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Samuel R. Truesdell
“Gentleman Sam”
Patrick Hoggard
Cover
Battle of Jenkins’ Ferry
(Sam fought in Greene’s CavalryRegiment)
March, 2016
Table of Contents
Introduction 1
Sam in Missouri 5
The Civil War 38
Sam in Texas 116
Conclusion 123
1
Introduction
Samuel R. Truesdell (Sam), according to his headstone, was
born July 2, 1833 and died Dec. 30, 1922. A biography of
Samuel R. Truesdell was published in 1906 in a Texas regional
history book (referred to henceforth as Paddock’s biography),
and it provides a great deal of information that cannot be
found elsewhere. It is reproduced here.1
SAMUEL R. TRUESDELL, a veteran of the Confederate
army, and one of the early settlers of Cooke county, was
born in Ripley county, Missouri, July 2, 1833, but was
raised in Greene county. His father, Samuel R. Truesdell,
was born in Kentucky,2 and married in Missouri Miss
Thurza Davidson, a native of Virginia and a daughter of
George and Jane (Rayburn) Davidson, who were likewise
1 B. B. Paddock, Ed., History and Biographical Record of North and West Texas, Vol. 2, Lewis Publishing Co., 1906, pp 602-603. 2 A portion of the biography dealing with the elder Samuel R. Truesdell is omitted; it is reproduced in my narrative on his life (Samuel R. Truesdell. The Flatboat Trader)
2
born in the Old Dominion, but became early settlers in
Missouri, where the father was well known as a farmer
and slave owner. His death occurred in the latter state. In
his family were thirteen children: Milton, Thomas, John,
Joseph, James, Martha, Rebecca, George, Mrs. Thurza
Truesdell, Mrs. Bruce, Mrs. Shields, Mrs. J. Dotrey and
Agnes. Of this family John came to Texas and died at the
very venerable age of ninety years. Samuel R. Truesdell
was the only child born unto his parents, and his birth
occurred after the father’s death. The mother, however,
later married Dr. C. Perkins, a leading physician of
Missouri, who had a large practice there, but in 1850,
attracted by the discovery of gold in California, he went to
that state and died soon afterward. His widow remained
in Missouri until after the Civil war, when she came to
Texas, and here spent her remaining days. By her second
marriage she had six children Eliza, Lavisa, Mary,
Constantine H., Lucy and Martha, who died in childhood.
Samuel R. Truesdell lived with his mother and stepfather,
and after Dr. Perkins went to California he was his
mother’s active and able assistant. In 1855, however, he
married and took charge of affairs, his mother and her
children making their home with him on the farm. He
thus continued in business until 1861, when he joined the
state guards and served for six months. He then became a
member of the Third Missouri Cavalry, which was
attached to Marmaduke’s brigade in the Confederate
army, and assigned to the Trans-Mississippi Department,
with which he continued until the close of the war. He
was at the battle of Wilson Creek, Elkhorn and many other
important engagements in Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana
and Texas, and was at Shreveport, Louisiana, at the time
of General Lee’s surrender.
He received a parole and then started out to find his
family, who had been banished from Missouri in 1863, his
wife and two children, his mother and three children and
others of the locality, making a total of fifty-nine in all,
being refugees. They all located in Hempstead county,
Arkansas, where Mr. Truesdell joined them, and he
3
brought his family to Texas, locating in Fannin county,
where he operated a rented farm for six years. He next
bought a farm, on which he resided until 1875, when he
sold out and purchased a half section, where he yet lives,
in Cooke county. This was raw prairie land, on which he
built a log cabin, while later he built some frame additions
to the original home. Recently, in a terrific wind storm, the
frame additions were blown away, but the log house is yet
doing service. He has fenced and placed under cultivation
one hundred and twenty acres of land, while the
remainder of his farm is devoted to pasturage. He raises
considerable stock, and has been very successful in
securing a competency for old age.
On the 5th of April, 1855, Mr. Truesdell was married in
Missouri to Miss Mary Breden, a native of that state and a
daughter of Russell Breden, of Indiana, who became one
of the early settlers of Missouri, where he followed
farming and stock raising. He was also influential in
community affairs there, and served as justice of the peace
for many years, to which position he was elected as a
candidate of the Republican party. His death occurred in
Missouri, and was the occasion of deep and widespread
regret, for he was respected by all who knew him. In his
family were eleven children: Maston, Preston, Shannon,
Elizabeth, Luanda, Mary, Jane, Louisa, Serena, Tennessee
and Amanda.
The home of Mr. and Mrs. Truesdell has been blessed with
five children : Thomas C, Martha and Belle, all of whom
died in childhood; Kate, the wife of George Morgan, and
Mary, the wife of W. Z. Haggard, residing in the
Chickasaw Nation. The wife and mother was called to her
final rest March 4, 1867, and Mr. Truesdell has always
remained true to her memory, never marrying again. She
was an estimable lady, respected by all who knew her,
and her memory is yet enshrined in the hearts of her
family and many friends. Mr. Truesdell is a devoted
member of the Masonic fraternity, and in his life
exemplifies the beneficent spirit of the craft. Politically he
is a Democrat, but without aspiration for office, preferring
4
to give his undivided attention to his business affairs.
Since the time of the Civil war he has made his home in
Texas, and has done his full share toward the
improvement and upbuilding of the locality in which he
has made his home. Those who know him, and he has a
wide acquaintance, are his friends.
5
Sam in Missouri
Sam’s father died of cholera in 1833, contracted in New
Orleans after completing a flatboat trading expedition, two
months before Sam was born. The Truesdells owned two
pieces of land at that time, one in Ripley County, Missouri,
which was being used mainly as a workshop, and one in
Current River Township, in Lawrence County, Arkansas
Territory, which was their residence. After Samuel R.
Truesdell (the father) died, Thirza,3 Sam’s mother, helped to
supervise the auction of her dead husband’s possessions in
3 On his death certificate, Samuel’s mother’s first name appears as
Thirzie and in other records as Thursa, Thirza, Thirzay, and (in her own hand) Thursey. This seems to us to be a highly unusual name, but it appears in the Bible (as Thirza), and the in the 1850 U.S. census (the earliest one with first names of family members other than the head of household) there were 384 persons named Thursey, 229 named Thursa, 420 named Thirza, 156 named Thurza, four named Thirzy, and two named Thirzey. In the elder Samuel R. Truesdell’s will, her name was written as Thirza, and I will use that spelling.
6
both locations, during which, in what seems like a bizarre
transaction to us but must have been normal at the time, she
bought the house in which she was living in Current River
Township.4 She also bought a male slave.5 The money she
paid for her house and the slave then went to the estate, most
of it later returning to Thirza and Samuel when the estate was
finally settled.6
Although in the 1850 census, Sam’s birthplace was listed as
Arkansas, there is ample reason to think that Ripley County,
Missouri, as stated in the Paddock’s biography, is where he
was actually born. In later censuses, Samuel always placed his
birth in Missouri. Thirza’s parents, George W. and Jenny
Davidson, lived in Ripley County, about 40 miles distant from
Current River Township in Arkansas Territory. Among the
bills presented to be paid by the estate of the senior Samuel R.
Truesdell was one from a merchant in Ripley County, dated
June, 1833. Thirza, eight months pregnant at the time, bought
on credit 13 yards of cotton fabric, possibly to make clothes
for the baby, 7 pounds of sugar, and a side saddle.7 She was
evidently used to traveling by horse. The most obvious
conclusion is that Thirza was lodging with her parents after
her husband’s departure, and had the baby there.
Thirza married again, when Sam was 3 years old. Her new
husband was Constantine Perkins.8 He was born in Virginia,
probably in Buckingham County, and was the next to last
child in a very large family. Sometime before 1830
4 Northeast Arkansas Regional Archives, File MFNE0319, loose probate, Samuel R. Trousdale 5 Ibid. 6 Greene County Archives (Springfield, Missouri), loose probate files, Samuel R. Truesdell. 7 See Samuel R. Truesdell, The Flatoat Trader, available from the author. 8 Missouri Marriages 1805-1900, Ancestry.com
7
Constantine moved to St. Francois County, Missouri. In the
1830 census he is listed in a household containing, besides
Constantine, four other white males plus two slaves, one male
and one female. I assume that the other four males, two of
whom were between 15 and 19 years old, were all Perkins
relatives. From the age range for each individual and other
information about Constantine’s family, an educated guess
can be made that other four Perkins consisted of two of this
brothers, John H. and Isaac B. Perkins, plus two of John H.
Perkins’ children, John F. and George F. Perkins.
A hint about what they were doing in St. Francois County,
about 100 miles north of Thirza Truesdell in Ripley County,
comes from an internet posting in 2000 by Sonya Perkins
Lynch:9
My ancestor is John Perkins b 1813 in KY. John moved
to MO in the 1830's He acquired land near Vineland
twp 39N Rng 4E. His wife at the time was named
Elvira (from a [Jefferson] Co mortgage). This land was
adjacent to land bought by George F Perkins of
Washington county. I'm pretty certain George and this
John were brothers. George's land became known as a
"Century house" and I have a nice article that describes
it with pictures. In it there is a bit of family lore that
states the Perkins came to MO to work slaves in the
mines.
Now the earliest known Perkins in this part of MO was
a man named Constantine Perkins. He never managed
to get counted in a tri-county census but married a
woman named Thursa Trusdel in St. Francois Co.
Thursa's unusual name appears in the 1850 Green Co.
MO Census along with Constantine.
9 http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/PERKINS/2000-05/0959624347
8
Now Constantine acquired land near John and George
about the same time and later sold it to Thomas
Tarpley. I think this is the land known as the Tarpley
Mines. John F Perkins married Susan Tarpley who is
probably the daughter of Thomas or his brother
Peterson Tarpley.
From the dates and birth places this family starts in VA
[and] moves to KY and in MO by the mid 1830's. From
this I have concluded that John and George are
brothers and John F is probably their first cousin.
Constantine, Isaac or Joseph are their fathers but I have
yet to figure out who is parent to whom. At any rate
John Watkins Perkins is their grandfather.
Sonya did not find the Perkins in the 1830 census because they
were all living, as stated above, in one household (in 1830 only
one name was listed per household), and that household was
(and remains) incorrectly indexed under the name Constantia
Borkins. Isaac, his brother, was almost certainly in that group.
Besides having the correct age (20 to 29), there is a strange
1830 census listing in Shelby County, Kentucky, for Isaac B.
Perkins, in which the wife and children are clearly in the
household, but Isaac himself is not. Although the Joseph
Perkins mentioned in the Sonya Perkins Lynch posting did go
to St. Francois County, it was not until 1837,10 and in 1830 he
was still living with his family in Shelby County. In the 1850
census the widowed John H Perkins was living with his son,
John F. Perkins, and family, plus a couple of Tarpley relatives.
Thus I take it that John H, rather than Joseph, was the older
brother living with Constantine in their bachelor quarters in
St. Francois County in 1830. John F. Perkins’ marriage to Sarah
(not Susan) Tarpley was recorded in St. Francois County in
10 Marlin Perkins, My Wild Kingdom, New York, E.P. Dutton, 1982, p. 1
9
July, 1837.11 So Susan Perkins Lynch didn’t quite have the
Perkins family members worked out, but she was close.
A region of southeastern Missouri, shown in the figure as the
Old Lead Belt, is said to have the richest deposits of lead ore
in the world.12 It has been producing lead continuously since
the early 1700s, when the French used hundreds of slaves
imported from the Caribbean.13 The earliest mining
operations were located near the junction of St. Francois,
Jefferson, and Washington counties, represented in the map
by the dark area within the Old Lead Belt.
Constantine Perkins bought two parcels of federal land, a total
of 120 acres, at the usual federal price of $1.25 an acre. Though
11 St. Francois County Marriage Records, Vol. 1, p. 11 12 Wikipedia, Southeast Missouri Lead District 13 Ibid.
10
quite near each other (see map below,14 marked in red), one
parcel was in Jefferson County and the other was in St.
Francois County.
Exactly in between, on the map, about one and a half miles
from each parcel, lies Valles Mines, operated today as an
historic site. Actually, Valles Mines was a collective
designation for several lead mines in the area. In addition to
the main site shown on the map, there was the Tarpley Mine,
mentioned in the Sonya Perkins Lynch posting above, the
Perry Mine, and the Bisch Mine.15 The last two were directly
adjacent to one of Constantine’s parcels, making quite
plausible the story that the Perkins went to Missouri to
engage in lead mining. The story states that they sent their
14 Historic Map Works, Jefferson County, 1876 15 Arthur Winslow, Missouri Geological Survey, Vol. 7, Lead and Zinc Deposits, Jefferson City, Tribune Printing Co., 1894, p. 689
11
slaves into the mines, just as the Romans did on a massive
scale. While the Perkins group had just one male slave in 1830,
there were more back in Kentucky, so this part is also
plausible, though reprehensible from our point of view.
John Perkins (probably John F., the son of John H.) patented a
parcel of land near the small town of Vineland, shown in blue
on the map. It lies closer to some large lead mines in
Washington County than to the Valles Mines.
If Thirza had remained with her parents in Ripley County, an
encounter with Constantine would have been extremely
unlikely, the separation amounting to more than 100 miles.
The St Francois County marriage record states that they were
married in 1836, and that both were residents of St. Francois
County. It might seem unlikely that a widowed mother of a
small child would move away from her own parents, but as it
turns out, Thirza’s grandfather, Joseph Reyburn, and two of
her uncles, Samuel and Joseph Reyburn Jr., were residents of
Washington County in 1830, living near the small village of
Caledonia, almost on the border with St. Francois County. Her
grandmother had died, so it would have been a good fit to
move in with her grandfather. Thus Sam probably spent his
first three years in his grandfather’s house near Caledonia.
This put Thirza a lot closer to Constantine and the other
Perkins, almost in the same county, but at opposite ends. We
can only speculate about how they met. Maybe it was in
church. Perhaps it was Constantine as a physician, making a
house call. How, where, and when Constantine became a
physician is unknown, and we don’t know if he practiced in
St. Francois County. If he had a remedy for lead poisoning, his
services would probably have been in constant demand there
and the neighboring mining regions.
12
At any rate, they did meet and they did marry, on October 13,
1836,16 a few months after Thirza finally received the widow’s
dower (the legally guaranteed portion) from the estate of her
dead husband, amounting to $221.17 After the marriage, Sam
and Thirza would have lived with Constantine in St. Francois
County, right next to several lead mines. Constantine and
Thirza’s first child, Harriet, was born in 1836,18 so there could
be another story that we’ll never find out about. Harriet died
or (less likely) married sometime after 1850, so there are
probably no descendants who might have heard that story.
Perhaps thinking that a lead mine was no place to raise
children, Constantine and Thirza spent little time in St.
Francois County, moving almost immediately to the
southwestern part of the state, to Greene County, where they
located in Boone Township, near the village of Ash Grove.
Together with a Miles Carey, Constantine went into business
as the partnership Carey & Perkins.19 They were one of about
a dozen merchants and grocers in Greene County in 1837.20
They sold dry goods (i.e., fabric, clothing, and related items).
They also built and operated a mill, primarily for corn meal,
on Clear Creek, a tributary of the Big Sac River.21
The first official record of Constantine’s presence in Greene
County is a bond executed on August 8, 1838, in connection
with his appointment as Sam’s guardian. The guardianship
16 St. Francois County Marriage Records, Vol. 1, p. 6 17 Northeast Arkansas Regional Archives, File MFNE0319, loose probate, Samuel R. Trousdale 18 Harriet was 14 in the 1850 census, taken October 29, so she was born between October 30, 1835 and October 29, 1836. 19 History of Greene County, Missouri, St. Louis, Western Historical Company, 1883, p. 187. 20 loc. cit. 21 Ibid., p. 611
13
was a financial arrangement, because Sam had inherited
money from his father, the amount not yet final, because of
bills and debts still outstanding. The complete document is
shown on the next page.22
Constantine had to pledge $2,000 in order to assume Sam’s
guardianship, and his securities, William Cawlfield
(sometimes written Caulfield) and Benjamin H. Boone,
guaranteed the sum. This was a rather common arrangement
at the time when an inheritance was involved. As it turns out,
Sam’s portion of the inheritance was less than $700, which, of
course, Constantine administered. Since the bond states that
Constantine had already been appointed as guardian, the
process must have been initiated still earlier.
The two co-signers were neighbors in Boone Township.
