Springfield-Greene
County LibraryEarly and Recent History and Genealogical Records
of Many of the Representative Citizens
Chapter 11
Military History
Part 7
Green County Men at Pea Ridge
Approved by Judge J. J. Gideon and Capt. George M. Jones
The results of the battle of Pea Ridge or as the Confederates usually called it Elkhorn Tavern, had a direct effect on the people of Greene county, for if General Curtis had been defeated there and forced to abandon southwest Missouri, the Confederates would have again occupied this territory indefinitely and there would have been another change among the people of Greene county, in fact the destiny of the county throughout the rest of the Civil war hinged on those two days of fierce fighting, March 6 and 7, 1862. With Curtis' army which shed on into Arkansas from Springfield were a large number of officers and men from Greene county, in Companies A, B, F, H, I and K of Colonel Boyd's regiment under Maj. Eli Weston, and Phelps' regiment under Colonel Phelps himself. Many from this county were also in the' Confederate army in various organizations, the best known being Capt. Dick Campbell's company. Among the casualties of the Greene county men of Phelps' regiment at the battle of Pea Ridge were the following:
Company D—Capt. John W. Lisenby, wounded by rifle ball in left shoulder, buckshot in left hip and minie ball through each leg; First Lieut. Robert P. Matthews, wounded through upper part of right breast by minie ball; Second Lieut. Charles C. Moss, right hip injured by piece of shell; First Sergt. Jacob Winger, right eye destroyed by buckshot; Second Sergt. W. W. Langston, wounded in hand; Corporal James H. Cochran, musket ball through the right foot; private Blanton Cargile, by minie ball in the left hand; James M. Logan, musket ball in the left leg; Wesley R. Logan lost left arm by grapeshot; William M. Patterson, musket ball in abdomen; Theophilus C. Piper, musket ball in right thigh; John S. Steele, musket ball in right leg; Young White, rifle ball in left arm.
Company H, Phelps' Regiment—Capt. George B. McElhannon, gunshot wound in shoulder, from which he died in Springfield three weeks later, March 29; First Lieut. John A. Lee, in hip; First Sergt. Albert Demuth, in the right knee.
Company A, Boyd's Regiment—Hosea G. Mullings wounded; Daniel Pitnam and William D. Popjoy captured.
A newspaper correspondent had the following to say regarding the part taken in the battle by Boyd's regiment, the Twenty-fourth Missouri Infantry: [337]
On the morning of the 7th instant there were present at Sugar Creek, Companies A, B, F, H, I and K under command of Maj. Eli Weston. They were stationed some two miles north of the main command, at the Elkhorn Tavern, acting as provost guards, when it was discovered that Price had thrown his force, estimated at twenty thousand men, between our army and Missouri. This discovery was not made until the enemy was driven within a very short distance of us. But so wise and judicious were the dispositions made of his command by Major Weston, that for an hour or more, Price's whole force were kept at bay until reinforcements came up. All day Friday from daylight until dark were these brave men on the field and in the thickest of the fight. They occupied a position on the left of Colonel. Carr's Division, and although the point on which they were stationed was one of the most important for strategic movements and every effort was made to dislodge them, yet for nine hours did they stand their ground under, the murderous fires of the multitudes opposing them, and it was only when the order to fall back was repeated time and again, that they would heed it. When they did retire, they did so contesting every foot of the ground and was the first regiment in line to meet the oncoming enemy. Too much praise cannot be bestowed upon Major Weston, the other officers and the men for the truly brave and soldierly manner in which they acquitted themselves on that memorable day. Another remark in regard to the regiment. It is their proud boast, that, notwithstanding many of them have been robbed by the rebels of their all, yet not a man in the regiment has ever taken a single article without paying for it. To this, friend and foe will testify. You cannot find, I venture to say, a single pack of cards in the regiment. They all know and fully appreciate what they are fighting for and all remember that when the war is done that they are again to be members of society. They intend on coming out of this conflict and return to their homes and families as free from vice as when they pledged themselves to their country.
