USA > Missouri > DeKalb County > History of Andrew and De Kalb counties, Missouri : from earliest time to the present; together with sundry personal, business and professional sketches and family records. besides a condensed history of the state of Missouri, etc > Part 12
USA > Missouri > Andrew County > History of Andrew and De Kalb counties, Missouri : from earliest time to the present; together with sundry personal, business and professional sketches and family records. besides a condensed history of the state of Missouri, etc > Part 12
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73
On the evening of the same day, October 24, he was over- taken by Maj. Zagonyi, with the "body guard, " and he, under orders from Fremont, took command of the combined force. The Confederates, mostly cavalry, and numbering something more than 1,000, were encamped about a mile west of Springfield, on the Mount Vernon road, and were under command of Lieut .- Col.
126
HISTORY OF MISSOURI.
Cloud. The attack of Zagonyi proved a complete surprise. His men dashed down a lane under fire of the enemy, who had hastily formed a line along its north side. At this first onset a large number of the Confederates ran in every direction, but the remainder stood their ground. The Union soldiers swept past the Confederate camp, demolished a rail fence, entered the field where the enemy then were, and formed in line in a ravine about 200 yards away. They again charged with drawn sabers, but were repulsed with considerable loss. Falling back to the ravine they repeated the charge a second and third time with a like re- sult. The Union loss in the engagement was Zagonyi's "body guard," 15 killed, 27 wounded and 10 taken prisoners-52; White's "Prairie Scouts " killed, wounded and prisoners, 33; total 85.
After the engagement the Confederates withdrew to Price's headquarters at Neosho, and Zagonyi also fell back until he met Sigel's advance.
Gen. Fremont was just upon the eve of an attack upon Price, who, it was reported, reinforced by McCulloch, was moving on Springfield with 40,000 men, when he was superseded by Gen. Hunter. The latter, after retreating to St. Louis, was in turn superseded by Gen. Halleck on the 18th of November.
BELMONT.
The only remaining movement of importance was at Belmont on the Mississippi.
The Confederate general, Polk, acting under orders of his government, had, notwithstanding that State's neutrality, entered Kentucky with an army, and had captured the town of Columbus. Batteries planted here commanded the Mississippi. The Con- federates gathered in force at Belmont, on the opposite bank. In order to dislodge them, Gen. Fremont sent Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, with a brigade of 3,000 Illinois and Iowa troops, into Missouri by way of Cairo, On the 7th of November, Grant made a vigorous and successful attack on the Confederate camp, but Gen. Polk sent reinforcements across the river, the guns of Columbus were brought to bear on the Union position, and Grant was obliged to retreat. The total loss on the Federal side was 108 killed, 353 wounded and 121 missing; total, 582. The Con-
127
HISTORY OF MISSOURI.
federate loss was 105 killed, 419 wounded and 117 missing ; total, 641.
In addition to the engagements already described, quite a large number of raids, surprises and skirmishes-some of them important enough to be accounted battles-occurred in Missouri during 1861. They will be found mentioned in chronological order in the list of battles on another page.
THE CAMPAIGN OF 1862.
The beginning of the year found Missouri comparatively quiet. Gen. Price had concentrated about 12,000 men at Spring- field, intending to remain there all winter, but Gen. Halleck massed his forces, comprising the troops of Asboth, Sigel, Davis and Prentiss, at Lebanon, under command of Gen. Curtis. On February 11 this army moved against Springfield, and on the following night Gen. Price retreated to Cassville. Curtis pur- suing him, he withdrew still further across the Arkansas line to Cross Hollows, thence to Sugar Creek, where, reinforced by McCulloch, he gave battle, and was defeated February 20. Price again retreated to Cove Creek, and then halted, leaving Missouri with no large organized Confederate force within her borders. Nevertheless, it was evident that the rebel general, sheltered in the defiles of the "Boston Mountains," was only gathering strength for more vigorous operations; therefore Curtis retraced his steps, and fell back to Pea Ridge, among the mountains in the northwestern part of Arkansas. Here he received intelli- gence that Price and McCulloch had been reinforced by Gen. Van Dorn, and that their combined force under command of the latter officer would soon attack his position.
BATTLE OF PEA RIDGE-AN ELKHORN TAVERN.
This engagement commenced on the morning of the 6th of March, 1862. The Confederate force aggregated about 25,000 men as follows: McCulloch's troops from Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas, 13,000; Gen. Pike's command, consisting of Choctaw, Cherokee, Chickasaw and other Indians, and some white troops, 4,000; Price's Missouri troops, 8,000. The Federal force con- sisted of 10,500 men, including cavalry and infantry, forty-nine pieces of artillery and one mountain howitzer.