Benjamin Boone was the grandson of Daniel Boone and the
son of Nathan Boone, for whom the township was named.
William Cawlfield was one of Nathan Boone’s sons-in-law.
22 Missouri Records & Missouri Pioneers, Vol. 9, p. 68
14
15
According to the 1840 census, there were 10 people in the
Perkins household at that time. They are listed here, together
with assumptions I’ve made about who they were.23
1 male 40-49 Constantine Perkins
1 male 20-29 (Cornelius Davidson)
1 male 5-9 Samuel R Truesdell
1 female 20-29 Thirza Perkins
1 female 15-19
2 females < 5 Harriet Perkins
Levisa Perkins
1 male slave 24-35
1 male slave < 10
1 female slave 10-23
The teenage girl in the household was probably a relative, but
whether a Davidson, a Perkins, or something else, I don’t yet
have a clue. Cornelius Davidson was Thirza’s first cousin, and
was listed by name on the 1850 census.
At about the same time that Constantine moved his family to
Greene County, Thirza’s father, George W. Davidson, also
moved to southwestern Missouri, together with his wife,
Jenny, and four of his children, one of whom was married
and settled on a nearby farm. Their land was in Polk County,
adjacent to Greene County. In 1841, Polk County was split in
two, and the Davidson land then was in the new Dade
County.
23 The only names listed in the 1840 census were the heads of households
16
The land the Perkins were living on, which Constantine
eventually patented and purchased from the federal
government, was the smaller of the two parcels shown in red
17
on the map on the previous page.24 It lies about three miles
north of the village of Ash Grove. The larger of the two
parcels in red was the land shared with Miles Carey, on which
they operated their mill.
As a merchant, Constantine occasionally appeared in court to
collect a debt or to contest one. One of those court cases
resulted in the dissolution of his partnership with Miles
Carey. The suit was brought by Peter E. Blow of St. Louis, a
dry goods wholesaler. Peter was probably acquainted with
Constantine, because Peter Blow had lived in Washington
County, Missouri, for a number of years, engaged in the lead
and smelting business.25 The announcement below appeared
in a St. Louis newspaper, and shows an example of the kind of
enterprises Blow was associated with.
Peter E. Blow is much better known for his role in the Dred
Scott case than for his dry goods sales. His father, also Peter
Blow, had owned Dred Scott. Around 1832 Peter Blow Sr. sold
him to a man named Emerson, who took him as his slave on
business in Illinois. By Illinois law, Scott was free as soon as
they crossed the border. By Missouri law and practice, “once
free, always free”. Back in Missouri, Dred Scott and his wife
filed suit for their freedom. The case wound up in the
Supreme Court and in our high school history books, the
24 Historical Map Works, Greene County, Missouri, 1904. 25 J. Thomas Scharf, History of St. Louis City and County, Philadelphia, Louis H. Everts, 1883, p. 608
18
court ruling that the Scotts were to remain slaves, that federal
law could not prohibit slavery on federal lands, that “once
free, always free” was null and void, and that blacks not being
citizens, Dred Scott did not have the right to file a suit in
court. Coming back to Peter Blow, he and his brothers and
sisters paid for the Scotts’ legal costs during the state trials, at
which point they thought they had won. They did not
continue to pay for his U.S. Supreme Court legal fees, and
others stepped up instead. In an ironic turn of events, Mrs.
Emerson, against whom the original suit was filed (her
husband had died), married again, wedding an abolitionist in
another state. Her new husband immediately insisted on
freeing the Scotts. The Scotts were still in Missouri, hired out
for their wages, and a nonresident could not legally free a
slave. So the ownership was transferred to Peter Blow’s
brother, Taylor, who promptly manumitted them, about two
months after the Supreme Court decision in 1857.26
To return to our story, Peter E. Blow sued the firm of Carey &
Perkins in 1839 to recover $822, the money owed on a
promissory note executed by Miles Carey in exchange for
merchandise, but using the false name Casey Wilkins. The
Greene County Circuit Court ruled on April 2, 1840, that
Carey & Perkins were required to pay the $822 plus $109 in
damages plus Peter Blow’s legal costs.27
After the breakup of the partnership, Miles Carey emigrated
to Oregon with his family. His interest in the property shared
with Constantine and in the mill was bought by Christopher
McElhanon, an early settler in Boone Township. The
McElhanon & Perkins mill served the farmers of the county
26 Walter Ehrlich, They Have No Rights: Dred Scott’s Struggle for Freedom, Westport, CT, Greenwood Publishing Group, 1979. 27 Greene County Circuit Book B, March Term 1840, pp. 110-111.
19
for several years.28 I don’t know what happened to the Carey
& Perkins store. I can find no record of any involvement of
Constantine Perkins in the retail trade after the dissolution of
the partnership with Carey.
Perhaps that was when Constantine became a physician. I can
find no mention of him in this occupation anywhere but in
Greene County. There, however, he enjoyed the advantage of
being the first one. This leads me to conclude that he learned
the profession back in St. Francois County, since there was no
one in Greene County to learn from. A longtime resident of
Greene County, John H. Miller, mentioned Constantine in his
recollections about the first settlers in the area, recorded in the
1880s:29
[In] the noted Ash Grove and Walnut Grove
neighborhoods … in by-gone days lived the old stock of
the Boones and others. Major Nathan Boone, of old
United States army notoriety, whom I well remember,
and his three honorable sons… Of the Boone daughters
much might be said as to their amiability and
respectability. They were the belles of the county at that
date…
And near the Boones was another old and honorable
citizen – Dr. Constantine Perkins, who lived there a long
and useful life as a physician. I have forgotten when he
died, but it was a long time ago. You will find the names
of Dr. Perkins and the Boones on the books of the first
Masonic lodge in Springfield.
Constantine Perkins was evidently the only physician
anywhere for a while, as he is mentioned in several township
28 History of Greene County, Missouri, Townships and Villages, Western Historical Company, 1883, p. 624 29 Ibid., p. 150
20
histories as being the first. For example, in Center Township
we have30
The first practicing physician to locate in the western part
of Greene county was Dr. Constantine Perkins, who lived
in Boone township, near where the town of Ash Grove
now stands. He was the first physician that ministered to
the fleshly ills of the people of Center township as a
regular practitioner.
A history of Boone Township, the one in which the Perkins
resided, states that
Dr. Constantine Perkins was the first regular located
physician… [He] settled on Clear Creek in section four,
and had a mill there, probably the first in the township,
long known as McElhanon’s & Perkins’ mill.31
Constantine Perkins was indeed a mason, and one of the
founders of the Masonic lodge in Greene County, meeting
with seven others, all master masons from other states, in
Springfield (the Greene County seat) in 1841. At that time they
petitioned the Grand Lodge of the State of Missouri for
permission to institute their own lodge, the request being
granted within a few weeks. Constantine was elected junior
warden.32
The Perkins and the Boone families, living on adjacent lands,
were evidently good friends. The Boone home was on the
parcel outlined in blue on the map above. Nathan and his
30 Ibid., p 643 31 Ibid., p. 624 32 Jonathan Fairbanks and Clyde E. Tuck, Past and Present of Greene County, Missouri, Indianapolis, A. W. Bowen, 1915, p. 524
21
sons built it in 1837,33 the same year Constantine Perkins and
family are likely to have arrived. It is now a Missouri State
Park.
We have already seen how Nathan’s son Benjamin and his
son-in-law, William Cawlfield, secured Constantine’s
guardianship bond for Sam. This was not a pro forma act.
Nathan Boone himself was forced to sell all his property in St.
Charles County34 in order to cover a defaulted $20,000
guardianship bond he had secured there.35 Perhaps we can
accept as additional evidence of the bond of friendship the
fact that Nathan’s daughter, Melcina Frazier, named her first
child Constantine in 1848.36
Yet another sign of the connection is the unusual name given
to the Perkins’ second child. Nathan Boone’s daughter, Levica,
married William Cawlfield and the two of them lived on the
Boone homestead, as did Melcina and her husband.
Constantine and Thirza named their daughter Levisa, also
spelled Levica in some records. Dale Edmonds has suggested
that the name might in some way be connected with the
Levisa Fork of the Big Sandy River, which runs from western
Virginia into Kentucky.37
33 Dakota Russell, African-American Slavery and Freedom on the Nathan Boone Farm, Nathan Boone Homestead Historic Site, 2011. 34 Susan Flader, Ed., Exploring Missouri’s Legacy: State Parks and Historic Sites, University of Missouri Press, 1992, p. 20. 35 St. Charles County, Missouri, Circuit Court Records 1832A, Box 47, Folder 32. 36 From 1850 census. Malcena married Franklin Frazier and they lived in Boone Township. Their second child was named Nathan. 37 Dale H. Edmonds, The Truesdell Family, unpublished manuscript, 2015.
22
In fact there is a connection. Daniel Boone built a cabin on the
Levisa Fork to use as a hunting cabin in the 1790s.
One winter in the mid-1790s a Kentuckian found
Boone in a hunter’s camp on the Levisa Fork of the Big
Sandy River in the mountains of eastern Kentucky,
living with Rebecca and two of their daughters and
their husbands. Boone had discovered this site while
hunting with [his son] Jesse about 1790, and for most
of this decade he and the family returned here each
winter to hunt.38
Some more direct evidence of Nathan Boone’s connection is
found on a map drawn by Marion Tevis Burris in 1828,
picturing Johns Creek, upon which he lived, down to its
confluence with Levisa Fork, with notations about the area. A
portion of the map is shown here.39
Johns Creek runs from top to bottom in the center of the map,
while the large river on the right, marked Sandy River, is
actually the Levisa Fork of the Big Sandy River.40 The notation
at their confluence reads “D. Boone and Nathan Boone left
1796”. Nathan would have been 15 years old.
38 John Mack Faragher, Daniel Boone: The Life and Legend of an American Pioneer, New York, Henry Holt, 1992, p. 270. 39 Stephen T. Hurt, The Reverend Marion Tevis Burris Family of Eastern Kentucky, 1991. 40 http://mayhouse.org/notices/Johns-Creek-Map.html
23
Nathan and Olivia Boone gave some fairly odd names to their
children, including Melcina, Delinda, and Mahala. When they
named one daughter Levica, it seems that the name must have
come from the well-traveled river of Nathan’s youth. Levica
died in 1854, and her headstone reads Levica Cawlfield. That
name may well have been pronounced with an ‘s’ sound, and
evidence for that comes from several 19th century references to
the Levisa Fork as “Levica Fork”.41
41 (a) The War of the Rebellion, A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Part II, Vol. 52, 1898, p. 270; (b) Acts passed at the first session of the twenty third general assembly for the Commonwealth
24
So, yes there is a connection between Levisa Perkins and the
Levisa Fork of the Big Sandy River, but that connection runs
through the Nathan Boone family.
Sam most certainly attended school, and Constantine
submitted claims against Sam’s inheritance, of which he was
the administrator, for the costs. An example, unfortunately
undated, is shown below, claiming $43 for one year’s
“boarding, schooling and clothing”. Schools in Greene County
were few and far between when Sam began to attend,
probably around 1840. One of the first was established by
Benjamin Walker near Walnut Grove, approximately four
miles north of the Perkins home.42 It consisted of a small log
cabin, erected in 1836 or 1837.43 Mr. Walker moved away in
1841,44 and where school was held after that appears to be
unrecorded. This was before the era of public schools, which
began about a decade later, and tuition was typically $1 per
pupil per month. Thus Constantine’s claim does not seem to
be padded.
Constantine, as Sam’s guardian and the financial overseer of
his inheritance, was required to submit annual accountings to
of Kentucky, 1815, p. 260; Lippincott’s Pronouncing Gazetteer, Philadelphia, J. B. Lipincott & Co., 1856, p. 1173. 42 History of Greene County, Missouri, Townships and Villages, Western Historical Company, 1883, p. 610 43 Ibid. 44 History of Hickory, Polk, Cedar, Dade and Barton Counties, Missouri, Chicago, Goodspeed Publishing Co., 1889, p. 470.
25
the court. He seems frequently to have forgotten, been
unaware of, or neglected this requirement. In 1840, the Greene
County court reminded him of his obligation thusly:
You are hereby commanded to be and appear in
your own proper person at the next term of the
Greene County Court before the judges thereof on
the 1st day of the term and show cause why you
have not come forward and made your annual
settlement as Guardian of said minor according to
law.45
Notwithstanding that admonition, Constantine let five years
slide between 1845 and 1850, submitting a claim against the
inheritance that included a horse as well as five years of
school:
Sam grew up in a family with slaves.46 Their neighbors had
slaves. One of the biggest slaveholders in the area was Nathan
Boone, who had 15 slaves in 1850. He was also one of the
biggest landowners in the township, which had been named
for him. The Boone slave quarters lay just to the north of
Nathan Boone’s house, directly between that house and the
45 Greene County Archives (Springfield, Missouri) Samuel Truesdell, minor heir, loose probate file 46 See Dale H. Edmonds, The Truesdells, unpublished manuscript
26
Perkins home.47 There were no children remaining with
Nathan Boone during the 1840s, but there were two boys, 5
and 8 years old in 1840, among the slaves.48 It would have
been unusual had they and Sam not been playmates. From
Boone family records, they were named Henry and Preston,49
but nothing is known of them after Nathan Boone’s death in
1856. The Truesdell slaves, judging by the 1840 census,
consisted of a married couple with a young son.
The Perkins family grew during the 1840s. In 1850 the
household, according to the census, consisted of
Constantine Perkins 51 physician
Thirza Perkins 30
Samuel R Trousdale 17 farmer and attending school
Harriet E Perkins 14 attending school
Levica Perkins 12 attending school
Mary Perkins 10 attending school
Hector C Perkins 4
Lucy H. Perkins 2
James Crawford 25 farmer
Cornelius Davidson 37 farmer
William Davidson 14 attending school
I presume that Cornelius Davidson was the person in the
same age group reported in the 1840 census. Between 1840
and 1850, another Davidson relative had moved in, William.
There is obviously some kind of relationship, but it’s hard to
know what. In addition there was a James Crawford, 25 years
old, possibly a hired hand. While Constantine’s occupation
was listed as physician, that of Sam Jr., James Crawford, and
47 Dakota Russell, op. cit., p. 30 48 Ibid., 49 Ibid., pgs. 9, 13
27
Cornelius Davidson was farmer. There were no slaves
recorded in the 1850 census slave schedule. Another
Constantine Perkins in Virginia, almost certainly a relative,
had 150 of them!
Paddock’s biography states that Constantine Perkins left for
California in search of gold in 1850 and died very soon
afterwards.50 Constantine was one of more than 120 residents
of Greene County known to have left for California in 1849
and 1850,51 and there were probably many more than that.
Like Constantine, many of them perished.52 We don’t know
for certain whether Constantine died in California or on the
way there, but recollections recorded in the History of Greene
County, published in 1883, state that he died in California. For
example,
Perkins went to California on the breaking out of gold
fever in 1850, and died there.53
Another (unnamed) source recalled (mistakenly) that
Constantine lived another decade in California.
Dr. Perkins’ medicine chest contained no drug that
would ward off the gold fever, and he was seized with
that malady in 1850 and went to California, where he
died some ten years later.54
50 B. B. Paddock, Ed., History and Biographical Record of North and West Texas, Vol. 2, Lewis Publishing Co., 1906. 51 History of Greene County, Missouri, Townships and Villages, Western Historical Company, 1883, p. 610 52 Ibid. 53 Ibid., p. 624 54 Ibid., p. 643
28
Although deaths in emigrant convoys were often reported, a
fairly comprehensive collection of such reports has no record
of Constantine’s death.55
Constantine would have traveled in a small party from
Greene County to Independence, Missouri, where he could
join a convoy. Most of the prospective prospectors from
Greene County traveled from Independence over the
California Trail, via Fort Kearney and Fort Laramie, while a
few took the much longer southern route through Arizona.56
We have a fairly precise idea of when he left for California. An
estate inventory was filed on December 31, 1850, that included
about 50 debts owed to Constantine, some of them
[promissory] “notes”, but most of them “accounts”, generally
for small amounts, as little as 25 cents.57 Presumably the
accounts were for his services as a physician. The latest date
on one of these accounts is May 24, 1850. Another portion of
the inventory lists (apparently) amounts collected on account
during Constantine’s absence.58 The dates range from May 25
to Dec 2, 1850.59 That seems to narrow down his date of
departure to May 24 or 25.60
55 Louis J. Rasmussen, California Wagon Train Lists, Vol. 1, San Francisco Historic Records, 1994. 56 History of Greene County, Missouri, Townships and Villages, Western Historical Company, 1883, p. 219 57 Greene County Archives (Springfield, Missouri) Constantine Perkins loose probate file 58 All of them employ the abbreviation apc, for which I can find no translation; perhaps it stands for account payable collected. 59 Ibid. 60 The 1850 census was taken in Boone Township on October 29, and Constantine was listed. Nevertheless, Constantine almost certainly was already en route, possibly already deceased, and was counted anyway.
