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FROM
FORT HENRY TO CORINTH
CAMPAIGNS OF THE CIVIL WAR.--II.
FROM
FORT HENRY TO CORINTH
BY
M.F. FORCE
LATE BRIGADIER-GENERAL AND BREVET MAJOR-GENERAL, U.S.V., COMMANDING
FIRST DIVISION, SEVENTEENTH CORPS.
NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
Facsimile Reprint Edition from the original edition of 1881-1883 by The
Archive Society, 1992. Address all inquiries to:
_The Archive Society_ _130 Locust Street_ _Harrisburg, PA 17101_
PREFACE.
I have endeavored to prepare the following narrative from authentic
material, contemporaneous, or nearly contemporaneous, with the events
described.
The main source of information is the official reports of battles and
operations. These reports, both National and Confederate, will appear in
the series of volumes of Military Reports now in preparation under the
supervision of Colonel Scott, Chief of the War Records Office in the War
Department. Executive Document No. 66, printed by resolution of the
Senate at the Second Session of the Thirty-seventh Congress, contains a
number of separate reports of casualties, lists of killed, wounded, and
missing, which do not appear in the volumes of Military Reports as now
printed. Several battle reports are printed in volume IV., and in the
"Companion," or Appendix volume of Moore's Rebellion Record, which are
not contained in the volumes of Military Reports as now printed. The
reports of the Twentieth Ohio and the Fifty-third Ohio, of the battle of
Shiloh, have never been printed. Colonel Trabue's report of his brigade
in the battle of Shiloh has never been officially printed; but it is
given in the history of the Kentucky Brigade from Colonel Trabue's
retained copy, found by his widow among his papers.
The Reports of the Committee on the Conduct of the War contain original
matter in addition to what appears in reports of battles and operations.
The reports of the Adjutant-Generals of the different States, printed
during the war, often supplement the official reports on file in
Washington.
Some regimental histories, printed soon after the close of the war,
contain diaries and letters and narrate incidents which enable us in
some cases to fix dates, the place of camps, and positions in battle,
which could hardly otherwise be determined with precision. Newspaper
correspondents, while narrating what they personally saw, give
descriptions which impart animation to the sedate statements of official
reports.
Colonel William Preston Johnston's life of his father, General A.S.
Johnston, can be used in some respects as authority. He served first in
the Army of Northern Virginia, and was, most of the war, on the staff of
Jefferson Davis. He thus, after his father's death, became possessed of
a valuable collection of authentic official papers. When he was
preparing the biography, all papers of value in private hands in the
South were open to his use.
Letters and memoranda preserved by Colonel Charles Whittlesey, and some
of my own, have been of service.
I am under obligation to Colonel Scott for permission to freely read and
copy, in his office, the reports compiled under his direction. To
Ex-President Hayes for the loan of a set of the series of Military
Reports, both National and Confederate, so far as printed, though not
yet issued. To the Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio for the
unrestricted use of its library. To Colonel Charles Whittlesey of
Cleveland, and Major E.C. Dawes, of Cincinnati, for the use of original
manuscripts as well as printed reports.
M.F. FORCE.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I. PAGE
PRELIMINARY, 1
CHAPTER II.
FORT HENRY, 24
CHAPTER III.
FORT DONELSON, 33
CHAPTER IV.
NEW MADRID AND ISLAND NUMBER TEN, 66
CHAPTER V.
THE GATHERING OF THE FORCES, 91
CHAPTER VI.
SHILOH--SUNDAY, 122
CHAPTER VII.
SHILOH--NIGHT, AND MONDAY, 160
CHAPTER VIII.
CORINTH, 183
LIST OF MAPS.
PAGE
WESTERN TENNESSEE, facing 1
FIELD OF OPERATIONS IN MISSOURI AND NORTHERN ARKANSAS, 3
THE LINE FROM COLUMBUS TO BOWLING GREEN, 25
FORT HENRY, 29
FORT DONELSON, 35
NEW MADRID AND ISLAND NUMBER TEN, 73
THE FIELD OF SHILOH, 125
THE APPROACH TO CORINTH, 185
[Illustration: Western Tennessee.]
FROM FORT HENRY TO CORINTH.
CHAPTER I.
PRELIMINARY.
Missouri did not join the Southern States in their secession from the
Union. A convention called to consider the question passed resolutions
opposed to the movement. But the legislature convened by Governor
Jackson gave him dictatorial power, authorized him especially to
organize the military power of the State, and put into his hands three
millions of dollars, diverted from the funds to which they had been
appropriated, to complete the armament. The governor divided the State
into nine military districts, appointed a brigadier-general to each, and
appointed Sterling Price major-general.
The convention reassembled in July, 1861, and, by action subject to
disapproval or affirmance of the popular vote, deposed the governor,
lieutenant-governor, secretary of state, and legislature, and appointed
a new executive. This action was approved by a vote of the people.
