Springfield-Greene
County LibraryEarly and Recent History and Genealogical Records
of Many of the Representative Citizens
Chapter 11
Military History
Approved by Judge J. J. Gideon and Capt. George M. Jones
Part 9
Greene County Military Organizations
Upon receipt of the news of the attempted capture of Springfield the Federal authorities awoke to the necessity of properly protecting this important post, the base of their supplies. General Herron himself came up from Arkansas a few days after the fight and made plans for the future safety of the place. When news of the battle reached the army in Arkansas on the 10th, the Second Brigade, First Division of the Army of the Frontier, was at once set in motion, Springfield being its destination. This brigade was commanded by Col. William F. Cloud of the Second Kansas, Cavalry and was composed of that regiment, the Tenth and Thirteenth Kansas and Rabb's Second Indiana Battery. The brigade started from near Elm Springs and by a hard forced march reached Springfield on the 13th. The Seventh Cavalry, Missouri State Militia, commanded by Col. John F. Phillips, joined Colonel Cloud at Cassville and came on with the advance, the march from that place was made without stopping but once. After the arrival of reinforcements the citizens of Greene county took up the peaceful pursuits of life again and civil law came into dominion so far as regarding the civil rights of the people. In a short time the courts were in session and a number of cases growing out of the Civil war were disposed of. During the Confederate occupancy of Springfield, many of the Union citizens of the county had their property taken by the Confederates, some of whom were also citizens of this county and owned property. Certain other Unionists were arrested by the Greene county Confederates, who were acting in obedience to orders of their superior officers. When the Confederate army left Greene county, some under Campbell, Lotspeich and others left with it, and after the Federal authority was restored, suit was instituted against them by some of the Unionists living here whom they had arrested or whose property they had taken for military purposes. As personal service could not be had, notice of these suits was given by publication in the newspapers, which of course the defendants never saw until long after judgment had been rendered by default and execution issued and served, and their property levied on and sold.
CONFEDERATES RESENT PROCEEDINGS.
The Confederates always claimed that these proceedings against them were unjust and unfair, inasmuch as they were carried on during their absence when they were prevented from appearing in their own defense and that when executions were levied on their property it was sold ridiculously low and without regard to propriety. After the war all prosecutions growing out of the military acts of either army were dismissed and forever barred by special act of the Legislature. [366]
Col. Benjamin Crabb, of the Nineteenth Iowa Infantry, was relieved from command of the post at Springfield in February, 1863, and was succeeded by Col. Thomas M. Bowen, of the Thirteenth Kansas Infantry. He eventually became United States senator from Colorado. His administration of the affairs at Springfield did not give general satisfaction, principally because he allowed his troops to do too much foraging in which he seemed unwilling or unable to control them.
About this time smallpox broke out in Springfield which caused considerable excitement, but the disease was prevented from invading the camps of the soldiers.
The Army of the Frontier during February and March was scattered over southwestern Missouri. General Blunt's command of Kansas troops, principally, was stationed in Lawrence county a short distance from Greene. Owing to a great scarcity of forage a wide distribution of the troops was necessary. Everywhere the farmers were called upon to feed the troops and their horses. Citizens from Christian county reported to the commander at Springfield that the Union soldiers were exterminating the hogs in that county, killing them whenever they could find them and carrying them off, contrary to orders. There was little excuse for this lawlessness, for the government provided well for the soldiers in this locality and the citizens had no right to expect that they would be plundered by the troops sent to protect them. By March 1st, the Eighth Missouri Cavalry Volunteers, largely composed of Greene county men, was stationed at Finley, about thirty miles from Springfield. The scarcity of forage and the continued hard scouting required of the men had reduced the number of horses to an average of twenty-five to the company. There was great complaint of the want of discipline in the command. Colonel Geiger was absent from the regiment, in command of the Second Brigade of General Herron's Division. Lieutenant-colonel Baldwin was under arrest for having some Confederate prisoners who had violated their paroles taken out and shot without a trial. Major Lisenby was at Springfield the greater portion of the time and Major Rich commanded the regiment.
