undisturbed possession, awaiting the future movements of the commander
of the expedition.
ENGAGEMENT AT MOUNT ZION.
DECEMBER 28, 1861.
On the 23d of December, General Prentiss, commanding the army of
Northern Missouri, having his headquarters at Palmyra, received orders
to disperse a body of the enemy’s forces that had concentrated in Boone
County. In pursuance of his instructions he started on the following
morning with two hundred of the Third Missouri Cavalry, Colonel John
Glover, and five companies of Sharpshooters, under Colonel Birge, and
arrived at Sturgeon on the evening of the 26th.
During the following day, having learned that there was a concentration
of rebels near the village of Hallsville, in Boone County, General
Prentiss sent forward one company of cavalry, commanded by Captain
Howland, to reconnoitre in that vicinity. Captain Howland proceeded to
Hallsville, but found no rebels. After proceeding about two miles
beyond, his advance guard encountered the rebels in force, commanded by
Colonel Dorsey. Captain Howland endeavored to draw off his company,
having taken nine prisoners, but was overpowered. Being wounded, and
having lost his horse, he was taken prisoner, with one private of his
company. The remainder of his men made good their retreat, arriving at
Sturgeon at nine o’clock, P. M.
Having learned the position of the enemy, General Prentiss ordered his
command, numbering in all four hundred and seventy, to march at two
o’clock, A. M., at which hour he started, and after marching a distance
of sixteen miles, at eight o’clock A. M. of the 28th inst. found one
company of rebels, commanded by Captain Johnson, in position to the left
of the road leading from Hallsville to Mount Zion. General Prentiss
ordered two companies of sharpshooters to pass to the rear of the enemy,
and one of cavalry to dismount and engage them in the front.
Colonel Glover opened fire, and succeeded in killing five and capturing
seven prisoners, from whom was ascertained the number and position of
the main force—the enemy being posted at a church, known as Mount Zion,
in Boone County, one mile and a half in advance, numbering near nine
hundred men. General Prentiss ordered the cavalry under Colonel Glover
forward, accompanied by two companies of Birge’s sharpshooters. Colonel
Birge, arriving near the encampment, ordered one troop of cavalry to
dismount and engage the enemy. The sharpshooters were afterward ordered
through a field on the right to skirmish with the enemy’s left, and if
possible drive them from the woods.
The firing being heavy, and these three companies proving unable to
drive the enemy from his cover, Colonel Glover, with his available
force, moved in double-quick to their aid, and for half an hour longer
the battle raged and became a hand-to-hand fight. Captain Boyd’s company
of sharpshooters were in the midst of the rebel camp. Also, Major
Carrick, with Company C of the Cavalry. When Colonel Glover arrived, the
enemy retreated, leaving in the Federal hands 90 horses and 105 stand of
arms. The battle was brought to a close about 11 A. M.
The reserve of two companies coming into action at the moment the enemy
gave way, the victory was complete. After collecting the wounded, the
Federals proceeded to care for those of the enemy, placing them in the
church, and sent for farmers and friends in the vicinity to render
assistance, when they returned to Sturgeon, where they arrived at 9, P.
M. The loss in the battle of Mount Zion, and in the engagement of the
evening previous, was: Killed, 3; slightly wounded, 46; severely
wounded, 17. Rebel loss: Killed, 25; wounded, 150.
ARKANSAS, AND THE INDIANS.
The prominent and active men in the State of Arkansas, and particularly
all who held official positions, were allied politically with the South
Carolina conspirators, while the majority of the people, in the early
stages of the insurrection, were loyal. Hence, the leaders were slow in
their movements to carry the State out of the Union; but when the
Confederate government had become organized, and transferred to
Richmond, and the rebellion had been fully inaugurated by the attack on
Fort Sumter, followed by the proclamation of President Lincoln, they
deemed that the time had come for the development of their plans. The
Governor of the State, Henry M. Rector, on the 22d of April, 1861,
directed the seizure by State troops of the United States stores at
Napoleon; followed on the 24th by the capture of Fort Smith by the
forces under Colonel Borland.
The Legislature being convened at Little Rock, an unconditional
ordinance of Secession was passed on the 6th of May, and on the 18th the
Confederate Congress at Richmond declared the admission of Arkansas to
the Southern Confederacy.
