USA > Missouri > Jasper County > Jasper County, Missouri, in the Civil War > Part 5
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As a retaliatory measure and to assure McCoy's safety the federal commander at Fort Scott sent a de- tachment to Jasper county and arrested William Tingle
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and John Halsell to hold as hostages until such a time as McCoy should be returned. It was later learned that Cockrell had never captured McCoy and so Tingle and Halsell were released. Eventually it developed that Mc- Coy had been taken prisoner by either Anderson's or Quantrill's band and by them murdered.
On the evening of August 24 a long column of horsemen, about 1,000 in number, drew rein on Coon creek northeast of Carthage and unsaddled their jaded steeds. Colonel Jo Shelby was in command and this was the regiment he had been commissioned to raise on the Missouri river. Some time later this regiment be- came one of the most famous cavalry organizations west of the Mississippi river but right now what Shelby wanted was to get his men south where he could train them before leading them into battle. Day and night he had hurried his raw troops southward and the stop on Coon creek was to be only of three hours duration, then the march would be resumed to a point where the column could rest without danger.
Meanwhile Colonel W. F. Cloud, with a detachment of 300 men of the Sixth Kansas Cavalry which had been in pursuit of Coffee, Cockrell and the others, had broken off the chase at Carthage on account of the worn-down mounts of his men and was returning northward by easy stages. He too had planned to camp on Coon creek and his advance patrols discovered Shelby's men before the southern troops had estab- lished their outposts. Cloud did not realize that the hostile force was so strong and he at once attacked.
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Part of the weary confederates had gone to sleep as soon as they hit the ground but all were on their feet in a minute and met the federals with such a fusilade that Cloud, seeing he was running into a hornet's nest, drew back his men. It is said that out of 24 men of Company C of the Sixth Kansas which was leading the assault, fourteen were killed or wounded.
Cloud now made an advance on the confederates' rear to develop their strength but when he had devel- oped it and found it was at least three times his own, he got his men to horse and rode away. He at once sent a report to General Blunt and that leader hurried reinforcements to him but Shelby had gone. After the repulse of Cloud he had his men finish preparing and then eat their suppers, after which he rode south under cover of darkness, the older and more experienced sol- diers on the flank and in the front to bear the brunt in case the federals were again encountered. None were met and the confederates made their way to Newtonia and went into camp nearby.
Confederate writers have said that ammunition was very scarce with Shelby's men during the fight and that while the firing was liveliest the unarmed men in the southern camp were busy making the paper car- tridges of the period for the men taking part in the action.
Cloud's total loss was five men killed and fifteen wounded. The confederate official reports say nothing of casualties but John N. Edwards, who was present, denies that any lives were lost. A number of men were
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badly wounded and a good many horses were killed or disabled.
Some time after the affair on Coon creek various Indian organizations of the union army entered Jasper county in conjunction with white troops from Kansas. One of these Indian units was the Second Indian Home Guards commanded by Colonel N. F. Ritchie. It was composed of Cherokees, Osages, Quapaws and some ne- groes, and in all its movements was accompanied by a horde of women and children, the wives and families of the soldiers. This regiment-if it may be called such- was commonly known as "Ritchie's Indians."
Wiley Britton gives an interesting description of the Indian warriors, stating that those that were regu- larly enrolled as soldiers had been given clothing some months previously the same as other troops.
"It was quite amusing to the white soldiers," he states, "to see the Indians dressed in the federal uni- form and equipped for the service. Everything seemed out of just proportion. Nearly every warrior got a suit that, to critical tastes, lacked a good deal in fitting him. It was in a marked degree either too large or too small. In some cases the sleeves of the coat or jacket were too short, coming down about two-thirds of the distance from the elbows to the wrists. In other cases the sleeves were too long, coming down over the hands.