Long forage trains were often sent up and down the country as far north as Pettis county by the commanders of the posts in southwest Missouri. Joseph Gott was the chief forage-master at Springfield. He made several trips and never lost a train. However, about the middle of February a forage train belonging to the Eighth Missouri State Militia, then stationed in Newton county was captured by a scouting party of Confederates, supposed to be under Standwaite and Jackman and some of the guards killed. A force of cavalry was sent out from Springfield to assist in the capture of those who attacked the train, but returned without accomplishing anything. [367]
An officer of an Iowa regiment, who, disguised as a Confederate, induced Alf. Bolen to come into a house and get breakfast near the Arkansas line, in February, and while seated at the table the officer killed Bolen. The latter was a desperate guerrilla and bushwhacker and was a terror to the Union citizens living in the southern part of Greene county, as well as those of Christian, Taney and Stone. He had killed many men, one of his most atrocious murders being committed in the fall of 1861 when he cut off the ears of a man named Budd, seventy years of age, and tortured him in Indian fashion before finally killing him with a revolver. He was hated by both the Confederates and Federals. The other most atrocious crime was taking Isham Day, a prisoner, tying a rope around his neck and tying rocks to the rope and throwing him into White river and drowning him.
Times were very hard all over southwestern Missouri during the spring of 1863. There were many vicious and unprincipled Federal soldiers who delighted in preying upon the Confederate sympathizers, and the lot of many Union families was but little better. Persons who, up to this time, had struggled bravely to help themselves, now gave up in despair and desperation. Gangs of women and children daily concentrated at the military posts and at the little towns looking for bread which they could find no longer in their own desolated homes. Many of the men had enlisted in the Federal army, in the Twenty-fourth Missouri, in the Eighth Missouri Cavalry, the Sixth Missouri, the Fourteenth Missouri State Militia and the First Arkansas, which regiments were chiefly recruited in Greene and other counties of this part of the state and hundreds were in the enrolled Missouri militia, and many of the families of these men were in absolute want, for the Federal government had not paid its soldiers in this quarter for months and no money could be obtained from their natural protectors or honorably earned. In perhaps still more wretched plight were the families of Confederate soldiers. Hundreds of women refugees swarmed about Springfield and other posts of importance and became abandoned and depraved, vice of all sorts prevailing. Homeless wanderers were strolling about begging for food, clothing and shelter. Fortunately the winter was not severe or there would have been the most intense suffering. Many passed night after night out in the open. [368]
A PROVISIONAL REGIMENT ORGANIZED.
In various parts of Missouri the organization of provisional regiments was begun in February, 1863. It was believed that the crisis calling for the general arming of the people of the state had passed, and Governor Gamble decided to begin the organization of the various military districts of a picked force of men, to be detailed from the enrolled militia for permanent service and to consist of those who could the most easily be spared from their ordinary vocations. Greene county was in the fourth military district and in this district two regiments of provisional militia were formed, the Sixth and the Seventh, each regiment consisting of twelve companies and organized as a regiment of cavalry. The colonel, lieutenant-colonel three majors, the adjutant and other officers of the Sixth regiment were mainly from Greene county, as were three of the companies as follows:
First colonel, Henry Sheppard, formerly of the Seventy-second Enrolled Missouri Militia, commissioned April 1,1863, resigned the following October. Second colonel, F. S. Jones, commissioned October 5, 1863, resigned January 22,1864. Majors John Hornbeak, R. K. Hart, and John Small. Adjutant, J. W. Mack. Quartermaster, W. P. Davis. Assistant Surgeon, Philip M. Slaughter.
Company A—This company was detailed from the Seventy-fourth Enrolled Missouri Militia, Col. Marcus Boyd's regiment. Its officers were captain, John Small, promoted to major, October 5, 1863. Second captain, R. M. Hayter, commissioned October 5, 1863. First lieutenant, Isaac P. Julian; second, Lazarus J. Phillips; third, Samuel Harshbarger. First second lieutenant, Lazarus J. Phillips; second, Samuel Harshbarger; third, Preston Gilmore.
Company E—This company was detailed from the Seventy-second Enrolled Missouri Militia. All the officers were commissioned April 15, 1863. Capt. Samuel W. Headlee; first lieutenant, Bryan Winfield; second lieutenant, Samuel B. Rainey.
Company H—This company was detailed from the Seventy-second regiment Enrolled Missouri Militia. Some of its members were from Christian county. Roswell K. Hart was the first captain; William McCullah, second captain; Isham W. Faught, first lieutenant; O. P. Cates, first, second lieutenant; John A. Gideon, second, second lieutenant.