It was the misfortune of the loyal men of the State that they did not
number in their ranks any citizens of power and influence, who had
energy sufficient to organize the Unionists, and oppose a barrier to the
acts of the enemies of the Federal Government. Unarmed and unorganized,
while the conspirators were in a state of preparation for any resistance
that might be made, protest and opposition were of no avail, and the
loyal men of the State were compelled to submit, and endure the
persecutions and depredations of the more numerous secessionists.
A great deal of excitement was occasioned during the month of November
by the discovery that the Union men of Izard, Fulton, Independent and
Searcey counties had secret organizations and societies for mutual
protection and co-operation. This accidental disclosure exasperated the
conspirators, who adopted the most violent measures to disperse the
Unionists, and break up their associations. Many were taken to Little
Rock and hanged, while others were arrested in the woods, attempting to
escape beyond the State, and shared the same fate. Large numbers of
refugees, however, succeeded in reaching Missouri, where they remained,
and subsequently, under Captain Ware, a member of the Arkansas
Legislature, organized as a military body at Rolla, Missouri, and
entered the service under General Curtis, receiving large accessions on
the marching of Curtis’ expedition into the State.
Impressed with the importance of securing the services of the Indian
tribes within the limits of Arkansas, as well as the adjoining
territory, the agents of the Richmond government were instructed to
negotiate with the Cherokees and Creeks on the borders of Arkansas,
promising the payment of the United States annuities by the Confederacy
in case of their allegiance. On the 24th of August an agreement was
entered into by some of the Cherokee chiefs, and the two tribes raised
2,000 men for the war. The nations were divided on the question, the
most intelligent being convinced that loyalty to the Federal Government
was their true policy not less than their duty. The Choctaws,
Chickasaws, and other tribes were treated in a similar manner, and with
the same results—secession having the effect of dividing the Red Men of
the forest as it had divided the pale faces of the east.
From authentic sources it was learned from the Seminole agency that
Opothleyoholo, a loyal chief, had collected together four or five
thousand Indians, and about thirteen hundred negroes, who had gone to
him with the hope of being rendered free. When General Cooper (rebel,)
at the head of the Creek, Choctaw and Chickasaw regiments, with other
Indians, amounting to near five thousand, advanced upon Opothleyoholo’s
camp, his followers fled, leaving all behind. Opothleyoholo left with a
few adherents for the south-west. Most of his followers were reported to
be with Colonel Cooper, who was said to have a very large Indian force
with him.
BOMBARDMENT AT FORT PICKENS.
On the 1st of January, 1862, Fort Pickens with the rebel forts and
batteries on the Bay of Pensacola again awoke the thunders of their
heavy artillery, whose tremendous explosions reverberated for thirty
miles along the Florida coast.
The loyal garrison at the fort had been long chafing under the
restraints of continued inaction. The commander, Colonel Harvey Brown,
Fifth United States Artillery, had been anxiously awaiting the time when
a sufficient force would be at his command to drive the unwelcome foe
from his position near the fort.
Lieutenant Adam J. Slemmer, of Pennsylvania, of the First United States
Artillery, the former brave commander, who saved the fort by his courage
and loyalty, on the 12th of January, 1861, had been relieved, on account
of ill-health. He received a Major’s commission in the Sixteenth United
States Infantry, May 14th, 1861.
On the first day of the year a small steamer was seen from Fort Pickens
making her way toward the Navy Yard. She was a saucy, defiant looking
craft, and some one on board waved a secession flag ostentatiously in
sight, as if challenging a fire. This was an exasperating insult to the
restive men shut up in the fort. Colonel Brown had frequently warned
General Bragg against forcing the presence of these insolent steamers
upon him, and when this presumptuous little craft approached Fort
Pickens, with its flag in commotion, he opened fire upon her. She drew
in her flag and retreated instantly with a crestfallen, retrograde
movement, in amusing contrast with her first approach.
The fire from Fort Pickens was directly answered by all the rebel
batteries, and in a brief time the engagement became general. The firing
on both sides was kept up through the entire day, and at night Pickens
maintained a slow fire from her thirteen-inch mortars, which was
promptly returned by the rebels.
