USA > Missouri > Saline County > History of Saline County, Missouri > Part 33
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True enough, just emerging from the little prairie town of Marshall, and forming their lines so as to cover it, could be seen four thousand Fed- erals, of all arms, under General Ewing. * Previous to Shelby's advance into the state, Quantrell had destroyed Lawrence and annihilated Blunt's escort at Fort Webster, which concentrated a large force imme- diately to pursue him, and this force, after his escape south, had returned to meet Shelby and crush him wherever encountered. In conjunction also with Ewing came Gen. Brown from Jefferson City, with four thou- sand additional troops in the rear, and when at last Shelby was brought to bay, eight thousand soldiers girt him round with walls of steel. Two miles east of Marshall ran Salt Fork, a stream sometimes deep and rapid, but now offering small impediments against its crossing. A large bridge spanned it where the main road crossed, which he immediately destroyed
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after everything had passed, and Colonel Shelby then called up Major Shanks, commanding the rear battalion, and said to him, very calmly, but with the deliberate utterance of a man terribly in earnest: "Major, Gen- eral Brown will be here in half an hour. How long can you hold this crossing with two hundred against four thousand?" "As long as you wish it, Colonel-an hour, a day or a week." "Very well; I shall attack Ewing in front and endeavor to drive him from my path, but it is an up-hill business, I fear. However, if it takes just two hundred of your two hundred men, and yourself besides, never let go your hold on yonder stream until I order it; and when you do come to me come like the wind, for I shall be pressed to the wall before I cry for help." "Mounted or dismounted, Colonel, had I better form?" asked Shanks, as if the most ordinary commission in life had been given him. "Dismounted, for your horses' sake. They will all be needed."
Shanks threw forward two companies on either flank for a mile up and down the river and waited coolly for the avalanche. Shelby galloped to the front after grasping this peerless officer's hand as one he never expected to see again. The Confederate war for independence furnished® no grander example of heroic courage and defiance than was exhibited this day by Marshall town. The battle field, rent and broken by huge gullies, and covered with a thick growth of hazel bushes, was peculiarly unfitted for the desperate charge Col. Shelby intended to make squarely upon Ewing's center, and he was forced to dismount his brigade and fight at a disadvantage. Hunter and Coffey were on the extreme right, operating directly against the town, Hooper in the center and Gordon on the left. Ewing formed his lines in the shape of a V, the point resting on Marshall, and the two prongs extending to the right and left of Shelby's position, thus enfilading his lines with artillery and musketry. Lieutenants Ferrell and Plattenburg, leading the skirmishers on the left, sprang away from Gordon's lines and engaged fiercely. Hunter and Coffey advanced upon the right through the dense bushes and under a dreadful fire, while Hooper and Gordon, moving up to support their skirmishers, the action became bloody almost immediately. Eighteen pieces of artillery concen- trated upon Shelby's two guns a withering fire, and not a portion of his lines were exempt from the bullets of the enemy. A charge along the whole front drove Ewing back upon the town, forced him to change his position and retire two of his batteries, which were admirably served. He in turn concentrated upon Hunter and Coffey, and drove them a short distance with a severe loss, but Hooper swinging round by a well-executed flank movement swept Ewing's left wing bloodily back and followed the survivors into the streets of the town. Fresh masses poured from the rear and made good the losses, and the battle raged evenly for two hours, eight hundred men fighting four thousand and driving them at all points. Confederates fell fast and Col. Shelby saw go by him to the rear his best and bravest, now all pale and bloody, and the dark hour was on Saul. Ewing extended his cavalry to Salt Fork above and below, and thus sur- rounded completely the little band of determined men fighting for dear life. Look where one would, the prairie was dark with uniforms and bristling with glittering steel.
