6th Missouri Cavalry
Local History & Genealogy staff recently scanned a panoramic photograph of a 6th Missouri Cavalry (U.S.) reunion held in Springfield, Mo. The 6th Missouri was recruited from many counties in southwest Missouri during the Civil War, including Greene. Commanded by Colonel Clark Wright, the regiment fought in several major battles including Pea Ridge and Prairie Grove in Arkansas, and the Siege of Vicksburg, Mississippi.
The photograph was taken on Commercial Street during the regiment’s 26th reunion held on October 8 and 9, 1914. Many of the veterans still lived in the area, but J.C. Cassada traveled from Boise City, Idaho to see his old comrades again. Forty-one veterans attended the reunion, sharing war stories and listening to patriotic speeches and music. The men also visited the National Cemetery and agreed to meet again in Springfield on October 14-15 the following year.
While not an official member of the 6th Missouri, Wallace White always attended the reunions. White joined-up with the regiment while they were campaigning in Kentucky. During a break on the march, men from the 6th Missouri noticed White ploughing cotton with a mule. Afraid of his master, White would not run away with them at first. When the soldiers promised to keep him safe, the slave thought, “Dem Stahs and Stripes sho look good to me.” White left the mule and followed the regiment where he spent the rest of the war cooking and completing odd jobs for the soldiers.
White came to Missouri with the veterans when the regiment was discharged in 1865. He settled four miles west of Walnut Grove where he worked as a farm laborer. He married Ann Pyle of Walnut Grove and raised five kids. Wallace White died on September 26, 1931 and is buried in Cave Springs.
Did your ancestor serve in the 6th Missouri? Call the Local History department at (417) 616-0534 if you can help us identify other veterans in the photograph. Click on the photograph above to enlarge it.
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