During the months of April and May, 1863, many of the Greene county men who were in the Confederate service made raids into the southern counties of Missouri and visited their homes. Sometimes the raids, resulted in no special damage, but now and then blood was shed. In May, Fulbright, a well known young man about Springfield and a member of the Fulbright family here, returned to the county with a dozen of his companions. The object of their raid into Greene county has never been definitely known. The party reached the county in safety and went into camp on the James river. A Union citizen discovered them and reported their presence to the enrolled militia of the neighborhood, a squad of whom was soon organized and were in search of the raiders. Coming upon them without warning they were soon routed by the militia and in the melee Fulbright was shot and killed. It was reported that he was ill and his comrades had merely accompanied him home where he could get proper medical attention, that no raid was intended, and that Fulbright was shot after he had signified, his willingness to surrender. The truth of the matter will never be known. [369]
There being armed soldiers all over the state of Missouri during the autumn of 1863, it was feared that in many quarters they would attempt to influence the election of that fall by intimidation of voters. Major-General Schofield, commander of the department in which Missouri was situated, took steps to prevent this and issued the following order:
Headquarters Department of Missouri,
St. Louis, Mo., September 18, 1863.
General Order No. 101.
The right of the people to peacefully assemble for all lawful purposes, and the right to freely express their will at the polls according to law are essential in civil liberty. No interference with these rights, either by violence, threats, intimidation or otherwise will be tolerated.
Any commissioned officer who shall incite or encourage any interference with any lawful assemblage of the people, or who shall fail to do his utmost to prevent such interference shall be dismissed from the services and any officer, soldier or civilian, who shall, by violence, threats or otherwise, actually interfere with any such lawful assemblage of the people, shall be punished by imprisonment or otherwise at the discretion of a court martial or military commission.
Any officer, soldier, civilian, who shall attempt to intimidate any qualified voter in the exercise of his right to vote, or who shall attempt to prevent any qualified voter from going to the polls or voting, shall be punished by imprisonment or otherwise at the discretion of a court martial or military commission.
Special attention is called to the fifth article of war, which will be applied to commissioned officers of Missouri militia not in active service, as well as the officers and soldiers in actual service.
By command of Major-General Schofield.
C. W. Marsh, Assistant Adjutant General.
After the election the returns from many of the military companies of Greene county were rejected for irregularities. However, this was not true of Company E, Sixth Provisional Regiment, and three companies of the Twenty-fourth Missouri Infantry. [370]
FEDERAL TROOPS ORGANIZED AT SPRINGFIELD.
A number of companies and regiments for the Federal service was organized during the winter of 1863-4 at Springfield. The able-bodied men of the county had learned before this that they might expect to be in active service the greater portion of the time if they remained at their homes as militia men. This being the case many preferred to enter the regular service the United States. They did not feel safe at home where there was little peace. Even a number of Confederate sympathizers entered the regular service of the United States as a choice between two evils, for their existence at home was more precarious than the Unionists.
Among the military organizations perfected at Springfield during this period were three batteries of the Second Missouri Artillery Regiment. They were known as Batteries H, I and K, and were commanded respectively at the first by Capt. W. C. Montgomery, Capt. S. H. Julian and Capt. W. P. Davis. Montgomery and Julian commanded their batteries through the war; Davis died and was succeeded by Ephraim Confare, who resigned in June, 1864, and then Edward S. Rowland became captain. As these batteries were composed partly of Greene county men and were organized here, a brief history of each is not deemed inappropriate in these pages.
Battery H was organized as a company of heavy artillery at Springfield, December 4, 1863, and left Springfield February 3, 1864, proceeded by way Rolla and St. Louis to New Madrid, Missouri. It was commanded by W. C. Montgomery. On April 27, 1864, it was ordered to Cape Girardeau, this state, and remained there until May 3rd of that year, when it was ordered to St. Louis to be equipped as a battery of field artillery and it reached that city May 8th, where it remained until September 21st, following, then was sent to Pilot Knob, Missouri, and took part in the battle at that place a week later on September 26th and 27th. It lost traveling forge, battery wagon baggage wagon, eighteen mules and twelve horses, then abandoned caissons and camp property and marched to Leesburg, on the Pacific railroad, some seventy-five miles away, took part in the engagement at that September 30th. Remaining there until October 5, 1864, it left for Missouri, and three days later was ordered with a division of cavalry in pursuit of General Price. The battery was engaged several days with the enemy at Russellville, California, and Boonville, Missouri. On October 17th, it marched to Lexington and then towards Independence, near Kansas City, coming up with the enemy in the suburbs of the former town, took position at once, fired twelve rounds, when the Confederates retreated. The following night the battery left Independence with General McNeil's command on Little Santa Fe road. It was engaged in the battle of the Big Blue and it pursued the enemy towards Fort Scott, Kansas, and was engaged at Marais-des-Cygnes and Osage river, after which it went into Fort Scott for rations and forage. One section