney prisoner; you men certainly will not hurt him." They made no reply, carried him about one half inile from his home, shot him off of his horse, took the horse and went on, leaving the body on the side of the road. His wife with what other help she could get brought him in and had him buried.
About two weeks afterwards, in the spring of 1862, there was a man by the name of Bacon who lived near West Plains, who has some relatives living in this county at the present time. He was a Union man but had taken no part either way, except to express himself openly in favor of the Union. There came a scout of about twenty men and arrested him, started west with him in the direction of South Fork, and on reaching the vicinity where Homeland is located, left the road a short distance, shot him off of his horse. Went on to a house about one mile distant, called for their dinner. The woman in preparing dinner fried some bacon; after they were seated at the table she passed the bacon to them; several of them remarked that they didn't want any, that they had had some bacon, but had just disposed of it a sort time before they reached the house. After Bacon had laid where he fell dead for two or three days he was found and being considerably decomposed a
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hole was dug and the body placed into it and covered up, where his dust remains until the present day.
Union Supplies Captured by Rebels.
In the spring of 1862, the department commander re- established the military post at Springfield. All of the commissaries and forage had to be conveyed from Rolla to Springfield, as the terminus of the railroad was at Rolla, by wagon trains, a distance of one hundred and twenty miles. It required a large escort of soldiers to guard the trains to prevent the rebels from capturing them. All of the country south of the wire road was in possession of the rebels. There was scarcely a wagon train that passed on the road without being attacked by the rebels. They made their attacks generally on the front and rear of the trains, and before the wagon masters could corral the trains, they would capture some of the wagons, make the teamsters drive into the woods, cut the mules loose from the wagons, take sacks of coffee, salt, sugar and other commissaries, tie them on the backs of the mules, divide into small bunches and retreat into the hills. Very often the escort would have to send back to Rolla for reinforce- ments. The train would be tied up from twelve to fifteen hours before it could move on. It became a mystery to the Federal commanders how the Confederates could con- centrate a force of men numbering from fifty to three hun- dred, and the first intimation the escort would have, they, the rebels, would come out of the brush at some secluded spot, yelling, whooping and shooting, and charge upon the wagon train. They would generally capture more or less of the loaded wagons with the above results, and it became a question with the military authorities at Rolla and Spring- field how to capture or rout these bands, and as to how they managed to keep that number of men near to the wire
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road and yet the Federals were unable to discover their hiding places.
About the 15th day of August, the department com- mander ordered Capt. Murphy to take five hundred men and two pieces of artillery and move south from Rolla; to go as far south as he thought it would be safe, without placing his men so far inside of the Confederate lines that they might be captured; and, if possible, to learn the rebel movements and location of their troops. Capt. Murphy broke camp at Rolla and moved south about fifteen miles, was fired on by the rebels from the brush, marched about twenty-five miles, went into camp; on the next morning resumed the march, hadn't marched more than five miles until they were fired on from the brush; they were fired on four or five times that day, and went into camp near Thomasville. The next day he threw out skirmish lines on each side of his command, and resumed the march down the Warm fork of Spring river. There was more or less skirmishing all day. He camped on the Warm fork and the next morning marched over to the Myatt, where we had quite a skirmish. The rebels again retreated in the direction of the Spring River mill, where they were said to have a thousand men.
Here the command countermarched back to Rolla, having captured fifty or sixty prisoners; the Federals had a few men wounded.
In the spring of 1862, the Federal troops advanced 01 Springfield from Rolla. The rebels retreated west and the Federals again established a military post at Spring - field. The rebels continued to retreat west until they reached Prairie Grove, where they concentrated their forces and the memorable battle of that name was fought, the Federal troops being victorious. The Confederates re- treated from the state.
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The military post at Springfield being over one hundred miles west of Rolla, the terminus of the South Pacific rail - road, three-fourths of the distance being in possession of the rebels, all the forage and commissaries had to be con - veyed by wagon train. The main rebel forces having been driven from the state, and all of the country south of the wire road, with few exceptions, being in possession of the rebels, the Union mnen with their families having been driven from their homes. The leading Confederate officers met and held a council of war and decided to change their tactics. The first thing was to place two or three hun- dred well-armed Confederate soldiers south of and near the wire road leading from Rolla to Springfield, and so harass the wagon trains that the government wouldn't be able to get forage and commissaries through to Springfield, and thus force the Federals to abandon the post. In fur- therance of this move, they ordered their soldiers to be taken near to the line of the road and divided into squads of fron five to twenty-five men, conceal their arms and claim to be private citizens, live off the country and be so arranged that when a wagon train was about to leave Rolla, they could be called together on short notice; and when they wanted to make a more extensive raid, Confederate soldiers from as far south as the head of Spring river would march up and meet them and make a general raid.
The goverment had considerable trouble to learn the hiding places of these men, but they finally got officers who were acquainted with the country and men who were bona fide citizens, and knew who were citizens and who were not, and broke up their hiding places and drove them fur- ther soutlı. It was learned that a part of this Confederate force was composed of men who claimed to be citizens when they were not making their raids.
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Bravery of Captain Alsup.
