USA > Missouri > Cedar County > History of Hickory, Polk, Cedar, Dade, and Barton counties, Missouri > Part 13
USA > Missouri > Dade County > History of Hickory, Polk, Cedar, Dade, and Barton counties, Missouri > Part 13
USA > Missouri > Barton County > History of Hickory, Polk, Cedar, Dade, and Barton counties, Missouri > Part 13
USA > Missouri > Hickory County > History of Hickory, Polk, Cedar, Dade, and Barton counties, Missouri > Part 13
USA > Missouri > Polk County > History of Hickory, Polk, Cedar, Dade, and Barton counties, Missouri > Part 13
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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-
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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 to remove 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,
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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
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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 thatthe 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.
To this reply of Mr. Bingham, neither Gen. Schofield nor Gen. Ewing made any response.
Order No. 11 belongs to that extensive list of war measures which, wise or unwise, necessary or unnecessary, was viewed in a very different light by those who were, on one hand, personally aggrieved and injured, and by those who, on the other hand, were looking from afar at the great end in view, namely, the overthrow
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of the Rebellion. In the border States, where Unionists and Dis- unionists lived side by side, numerous complexities arose, height- ened by personal animosities and old family feuds; and in many cases loss of life, and especially loss of property, fell upon parti- sans indiscriminately, verifying the old, sad maxim that where transgression enters, the innocent must often suffer with the guilty.
SHELBY'S RAID.
In September, Gen. Blunt drove the Confederate forces under Gen. Cabell and the Creek chief, Stand Watie, into the Choctaw reservation, and took possession of Fort Smith. As the autumn advanced and Cabell's supplies began to run low, a part of his command under Col. Jo. O. Shelby undertook a raid into Mis- souri. They crossed the Arkansas River, a little east of Fort Smith, and pushed rapidly northward as far as Crooked Prairie, in the southwestern part of this State, when they were joined by Col. Coffee. At Boonville, where Shelby expected to meet a large number of recruits, but was disappointed, his men secured from stores and dwelling houses $100,000 worth of property, after which they moved westward. On October 12 and 13, how- ever, Gen. Brown encountered these forces at Marshall and de- feated them, with a loss of fifty men killed, wounded and prisoners. Shelby hastily returned to Arkansas.
THE CAMPAIGN OF 1864.
Several sanguinary engagements were fought in Missouri during this, the closing year of the war. The Union troops, chiefly Missouri State Militia and Enrolled Missouri Militia, were engaged in the effort, at many times unsuccessful, to defend the lives and property of the people from the roving bands of bush- whackers and guerrillas that infested all parts of the State, but particularly the western and river counties.
Late in January Gen. Rosecrans arrived at St. Louis, succeed- ing Gen. Schofield as commander of the Department of Missouri. No event of importance occurred until the following autumn, when Gen. Price made his last grand raid into the State with the intention of capturing St. Louis, and other important points.
Having been informed early in September of Prices' medi-
9
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HISTORY OF MISSOURI.
tated invasion, Rosecrans forwarded the information to head- quarters, and Gen. A. J. Smith, then ascending the Mississippi with about 6,000 troops, was ordered to proceed to St. Louis. Gen. Rosecrans had previous to this only about 6,500 mounted men in his whole department, and these were scattered at various points-at Springfield, Pilot Knob, Jefferson City, Rolla and St. Louis, guarding military depots and railway bridges against the hordes of guerrillas who swarmed through the country. These troops were concentrated as quickly as possible when Price's in- tended route was ascertained, but he had already entered South- eastern Missouri, and reached Pilot Knob before he was met by any considerable opposition. At that place a single brigade was stationed, under command of Gen. Thomas Ewing. This force was intrenched in a little fort with some rude earthworks, but it made a gallant resistance, and repulsed two assaults of the Con- federates, inflicting upon them a loss of 1,000 men. Gen. Price's men now took positions which commanded the entire fort, and Gen. Ewing, seeing that further resistance was hopeless, spiked his guns, blew up his magazine, and retreated, by night, toward Rolla where Gen. McNeil was stationed. After accomplishing a march of sixty miles in thirty-nine hours, the exhausted troops were overtaken at Harrison, by a large force under Shelby. Al- though short of ammunition, Gen. Ewing held his ground for thirty hours, when he was reinforced by troops sent from Rolla, after which he drove Shelby away, and continued his retreat in safety.
At . St. Louis, Gen. Smith's infantry, 4,000 or 5,000 strong, was joined by eight regiments of the Enrolled Militia of the State and six regiments of Illinois Militia. At Jefferson City Gen. E. B. Brown had beenreinforced by Gen C. B. Fisk with all available troops north of the Missouri River, and the citizens of that region promptly aiding the military, the capital was soon well fortified.