of the battery under command of Lieutenant Smiley, marched with General Sanborn's brigade on October 27th to Newtonia, Missouri, and was engaged with the Confederates at that place. The remaining section, under command of Captain Montgomery, returned to Warrensburg, Missouri, a distance of ninety-three miles, as part of an escort to prisoners and captured property. Then it was ordered to St. Louis again, where it was joined by Lieutenant Smiley's section. During the raid of General Price in Missouri of that year this battery marched about twelve hundred miles and expended seventeen hundred rounds of ammunition. It. lost four men killed, ten captured, three missing and six wounded; twenty-five horses were killed and fifteen captured. By January 1, 1865, this company was in winter quarters at Franklin, Missouri, where it remained until June 11th following, when, in accordance with instructions from the headquarters of the army, it was mounted and equipped, as cavalry and, with other batteries of the regiment, ordered to Omaha, Nebraska, where it arrived June 20th and remained until July 1, 1865, when it left as a portion of the right column, Powder river Indian expedition. During the various engagements on Powder river with the Indians, this company lost three men killed. It returned to St. Louis, November 11th, and was mustered out of service, November 20, 1865. [371-372]
Battery I was organized in Springfield, December 28, 1863, as a company of heavy artillery. It left Springfield, February 3, 1864, and proceeded to New Madrid, this state, by way of Rolla and St. Louis to be equipped as a light battery. It remained at St. Louis until October 4, 1864, when it was sent to Franklin, Missouri, and attached to Brigadier-general Pike's division of the Enrolled Missouri Militia, then went to Washington and Hermann, arriving there October 25th. The battery was ordered to St. Louis, November 9, 1864, then sent to Paducah, Kentucky, where it remained until November 27th, when it left there and was a part of Major-General Smith's Division Sixteenth Army Corps. While on a scout on foot in Osceola county Arkansas, April 7, 1864, a detachment of this battery under Lieut. Lazarus J. Phillips was surrounded in a swamp and surprised by a stronger force of Confederates and a hard fight occurred in which Lieutenant Phillips, Sergeant Hanley and five privates of this battery were killed. However, the Southerners were defeated with a severer loss. In December, 1864, the battery was ordered to Tennessee, and guarded the rear of the Union army when it fell back from Franklin to Nashville. During the three days' battle at the latter place, December 15th and 16th, it was actively engaged during the last two days, during which it fired twenty-two thousand pounds of ammunition, lost five men wounded, ten horses killed, and had every gun struck repeatedly. [372]
It followed the army in pursuit of General Hood as far south as the Tennessee river and for a time was stationed at Eastport. It was stationed at Jacksonville, Tennessee, January 1,1865, where it did garrison duty until latter part of June of that year when it was ordered to St. Louis and mustered out of service, August 23, 1865.
Battery K was organized in Springfield, January 14, 1864, as a company of heavy artillery. On February 3rd of that year it proceeded to New Madrid, Missouri, where it remained until May 7th, when it was sent to Cape Girardeau and from there to St. Louis, May 10th to be equipped as a battery of artillery. It remained in St. Louis until October 11,1864, when it embarked on the steamer Stephen Decatur, and proceeded to Jefferson City, this state, and it left there October 19th over the Pacific railroad to Lamine bridge, where it was stationed until November 15, 1864, when it was ordered to Franklin, Missouri, to go into winter quarters and there it remained until June 11, 1865, when it was mounted and equipped as a cavalry and ordered to join other companies of the regiment at Omaha, Nebraska, where it arrived June 20th. Leaving there July 1st, it served as a portion of the right column, Powder river Indian expedition, and in engagements with the Indians on Powder river on September 1st and 5th, this company lost five men. It was ordered back to St. Louis November 11th and was mustered out of service November 25, 1865.
The organization of the Second Arkansas Cavalry was completed at Springfield, in March, 1864, having been recruited the previous winter and fall at Springfield, Cassville and other points in the southwest. Col. John E. Phelps, a Greene county man, who finally was promoted to a brevet brigadier-general, and who was a son of Hon. John S. Phelps, was commissioner of the regiment on March 18th. Young Phelps had seen almost continuous service from the day of the battle of Wilson's Creek to the day he was assigned to this regiment. Among the other Greene county men in this regiment were Pleasant G. Potter, regimental commissary and the following members of Company A: William D. Moore, second lieutenant; privates, James M. Mills, William McElhaney, John Mills, Anthony Myers and James M. Beall. Company E, privates, Samuel Gwinn and Peyton Gwinn. Company F, private John F. G. Cleburne. Company M, Capt. G. W. Moore. Second Lieut. James P. Phillips, Sergt. George W. Moore, Second Lieut, James P. Phillips, Sergt. George W. Moore, private Rufus Alredge, sutler, J. L. French. The Second Arkansas Regiment was mainly composed of the men of that state who had remained Union in sentiment and had either escaped the Confederate conscription laws or deserted the Confederate army. They lived principally in northwestern Arkansas and were known locally as "Mountain Feds." The regiment was in many minor engagements in Arkansas and all of the important battles of Price's raid and was finally mustered out of service August 20, 1865. [373]
As the Second Arkansas Regiment was preparing to leave Springfield for service at the front, the women of the city presented Col. John E. Phelps with a beautiful sword and at the same time they presented an elegant banner to the regiment. The standard has been very carefully preserved in the capital building at Little Rock for many years.