In the rear, the conflict was darker still. Brown hurled his forces upon Shank's in wave after wave, that bursted in spray of skirmishers, and
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recoiled before the grim shore beyond held by two hundred desperate men. As the artillery fire deepened and rolled over the field, great cheers arose from the friendly ranks now closing and shouting around their prey. Shanks, enveloped and almost overpowered, fought on with a desperation rarely equalled. Brown brought up his artillery, ands wept the position with a hurricane of balls, but could not dislodge his enemies. Shanks asked for one piece of artillery to stem the hot tide, but it could not be given. Shelby only shouted back from his own gloom: "For half an hour, Shanks; for half an hour, until I mount my men." The woodwork of one of his Parrot guns had been shot into shreds, both wheels gone, and the trail clear broken. Even then he tried to save his darling cannon, and attempted to lift it into an ammunition wagon. The wagon, too, was shot away, and eight men fell around it. From all sides now death came leaping and insatiate. Brown extended his lines beyond the utmost of Shanks' skirmishers, and crossed Salt Fork three miles below the bridge, pouring up and joining Ewing by regiments. Fraternizing and shouting like devils, they came down upon the left as a vast torrent. But Shelby was prepared, his men mounted and closed up, solid and defiant, while the ammunition wagons had six drivers detailed to each team to whip them through with the charge. On the extreme left of Ewing's line could be seen drawn up across the only road at all practicable a splendid Federal Missouri regiment, with infantry skirmishers in front, in groups behind corn-shocks. Shelby determined to hurl his whole force upon this regiment, and crush it or double it back upon the center. The object was to break through the lines, now strengthening every moment, even if it required the sacrifice of half the brigade. With this view he recol- lected Shanks, and ordered him to fall back immediately, but that devoted officer, was so hard pressed and crippled, that he mounted his men with difficulty, and had to form and fight three times before he traveled the half mile between his position and Colonel Shelby's. Meantime, the danger thickened each moment, and Shanks had not arrived. Knowing he could well take care of himself, and believing that he would come up by the time the encircling lines of the enemy were broken, Colonel Shelby ordered the final charge in column, leading himself, though entreated not to take so much exposure. It was a fearful moment. The thin, gray wedge dashed down full upon the enemy's line, receiving the fire of three full batteries, but killing the skirmishers behind the corn-shocks in dozens. The Federal regiment swayed slightly as Shelby neared it, and from both wings the infantry double-quicked for its relief. Too late! That column, fierce as a full-fed river, and canopied in powder clouds, as the men fired right and left, swung into line with the rush of a whirlwind, and grappled with the foe, standing bravely to see the issue through. Short work and very bloody. A few first fell away from the flanks panic stricken; the regiment then quivered and shook, from end to end, until, heaving and collapsing to an impulse as swift and vivid as the lightning's flash, it broke away toward Marshall, hopelessly rent and scattered. With this charge came the wagons, clattering along as fast as the fastest horsemen, and went through the gap white and huge as the new sails of a staunch, fleet frigate. Daylight ahead now, for in that thundering charge the entire left wing of Ewing's four thousand men gave way in wild dis- order, and but for the arriving masses of Brown's division the day would
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· have been lost to Ewing. Colonel Shelby knew salvation to be near at hand, and halted, even there, to wait for Shanks, giving time for new col- umns of attack to be formed against him, and fresh forces to join in the battle; but Shanks could not reach him. Surrounded, hemmed in, fight- ing hand to hand, and bleeding at every step, he turned directly east, at the point where Col. Shelby turned west, and cut through everything before him to the timber, bringing off the remaining piece of artillery in safety.
Seeing Shanks cut off, and Brown throwing his whole force between them, Shelby determined to retreat toward Waverly, believing that Shanks' indomitable pluck and sagacity would carry him through, and whether they did or not, Shelby was powerless to assist him, and even his own safety could not entirely be counted upon as certain, for great masses of cavalry came thundering after him, evidently bent on mischief. Capt. Reck. Johnson held the rear, and repulsed two severe charges of the enemy; but he, too, sent for help, and received two more companies, under Edwards and Crispin. With these he held the pursuers in check until darkness settled down, good and black, and the brigade had gained the river road leading to Waverly.
A short halt for three hours, gave time for a little rest and feeding, when sixty rounds of ammunition were issued to the men, and the wagons, now perfectly useless, since all the cartridges had been used or distrib- uted, were sunk many fathoms in the Missouri river.
It is almost a pity that the foregoing lurid and exciting account of Shelby's passage through Saline county, and especially the "battle" of Marshall, is not altogether accurate and faithful. It reads very prettily in some parts, and the author's shrieky, and at times, delirious style is quite agreeable to some people, and might be relished by the reader of this volume after so much prosy, dull reading, if he thought the statements made were true.
