USA > Kansas > The Seventh Kansas calvary: its service in the civil war. An address before the State historical society, December 2, 1902 > Part 6
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On the 13th a second advance was made, and Forrest was again found occupying his former strong position on the op- posite side of Hurricane creek. The Seventh Kansas was a part of Herrick's brigade, which composed the left wing. The enemy's right was assaulted and driven back across the stream. In the meantime heavy fighting was going on at the left and center, where the enemy was badly beaten and forced to retire. This defeat caused him to withdraw his right, and Herrick advanced and occupied his position. The enemy re- treated rapidly on Oxford and the Union forces were again withdrawn to the Tallahatchie. This last battle at Hurricane creek was an affair of considerable magnitude; it was purely a cavalry battle, no infantry being engaged.
Grim-visaged war, if not always able to smooth his wrinkled front, must even in times of stress sometimes let a crease or two slip down to the corners of his mouth, to create the sem- blance of a smile; otherwise the monotony of solemn things would become too serious to be borne. A smile may be per- mitted here, after twoscore years, and all about a pair of trousers.
Just as this expedition moved from La Grange in the light- est of marching order, Captain Thornton appeared arrayed in a pair of buckskin breeches ; "Not regulation," he said, "but durable." We had all recently returned from a similar expe- dition with trousers showing many a gaping rift, created by the constant friction of the saddle, and he would not be caught
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that way again, he said, not he. The day before the cavalry fight at Hurricane creek it rained, and we were in the saddle during the downpour and thoroughly wet through, and Thorn- ton's buckskin breeches, soaked and soggy, became a sort of tenacious pulp. That night he improvised a clothes-line and hung them out to dry. At early reveille he sought his trou- sers; they were there. But you know what can be done with wet buckskin! Some evil-disposed person, under the cover of the night, had stretched them until they looked like a pair of gigantic tongs-they were twenty feet long if they were an inch. The cavalry battle of Hurricane creek was fought that day, and Thornton led his company, but it was in a costume that must have made pleasant to him the knowledge that the exigencies of war debarred the presence of the female sex. There was a hiatus between the extremity of the undergar- ment that obtruded below his cavalry jacket and his boots. Thornton was a Scotchman, and we accused him of coming out in kilts. He turned his trousers over to his colored servant in the early morning, and the faithful darky rode that day in the wake of battle with the captain's breeches wreathed and festooned about his horse, industriously employed in trying to stretch and draw them back into a wearable shape. He re- ported progress to the captain's orderly (sent back frequently during the day with solicitous inquiries), and by the following morning, after cutting off about five feet from each trouser- leg, the captain was able to appear in attenuated and crinkled small-clothes, so tight and drawn that it was difficult to know whether it was breeches or nature that he wore.
About noon on August 23 Chalmers's cavalry division made an attack on our infantry outpost and met a disastrous defeat. The Seventh Kansas went out to reenforce, and, when the enemy was driven back, pursued him to the old battle-ground at Hurricane creek. Here a fight lasting over two hours took place, the enemy bringing a battery into action, but the regi- ment maintained its position until ordered back by General Hatch. Here was killed First Sergt. Alonzo Dickson, of com- pany H. A braver man never lived nor one capable of more daring deeds. .
On return to La Grange the regiment met orders to proceed immediately to St. Louis. It arrived there on September 17, 1861, and reported to General Rosecrans. It formed a part of the defense against Price, who was advancing north on his
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last raid through Missouri. When Price turned west, the Sev- enth Kansas moved out in pursuit, while our forces were being concentrated to drive him from the state. When the troops were organized, the regiment was assigned to McNeil's brigade of Pleasanton's cavalry division. Skirmishing of more or less importance attended the advance across Missouri. On October 22 the enemy was struck at the Little Blue. He opened up with artillery, but was driven back on Independence, which place was captured by a brilliant cavalry charge. Two cannon complete and over a hundred prisoners were taken. Kansans must remember that the first sound of firing on Pleasanton's advance, that cheered their weary hearts and told them that relief was coming, was the thunder of the two cannon that played upon the Seventh Kansas as it charged in column up that long street through Independence, and, with Winslow, carried the Confederate position and captured the guns. Forty of the enemy's dead were left on the field. After an all- night march the Confederates were attacked near Hickman's Mills, the engagement lasting the entire day, the enemy re- tiring at nightfall, leaving his dead on the field. On the 25th, at the crossing of the Marmaton, the regiment participated in the cavalry charge that routed the Confederates; it also took part in the subsequent engagement at Shiloh creek, and in- deed in all the battles of the pursuit.