128
HISTORY : OF MISSOURI.
After a hard-fought battle, which lasted for two days, the Federals were victorious. The Confederate generals, McCulloch and McIntosh, were both killed. Van Dorn withdrew to the in- terior of Arkansas, and Curtis marched slowly southward. The Federal loss in the battle of Pea Ridge was 203 killed, 972 wounded, and 176 taken prisoners; total, 1,351; Confederate loss about the same.
VARIOUS WAR MEASURES.
Meanwhile, in Missouri, Provost-Marshal-General Farrar issued an order requiring the publishers of newspapers in the State, with the exception of St. Louis city papers, to furnish a copy of each issue, for inspection at the marshal's office.
Gen. Halleck issued an order requiring the officers of the Mercantile Library Association and of the Chamber of Com- merce to subscribe to the oath prescribed by the convention ordi- nance of October 6, 1861, under peril of arrest and imprison- ment. The same order also forbade the display of secession flags in the hands of women or on carriages-the carriages to be con- fiscated and the women arrested. A similar order was issued to the presidents and directors of all railroads in the State, and to the president, professors, curators and other officers of the State University at Columbia. This order required all clerks, agents and civil employes in the service of the United States to take the oath prescribed by act of Congress, and recommended that all clergymen, teachers, officers of benevolent institutions, and all engaged in business and trade, who were loyal to the Union, should voluntarily take the convention oath, in order that their patriotism might be known.
At different times men were tried and condemned to be shot upon charges of railroad and bridge burning, but these sentences were mitigated to imprisonment, or in some cases the culprits were released upon their taking the oath of allegiance, and giving bond in the sum of $2,000 each, for future loyalty to the Govern- ment.
Edmund J. Ellis, of Columbia, editor and proprietor of The Boone County Standard, was found guilty, and sentenced to ban- ishment from the State, during the war, on the several charges of giving information to the enemy, encouraging resistance to the
129
HISTORY OF MISSOURI.
Federal Government, and inciting persons to rebellion against the same. His printing materials were confiscated and sold.
Early in April, Gen. Halleck went to Corinth, Miss., and left Maj .- Gen. Schofield in command at St. Louis.
OPERATIONS AGAINST GUERRILLAS .- COL. JO. C. PORTER.
Gov. Gamble, desiring to repress the numerous guerrilla organizations in the State, authorized Gen. Schofield to organize the State militia into companies, regiments and brigades, and to call a force into the field sufficient to quell the marauders and secure the people of the State in their persons and property. In the series of skirmishes and fights which occurred between the State militia and the Confederate guerrillas, the most brilliant and im- portant were those connected with the pursuit and final overthrow of Col. Jo. C. Porter.
His force was first engaged July 1, at Cherry Grove, Schuy- ler County, by Col. Lipscomb, with about 450 of the State militia. After a small fight the Confederates retreated, and were pursued as far as Newark, Knox County. The next important encounter with Porter's forces was at Pearce's Mills, on the Middle Fabius, Scotland County, where, on the 19th of July, a pursuing force, under Maj. John Y. Clopper, of the Merrill Horse, and Maj. John F. Benjamin, of the Eleventh Missouri State Militia, was ambus- caded, and sustained a loss of eighty-three men, while the Con- federates lost but half a dozen. Porter, however, retreated toward the west and south, and in less than twenty-four hours was at Novelty, Knox County, sixty-four miles distant. Still going southward, they passed through Marion County to Florida, in Monroe, where they attacked and defeated a small detachment of the Third Iowa Cavalry, under Maj. H. C. Caldwell, and then hurried on to the heavily-wooded country near Brown's Spring, ten miles north of Fulton, in Callaway County. Ascertaining their position, Col. Guitar, of the Ninth Missouri State Militia, started in pursuit, July 27, with about 200 men and two pieces of artillery. On the preceding day Lieut .- Col. Shaffer, of Merrill's Horse, left Columbia upon the same errand, with 100 men, and was joined at Sturgeon by Maj. Clopper, with as many more. Maj. Caldwell, with a detachment of the Third Iowa, also started
130
HISTORY OF MISSOURI.
from Mexico. These two latter columns marched toward Mt. Zion Church, in the northeast part of Boone County, believing that Porter was encamped there. Not finding the object of their search, they pursued their way into Callaway County, and, on the afternoon of the 28th, heard Guitar's cannon four or five miles distant. Shaffer and Caldwell hastened forward, and arrived in time to assist in the hard-fought battle at Moore's Mill, July 28, wherein Porter was defeated with a loss of 32 killed and 125 wounded, while Guitar lost 13 killed and 55 wounded.