But since one side-the Confederate-has been told, it is but fair that the other-the Federal-should have a hearing. Horace Greeley's His- tory of the American Conflict, Vol. 2, p. 453, places the number of Shelby's troops at 2,500, and says: "They were pursued by a hastily gathered body of Missouri militia, under Gen. E. B. Brown, who struck them, October 12, near Arrow Rock, at nightfall, fighting them till dark, renewing the attack at eight next morning, and putting them to flight, with a loss of some 300 killed, wounded, and prisoners." Upon the strength of a dispatch from Gen. Brown to Gen. Schofield, at St. Louis, the latter officer telegraphed the next day to the Federal authorities at Washington, the following: .
Maj .- Gen. Halleck, General-in-Chief :
Gen. Brown brought the rebels, under Shelby, to a decisive engage- ment, yesterday. The fight was obstinate, and lasted five hours. The rebels were finally completely routed, and scattered in all directions, with loss of all their artillery and baggage, and a large number of small arms
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and prisoners. The enemy's loss in killed and wounded is very great. Ours is also large. Our troops are still pursuing the flying rebels. J. M. SCHOFIELD, Major-General.
One unacquainted personally with any of the facts in the case would be somewhat confused, not to say bewildered, upon reading the foregoing widely differing accounts 'of the little fight at Marshall. It will doubtless be a surprise to many to learn that, as a fact, after all of the "very bloody work" according to Edwards, the "very great loss of the enemy in killed and wounded" according to Greeley, the killing of the skirmishers behind the corn shocks by dozens narrated by Edwards, "our large loss" stated by Greeley, and all of the flapdoodle of both of them-that there was not a single Federal killed on the field that day, and but four, or possibly five, Confederates. One Federal died in a few days from his wounds. His name was Samuel Etter, and it is believed he lived in this or Lafayette county. He was buried at Marshall, but his body was afterward removed by his relatives. The dead Confederates were also buried here, and the most of their bodies were afterward claimed by friends and taken away. The number of wounded on each side was about twenty-five. Of these the Confederates were the worse injured, because they were shot with musket balls, while the Federals were wounded with carbine and revolver bullets of small calibre comparatively. Six Confederates afterward died of their wounds, and in part of want of care. Eighteen Confederates besides the wounded were taken prisoners, but not a single Federal. Those killed on the field were buried near Mr. Mooney's. Those who died in hospital were buried but a few yards from where they died.
.The best account that can be obtained of Shelby's progress through this county, including the fight at Marshall, is here given. The details have been obtained from Major George W. Kelly, of the 4th Cavalry, M. S. M .; Lieut .- Col. B. F. Lazear, of the 1st Cavalry M. S. M .; Col. John F. Phillips, of the 7th Cavalry M. S. M .; Gen. Thos. H. Ewing, and Dr. M. T. Chastian, surgeon in charge of the Federal wounded at Marshall, on the part of the Federals, and from Gen. Jo. O. Shelby himself; Quar- termaster Lewis Neale, of Gordon's regiment; Lieut. R. W. Nichols, of Hunter's regiment, and many private soldiers of Shelby's command now residents of this county, including Mr. Wm. H. Rea, of Gordon's regi- ment, and Dr. Spencer Brown, surgeon in charge of the Confederate wounded-on the part of the Confederates, and from citizens of Marshall- Judge and Mrs. Landon, Mrs. Bryant, Mrs. Sheridan, Miss Mary Allen and others who assisted in caring for the wounded after the battle. The statements of the parties do not all agree, to be sure, and due allowance has been made for discrepancies, caused by lapse of time since the events occurred, defects of memory, means of knowledge, etc.
While the two forces of Brown and Shelby were encamped on the
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Nave farm as before detailed, Brown conceived the idea of dividing his force and sending a portion of it in front of Shelby, and thus place the Confederates, the next day, between two fires. Accordingly, Lieut. Col. Lazear was directed to take his command, numbering about 350 men, and that of Maj. Kelly, numbering about 250 or 300, and Johnson's battery of four guns, and flanking Shelby, make a circuit to the southwest by way of Hook's mill on the Salt Fork, to Marshall and take up a position at Marshall, and await the advance of Shelby. Maj. Kelly, with a bat- tallion of the 4th Missouri militia, had the advance. He moved at three o'clock in the morning, crossed the Salt Fork at Hook's mill, and arrived in Marshall about sunrise. At once, he sent out pickets on the Arrow Rock and the Miami roads. The picket on the Arrow Rock road was on the top of the hill just east of the bridge over Salt Fork. Kelly scat- tered his men about the east and southeast part of town to get breakfast. Lieut. Col. Lazear, with his command of the 1st Missouri militia, started from Brown's camp immediately after Kelly, but got on the wrong road in the darkness, and did not get to Marshall until after the action had commenced. Kelly's men had hardly finished their breakfasts when the pickets, on the Arrow Rock, galloped into town and reported Shelby's approach. Kelly instantly mounted his men and pushed out to dispute the road with the Confederates. At the edge of town he dis- mounted, and leaving every fourth man to hold and take care of the horses, he drew a portion of his force up across the road and sent the remainder down into a deep ravine or hollow, running nearly parallel with the road, and commanding it. Just as he had completed this formation, Col. Lazear arrived with the head of his command, the remainder following rapidly after him. Maj. Kelly here turned over the command to Lazear, as the latter was the senior officer. Lazear did not disturb the position of Kelly's men, but sent his own regiment across the road to the left, dis- mounting them, and leaving most of the horses in Marshall.