From Newtonia, where the pursuit of Price was abandoned, the regiment returned across Missouri to the St. Louis dis- trict, where it was divided into detachments and stationed at various points. Guerrillas were quite active, especially around Centerville and Pattison, and the garrisons at these points had plenty to occupy their attention. Capt. Jim Smith swept Crowley's Ridge and sent over twenty to their long home in one day's action. John James,' a mere boy, a member of com- pany D, killed the guerrilla leader, Dick Bowles, in open fight, the guerrilla having the decided advantage, being behind a fence with a Winchester, while the boy dismounted under fire and, kneeling in the open road, sent a bullet from his Spencer through the brain of the desperado. Dick Bowles was as con- spicuous in his neighborhood as Bill Anderson used to be in
7. JOHN JAMES is now living at Olathe. Kan. His address was, last I knew, 413 South Cherry street. Olathe. Kan. It shows that all the James family were not rebels, John James came to Kansas with company D. made up in Bureau and Jo Davies counties, Hlivois. His residence at enlistment was Wyanet. He came in as a recruit November 1. 1561; reenlisted as a veteran January 1, 1864, and was mustered ont with the regiment September 29, 1865.
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his. The headquarters of the regiment was at St. Louis during the winter and until moved to Pilot Knob. Early in July, 1865, the companies were concentrated at Cape Girardeau, and on July 18 moved by transports to Omaha, Neb. From thence the regiment marched up the Platte to Fort Kearney, and went into camp south of the trail to the southwest of the fort.
The Seventh Kansas had fought its battles and its term of service was drawing to a close, but its story would not be com- plete without a reference to two or three enlisted men who bore a distinguished part in its history. There were a number of men whose fund of humor was never exhausted and whose bravery was always a subject of admiration. Conspicuous among this class was Sergt. Morris Davidson, of company A, familiarly known by his nickname, "Mot." His quaint jokes are as fresh and funny to me to-day as they were twoscore years ago. In 1861 the original pilot bread was issued to the troops; it was modified later and an article of a less flinty sort was issued; but the original article was something to be remembered. It was soon after enlistment when Mot broke a period of unusual silence, while the boys were at mess, with the interrogative remark: "Boys, I was eating a piece of hardtack this morning, and I bit on something soft; what do you think it was?" "A worm," was the answer of the inevi- table individual who stands ready with instant information. "No, by G-," said Mot, "it was a tenpenny nail." Mot had a deficiency in the roof of his mouth, and the defect in his speech, like Charles Lamb's stutter, made his savings seem much funnier than they show up in cold print. He was abso- lutely fearless.
At Hurricane creek he was sent with four dismounted men to scout across a gap between our left wing and center; a similar gap existed in the enemy's line, and Mot crossed with his men over the stream and crawled up around the left of Chalmers's brigade, which opposed us. He opened fire on their left rear from the brush, and the rebel leader, thinking he was flanked, hastily withdrew his whole force and rapidly fell back nearly a mile and formed a new line. As our line advanced and took position across the stream, Davidson and his men were met coming out of the brush, and then the cause of Chalmers's retrograde movement, heretofore a matter of
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mystery, became evident. "What on earth were you trying to do, sergeant?" was Colonel Herrick's remark, as he stared in astonishment at Mot and his diminutive army. "Trying to snipe 'em," was the sergeant's answer as he took his place in line. He had whipped a brigade. In the winter of 1862-'63, Mot was commanding a picket post of five men on Wolf river, in Tennessee. It was a bitter cold night, and, although the enemy was lurking about, Mot and his men had built a fire in a hollow and were huddled around it trying to keep from freez- ing, when they received a volley from the brush on the oppo- site side of the creek. "Twenty-five men with me and the rest hold horses!" thundered Mot as he dashed alone towards the enemy, who immediately fled.