BATTLE OF KIRKSVILLE.
Porter now retreated northward, through Monroe into Marion County. Here he received a large number of recruits. On the 1st of August he attacked and captured Newark, Knox County, with its garrison of seventy-five men, under Capt. Wesley Lair, of the Eleventh Missouri State Militia, and pushed northward to Short's well, in the southern part of Scotland, where he was joined by a considerable detachment under Col. Cyrus Franklin and Lieut .- Col. Frisby H. McCullough. The rebel forces were closely pursued by Col. John McNeil. Porter and Franklin turned west from Short's well, and reached Kirksville on the morning of August 6, a few hours in advance of their pursuers, and, ordering the citizens to evacuate the town, posted their troops in the courthouse, seminary, stores and private residences, and thus entrenched awaited the coming Unionists. Porter had about 2,800 men, all mounted, but many were without arms, and nearly all without experience.
Col. McNeill, approaching from the eastern side of the town, drew up his forces before it. Not knowing the exact position of the enemy, he ordered ten men, under Lieut. John N. Cowdry, of Merrill's Horse, to ride through the town and discover their places of concealment. They obeyed the order, and the rebels in their eagerness fired upon them from houses, stables and other places affording them protection from the missiles which were shortly to be poured upon the town. McNeill now opened the battle with his cannon, and, under cover of his artillery fire, advanced his dismounted men, and soon the Confederates began to give way.
131
HISTORY OF MISSOURI.
In three hours the town was in possession of McNeill, and the forces of Porter and Franklin were in full retreat toward the Chariton River. The Confederate loss in this engagement was between 200 and 300 killed, wounded and captured; the Federal loss was 6 killed and 33 wounded.
COMPTON'S FERRY-YELLOW CREEK.
On the following day Col. Guitar, who had been ill at Jef- ferson City, entered upon preparations for the pursuit of a considerable rebel force in Chariton County, under Col. J. A. Poindexter, and, on the 8th of August, landed from a steamer a considerable force at Glasgow. He overtook Poindexter at 9 o'clock on the night of the 11th, at Compton's Ferry, on Grand River, in Carroll . County. Part of Poindexter's men had crossed the river before his arrival, but a large number, with all their baggage, horses, wagons, etc., had yet to cross. Guitar ordered a charge, and at the same time opened upon the fleeing rebels with two pieces of artillery. The result was a great panic and considerable destruction. Many of the Con- federates, in their eagerness to escape, threw away their guns, and forced their horses into the river, but the animals, in many instances, became unmanageable, and returned to the same shore whence they started. Some were drowned. A large num- ber of prisoners, and all the baggage, together with horses, mules, guns and wagons, were captured.
Poindexter marched as swiftly as possible to the northward, reaching the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad at Utica on Tues- day morning, the 12th. Near here he was intercepted and driven back by Gen. Lyon. Retreating south he was met by Guitar on the 13th, at Yellow Creek, in Chariton County, and again routed, his band being scattered and broken up. Guitar then returned to Jefferson City and was promoted by Gov. Gamble to be briga- dier-general of Enrolled Missouri Militia.
BATTLE AT INDEPENDENCE.
The next important engagement in the State occurred at Inde- pendence very early in the morning of August 11. The town was garrisoned by about 450 Federal troops, comprising infantry
132
HISTORY OF MISSOURI.
and cavalry, under Lieut .- Col. J. T. Buell. The Confederates, commanded by Col. John T. Hughes, of Clinton County, and G. W. Thompson, numbered from 600 to 800. They were fairly in- side the town, and had commenced a vigorous attack before their approach was suspected. Col. Buell was at once surrounded at his headquarters, thus preventing all communication between himself and his men; nevertheless his soldiers fought bravely; but so completely were they surprised that the best they could do was to retreat into the fields, where they formed for defense be- hind a stone wall. While the rebels were charging upon this position Col. Hughes was killed. Col. Buell, finding that his camp was in the hands of the enemy, and that. extrication was hopeless, raised the white flag and surrendered the post. Both sides suffered heavy losses.
BATTLES OF LONE JACK AND NEWTONIA.
At Lone Jack, a village in Jackson County, a rebel force (3,000 strong) under Cols. John T. Coffee, Vard. Cockerill, S. D. Jackman and D. C. Hunter, attacked 800 State militia under Maj. Emory Foster, of the Seventeenth Missouri State Militia on August 16. The Federal loss was 43 killed, 154 wounded and 75 missing; the Confederate casualties were about the same. The Federals were defeated and lost two pieces of artillery. The rebels hearing their adversaries were to be reinforced retreated southward.