29
It has been calculated that the average trip from Independence
in 1850 required 108 days,61 thus four months should be a
good estimate of the time required from Greene County.
Therefore we can surmise that Constantine reached the
California gold fields at the end of September, 1850. In 1850
there was no overland mail route.62 News of Constantine’s
death had to travel by pack mule to Sacramento, by boat to
San Francisco, and from there by steamship to Panama, again
by pack animals across the isthmus, and finally again by
steamship to New Orleans and other ports. Since news of his
death apparently reached Greene County in late December,
judging by the dates for various estate actions filed in Greene
County, the earliest of which was December 28, we presume
that Constantine died in October, 1850.
The biggest killer of California gold prospectors at that time
was cholera, an epidemic of which broke out in Sacramento in
October and spread rapidly to the mining areas.63 The disease
claimed 700 deaths in Placerville and an unknown larger
number in Marysville.64 In all likelihood, Sam lost both his
father and his stepfather to cholera.
As the surviving spouse, the task of administering
Constantine’s estate, which involved paying all of his debts
and collecting the money owed him, would fall to Thirza. She,
however, declined in favor of Joshua Bailey, filing the
61 John Unruh, Jr., The Plains Across: The Overland Emigrants and the Trans-Mississippi West, 1840-1860, University of Illinois Press, 1993, p. 403. 62 LeRoy R. Hafen, The Overland Mail, 1849-1869: Promoter of Settlement, Precursor of Railroads, Cleveland, Arthur H. Clark, 1926, p. 131. 63 Irma West, Cholera and Other Plagues of the Gold Rush, Sacramento Historical Society Golden Notes, Vol. 46, No. 1, 2000, p. 8. 64 Ibid.
30
following note with the court on December 28, 1850. It is
signed by Thirza (as Thursey), but was clearly penned by
someone else; Joshua Bailey, perhaps.65
On the same day Thirza declined the position of executrix,
December 28, Joshua Bailey submitted his request to act as
executor for Constantine Perkins.
The letter of request by Bailey enumerates Constantine’s heirs:
Thursey Perkins, Harriet E. Perkins, Levisa B. Perkins, Mary
Ann Perkins, Constantine H. Perkins, Lucy A. Perkins, and
Martha M. Perkins. This probably constitutes the most
accurate record we have of the names of the Perkins children.
It is also the last record, chronologically, for Harriet and for
Martha. Both of them probably died sometime in the next
decade. Harriet might have married. Note that Hector C. in
65 I have not been able to trace Joshua Bailey with certainty, but it appears that he was a relative. Thirza’s grandfather, John Goolman Davidson, built a fort in western Virginia with Richard Bailey. Thirza’s aunt, Nancy Davidson, married John Peyton Bailey, Richard’s son. It appears that in the 1830s Joshua Bailey lived in the same location on the Kentucky-Tennessee border as a Peyton H. Bailey, whose name suggests a connection with Richard and John, and who may have been Joshua’s father.
31
the 1850 census is named here (as in Paddock’s biography) as
Constantine H. Note also the spelling of Levisa’s name and
her middle initial, which, if I had to guess, might be Boone.
Sam is not named as an heir. Constantine died intestate and
had not adopted him, so there was no legal right to inherit.
32
Nevertheless, with Constantine’s death, the job of running the
farm naturally fell to Sam. He was, however, still a minor, and
still had (probably) a remnant of his original inheritance left.
A guardian was promptly appointed, the same Joshua Bailey
that took care of Constantine’s probate matters. The guardian-
ship required that he post a bond of $550, much less than the
$2,000 that Constantine had been required to pledge in 1838.
That was perhaps a result of the depreciation of Sam’s
patrimony through the deductions for his schooling through
the years.
Joshua Bailey also posted a $500 bond as executor of
Constantine’s estate. The amount of work involved in this task
had to have been considerable, with approximately 50 bills
outstanding. Some of those listed were marked with an X,
probably to indicate that they were uncollectable. Some of
those had the additional designation ‘California’, again, I
suppose, to demonstrate to the court their uncollectability.66
The largest debt by far owed to Constantine was that of
George Davidson, Thirza’s father, amounting to $671, the note
dated July, 1841. The only debt owed by Constantine that I
66 Greene County Archives (Springfield, Missouri), Constantine Perkins loose probate.
33
find in the records was for money borrowed from Benjamin
Boone, consisting of a “note”, executed in April, 1847, for $50
and a “bond”, executed in December, 1849, for $187.50. These
were presented to Joshua Bailey and the county court for
collection, though not until May, 1853.
In 1851 Christopher McElhanon, Constantine’s partner in the
mill, died. The land was sold and divided among the heirs.
Half of the 160 acres went to the McElhanon heirs, each
getting 11 acres and a fraction. The remaining 80 acres went,
not to Thirza nor to the Perkins children, but to Sam, or, to put
it more precisely, to Joshua Bailey, as guardian for Sam.67 That
raises the possibility that the money used to buy the land in
the first place came from Sam’s inheritance, making Sam the
legal owner.
In October, 1852, barely 19 years old, Samuel acquired two
parcels of land on his own, totaling 120 acres, from federal
lands, for which he probably paid $155, since $1.25 an acre
was the standard rate for government land grants and the
filing fee was generally $5. Possibly this was paid with the last
vestiges of the inheritance from his father, Samuel R.
Truesdell, Sr. The land was located in Section 27 in Boone
Township, and is marked with a on the following map.68
His mother and his stepsiblings still owned the land inherited
from Constantine in Section 4; however, they continued to live
with Sam in the same household, transferring to his property
in Section 27. In 1858 Sam acquired another 40 acres in the
same section.69 Around the same time, Nathan Boone entered
land nearby, in Section 35 ( on the map), with the Land
Office, though he died before the patent was issued.
67 Greene County, Missouri, Circuit Court Record Book D, p. 54 68 Historic Map Works, Greene County, 1904 69 Northeast quarter of northwest quarter, Certificate 158662.
34
A couple of miles southwest of Sam and the Perkins lived the
family of Russell and Delaney Breeden. The Breedens moved
to Greene County from Indiana in the late 1830s, settling in
Boone Township, with additional land in nearby Center
Township (marked by a on the map). Russell was born in
Virginia and as a young man, as the story goes, set off
westward after a severe disagreement with his parents,
meeting Delaney in a wagon train coming from Tennessee.
Sam married their daughter, Mary, in April, 1855, as is stated
in Paddock’s biography. There is no marriage record on file in
Greene County, because of which I assume that they were
married in Dade County. The Breedens lived less than a mile
35
from the county line and may have attended church in Dade
County. Or perhaps the marriage was organized by the
Davidsons, Thirza’s family, who lived in Dade County.
Whatever the case, the Dade County courthouse burned down
in 1860 and all records were lost.
Having expanded his land holdings considerably, it appeared
that Sam was on track to become a reasonably prosperous,
respected citizen of the county. He owned 160 acres he had
bought in his own right, southeast of Ash Grove. He owned
80 acres of the land on which stood the McElhanon and
Perkins mill, north of Ash Grove. In the same section he was
no doubt managing the 80 acres that Constantine Perkins had
owned outright, now belonging to Thirza and the Perkins
children. He also owned a 10-acre plot carved out of the land
two miles east of the mill, about the purchase (or gift) of
which I have found no records.
His financial situation, however, apparently degenerated
towards the end of the decade. At some point in 1857, Sam
borrowed $25 from Jesse Redfearn, signing a promissory note
that was guaranteed by William Roberts (who had previously
done the same for Constantine Perkins) and Mastin Breeden,
Sam’s brother-in-law. Sam did not pay when it came due and
Jesse Redfearn had to go to court. Sam did not even show up
at the hearing and the judgment, in March, 1858, was, of
course, against him:
Now at this day comes the Plaintiff by attorney and the
Defendant being thrice solemnly called comes not but
makes default, and failing to prosecute his said appeal
the Court upon an examination of the premises finds that
the said Defendant is indebted to said Plaintiff in the
sum of $25 debt and $3.75 damage by reason of detaining
the same. It is therefore considered by the Court that the
Plaintiff have and recover of and from the said
Defendant, Samuel R. Truesdale and William G. Roberts
36
and Mastin Burden [Breeden] his securities in his appeal
bond his said debt and damage and also his costs laid
out and expended and that he have execution therefor.70
William Roberts and Mastin Breeden may well have gotten
stuck for the whole amount if Sam was insolvent. In 1859 Sam
was again sued for payment, this time for $164, in addition to
which he was fined for damages and for the legal costs of the
plaintiff, John Mallay. Again, Sam did not appear in court.71
As before, the sheriff probably was commissioned to collect
the debt. In January, 1861, George Sloan appeared in court to
enforce collection of a $352 debt on a note signed by Sam.
Again Sam did not appear, “having been three times called”.
Again he had to pay, in addition, damages and court costs.72
In the 1860 census of Boone Township, Sam (27 years old) was
listed as the head of household (with the spelling Trusdale).
The others living with him were
Mary E. Trusdale 23
Martha Trusdale 2
Thursa Perkins 48
Levica Perkins 20
Mary A. Perkins 18 attended school within the year
Lucy A. Perkins 11 attended school within the year
Of the five Perkins children on the 1850 census, three still
remained. Constantine (Hector) would have been 14 years
old, and had probably died. Harriet could have married, and
if she had done so in Dade County, as I presume Sam and
Mary did, the record would have been lost to fire. But it is
more likely that she was dead too.
70 Greene County, Missouri, Circuit Court Record Book D, p. 110-111 71 Greene County, Missouri, Circuit Court Record Book D, p. 469 72 Greene County, Missouri, Circuit Court Record Book E, p. 179
37
On the 1860 census Samuel Truesdell’s property value is listed
as $4000, with an additional $2000 in personal property. They
owned no slaves. They had no hired hands and no relatives
were living with them. Cornelius Davidson, who had resided
with the family in 1850, was possibly in California – he
appears on an 1867 voter registration list in Saratoga,
occupation farmer. He may even have departed with
Constantine Perkins in 1850. Possibly the slaves had been sold
for financial reasons. On the other hand, Russell Breeden,
Mary’s father, was a Republican, according to Paddock’s
biography,73 and it is possible that Mary would not tolerate
the possession of slaves.
73 B. B. Paddock, op. cit.
38
The Civil War
After the outbreak of the Civil War, militias were formed in
Missouri supporting both sides of the conflict. At the
beginning they were not actually part of the Union and
Confederate armies. Overall, support for the Union side was
stronger than for the Confederate side in Greene County,
where the Truesdells were living, despite the fairly large
number of slaveholders74 and the southern origins of most of
the inhabitants.75 Sam, however, was not at all a Union
sympathizer.
Greene County, Missouri, was virtually a Civil War in
miniature. After the bombing of Fort Sumter on April 12,
1861, leaders on both sides attempted to keep the strife out of
the county. In just a few weeks, however, county militias had
formed.
74 Nathan Boone, for example, had 11 slaves when he died. 75 History of Greene County, Missouri, Townships and Villages, St. Louis, Western Historical Company, 1883
39
A “secessionist” militia company, entirely cavalry, was
organized in Greene County under the leadership of Leonidas
C. Campbell in early June. The squad was recruited
particularly in the neighborhood of Ash Grove.76 We can be
almost certain that Sam joined on June 11, when men who had
agreed to serve mustered in at a barbecue held at the
Fulbright Spring, just west of Springfield,77 and Paddock’s
biography is consistent with that. Campbell’s cavalry rode off
within the week to Taney County, south of Springfield, and
encamped near, or over, the Arkansas border.78 Two or three
weeks later, the company moved westward to join with what
was called the Missouri State Guard, which had gathered
together secessionist militia units throughout Missouri.
Campbell’s cavalry attached itself to the 7th Brigade, under
General McBride, who was from Springfield and had raised
infantry troops there.
Battle of Dug Springs
The first action seen by Sam was on August 1, 1861, at Dug
Springs, about 25 miles south of Ash Grove. By that time the
Union army, under General Lyon, had occupied Springfield.
With the help of numerous local spies, Lyon learned of a large
encampment southwest of Springfield with units from the
Missouri State Guard, Arkansas state cavalry and infantry,
and the Confederate Army. Freshly reinforced, Lyon marched
out from Springfield. One of Lyons regiments encountered
advance units of the Missouri State Guard and there ensued a
brief skirmish, ending in a southern withdrawal after an hour
76 Ibid., p. 404 77 Ibid., p. 285 78 Ibid., p. 404
40
or so, after which Lyon took his troops back to Springfield.79
Casualties were correspondingly light – fewer than five killed
on each side.80 Only one member of Campbell’s cavalry was
wounded, and he only slightly.
An account of the action at Dug Springs was published a few
weeks later in Harper’s Weekly, which elevated the encounter
to the status of a battle, and placed the number of Confederate
dead at 40.81 The illustration below was entitled “Splendid
Charge of the United States Cavalry at Dug Spring,
Missouri”.82
Battle of Wilson’s Creek
Sam was soon thereafter in a real battle, the Battle of Wilson’s
Creek, often called the second battle of the Civil War (after the
79 Ibid., p. 296 80 Ibid., p. 298 81 Harper’s Weekly, August 24, 1861, p. 535, (see sonofthesouth.net) 82 History of Greene County, Missouri, Townships and Villages, St. Louis, Western Historical Company, 1883, p. 533
41
first battle of Bull Run). It took place in Greene County, about
10 miles southwest of Springfield, not far from Dug Springs.
The Missouri State Guard and Confederate Army troops had
been reinforced by more units from Arkansas and were again
moving north, with the intention of capturing Springfield. On
August 10, in order to avoid civilian casualties, General Lyon
again marched south to meet them.
Lyon met a force with more than twice as many soldiers. Lyon
also had very few cavalry, despite the florid artwork in the
Harper’s Weekly, while the southern armies had many, Sam
among them. This time there was a day-long pitched battle.
Casualties were high on both sides,83 and included the death
of General Lyon himself.
Campbell’s cavalry, with which Sam fought, was assigned to
the extreme left flank of the Missouri State Guard, with the
mission of preventing the Union army from flanking the
southern forces. This kept them out of direct conflict for most
of the battle. Near the end of the day they were fired on by
federal troops and suffered one dead and two wounded.84
In the end the Union troops were forced to withdraw to
Springfield, from which they organized a general retreat of
army and civilians toward Rolla, about halfway along the
road from Springfield to St. Louis, where there was a major
Union army encampment. The retreat began at midnight and
the refugees were not pursued. The southern troops entered
Springfield on August 11 and took over control of Greene
County and southwestern Missouri.
83 Each had about 250 killed and 1,000 wounded 84 History of Greene County, Missouri, Townships and Villages, St. Louis, Western Historical Company, 1883, p. 345
42
The illustration below, from Harper’s Weekly, entitled “General
Siegel forcing his prisoners to draw off his cannon”,
emphasizes the Union retreat from the Wilson’s Creek
battleground.
Springfield Bounces Back and Forth
Over the next two weeks, Sam and other Greene County
troops may have been given leave to return to their farms to
assist in the harvest, because it was necessary for the army to
acquire large stores of food to support their operations.
This having been accomplished, the Arkansas and
Confederate troops left for Arkansas, while the Missouri State
Guard marched north from Springfield, leaving a few
hundred soldiers, mostly from Greene County, behind to
defend the town, including most of Campbell’s cavalry
43
company.85 The State Guard met Union forces at Lexington on
September 12, and there ensued what was basically a siege,
ending with the entire Union garrison being taken prisoner,
then later exchanged for southern prisoners.
Soon after the victory of the secessionist forces at Lexington,
the Missouri State Guard turned back south, on the news that
a large Union army under the command of General John
Fremont was marching from the east towards Springfield.