Jackson, assuming to be an ambulatory government as he chased about with
forces alternately advancing and fleeing, undertook, by his separate
act, to detach Missouri from the Union and annex it to the Confederacy.
This clash of action stimulated and intensified a real division of
feeling, which existed in every county. A sputtering warfare broke out
all over the State. Armed predatory parties, rebel and national, calling
themselves squadrons, battalions, regiments, springing up as if from the
ground, whirled into conflict and vanished. When a band of men without
uniform, wearing their ordinary dress and carrying their own arms,
dispersed over the country, the separate members could not be
distinguished from other farmers or villagers; and a train, being merely
a collection of country wagons, if scattered among the stables and
barn-yards of the adjoining territory, wholly disappeared. But all
through this eruptive discord flowed a continuous stream of more regular
contests, which constitute the connected beginning of the military
operations of the Mississippi Valley.
Under countenance of Governor Jackson's proclamation, General D.M. Frost
organized a force and established Camp Jackson, near St. Louis, the site
being now covered by a well-built portion of the city. Jackson had
refused to call out troops in response to President Lincoln's
requisition, but Frank P. Blair had promptly raised one regiment and
stimulated the formation of four others in St. Louis. On May 10, 1861,
Captain Nathaniel Lyon, of the regular army, who commanded at the
arsenal at St. Louis, and had there a garrison of several hundred
regulars, marched with Colonel Blair and the volunteers and a battery to
Camp Jackson, surrounded it, and demanded a surrender. Resistance was
useless. General Frost surrendered his men and stores, including twenty
cannon. St. Louis, and with it Missouri, was thus preserved. Lyon was
made brigadier-general of volunteers.
Jackson and Price left Jefferson City--Jackson stopping, on June 18th,
at Booneville, one rendezvous for his forces, while Price continued up
the river to Lexington, another rendezvous. General Lyon, leaving St.
Louis on June 13th with an expeditionary force on boats, reached
Booneville almost as soon as Jackson. The unorganized and partially
armed gathering of several thousand men made an impotent attempt at
resistance when Lyon landed, but was quickly routed. Jackson fled, with
his mounted men and such of the infantry as he could hold together, to
the southwest part of the State, gathering accretions of men as he
marched. Lyon set out in pursuit, and Price, abandoning Lexington,
hastened with the force assembled there to join Jackson. Colonel Franz
Sigel had proceeded from St. Louis to Rolla by rail, and marched thence
in pursuit of Jackson to strike him before he could be reinforced.
Sigel, with 1,500 men, encountered Jackson with more than double that
number, on July 5th, near Carthage, in Jasper County. Sigel's
superiority in artillery gave him an advantage in a desultory combat of
some hours. Jackson, greatly outnumbering him in cavalry, proceeded to
envelop his rear, and Sigel was forced to withdraw. Sigel retreated in
perfect order, and managed his artillery so well that the pursuing
cavalry were kept at a distance, while he marched with his train through
Carthage, and fifteen miles beyond, before halting. That night and next
morning Jackson was heavily reinforced by Price, who brought from the
south several thousand Arkansas and Texas troops, under General Ben.
McCulloch and General Pearce. Sigel continued his retreat to
Springfield, where he was joined by General Lyon on July 10th.
[Illustration: The Field of Operations in Missouri and Northern
Arkansas.]
Price and McCulloch being continually reinforced, largely with cavalry,
overran Southwestern Missouri. Lyon waited in vain for reinforcements,
and, having but little cavalry, kept closely to the vicinity of
Springfield. Learning that the enemy were marching upon him in two
strong columns, one from the south and one from the west, he moved out
from Springfield with all his force on August 1st, and early next
morning encountered at Dug Springs a portion of the column advancing
from the south under McCulloch. This detachment was shattered and
dispersed, and McCulloch recoiled and moved to the west, to join Price
commanding the other column. Price advanced slowly with the combined
force and went into camp on Wilson Creek, ten miles south of
Springfield, on August 7th.
Lyon's entire force was, upon the rolls, 5,868. This number included
sick, wounded, and detached on special duty. General Price turned over
his Missouri troops and relinquished command to McCulloch. According to
Price's official report, his Missourians engaged in the battle of the
10th were 5,221. According to the official report of McCulloch, his
entire effective force was 5,300 infantry, 15 pieces of artillery, 6,000
horsemen armed with flintlock muskets, rifles, and shotguns, and a
number of unarmed horsemen.
General Lyon, not having sufficient force to retreat across the open
country to supports, resolved to strike a sharp blow that would cripple
his opponent, and thus secure an unmolested retreat. He marched out from
Springfield at five o'clock P.M., on August 9th, leaving 250 men and one
gun as a guard. Colonel Sigel, with 1,200 men and a battery of six
pieces, moved to the left, to get into the rear of McCulloch's right
flank; Lyon, with 3,700 men, including two batteries, Totten's with six
guns, and Dubois with four, and also including two battalions of regular
infantry, inclined to the right so as to come upon the centre of the
enemy's front. The columns came in sight of McCulloch's camp-fires after
midnight, and rested in place till day. At six o'clock on the morning of
the 10th, attack was made almost simultaneously by the two columns at
the points designated. Sigel advanced to the attack with great
gallantry, but soon suffered a disastrous repulse; five of his six guns
were taken and his command scattered.