Gen. Price advanced by way of Potosi to the Meramec River; crossed it, and took position at Richwoods, within forty miles of St. Louis. Evidently fearing to attack that city, he burned the bridge at Moselle, and then pushed rapidly toward the capital of the State, followed by Gen. Smith and his entire command.
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HISTORY OF MISSOURI.
Gen. Price, after having burned bridges behind him, and done all in his power to hinder his pursuers, arrived before Jefferson City on the 7th of October. Gen. McNeill and J. B. Sanborn, with a force of mounted men, chiefly Missouri State Militia, had just reached there by a forced march from Rolla. Squads of cavalry had been sent out to guard the fords and ferries on the Osage River, and, if not able to prevent the Confederates from crossing, to give timely warning of their approach. The railroad bridge across the river nine miles east of the city had been burned.
Several small engagements and skirmishes took place, and the Confederates partly surrounded the city with a semi-circular line nearly four miles in length, the wings resting on the Mis- souri River. Finding the place well prepared for an attack, . Price sent his trains westward and followed with his army. A large force now started in pursuit of the Confederates, led by Federal cavalry under immediate command of Gen. Alfred Pleasanton, who arrived at Jefferson City on the day of Price's departure.
The latter general, growing bold as he marched westward, sent Gens. Jo. Shelby and John B. Clark, Jr., to attack Glasgow on the Missouri River, in Howard County. The town was garrisoned by a part of the Forty-third Missouri, and small detachments of the Ninth Missouri State Militia and the Seven- teenth Illinois Cavalry, under command of Col. Chester Harding. After a spirited resistance Col. Harding was obliged to surrender. His assailants then marched back and joined their main army, which was still hastening westward. Gen. Price left Lexington just as Pleasanton's advance reached that place October 20. At Little Blue Creek he met Blunt's Kansas troops, under command of Gen. Curtis, who, after a sharp fight which lasted for several hours, fell back to the Big Blue Creek and there awaited another attack. Meanwhile, Pleasanton reached the Little Blue, and found the bridge destroyed and the Confederate rear-guard prepared for battle. They were soon driven away, and Pleasanton continued his course to Westport, then occupied by the enemy. He captured the place by a brill- iant charge in which he routed the Confederates, and took two of their guns.
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HISTORY OF MISSOURI.
Gen. Price had expected to receive at least 20,000 recruits during the progress of his raid, and perhaps to permanently occupy the State; instead, only about 6,000 Missourians came to his assistance, and he fled into Arkansas as rapidly as possible, having accomplished nothing of importance.
THE AFFAIR NEAR ROCHEPORT.
September 23, 1864, a train of Government wagons started from Sturgeon, Boone County, for Rocheport, in charge of seventy men of the Third Missouri State Militia, under Capt. McFadin. The train stopped near sunset at a pond about seven miles northeast of Rocheport, in order that the horses might be watered. Here it was suddenly attacked by 150 guerrillas under George Todd, who put the escort to flight, robbed the wagons of everything that they could conveniently carry away, and burned what remained. Eleven Federal soldiers were killed, and three negroes.
THE CENTRALIA MASSACRE.
Among the revolting and horrible crimes of the war, the Cen- tralia massacre stands prominent for its dastardly and cold- blooded atrocity. Monday night, September 26, Anderson's guer- rillas, in numbers estimated from 200 to 400, encamped about three miles southeast of Centralia, which is situated on the North Missouri Railroad, in Boone County. About 10 o'clock Tuesday morning, 75 or 100 of this band went into the town, and .com- menced plundering the stores and depot, breaking open boxes and trunks, and appropriating whatever suited them. At 11 o'clock the stage-coach arrived from Columbia with eight or nine passengers. These gentleman being unarmed were quickly re- lieved of their money and valuables, but were allowed to go to the hotel. At 11.30 the passenger train from St. Louis came in sight. Immediately the guerrillas formed into line, and as the train neared the depot, commenced throwing obstructions on the track and firing at the engineer. The cars having been stopped, the robbers rushed upon the passengers, men, women and children, taking money, watches and jewelry, together with the contents of trunks, and valuables from the express car. Twenty-three Fed- eral soldiers who were on board the train were marched into town,
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placed in lines, and shot down. The guerrillas burned the rail- road depot and six cars standing near. After murdering the sol- diers and robbing the passengers and the citizens of the town generally, they set fire to the rifled train, and started it on the road toward Sturgeon. It ran about three miles, and then stop- ping was entirely consumed. Meanwhile the frightened passen- gers, glad to escape with their lives, went on their way as best they could, in wagons, on horseback, and on foot.
