Primary Sources to get one's mind stirring

[Gallo de Cielo]

All,

I will attempt to post some excellent primary source bits and pieces in the coming days and weeks.

My intent to is help give some background to the general situation in Missouri, information on the warring parties, and hopefully give folks some material to use for first-person and their general approach to the event.

One can quickly grasp that the war on this side of the river, and particuarly in this stretch of Missouri, was not at all similar to the confilct in other parts of the country.

Oct of 1861
"There will be trouble in Missouri until the Secesh are subjugated and made to know that they are not only powerless, but that any attempts to make trouble here will bring upon them certain destruction and this...must not be confined to soldiers and fighting men, but must be extended to non-combatant men and women."
Property of the Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis

Freelance vigilante patriots, fighting under the guise of the 15th Missouri Cavalry (also known as Reeve's Scouts) raised constant hell on the Federal occupiers as well as pro-Union civilians. The Federal response was to fight fire with fire.

"Oct 29, 1864
Dear Wife and Children,
I take my pen with trembling hand to inform you that I have to be shot between 2 and 4 o'clock this evening. I have but a few hours to remain in this unfriendly world. There are 6 of us sentenced to die in retaliation of 6 Union soldiers that was shot by Reeves men. My dear wife don't grieve after me. I want to meet you in heaven. I want you to teach the children piety, so that they may meet me at the right hand of God... I don't want you to let this bear on your mind any more than you can help, for you are now left to take care of my dear children. Tell them to remember their dear father. I want you to tell all my friends that I have gone home to rest."

"Sixty-nine years gao last week [September 1863] the people of Shannon County [southeastern Missouri Ozarks] were thrown into grief over the murder of John West, Mrs. Sam West, Louis Conway, James Henry Galvon, Wm. Chilton, Henry Smith, Sam Herring, Jack Herrign, John Huddleston, John Story, and Joshua Chilton... As the story is told by relatives of the victims... a company of Federal soldiers came over from Rolla to the vicinity where the Chiltons lived and the drive on various homes was made in the dead of night... [The Federals; i.e. Union Militia] started their raid going for the Chiltons... Joe Butler and Alex Chilton were at the home of the latter's mother, and just as they were mounting to leave, eight Federal soldiers came in sight. The soldiers dashed in pursuit, but Mrs. Susan Orchard, sister of Alex Chilton, stepped into the road in front of the oncoming soldiers and flaunted her apron in front of the horses of the soldiers, until the stopped, and by the time the pursuers got around her the fleeing pair were too far gone to be caught."
From- The Civil War in Carter and Shannon Counties

"But in general, and whenever they wished, Union troops shot or hanged their prisoners, as did their guerilla foes. Many soldiers alluded to this wide-spread practice, but few so matter-of-factly as Private Edward Hanses... who had joined the Union Second Missouri Light Artillery. On July 19, 1864, near Patterson [southeastern] Missouri, Hansen noted in his diary 'Up to this day we had done but little skirmishing and catched several fellows, very mistrusting figures, which we had orders to take with us as prisoners, but no sooner did we find one in arms we just hung them to the next best tree.'"
From- Inside War: The Guerilla Conflict in Missouri

More to come.

In the meantime, load the shotgun and be sure the latch is secure on the door.

Regards,

[rkg]

Re: Primary Sources to get one's mind stirring

Thanks for the post Fred, the war in Missouri was very different than the other theaters. My grandfather told me about the time his dad and uncle were captured by the Federals, they were tied to trees and told they were going to bayoneted. They both escaped when they were untied; the Yankees changed their minds on the form of execution they were going to use.

Fred, are you or any of your pards heading up for Marmaduke's Raid?

[Anna Allen]

Re: Primary Sources to get one's mind stirring

Fred, this is great! Gettin' me all excited. :) I look forward to your next installment.

For those of you who aren't coming, you're gonna wish you had. There's still time left and always room for more! I know Frank has put a great deal of his time and money into this event to make it a success and I believe it's going to be one of, if not The best event of the year.

[Gallo de Cielo]

Re: Primary Sources to get one's mind stirring

Robert and Anna,

Glad you-un's are enjoying thus far. More to come.

For those who don't know Ms. Anna, that hand-ax she's hefting in her avatar has been wetted on the blood of many an unsuspecting lad who ventured too close.