"At the time the Indian troops were organized, the government was furnishing its soldiers a high-crowned, stiff, wool hat for the service. When, therefore, fully equipped as a warrior, one might have seen an Indian
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soldier dressed as described, wearing a high-crowned, stiff, wool hat, with long black hair falling over his shoulders, and riding an Indian pony so small that his feet appeared to almost touch the ground, with a long squirrel rifle thrown across the pommel of his saddle. When starting out on the march every morning any one with this command might have seen this warrior in full war-paint, and he might have also heard the war- whoop commence at the head of the column and run back to the rear, and recommence at the head of the column several times and run back to the rear."
These Indians were a terror to the country and seemed to have robbed and plundered friend and foe alike. They are charged with numerous murders and while it is probable that their commander's intentions were good he evidently had little discipline in his or- ganization and was entirely incapable of holding his followers in check. Many complaints were made about these Indians, one being by Colonel Weer of the Second Kansas Brigade who wrote to General Blunt that Ritchie's Indians had burned the houses of a number of men who were serving in the union army, and had turned their families out of doors. Some of the men who belonged to his own regiment had been so treated, he stated. On September 12, Colonel Weer wrote to headquarters in Kansas as follows:
"Colonel Ritchie utterly refuses to obey my orders. His camp is, from what I can learn, a motley assem- blage. His presence in the army is nothing but em- barrassment to the service, and I urgently recommend his dismissal."
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Mrs. H. J. (Jane) Hazelwood, who is a daughter of Judge Onstott and whose husband was a confederate soldier, has told interestingly of the robbing of her father's house by Ritchie's Indians in 1862.
"I well remember those Indians," said Mrs. Hazel- wood recently. "When my husband went into the army I went to the home of my father a short distance south of Center creek, south of where the South Carthage mines now are. None of the men were at home when the Indians came. It was the same with the neighbors and in fact there were but few men in the country at that time.
"The Indians came from the west, a great swarm of them, men, women and children, many of the women carrying papooses strapped to their backs. The men were hideous in war paint and wore no uniforms so far as I can remember. I recollect them as being in ordi- nary Indian garb and carrying guns. There were white men scattered here and there among the savages but they were dressed just the same as the others and all wore war paint. Ritchie's Indians were called a 'regi- ment' but there was nothing military about them. They were just a common thieving band of Indians and if anyone was in charge there was no evidence of the fact. They drifted along with their pack ponies and each seemed to do as he pleased.
"When they came to our house they entered and took everything that could be carried off. The squaws were just as bad as the men. Even the children were diligent thieves. The squaws would put on our best
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dresses and insolently parade back and forth in front of us, a ridiculous sight in the hoop skirts of that per- iod. All this clothing, together with the kitchen uten- sils and everything else portable, was packed on the Indians' ponies. Even the feather beds and strawticks were cut open and emptied and the ticking carried off. Part of these ticks were emptied in the house and the contents were maliciously kicked from room to room so that we could not again use them. Part were emp- tied in the yard and the first time a breeze came up a veritable cloud of feathers drifted away to the south.
"After staying at our house for about three hours the Indians passed on, looting all the neighbors' houses as they went."
The confederates who also had enlisted a large number of Indians, commonly termed the aborigines who had espoused the union cause "Pin Indians" for some reason that is not apparent at this time.
The southern troops had meanwhile occupied New- tonia and an officer of Shelby's force writes r garding this period :
"Lying in front of Newtonia in the warm Septem- ber sunshine was delightfully pleasant, and the cavalry drill, which was new to the soldiers generally, went merrily on. Now and then a dashing scouting party from the confederate lines dashed into Granby or Car- thage and shot a few outlying Pin Indians or skulking federals."
John N. Edwards, a Missouri editor who served as one of Shelby's officers throughout the war, de-
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scribes the destruction of an Indian band near Carthage as follows:
"News came by one of Colonel Shelby's innumer- able scouts that a large body of Pin Indians and run- away negroes were camped in a skirt of timber near Carthage, levying blackmail indiscriminately on the in- habitants, and murdering right and left with habitual brutality. These Pin Indians were all members of the Ross party among the Cherokees, and had from the beginning of the war taken up arms and joined the Kansas federals. Skulking about their old homes in the Nation and making forays into Missouri was the principal part of their warfare, varied frequently by innumerable murders of old men, and the wholesale pil- lage and destruction of farm houses.
