On the Road to Dixi a Missouri Confederate Review of the Civil War

April 19, 2022 Post a Comment

Civil War Series

The Campaign for Pea Ridge

Early on in 1861 representatives from seven southern states met in Montgomery, Alabama, and formed the Confederate States of America. In the weeks that followed, United States armed services posts, arsenals, and government buildings were seized all across the nascent Confederacy. Arkansas remained in the Matrimony during this unsettled menstruation, but at that place was widespread enthusiasm for secession. There also was widespread business organization that the United States authorities would attempt to reinforce the state's 2 military posts, the Little Rock Armory and Fort Smith, to prevent their seizure by secessionists.

GOVERNOR HENRY RECTOR (UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS AT Footling ROCK ARCHIVES)

At the beginning of Feb the country was swept by rumors that Federal troops were on their way up the Arkansas River to reinforce the tiny garrison at the Little Rock Armory. About a thousand militiamen rushed to the country majuscule to repel this imaginary force. Governor Henry Yard. Rector, an ardent secessionist, saw an opportunity to push Arkansas one step closer to leaving the Wedlock. He assumed control of the militia and called upon Helm James Totten to give up the arsenal. Totten was well aware that his visitor of Federal artillerymen could not possibly concur off Rector's armed mob. He therefore agreed to evacuate—though not to surrender—the mail in order "to avoid the crusade of civil war." A few days later the Federal garrison marched down to the Arkansas River to the thanks of a huge crowd. The ladies of Little Stone presented Helm Totten with a sword for his chivalric behavior. The artillerymen then boarded a steamboat for St. Louis. After suitable celebrations, the militiamen returned to their homes.

Rector waited until the outbreak of fighting at Fort Sumter, Southward Carolina in April before dealing with Fort Smith, a supply depot on the edge betwixt Arkansas and the Indian Territory (present-24-hour interval Oklahoma). He sent several hundred militiamen upwards the Arkansas River on steamboats to seize the postal service, only to notice that the Federal garrison—ii companies of cavalry commanded by Captain Samuel D. Sturgis—had evacuated the place and marched to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Without firing a shot, Arkansans had rid the state of Federal armed services forces, such as they were. On May vi, a special convention met at the State House in Little Rock and voted in favor of secession. Soon thereafter, Arkansas joined the Confederacy along with 3 other slave states in the upper south, North Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee.

Amalgamated Arms Stand Baby-sit AT PEA RIDGE NATIONAL MILITARY PARK. (NPS Photo Past BOB NORRIS)

Arkansas was the least populous and to the lowest degree adult state in the Confederacy. With relatively few people and little in the way of natural resources, it seemed unlikely that any significant military activity would take place in what was essentially a frontier region. Nevertheless, both the Arkansas and Amalgamated governments did what they could to become the state onto a war footing. The Arkansas-Missouri country line now was the border between the United states and the Amalgamated States west of the Mississippi River, so information technology was essential that armed forces forces be stationed in northern Arkansas. Most regiments raised in Arkansas were rushed eastward to Tennessee (1 regiment fifty-fifty concluded up in Virginia at the reverse end of the Confederacy), just Rector convinced Confederate government to keep some troops from Arkansas and next states at dwelling house to defend the huge area that came to be known as the Trans-Mississippi.

Confederate soldiers massed in northeast and northwest Arkansas, the two most probable points of invasion. Brigadier General William J. Hardee allowable a forcefulness near Pocahontas, merely within a few months he and his men were transferred to the east side of the Mississippi River and never returned. That left just one Confederate army in Arkansas, a force of viii,700 Arkansas, Texas, and Louisiana troops at Fort Smith. The commander of this army was Brigadier General Benjamin McCulloch of Texas.