Colonel Phelps' wife, Mary Phelps, was one of the Florence Nightingales on the field of Pea Ridge after the fight, and rendered much valuable service to the wounded, doubtless many a life being saved by her ability and devotion. Not all the Federal soldiers from Greene county participated in this battle, among this number being Company D, which was left at Springfield; it was then commanded by Captain Vaughan, later by Col. Baker Owen. All or nearly all the Confederates from Greene county were in the battle of Pea Ridge and many of them were killed or wounded, but no record was kept of them, at least so far as is now known. Confidence was restored among the people of Greene county to such an extent that the farmers began preparations for putting out vast crops in the spring of 1862. They knew that Springfield was to be the base of supplies for the Federal army in this part of the country and they did not fear a return of Price and his hordes, who had retreated far into the interior of Arkansas, and Curtis had been heavily reinforced. About one thousand cavalry and an equal number of infantry were already in Springfield and many more troops were known to be on their way to join them here, and huge piles of military stores were being laid up. The farmers reasoned that all this force would need all kinds of supplies, for which the Union quartermasters were always willing to pay good prices to Union owners.
Southern soldiers under John T. Coffee and others had been harassing the people of Cedar county, and in order to escape many families were coming to Springfield for protection. Sigel's old regiment, the Third Missouri which had fought at Wilson's Creek arrived at Springfield, March 25th, six hundred strong. Among the arrivals here during March were the wounded from Pea Ridge who came in daily. [338-339]
COURTS AGAIN IN SESSION.
Public matters in Missouri had been in a bad way since the breaking up of the state government in the spring and summer of 1861. Gov. Claiborne Jackson, Lieutenant-Governor Reynolds, secretary of state Massey and other officers were fugitives from the state capital, having taken up arms against the Federal government. Upon the reassembling of the state convention July 22d, that body vacated the places of the state officers named and appointed in their stead, Hamilton R. Gamble, of St. Louis, governor; Willard P. Hall, of Buchanan county, lieutenant governor; and Mordecai Oliver, of Greene county, secretary of state. Mr. Oliver was well and favorably known in this county although he had not long resided here. Judge Patrick H. Edwards, circuit judge of this district, had also joined the Confederacy and so his post was also vacant, as was also that of prosecuting attorney. In the absence of officials the people felt no restraint in doing the things they considered right in their own sight, and, as in the early days of the Far West, individuals settled their own controversies sometimes with the six-shooter. The Gamble government appointed Littleberry Hendricks to the vacancy of the circuit court, bench and R. J. Lindenbower prosecuting attorney for this judicial court, then known as the Fourteenth. Both these gentlemen were from Greene county. They proposed to re-open the courts if they had to be guarded by soldiers in ,doing so. Not only was justice dispensed in the circuit court but county court and justice courts in each township began work. [339]
On April 10th and 12th the greater portion of Phelps' regiment, which had been enlisted for six months, was mustered out at Springfield, their term of service having expired. During its term of service the regiment had one officer, Capt. G. T. Potter, and seven men killed in action outright and nine mortally wounded; three officers and eighty-two men died of disease; one man was discharged for disability; eight men deserted and thirty officers and six hundrd and forty-five men were honorably discharged. On the night of April 6th, a horse was stolen from a member of one of the cavalry companies stationed at Springfield. He was pursued and overtaken at the bridge on the James river south of town and, refusing to halt, was killed. It is supposed that he was on his way to the Confederate army in Arkansas. During the months of March and April, Confederate prisoners were brought into Springfield from this and surrounding counties, in some localities there being great disorder. Marauding bands, belonging to the regular Confederate service or fighting as guerrillas, infested many localities and were plundering and sometimes murdering, the Union citizens. Col. Clark Wright of the Sixth Missouri Cavalry, set out from Cassville, where two thousand Federal troops were then stationed, the first week in April, making an extensive scouting expedition and bringing a number of prisoners into Springfield. About two weeks later, two or three companies of Captain Richardson's regiment, the Fourteenth Missouri State Militia, had completed their organization and went to Jefferson City and Linn Creek for their arms, after