Ira B. Cole, bugler of company H, familiarly known as "Buck" Cole, was another fellow of infinite jest. Colonel Herrick, who never changed expression or smiled when a funny thing was said, nevertheless appreciated a joke in his own way; he used to have Buck detailed as his bugler just to have him near, that he might hear his jokes, and Buck took advantage of the situation and played the court fool to his heart's content. He was notoriously sloven in his dress, but used to say "that he was bound to dress well if he didn't lay up a cent." He was not always amenable to discipline, and once, while he was carrying a log of wood up and down the company line as a punishment, was accosted by the chaplain, who had come for a book he had loaned Buck and had not been returned. The chaplain was a recent appointment, and as yet guileless, and when Buck suggested that he hold the log while he went after the book, the chaplain absent-mindedly took it, and, ten minutes later, when the captain appeared on the scene, was pacing up and down, thinking over his next Sun- day's sermon, with the stick still on his shoulder. Buck was found peacefully sleeping in his tent. He stated to the captain that he supposed the idea was to have the log carried, and as the chaplain was doing it he thought it would be all right.
There were those who made jokes, and those who enjoyed them, and conspicuous among the latter class was Elihu Hol- comb, of company A, known in common as "Boots." No mat- ter how serious and disarranged the surroundings, Boots always saw something to be amused at, and his mirthful laughter would ring out above the din and bring a smile to the face of despair. A marked occasion was at Coffeyville, when
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the Confederates, after having been whipped and driven for many days, turned the tables on us and sent us back in retreat across the field to our rear. Boots deemed this to be an excel- lent joke, and during the retreat his laughter was easily dis- tinguished between the crash of volleys, as he gave expression to his enjoyment.
I could go on and fill many pages with the humor that lived to temper the hardships of a soldier's life, and could relate in- stances of heroic daring that grew commonplace in their fre- quency. I have only referred to those instances which come uppermost in my mind as I write.
There was one incident that I would like to speak of, simple in itself, but it always left an impression on my mind that I never want to grow less distinct. When the Seventh Kansas entered Independence, Mo., the first time, in 1861, as it rode down the long street from Kansas City, toward the court- house, to our left, a block away, two ladies stood on the upper floor of a double porch waving their handkerchiefs, loyal to the core. Three years later, when the regiment was charging up that same street against Price's artillery, which was send- ing shot and shell to meet it, those same two ladies stood on the same porch waving their handkerchiefs, and although we could not hear them, I know they were cheering.
The name "jayhawkers," given the regiment. was possibly a disadvantage, for it was this name that suggested to other regiments to lay their sins on our shoulders. It resulted in the regiment being declared outlaw by Confederate authori- ties, and a tacit understanding existed that, as far as the Seventh Kansas was concerned, no prisoners would be taken. Once Lieut. B. C. Sanders escorted some prisoners to a Con- federate camp in Mississippi for exchange. This was the
8. JAMES SMITH, of Topeka. was one of the squad with Captain Sanders on this occasion. James Smith was born in Armstrong county. Pennsylvania. July 29, 1837. He was the oldest son of Robert and Sarah ( Wray) Smith. The mother died in 1860 and the father in 1892. The father and seven sons were in the Union army in the war of the rebellion-James, John, William, Matthew, Daniel, Elder, and Henry. Another, Robert, was on the plains freighting, while the ninth son, George, was too young. All the sons except James were in the Army of the Potomac. John was a prisoner at Andersonville. exchanged, and killed at Petersburg; Matthew died in the service, and William was severely wounded at Malvern Hill. James Smith was educated at Elder's Ridge Academy, Indiana county, and afterward graduated at Jefferson College, Pennsylvania. After graduation he taught school in Mississippi, and in 1860 emigrated to Kansas, settling in Marshall county. In 1861 he enlisted in company A, Seventh Kansas cavalry, serving as a private until 1864. when he re- enlisted as a veteran. Upon his discharge. September 30. 1865. he resumed work on the farm. In 1865 he was elected a member of the house of representatives. In 1869 he was elected county clerk of Marshall county. reelected in 1871, holding for four years. In 1873 he was elected county treasurer, and reelected in 1875. Before the expiration of his second term he was nominated for secretary of state, in 1876.