McCulloch, 50, was a veteran of the Texas Revolution, Mexican State of war, and two decades of frontier service in the Texas Rangers. Though he lacked a formal military didactics, he was an able administrator, strategist, and tactician who took good care of his men. McCulloch's two principal subordinates were Brigadier General James Thou. McIntosh and Colonel Louis Hebért. Mcintosh, 34, graduated concluding in his class at West Point and served for years on the borderland fighting Indians. Courageous to a error, he liked nix better than plunging into a fight. McIntosh was in accuse of the ground forces's mounted troops. Hebért, 41, was a highly regarded West Point graduate and civilian engineer from Louisiana. Capable and pop, Hebért allowable the infantry.

McCulloch knew that he could expect no aid from the east side of the Mississippi River if the Yankees made a movement in his direction. His isolated little regular army would have to fend for itself. To complicate matters even more for McCulloch, the defence of Confederate Arkansas depended on events in neighboring Missouri.

THE UNITED STATES ARSENAL AT LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS, FEBRUARY 1861. (HARPER'S WEEKLY, MARCH 1861)

The political and armed services state of affairs in Missouri during the first year of the Civil War was highly fluid and non a piddling confusing. Missouri was a slave state, but but a small proportion of the state'south population owned slaves or advocated secession. Though pro-secessionist forces were outnumbered, they had the initial advantage of dominating the state government and the country militia, known as the Missouri Country Guard.

The Missouri State Guard was commanded by Sterling Toll, 53, a popular politician who had served as a legislator, congressman, and governor. Toll had no formal military training only had performed reasonably well in New United mexican states during the Mexican War. Almost as shortly equally the Civil War began, however, Cost's shortcomings as a war machine leader became axiomatic. These included an abrasive and insubordinate personality, a lack of administrative and tactical skills, and a trend to run into the war entirely in terms of liberating Missouri from Yankee oppression.

Toll'due south Missouri State Baby-sit was the but true militia army of the Civil State of war. The ragtag organisation consisted of somewhere between 6,000 and 8,000 men, depending on season and circumstances, but information technology always was seriously deficient in arrangement, training, and logistical support.

Toll'due south Missouri Country Baby-sit was the but truthful militia ground forces of the Civil War. The ragtag organization consisted of somewhere between 6,000 and viii,000 men, depending on season and circumstances but it always was seriously deficient in arrangement, training, and logistical support. Volunteers came and went as they pleased and provided their ain clothing, camp equipment, and weapons. Field of study was lax to nonexistent.

The Union war machine commander in Missouri was Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon, a fiery regular soldier who was determined to rid the state of the troublesome Rebels once and for all. During the leap and early summertime of 1861 Cost and Lyon struggled for control of Missouri's population centers and political institutions. A great bargain of marching and counter-marching was punctuated by minor clashes at Boonville and Carthage. By midsummer Lyon had forced the Missouri State Guard into the southwest corner of the country and Wedlock forces appeared to be on the verge of a complete victory.

Price was in desperate straits and he chosen upon McCulloch for help. This placed McCulloch in a difficult position because his mission was to defend Confederate territory. Just McCulloch recognized that the Missouri Country Guard played an important strategic part: it kept Missouri in turmoil and served as a buffer between the Yankees and his own Confederate army in Arkansas. McCulloch therefore edged into Missouri to reinforce Price in his 60 minutes of demand.

McCulloch's Confederate army and Cost's Missouri Country Baby-sit settled into camp along Wilson Creek a few miles south of Springfield. The soldiers—westerners all—got along well enough, but not the two commanders. Cost'southward personality quickly began to habiliment on McCulloch, who had little patience with political windbags. The deteriorating human relationship between the generals was to have a meaning impact on events.

Lyon was undeterred by news of McCulloch's movement into Missouri and his juncture with Price. Despite being heavily outnumbered, he struck the Rebel encampment forth Wilson Creek on August 10, 1861. The Wedlock army had the initial advantage of surprise, but the weight of numbers gradually turned the tide. At the shut of the twenty-four hours Lyon was killed and his little regular army was driven from the field. Among the Rebel guns that contributed to the hard-fought victory at Wilson's Creek was the bombardment Totten had abased at the Niggling Rock Arsenal six months earlier.