The Sixth Provisional Regiment of militia was organized in August 1863, by order of the commander-in-chief of the Sixteenth Regiment of Cavalry, Missouri Volunteers. Many of the members of this regiment were Greene county men. Its colonel was John F. McMahan; lieutenant-colonel Roswell K. Hart, and its last three majors were John B. Waddill, John Small and James L. Rush. The regiment was composed of twelve companies, with an aggregate of more than eleven hundred men. It was mustered into the service of the United States in August, 1864, to date back to November 1,1863. Lieut.-Col. John F. McMahan, who was later colonel, commanded the regiment from the first. The various companies were stationed in Greene, Christian, Douglas, Ozark, Webster, Laclede and Texas counties. These companies did much to exterminate bushwhackers and restore quiet in this part of the state. During the latter part of 1864 this regiment composed a part of General Sanborn's command and participated in the pursuit of General Price and bore an honorable part in every engagement from Jefferson City until the Confederates were driven from the state. It was in the advance at the battles of Boonville, on the extreme right of the advance at Independence and also at the battle of the Big Blue, where it made a brilliant saber charge upon an overwhelming number of the enemy, at that time falling back from Westport. After Price left Missouri with his army, the regiment returned to the southwestern part of the state and was judiciously distributed in the counties named above, for the purpose of suppressing lawlessness and preserving order. Company K, in Texas county, was very valuable to that section of the state, operating against the marauders that infested the Rolla district and the line of communication between Rolla and Springfield, killing about fifty of the most desperate outlaws and driving out many more. The entire regiment was mustered out of service July 1, 1865.
The Seventh Provisional Regiment became the Fifteenth Missouri Cavalry. It was commanded by Col. John D. Allen and also performed considerable valuable service. [374]
NUMBER OF LOCAL MEN IN UNIONSERVICE.
It is impossible to give the names of all the soldiers that enlisted for some kind of service during the Civil war from Greene county. Up to January 1, 1864, there had enlisted from the county, in the Missouri volunteer regiments of the Federal army, eight hundred and forty men. In the Missouri State Militia there had enlisted four hundred and six men. In regiments from other states one hundred and forty-one men, making the total number of men from this county, who had joined the regular Federal service up to that date, one thousand, three hundred and eighty-seven men. These soldiers had joined the regiments named below to the number given.
Volunteer regiments—Second Missouri Infantry, four; Fifteenth Missouri Infantry, two; Seventeenth Missouri Infantry, one; Twenty-fourth Missouri Infantry, one hundred and forty-five; Twenty-seventh Missouri Infantry, thirty-six; First Missouri Artillery, three; Second Missouri Artillery, one hundred and ninety-nine; First Missouri Cavalry, fifteen; Second Missouri Cavalry, three; Sixth Missouri Cavalry, sixteen; Eighth Missouri Cavalry, three hundred and six; Eleventh Missouri Cavalry, one hundred and ten; Missouri State Militia—Fourth Cavalry, three; Fourteenth Cavalry, four hundred; Eighth Cavalry, three; Regiments from other states—In Illinois regiments, thirteen; in Kansas regiments, twenty-six; in Iowa regiments, one; in Arkansas regiments, one hundred and one.
THE GUERRILLA RAIDERS.