About midnight a conflagration broke out in the Navy Yard. It flamed up
furiously, consuming the buildings of the Yard, and spreading to the
town of Woolsey, adjoining the Navy Yard on the north, where it raged
all night.
The scene during the night was wonderfully magnificent. Every shell
could be tracked in its course through the air from the moment it left
the gun until it exploded, scattering destruction all around. These
shells, rising up against a cloud of surging flame, which sent its red
light in a continued glare landward and seaward, formed an appalling
spectacle. The minutest outline of the grim fort seemed sketched on a
back-ground of fire, rendering the light which Colonel Brown hung out
from its walls, in scornful bravado, offering a sure mark to the enemy,
scarcely more than one of the ten thousand sparks that filled the
atmosphere with gleams of gold. Far off over the beautiful land the
light of that conflagration spread, filling the inhabitants with alarm;
and so brightly did it flame over the ocean, that the United States
steamer Mercedita floated in the glow of its ruddy light when over
twenty miles at sea.
Through the heat of this conflagration the guns kept up their slow
booming thunder, adding to the sublime interest of the scene. The firing
on both sides was remarkable for its extreme accuracy. Shells in
countless numbers fell inside of Fort Pickens, and were returned with
double vigor by its guns.
All the batteries were engaged, and did their work admirably. Fort
McRae, which had been so roughly handled by the Federal squadron at the
last engagement, resumed its accustomed vigor, and Battery Scott kept up
a constant fire throughout the engagement.
Several ships of the squadron were present, but took no part in the
fight. It was well they did not, for nothing could have been gained, and
probably much would have been lost had they attempted to oppose their
wooden sides to stone walls and earthworks.
The bombardment was the old story of fort against fort, at a distance
too great for any decisive result. The Unionists gained nothing, yet
expended a large amount of powder, shot and shell, and the enemy had no
greater advantage. Apart from the burning of Warrington, the Navy Yard
and Woolsey, no injury worth speaking of was sustained. The next day
Fort Pickens stood out against the sky grim and strong as it was before
the bombardment. There were but few if any casualties worth recording
during this affair. Even Colonel Brown’s lantern, hung out to guide the
rebel shot, failed to invite any real injury; and except that it left a
wide field of devastation behind, the bombardment of Fort Pickens had
few important results.
ROUT OF GENERAL MARSHALL AT PAINTSVILLE, KY.
JANUARY 7, 1862.
On the 7th of January, Colonel Garfield, who had his encampment on Muddy
Creek, in Eastern Kentucky, marched to attack the rebel General
Marshall, who with a large force of men and a battery of four pieces,
was known to have an entrenched camp at Paintsville, the capital of
Johnson county. Colonel Garfield’s command, composed of the Forty-second
Ohio, the Fourteenth Kentucky, and Major McLaughlin’s squadron of Ohio
cavalry, making an effective force of about fifteen hundred men, broke
up their camp on Muddy Creek, and moved toward Paintsville. While on the
march they were reinforced by a battalion of the First Virginia cavalry,
under Colonel Bolles, and by three hundred of the Twenty-second
Kentucky, raising the force to about twenty-two hundred men. The enemy,
under Humphrey Marshall, numbering three thousand five hundred men, and
having a battery of four pieces, learned of the approach, and also that
of the Fortieth Ohio and of four hundred of Colonel Wolford’s cavalry by
the way of Mount Sterling and the valley of the Paint Creek. They had,
two days previously, after burning large quantities of grain, broken up
their intrenched camp, and effected a retreat to the heights on Middle
Creek, two miles distant from Prestonburg. They had left a corps of
observation at the mouth of Jennie Creek, three miles west from
Paintsville, of three hundred cavalry, and a large force of infantry
about seven miles up Jennie Creek, to protect and facilitate the passage
of their trains.