In the summer of 1863, the Federal authorities estab- lished a military post at Clark's mill, in Douglas county, Missouri, on Bryant's fork of White river, erected a post and stationed some Illinois troops under the command of a Colonel, with Capt. Alsup's company, which was composed entirely of Douglas county citizens, in all about two hun- dred and fifty or three hundred men. Gen. Joe Shelby, a Confederate, with about five hundred troops, made a forced march from Arkansas and during the night time surround - ed the fort, and the next morning had his artillery in read - iness to open fire. He ordered a complete surrender of the garrison. The captain of the fort asked for a few minutes to consider the matter; at the expiration of the time, the Colonel in command agreed to surrender, stack up the guns and side arms in the fort, march his men outside and make an unconditional surrender. When the commander of the fort ordered his men and officers to stack their arms and march out, Capt. Lock Alsup and his company refused, and being cavalry, ordered his men to arm themselves and be ready to move whenever he ordered. While the com - mander of the fort was having the remainder of the garri- son stack their arms, Capt. Alsup and his company made a bold dash for liberty, came out of the fort shooting right and left, took the rebels by surprise, broke the rebel line, went through, being mounted on good horses, retreated up Bryant's fork with the rebels in pursuit. While going through an old field that had grown up to burrs about as high as a man's head, Fritz Krause, father of the assistant postmaster at West Plains, was thrown from his horse, rolled under the burrs, the rebels passed by and never saw him. He laid in the burrs until dark, then made his es- cape and rejoined his company at Springfield. The reb- els pursued them for about two miles, then returned to their
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command. Gen. Shelby paroled the prisoners, and such things as he could not carry with him he destroyed, the fort being burned. He resumed his march in the direction of Springfield and was reinforced by about five hundred troops. During this time, Capt. Alsup and his men had reached Springfield and, strange to say, hadn't lost a man ; had a few slightly wounded. Gen. Brown, who was in command of the post at Springfield, was said to be a brother-in-law of Gen. Shelby, and on Shelby's arrival at Springfield he demanded the surrender of the garrison. The Federal troops held a consultation and concluded to fight. After a brief engagement, Gen. Shelby drew his troops off and moved north; there were several killed and wounded on both sides. Gen. Brown's arm was broken by a piece from a shell. Gen. Shelby continued his raid towards the Missouri river, had several small engagements and then retreated from the state. Capt. Alsup and his brave men should be held in memory by all comrades, es- pecially by the loyal people of Douglas and Ozark counties, for their heroic action in charging through the rebel lines and making their escape after the post commander had at - tempted to deliver them into the hands of the rebels.
The fort at Clark's inill was never rebuilt. Capt. Al- sup and the loyal men of Douglas and Ozark counties and part of Wright county built a temporary fort near the cen - ter of Douglas county, and old and young organized them - selves into companies and armed themselves. With the help of Capt. Alsup's company, they appointed a few of their men as scouts, while the others worked in their fields. The scouts were out night and day along the state line and if a rebel scout attempted to raid the counties, notice was given all along the line and the men were all up in arms and ready to meet the raiders. It reminds one of reading the history of the early settlements along the Indian bor-
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der. The settlers would build forts and put out sentinels; if the Indians were seen advancing, word was given and the families would hurry to the fort and the men arm them - selves to drive the invaders back. So this organization, with some assistance from the post at Springfield, held Douglas and a part of Ozark and Wright counties during the remainder of the Civil War, and after the war was over, Douglas county gained the title of "Old Loyal Doug- las County." These old soldiers and comrades are fast falling and very soon there will be none left to tell of the heroisms and sacrifices they made for the country they loved. Will these comrades and their sons and daughters be so ungrateful that they will let their heroism and sacri- fices die with them and be forgotten, never to be written in history? The answer will be no, a thousand times no. The history of their heroism and sacrifices shall be written and go down to their children and their children's children, and may "Old Glory" ever wave over the country that they love so well and for which they made so many sacrifices.
Bushwhacking in Howell County.
The writer wants to say that there was not a Union man nor a single Union family left at home, from Batesville, Ark. to Rolla, Mo., a distance of two-hundred miles. The writer especially wants to speak for Howell County, Mo. The rebels took quite a number of Union men from their homes and shot them, some of them being old men. I will name a few of them that were shot: Morton R. Langs- ton, the father of T. J. and S. J. Langston, while he was hauling wood; Jeff Langston, one of the firm of Langston Bros. was riding on the wood at the time his father was shot. I asked a leading rebel after the war, why they shot Langston. His reply was: "He talked too much." Shot Mawhinney, Bacon and a number of others. Now I want
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to say right here, notwithstanding the treatment the Union men received from the rebels, not a single Confederate was ever taken from his home and shot or otherwise in- jured during the whole Civil War and no truthful Confed- erate will say to the contrary. There never was but one Confederate hurt after being taken prisoner in Howell County and he wasn't a citizen of Howell County; was said to be a north Missouri bushwhacker, charged with being one of the parties that shot old Mr. Langston, Maw - hinney and Bacon. A Federal scout in the year 1864 captured him below West Plains and the next morning they hung him to a smoke-house rafter. Notwithstand- ing a few of the friends of the bushwackers will tell to strangers that the writer shot a man in this county, by the name of Hawkins, in the lap of his family, which is a positive lie; the facts are these; Hawkins was one of the worst bushwhackers and murderers that ever lived in Howell County and was commanding a company of bush- wackers at the time he was shot. A short time before he was shot he had captured one of his cousins, by the name of Washington Hawkins, a Federal soldier, and taken from him a fine mare with his saddle and rig complete.
In the spring of 1864, a battalion of the 11th Mis- souri Cavalry, commanded by Col. Woods, had been ordered to report to Col. Livingston at Batesville, Ark. The writer had been ordered to report at Rolla, Mo., with his command. Col. Woods had camped near West Plains the previous night, the next morning resumed his march towards Batesville; after he had passed West Plains a few miles, Hawkins and his bushwhackers fired on them from the brush and they continued to fire on them every few miles for sixteen miles. Our force met the force of Col. Woods at the state line where Col. Woods informed me how they had been firing upon his men all morning. He
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