McCulloch's entire force, with artillery increased by the five pieces
taken from Sigel, turned upon Lyon's little command. Lyon's men were
well posted and fought with extraordinary steadiness. Infantry and
artillery face to face fired at each other, with occasional
intermissions, nearly six hours. General Lyon, after being twice
wounded, was killed. The opposing lines at times came almost in contact.
Each side at times recoiled. When the conflict reached the hottest, and
McCulloch pushed his men, about eleven o'clock, up almost to the muzzles
of the national line, Captain Granger rushed to the rear, brought up the
supports of Dubois' battery, eight companies in all, being portions of
the First Kansas, First Missouri, and the First Iowa, fell suddenly upon
McCulloch's right flank, and opened a fire that shot away a portion of
McCulloch's line. This cross-fire cleared that portion of the field;
McCulloch's whole line gave way and retired out of view. It was now for
the first time safe for Major Sturgis, who had assumed command on the
death of Lyon, to retreat. Sturgis withdrew in order and fell back to
Springfield unmolested. The entire national loss, according to the
official report, was 223 killed, 721 wounded, and 292 missing. The
missing were nearly all from Sigel's column. Two regiments in General
Lyon's column, the First Missouri and the First Kansas, lost together
153 killed and 395 wounded. General Price reported the loss of his
Missouri troops, 156 killed, 517 wounded, and 30 missing. General
McCulloch reported his entire loss as 265 killed, 800 wounded, and 30
missing. The death of General Lyon was a severe loss. He was zealous in
the national cause and enterprising in maintaining it; he was ready to
assume responsibility, and prompt in taking initiative; sagacious in
comprehending his antagonist, quick in decision, fertile in resource,
and was as cool as he was bold. On the night of the 10th, the army
stores in Springfield were put into the wagons, and next morning the
national force set out for Rolla, the end of the railroad, where it
arrived in good order on the 15th. Meanwhile, Price and McCulloch,
having some disagreement, withdrew to the Arkansas border.
General John C. Fremont was, July 9, 1861, assigned to the command of
the Western District, comprising the States of Illinois, Kentucky,
Missouri, and Kansas, and territories west, and arrived in St. Louis
from the East on July 25th. Before arriving he appointed
Brigadier-General John Pope to command the district of Northern
Missouri, being that part of Missouri north of the Missouri River. Pope
arrived at St. Charles, Mo., with three infantry regiments and part of
one cavalry regiment of Illinois volunteers, on July 17th, and assumed
command. On July 21st, General Pope published an order making all
property within five miles of a railway responsible for malicious injury
done to such railway. On July 31st he published another order, making
the property of each county responsible for damage done by, and the cost
of suppressing, predatory outbreaks in such county. For a month the
effect of these orders was to allay disturbance in the district, and
secure the administration of affairs by the ordinary machinery of civil
government; but in about a month the orders were set aside, and in their
place martial law was declared throughout the State.
General Fremont learned of the battle of Wilson Creek on August 13th,
and resolved at once to fortify St. Louis as his permanent base, and
also fortify and garrison Jefferson City, Rolla, Cape Girardeau, and
Ironton. Price marched leisurely up through the western border of the
State. Unorganized bands springing up in the country attacked
Booneville and Lexington, but were easily repulsed by the little
detachments guarding those places. Colonel Mulligan was sent to
Lexington with additional troops, making the entire force there 2,800
men and eight field-pieces, and with orders to remain until relieved or
reinforced.
On September 11th, Price arrived before Lexington. There is no authentic
report of his strength; indeed, a large part of his following was an
unorganized assemblage. He must have numbered 14,000 men at the
beginning of the siege; and reinforcements daily arriving swelled the
number to, at all events, more than 20,000. Colonel Mulligan took
position on a rising ground close to the river, east of the city,
forming a plateau with a surface of about fifteen acres, and fortified.
Judging by the despatches of General Fremont, he seems to have felt no
apprehension as to the fate of Mulligan, and made no serious effort to
relieve him. The force at Jefferson City remained there. The troops at
St. Louis were not moved. General Pope, who, under orders from General
Fremont, had advanced from Hannibal to St. Joseph along the line of the
railroad, driving off depredators, repairing the road, and stationing
permanent guards, heard on September 16th, at Palmyra on his return,
something of the condition of affairs at Lexington. He had sent his
troops then in the western part of the State toward the Missouri River
in pursuit of a depredating body of the enemy. He immediately despatched
an order to these troops to hasten to Lexington upon completing their
present business. They were not able, however, to arrive in time.