McCulloch was pleased at the outcome of Wilson's Creek but he was uneasy at having entered Missouri—a foreign country from his perspective—without instructions from the Confederate government. McCulloch as well realized that he could non long maintain his ground forces atop the Ozark Plateau so far n of his supply base of operations at Fort Smith, and he soon returned to northwest Arkansas. Another factor in his decision to retire to Confederate soil was his exasperation with Price, whom he privately disparaged as "nothing simply an former militia general."

Exhilarated by the triumph at Wilson's Creek, Price marched due north to the Missouri River in hopes of igniting a popular uprising and filling his ranks with new recruits. For Toll the central to success was the region in west-central Missouri known as "Piffling Dixie..."

In dissimilarity to McCulloch, Toll was a gratis agent unfettered by orders from far-abroad Richmond or fifty-fifty nearby Jefferson Metropolis, which was firmly in Union easily. There was no operation Missouri country government at this fourth dimension and for all practical purposes Price was on his own. Exhilarated by the triumph at Wilson's Creek, Price marched north to the Missouri River in hopes of igniting a popular uprising and filling his ranks with new recruits. For Toll the primal to success was the region in west-central Missouri known as "Little Dixie," the strongly pro-secessionist counties forth the Missouri River between Jefferson City and Kansas City.

Afterward a 2-twenty-four hour period siege, the Missouri State Guard captured a small Spousal relationship garrison at Lexington on the south bank of the Missouri on September 20. The Rebel victory threw a fearfulness into Unionists all across the state, merely there was no discernible increment in the number of volunteers for the State Guard. To make matters worse Price was unable to sustain his command so far north and fell back to the Springfield area.

During the fall of 1861 Major General John C. Frémont assembled another Union army and made a second attempt to beat the Missouri State Guard, but he was relieved in mid-entrada past President Abraham Lincoln, who was displeased with Frémont's political machinations and lack of administrative competence. In November a secessionist rump of the Missouri legislature declared the state to be a function of the Confederacy. The legitimacy of this deed was dubious, to say the least, simply it was accepted past Confederate government in Richmond and a twelfth star was added to the Confederate flag.

During the wintertime of 1861-62 the military machine stalemate in Missouri continued. During this catamenia of reduced activity the Missouri State Guard experienced a fractional transformation. Amalgamated president Jefferson Davis promised Toll a major full general'due south commission if he raised a division of Missouri troops, and then Price pressured his followers to join the Confederate regular army. Toll was especially groovy almost obtaining the commission, as information technology would enable him to outrank McCulloch, whom he now regarded equally his personal nemesis. Unfortunately for Cost, only about half of the militiamen volunteered for Confederate service; the residue either remained in the Country Guard or packed upwards and returned habitation. Several months would pass before the disgruntled Missouri leader finally received his Confederate stars. During the Pea Ridge entrada, Price was a major full general of Missouri militia in control of a hybrid force of Confederate and Missouri State Guard troops, a situation unique in Confederate military annals.

As the new year of 1862 dawned, McCulloch's Confederate ground forces was in winter quarters in northwest Arkansas several days' march south of Springfield. The infantry was in well-built and well-stocked cantonments in and effectually Fayetteville, Bentonville, and Cross Hollows; the cavalry and artillery were in the Arkansas River Valley, fifty miles to the south, where the army's horses and mules enjoyed warmer temperatures and adequate provender. McCulloch had accomplished a small miracle in arming, equipping, and supporting his troops on the western edge of the Confederacy. He was confident that his regular army would be ready for action when the next candidature season arrived.

McCulloch did not expect whatever serious military activeness atop the Ozark Plateau until spring, so he traveled to Virginia to confer with President Davis well-nigh the state of affairs in the Trans-Mississippi, including his combative relationship with Price. Later several months of increasingly bitter wrangling, the two generals no longer were on speaking terms and their armies, less than one hundred miles autonomously, continued to operate independently of one some other. With Missouri now a nominal Confederate land, with Cost on the verge of condign a Confederate major general, and with the bound campaigning season approaching, McCulloch believed the situation due west of the Mississippi River had to be cleared up as quickly as possible.