Roving bands of Confederate guerrillas frequently passed through Greene county during the year 1863, but did no serious damage to life or property, but during the year 1864 grievous mischief was done by them. There were several killings, a number of houses were burned and many pillaged. In June two Federal soldiers, belonging to the infantry, were killed on the "wire road" not far from the Wilson's Creek battle-ground. They were too worn out by travel and illness to keep up with their command and were sauntering along the road alone. They were with a detail that had guarded a wagon train from Cassville to Springfield. They were taken out into the nearby woods and shot. As some of Col. Sid Jackman's men were known to be in the neighborhood at the time they got the blame for killing these two men. [375]
Perhaps the most desperate and worst feared of all the guerrilla chieftains was the notorious Bill Anderson, whose operations were mostly along the Missouri river and the Kansas border. He passed through the northwestern part of Greene county with his band on his way from Texas, where he and his men had spent the previous winter, and they were on their way to the counties along the Missouri river. Although the war produced many, bloody villains on both sides, none surpassed Anderson. He asked no quarter and he gave none. To murder an aged, helpless and inoffensive man gave him great pleasure, and he took special delight in making his intended victim dig his own grave and when he had finished was forced to stand in such a position that he would fall into the grave when Anderson shot him. He was never known to spare but one Federal soldier who was at the time of capture in the service or who had previously been. Withal he was one of the most fearless and desperate fighters that ever lived. It was he who led the raiders in many massacres. While passing through this county, in the spring of 1864, most of Anderson's men were dressed in blue uniforms and easily imposed themselves on various families as Federal soldiers. They stopped at the home of Joseph Cooper, a young man living, three miles from Cave Spring. Cooper was a Union sympathizer but not a soldier; however, he had served a short time in the Enrolled Missouri Militia, but his services were of an unimportant character. Anderson's men secured his services as guide, and took him up a short distance north just across the line into Polk county and killed him. It was nearly a week before the body was found and was recognized only by his clothes. It had been mutilated in a manner that would have done credit to a band of scalping savages.
Other raids were made from time to time by small squads of Jackman's, Freeman's, Carter's and other bands, but the operations, so far as Greene county were concerned, were confined chiefly to stealing horses and robbing citizens indiscriminately, without regard to age, sex or political opinions. These raids were always made at night, the raiders secreting themselves in the woods during the day. But the Confederates did not do all the raiding, by any means. There was much plundering, burning, killing and terrorizing in this county and over southwestern Missouri done by the Unionists. There were numbers of men in the Federal service who were guilty of atrocities shocking to a people supposed to be civilized. Bands of them rode about through the country and, suddenly swooping down upon some Confederate household, plundered it, took what they wanted in the way of provisions and valuables, often shooting the owner without mercy. Very often a hand of these villains would ride up to a man's gate at night, call him out and slay him on his own threshold with his terror-stricken family clinging about him, and all because he had committed no greater crime than to express his sympathies with a certain cause which he honestly believed to be right. [376]
On the night of October, 5, 1864, James M. Thompson, a prominent farmer, stockman and citizen living just south of Springfield, was waylaid near his home, shot from ambush, killed and robbed. He had taken the oath of loyalty to the Union, but was believed to be at heart a Southern sympathizer, but it is not known whether he was killed for his political opinions or for his money. Although Gen. John B. Sanborn, who was at that time in command of the district made every effort, through his subordinates, to run down the assassins and bring them to justice, nothing but circumstantial evidence was ever obtained, and, although this pointed strongly to parties living just south of the James river, no arrests were made. Public sentiment and prejudice ran very high in regard to the matter.
THE UNION LEAGUE.
During the year 1864 a secret political order, known as the Union League, flourished in Greene county. While its avowed objects were the "aiding and abetting by all honorable means of the Federal government in its efforts to put down the rebellion," these purposes were allowed to deteriorate to the worst uses, and the order was frequently used for the gratification of private revenges, the wreaking of personal rnalice, and the perpetration of revolting crimes—all in the name of "loyalty." The basic principles and prime object of the organization were worthy enough, but all this high sentiment seemed to soon vanish and the fair name of the order was disgraced by some of its unscrupulous members. The Union League had a strong lodge in Springfield, whose character became at times lawless, turbulent, fanatical and disgusting. This was an election year and the league, of course, came out for Lincoln, and some of the members went so far as to say that anyone who voted for his opponent, General McClellan, was an enemy to his country, a sympathizer with treason, and it would be only an exercise of great mercy if he were not taken out and shot. Only four years before some of these fanatics wanted to hang any man who voted for Lincoln. At one meeting of the league it was proposed that a number of prominent McClellan men be "removed" for the good of the cause, as they were said to be "obstructionists in the way of putting down the rebellion and punishing traitors," and it was agreed that all such obstacles ought to be displaced, and that the end would justify the means. According to a former member of the league, among those named as proper subjects for "removal" were Hon. John S. Phelps, Col. F. S. Jones and D. C. Dade. But some of the sensible members of the organization took a hand and denounced in scathing terms all such sanguinary and incendiary schemes and schemers, and nothing serious came of them. General Sanborn was often roundly denounced by some of the intensely loyal members for his conservatism and care of the rights of all, secession and Union citizens alike, and that able officer often found it difficult to keep in proper subjection some of the members of this league without resorting to the most violent means. Many citizens regarded the Union League as a menace. [377]
THE ADMINTSTRATION OF GENERAL SANBORN.