being mustered in. A private in Company A of this regiment was killed May 22d by bushwhackers near Sarcoxie. As a rule the troops in Springfield were now comparatively orderly but some drunkenness and rowdyism were noticeable from time to time. On the evening of May 21st , Capt. John R. Clark of Company B, of Col. Powell Clayton's, Fifth Kansas Cavalry, in company with A. J. Rice, a private, were intoxicated and called at the home of a Mrs. Willis, a widow, and demanded supper, which Mrs. Willis declined preparing for them. This refusal enraged the captain and his companion and they drew their revolvers on the guards that had been stationed to protect the family and attempted to force their way into the house. One of the guards shot the captain through the body, when he retreated a few steps and fell dead. At the same time Rice fired at the guard who had shot Clark, but missed his aim and the bullet struck Mary Willis, daughter of the lady of the house, killing her instantly. The other guard then fired at Rice, mortally wounding him. Mrs. Willis was a Union refugee who had come to Springfield the latter part of the winter from Taney county. Before leaving there, two of her sons, Unionists, had been killed by bushwhackers. Captain Clark was a native of Ohio but had lived in Missouri many years and was prominent. When but seventeen years old he had served in the Mexican war under General Price. Afterwards he was orderly sergeant of Company B, Major Gilpin's Indian Battalion and was in the fight at Walnut Creek. After the Mexican war he married a niece of the famous scout, Kit Carson, and settled in Mercer county, this state, where he was twice sheriff and once a representative to the Legislature. He fought at Dry Wood Creek after joining the Union army. He had numerous relatives in Greene county. [340]
GENERAL MILITARY HOSPITAL.
A general military hospital was established in Springfield soon after Curtis' army occupied the city. A great many of the Federal wounded were brought from Pea Ridge here for treatment, and from time, to time the wounded and sick from other sections were brought here. In the latter part of November, the number of sick was thirteen hundred and deaths were occurring at the rate of four per day. A great majority of those wounded in the fight at Prairie Grove were ultimately brought here.
As late as July 1862, negro slaves were recognized as such by both civil and Federal military authorities of Greene county, although there were many advocates of emancipation in the county at that time. The law on the statute books at the time against runaway negroes was rigidly enforced. A number of runaway slaves came to Springfield from time to time; others were brought here by soldiers and abandoned when they marched on into Arkansas.
The election in Greene county November 4, 1862, was a fair and free one, and was conducted without intimidation on the part of the soldiery, who protected but did not attempt to control the ballot-box. The emancipation issue was one of the principal questions in this election; some favored general emancipation of slaves, while others voted to compensate loyal owners of slaves. The latter were somewhat in the majority. Everybody allowed to vote was for the Union, however. No one was permitted to cast ballot without taking an oath to support the United States government and the provisional state government against all enemies, domestic or foreign. But the Union men were about equally divided on the emancipation question, some opposing, some favoring. At this election, the soldiers whose homes were in Greene county, and who were otherwise eligible, were allowed to vote; however, each military troop had a ballot-box of its own. Many of the Greene county soldiers, being at the time away in the south, did not vote. The result of the Congressional district was the election of Col. S. H. Boyd, of "Lyon's Legion" or the Twenty-fourth Missouri Infantry, over Col. John S. Phelps, who was a candidate for re-election, and also of Phelps' Regiment, and afterwards colonel of the Seventy-second Enrolled Missouri Militia. J. W. Mack defeated Col. Marcus Boyd or state treasurer. [341]
The Fourteenth Cavalry, Missouri State Militia, was in General Herron's Division at the battle of Prairie Grove, Arkansas, December 6, 1862. Captain Julian's company, composed of Greene county men, formed a part of that regiment and it was a Greene county man who fired the first shot on the Federal side in that division. This company of about one hundred men, united with twenty-five men of the First Arkansas Federal Cavalry and one hundred and seventy-five men of Judson's Sixth Kansas, and performed valuable service by holding a road, thus preventing General Hindman from throwing his entire force of Confederates upon General Herron and crushing him before General Blunt could bring up his forces and co-operate. The stubborn fight by the Greene county men and their allies delayed the Confederates two hours, although the latter were much superior in number.