Fearing substantial losses if they had to fight, the State Guard
marched through Springfield towards the southwest, taking
Sam, in Campbell’s cavalry company, with them. By the time
the first units of the Union army entered Springfield on
October 27, the State Guard was about 75 miles southwest.
Greene County was once again in Union hands.
Somewhat unaccountably, Fremont, who was planning to
chase the Missouri State Guard and had the superior numbers
and armament to do so, was relieved of command and the
Union army was ordered to return to its post at Rolla. They
abandoned Springfield on November 8, and the State Guard
immediately returned and reestablished martial law.
The State Guard engaged in sporadic activity during the next
few months, but was not involved in any major battles.
Springfield became a major depot for arms and ammunition.
In early February, however, came the news that a large Union
force was again headed toward Springfield from Rolla.
On February 12, 1862, the State Guard, including Sam in
Campbell’s cavalry unit,86 began a retreat into Arkansas rather
than face a much superior force. The Union army arrived
85 Ibid., p. 404 86 Ibid.
44
shortly thereafter, and Springfield remained in Union hands
during the rest of the war. They were supported by a majority
of Greene County residents, but the same could not be said for
several of the surrounding counties.
Battle of Pea Ridge
The Union army, under General Samuel Curtis, paused hardly
at all, continuing its pursuit of the State Guard into Arkansas.
At the same time a Confederate army under General Van
Dorn was marching north from Fayetteville. The Union army
dug in at Pea Ridge, just across the state line, and waited for
an attack by forces that now outnumbered them. Sam, with
the rest of Campbell’s cavalry, was with the 3rd Brigade of the
First Division of the State Guard.87 The brigade was
commanded by Colonel Colton Greene.88
87 Wikipedia, Pea Ridge Confederate Order of Battle 88 Ibid.
45
Part of Van Dorn’s strategy was to outflank the Union line on
both the west and east and attack Curtis from the north. In
order to do this, he had to move his men rapidly over a
considerable distance and he was forced to leave his supply
train far behind. He succeeded in the flanking maneuver, but
his men were exhausted and hungry. There was fierce
fighting all along the lines during the entire first day of battle,
March 7. In part because his troops came close to surrounding
the Union forces, Van Dorn had the advantage during the first
day, so much so that Curtis was advised by his aides to
organize a retreat for the next morning.
Curtis did not retreat, and several factors carried the day for
the Union on March 8. Several Confederate generals were
killed or captured and officers did not know who was in
command. Units began acting independently and often at
odds. Meanwhile Curtis kept his own smaller forces tightly
organized. By the middle of the second day ammunition and
food were running low for the Confederates and Curtis was
moving forward everywhere.89
An account of the battle was filed by Colonel Colton Greene,
Sam’s brigade commander in the Missouri State Guard, and
presents the action more as Sam would have observed it in
Campbell’s cavalry:
In compliance with your order all the cavalry,
excepting Captain Campbell’s company, which
fought as infantry, was dismounted before leaving
camp in Boston Mountains, and … consisted of
about 80 men… These were attached to the
Confederate Infantry … I marched with 658 men on
the 4th instant, leaving a strong camp guard behind.
89 Wikipedia, Battle of Pea Ridge
46
On the morning of the 7th we reached the enemy’s
rear near the junction of the Bentonville and
Springfield roads, the command being somewhat
reduced from the severity of the march. I was
immediately ordered into position by you on the hill
to the left of the road, where our batteries were first
posted. Here we received the enemy’s fire for two
hours, sustaining a loss of 10 in wounded.
I was … ordered to the right, to support Colonel
Burbridge, and advanced in line several hundred
yars, when I found myself in close proximity to one
of the enemy’s batteries. Our guide was missing,
and we had advanced a considerable distance
beyond Colonel Burbridge’s position. The enemy
opened on us with canister and shell, but my men,
being well sheltered, sustained no injury. I held the
position for thirty minutes, when we were fired into
from one of our own batteries and were forced to fall
back.
By your order I now took position on Colonel
Burbridge’s left, and advanced on the enemy, to the
right of Elkhorn Tavern. The timber being
obstructed by heavy undergrowth at this point, I
was forced to oblique to the left, which movement
brought me to the rear of the tavern…
It was now late in the afternoon, when an advance
was ordered… An open, unsheltered field lay
between my men and the enemy. He was in force,
and supported by a battery immediately on our
front. Our brave men at once rushed through the
field, charged the enemy in the face of a murderous
fire, drove him back, pursued him until night, and
… slept on the most advanced position, which was
the one now held.
47
This ground we held by order of Major-General Van
Dorn and stood to our arms the greater part of the
night expecting an attack. The fight … was renewed
in the morning with heavy artillery-firing and
continued for over an hour, when our batteries were
ordered off. We held our position, and I was ordered
to keep the enemy in check and fall back … [The
enemy] had now advanced within easy range, and
we opened a brisk fire upon him, falling back
slowly. Three times we formed and fought him,
when, perceiving his intention to flank us, we fell
back on the hill to the left of Elkhorn Tavern, and
were ordered … to follow the main body of the
army, which had already been withdrawn…
[My men] were without food for twenty-four hours
before the engagement and received but one meal of
flour and bacon during the two days following.
Their conduct in the charge near Elkhorn Tavern is
particularly deserving of your notice. The killed and
wounded of my command … were 65.90
It is difficult to ascertain from Colonel Greene’s report that his
brigade was part of the nearly successful flanking maneuver
carried out by Van Dorn, but it can be readily seen on the
accompanying map, in which Sam’s position is indicated by a
yellow circle. Captain Campbell, Sam’s company commander,
was injured in the fighting, but continued in command.
90 The War of the Rebellion, A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Vol. 8, 1883, pp. 325-326
48
There followed a rapid retreat to the south over the next week.
The Confederate losses had been especially heavy, with
around 2,000 killed and wounded. The Confederate army was
then ordered to the east, to join the Army of Tennessee in
Corinth, Mississippi. The Missouri State Guard, unable to
49
return to Missouri, marched with them and was finally
merged into the Confederate Army.
Campbell’s cavalry, of which Sam was a part, marched with
Colonel Greene to Mississippi, but was not at that time
mustered into the Confederate Army. Greene asked, and
obtained permission, to return with Leonidas Campbell’s
company to Arkansas and Missouri, pick up recruits along the
way, and conduct raids in Missouri. A letter from Greene’s
brigade commander, General Martin Green, recommended
this plan to General Price.91
Colonel Colton Greene and Lieut. Col. Campbell of
this brigade wish to obtain authority to raise a
regiment of Partisan Rangers in the Trans
Mississippi District. I would not hastily recommend
[an] officer for this service, but do not hesitate in this
case to do so. These gentlemen are men of character
and property at home, and have been active and
efficient officers during the campaign in Missouri. I
do therefore heartily endorse them, believing that
they can be of service to the Confederacy and that
they will raise the proposed regiment. They will be
accompanied by officers who reside in southern
Missouri, who like themselves know the people and
country well. In the section they propose to operate
in are many discharged soldiers of the Missouri
State Guard from whom they inform me, they have
received solicitations to return. They have had
commands in the line and it is needless for me to
say, General, to you who know them both, that they
have performed efficient service.
91 June 3, 1862, www.fold3.com
50
Consequently, Sam, as part of Leonidas Campbell’s cavalry
company, was brought all the way back to northwestern
Arkansas as part of Greene’s Regiment of Missouri
Volunteers. On August 1, this group was mustered into the
Confederate Army as the 3rd Regiment, Missouri Cavalry.92
Sam was in Company A, as seen on the muster rolls below.
92 Inevitably to be confused with the 3rd Battalion, Missouri Cavalry, a different CSA unit.
51
The mustering in took place at Rolling Prairie, a location not
now on the map, but found in the southeast corner of Carroll
County in the portion of an 1854 map of Arkansas shown
below.93 It was approximately 75 due south of Sam’s home in
Ash Grove.
Now deputy commander of the regiment, Leonidas C.
Campbell was given the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. His
cousin, Leonidas A. Campbell, was also made part of the
regimental command, with the rank of major.
Missouri Raids
Reports on the actions in which Company A took part during
the remainder of 1862 have been preserved, despite having
been recorded only on two sides of a muster roll slip (see
below). The company and regimental activities correspond
93 Historic Map Works, Arkansas 1854
52
quite well with Colonel Greene’s intention to conduct raids
into Missouri. The writing is somewhat difficult to read, and
the text of the description follows.
The Company was engaged in three actions since its
organization and in several small skirmishes. The
main actions were on Fort Stephens, Douglas Co.,
Mo., Nov 8, 1862, in which the Fort was captured,
near Hartville Mo., in an attack on a wagon train in
which thirty wagons were captured, Dec. 11, 1862,
and near Van Buren Mo., Dec. 26, 1862, [in which] a
53
detachment of Davidson’s Div., US, and several
wagons were captured. The conduct of both officers
and men in these actions was excellent. In the
various scouts this Company travelled 1320 miles
and were generally on outpost duty on the border in
front of the enemy. The discipline and efficiency of
the Co. are good, arms poor and all private property.
It is well mounted on private horses and captured
equipments. All QM property in its hands were
captured with a few exceptions.
That the soldiers were using their own horses is also evident
in Sam’s muster-in roll above, in which his horse was valued
at $165 and the saddle and other equipment at $20.
I can find no mention of a Fort Stephens (or Fort Stevenson, as
it was called in some of the other company reports).
Nevertheless, we have a pretty good picture of what Sam and
Company A were doing on November 8, 1862, because the
day before, Colonel Greene’s regiment took part in the so-
called Battle of Clark’s Mill. The Confederate forces in this
engagement outnumbered the Union defenders in the town of
Vera Cruz, in Douglas County, Missouri, by about 10 to 1. The
Confederates used their larger cannons to shell the Union
soldiers, holed up in Clark’s mill, for a few hours, following
which the Union troops surrendered, but were let loose by
Greene and the other commanders. There were no
Confederate casualties reported.94
Cinita Brown has written an account of the battle, and
concludes with the following statement:95
94 Cinita Brown, The Battle of Clark’s Mill, http://www.watersheds.org/history/battle.htm 95 Ibid.
54
It is thought that the Confederates went back
down Bryant Creek and destroyed the
blockhouses at Rippee. Then they probably went
over to Rome and destroyed the blockhouses
there. A couple of months later … they fought at
the Battle of Hartville.
It may seem odd that the action at Clark’s Mill was not
mentioned in the Company A report; however, because the
fighting that occurred was done entirely by artillery,
Company A was probably being held in reserve in case an
actual battle developed. When they did see action the next
day, it is probable that the Fort Stephens or Stevenson they
captured was one of the blockhouses on Rippee Creek, south
of Vera Cruz, housing a handful of soldiers.
Colonel Greene’s 3rd Regiment of Missouri Cavalry was at the
Battle of Hartville, mentioned in Cinita Brown’s account, but
that battle took place in January, 1863, whereas the action in
which Sam and Company A participated in the capture of a
wagon train carrying arms and supplies happened a month
earlier, on December 11, 1862.
General John Davidson commanded the troops from one of
the four divisions of the Union forces that had fought at Pea
Ridge, which after the battle was sent east. His troops were
responsible for countering guerilla raids in southern Missouri,
such as those Sam was participating in. The raid on December
26 near Van Buren, in Carter County, in which Sam and
Company A captured one of Davidson’s patrols, shows just
how far and fast Greene’s guerrilla regiment was traveling.
The three actions enumerated in the company report are
shown in red on the outline map of Missouri. It should be
kept in mind that Union forces were in nominal control of all
of Missouri during this time, despite the fact that a parallel,
55
Confederate government of Missouri existed (which,
naturally, declared Missouri to have seceded from the Union).
Battle of Springfield
The Battle of Springfield took place on January 8, 1863. Sam
was supposed to have been part of it, but he wasn’t.
By the time of the raid at Van Buren in December, 1862,
Colonel Greene’s regiment had been integrated into the
Fourth Corps of the Trans-Mississippi Department of the
Confederate Army, commanded by Major General John
Marmaduke. Greene’s regiment formed a part of an
unnumbered brigade commanded by Colonel Joseph Porter.
One reason the brigade was unnumbered was that their
actions were behind the Union lines, and were not officially
56
sanctioned, nor was the brigade given official orders of
engagement. The official policy of the Union command was
that enemy soldiers behind the lines were traitors and subject
to execution.96 Nevertheless, when it suited him, Marmaduke
did issue orders to Porter.
Such a case was the Battle of Springfield.97 Springfield had
become the center of operations for the entire Union Army of
the Southwest, and had a depot with massive supplies of arms
and ammunition. In late December, 1862, General Curtis had
moved a major part of his army into Arkansas. Marmaduke
thought he saw an opportunity to capture the supply depot in
Springfield, the value of which was well over a million
dollars. He brought 2,000 troops north, evading Curtis’s
Union army, and he ordered Porter to bring his brigade from
northeast Arkansas, with another 1,000 or so. Porter set out
from Pocahontas, where he had retired his troops after the
raid in Van Buren. Sam, of course, was in this group.
Around January 6, 1863, Marmaduke, who was waiting for
Porter to arrive, was alerted to the fact that Union spies had
seen his column. He decided that he needed to move
immediately to minimize the ability of the Springfield
garrison to obtain reinforcements. He immediately sent a
courier to Porter’s brigade to tell him to accelerate his
approach, leaving infantry behind, if necessary. The courier,
however, was unable to locate Porter, and the message was
never received.98
96 Wikipedia, Joseph C. Porter 97 Sometimes called the Second Battle of Springfield, calling the barely contested arrival of General Fremont the first. 98 History of Greene County, Missouri, Townships and Villages, St. Louis, Western Historical Company, 1883, p. 436
57
Marmaduke still had a numerical advantage, but on the first
day, January 8, he was unable to take the forts in Springfield,
despite occupying much of the city. Of note was that
Springfield was also a military hospital center, and 300 of the
patients, dubbed the ‘quinine brigade’, were able to bolster
the defense, probably decisively.99 Knowing that Union
reinforcements would be arriving from several quarters,
Marmaduke withdrew after some skirmishing on January 9,
and marched eastward. His army burned a minor Union fort,
joined up with Porter’s brigade, then continued eastward to
Hartville, with none of the booty he had set out to take.
The Battle of Hartville
Several regiments of Union troops, sent to reinforce
Springfield, reached the town of Hartville en route on January
10. Marmaduke sent Porter’s brigade to attack them. From
Colonel Porter’s report to General Marmaduke, we can obtain
a picture of Sam’s part in the action, as a member of the
regiment commanded by Leonidas Campbell. Here is an
extract from that report:
I, on the 2nd day of January, 1863, detached from my
command (then encamped at Pocahontas, Randolph
County, Arkansas) the effective men of my
command, numbering in the aggregate 825 men, and
proceeded westward… [In] Fulton County
[Arkansas] I learned of a considerable force of
Federals stationed at Houston, in Texas County,
Missouri. I therefore continued my march …, going
farther west than I had anticipated. Arriving at a
point nearly due south of the town of Hartville … I
changed my course northward, [but] I was
99 Ibid., p. 442
58
compelled to order about 125 of my men back to
camp, … unable to proceed farther for want of shoes
on their horses…. All things went well,
notwithstanding the hardships all were compelled
to undergo on account of shortness of provisions
and clothing.
On the morning of the 9th of January, 1863, we
neared the town of Hartville … at which point I
learned that a company of the enrolled militia of
Missouri were stationed. Putting my command in
order, I detached a company as advance guard,
ordering them to reconnoiter to ascertain the
position and … strength of the enemy… I found,
upon approaching the town, that the enemy, 40
strong, had surrendered to my advance without
firing a gun… [We] destroyed the fortifications, with
200 stand of arms, finding no commissary or
quartermaster’s stores.
At 8 p.m. … I moved my command upon the road to
Marshfield, some 6 miles, and bivouacked… At 3
p.m. (10th) my command was ordered back 3 miles,
upon the road leading to Hartville, to encamp. At 11
p.m., same night, I received orders to proceed… to
Hartville…
At 3 a.m., 11th of January…, upon receiving
information of the enemy in front, I ordered Colonel
Wimer to skirmish with the enemy, … at the same
time ordering Captain Brown’s guns in position in
the center, with Colonel Campbell on the right and
Colonel Jeffers on the left … I continued my advance
… until daylight and your arrival…
At 7 a.m. I was ordered to fall back and follow your
command, which I did… I was then ordered to
dismount my command… Before having completed
59
… the order, I received information that the enemy
were in full retreat from … Hartville, and at the
same time an order to remount my command and
pursue the enemy. On arriving at the courthouse
with the head of my column, I found the enemy
formed in the brush just above town, within 50
yards of my command… I ordered my men to
dismount; but the enemy poured upon us such a
heavy volley of musketry that my command was
compelled to fall back somewhat in disorder, I being
at the same time wounded in leg and hand….