During the four years of war between the states there were many Federal commanders at Springfield, but it seems that Gen. John B. Sanborn was the most satisfactory in every respect, one of the ablest and most popular and the older citizens of Greene county yet cherish his memory. His administration of affairs here was at a most critical period, a time when it required a man of courage, good judgment, tact and diplomacy, in 1864-65, when the passions of men were the most liable to be inflamed by the war, and they were the most difficult to control. It required a man who had an iron hand and a kind heart, a cool head and a broad sympathy. The long continued strife had in a measure brutalized many, who became pessimists, who did not care what happened, who did what their passions prompted without first pausing to count the cost. The soldiery had become accustomed to scenes of violence and disorder, and both soldiers and citizens were hard to manage. Some loyalists were fanatical, some secessionists were desperate, and Sanborn was often severely censured for his protection of the persons and property of Southern sympathizers. Again the Confederate partisans would denounce him for his unrelenting pursuit of bushwhackers, who were rendering the lives of the citizens all over this locality unsafe and their property insecure. But the general, while listening to what his assailants had to say and dealing courteously with them, nevertheless continued to pursue a steady course which he mapped out in the beginning, repressing and repelling the violent of both factions, protecting the law-abiding and punishing those who broke the laws, and with a wise conservatism so managed affairs that in the end all fair-minded citizens saw the wisdom of his course and praised him for his true worth.
General Sanborn came here from St. Paul, Minnesota. He was one of the most active generals in driving Price from Missouri when on his last raid. When he was given the reins at Springfield he was about forty years of age, a man of handsome and imposing presence, gallant in manners and pleasant in his intercourse with his fellow-men. He inspired the good will, confidence and admiration of his subordinate officers and the troops in the ranks and the civilians also. He brought order out of chaos in Greene county, and deserved the praise that he eventually received by the people here, of all parties and former shades of opinion and conviction. [378]
Sanborn was in command at Springfield when Price invaded Missouri the latter part of September, 1864, which caused great excitement in Greene county. General Sanborn was at once ordered to the front, and he took with him the Second Arkansas Infantry, the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Missouri Cavalry, and some other troops and set out for Jefferson City, which place he successfully defended from the attacks of General Price, and afterwards, when the Southern army went to the western part of the state, Sanborn followed and was engaged in all of the important battles of this memorable raid which resulted so disastrously for the Confederates. Until Sanborn returned here there was great uneasiness at Springfield, the people fearing that Price would recapture the town, And pickets were kept all over the locality and outposts were stationed on all the roads leading into Springfield until the Confederates were again out of the state.
Greene county was under military occupation by the Federal troops during the entire year of 1864. They were to be found in every section of the county at all times. They passed up and down the "wire road" to and from Rolla and Cassville, from time to time, as they were wanted in northwestern Arkansas or in the Army of the Tennessee. Every few days a military train of some sort passed through the county. Some times a train would consist of artillery and ammunition therefor, from small field pieces to huge thirty-two pound siege guns; sometimes it would contain provisions and forage; sometimes ammunition for the smaller arms; sometimes sick and wounded; sometimes nothing but empty wagons. And troops were constantly arriving Springfield and departing, infantry, cavalry and artillery. The "wire road" was as familiar to the tramp of the soldiery as was the Appian Way at Rome in Caesar's day. There was not a road or sheep path in the county that was not traversed by scouting parties of cavalry that roamed about unheralded to keep the country clear of bushwhackers and marauders, but sometimes themselves turned bushwhackers and marauders. Everybody carried arms. It was war times for a certainty.
In the fall of 1864 the Federal administration decided upon ordering a universal draft. It is worthy of note here that while in many states, supposed to be loyal to the Union, there was a great controversy and ado over the draft, and in many districts, supposed to be very patriotic, there were great deficiencies, and substitutes and exemptions were in most extraordinary demand, Greene county, then a mere frontier locality in the wilds of western civilization in the little known Ozarks, up to December 19, 1864, had furnished to the Union army all the men demanded of her and a surplus of three hundred and ninety-two besides. The fourth Congressional district, comprising twenty-one counties, of Southwestern Missouri, had a surplus of two thousand four hundred and fifty-five men over its quota. And Greene county was also well represented in the Confederate army, and by right its quota was full on that side, notwithstanding the fact that the Confederate authorities had ordered a universal draft through, all the Confederate states, of which, it was claimed, Missouri was one, under the Neosho ordinance of secession. But the state was in reality Union. [379]
MUCH INTEREST IN GENERAL ELECTION.