Price, having organized his command into five divisions, each commanded
by a general officer, did not push his siege vigorously till the 18th.
On that day, a force proceeding through the city of Lexington and under
cover of the river-bank, seized the ferry-boats, cut Mulligan off from
his water-supply, and carried a mansion close to Mulligan's works and
overlooking them. A sortie and a desperate struggle regained possession
of the house. Another assault and another desperate struggle finally
dispossessed the garrison of the house. Price closed in upon the
beleaguered works and firing became continuous and uninterrupted. On the
20th, Price, having a footing on the plateau, carried up numbers of
bales of hemp and used them as a movable entrenchment. By rolling these
forward, he pushed his line close to Mulligan's works. The besieged were
already suffering from want of water, and surrender could be no longer
postponed.
Fremont, hearing of the surrender on September 22d, began to bestir
himself to look after Price. He left St. Louis for Jefferson City on the
27th, and sent thither the regiments that had been kept at St. Louis.
Price on the same day moved out of Lexington and marched deliberately to
the southwest corner of the State. On September 24th, Fremont published
an order constructing an army for the field of five divisions, entitled
right wing, centre, left wing, advance, and reserve--under the command,
respectively, of Generals Pope, McKinstry, Hunter, Sigel, and Ashboth;
headquarters being respectively at Booneville, Syracuse, Versailles,
Georgetown, and Tipton. The regiments and batteries assigned to the
respective divisions were scattered all over the State, many of them
without wagons, mules, overcoats, cartridge-boxes, or rations. Orders
were issued to advance and concentrate at Springfield. Sigel arrived
there on the evening of October 27th, and Ashboth on the 30th. Fremont
was convinced that Price was on Wilson's Creek, ten or twelve miles from
Springfield. Despatches were sent urging McKinstry, Hunter, and Pope to
hasten. Pope, having marched seventy miles in two days, arrived on
November 1st, and McKinstry arrived close behind him.
On November 2d an order came from Washington relieving Fremont from
command of the department, and appointing Hunter to the command. Hunter
having not yet come up, Fremont held a council of war, exhibited his
plan of battle at Wilson Creek, and ordered advance and attack to be
made next morning. General Hunter arrived in the night and assumed
command. He sent a reconnoissance next day to Wilson Creek, and learned
that no enemy was there or had been there. It was soon ascertained that
Price was at Cassville, more than sixty miles off. The army being
without rations and imperfectly supplied with transportation, General
Hunter, acting upon his own judgment and also in accordance with the
wish of President Lincoln expressed in a letter to him, refrained from
any attempt to overtake Price, and withdrew his army back to the
railroads.
On November 9th, General Halleck was appointed commander of the new
Department of the Missouri, including that portion of Kentucky west of
the Cumberland River. One-half of the force which Fremont had assembled
at Springfield was stationed along the railway from Jefferson City to
Sedalia, its western terminus, and General Pope was put in command of
this force, as well as a district designated Central Missouri. General
Price advanced into Missouri as far as Osceola, on the southern bank of
the Osage River, from which point he sent parties in various directions,
and where he received detachments of recruits. On December 15th, Pope
moved out from Sedalia directly to the south, as if he were pushing for
Warsaw, and at the same time sent a cavalry force to the southwest, to
mask his movement from Price's command at and near Osceola. Next day a
forced march took him west to a position south of Warrensburg, and
between the two roads leading from Warrensburg to Osceola. The same
night he captured the pickets, and thereby learned the precise locality
of a body of 3,200 men, moving from Lexington south to join Price. A
flying column under Lieutenant-Colonel Brown, sent out the same night,
came upon the camp, drove out the command, kept up the pursuit all
night, and all the next day and night, pushing the fugitives away from
Price and utterly dispersing them over the country, and rejoined Pope on
the 18th with 150 prisoners, and sixteen wagons loaded with supplies
captured. At the same time Major Hubbard with his detachment pushed
south to the lines of one of Price's divisions, encamped opposite
Osceola, on the north shore of the Osage, and captured pickets and one
entire company of cavalry, with its tents and wagons. On the 18th, Pope
moved to the north, to intercept another body moving south to join
Price, and which he learned from his scouts would camp that night at the
mouth of Clear Creek, just beyond Warrensburg. His dispositions were so
made and carried out that the entire body was surrounded and captured,
comprising parts of two regiments of infantry and three companies of
cavalry--numbering 1,300 officers and men, with complete train and full
supplies. Pope's troops reoccupied their camps at Sedalia and Otterville
just one week after they marched out of them. Price broke up his camp at
Osceola in haste, and fell rapidly back to Springfield.
General Samuel R. Curtis arrived at Rolla on December 27th, to take
command of a force concentrating there and called the Army of the
Southwest. One division, under the command of Colonel Jefferson C.