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ostensible purpose, but the real object was to locate and as- certain the strength of the rebel force. That night, in the rebel camp, under the softening influence of some excellent whisky that our squad had taken along, very cordial relations were established. A Confederate officer, growing frank in his discourse, finally declared that he stood ready to greet any Yankee under like circumstances, excepting one of those d- Kansas jayhawkers; they were outlawed, and death was too good for them. Lieutenant Sanders, who never touched liquor, sat watching and taking notes. He smiled grimly, and in a few minutes, when asked what regiment he belonged to, quietly answered, "the Kansas jayhawkers." The situation looked a little dubious for a few moments, but the Confeder- ates finally decided, in consideration of the excellent quality of the whisky, to make an exception in this instance, and cordial relations were reestablished. As soon as Sanders was out of the rebel camp the next morning on his return, he tore up the flag of truce, saying, "I don't want any white-rag pro- tection ; I'll fight my way through from this time on." And he did. While the name "jayhawker" was a reproach among the white people of the South, it was a symbol of deliverance to the blacks, and in their simple minds a jayhawker was a Moses who would lead them out of bondage.
At Fort Kearney orders were received to proceed to Fort Leavenworth for final muster-out and discharge. "Assembly" was sounded at once and the order read to the men. In less than an hour thereafter camp had been struck and the regi- ment was moving down the river on its final march toward home. Fort Leavenworth was reached on September 14, and on the 29th of September, 1865, the companies formed on the parade-ground for the last time. They were formally mus- tered out, and the following day received their last pay and final discharge. Their tour of duty was ended.
Ile was reelected in 1878, and again in 1880. serving six years-through the ad- ministratious of John P. St. John and George W. Glick. He next served four years as private secretary to Gov. John A. Martin, following this with four years in the same capacity for Gov. Lyman U. Humphrey. During the receivership of the Atchi- son. Topeka & Santa Fe he was expert accountant for the master in chancery. He was appointed quartermaster-general of the state militia by Gov. William E. Stanley, which position he now holds. January 23. 1867. he was married to Miss Jane Edgar, of Marshall county. Capt. James Smith, of company C, was another person. Capt. B. (. Sanders is still living. in Cloud county, near Concordia, where he settled upon the close of the war. William H. Smith, a brother, has held various positions in Marshall county. and has been a member of the legislature several sessions. He was president of the State Historical Society for the year 1902. Five of the Smith ! rothers. James, William. Robert, Henry, and George, settled in Marshall county. James served for some time as quartermaster of the Seventh regiment.
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I have called this "The Story of the Seventh Kansas," but the story of the Seventh Kansas will never be written-can never be written. The story of a few battles-not a tenth part told; a sketch of many skirmishes-but briefly related, are mere suggestions of four years of energetic action, of hardship and suffering, and of gratification that strength had been given to endure it all. I have not told the story of marches under a midday sun that beat down and seemed to shrivel up the brain as you gasp for breath in the dust beaten up by the horses' feet; of marches through mud and never- ceasing rain that soaked you, saturated you, until you felt that you had dissolved into a clammy solution yourself; of marches through winter storms of sleet and driving snow, without hope of shelter or rest; of struggles against almost irresistible drowsiness when sleep had been denied you for days and to sleep now would be death; of weeks of tossing in the fever ward of a field hospital, where the oblivion of stupor came to you as a blessing; of thirsting for water when only brackish, slimy pools festering in the sun were near to tan- talize you-this part of the story has not been told. The thrill and excitement of battle were wanting in all this; it was only plain, monotonous duty, made endurable by the grim humor that jeered at suffering and made a joke at the prospect of death.
Winter or summer, a cavalry regiment in the field has no rest. Picketing, patrolling, scouting, it is the eyes of the army, and must not sleep. It leads the advance or covers the rear; far away to the front, the infantry column, moving along without interruption, hears the dull jar of cannon, or the popping of carbines; it is the cavalry sweeping the road. The fences torn down in gaps along the wayside indicate that the enemy had grown stubborn and the cavalry had been de- ployed. A dismounted skirmisher can lie down and take ad- vantage of cover; a mounted cavalryman is an easy mark for a sharpshooter as he advances; but he must take his chances; it is his duty. A cavalry regiment does not usually suffer a heavy loss in any one engagement; it is one here, two or three there-a constant attrition that is ever wearing away the substance; it is the aggregate that tells the story. The dead are scattered here and there, buried by the wayside where they fell. Few have been gathered into the national ceme- teries, but they rest as well, and the same glory is with them wherever they may sleep.
in F8320.31
The Early History of the Seventh Kansas Cavalry.