On September 13, 1862, an engagement took place at New- tonia, Newton County, between about 5,000 Kansas, Wisconsin, Missouri and Indian troops, under Gen. Salomon, and a Confed- erate force of 8,000 or 10,000 under Col. D. H. Cooper. Num- bers were killed and wounded on both sides, and the Federals were compelled to retreat as far as Sarcoxie, fifteen miles distant.
EXECUTION OF REBEL PRISONERS.
At Macon, Mo., on the 25th of September, ten rebel prisoners were executed on the charge of repeated violations of their paroles, and on October 18 a similar number was shot at Palmyra, in retaliation for the abduction and murder of Andrew Allsman, a Unionist of Marion County. After the battle of Kirksville,
133
HISTORY OF MISSOURI.
sixteen were executed for violating their paroles, and Col. F. H. McCullough was shot for recruiting within the lines.
BATTLE OF CANE HILL, ARKANSAS.
The last great battle of the year in which Missourians had a part was fought at Cane Hill, near Fayetteville, Ark., on Sunday, December 6, 1862. The Confederate forces under Gen. Hind- man, of Arkansas, and Marmaduke, of Missouri, were defeated by the Unionists under Gen. Blunt of Kansas. The following is the official report of the engagement, sent by Gen. Blunt to Maj .- Gen. Curtis, commandant of the department of Missouri:
PRAIRIE GROVE, December 10, 1862. Maj .- Gen. S. R. Curtis:
The enemy did not stop in their flight until they had crossed the Boston Mountains, and are probably ere this across the Arkansas River. The enemy's killed and wounded is between 1,500 and 2,000 - a large proportion of them killed. One hundred of their wounded have died since the battle, and a large proportion of the others are wounded mortally, showing the terrible effects of my artillery. My casualties will be about 200 wounded. Most of the wounded will recover. The enemy have left their wounded on my hands, and most of their dead, uncared for. They are being buried by my command. Hindman admitted his force to be 28,000. Maj. Hubbard, who was a prisoner with them all day of the fight, counted twenty regiments of infantry and twenty pieces of artillery. They had no train with them, and muffled the wheels of their artil- lery in making their retreat. Four caissons filled with ammunition were taken from the enemy. The Twentieth Regiment of Wisconsin Volunteers, in addi- tion to those mentioned yesterday, suffered severely in charging one of the enemy's batteries, which they took, but were unable to hold.
JAMES G. BLUNT, Brigadier- General.
THE CAMPAIGN OF 1863 .- BATTLES OF SPRINGFIELD, HARTSVILLE AND CAPE GIRARDEAU.
In the early part of this year, the Confederates, led by Gens. Marmaduke and Price, resumed activity in Arkansas and Southern Missouri. On the 8th of January, with a force of 2,500 or 3,000 men and three pieces of artillery, Gen. J. S. Marmaduke attacked Springfield, which was occupied by Federal troops under Gen. E. B. Brown, commander of the Southwestern Department of Missouri. The fighting continued from 1 o'clock P. M. until after dark. Gen. Brown, having been severely wounded, the command devolved upon Col. B. Crabb. The Confederates re- treated the following morning, going to Marshfield and Harts-
134
HISTORY OF MISSOURI.
ville. Their loss was 42 killed and 60 wounded who were left on the field. The Federal loss was 18 killed and 110 wounded.
Three days afterward, at the town of Hartsville, Gen. Marmaduke, having united near Marshfield with a force under Col. Jo. C. Porter, and moving thence southward, attacked a Federal force under Col. Samuel Merrill of the Twenty-first Iowa, and after a bloody little engagement drove them from the field.
On April 26, Gen. Marmaduke attacked the post at Cape Girardeau, on the Mississippi, but the garrison, under Gen. John McNeill, succeeded in driving the Confederates away.
During the last week in August, Col. Woodson of the Third Calvary Missouri State Militia, surprised and captured Gen. Jeff. Thompson, known as the " Swamp Fox," together with his staff officers, at Pocahontas, Ark. The prisoners were sent to St. Louis, and committed to Gratiot prison.
ORDER NO. 11.
On the 25th of August, Gen. Thomas Ewing, of the Eleventh' Kansas Infantry Volunteers, afterward a Democratic member of Congress from Ohio, issued the following order, which, as it was productive of much suffering at the time in the counties indicated, and has been commemorated by George C. Bingham in the cele- brated painting entitled: "Order No. 11," we copy in full: General Orders No. 11:
HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT OF THE BORDER, KANSAS CITY, Mo., August 25, 1863. 5
First. All persons living in Cass, Jackson and Bates Counties, Missouri, and in that part of Vernon included in this district, except those living within one mile of the limits of Independence, Hickman's Mills, Pleasant Hill and Harrisonville, and except those in that part of Kaw Township, Jackson County, north of Brush Creek and west of the Big Blue, embracing Kansas City and Westport, are hereby ordered toremove from their present residences within fifteen days from the date thereof.