Davis, detached from General Pope's district, added to three other
divisions commanded respectively by General Sigel, General Ashboth, and
Colonel E.A. Carr, made together 12,095 men and fifty pieces of
artillery, including four mountain howitzers. Marching out from Rolla on
January 23, 1862, with three divisions, he halted a week at Lebanon,
where he was joined by Colonel Davis, completing organization and
preparation. After some skirmishing with Price's outposts, Curtis
entered Springfield at daylight, February 15th, to find that Price had
abandoned it in the night. Curtis followed with forced marches, his
advance skirmishing every day with Price's rear-guard. In Arkansas,
Price was joined by McCulloch and they retired to Boston Mountains.
Curtis advanced as far as Fayetteville and then fell back to await
attack on ground of his own choice.
The position selected was where the main road, running north from
Fayetteville into Missouri, crosses Sugar Creek, and goes over a ridge
or rough plateau called Pea Ridge, and was near the Missouri line. For
easier subsistence the divisions were camped separately and some miles
apart. Davis' division was at Sugar Creek, preparing the position for
defence. Sigel, with his own and Ashboth's divisions, was at Cooper's
farm, about fourteen miles west; and Carr's division, with which General
Curtis had his headquarters, was twelve miles south on the main
Fayetteville road, at a place called Cross Hollows. Strong detachments
were sent in various directions, forty miles out, to gather in forage
and subsistence. The strength of the command was somewhat diminished by
the necessity of protecting the long line of communication with the base
of supplies by patrols as well as stationary guards, and the aggregate
present in Arkansas was 10,500 infantry and cavalry, and forty-nine
pieces of artillery.
To settle the continued dissension between Price and McCulloch, General
A.S. Johnston, the Confederate commander in the West, appointed General
Earl Van Dorn to command west of the Mississippi. Van Dorn assumed
command January 29, 1862, in northeastern Arkansas, and hastened on
February 22d to join McCulloch at Fayetteville, to which place Price was
then retreating before Curtis. Van Dorn says that he led 14,000 men into
action. All other accounts put his force at from thirty to forty
thousand. Perhaps he enumerated only the seasoned regiments, and took no
account of unorganized bands, or of the several thousand Indians under
Albert Pike.
At two o'clock P.M., March 5th, General Curtis received intelligence
that Van Dorn had begun his march. Orders were immediately sent to the
divisions and detachments to concentrate on Davis' division. Carr moved
at 6 P.M., and arrived at 2 A.M. Sigel deferred moving till two o'clock
A.M., and at Bentonville halted, himself with a regiment of infantry,
the Twelfth Missouri, Elbert's light battery, and five companies of
cavalry, till ten o'clock, two hours after the rear of his train had
passed through the place. By this time Van Dorn's advance guard had
arrived, and before Sigel could form had passed around to his front, at
the same time enveloping his flanks. By the skilful disposition of his
detachment, and the admirable conduct of the men, Sigel was able to
resume and continue his march, an unbroken skirmish, rising at times
into engagement, from half-past ten o'clock till half-past three, when
he was joined by reinforcements which General Curtis had hurried back to
him. The line was formed, facing to the south, on the crest of the
bluffs overlooking the Valley of Sugar Creek, Sigel being on the right,
next to him Ashboth, then Davis, and Carr being the left. The position
was entrenched, and the approaches were obstructed by felled timber. One
foraging party of 250 men and one gun did not return till after the
battle, so that Curtis' force engaged was just 10,250 men and
forty-eight guns.
Van Dorn did not assault that evening. By dawn next day it was
ascertained that he had made a great detour by the west, and was coming
up on the right and rear. Curtis faced his line to the rear and wheeled
to the left, so that his new line faced nearly west; the original right
flank, now the left, was scarcely moved, and Carr's division had become
the right. Colonel Osterhaus, with three regiments of infantry and two
batteries, was despatched from Sigel's division to aid a regiment of
cavalry and a flying battery that had been quickly sent to retard the
enemy's centre and give Carr's division time to deploy. Osterhaus met
the cavalry returning, and threw his detachment against the advancing
line. The picket posted at Elkhorn tavern, where Carr was to deploy, was
attacked and driven back, and Carr's division had to go into line under
fire. Osterhaus found himself opposed to the corps of McCulloch and
McIntosh, and was about being overwhelmed when Davis' division moved to
his support. Pea Ridge is in places covered with timber and brush, in
places intersected by deep ravines, and a portion of it was a tangle of
fallen timber, marking the path of a hurricane. Manoeuvring was not
easy, and detours were required in reinforcing one part of the line from
another. The contest on the field, where Davis and Osterhaus were
opposed to McCulloch and McIntosh, was fierce and determined until
McCulloch and McIntosh were killed. Their numerous, but partially
disciplined followers lost heart and direction, and before the close of
day gave way before the persistent and orderly attack, and finally broke
and left the field.