Forty men of the Fourteenth Missouri State Militia, under Lieut. John R. Kelso, sixty enrolled militia under Captains Green and Salee, all under the command of Capt. Milton Birch of the Fourteenth Missouri State Militia, raided the Confederate saltpeter works on White river, near Yellville, Arkansas, on December 14th, and took Capts. P. S. McNamara and Jesse Mooney and thirty-six men prisoners; destroyed thirty-five stands of arms; a complete supply of provisions for fifty men three months; burnt four buildings and destroyed machinery, kettles, manufactured saltpeter and other property to the value of thirty thousand dollars and brought their thirty-eight prisoners to Springfield without the loss of a man. A number of other similar scouts were made about this time from Springfield into various parts of northern Arkansas and in several counties of southwest Missouri after guerrillas, recruiting companies and other hostile organizations. Foraging, went on all the while and not all the material brought back to camp was paid for by any means. [342]
SPRINGFIELD IS FORTIFIED.
Heavy fortifications were constructed at Springfield by the Federal forces during the year 1862, for the purpose of better defending the town and to protect the large stores of government property here. Four large forts were built. Fort No. 1 or Fort Brown was situated a little northwest of town about a mile and a quarter from the public square and it remained there many years; Fort No. 2 was at the west end of Walnut street and its location also could be pointed out with accuracy for several decades after the war; Fort No. 3 was near the residence of Judge Hendricks, in the southwest part of town, but it was never fully completed. Fort No. 4 was on South street, where the present Christian church stands, commanded the approaches to the town from the south and was the fort which General Marmaduke attacked the following year. Rifle pits connected Forts No. 2 and No. 4. A covered way led from No. 1 to the Fulbright spring. Fort No. 5 was in the east part of town on the north side of the St. Louis road and overlooking the Berry spring. These forts were built by details from the various military commands, by prisoners, by impressed citizens and negroes, but principally by details from the Union soldiers. These forts were pretentious and effective and not hastily and carelessly built. They were well supplied with artillery, and some heavy siege guns were mounted on Fort No. 1. They had been brought from St. Louis and had well filled magazines, quarters, and was one of the best fortifications west of the Mississippi river. The forts were not built by amateurs but by skilled engineers who carefully planned them. Springfield's defenses were constructed under the supervision of Col. M. Larue Harrison, who later became the commanding officer of the First Arkansas Cavalry. He was a splendid civil engineer and a man of foresight and indomitable energy. The Federal Commanders did not always keep Springfield well protected, although it behooved them to do so, for here was the base of supplies for the large Federal army of the Southwest, containing the general hospital, the commissary's, the quartermaster's, and ordnance departments, etc. Few people of this generation realize how important Springfield was during the Civil war; how the eyes of the entire country were centered here from time to time; we forget that several million dollars' worth of army supplies passed in and out of the town, then quite small compared to its present area of four miles square, and we forget that many noted and able generals and officers in both armies maintained headquarters here and that over one hundred thousand soldiers marched in and out on her streets; in short, Springfield, a quiet, peaceable city, noted for its schools, churches and civic pride, bearing none of war's scars to the stranger's eye, was for a number of years the storm center of the West and a vast military camp of "resounding arms." [342-343]