Davis dealt with the problem by creating the District of the Trans-Mississippi, a vast area consisting of Missouri, Arkansas, north Louisiana, and the Indian Territory. McCulloch was the obvious choice to command the new district, but Davis refused to consider the Texan for the position because he was not a graduate of the U.Southward. Military Academy. Despite considerable evidence to the contrary, Davis firmly believed that no 1 could chief the art of high command without the benefit of a formal military machine education. After unsuccessfully offering command of the Trans-Mississippi to several West Pointers, including Braxton Bragg, Davis finally settled on Major General Earl Van Dorn of Mississippi.

(click on image for a PDF version)

SOUTHWEST MISSOURI AND NORTHWEST ARKANSAS, JULY 1861 TO MARCH 1862
During the first twelve months of the Civil State of war, armed services operations in the Trans-Mississippi swirled back and along between the Boston Mountains and the Missouri River. Confederate victories at Carthage, Wilson'due south Creek, and Lexington kept secessionist hopes alive in Missouri through the end of 1861, only everything would change in the new year.

Van Dorn, 42, was a Westward Point graduate who had served with distinction in United mexican states and in the Indian wars on the Great Plains. His principal qualification for command of the District of the Trans-Mississippi, withal, was his friendship with Davis. Van Dorn hailed from Port Gibson, a town only twenty miles from Davis'south plantation on the Mississippi River, and the two men had known each other for years. Davis had a tendency to appoint friends and acquaintances to important posts, ofttimes without regard for qualifications. Despite his background, Van Dorn proved to be a poor choice for such an important consignment. Personally courageous, he likewise was ambitious, impulsive, and reckless. And he was a ladies' man, a fatal graphic symbol flaw that led to his murder past an aroused husband in 1863.

Van Dorn rushed westward from Virginia to his new postal service in Arkansas. The new commander was extremely offensive-minded, something of a rarity among generals of both sides in early 1862. He intended to recover Missouri for the Confederacy at the showtime opportunity. Van Dorn reached Little Rock in Feb, and then moved to the northeast corner of Arkansas and established a forwards headquarters at Pocahontas, merely twenty miles southward of the Arkansas-Missouri state line. It was both a symbolic and a practical move. Symbolic because it reflected his intention to carry the war to the Yankees, and practical because Pocahontas was a good jumping-off point for an invasion of southeast Missouri on the virtually direct route to St. Louis. When jump made operations atop the Ozark Plateau feasible, Van Dorn planned to march north and strike the Yankees a heavy blow. He provided his wife with a concise summary of his strategic thinking: "I must have St. Louis—then Huzza!"

MAJOR GENERAL HENRY W. HALLECK (LC)

Lincoln, meanwhile, solved his ain command problems due west of the Mississippi River past appointing Major General Henry Westward. Halleck to succeed Frémont equally commander of the Department of the Missouri. Halleck, 47, was the prewar army's premier intellectual who was known, somewhat derisively, every bit "Old Brains." Though he did not cut a dashing figure, Halleck was an able administrator and strategist who was adamant to reassert Spousal relationship control over Missouri. He grasped the fairly obvious fact that every Union soldier continuing on the defensive in Missouri to counter Toll was i less soldier who could be used in the offensive campaigns he planned to launch on the Tennessee, Cumberland, and Mississippi Rivers. Halleck is generally depicted every bit a cautious and indecisive bureaucrat, but forces nether his overall control landed a series of powerful blows against the western Confederacy during the first half-dozen months of 1862.

Halleck believed it was imperative that Union forces in Missouri seize the initiative and neutralize Price at once rather than wait for more suitable weather condition. He hoped that a winter entrada would catch the Rebels off guard. On Christmas Day 1861, he placed Brigadier General Samuel R. Curtis in command of the Army of the Southwest, a force of almost 12,000 men. Curtis'due south mission was straightforward: he was to destroy Price's ground forces or drive it out of Missouri.

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Source: https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/civil_war_series/19/sec1.htm