Carr's division was opposed to Price's corps, and Van Dorn gave his
personal attention to that part of the field. Gallantry and
determination could not prevail against gallantry and determination
backed by superior numbers. Bit by bit, first on one flank, then the
other, he receded. Curtis sent his body-guard, then the camp-guard to
reinforce him, and then a small reserve that had been guarding the road
to the rear. Carr had sent word he could not hold out much longer.
Curtis sent word to persevere, and went in person to the left, where
Sigel with his two divisions had not yet been under fire, and hurried
Ashboth over to Carr's relief. Carr had been gradually pushed back
nearly a mile; Van Dorn had been concentrating upon him, resolved to
crush him. Curtis, returning with Ashboth, met the Fourth Iowa marching
to the rear, in good order. Colonel Dodge explained that ammunition was
exhausted, and he was going for cartridges. "Then use your bayonets,"
was the reply, and the regiment faced again to the enemy and steadily
advanced. It was about five o'clock P.M. when Ashboth reached Carr's
line and immediately opened fire. The combat continued till dark set in.
As it was evident that Van Dorn was throwing his whole force upon the
position held by Carr, General Curtis took advantage of the cessation
during the night to re-form his line. Davis and Osterhaus were brought
to join Carr's left, and Sigel was ordered to form on the left of
Osterhaus. When the sun rose, Sigel was not yet in position, but Davis
and Carr began attack without waiting. General Curtis, riding to the
front of Carr's right, found in advance a rising ground which gave a
commanding position for a battery, posted the Dubuque battery there, and
moved forward the right to its support. Sigel, coming up with the
divisions of Osterhaus and Ashboth on Davis' left, first sent a battery
forward, which by its rapid fire repelled the enemy in its front, and
then with its deployed supports wheeled half to the right. Another
battery pushed forward repeated the manoeuvre with its supporting
infantry. The column thus deployed on the right into line, bending back
the enemy's right wing in the execution of the movement--each step in
the deployment gaining space for the next succeeding step. The line as
now formed, from the Dubuque battery on the right to Sigel's left,
formed a curve enclosing Van Dorn's army. Under this concentric fire Van
Dorn's entire force before noon was swept from the field to find refuge
in the deep and tortuous ravines in his rear. Pursuit was fruitless.
McCulloch's command, scattering in all directions, was irretrievably
dispersed. Van Dorn, with Price's corps and other troops, found outlet
by a ravine leading to the south, unobserved by the national troops,
went into camp ten miles off on the prairie, and sent in a flag of truce
to bury his dead. The national loss was 203 killed, 972 wounded, and 176
missing. Van Dorn reported his loss as 600 killed and wounded and 200
prisoners, but the dispersion of a large portion of his command
prevented full reports.
Van Dorn was now ordered to report at Corinth, where A.S. Johnston was
assembling his army. Most of the national forces remaining in Missouri
were sent to General Grant, to aid in his expeditions against Fort Henry
and Fort Donelson. General Curtis made a promenade across Arkansas,
halting at times, and came out on the Mississippi in July, 1862.
While Price kept Southwest Missouri in a state of alarm, Jefferson
Thompson, appointed by Governor Jackson brigadier-general and commander
of district, marauded over Southeastern Missouri, sometimes raiding far
enough to the north to strike and damage railways. On October 14, 1861,
by a rapid march he passed by Pilot Knob, which Colonel Carlin held with
1,500 men, struck the Iron Mountain Railroad at its crossing of Big
River, destroyed the bridge--the largest bridge on the road--and
immediately fell back to Fredericktown. The news reaching St. Louis on
the 15th, the Eighth Wisconsin infantry and Schofield's battery were
despatched thence to reinforce Colonel Carlin; and General Grant,
commanding at Cape Girardeau, sent Colonel Plummer, of the Eleventh
Missouri, with his own regiment, the Seventeenth and Twentieth Illinois,
a section of artillery and two companies of cavalry, in all 1,500 men,
to join in an attack upon Thompson. Meanwhile a party of cavalry was
sent out from Pilot Knob to Fredericktown, to occupy Thompson by
demonstrations and hold him there.
Colonel Plummer marched out from Cape Girardeau on the morning of the
18th, and sent a messenger to Colonel Carlin advising him of his
movement; the messenger fell into Thompson's hands. Thompson sent his
train to the south, and, moving a few miles below Fredericktown with his
force numbering 4,000 men, took a strong position and awaited attack.
Carlin with 3,000 men effected a junction with Plummer and his 1,500,
the combined force being under command of Colonel Plummer. Thompson was
attacked as soon as discovered. After a sharp fight of two hours
Thompson gave way, was driven from his position, retreated, and fell
into rout. He was pursued several miles that day, and the pursuing force
returned to Fredericktown for the night. Next day Colonel Plummer
followed in pursuit twenty-two miles without further result, returned to
Fredericktown the 23d, and on the 24th began his march back to Cape
Girardeau.