"To crush them at a blow was Colonel Shelby's ar- dent desire, and he selected Captain Ben Elliott, Com- pany I of his own regiment, for the work, giving to him strong detachments from other companies. By a forced march of great rapidity and caution, Captain Elliott surrounded their camp by daylight of the 14th of Sep- tember and charged from all sides to a common center.
"Surprised, ridden over and trampled down, the Indians and their allies made but feeble resistance. Everywhere amid the heavy brushwood a silent scene of killing was enacted, none praying for mercy, well knowing that their own previous atrocities had forfeit- ed it, and often with the stoical hardihood of their race, uncovering their breasts to the unerring revolvers.
"But one prisoner was taken and few escaped. In two hours the band of 250 savages was exterminated
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almost completely, everything they possessed falling into Captain Elliott's hands, the most acceptable arti- cles being about two hundred new Minie muskets just issued to them by the authorities at Fort Scott. A dozen or more of the scalps of their white victims were found upon the dead, and one, a woman's, was particu- larly noticed. The long, soft hair had still its silken gloss, though tangled all amid the curls were clotted drops of blood."
The only mention Shelby makes of this affair in the official records is in a letter to General John S. Marmaduke. Telling of his operations in September he says, "We attacked a portion of Colonel Phillips' Indian brigade near Carthage, routing them."
Not unlike the experience of Mrs. Hazelwood in some respects but infinitely more tragic was that of Mrs. John Snodgrass whose home was visited by Ritchie's men about this time. Mrs. Snodgrass, later Mrs. Robinette Hickman, has told of the occurrence as follows :
"My maiden name was Robinette Langley and my father, James N. Langley, lived about six miles west and a little bit north of Carthage. In February of 1862 I had married John Snodgrass, a Carthage blacksmith, and lived in town, but in May my father had left the country for fear of being killed by Kansas jayhawkers as so many other southern men had been and since my husband was known as a neutral who espoused neither side we moved out to the farm and lived with mother and the children.
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"Along in September Ritchie's Indians came into the county and camped near Yoacham's mill on Center creek. The first thing we saw of the savages nine of them, all men, came riding up one day to where my hus- band and an old negro slave of my father's named Kato were plowing for wheat. They came into the field, jabbered at the two, shook hands with them, jabbered some more, shook hands all around again and rode away, coming to the house. Mr. Snodgrass and Kato supposed the Indians were a band of friendlies so paid no attention and went on with their work. The nine came to the house, opened the door and stalked in. We women shrank back in terror but the Indians said noth- ing to us. They went from room to room, stared at everything in sight and finally went away without dis- turbing anything. We were much relieved at this but we did not know what was coming.
"The next morning before sunrise the yard was full of Indians, men, women and children, making a great uproar. The men entered the house and behind them followed the swarm of squaws and children and these latter began to take everything that suited their fancy. There must have been a thousand Indians around or in the house by this time. The men had guns with fixed bayonets but were not in any kind of uniform, just the usual blanket and breech clout with lots of paint all over them. Two or three white men were with them but to our questions merely replied, 'Don't worry, they will not do you any harm.' The old squaws had by now opened all the bureau drawers and began taking out the clothes they found. There were
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nine children in our family and consequently a great amount of children's clothing. The old Indian women took this, stripped the filthy rags off their own young, and dressed them in the stolen clothes. The feather- beds on the beds were ripped open, the feathers emptied out and the ticking used to pack articles in to put on the ponies. All the utensils were taken out of the kitchen, all the food was snatched up, and we women cowered in a room of the house in terror.