About 3 o'clock of the same afternoon, Maj. A. V. E. John- son, of Col. Kutzner's regiment of Missouri Volunteers (the Thirty-ninth ), arrived at Centralia with 155 mounted infantry. An engagement took place in an open field southeast of the town. Maj. Johnson's men, being armed with long guns, were ordered to dismount. Their horses became unmanageable, and many of them ran away, leaving the soldiers on foot in the middle of the prairie. They had fired but one volley when the guerrillas dashed among them, splendidly mounted, and carrying three or four re- volvers apiece. Part of Johnson's men who were still on horse- back attempted to escape, but were overtaken and shot down. Maj. Johnson himself was killed, together with 122 men of his small command. Four or five of the remaining few were wounded. The guerrillas had but three killed and seven wounded.
After the murderers had left town the citizens of Centralia gathered the dead bodies together, and placed them near the railroad. Many of them were taken to Mexico for burial that very evening, and seventy-nine were interred in a trench in the eastern part of town. Afterward this trench was enclosed by a fence, and at the head of it was placed a limestone monument, fifteen feet high, with the following inscription:
" The remains of Companies A, G and H, Thirty-ninth Regi- ment, Missouri Volunteer Infantry, who were killed in action at Centralia, Mo., on the 27th day of September, 1864, are interred here." Since the close of the war the remains have been dis- interred and re-buried in one common grave in the National Cemetery at Jefferson City.
DEATH OF BILL ANDERSON.
After the horrible massacre at Centralia, the subsequent burning of Danville and the depots at New Florence, High Hill
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and Renick, Bill Anderson and the most of his men went into Ray County. On the 26th of October, Lieut .- Col. S. P. Cox, of the Thirty-third Enrolled Missouri Militia, learning Anderson's whereabouts, made a forced march to meet him. On the follow- ing day, just one month after the Centralia massacre, Col. Cox came in contact with the guerrilla pickets, and drove them before him into the woods. He then dismounted his men, threw an infantry force into the forest, and sent forward a cavalry advance which soon engaged Anderson's main body and fell back. The guerrillas now charged, and Anderson was killed, while his men were forced to retreat at full speed, hotly pursued by the Union cavalry. Upon the body of Anderson was found $300 in gold, $150 in treasury notes, six revolvers, and several orders from Gen. Price.
Early in December, 1864, Gen. Rosecrans was relieved of the command of the Department of Missouri, and Gen. Granville M. Dodge, of Iowa, succeeded him.
LIST OF BATTLES IN MISSOURI.
Necessarily there has been omitted from this brief review even a mention of many of the minor battles of the Civil War, which were fought upon the soil of Missouri. For convenient reference a complete list of these engagements, together with the dates at which they were fought, is herewith appended:
1861-Potosi, May 14; Boonville, June 17; Carthage, July 5; Monroe Station, July 10; Overton's Run, near Fulton, July 17; Dug Springs, August 2; Athens, August 5; Wilson's Creek, August 10; Morton, August 20; Bennett's Mills, Sep- tember; Drywood Creek, September 7; Norfolk, September 10, Lexington, September 12, 20; Blue Mills Landing, September 17; Glasgow Mistake, September 20; Osceola, September 25; Shanghai, October 13; Lebanon, October 13; Big River Bridge, October 15; Linn Creek, October 16; Fredericktown, October 21; Springfield, October 25; Belmont, November 7; Piketon, November 8; Little Blue, November 10; Clark's Station, Novem- ber 11; Mount Zion Church, December 28.
1862-Silver Creek, January 15; New Madrid, February 28; Pea Ridge, Ark., March 6; Neosho, April 22; Cherry Grove,
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July 1; Pierce's Mill, July 18; Rose Hill, July 10; Florida, July 22; Moore's Mill, July 28; Chariton River, July 30; New- urk, August 1; Kirksville, August 6; Compton's Ferry, August 8; Independence, August 11; Yellow Creek, August 13; Lone Jack, August 16; Newtonia, September 13.
1863-Springfield, January 8; Cape Girardeau, April 29; Marshall, October 13.
1864-Pilot Knob, September 27; Moreau River, October 7; Prince's Ford, October 5; Glasgow, October 8; Little Blue Creek, October 20; Big Blue, October 22; Westport, October 23; Newtonia, October 28; Albany, October 27; near Rocheport, September 23; Centralia, September 27.
STATE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION.
The delegates chosen to this body assembled in Mercantile Library Hall, St. Louis, Friday, January 6, 1865. The objects of the convention were: First, " to consider such amendments to the constitution of the State as might be deemed necessary for the emancipation of slaves;" and second, " such amendments to the constitution of the State as might be deemed necessary to preserve in purity the elective franchise to loyal citizens, and such other amendments as might be deemed essential to the pro- motion of the public good. "
On January 11, the following ordinance was passed by the Convention :
AN ORDINANCE ABOLISHING SLAVERY IN MISSOURI.
Be it ordained by the People of the State of Missouri, in Convention Assembled, That hereafter, in this State, there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary serv- itude, except in punishment of crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted; and all persons held to service or labor as slaves are hereby declared free.
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