Immediately on arriving Colonel Garfield, learning the position of this
cavalry, but unaware of the whereabouts of the other divisions of the
rebel force, immediately commenced the erection of a pontoon or floating
bridge across the Paint Lick Creek, at Paintsville. At four P. M. he
crossed with eight companies of the Forty-second Ohio, and two companies
of the Fourteenth Kentucky, with a view of making an armed
reconnoissance, and if possible of cutting off and capturing the
cavalry. At two P. M. he had dispatched Colonel Bolles’ cavalry and one
company of the Forty-second, under the command of Captain S. M. Barber,
with orders to give a good account of the cavalry. But later in the day,
on learning the possibility of cutting them off, he had sent orders to
Colonel Bolles not to attack them until he had obtained time to get in
their rear. Not receiving the last orders, and indeed before they were
issued, Colonel Bolles, in obedience to his first directions, crossed
the Paint by fording, and vigorously assaulting the enemy, soon put them
to flight up the valley of Jennie. In their haste, followed as they were
by the cavalry, they strewed the road with their equipments, while here
and there a dead or wounded soldier gave proof that they were losing men
also. The pursuit was kept up for seven miles, right into the infantry
division which was guarding the train. Stationed on either side of the
road, that did not permit more than two to ride abreast, it opened a
heavy cross-fire on the Union cavalry, compelling them to fall back, and
finally to retreat, which they did in good order, having inflicted a
loss of twenty-five in killed and wounded, according to rebel account,
and losing but two killed and one wounded. Fifteen rebels were taken
prisoners. Meanwhile Colonel Garfield, with his command, having remained
a short time to fully explore the enemy’s deserted fortifications,
(consisting of lunettes, breastworks, rifle-pits and a fort situated on
the top of a conical hill,) and wholly unaware of what had taken place,
pressed forward to the hoped for consummation of the march. But few
miles had been traversed, however, when the evidences of a hasty retreat
became so apparent that all were convinced that the enemy had flown. The
object of the march having been thus thwarted, an early return to
Paintsville became desirable, and it was accomplished at the dawn.
BATTLE OF MIDDLE CREEK, KY.
JANUARY 10, 1862.
Having recruited his men by a night’s rest at Paintsville, Colonel
Garfield was preparing to start in immediate pursuit on the morning of
the 8th, but receiving information of the superior force of the enemy,
he awaited the arrival of the Fortieth Ohio regiment, and Wolford’s
Kentucky cavalry, by way of Mount Sterling. These troops joined him on
that day, raising his effective force to about two thousand four hundred
men, after deducting Colonel Bolle’s Virginia cavalry, which, in
obedience to orders, had returned to Guyandotte in that State. On the
9th, Colonel Garfield detailed from the Forty-second and Fortieth Ohio,
and Fourteenth Kentucky each three hundred men, and from the
Twenty-second Kentucky two hundred men, and taking the immediate
command, supported, however, by Colonel Craner of the Fortieth, and
Major Burke of the Fourteenth. After detaching Colonel Wolford’s and
Major McLaughlin’s cavalry up Jennie’s Creek, he marched up the river
road leading to Prestonburg. Early on the morning of the 10th, Colonel
Sheldon of the Forty-second Ohio, in command at the camp, received a
dispatch from Colonel Garfield, stating that he had found the enemy, and
asking reinforcements. In compliance with the order, at six A. M. on the
tenth, Colonel Sheldon marched with eight hundred men, who eagerly
pressed forward on their way to the scene of action. As Colonel Garfield
had stated, he had found the enemy two miles from Prestonburg, on Middle
Creek, in a chosen position among the hills, with between four and five
thousand men and four pieces of artillery. The Fifth Virginia regiment,
Colonel Trigg, Colonel John S. Williams’ Kentucky regiment, Colonel
Moore’s Kentucky regiment, Markham and Wicher’s cavalry, and the Fourth
Virginia infantry, lay in full strength on the hills at the forks of the
creek, while their battery seemed to forbid all approach. Nothing
deterred by the formidable position and number of the enemy, Colonel
Garfield, not fully aware of their exact locality, sent skirmishers
forward with a view of drawing the enemy’s fire, and thus ascertaining
his whereabouts. Not succeeding in this, about noon he sent forward his
escort of cavalry, some twenty strong, in a headlong charge. This
accomplished the object, for the enemy, thinking the whole Union force
upon them, opened with musketry, shot and shell upon the cavalry, and a
small party of the skirmishers under Adjutant Olds of the Forty-second,
then in a cornfield immediately in front of the position of Colonel
Williams’ Kentucky regiment, and flanked on the left by the artillery
and Trigg’s Virginia regiment. The cavalry made a hasty retreat, and the