Colonel Plummer's loss was 6 killed and 60 wounded. He took 80
prisoners, 38 of them wounded; captured one iron twelve-pounder gun, a
number of small arms and horses, and buried 158 of Thompson's dead
before leaving Fredericktown. Thompson's following was demoralized by
this defeat, and Southeast Missouri after it enjoyed comparative quiet.
The State of Kentucky at first undertook to hold the position of armed
neutrality in the civil war. On September 4, 1861, Gen. Leonidas Polk,
moving up from Tennessee with a considerable force into Western
Kentucky, seized Hickman and Columbus on the Mississippi, and threatened
Paducah on the Ohio. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, appointed brigadier-general
of volunteers on August 7, 1861, to date from May 17th, assumed command
on September 1st, by order of General Fremont, of the District of
Southeast Missouri. This district included not only the southeastern
part of Missouri, but also Southern Illinois, and so much of Western
Kentucky and Tennessee as might fall into possession of the national
forces. General Grant arrived at Cairo on September 2d, established his
headquarters there on the 4th, and next day heard of the action of
General Polk. He immediately notified General Fremont, and also the
Legislature of Kentucky, then in session at Frankfort, of the fact.
Getting further information in the day, he telegraphed to General
Fremont he would go to Paducah unless orders to the contrary should be
received. He started in the night with two regiments and a battery, and
arrived at Paducah at half-past six next morning. General L. Tilghman
being in the city with his staff and a single company of recruits,
hurried away by rail, and Grant occupied the city without opposition.
The Legislature passed a resolution "that Kentucky expects the
Confederate or Tennessee troops to be withdrawn from her soil
unconditionally." Polk remained, and Kentucky as a State was ranged in
support of the government.
General Grant, leaving a sufficient garrison, returned at noon to Cairo
to find there permission from Fremont to take Paducah if he felt strong
enough, and also a reprimand for communicating directly with a
legislature. General C.F. Smith was put in command of Paducah next day
by Fremont, with orders to report directly to Fremont. A few weeks
later, Smith occupied and garrisoned Smithland at the mouth of the
Cumberland. Grant suggested the feasibility of capturing Columbus, and
on September 10th asked permission to make the attempt. No notice was
taken of the request. His command was, however, continually reinforced
by new regiments, and he found occupation in organizing and disciplining
them. General Polk meanwhile was busy fortifying Columbus, where the
river-bank rises to a high bluff, until the bluff was faced and crowned
with massive earthworks, armed with one hundred and forty-two pieces of
artillery, mostly thirty-two and sixty-four pounders. At the same time
heavy defensive works commanding the river were erected below at Island
No. Ten and New Madrid, and still farther below, but above Memphis, at
Fort Pillow.
On November 1st, General Fremont being on his expedition to Springfield,
his adjutant in charge of headquarters at St. Louis directed General
Grant to make demonstrations on both sides of the Mississippi at
Norfolk, Charleston, and Blandville, points a few miles north of
Columbus and Belmont. Next day he advised Grant that Jeff. Thompson was
at Indian Ford of the St. François River, twenty-five miles below
Greenville, with about three thousand men, and that Colonel Carlin had
started from Pilot Knob in pursuit, and directing Grant to send a force
to assist Carlin in driving Thompson into Arkansas. On the night of the
3d, Grant despatched Colonel Oglesby with 3,000 men from Commerce to
carry out this order. On the 5th, Grant was further advised by telegraph
that General Polk, who commanded at Columbus, was sending reinforcements
to Price, and that it was of vital importance that this movement should
be arrested. General Grant at once sent an additional regiment to
Oglesby, with directions to him to turn his course to the river in the
direction of New Madrid; requested General C. F. Smith to make a
demonstration from Paducah toward Columbus; and also sent parties from
Bird's Point and Fort Holt to move down both sides of the river, so as
to attract attention from Columbus.
On the evening of the 6th, General Grant started down the river on
transports with five regiments of infantry, the Twenty-second,
Twenty-seventh, Thirtieth, and Thirty-first Illinois, and the Seventh
Iowa, Taylor's Chicago battery, and two companies of cavalry. The
Twenty-seventh, Thirtieth, and Thirty-first Illinois were made into a
brigade commanded by General John A. McClernand; the Twenty-second
Illinois and the Seventh Iowa into a brigade under Colonel H. Dougherty,
of the Twenty-second Illinois. The entire force numbered 3,114 men.
General Grant, in his report, states the number at 2,850. As five
companies were kept at the landing when the force disembarked, the
number given by General Grant represents the number taken into action.
Two gunboats, under the command of Captain Walke of the navy, convoyed
the expedition. A feint was made of landing nine miles below Cairo, on
the Kentucky side, and the expedition lay there till daybreak. Badeau
says that General Grant received intelligence, at two o'clock in the
morning of the 7th, that General Polk was crossing troops from Columbus
to Belmont, with a view of cutting off Oglesby, and that he thereupon
determined to convert what had been intended as a mere demonstration
against Belmont into a real attack.