Captain Brown’s battery took position as ordered,
[but] he was compelled, for want of ammunition (his
ammunition being carried off by his horses
stampeding) and a galling fire of the enemy, to
retire, leaving his pieces on the field, which were
afterward brought off by a part of Colonel Green’s
and Burbridge’s men… The detachment of Colonel
Greene’s regiment was gallantly led by Lieutenant
Colonel Campbell, assisted by Major Campbell. My
men, I must say, acquitted themselves with honor,
almost without exception. Our loss foots up to 6
killed and 38 wounded.100
Not long after driving off the artillerymen from Porter’s
brigade, the Union troops withdrew in the direction of
Houston, from which they had come. Despite having forced a
Union retreat, Marmaduke’s position would have been too
exposed had he remained in Hartville.
100 The War of the Rebellion. A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume XXXIV, Part I, Washington, Government Printing Office, 1888, p. 205-207
60
Marmaduke’s Second Raid
General Marmaduke took his troops from Hartville to
Batesville, in northeast Arkansas, where there was a fort and
lodgings for the winter. Colonel Porter had been shot in the
leg during the Battle of Hartville, and he died of
complications in February. Colonel Greene was promoted to
brigade commander and Leonidas Campbell was promoted to
commander of the regiment in which Sam was serving.
Despite these changes, the regiment was referred to as
“Greene’s Regiment” throughout the war.
Marmaduke immediately began to develop plans for a second
raid, with an objective similar to the first – to capture arms,
ammunition, and horses, all of which were in short supply.
Scouts were sent out, Sam among them (see record from his
service file below), to follow movements of men and material.
61
In April, Marmaduke found the opportunity he was looking
for. General John McNeil, who in 1862 had pursued Porter all
over Missouri, was now a brigade commander, and had
brought about 1,700 troops to the Union fort at Bloomfield,
Missouri.
Marmaduke took his division, with 5,000 troops, north to
capture McNeil’s brigade and relieve them of their horses and
arms. McNeil’s scouts, however, reported Marmaduke’s troop
movements, whereupon McNeil abandoned Bloomfield and
moved his troops to Cape Girardeau on the Mississippi River,
where the bulk of his army was sheltered in two heavily
armed forts within the town. After fighting several skirmishes
along the route,101 Marmaduke attacked Cape Girardeau on
April 26, with Greene’s brigade one of three that came in from
the west, while the other half of the army attacked from the
south. With no decisive result after a day’s fighting, again
perhaps fearing the arrival of reinforcements, Marmaduke
withdrew with nothing to show for his efforts.
After the Battle of Cape Girardeau there were many reports
that Marmaduke’s cavalrymen had looted civilian houses.
General Theophilus Holmes, in charge of all Confederate
forces in Arkansas, disciplined Marmaduke by transferring
some of his division to General Lucius Walker.102
Battle of Helena
Marmaduke retreated to the southwest to fortifications at
Jacksonport, Arkansas. Colonel Greene’s brigade, however,
101 Walter C. Hilderman III, Theophilus Hunter Holmes, Jefferson, NC, McFarland & Company, 2014, p. 121 102 Ibid.
62
was detailed to harass the enemy and gather intelligence, and
was headquartered at Wittsburg, 60 miles southeast of
Jacksonport. Sam’s regiment was sent still further east to the
Mississippi River, to harass what Union troops there were and
to gather intelligence. On June 17, Colonel Greene reported
about Sam’s regiment:103
Colonel Campbell reports that his advance failed to
draw out the enemy; whereupon he, with a light
detachment, went down to the river, opposite
Memphis, and made some demonstration on the
levee. A picket-boat steamed up and came toward
the shore, but did not land. He will move his force
down this morning.
Two days later, Greene reported on the intelligence gathered
by Sam’s regiment:104
I am informed by Colonel Campbell, whose
information is received through a source entitled to
serious consideration, that the enemy is
concentrating a heavy cavalry force at Ironton
[Missouri], 6,000 to 7,000 strong, with a view to a
raid into Arkansas. The force is commanded by
General Jefferson C. Davis,105 and will march the last
of this or the first of next week. I consider the
information of sufficient importance to send a
courier at once.
At this time, General Holmes received the news that about
16,000 of the 20,000 Union troops that had been garrisoned at
103 The War of the Rebellion. A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume XXII, Part II, Washington, Government Printing Office, 1888, p. 876 104 Ibid., p. 878 105 A Union general who had the same name as the president of the CSA
63
Helena, Arkansas, had been sent to reinforce Vicksburg,
which had been under siege by Grant for two months. Helena
was of vital strategic importance, because it was a toehold for
the Union that could be used to land troops by boat and strike
anywhere in Arkansas.
Holmes decided to attack Helena immediately. He wanted to
move swiftly to avoid having to fight the Union forces he now
surmised would be moving towards him from Missouri.
Holmes ordered three divisions in different parts of Arkansas
to converge on Helena, in all about 7,500 men. Marmaduke’s
division left Jacksonport on June 22,106 picking up the Second
Brigade, under Colton Greene, at Wittsburg, and then Sam’s
3rd Missouri Cavalry Regiment, commanded by Leonidas
Campbell.
On June 25, Holmes received intelligence from Colonel John
Burbridge indicating that there was not as much to worry
about from the north as had been feared.107
Colonel Campbell [is] certainly mistaken about the
number of the enemy at Ironton. They have between
3,000 and 4,000 men. There is no doubt that the
enemy have sent a great many men to Vicksburg
from the vicinity of Ironton. Three thousand men
were shipped at one time. It is absurd to think that
the enemy were preparing to move in this direction
with their present force. When they hear that our
army has left Jacksonport and gone in the direction
of Helena, they will move in this direction, and not
until then. I will use every effort to prevent them
receiving that information.
106 Walter C. Hilderman III, op. cit., p. 125 107 Robert N. Scott, op. cit., p. 884
64
The night of July 3-4, Holmes set his forces in motion to attack
from the north, south, and west. Marmaduke’s Division and
Walker’s Division (formerly under Marmaduke’s command)
were assigned to march from the north, Marmaduke along
Old St. Francis Road and Walker along Sterling Road, to the
east of Marmaduke.108 Sam’s regiment broke camp at 10 PM
and began marching towards Helena.
Marmaduke’s assignment was to take Fort Rightor (Battery A
in the map above), then proceed towards the heavily fortified
Fort Curtis. Walker was to guard Marmaduke’s left flank.
Union soldiers had cut down many large trees across all roads
leading into Helena to delay the attack. This caused Sam’s
regiment to dismount while still three miles from Battery A,
leaving every fourth man to guard the horses.109 Marmaduke
made good progress despite the obstacles, and engaged
advance units from Fort Rightor just before dawn. His troops
(about 1,750 in number) pushed forward to about 100 yards
108 Walter C. Hilderman III, loc. cit. 109 Mark K. Christ, Civil War Arkansas 1863, University of Oklahoma Press, 2010, p. 121
65
from the fort, but were then attacked from their left flank.
Walker had not been able to move as fast, and then had come
under attack himself.110 Because of the crossfire, Marmaduke
was never able to advance further.
The two Confederate columns attacking from the west and the
south had no better luck. Furthermore, those divisions, after
having bogged down without being able to attack the main
fort, came under fire from a Union ship in the Mississippi
River, doing considerable damage. By 2:00 all Confederate
forces had retreated.111 They were not pursued, mainly
because the Union commanders were under the impression
that the Confederates had almost 20,000 men. The truth was
that they had started with barely more than 7,500 and more
than 20% of them were killed, wounded, or captured. Colton
Greene’s brigade suffered just five killed and seven wounded,
none of them in Sam’s company, Company A.112
Battle of Bayou Meto
On the same day the Confederate attack on Helena was
repulsed, Vicksburg surrendered to Grant, who almost
immediately sent a division under General Frederick Steele to
reinforce Helena. Also in the first week of July, General
Davidson set off southwards with the 7,000 cavalry troops
that Sam’s regimental commander had reported to be ready to
march. The two Union armies met up and were put under
Steele’s command. The objective was to take Little Rock, the
110 Walter C. Hilderman III, op. cit., p. 128 111 Ibid., p. 133 112 Report of the Killed and Wounded of Marmaduke’s Division in the Battle at Helena, www.fold3.com
66
state capital. Steele’s troops were infantry, so Davidson
moved his forces ahead, while Steele followed.
The command of the Confederate Arkansas forces was given
to General Price, who had been the southern commander at
the Battle of Wilson’s Creek. He tried to consolidate the
command by merging Marmaduke’s and Walker’s divisions,
giving the overall command to Walker. This infuriated
Marmaduke, who blamed Walker for leaving Marmaduke’s
left flank unprotected at the Battle of Helena.
The command structure in Sam’s brigade was also altered.
Colonel William Jeffers, commander of the 8th Missouri
Cavalry, was promoted to brigade commander, while Colton
Greene was demoted to deputy commander.
In order to reach Little Rock, the Union army, traveling along
the Memphis to Little Rock road, would have to cross Bayou
Meto, a small, twisting river with very steep banks.
Marmaduke assigned some of his forces to prepare defenses
around the bridge the army would have to cross, which is in
the present city of Jacksonville, about 15 miles northeast of
Little Rock. Meanwhile, the rest of Marmaduke’s command
conducted guerrilla operations against the advancing Union
troops over a period of several days.
On August 25, Sam’s brigade was assigned the job of halting
the Union advance at the town of Brownsville, about 15 miles
east of the bridge over the Bayou Meto.
Marmaduke’s six hundred men under Col. William
L. Jeffers formed on the edge of Brownsville, with
Charlie Bell’s battery in place on the right…
The Rebels fell back through Brownsville to a
position on a second prairie some six miles west of
67
their original position. The Yankees approached
cautiously, pausing to shell the initial Confederate
position… When the Union cavalry was about half
way across the two-mile-wide prairie, Bell’s battery
“mischievously ambushed” the Second Missouri
Cavalry (U.S.)…
Davidson ordered up a pair of batteries that then
proceeded to throw a “shower of shells” into the
Rebel lines… [A Union captain wrote:] “We
proceeded some farther, shelled him again, but
cannot catch him.” This ended the battle of
Brownsville, with the Rebels falling back to their
works at Bayou Meto and the Yankees holding at
Brownsville. Nevertheless, Marmaduke’s delaying
action succeeded in slowing the Union advance.113
At 11:00 on August 27, the Battle of Bayou Meto commenced,
as the Union forces met Marmaduke’s, who were attempting
to block access to the bridge. Sam’s brigade, under Colonel
Jeffers, straddled the Military Road, with two other brigades
on each side.114 By 1:00, the Confederate forces had been
pushed back several times until they were just in front of the
bridge, as shown on the map below.115
113 Mark Crist, Troop Movements and Strategies in the Little Rock Campaign of 1863, National Register of Historic Places: Historic and Archeological Resources Associated with the Little Rock Campaign of 1863. 114 Reed’s Bridge Battlefield Preservation Plan, Thomason and Associates, Nashville, 2006, www.arkansascivilwar150.com 115 Ibid., p. 17
68
Marmaduke’s forces had begun in the upper right corner of
this map. Outnumbered and under heavy fire, Marmaduke
ordered a retreat across the bridge to positions that had been
fortified in the days preceding. By 3:00 PM the retreat across
the bridge had been completed (two brigades had to ford the
stream).116
116 Ibid., p. 118
69
As the last units were crossing, engineers coated the wooden
bridge with a thick layer of tar, which was then set on fire.
Union troops were unable to cross the bridge, and fording the
stream under fire would have been suicide. The two sides
exchanged fire across Bayou Meto for another two hours, then
the Union troops withdrew. Colonel Jeffers reported eight
killed and wounded, none of them from Sam’s regiment.
As an epilog to the battle, General Marmaduke, already
furious at Walker for not having protected Marmaduke’s left
flank at the Battle of Helena, complained in his reports that at
Bayou Meto, Walker had remained four miles behind the
front and refused to come up to the front to discuss plans.
Considering this an accusation of cowardice, Walker
challenged Marmaduke to a duel, in which Walker was killed.
Battle of Little Rock
Davidson took his cavalry back to Brownsville, where a few
days later Steele’s infantry arrived. Together, they proceeded
toward Little Rock. The Confederates could not guard every
possible point at which Bayou Meto could be forded, and,
afraid to be caught on his flank, Price ordered a gradual
retreat to Little Rock, again harassing Union forces as much as
was practicable. After a few skirmishes in and around Little
Rock, by September 7, the Confederates had completely
withdrawn across the Arkansas River, where they built large
and effective earthwork fortifications near where the Bayou
Fourche flows into the Arkansas.
On September 10, Steele’s infantry crossed the Arkansas River
on a pontoon bridge. Meanwhile, Davidson had taken his
cavalry downstream, forded the river, and ridden back to
attack the Confederates from the west. In the late afternoon,
70
Price ordered a retreat. Sam’s regiment, under Leonidas
Campbell, provided the rear guard for the retreat the next
day.
More details on the action seen by Sam’s regiment are
provided in a report submitted by Colonel Jeffers, his
regimental commander, stating in part:
For several days prior to September 10, this brigade
was engaged in picketing the different roads leading
to the fortifications at Little Rock. At sunrise on the
morning of the 10th, the brigade … was ordered to
leave the forks of the Brownsville and Shallow Ford
roads (at which point we had bivouacked the night
previous), cross at the lower pontoon, and move down
the river at a double-quick to meet the enemy, who
had early in the morning effected a crossing at Terry’s
Ferry. Arriving at Bayou Fourche (4 miles south of
Little Rock), the enemy were discovered drawn up in
battle line, their right resting on the river, and their left
extending parallel to our front. According to orders, I
dismounted the men and made the following
disposition of the forces under my command: Colonel
Greene’s regiment, commanded by Major Campbell,
on the right; my regiment, commanded by Lt.-Col.
Ward … and Burbridge’s regiment, in the center, and
… Young’s battalion on the left…. After some slight
skirmishing, the enemy, with a body of cavalry and a
section of howitzers, attempted to flank us on the left
from the river bank. Here a severe engagement took
place, which lasted nearly half an hour, and we
succeeded in driving the enemy from his position,
completely routing him, and forcing him to leave his
artillery… I was then ordered to withdraw the brigade
… and form about one-half mile from the bayou, in an
open field, as the enemy was making a flank
movement on our right…. As the enemy, with vastly
superior force, attempted to flank us on the right, and
71
kept up an incessant and harassing fire from their
batteries planted on the river bank, I, according to
orders, fell back slowly, in line of battle, to Little Rock,
skirmishing all the while…. I was ordered to march 10
miles on the Benton road, where I bivouacked for the
night.
On the morning of the 11th, I was ordered to continue
the march, Major Campbell’s regiment acting as rear
guard. At 10 a.m. the enemy drove in his vedettes.
Retiring slowly by company, making successive
formations, Major Campbell fought the enemy for 7
miles, drew them into an ambuscade, and completely
checked them for the time. At noon the brigade halted,
fed, and Colonel Campbell was relieved.117
117 The War of the Rebellion. A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume XXII, Part I, Washington, Government Printing Office, 1888, p. 533-534
72
General Price retreated all the way to Camden, where he had
fortifications built. General Steele remained in Little Rock,
where he reinforced and supplied the fortifications left by the
Confederates. Neither made a move until the next spring.
Mary Changes Lodgings
Back in Ash Grove in Greene County, Sam’s wife Mary was
becoming increasingly isolated. At the beginning of the war,
Greene County already had a preponderance of Union
sympathizers. Since the Union army had occupied
Springfield, a large portion of the remaining southern
sympathizers had moved elsewhere.
The situation for Mary was all the worse in that her own
family was strongly pro-Union and anti-slavery. One brother,
Mastin Breeden, joined the Union army, and the descendants
of another brother, Squire Preston Breeden, say that according
to family history, Preston was a scout during the war, though
there is no military record to substantiate that.