enemy concentrated their whole fire on Adjutant Olds and his party, but
without effect. After replying with some fifteen rounds of musketry, and
observing a large force thrown out on his right, with intent to cut him
off, he fell back upon the main body. The position of the enemy thus
disclosed was as follows: Colonel Williams’ regiment was behind a ridge
at the head of the gorge, and on the right of the road, so that his fire
commanded the gorge and road for a half-mile. Colonel Trigg’s regiment,
the Fourth Virginia, was on the crest of the crescent-shaped hill on the
left of the road, commanding it by their flanking fire. The artillery
was between the two at the forks of the creek and the turn in the road
and gorge. The evident design of the enemy was to draw the Unionists up
the road in front of their cannon and between the cross-fire of the
three regiments, but this well-formed plan failed in its execution, as
in their impotence or nervousness they neglected to reserve their fire
for the approach of the main body. The remainder of their force were in
the rear of their cannon, in a strong supporting position. Occupying
Graveyard Point, the end of a high ridge on the right of the creek north
of his main body, Colonel Garfield dispatched a hundred men across the
creek to ascend the horn of the crescent farthest up the gorge. The
ascent was most difficult, the men being compelled to creep on their
hands and knees most of the way. On attaining the summit, they were
greeted with the whole fire of Trigg’s regiment, stationed at the base,
and deployed along the other horn; also by a fire from the artillery and
the reserve in the rear. On the top of the ridge, and at points nearly
equi-distant from each other, were three piles of stone, the possession
of which was eagerly sought for by the contending parties.
The small band on the summit of the ridge were now reinforced by two
hundred men, and assisted by the reserve at Graveyard Point, who poured
a galling fire on the deployed right flank of the enemy, they soon drove
him from the first stone pile, and took possession of it.
A force of two hundred men was then thrown out by Colonel Garfield for
the ascent of the lower horn of the crescent. These soon reached the
summit, where being reinforced by Colonel Craner of the Fortieth with
three hundred men, they captured the third stone pile, while the rebels
were thus confined to the second or central one. The fire was now
exceedingly heavy. Both parties betook themselves to the shelter of the
rocks and trees, and the battle raged furiously, the shots tearing
through the branches and surging up the defiles of the mountains in a
wild tumult of sounds.
About half-past four a burst of loud cheering heralded in reinforcements
for the Union troops. A detachment of brave soldiers came in
simultaneously with the shouts that welcomed them, panting, and almost
breathless from the fatigue of a long march; for fifteen miles they had
struggled through the mud of a broken road without breakfast, and at a
tiresome pace. Excited by the sound of the conflict, they had marched
the last two miles on the double-quick, and came in bathed with
perspiration, bespattered with mud, and half the men carrying their
coats on their arms.
Though fatigued with the forced march, and faint with hunger, these
noble fellows demanded only to be led at once into battle. After a short
rest, they were thrown across the creek to ascend the right horn of the
crescent, but were finally ordered back, as it had now become too dark
to advance with safety, and the storm of battle, by mutual consent,
ceased. Resting upon their arms, determined to renew the battle in the
morning, the Union troops spent the night; but when morning dawned, the
enemy, it was found, had vanished. Under cover of the darkness he had
burned his heavy baggage and retreated. He left twenty-seven dead on the
field, and it is definitely ascertained had some one hundred and
twenty-five wounded, of whom forty-two subsequently died. The Federals
lost two killed and twenty-five wounded.
The Richmond papers claimed a brilliant Confederate victory on this
occasion, estimating the Federal forces at 8,000 men, and their loss at
400 killed and wounded.
BATTLE OF SILVER CREEK, MO.
JANUARY 8, 1862.
It was the misfortune of Missouri, more than any other State, to be a
battle-ground for the guerrilla forces of the rebels, and for the
skirmishing engagements of the war. These minor battles, while they had
but little effect on the great result, inflicted untold horrors on the
people dwelling there.
At the opening of the year 1862, General Pope had command of the
North-western District of the State, with his headquarters at
Otterville, Cooper county.
Having heard that the enemy was busily engaged in recruiting men in
Roanoke and adjoining counties, Major W. M. G. Torrence of the First
Iowa Cavalry was ordered to concentrate and take command of several
small bodies of Federal troops, then guarding important points in the
district, and to break up the rebel encampments.