Gov. H. R. Gamble ordered Brig.-Gen. John M. Schofield, in command of the Missouri State Militia, on July 22, 1862, to organize the entire militia of the state into companies, regiments and brigades, and order such portions of the forces into active service as he deemed necessary for the purpose of putting down all marauders and defending the peaceable citizens of the state. This order was issued in the hopes that the numerous bands of guerrillas over the state might be put down, and to oppose the numerous organizations of Confederates that were constantly springing up. Three days later General Schofield began his work of organizing the militia. He directed the militia to assemble at any post with whatever arms they had, and a good horse each, if they had one, elect officers, and be sworn into service, which was to continue indefinitely, or as long as the commanding officer of the district might direct, and while in service were to be paid as volunteers. A great many "schemes" were resorted to by the able-bodied men in different counties to keep out of the militia or any other kind of military service. But the Enrolled Missouri Militia when finally organized did a great deal of valuable service, especially in Greene county, in which two regiments, the Seventy-second and Seventy-fourth, were almost wholly recruited, organization beginning at Springfield, August 1st. C. B. Holland was the first colonel of the former, followed by Henry Sheppard, F. S. Jones and John S. Phelps. Marcus Boyd was the first and only colonel of the Seventy-fourth. There were five hundred and two Greene county men in the Seventy-second, which when fully organized, numbered thirty-eight commissioned officers and one thousand and forty-two enlisted men, a total of one thousand and eighty. The Seventy-fourth regiment contained two hundred and seventy-eight Greene county men, and contained in all thirty-eight officers and nine hundred and sixty-six men, or a total of one thousand and four men. Besides the colonels the other officers of these regiments were as follows: The Seventy-second—Lientenant-colonels, John F. McMahan, F. S. Jones; majors, John Hornbeck, R. K. Hart, John Hursh; adjutants, J. W. Mack, John D Waddill, James F. Harchin; quartermasters, William P. Davis, Samuel Turner, Martin J. Hubble; surgeon, Peter Barnes. Company A—Second lieutenants, Nathaniel Sink, D. J. McCroskey. Company B—Captains, R. K. Hart, William F. McCullagh; first lieutenants, Stephen L. Wiles, S. Pears. Company D—Captain, J. E. Smith; first lieutenant, G. S. Patterson; second lieutenants, S. B. Ranney, T. J. Kershner. Company E—Captain, G. A. Dillard; first lieutenants, William F. Lane, Andrew J. Potter; second lieutenant, Robert Love. Company F—Captain, George T. Beal; first lieutenant, Bryant Windfield; second lieutenant, Joseph Windfield. Company G—Captain S. W. Headlee; first lieutenant, Alexander Evans. Company I—Captains, F. S. Jones, John B. Perkins first lieutenant, John L. Holland; second lieutenant, James K. Gilmore. Seventy-fourth Regiment—Lieutenant-colonel, John S. Coleman; majors, J. F. McMahan, John Small; adjuants, Fenton Young, Jr., John R. Cox, Alfred G. Lee; quartermaster, James L. Rush; surgeon,. F. Young, Jr.; assistant surgeon, John Hunt. Company A—Captain, J. M. Redferan; first lieutenant, John McDaniel; second lieutenant, E. Philips. Company C—Captain, Green B. Phillips; first lieutenant, Isaac P. Julian; second lieutenant, James C. Robertson. Company H—Captains, John Small, Robert M. Hayter; first lieutenants, Lazarus H. Phillips, Robert M. Hayter, S. A. Harshburger: second lieutenants, M. W. Ackerson, Preston Gilmore. Company L—Captain, Jackson Ball; lieutenants, Isham W. Haught, David McCroskey.
The Greene county court house had been in the almost continuous service of the military since General Curtis' army took possession of the town back in February, and on July 6th Col. John M. Richardson was appointed the county's agent to prosecute a claim against the United States for rent and damages of the court house and to obtain possession of the building for the use of the county authorities. [343-344]
Next Part | Table of Contents | Keyword Search
Greene County History Home | Local History Home