Those who, within that time, establish their loyalty to the satisfaction of the commanding officer of the military station nearest their present places of resi- dence will receive from him certificates stating the fact of their loyalty, and the names of the witnesses by whom it can be shown. All who receive such certificate will be permitted to remove to any military station in this district, or to any part of the State of Kansas, except the counties on the eastern border of the State. All others shall remove_out of this district.
Officers commanding companies and detachments serving in the counties named, will see that this paragraph is promptly obeyed.
Second. All grain and hay in the field, or under shelter, in the district from which the inhabitants are required to remove, within reach of military stations,
135
HISTORY OF MISSOURI.
after the 9th day of September next, will be taken to such stations and turned over to the proper officers there, and report of the amount so turned over made to district headquarters, specifying the names of all loyal owners and the amount of such produce taken from them. All grain and hay found in such district after the 9th of September next, not convenient to such stations, will be destroyed.
Third. The provisions of General Orders No. 10, from these headquarters, will be at once vigorously executed by officers commanding in the parts of the district, and at the stations not subject to paragraph first of this order, and especially in the towns of Independence, Westport and Kansas City.
Fourth. Paragraph three, General Orders No. 10, is revoked as to all who have borne arms against the Government in this district since August 20, 1863.
By order of Brig .- Gen. Ewing. H. HANNAHS, Adjt.
Gen. Schofield, at that time commandant of the Depart- ment of Missouri, has since the war approved and defended this order, on the ground that a savage guerrilla warfare had raged on the border for two years, nearly depopulating the farming districts on the Missouri side, and that all the inhabitants who remained were obliged, whether rebel sympathizers or not, to furnish shelter and supplies for bands of marauding outlaws. He said that it was imperative that this border war should be suppressed, and that the fiendish massacre of 140 persons at Lawrence, Kas., on August 13, by the guerrilla Quantrell and his band, rendered immediate and decisive action neces- sary in order to prevent a succession of such horrors.
To increase the military force in the district was impracticable, and the only alternative was to remove the means by which these guerrillas were sustained. He stated, further, that no serious in- convenience was inflicted upon any one by the execution of the order, but that the necessities of the poor people were provided for, and none were permitted to suffer.
In reply to this statement of Gen. Schofield, which ap- peared in the St. Louis daily Republican of February 21, 1877, Hon. George C. Bingham, an old citizen of Jackson County, and a strong Union man during the war, prepared a counter statement which was published in the same paper on the 26th of the month. He denounced the order as an act of purely arbitrary power, directed against a disarmed and defenseless population. He declared that it put an end to the predatory raids of Kansas "red-legs and jay-hawkers," by simply giving them all that they desired at once, that it gave up the country to Confederate bush- whackers, who, until the close of the war, stopped stages, robbed
136
HISTORY OF MISSOURI.
mails and prevented any one wearing a Federal uniform from entering the district. Mr. Bingham says he was in Kansas City when the order was enforced, and that he knew personally of the sufferings of the unfortunate victims. Men were shot down while obeying the order, and their effects seized by their murderers; dense columns of smoke rising in every direction marked the con- flagration of dwellings; large trains of wagons extending over the prairies for miles, moved toward Kansas, freighted with every description of household furniture and clothing belonging to the exiles; women and little children barefooted and bare- headed, exposed to burning heat and choking dust, tramped wearily along, to whom neither aid nor protection was afforded by the authorities who had driven them from their homes, and who were indebted to the charity of steamboat conductors who took them to places of safety.
Mr. Bingham admitted that guerrilla warfare had been waged for two years in the counties embraced by the order, but denied that this region was by any means depopulated, or that the re- maining farmers were supporting these outlaws. He said that the larger portion of the marauders were Kansas "jay hawkers and red-legs," with no authority of law either military or civil, yet countenanced and protected by Gen. Ewing and his predecessors from the State of Kansas; that the others, consti- tuting the more desperate class, were chiefly Missouri bush- -whackers, acting under Confederate authority; that the inhab- itants of the counties had been disarmed, as Gen. Schofield admitted, and were unable to resist the demands made upon them, but that the bushwhackers were insignificant in numbers compared with the Federal troops who were stationed there, and that twenty if not fifty times as much produce was furnished to the latter as to the former.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.