When Shelby's advance struck the Federal pickets, Shelby himself rode back along his line ordering his men, in his short, nervous manner to "close un! close up!" and adding, "there's trouble ahead." He had heard, when near Booneville, that Gen. Ewing was at Sedalia with a con- siderable force of Federals and he believed that this force had been marched across the country and was now confronting him. The truth was not a man of Ewing's command was present,* and not a Federal had been in Marshall for a week prior to the day of the engagement. Shelby pushed
*FIFTH AVENUE HOTEL, MADISON SQUARE, { NEW YORK, May 24th, 1881.
DEAR SIR :- Your favor of the 16th inst. is received. Neither I nor any of my command participated in the engagement at Marshall, October 13, 1863, between the Confederates, under General Shelby, and the Union forces under General Brown.
Very truly yours,
T. EWING.
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his whole force rapidly across Salt Fork and left Maj. Shanks and Hunter to guard his rear, with about 250 men. He placed his two cannon on top of the hill west of the stream, in plain view of his enemy and the town, in front of the road to Hook's Mill on his left, along which Lazear's command was hurrying, and of the hill east of Salt Fork . behind him. Captain Thorp, with about fifty men, (some say seventy-five), was ordered to charge up the main road into Marshall on Kelly's command across the road, and feel of and discover the Federal strength. The charge was made in gallant style, but the Federals down in the ravine gave their enemies a flanking fire as they passed up the road, and those in front stood their ground, and Thorp soon retreated, losing three or four men, only one of whom was killed, however. He reported to Shelby that it was impossible for him to break through the Federal lines, and the Confederate com- mander was confirmed in the belief that it was Ewing who was in his front. Thereupon he arranged his line and prepared to fight it out to the best advantage possible, determining to escape to the north-westward and pass into Lafayette county by way of the "pinnacles." His men knew the country very well, for in the case of many of them their feet were on their native heath.
Harris' two guns opened on the Federals, and kept up a vigorous fire for some time, mainly directed against the town. Gordon's regiment was sent to the left of the road, dismounted, the horses left in a ravine, and the regiment deployed and marched obliquely in line against Kelly's men down in the ravine. Gordon's men were as game as any of those in the fight, but they were driven back by the militiamen in the hollow, who kept themselves concealed and their numbers unknown. On the retreat, some of Gordon's men rallied around an old log house (still standing), but a couple of shots from a Federal gun on a hill on the road to Hook's mill, drove them away. They fell back, and eventually were sent over to the right of the road, where they co-operated with the main body in the principal fight. Some of Gordon's men were wounded in the assault on the ravine, and one, John Corbin, a Lafayette county man, was mortally wounded, falling against Orderly Sergeant J. A. Gordon, of company C, now of the Farmers' Bank of Marshall, then in command of his company.
Thompson's regiment, commanded by Lieut .- Col. Hooper, Elliot's bat- talion, Pickler's battalion, Thorp's battalion, or company, and Hunter's regiment were to the right of the road fighting Lazear warily and cau- tiously, but not very vigorously, as Shelby was gradually getting ready to make his escape. His men were well sheltered, as were the Federals, by timber and ravines, and firing was mere pastime; it was not at all dangerous; lead enough was thrown to kill and maim a division, but the protection afforded by nature, the inaccuracy of the Federal fire, being mostly delivered from muskets, and the distance of the Confederates
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from their foes, prevented any very great slaughter, for which we may all now be very thankful.