Written by S. M, Fox, late Adjutant Seventh Kansas Cavalry, for the Kansas State Historical Society.
TO INTERPRET history accurately and truthfully one must have lived as a part of the history of which he speaks. This is especially true as relates to the campaigns of the early Kansas regiments along the Missouri border during the first months of the civil war. Documentary evidence re- lating to these movements is exceedingly meager, and we cannot confidently rely on the ever-increasing exaggeration of tradition. Therefore, when one attempts to criticise certain traditionary acts he should make himself doubly sure of the ground on which he bases his criticism.
At this day, while some of the actors in the drama are still living, the need of the Kansas Historical Society is a statement of the facts based upon the personal knowledge of the narrator. His opinion of men with whom he has been thrown in intimate relationship in the past is of value. Their au- thenticated deeds he may well record; but great care should be taken that injustice be not done by a loose setting forth as fact that of which he has no personal knowledge, but which has come to him second-hand, through a possibly prejudiced source.
I have undertaken this article not to embalm any personal achievement, but to correct a misstatement so baseless that I would not feel justified in -letting it go unchallenged. I will endeavor to be as impersonal as possible, but it will be necessary to inject the ego into this statement long enough to say that I was a member of the Seventh Kansas cavalry and served in its ranks continuously from its earliest beginning, in 1861, until the regiment was finally mustered out as a veteran organization, in the fall of 1865; and therefore speak from intimate personal experience, and am not required to gather my facts from any secondary source.
This article is inspired by the following statement taken from an article printed in the ninth volume of the "Kansas Historical Collections," under the title, "The Black-Flag Character of War on the Border," contributed by Henry E. Palmer, late captain in the Eleventh Kansas cavalry. I quote as follows:
"This demoralized, inhuman condition of affairs in the district of the border was not confined to one side. The Seventh Kansas cavalry, organized October 28, 1861, commanded by Charles R. Jennison, gained under Jenni- son's control a world-wide reputation as the 'Jayhawkers.' Returning from their first raid into Missouri, they marched through Kansas City, nearly all dressed in women's clothes, old bonnets and outlandish hats on their heads; spinning-wheels, and even gravestones, lashed to their saddles; their path- way through the country strewn with, to them, worthless household goods; their route lighted by burning homes. This regiment was little less than an armed mob until Jennison was forced to resign, May 1, 1862. As might be inferred, this man Jennison brought only disgrace to Kansas soldiery."
Captain Palmer reiterates the above lurid statement in the Kansas City
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Star of November 24, 1908, in a reply to M. H. Madden, who had seen fit to take exceptions to some of Captain Palmer's statements in the above-quoted article. In this last communication to the Star, Captain Palmer goes on to strengthen his statement by saying:
"There are neighbors of Mr. Madden in your peaceful, prosperous city that have not forgotten this parade through your streets, which occurred about October 7, 1861."
i wish first to state here, before going further, that the Seventh Kansas cavalry (or the First Kansas cavalry, as it was then designated) never in its history paraded through Kansas City in the guise and manner depicted by Captain Palmer. It never "paraded through the streets of Kansas City
returning from its first raid into Missouri," nor returning from any other raid. 1
It will be observed that Captain Palmer mixes his chronology. He has correctly given the date of the organization of the Seventh Kansas cavalry as October 28, 1861, but he later fixes the date of the alleged parade through Kansas City as October 7, 1861, twenty-one days before the regiment was organized.
It is a fact, however, that three companies of the Seventh Kansas were in Kansas City during the last half of September and the first half of Octo- ber, 1861. These companies were, however, dismounted and without uni- forms, having been rushed down from Fort Leavenworth to help defend the city against Price, then at Lexington. These companies made no raids what- ever, but did provost duty, Major Anthony being provost marshal part of the time. Colonel Jennison had no rank in the regiment until the date of organization, October 28.2 It was understood, of course, that he was to be the colonel. I was in Kansas City doing duty with one of the three com- panies, and it seems odd that I have no recollection of any parade made through Kansas City as described. I would certainly have been impressed with such a wild and wooly performance, as I was a tenderfoot not long out of the East. I do, however, have a very vague recollection of a story told in camp that Jennison had at one time marched defiantly through
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