Mastin Breeden was the captain of Company L of the 8th
Regiment of Missouri State Militia Cavalry, and later the
captain of Company G of the 14th Regiment of Missouri State
Militia Cavalry. It does not appear that Mastin Breeden was
ever engaged in a battle in which Sam Truesdell fought for the
other side, although that was only avoided at the Battle of
Springfield because a courier did not find Sam’s brigade.
Nevertheless, feelings doubtless ran high against Sam every
time there were Greene County casualties.
Another potential source of trouble for Mary was the Union
League, which in most of the country was a network of
organizations set up to finance Union and Republican
73
causes.118 In Greene County, however, it had a secret, more
sinister character.
A secret political order, the Union League,
flourished in Greene County during the war for the
avowed purpose of “aiding and abetting by all
honorable means the Federal government in its
efforts to put down the rebellion.” Unfortunately
they allowed these purposes to deteriorate to the
worst uses, and the order was frequently used for
the gratification of private revenges in the name of
loyalty.119
Problems in running the farm on her own probably took an
additional toll, and added to that, some of their property was
seized to pay a debt – one that seems disproportionately small
in comparison to the remedy.
In 1859 Sam had borrowed $125 from John McElhanon, the
son of Constantine Perkins’ partner in the mill. When later
Sam didn’t or couldn’t pay, McElhanon sued for collection in
court in 1861. The entry in the circuit court record book states:
An affidavit by agent [states] that the Defendant has
absconded or absented himself from his usual place of
abode in this State so that the ordinary process cannot be
served upon him. It is ordered therefore by the
undersigned Clerk of said Court, In Vacation, that
publication be made notifying the Defendant that an
action has been taken against him by petition and
attachment in said Court…, and his property is about to
be attached and unless he appear at the next term of the
118 Wikipedia, Union League 119 Milton D. Rafferty, The Ozarks, Land and Life, 2nd Ed., University of Arkansas Press, 2001, p. 94
74
Court … judgment will be rendered against him and his
property sold to satisfy the same.120
As seen earlier, Sam had certainly not proved himself to be
punctilious in the payment of his debts, but “absconded”
doesn’t seem like the right word. Sam was at that time a
Confederate soldier. In 1862, the court followed up, ordering
the sale of Sam’s 10-acre plot and all 160 acres Sam had
bought during the 1850s in order to satisfy the debt, “or so
much thereof as is necessary to be sold to satisfy said
execution”.121
The Greene County circuit court records in 1862 are full of
lawsuits for the collection of debts from individuals who had
“absconded”. Although Union soldiers were sometimes
victims of these enforced property sales, Confederate soldiers
undoubtedly had it worse. According to a history of Greene
County,
The Confederates always claimed that these
proceedings against them were unjust and unfair,
inasmuch as they were carried on during their
absence, when they were prevented from appearing
in their own defense and that when executions were
levied on their property it was sold ridiculously low,
and without regard to propriety. But the plaintiffs
replied that they were not bound to await the
pleasure of the defendants to bring their suits; that
they, the plaintiffs, had been wronged and were not
bound to submit without redress; that the
defendants had no right to be in the Confederate
army, away from their homes, and still less right to
120 Greene County, Missouri, Circuit Court Record Book E, p. 265 121 Greene County, Missouri, Circuit Court Record Book E, p. 490
75
go about taking the property of loyal men and
harassing them by arrests and imprisonments.122
For some or all of these reasons, the situation became
untenable for Mary Truesdell. According to Paddock’s
biography, she left Missouri for Arkansas in 1863,123 and
indeed there exists a letter filed with the Missouri Provost
Marshal on September 10, 1863 (the same day Sam was
fighting Davidson’s cavalry at Belle Fourche in Little Rock),
from Mary, shown below, and a note from within the Provost
Marshal’s office, stating that Mary was “asking for permission
to go south beyond the Federal lines. Truesdell wants to take
her children and a boy she is raising to join her husband, a
member of the Confederate Army.”124 The provost marshal is
the military officer in charge of the military police and civilian
affairs.
The letter, in Mary’s own hand, reveals the presence of a child
that was not listed in the 1860 census, possibly a relative, but
one can’t tell from the letter.
122 History of Greene County, Missouri, St. Louis, Western Historical Company, 1883, p. 457 123 B. B. Paddock, op. cit. 124 Missouri Digital Archives, Missouri’s Union Provost Marshal Papers: 1861-1866
76
The body of the letter reads as follows:
The undersigned would respectfully ask permission
to pass beyond the Federal lines to Dixie taking my
children and a boy I am raising, with private
conveyance and such things as may be allowed by
the Military Authorities.
My reason for desiring to go is because my husband
is [in] the Southern Army and I desire to join him.
77
Paddock’s biography mentions a group of 59 refugees fleeing
Greene County to Hempstead County, Arkansas. While their
destination cannot be verified, there were indeed several
letters filed with the Union Provost Marshal around the same
time Mary sent hers, asking for permission to go south. One,
for example, filed a week before Mary’s, requested permission
for seven women with eleven children to leave in a horse and
wagon. Mary too evidently left in a horse and wagon (a
“private conveyance”, as the letter states), with her children.125
She also took a child not hers, which circumstances had
placed in her care. Sam’s mother, Thirza Perkins, and her
daughters Levisa, Mary Ann, and Lucy are not mentioned in
the letter, and Paddock’s biography is not much help – in one
part Thirza, is stated to have remained in Missouri until after
the war, but later is said to have fled with Mary to Arkansas.
If Thirza and her three daughters had gone with Mary in 1863,
one would think that this would have been stated in the letter.
It had to be a frightening prospect to travel more than 300
miles through areas where there could well be fighting.
Thirza’s father, George Davidson, had died in March.126 Her
mother, Jenny, was 82 years old. Thirza’s sister, Frances
Daughtery, was living with her family on the Davidson farm
in Dade County.127 Thirza, Levisa, Mary, and Lucy may well
have bunked with the Daughtery family for the duration.
125 In the letter the number of children is not specified, while Paddock’s biography states that there were two. The first three of Sam and Mary’s children all died young. We might assume that two of the nonsurviving children were born before the war, and went with Mary to Arkansas, and one (Belle, presumably) was born after. 126 Most family trees place the death of George W. Davidson in 1864, because that is what is on the headstone. However, his executor was appointed by the court on March 11, 1863, and all other probate records are consistent with March, 1863 as the date of death. 127 Several of the Daughtery sons were in the Confederate army.
78
This is the point at which Thirza vanishes from our sight. I
have found no further record of her existence, save the
statement in Paddock’s biography that she spent her last years
in Texas. Also vanished from our sight is the child that Mary
was raising and whom she took with her on the flight to
Hempstead County.
We do have a very good idea where Mary went. Thirza’s
older half-brother, Thomas Davidson, had lived in
Hempstead County for many years. He died in 1863, leaving
his (second) wife, Mary, and three children – George (29), Mat
(27), and Bruce (25). All three of the children were in the
Confederate army at the time, in different battle units. All
three survived the war. The Thomas Davidson farm was in
the Marlbrook area of Redmond Township, very near the
present town of Blevins. Its general location can be seen on the
outline map of Arkansas on page 71, along with several other
landmarks from Sam’s expeditions.
Although her husband Thomas had just died and her children
were in the army, Mary Davidson was probably not alone on
the farm in Hempstead County in 1863, when Mary Truesdell
arrived with three children. In none of the three censuses in
which Thomas Davidson was in Arkansas did he have slaves,
but in 1850 there was a free black couple living on the farm
with them as hired hands. In the 1860 census there was a 9-
year old girl the Davidsons had taken in, plus a fairly large
family named Barnes on the farm. Mr. Barnes, however,
would have been 67 years old in 1863, and cannot have been
much help. With many mouths to feed and the constant
danger that Union or Confederate armies would take their
crops, it must have been very difficult to manage.
79
The Confederate base in Camden was just over 50 miles from
the Davidson farm. Sam almost without doubt was
furloughed for some of the winter and was able to visit his
family. There were no Union troop movements to worry
about, besides which, Christmas furloughs were common on
both sides. In January, Sam was assigned “extra duty” in the
80
quartermaster’s department. Most typically, such extra duty
for the quartermaster involved loading and unloading
wagons or working in the storehouses.128 It was generally
accompanied by supplemental pay, but as can be seen in the
muster roll above, Sam had not been paid since August.
Battle of Poison Spring
A week after Price’s army went into winter quarters in
Camden, Sam’s regimental commander, Leonidas C.
Campbell, died of dysentery.129 His place was taken by
Leonidas A. Campbell, his cousin.
In the spring, General Grant approved a plan to take
Shreveport, the headquarters for the Confederate Trans-
Mississippi Army. One army was to march west across
Louisiana under General Banks. A second army, under
General Steele, was to march south from Little Rock. Camden
is about 100 miles north of Shreveport, and perhaps 15 miles
from the main road from Little Rock to Shreveport.
General Price received orders not to engage Steele’s more
numerous troops directly, but to delay him and attack his
supply trains, in order to allow the Confederate Army in
Louisiana to attack and defeat Banks’ army before
reinforcements could arrive. This strategy worked almost as
planned. Marmaduke’s cavalry, of which Sam was a part,
attacked and retreated over and over, and with Steele
delayed, Banks was in fact driven back. General Steele himself
filed a report on April 7, reading in part:
128 Darwin L. King and Carl J. Case, “Civil War Accounting Procedures and Their Influence on Current Cost Accounting Practices”, ASBBS E-Journal, 3, 2007, pp. 41-56. 129 Leonidas C. Campbell service records, www.fold3.com
81
On the 4th, Marmaduke attacked with 3,000 to 4,000
cavalry and five pieces of artillery, on the south side
of the Little Missouri River, and after five hours’
fighting was routed and fled. Our loss, 23 wounded.
Marmaduke, with his whole force, including Shelby,
Cabell, Lawther, Greene, etc., are in the Prairie
D’Ane, 6 miles from us, but will run as we move.130
Some of Sam’s part in this skirmishing, which was carried out
over a span of a little more than two weeks, can be extracted
from the reports of Colonel Greene, who had once more
become the brigade commander, while Jeffers reverted to
commander of the 8th Cavalry:
April 4, 1864
At daylight today made the following dispositions:
Advanced 1½ miles, threw forward Captain Cobb’s
detachment (65 men) to bring on the action as
mounted skirmishers … dismounted the rest of the
brigade … held Greene’s regiment, commanded by
Lieutenant-Colonel Campbell on the left and 200
yards in rear of the line. Cobb skillfully occupied the
enemy… sharp action followed … the line for a
moment wavered, [but in the end the enemy]
retreated to the river, leaving his dead on the field.
Greene’s regiment, … though not actively engaged,
was constantly under fire and behaved well.
Detached Greene’s regiment … to hold the position;
marched until daylight to … Prairie D’Ane, 16 miles.
130 The War of the Rebellion. A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume XXXIV, Part I, Washington, Government Printing Office, 1891, p. 660
82
April 5, 1864
Campbell skirmishes with the enemy in front of our
works; holds him in check all day; loss, none.
April 6, 1864
Campbell fights the enemy again and falls back 4
miles; no pursuit.
April 7, 1864
Captain Porter, Fourth Regiment, relieves Campbell,
engages the enemy, who retires.
April 16, 1864
Ordered at 4 p.m. to move to the Prairie D’Ane road
and attack Thayer’s rear, who was moving into
Camden; marched rapidly and found the enemy’s
rear guard 4 miles [out] of town; pursues it in a trot,
Lieutenant-Colonel Campbell, commanding
Greene’s regiment, in front; overtake the enemy …
and skirmish with them; Campbell moves on,
driving in the rear guard; falls upon enemy’s
outpost; routs it; runs it into town; captures colors
and camp equipments; column moved back to its
first position on Camp Bragg road; loss, 1 captain
captured.131
These look like successful actions, and tactically they were,
but strategically, General Price was taken by surprise. What
did not go according to the Confederate plan was an ambush
laid for Steele’s troops on April 15. Price had received
intelligence that Steele was going to head southwest towards
Washington, the “exiled” capital of Arkansas in Hempstead
County, rather than south, directly towards Shreveport. Price
positioned the bulk of his forces on the road to Washington,
with some still blocking the route to Shreveport. Sam, with
131 Ibid., p. 832-833
83
Marmaduke’s cavalry, was in the latter position, and his unit
was supposed to attack Steele from the rear after his army had
turned towards Washington.132 Steele did what Price least
expected. He engaged Price just enough to force him to
regroup, then marched not to Washington and not to
Shreveport, but to Camden. He took the almost completely
unguarded fort with no trouble. We can see what Sam was
doing from General Steele’s report:
When they found we had turned this way they tried
to beat us here. Marmaduke got in our front and
Dockery in our rear, by the middle and north roads,
and endeavored to hold us until Price could get into
the fortifications by the south road with his infantry
and artillery, having evacuated Camden under the
supposition that we were marching on Shreveport,
by the way of Washington. We marched 23 miles …,
driving Marmaduke before us from position to
position.133
Thus the action of Sam’s regiment on April 16, in which they
captured a detachment of Union troops, occurred after
Camden had been taken by Steele. What Sam’s brigade was
doing on April 15, while Steele was marching into Camden,
was briefly summarized by Colonel Greene:
Moved off all the brigade, except Lawther’s
regiment …; engaged the enemy at Gulley’s and
kept up a retreating fight for 3 miles; turned to the
right and moved over to the Camp Bragg road, 6
miles [out] of Camden… [Fought] until dark and
passing through Camden; loss, 4 wounded; distance
10 miles.134
132Ibid., p. 532 133 Ibid., p. 661 134 Ibid., p. 833
84
In the fort, Steele was safe from attack, but he was unable to
procure supplies in sufficient quantity. On April 18, he sent
out a large force and over 200 wagons to “requisition” corn
from the farms in the area. What happened was stated
succinctly in an April 28 report to General Sherman from the
Adjutant General in Arkansas:
I am informed by Captain Dunham, aide-de-camp,
who left Camden on the 24th instant with dispatches
from General Steele to General Banks, that a large
forage train, sent out by General Steele from
Camden on the 18th instant, was captured by
Marmaduke’s forces, along with most of the escort,
supposed to have consisted of about 800 infantry
and cavalry and 2 pieces of artillery. This, if true,
and there can be but little doubt of it, leaves General
Steele in a very critical situation with reference to
supplies.135
In fact, it was Sam’s brigade that discovered the wagon train,
at a location known as Poison Spring. The Battle of Poison
Spring, which the Confederates won handily, became
infamous following reports that when the remains of the
Union troops withdrew, leaving their wounded on the
battlefield, those from the First Kansas Colored Volunteer
Regiment were murdered where they lay.136
Colton Greene submitted a report on his brigade’s activities,
from which we can glean a picture of what Sam, in
Campbell’s regiment, was doing during the battle.
On the morning of the 17th, while bivouacked in
front of the enemy near the junction of the …
135 Ibid., p. 666 136 Ibid., p. 746
85
Camden and Washington roads, my scouts reported
that a train of twenty wagons, escorted by 200
cavalry, was moving on the upper road. I
immediately ordered the Third Regiment,
commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Campbell, to get
on its rear and attack it. A short time after the
regiment had marched my scouts again reported
that a large train had joined the other; that it
numbered 200 wagons and was guarded by one
regiment of cavalry and two regiments of negro
infantry, with three pieces of artillery. I at once
placed the regiment in ambush and reported the
facts to the [commander]…
Soon after these events the guard of the train was
reinforced by one regiment of cavalry, one regiment
and one battalion of infantry, and two pieces of
artillery…. On the morning of the 18th,… I marched
with Greene’s regiment, commanded by Lieutenant-
Colonel Campbell, Burbridge’s regiment, … [and] a
small detachment of Jeffers’, … numbering in all 486
men. I came on the enemy … at 9:30. Dismounted
and placed Harris’ battery in position on the
extreme right of our line. At 10 o’clock this battery
opened on the enemy… The enemy heavily engaged
our left and center… Moving rapidly for a half mile
through a thick forest, we tore down a rail fence,
formed in an open field under a heavy fire of
musketry, and advanced steadily across it… [We]
advanced, firing; charged the train, with great
slaughter to the enemy, who abandoned his artillery
on the field and again formed behind the huts,
fences, and timber of an adjoining plantation…
Again another stand was made on the crest of a
steep hill, which was as quickly carried at the
charge. No further resistance was now made to our
victorious line, which scattered and drove the
86
enemy in every direction, until by your order the
pursuit was stopped…
Every man did his duty. There was no straggling, no
plundering. For eighteen days we marched and
engaged the enemy, and notwithstanding the loss of
sleep for three nights previous to this action, the
men bore themselves with cheerfulness and
fortitude… To the impetuosity of our advance is to
be attributed my light loss in killed and wounded.137
The Battle of Jenkins Ferry
General Steele, desperate for supplies, next committed 1,800
of his troops and 240 wagons to an expedition to Pine Bluff, a
town about 75 miles northeast of Camden that was under the
control of the Union army. Two brigades of Confederate
troops, not including Sam, fell upon them at Marks’ Mills on
April 25, with an outcome similar to that at Poison Spring.