"At night the Indians left and my husband and Kato who had been working in the fields all day came in. By daybreak the Indians were back again and not knowing what else to do Mr. Snodgrass and Kato went back to their plowing. The looting and uproar around the house went on the same as before. During the day a number of the Indians went out, took Kato and my husband prisoners and took them to the camp at Yoacham's mill along with the ox team and wagon. In the house we had nothing to eat and were too fright- ened to eat if there had been anything. The savages left again that night but returned the third day to complete their work.
"There was a tenant on our farm named Mont- gomery and the Indians had meanwhile looted his house the same as they had ours. He was considered as a union man and he and his wife obtained horses and were going to ride to the Indian camp and lay the mat- ter before Colonel Ritchie, demanding their property back. In this they were going to be assisted by Benja- min Chester, a neighbor who was a strong union man and whom the Indians never offered to bother in the
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least. In fact Chester seemed to be a friend to the In- dians and is said to have already been to the Indian camp a time or two. As Montgomery and his wife started to mount their horses in front of our house the Indians seized their bridles and took Montgomery prisoner, Mrs. Montgomery running back up to the house where we were. They started with her husband to the camp where the other prisoners had been taken and she never saw him again. He never even reached the camp, being killed just a little ways down the road from our house.
"As night came on a large number of the Indians remained around the place although there was not a' thing of value left anywhere. Most of them were down beyond the barn and some log huts and even after it got dark some of them would creep up and look in at us. I became more frightened than I had been yet and felt sure they were going to kill us. My mother said we had nowhere to go and might as well stay there. I fi- nally told her that if she stayed she would have to stay without me as I was going to slip away at the first chance and take as many of the children as would go. She then agreed to go also.
"We watched for a time when no Indians were near the house and all of us fled to the timber. We ran for about an eighth of a mile and, afraid to go farther for fear we would run onto some of the savages, crouched down and waited. The youngest child was just a year old and, like all the children, was hungry. The older ones knew enough to realize that they must keep quiet and mother placed her hand over the baby's mouth
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every time it started to cry. Here we waited, afraid every minute that we would be discovered but they never ran onto us and later in the night we heard the ponies clattering down the road toward the camp on Center creek. Believing then that it was safe to move we started to the Ben Chester home because we knew that we would be safe there. The Chesters took us in and we stayed there all next day. Indeed we were afraid to leave for the Indians were moving toward Spring River and streamed by all day long, on foot, on ponies and with wagons carrying the sick. There was a spring near the Chester house and Indians were drinking there all day. Indians were also around the house all day but never offered us any harm.
"Among a group of prisoners that the Indians took along the road by the Chester house I saw my husband and Kato, the latter still driving our team of oxen. I never saw Mr. Snodgrass again."
The Indians established a new camp on Spring river near Medoc at what was known as Shirley Ford. Here they were attacked by confederate troops, and Colonel Ritchie in a report dated September 20 de- scribes the affair as follows :
"About 8 o'clock our picket guard was fired upon and a regular stampede of about 1,500 women and chil- dren crowded into camp for protection, making a reg- ular Bull Run retreat. Everything seemed to partake of the same spirit but a moment after orders were given, every man was ready for an emergency. My in- fantry, or those who had no horses, gave the war whoop and rushed in the direction of the pickets who
.
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were being closely pursued. Soon after, a most terrific fire was commenced which resulted in the rout of the enemy.
"Soon I was informed that our forces were about to be surrounded and I immediately put out companies to prevent anything of that kind. After placing a suit- able guard around our supply train and camp I marched to the scene of the conflict. Before starting I had or- dered Major Wright to pass around, and if possible, sur- round the enemy.
"Upon arriving at the battle ground I saw the enemy's flag waving, bidding us defiance, and saw that they were drawn up in line of battle. I ordered my in- fantry to conceal themselves in a ravine while I would take a party of cavalry and drive the enemy in close to the timber. Seeing Major Wright's party already in view I ordered everything forward. I felt that every- thing depended upon our success and was determined to drive them or die.
"We took and killed their flag bearer and captured their vile flag; killed two officers and can count twenty other dead. Our loss killed is from twelve to twenty, including Captain George Scraper of Company H, who fell fighting bravely at the head of his men. We also had nine wounded. Two negro teamsters and one six- mule team were taken while out foraging.