Belmont was the lofty name of a settlement of three houses squatted upon
the low river-flat opposite Columbus, and under easy range of its guns.
A regiment and a battery were encamped in a cleared field of seven
hundred acres on the river-bank, and the camp was surrounded on its
landward side by an abattis of felled timber. At six o'clock in the
morning the fleet moved down, and the troops debarked at half-past eight
on the Missouri shore, three miles above Columbus, and protected from
view by an intervening wooded point. About the same time General Polk
sent General Pillow across the river to Belmont with four regiments,
making the force there five regiments and a battery. Pillow estimated
the number of men at about twenty-five hundred.
General Grant marched his command through the timber and some cleared
fields, and formed in two lines facing the river--McClernand in front,
Dougherty in rear. A depression parallel to the river, making a
connected series of ponds or sloughs, had to be crossed in the advance
in line. These depressions were for the most part dry, but the
Twenty-seventh Illinois, the right of the front line, in passing around
a portion that was yet filled with water, made such distance to the
right that Colonel Dougherty's brigade moved forward, filled the
interval, and the attack was made in a single line.
The opposing skirmishers encountered in the timber. Pillow's line of
battle was in the open, facing the timber. The engagement was in the
simplest form: two forces equal in number encountered in parallel lines.
Most of the men on both sides were for the first time under fire, and
had yet had but scanty opportunity to become inured to or acquainted
with military discipline. The engagement was hotly contested--the
opposing lines, while for some time alternately advancing and receding,
were steady and unbroken. At length Pillow gave way. When his line was
once really broken it could not rally in the face of pursuit. The
national line pressing on, pushed Pillow back through the camp and over
the upper or secondary bank to the first or lower bottom in disorder.
The Second Tennessee, just arrived across the river, took position under
the secondary bank, for a while checked the pursuit, giving time for
the routed troops to make their way through the timber up the river, and
finally followed them in a more orderly retreat.
The national troops, having now undisturbed possession of the captured
camp, gave way to their exultation. General McClernand called for three
cheers, that were given with a will. The regiments broke ranks, and the
battery fired upon the massive works and heavy siege-guns crowning the
heights across the river. A plunging fire of great shells from the
fortifications, and the sight of boats loaded with troops leaving the
opposite shore, were impressive warnings that the invaders could not
safely tarry. General Grant directed the camp to be set on fire, and the
command to be assembled and to return. General Polk became convinced
that Columbus was not in danger of present attack, and determined to
reinforce Pillow promptly and effectively. The Eleventh Louisiana and
Fifteenth Tennessee arrived first, and attack was made upon both flanks
of the hastily formed retreating column, encumbered as it was with
spoils. The Seventh Iowa and Twenty-second Illinois, the regiments
mainly attacked, replied with vigor, though thrown into some confusion.
Pillow halted his men to re-form, and drew them off to await the arrival
of reinforcements on the way, under General Polk in person.
The command embarked. The battery took on board two guns and a wagon
captured and brought off in place of two caissons and a wagon left
behind, and also brought off twenty horses and one mule captured. When
all who were in sight were on board, General Grant, supposing the five
companies who had been left to guard the landing were still on post,
rode out to look for one of the parties that had been sent to bring in
the wounded, and which had not returned. Instead of the guard, which had
gone on board without orders, supposing its duty was done, he saw
approaching a hostile line of battle. He rode back, his horse slid down
the river-bank on its haunches, and trotted on board a transport over a
plank thrust out for him. General Polk had come over with General
Cheatham, bringing two more regiments and a battalion. The entire force
formed in line, approached the river-bank, and opened fire. The
gunboats, as well as the infantry on the transports, returned the fire.
Each side was confident that its fire caused great slaughter; but, in
fact, little damage was done. The fleet, some distance up-stream,
overtook and received on board the Twenty-seventh Illinois, which had
become separated from the column, and, instead of returning with it,
returned by the road over which the advance was made. The national loss
was: in McClernand's brigade, 30 killed, 130 wounded, and 54 missing; in
Dougherty's brigade, 49 killed, 154 wounded, and 63 missing; in Taylor's
battery, 5 wounded. There were no casualties in the cavalry. The
aggregate loss was 79 killed, 289 wounded, and 117 missing; making, in
all, 485. Most of the wounded were left behind and taken prisoners. A
number of the missing made their way to Cairo. The Seventh Iowa suffered
most severely. Among the 26 killed and 80 wounded were the
lieutenant-colonel killed, and the colonel and major wounded. Colonel
Dougherty, of the Twenty-second Illinois, commanding the second brigade,
was wounded and taken prisoner. The Confederate loss was 105 killed, 419
wounded, and 117 missing; in all, 641. Of this aggregate, 562 were from
the five regiments originally engaged. Besides the loss in men and the
destruction of the camp, forty-five horses were killed.