Stirred up by reports of Federal rabble rounding good folks up and shooting them out of plain meanness is likely only to prompt her to put a keener edge on the blade. No doubt she and the others are filing away on the points of all the flax hackles they'll be dispersing in the woods. At present they've rounded up over thirty of those things so I'd be wary.

Regards,

[Campjacksonboy]

Re: Primary Sources to get one's mind stirring

Thanks guys (and Anna)
Like I always say sleep lightly and carry a big stick. Fortunately for some of the federals Marmaduke seems to have parolled many of the federals he captured. But after reading Fred's post we'll see what my mood is in September.
Frank

[Gallo de Cielo]

Re: Primary Sources to get one's mind stirring

"A give-and-take war developed between Reeves' 15th Missouri Cavalry, CSA, and the Missouri Union Militia units in the area. Many families were forced to refugee, some as far north as St. Lous."
A History of the 15th Missouri Cavalry Regiment, CSA by Jerry Ponder

"Diary of Private Timothy Phillips, 19th Iowa Infantry Regiment, Ozark Mountains, February 25th; 'Refugees continue flocking to us and dare not return to their homes.' February 28th; 'Plenty of women in camp begging for rations.' March 19; 'We have now here some two dozen women and not less than a hundred children- more or less- varying in age from two weeks to fifteen years.' March 5; 'Refugees are coming in daily. An order has been given to build a stockade around the court house... every two or three days we find a body floating in the river.'
In April, receiving orders to join the Vicksburg campaign, the 19th pulled out of Forsyth, burning the town, stockade, courthouse and all. Phillips made no more mention of the refugees."
From "Inside War"

"The Federals came to our home two or three days later and began trying to persuade Mother to have Father come in and surrender and go to Pilot Knob [referred to by locals as Iron Mountain] and take the oath of allegiance. Meantime, while mother was discussing the matter with them, two of them took me up on a hill west of the house and out of sight of mother, and one of them took a belt from around his pants and buckled it around my neck, then bent a small sappling over and tied the end of the belt around it and hung me up for a minute or so. I had told them where father was, as mother had told them, and when they let me down I told them he was down in the field, which they knew was not so for they had come by the field. The hanging hurt my throat so that it was sore for several days. I was seven years old at the time."
JJ Chilton from "Current Local" reprinted in The Civil War in Carter and Shannon Counties

It will be a shame to have the vile Union scum staining the State of Missouri with such acts.

[BorderRuffian]

Re: Primary Sources to get one's mind stirring

Fred,



Thanks for the material!Helps to set the backdrop for the situation in Missouri at that time.
Concerning Forsyth,Mo.,where the old part of town was is now encompassed by Shadowrock park.Where the courthouse stood is documented with a marker.Nice park,I stop in when I am in the area.

[MoFed]

Re: Primary Sources to get one's mind stirring

What happened at Forsythe was repeated often throughout the region. That is why nearly no courthouses in the first two tiers of counties on either side of the Missouri-Arkansas border survived the war. Courthouses, typically being relatively large, strong structures were converted into minature forts. If the troops occupying them didn't burn them when they moved out, like at Forsythe, the bushwackers would burn them so they couldn't be used when the troops came back, as happened at Salem in Dent Co. and Centerville in Reynolds Co. There is evidence of collusion between the locals and the bushwackers - the county records in the courthouse at Houston in Texas County were moved to a cave for safekeeping before it was torched.

[Michael Comer]

Re: Primary Sources to get one's mind stirring

If you really want to know what the term 'civil war' means, take a look at Missouri from 1861-1865 and even later. Scary place to live. The majority of people, CW scholars and buffs alike, have no idea what it was like here.

[missourirelics]

Re: Primary Sources to get one's mind stirring

I agree with Mike, I just got through viewing the Charleston Missouri Courier, the years '64 and '65. Southeast Missouri and Missouri in general must have been a sort of hell on Earth...literally.

Paul Arnold
Curator Stars and Stripes Museum/Library

[Campjacksonboy]

Re: Primary Sources to get one's mind stirring

Thursday, June 11, 1863
...Our regiment's flags, which were entirely shot to pieces in the last battles at Cape Girardeau, are barely holding together. A shell went through the stars and stripes, ripping a huge hole in it. The flag of the territory (Nebraska) is tattered by many rifle shots. In the battles of Fort Donelson and Shiloh they had not been damaged as much as in these last actions...