"Papers show that Irwin's and Jackman's men were in the rebel force; others show Stand Watie's and Livingston's, but there is nothing reliable as to who they were."
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The Joel T. Livingston history of Jasper county published in 1912 states that the force attacking Ritchie consisted of a Texas regiment and Livingston's band. The Indians fled at the first attack but rallied, and, corralling their horses in the brush, put up a stiff defence, beating off the mounted attacks which, under the direction of the Texas colonel, were launched against them. Livingston proposed to the Texan that instead of continuing the attack from the front where the thick brush put mounted men at a disadvantage, that they charge down the main road and cut off the Indian's wagon train which was being taken across the river to a point of safety.
This did not meet the approval of the haughty Texan and a heated altercation followed, Livingston fi- nally telling the colonel that if he would give him com- mand of the whole force for thirty minutes that he would capture the entire Indian regiment, wagon train and all. The reply was a command for Livingston to take his men and go to the rear.
"You can take your regiment and go to
Livingston is said to have retorted, "And for me I will take my command and go where I please."
This ended the fight. The colonel wheeled his reg- iment to the flank and rode off of the field without an- other word to the guerrilla chief. Livingston for his part held his ground until the Texans were out of sight and then retired southward, leaving Ritchie's men mas- ters of the field.
In a letter written some hours after his official re- port Ritchie refers to his attackers as being commanded
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by Colonel T. C. Hawpe. This agrees with the story in the county history referred to, for Hawpe's regiment was the Thirty-first Texas cavalry, which was then camped in Newton county.
The confederate attack had been the death war- rant of Mr. Snodgrass and the other prisoners held by the Indians, all of the captives being butchered by the savages at the very beginning of the attack. Among those who perished in the massacre besides Mr. Snod- grass were James G. Ennis, Moses Lake, Jack Sparlin, Beverly Windsor, Joseph Zoph and others. The negro Kato was never heard from again and probably met his death with the whites.
At this time there were 3,000 Kansas troops with sixteen pieces of artillery at Carthage, being part of a column of union troops moving from Fort Scott toward Sarcoxie where a force was being concentrated to at- tack the confederate army the outposts of which were then at Newtonia. When the news that Ritchie was engaged reached Carthage, Colonel W. F. Cloud took three companies of infantry and two howitzers and moved to the assistance of Ritchie's undisciplined red men. The fighting was over by the time that he ar- rived there.
A short time later Ritchie's regiment went back to Kansas, the Chester family and the widow of the murdered Montgomery accompanying it as a means of getting out of Missouri to Fort Scott. A number of months later Ritchie was relieved of command and his regiment entirely reorganized, the Osages whom Col- onel W. A. Phillips who commanded the Indian brigade
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referred to as "savages and thieves who brought the whole Indian command into disgrace" being discharged during one of their periods of desertion as were also the Quapaws and other fragments of tribes who had be- haved as badly as the Osages.
The white Kansas troops were at Carthage a week, their camp being about a mile east of the town. Here they were joined a few days after their arrival by the Third Indian regiment under Colonel Phillips who had been skirmishing in McDonald and Newton counties with the confederates and who had finally found it ad- visable to retire northward and get in touch with the strong union forces in Jasper county. The southern troops did not follow him north of Neosho and did not at this time come in contact with the strong federal detachments that patrolled the southern part of Jasper county to protect the main body of the army from any sudden attack. Wiley Britton, who seems to have been with the Kansas troops, has this to say about the en- campment and matters in Jasper county at this time:
"The camp was pitched only a short distance from the south bank of Spring river and many of the soldiers enjoyed themselves bathing in the clear running waters of that beautiful stream. In this section the people had raised fair crops of corn, oats and wheat and as a consequence the cavalry horses were better supplied with forage than they had been in the earlier part of the summer. Experience had taught officers and sol- diers the importance of looking after their horses and it was now possible to keep them in good condition.
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