Steele’s position was hopeless. After dark on April 26, he
vacated Camden, managing to cross the Ouachita River
unobserved on pontoon bridges, headed back to Little Rock.
Steele chose a route that would require his army to cross the
Saline River at Jenkins Ferry, which it reached on April 29, in
the middle of a pouring rain and a swollen river. They still
had their pontoons, which they erected and began to march
the troops across the river.
Oddly, the Confederates had not anticipated the need for
pontoons. They began construction of a bridge across the
Ouachita by building rafts and tying them together.
Meanwhile Marmaduke’s cavalry was sent far downstream to
137 Ibid., pp. 828-829
87
ford the river and chase Steele. Marmaduke caught up with
Steele at Jenkins Ferry on the 29th and tried to delay Steele
from crossing until Price’s infantry arrived the next day.
Sam’s part in this battle is best ascertained from the report of
Colonel Greene. Leonidas A. Campbell had been injured in
the Battle of Poison Spring, and the 3rd Missouri Cavalry was
commanded by Captain Don Brown. The 3rd Missouri was still
referred to as “Greene’s Regiment”, even though Colton
Greene was the brigade commander. Here are excerpts from
the report:
[The brigade] marched to White Hall, on the
Ouachita River… I effected a crossing of that
river between the hours of 5 p.m. on the 27th
88
and 6 a.m. on the 28th, using two small boats to
transport arms and equipments and swimming
my animals. The work was slow and occupied
the whole night. As soon as the crossing was
complete I marched, by your orders, by a
circuitous route, … hoping to get in front of the
enemy, who had retreated from Camden. At 5
p.m. I halted one hour… Marched all night and
passed around Princeton, at which place the
enemy’s rear was ascertained to be encamped…
I pursued rapidly. We skirmished until dark,
when I withdrew, leaving a heavy line of
vedettes138 on the ground. At daylight of the
30th, I was ordered forward to feel the enemy…
Skirmishing at once began, and the enemy
retired slowly several hundred yards.
Upon a personal reconnaissance I determined
to advance my force, and putting Greene’s
regiment on the left, covering the road and an
open field, I moved Major Smith to the right to
threaten the enemy’s flank. After a sharp fire
he139 gave way, was driven from the field, but
again took up position… which he maintained
with determination for half an hour and then
fell back… I discovered from his fire that he
was heavily re-enforced and was extending his
left. I was now compelled to accept an unequal
engagement before the infantry re-enforcement
could reach me. The enemy was in force, but
my men fought with steadiness, and advanced
step by step until we gained a quarter of a mile
138 mounted sentries 139 The Union troops
89
on him, when at this juncture my right was
hotly pressed. Three companies of Greene’s
regiment, however, sent to its support, held the
enemy’s increasing force in check. We had now
fought for two hours, when Tappan’s brigade
reached the field and moved to … the right of
Greene’s regiment… I advanced this regiment
some distance … only to find that the right had
given way… The position of the regiment was
critical, for it stood entirely alone; but fighting it
twenty minutes or more, with severe loss, I
withdrew it in good order and reformed the
command. Again we advanced and continued
in action until ordered to withdraw for want of
ammunition, notwithstanding we had once
supplied ourselves on the field from the boxes
of the enemy… At the close of the battle I
mounted and followed the enemy to the Saline
River…140
Steele managed to get his entire force across the Saline, then
punctured and sank the pontoons. Once the Confederates
reached the river, they had no way to cross it. The Battle of
Jenkins Ferry, April 30, 1864, claimed 6 dead and 31 wounded
from Sam’s regiment, which numbered in all about 1,200 men.
Overall, casualties were very high, about 1,000 Confederates
and 700 Union. Union commanders called it a victory, but a
better term would be a successful retreat after a generally
disastrous campaign.
140 The War of the Rebellion. A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume XXXIV, Part I, Washington, Government Printing Office, 1891, pp. 829-830.
90
West Bank of the Mississippi
Rather than try to attack Steele, who held a well-fortified
position in Little Rock, the Confederate Trans-Mississippi
command spent the next few months developing plans to
send an army into Missouri.
In the meantime, Sam’s brigade, still commanded by Colonel
Colton Greene, was sent east to Chicot County, Arkansas (in
the southeastern corner of the state), with the mission to
disrupt shipping on the Mississippi River – troops, arms,
food, and supplies. They spent slightly more than a week on
this mission, which appears in the Official Records as “Greene’s
operations on the west bank of the Mississippi River”.141
Between May 25 and June 2, 1864, they were able to cripple
several ships, while avoiding attack by Union troops and
141 Ibid., p. 946
91
gunboats through acts of deception. For example, in a report
written by Colonel Greene on May 26, he wrote
I am satisfied the enemy is ignorant of my
whereabouts. I made a feint at Gaines’ Landing and
near Columbia, which caused the enemy to assemble
two fleets at those places, and then I moved up Clay
Bayou and struck the river above, crossing Boggy
Bayou. Four gunboats … shelled the landing for five
hours. They were similarly engaged near
Columbia.142
The Union army had several dozen gunboats on the
Mississippi to protect the supply ships vital to their southern
operations. Just as Greene said, they were ignorant of his
whereabouts during his operations. They also vastly
overestimated his troop strength. Several reports stated that
ships were being attacked by 5,000 to 10,000 men with 40
artillery pieces.143 In fact, in the first few days, it was only
Sam’s regiment. The rest of the brigade arrived piecemeal
toward the end of May. Even then, Greene had at most 900
men.144
The tactics Greene employed in his operations have been
described in a recent article with the title Interdicting the
Mississippi: Colonel Colton Greene, CSA vs. the U.S. Navy.
Greene … had very definite ideas about assaulting
riverboats. [He] would employ the navigational
dangers of the winding river stretch between Chicot
Lake and Gaines Landing to his advantage. Here in
these Greenville Bends (named for the town on the
142 Ibid., p. 948 143 Myron J. Smith, “Interdicting the Mississippi: Colonel Colton Greene, CSA vs. the U.S. Navy”, North & South, 12, 2011, pp. 30-40. 144 Ibid.
92
eastern bank in … Mississippi), steamboats, with a
top speed of about 9-10 mph, had to navigate
through long river curves separated by narrow
peninsulas of land…
Batteries could be placed in two or more locations,
allowing vessels to sail past one into the teeth of
another without the possibility of backward escape.
Or, these horse artillery units could … speed across
a neck of land from one bend to another, catching
surviving steamers more than once.
A good picture of Greene’s typical mode of operation can be
seen from his first full day of action, May 24. Before daybreak,
40 men were sent about 15 miles south on horseback where
they found a small sailboat and used it to board and capture
the Lebanon on the opposite side of the river. They freed the
crew, but took the cargo, including $20,000 in cash.145
Meanwhile, the 3rd and 4th Missouri Cavalry regiments set up
their artillery at Gaines Landing (see map146). About 4 a.m.,
the Tyler, a heavily armed gunboat, came in sight moving
upriver. It was not fired upon. Trailing the Tyler by two miles
was the less heavily armed gunboat Curlew. This time
Greene’s troops attacked and there ensued a heavy exchange
of artillery fire. Though the Curlew was not immediately
disabled, it had to stop for repairs within a few hours.
145 Ibid. 146 Ibid.
93
Greene then moved downriver to Columbia. That same
morning the troop ship Longworth, escorted by the gunboat
Romeo, passed Columbia headed south. The Curlew was
94
supposed to have joined the escort, but by then it was out of
commission. Greene’s artillery immediately placed the
Longworth under fire. During the bombardment, the Romeo ran
out of shells. It steamed back to the Curlew to borrow some,
returned, and rejoined the Longworth. Together, though both
had been hit, they managed to reach Greenville, where they
picked up another gunboat for protection.
In the meantime, Greene had crossed the oxbow with his
artillery to a spot near Leland Landing, from which they again
fired, mainly on the Longworth. Though they hit the troop ship
many times, they were unable to stop it. The Longworth
continued downriver, and the escorts turned back. Greene
then returned to Columbia, where he again caught the Romeo.
It was struck 17 times and put out of action.147
Greene continued in this fashion for several days, but as he
began to be actively pursued, made heavy use of diversions.
Sam’s regiment, again commanded by Leonidas A. Campbell,
was sent to Spanish Moss Bend (see map) on the night of May
31, from which they, along with an artillery battery, attacked
the gunboat Exchange, which they succeeded in crippling.148
Believing Greene’s forces to be ten times greater than they
were, two entire divisions were finally sent from Vicksburg.
They caught up with Greene on May 2 at Ditch Bayou. Greene
was, of course, vastly outnumbered, and his main objective
was an orderly retreat, which he carried off, leaving the
147 Ibid. 148 The War of the Rebellion. A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume XXXIV, Part I, Washington, Government Printing Office, 1891, p. 952.
95
Mississippi River forever. Sam’s regiment formed the rear
guard for 30 minutes.149
Altogether, during the short campaign Greene’s brigade put
21 boats under fire. They disabled five gunboats and badly
damaged five transports, sinking one, burning two, and
capturing the other two. Their losses before the battle at Ditch
Bayou were 6 wounded, with no cannons and no horses lost.
At Ditch Bayou their casualties were 4 dead and 33 wounded.
Price’s Raid
During the spring and summer, General Price remained at
Camden, while he added to the number of his troops,
primarily by conscription. On August 28, 1864, he set out
towards Missouri with 12,000 men, with the objective of
augmenting his army as he went along and wresting the state
from Union control.
On paper, this seemed like a reasonable goal. His army
outnumbered all the federal troops in Missouri, which were
scattered around the state. This should have given him the
upper hand in any battle, even without new recruits – and in
fact, he did add many recruits in Missouri. Sterling Price was,
however, considered to be brave, but incompetent by his
subordinates and his superiors. He owed his position to
political influence, but kept it through the skill of his brigade
and regimental commanders.150
149 Ibid., p. 985 150 Price’s own opinion of his military skills can be inferred from the name of his horse – Bucephalus.
96
A big problem was the large proportion of totally untrained,
and for the most part unarmed, conscripts. Price planned to
capture weapons as he went along, which was not
unreasonable, but he was to become a victim of the lack of
training and lack of character of the new troops he had raised.
The initial phase went smoothly. Price left Camden on August
28. Marmaduke’s two brigades (one of them Sam’s) joined
Price in Princeton, about 30 miles north of Camden. The
command of Sam’s brigade was given to General John B.
Clark, who outranked Colton Greene. Greene reverted to
commander of Sam’s regiment, the 3rd Missouri Cavalry.151
Price got his troops across the Arkansas River without being
spotted by General Steele’s army in Little Rock, who might
well have offered enough opposition to delay the march and
allow reinforcements to flow into Missouri.
Battle of Pilot Knob
Price’s army reached northeastern Arkansas, then crossed into
Missouri, headed toward St. Louis. On September 27, near the
town of Ironton, they were met by about 1,500 Union troops
that had marched from St. Louis with the mission to delay
Price. The Union troops quickly retreated to Fort Davidson,
near two hills called Pilot Knob and Shepherd’s Mountain.
151 In fact, Price had been ordered to leave Greene behind, “together with the other regimental commanders whose mutinous conduct has already proved them unfitted for command” (Official Reports XVI, Part 1, p. 728). Greene had been ordered to turn over all the mules from his brigade, but some of the men hid their mules. Greene was arrested and charged with disobeying an order. He was acquitted, but was apparently not innocent in everyone’s eye.
97
There was a creek between the Confederate line and the fort,
which formed something like a moat. When soldiers were
commanded to charge, they had to run down to the creek bed,
then up the bank under fire. What happened was that the
conscripts stopped at the creek bottom and refused to
advance, breaking the formations they were in. Colton Greene
filed an account of the action of Sam’s regiment:
[The regiment] dismounted at the foot of Shepherd’s
Mountain, advanced to its crest with skirmishers
deployed, and was by order of the brigadier-general
put in line in reserve, ordered to preserve distance of
seventy-five yards, and to support the first line at
discretion.
Our artillery opening from both mountains
[Shepherd’s Mountain and Pilot Knob], I moved at 1
p.m. down the northern slope of the mountain
exposed to a heavy artillery fire. My regiment kept
admirably aligned and preserved the prescribed
interval; reached the plain, whereupon, observing
confusion in the advance line, I charged past it,
rallying it on my flank, and gained a short distance
of the fort, only to find our whole force broken and
retiring. I now took cover about seventy-five yards
from the [fort] and rallied parts of several regiments,
reformed the line, supported the troops on my left
(which were hotly pressed), and held this position
until ordered off at dark by Brigadier-General Clark.
The steadiness of my regiment in this action was
conspicuous.
During the night the enemy evacuated his works
and was pursued on the following day … I was
ordered up, but after several slight skirmishes, he
98
made good his retreat to Leasburg, … where he
intrenched himself.152
The fort had supposedly been surrounded to prevent the
Union army from sneaking out, but sneak out they did.
Furthermore, they left a slow-burning fuse on their powder
magazine, and the entire fort blew up during the night.
It was not much of a victory for Price. He suffered around
1,000 casualties, many times the Union loss, and he discovered
that many of his battle units were unreliable. This caused him
to view the capture of St. Louis as impractical.
Action at Russellville
Price’s new objective became Jefferson City. Taking the capital
city, he reasoned, would bring recruits flocking to him and
give him a strong base of operation. He left the next day,
September 30, with Sam’s regiment assigned to fake an attack
on the forces at Leasburg, to keep the Union troops bottled up
while Price’s column marched away.153
Price’s army was indeed chased, as Union forces in Missouri
began to consolidate at his rear and, even more, in Jefferson
City, awaiting his attack there. Even though his entire force
was mounted, Price took over a week to approach Jefferson
City, and when he did, he decided that the defenses were too
strong. He chose to continue westward towards Kansas,
where he could do some damage before returning to Camden.
152 The War of the Rebellion. A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume XLI, Part I, Washington, Government Printing Office, 1893, p. 688. 153 Ibid., p. 689
99
As he passed south of Jefferson City, many of the Union
troops left their fortifications there and pursued Price. Colonel
Greene reported on a skirmish that took place on October 9:
On the 9th the enemy was reported pursuing, and I
was sent to the rear two miles north of Russellville,
in Moniteau County, and went into position with
eight companies dismounted, Company B mounted
in reserve, and Company A [Sam’s company]
mounted to protect my left, which was exposed.
Here I engaged the enemy warmly for forty minutes,
when he attempted to pass to my rear by my left,
and was gallantly charged by Lieutenant Graves
[i.e., Company A] and repulsed. I now fell back
under cover of Company B, which was very
creditably handled by Lieutenant McGurie, and took
position on the left of the brigade, formed at
Russellville. The brigade retired. Soon after, the
enemy appeared and opened with artillery and
again attempted to turn my left but was defeated
with loss. Falling back slowly I went into position
two miles farther on and awaited the cautious
approach of the enemy, whom my skirmishers
constantly engaged. We were shelled at long range
without harm, when throwing my regiment into
column of attack and making feint to charge, the
enemy retired, and taking advantage of his
retrograde I continued the retreat, thus forming and
maneuvering for the double purpose of delaying his
march and avoiding a charge in an open country by
his superior cavalry. Pending these skirmishes he
moved another column on our left, which struck our
right flank (Marmaduke’s division) at California,
through which town I passed under fire of his
artillery and formed one mile beyond in support of
100
Hynson’s battery, and finally moved into camp on
the Boonville road.154
Boonville
The next day, Price’s army reached Boonville, about 50 miles
northwest of Jefferson City. This town was highly sympathetic
to the Confederate cause and his army picked up another
thousand recruits there. His army also picked up a very
unsavory reputation. Thousands of undisciplined troops, who
had already evinced a predilection for looting on the march
through Arkansas, made use of the three day camp in
Boonville to ransack the town and the surrounding areas. Jeff
Thompson, one of Price’s generals, wrote later:
What was done and not done there I do not propose
to relate as I had only to try to control my own
brigade, to save their reputation from the
demoralization which was seizing the army. The
plunder of Boonville nearly completed this
demoralization, for many officers and men loaded
themselves, their horses and wagons with ‘their
rights’ and now wanted to turn southward and save
what they had.155
Sam’s regiment had little time for pillage. It marched into
Boonville on October 10 and was ordered south the next
morning to resist approaching Union troops. Colonel Greene
described the action as follows in his report:
154 Ibid. 155 Reminiscences of M. Jeff Thompson, Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina, quoted in Albert Castel, General Sterling Price, Louisiana State University Press, 1968, p. 227.