When Gen. Brown arrived at the Salt Fork, he found Shanks holding the post and fighting with all of his great deal of bravery. He could, how- ever, have made a charge and with his superior force overthrown the brave Confederates on the south bank. True, he would have lost a few men, but he would have gained a victory-and soldiers ought to expect to die. But Brown was afraid of Shelby. He imagined the Confederates to be twice as strong as they were. Citizens along the road had told him that Shelby had 2,500 men, and he believed them. So after planting the two guns of Thurber on the hill and firing a few shots, one of which dis- abled Shelby's brass " Lone Jack" gun, Brown left about 200 men to keep up a constant firing on Shanks and keep him from co-operating with Shelby's main force, and passed around with the remainder of his force, and, crossing the Salt Fork at Hook's mill joined Kelly and Lazear at Marshall at about 10 o'clock. His command did not all get up until two hours later. It was some time before Brown seemed to comprehend the situation. Lazear had been taken, sick, his horse had been shot, and he had turned the command over to Kelly, who reported the condition of affairs and asked to be allowed to charge Shelby. This Brown refused, being yet apparently afraid of Shelby. After some charging and counter- charging by both sides, considerable firing, and a great deal of yelling and hubbub generally, great cry and but little wool, Brown attempted to extend his line to his left completely around Shelby, who was in the timber and ravines northeast of town, getting his wagons together and his men well in hand to make a strike for the open air and freedom. Brown suc- ceeded in getting his line extended, but it was a very thin one-a man every six feet or so, on foot and armed with a musket. At last Shelby had completed his preparations. He had one horse killed under him in a ravine, and he carried his arm in a sling, still suffering from a wound received at Helena, Arkansas, the 4th of July previously. But he had been all over the field and knew the situation of his men. He also thought he knew that of the Federals. Calling up his men he rode along the line and told them that he proposed to " cut out." "If you want to surrender, any of you," he said, "you can do so; but remember that if you do, you surrender with your heads in halters, for these are militia, and you know what they are. Many of you have been captured before, and released on taking the oath of allegiance to the United States. You are now fighting in violation of that oath, and if captured, are liable to be shot down like dogs. At the best, you can only expect incarceration in northern dun- geons for an indefinite period. Which would you rather do-be shot like dogs or rot in northern dungeons, or cut your way out with Joe Shelby?" A general and hearty shout was the response, "We'll cut out! We'll
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cut out !" Shelby thereupon sent word to Shanks to join him, and when he thought that officer had time to catch up, he gave command to "charge." Away went his advance, breaking through Brown's thin line very easily, and without losing a man, the column steering northward toward the Miami road, which was soon reached. Just as Shelby charged, Major Kelly with his battalion of the 4th Missouri, charged also upon the Con- federate line. He was checked for a minute by only about twenty men of Gordon's regiment, but he soon went on and cut Shelby's line in two, cut- ting off Col. Hunter with a part of his regiment, and Shanks with all of the men who had been holding the crossing at Salt Fork all day. With Hunter was the remaining piece of artillery, "the Springfield gun," and it was carried from the field in safety. Owing to this charge of Kelly's the most of Shelby's wagons were left behind, not being able to get out before they were overtaken. Quartermaster Neale, of Gordon's regiment, suc- ceeded in saving about half his wagons, and his own "bacon " by a very close shave.
Upon being cut off and pursued by the Federals, Shanks and Hunter went up the Salt Fork a short distance, crossed and went east for a few miles, then turned south, heading for Arkansas. They crossed the Pacific railroad near Sedalia, and after some unimportant skirmishes with milita joined Shelby about a week after the fight at Marshall.
Shelby continued his retreat to the northwestward, leaving the Miami road and going through Grand Pass township in the direction of Waverly, reaching the river bottom about dark. Only one battalion of Lazear's and a company or two of the 7th, (Phillips') regiment pursued the Confed- erates at first. Johnson's battery of four-pounders was started, but the Federal commander ordered them back, saying he would rather have four big clubs. Shelby's rear guard, composed of the companies of Johnson, Edwards, and Crispin, was hard pressed and compelled to halt and fight three or four times, once at the Salt Fork, once at the crossing of Muddy creek, and at two other points between Marshall and the bottom. The Confederates fought hard and lost some men, one man being killed at Muddy creek, and two others elsewhere. The Federals were kept back and some of them wounded. Upon reaching the heavy timber on the bottom, Shelby halted and rested for three hours. His men were ordered to take all the ammunition from the wagons that they could conveniently carry, and when this was done the most of them were run into the river. A few wagons and two ambulances fell into the hands of the Federals.
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