The general election in the autumn of 1864 created great interest in Greene county, notwithstanding the turmoil of war. The contest for Congress in this district was especially spirited, there being four candidates, namely: Col. S. H. Boyd, the then incumbent; Capt. John R. Kelso, of the Eighth Cavalry Missouri State Militia; Martin J. Hubble, of Greene county, and Dr. P. B. Larimore, of Bolivar, Polk county. But the main fight in the exciting contest for Congressman was between Colonel Boyd and Captain Kelso, both of whom were well known over this part of the state as Federal officers. Kelso was an eccentric and unusual character. He was a Missouri school teacher in pioneer days, having educated himself, and was a scholar of rare attainments. Besides being master of the exact sciences, he spoke five languages with extraordinary fluency. Before the war he lived in Polk county. When the conflict began he at once cast his lot with the Union and in the summer of 1861 helped raise a regiment of Dallas county Home Guards, of which he was made major. Later he was first lieutenant in Richardson's Fourteenth Missouri State Militia, and was transferred eventually to the Eighth Missouri State Militia, in which he became captain of Company M, and, turning his attention exclusively to military affairs, he proved to be a capable officer. He did a great deal of scouting service for the Federal army throughout southern and southwestern Missouri and northern Arkansas, and experienced numerous exciting and perilous adventures. His courage was unquestioned and he was undoubtedly a desperate man, and would have been a fit companion for Bill Anderson, the notorious Confederate chieftain. It is said of him that he killed many a man without cause. He would have been classed with the "bad men" of the Alkali Iike and Wild Bill type in any western mining camp in the early days when each man was a law unto himself and the six-shooter was the arbiter of all disputes, in the days of the "survival of the fittest." Kelso held human life in very cheap estimation, and many denominated him as a human monster. He was fanatical in his loyalty to the Union, and believed all Confederates to be traitors, guilty of treason and deserving of death. It may be said of him, in the language of Shakespeare, that much learning had made him mad. He was a transcendentalist and was well versed in all the dogmas of the school of modern thought. He always carried some kind of a book with him in his saddle pockets, and frequently engaged in the study of mental philosophy and the subtilities of metaphysics while lying in ambush, patiently awaiting his opportunity to assassinate an enemy, which was any man who called himself a Confederate. But he was a man of force and tact and had many loyal followers and close friends, especially among the soldiers, and in the election in November, 1864, was sent to Congress from this district by a large majority. He found time to make a short canvass of the districts, and although it was freely charged that questionable means were used to elect him, and although Colonel Boyd contested his seat, he served out his term in Congress to the satisfaction of many of his constituents. The results of the election indicated that a great change had come over the political complexion of Greene county during the four years of war, during which it was transformed, from a pronounced Democratic stronghold to a strong Republican locality. It is believed that the Gamble oath had a great deal to do in bringing about the change.
So far, as Greene county was concerned the Civil war was practically over before the dawn of the year 1865, although it was several months before the soldiers she had sent out returned to the plow and the army of occupation mached away.
Thomas C. Fletcher was now governor of Missouri, and on January 14th of that year, he appointed Hosea G. Mullings brigdier-general of militia to succeed General Holland, whose commission was revoked two days previously. On January 20th Capt. J. T. Hubbard was appointed provost marshal of Springfield, succeeding Col. J. M. Richardson, resigned. There was a force of Federal troops in and about the town, and a strong provost guard was necessary for the preservation of good order. January 21st a meeting was held in Springfield by a certain political element, the Radicals, to celebrate the passing of the emancipation ordinance by the state convention. At the beginning of the war there were one thousand six hundred and seventy-seven slaves in Greene county. During the war the negroes went away with the armies and in other ways until there was left remaining at the time of the celebration only about five hundred.
The troops at Springfield made numerous scouting expeditions throughout this section of the state during the winter of 1864-5, but with no important results; however, they routed a number of bushwhackers, killing several, but only two were killed in Greene county. During these raids no quarter was shown on either side. Sometimes the scouts went as far north as Marion and Boone counties, Arkansas.
During the spring of 1865 the few farmers left in the county were slow about beginning their planting, partly because they did not know but that their crops would be appropriated by other hands than theirs, as had happened during the past four years, and partly because it was a backward spring. But indications were that the war would soon be over, but the farmers argued that such indications had appeared before only to vanish and leave the stern realities of horrid war. [381]
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