Tuesday, June 30, 1863
...Before we could march up from the regiment's front in companies for this inspection, we had to fall in in a square, front toward the inside. Colonel Livingston gave a speech and decorated a piper from Company A with a medal for bravery displayed in the last battle of Cape Girardeau. five more of our men are to be rewarded the same way for bravery displayed there. The entire regimental band had thrown away their drums and fifes and had taken up rifles and had fought in the ranks.
After the inspection all men not on duty were ordered to work on the fortifications. Every negro was seized and put to work at the fort. In the afternooon a number of the white inhabitants of the area, who had been summoned to work on building the fort, came also. The day was nice and not so warm. The teams dragged logs out of the woods up here into the fort....

Marching with the First Nebraska

August Scherneckau

Enjoy
Frank Aufmuth

[Gallo de Cielo]

Re: Primary Sources to get one's mind stirring

"October 1, 1864
Some fifteen or twenty women and children were brought in this afternoon, and are now quartered in a building opposite Gratiot [military prison in St. Louis]. I do not know whether they are prisoners or refugees, but one thing I am certain of- they are the raggedest and dirtiest set I ever saw; some of them have not sufficient clothing to hide their nakedness. They were picked up in the southwest (part of the state). Some of the women would be really goodlooking if they were properly dressed, but they are a pitiful looking crowd in their present condition."
Giffin Frost from "Camp and Prison Journal"

"We would frequently see a squad of Union Militia start out after the Smiths [Confederate bushwhackers] and possibly the next day would hear that the Federals had dined at a farmhouse and in less than an hour the Smiths dined at the same house. The houses of these men were burned and their wives taken prisoner, but by threats of retaliation [that the Smiths would] burn the homes of Union men, forced the release of the women."
"Reminiscences of Mrs. C. C. Rainwater, from 1861 to 1865"
Special Collection, Duke Library

In June, 1864, Major Jeremiah Hackett reported the arrest of a Mrs. Gibson and her daughter, caught while tearing down telegraph lines."
From "Inside War"

[Gallo de Cielo]

Re: Primary Sources to get one's mind stirring

"As Missouri came under [Union] martial law, the Union military operated as the law enforcement agency during much of the war in most of the state, in effect superseding whatever civil legal structures remained in place. In such a position, the military had enormous discretionary power over civilians in the areas they controlled, unchecked by any truly effective appeals system."
From "Inside War"

"In 1860 about one Missouri family in eight (as opposed to one in five in the lower south) held slaves, nearly three-fourths of those holding fewer than five, and only 38 holding more than fifty... Ninety per cent of Missourians lived on farms or in villages of less than 2,000 people. With the exception of St. Louis, there were no cities in Missouri... statistically, the average Missourian was a Methodist from Kentucky who owned a 215-acre family farm, owned no slaves, and produced most of the family's subsistence."
From "Inside War"

[ILYankee5]

Re: Primary Sources to get one's mind stirring

These are great. I have been really enjoying these posts. In fact, I think I may have found a book that I am going to read. Who authored Inside War?

[Gallo de Cielo]

Re: Primary Sources to get one's mind stirring

What the foul Federal heathens were up to-

"Good Heavens, my blood boils- women in this hole of filth and blasphemy! I could scarcely believe it until I saw it with my own eyes, Mrs. Mitchell, who is here with a little daughter five or six years old. She is charged with smuggling goods through to the Confederacy."
Griffin Frost, "Camp and Prison Journal"

"Now I have two very pretty rebel girls on my hands as prisoners and what the devil to do with them I don't know, as I don't like to put them in the guard house. I expect I will have to take them into my room and let them sleep with me."
Bazel F. Lazar Joint Collection, Missouri Historical Society, quoted in "Inside War."

"Headquarters District of Central Missouri
Warrensburg, MO., September 10, 1864
To: Lt. Col B. F. Lazear [Lazar, quoted in passage above], Commanding Union Militia, Second Sub-district, Lexington, MO.
Colonel: The commanding general is informed by Major-General Rosecrans that your troops are causing a reign of terror in LaFayette and Saline Counties and that it should receive your attention. He is also further informed that their officers are permitting them to rob the people of their property for their own benefit, to murder peaceable citizens, and committ other outrages upon the people while the pursuit of the bushwhackers is abandoned by loading the troops with plunder from the country...He directs you will report fully in relation to these complaints.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
J.H. Steger, Assistant Adjutant-General"
Official Records, Ch LIII, Page 145