101
I was placed in command of Marmaduke’s brigade
on the field, and formed it dismounted with a strong
line of skirmishers. The enemy in the meantime
drove in our mounted skirmishers, whom I rallied
on the right to cover that flank and advanced my
dismounted skirmishers firing. I now ordered a
general advance and drove the enemy a mile, who in
his retreat left his dead and wounded in our hands,
and I occupied the ground lately held by him. I lay
in line during the night and the day following.156
Battle of Glasgow
Sam’s regiment returned to Boonville at nightfall on October
12, as Price started to move his forces out, heading west. On
the morning of the 14th, Sam’s brigade, again commanded
temporarily by Greene, was detached from the line and
ordered to attack a Union garrison on the north side of the
Missouri River, in Glasgow. Greene reported thusly:
[I engaged] the enemy’s cavalry and cut off his
escape and communications; put Harris’ battery …
in position and opened fire.
My line was formed, with [Sam’s] regiment on the
right… A heavy line of skirmishers was thrown
out… The enemy fought stubbornly and took
advantage of houses, fences, and every obstacle until
driven at the charge into his [fort]… While restoring
our line [the enemy] got possession of a building
from which our right was much annoyed until [we]
dislodged him, but with heavy loss. The fire now
slackened, when the enemy, to avert the final
156 The War of the Rebellion. A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume XLI, Part I, Washington, Government Printing Office, 1893, p. 689.
102
assault, surrendered. Though the loss in this
engagement was especially heavy on [Sam’s]
regiment, its gallant conduct was equaled by the
action of the whole brigade.157
Battle of Little Blue River
Colonel Greene rejoined the main army, continuing its
westward march towards Independence, on October 17,
giving back the brigade command to General Clark. By now
there were Union forces in front, anticipating Price’s
movements, as well as in the rear. Those in front included
militia from Kansas.
On October 21, several miles east of Independence, about
2,000 of the Kansas militia, under General James Blunt, waited
at the Little Blue River to resist the crossing. Some of
Marmaduke’s division took the lead, but were unable to
dislodge the Kansas troops. Colonel Greene, who was once
again commander of Sam’s regiment, reported on that
regiment’s part in the action::
On the morning of the 21st, the brigade being in
advance, cannonading announced that the enemy …
had made a stand, and about midday my regiment
was turned from the main road to the right for the
purpose of crossing Little Blue River below the
bridge, which was destroyed. I moved rapidly
across the river, and had marched a short distance
when it was ascertained that Lawther’s regiment
was routed. I dismounted about 150 men, formed
across the road, and immediately engaged the
enemy, who was right upon us… The enemy, who
was in greatly superior force, vigorously pressed his
157 Ibid.
103
advantage. He was twice repulsed, when he began
to flank me both on the right and left. The moment
was critical; no supports arrived. Directing my
wings to fire by the right and left oblique I took
charge of the battery … and then ordered rapid
volleys of blank cartridges to be fired (the position
of my men prevented the use of missiles). It
produced the desired effect. The enemy fell back
and was charged by us. He now rallied and opened
with artillery; again advanced and was again
repulsed. The fight was thus continued between
unequal numbers, my ammunition was exhausted,
the fortitude of my men severely tried, when
Kitchen’s regiment reached the field. I put it into line
and directed it to fire by volley. The enemy fled to
return no more.158
Thus the Little Blue River was crossed. Colonel Greene
himself was wounded during this engagement, but continued
in command of Sam’s regiment.
Second Battle of Independence
Price marched his army the rest of the way to Independence
before making camp on the 21st. The next morning, the Union
troops that had been pursuing from the east, led by General
William Rosecrans, attacked from the northeast. Again
Colonel Greene’s report tells us about the action involving
Sam’s regiment:
[I] was ordered to picket the approaches to
[Independence] from the south and west. On the
morning of the 22nd, I was notified by General
Marmaduke to hold my position until notified. An
158 Ibid., p. 690
104
hour or two after, artillery and musketry firing
indicated that the enemy was driving our forces and
was near town, and I accordingly retired my
outposts one mile, only in time to observe that the
head of Rosecrans’ army had penetrated the town
and had driven our rear through it in confusion, and
was pursuing on the Westport road. My position
was extremely hazardous. I awaited orders until the
enemy had almost surrounded me, when I moved
on the Little Santa Fe road parallel to and within
range of his column, who, deceived by our blue
coats, held his fire… The enemy was still ahead of
me on my right, which made it impracticable to join
the main army, and hence I moved on for ten miles
at a trot. Learning by the way that a body of Blunt’s
cavalry was then one hour in my front, turned
across the country to the right and intercepted the
train at Big Blue. Here the injuries and wound
received … the day before became so painful that I
was compelled to turn my regiment over to Capt.
[Benjamin] Johnson.159
Rosecrans engaged Price’s army at the Big Blue River the rest
of the day, with neither side gaining an advantage. Rosecrans
withdrew around 2 A.M. to rest for the next day. Sam’s
regiment fought until their ammunition was completely
exhausted.160 Blunt’s Kansas troops were also engaged in the
battle.
Battle of Westport
On the morning of October 23, Price was in motion towards
the southwest, opposed in that direction by Blunt’s Kansas
159 Ibid., p. 691 160 Ibid., p. 693
105
militia and the Union army in western Missouri, under
General Samuel Curtis, the same General Curtis that defeated
Price in the Battle of Pea Ridge in 1862. Marmaduke’s
division, including Sam’s regiment, attempted to hold off
Rosecrans to prevent them from initiating a pincer action on
Price. Marmaduke was unsuccessful, and the pincer caught
Price at the town of Westport, just east of the Kansas border.
The action in which Sam was involved was reported by his
brigade commander, General Clark:
Marmaduke’s division, again in rear, were attacked
at an early hour by the same enemy and with the
same spirit as before. Greene’s regiment,
106
commanded by Captain Johnson, and Burbridge’s
regiment, with Freeman’s brigade … met him first,
my brigade being formed in his rear 500 yards. He
contended manfully for the crossing of the Big Blue,
but was forced back after having repulsed the
enemy several times. Falling back through my
brigade the enemy came upon me in the full
enthusiasm of pursuit, and though my brigade
contended nobly with the foe for two hours and
strewed the open field in our front with his dead,
our ammunition exhausted, we were forced to leave
the field again to the enemy, our dead in his hands.
The booming of … guns were heard all this time in
the direction of Westport… At this time I was
directed by General Marmaduke to pass the train
and protect its left flank from a threatened attack
from cavalry. I found them advancing upon the
flank, but halted without coming to an engagement.
Continued to retreat that night until 1 o’clock.161
The battle at Westport was a major Union victory. Price’s
troops, though numbering around 10,000, were much smaller
than the combined forces now arrayed against him. The
Union forces advanced everywhere, almost surrounding
much of the Confederate army. Price left General Joseph
Shelby’s brigade as rear guard, and it came under withering
fire. Shelby, whose florid reports always read like novels,
wrote,
Nothing was left but to run for it, which was now
commenced. The Federals, seeing the confusion,
pressed on furiously, yelling, shouting, and
shooting, and my own men fighting, every one on
his own hook, would turn and fire and then gallop
away again. Up from the green sward of the waving
161 Ibid., pp. 684
107
grass two miles off, a string of stone fences grew up
and groped along the plain – a shelter and
protection. The men reached it. Some are over;
others are coming up, and Slayback and Gordon and
Blackwell and Ellott are rallying the men, who make
a stand here and turn like lions at bay. The fences
are lines of fire, and the bullets sputter and rain
thicker upon the charging enemy. They halt, face
about, and withdraw out of range. My command
was saved, and we moved off after the army,
traveling all night.162
Price lost more than 1,000 killed and wounded. In Sam’s
regiment there were 4 killed and 6 wounded.
Battle of Mine Creek
In retreat, Price’s army traveled much faster than they had
when preparing to attack. From Westport they drove south
without stopping until the night of October 24. General Curtis
was in pursuit with about 7,000 cavalry, having left the
numerous infantry units at Westport to return to their bases.
On the 25th, Price left Marmaduke’s division to guard the rear
of the column, but kept the major part of his effective fighting
forces in the front, because he thought the Union forces were
somewhere to his right rather than behind him. Union troops
attacked at the rear while Price’s columns were crossing Mine
Creek (in Kansas). Marmaduke’s division was isolated on the
north side of the creek because it was blocked with wagons
that had gotten stuck. Marmaduke kept most of his troops on
horseback, rather than dismounting them to fight, as was
normal. The Union cavalry charged right through the center
162 Ibid., p. 659
108
of Marmaduke’s line and engaged at close quarters.
Marmaduke’s men could not reload on horseback and they
bolted in disorder. Hundreds surrendered. Meanwhile, Price
had finally sent back reinforcements, which managed to halt
the Union attack, and the Confederates continued the retreat,
though still under pursuit. The role of Sam’s regiment in this
battle can be seen in Colonel Greene’s report, Greene having
resumed command of the regiment the day before.
I was ordered by General Marmaduke to move in
rear. The country was a continuous prairie, and the
enemy soon appeared in sight. After marching about
a mile I was ordered to quicken my gait, then to trot,
and finally to join the main body at a gallop. We had
now marched some five or six miles, followed by the
enemy, who seemed to take his gait from ours, but
never came in gunshot range. On reaching the main
body I found it formed some 300 yards north of
109
Mine Creek … and was ordered into position in rear
and to take the right of Williams’ battery. The main
line was less than eighty yards from me, and
another line covered half of my regiment, and was
not exceeding twenty yards from it. I was notified
that I was in reserve. We were mounted. I am thus
explicit in describing the position of my regiment, in
order to explain or extenuate the disaster which
soon after overtook it, and which without
explanation would leave a stigma upon its bright
and dearly bought reputation. After a slight
skirmish the enemy was seen to deploy from behind
the left of his line in heavy column of attack,
completely turning our right. Suddenly the first and
second lines gave way, and rushing in great disorder
ran over and broke the eight right companies of my
regiment. The same wild panic seemed to seize
everything. I wheeled my remaining company (B) to
the right and opened on the flank of the enemy’s
column until two of Williams’ guns were borne to
the rear, when after every exertion, seeing the
impossibility of staying this panic-stricken mob, I
ordered Captain Polk (Company B) to withdraw as
best he could.
Two hours later and near the Osage River I was
placed in command of the brigade and collected
about 400 armed men… Over two-thirds of the arms
were lost in the rout. With this force … I moved
across the Osage and went into position five miles
beyond on the Fort Scott road... We advanced upon
the enemy as soon as he appeared in sight, and a
sharp fusillade was kept up with slight loss to either
side. The enemy seemed unwilling to press his
advantage further, and after checking his pursuit we
withdrew at dark…
110
Continuing our march uninterruptedly, the brigade
crossed the Marmiton at 10 o’clock of the night of
the 25th, where I halted one hour to burn the train as
directed, and moved on in a southerly direction and
encamped near Carthage, Mo., on the 26th. The
distance traveled in this march was 92 miles.163
This was, finally, a serious retreat. The wagon train was the
weak link in their rate of travel, and burning it (actually, only
a part of it) assured a more rapid pace, but with the loss of
food and, perhaps, captured booty. Greene mentioned that he
assumed command of the brigade, but did not state why. In
fact, it was because General Marmaduke was captured and
General Clark assumed command of the division.
Despite the heavy exchange of fire, Sam’s regiment lost just
one killed and 10 wounded at the Battle of Mine Creek.
Overall, Price lost 1,200 killed, wounded, and captured, with
minimal losses by the Union forces, which were, in fact,
greatly outnumbered by the Confederates.
Retreat and Surrender
Sam’s regiment saw no further combat, although Curtis
continued to pursue for several days, engaging several
elements of Price’s army. Once in Arkansas, their arms and
food essentially gone, the weather turning very cold, many of
the men sick, Price’s army gradually splintered, with many
brigades given leave to go home. Sam’s regiment, however,
remained with Price, who detoured into Indian Territory to
avoid the possibility of a disastrous encounter with Steele’s
army from Little Rock. The troops subsisted largely on game
163 Ibid.
111
they were able to shoot and by eating their own mules and
horses.
Curtis eventually gave up the pursuit, and Price’s remaining
force was thereafter unimpeded in its retreat, but conditions
were horrible. As Colonel Greene described it,
The brigade … endured the severest privations and
sufferings during the march through Indian
Territory to Boggy Depot, which place we reached
on the 18th of November. For twenty-five days our
animals were without forage. For twenty-three days
we subsisted on beef without salt, frequently issued
in insufficient quantities, and for three days were
without food at all. The loss in animals was very
heavy, and many wagons were abandoned in
consequence.
The losses in Sam’s regiment during the entire Missouri
campaign were 19 killed and 110 wounded. The overall
figures for Price’s army were not reported, but are estimated
to be at least 5,000 killed and wounded, plus a similar number
lost by capture or desertion, not counting the brigades that
were furloughed in Arkansas.
After a couple of days on full rations in Boggy Depot, Price
took the three brigades that remained of his command to
Laynesport, in Hempstead County, Arkansas, a town that no
longer exists, on the Red River just across from Texas and also
right on the border with Indian Territory.
Upon the return of General Price’s army, it ceased to exist (if it
could be said to have remained in existence until then) and
Price was relieved of command for the duration. Sam’s
regiment was dismounted to function henceforth as infantry,
which meant that there were no plans to send the 3rd Missouri
112
Cavalry on another offensive. Sam was furloughed for several
weeks, the evidence for which is the birth of Sam and Mary’s
daughter Katie on September 20, 1865. He probably rode
home on his horse and left it at the farm.
113
When he returned, his regiment was transferred to the Trans-
Mississippi headquarters in Shreveport. After Grant’s victory
at Appomattox in early April, thousands of troops in the
Trans-Mississippi department deserted. Sam did not, but the
department did not surrender until May 26. Sam’s record
states that he surrendered in New Orleans, but in fact he was
in Shreveport with his regiment (Paddock’s biography
confirms this). It was the commanding officers who traveled
to New Orleans to complete the formal surrender.
Sam was given leave to go home on June 6, 1865. He listed his
home as Hempstead County, Arkansas. He had to travel the
100 miles on foot this time. He then had to make the transition
common to all soldiers who see month after month of fierce
combat and then return to normal life.
After his release, Sam returned (as I am imagining it) to
Hempstead County, and probably helped some of the
Davidson soldiers who returned take care of the farm. It
appears, however, that his sojourn on the Davidson farm was
very brief, and that he moved to Fannin County, Texas that
same year.
Meanwhile, he still had property back in Missouri where,
however, he was saddled with debt. The suit by John
McElhanon mentioned above, in which some of Sam’s
property was to be sold to pay his debt to McElhanon in 1862,
was apparently suspended until after the war. At that time,
however, the property was sold by the sheriff, who
announced the sale in the Springfield newspaper in 1866.
114
Another sale followed in July, 1868, following which every bit
of property accumulated by Sam Truesdell and by
Constantine Perkins was gone.
Interestingly, the newspaper announcement (see below)
published in Springfield to notify Sam that his property
would be confiscated if he did not pay, reveals that the debts
in question were rather small – one for $15, one for $35, and
Springfield Weekly Patriot, July 9, 1868
115
another for $38.164 At that point Sam probably couldn’t have
paid, even if the news had reached him in Texas. He was
starting again from scratch.
164 Springfield Leader, November 21, 1867
116
Sam in Texas
As Paddock’s biography tells the story, the Truesdells moved
in 1865 from Arkansas to Fannin County, Texas, where they
rented a farm for six years, i.e., until 1871. Mary Levisa
Truesdell, was born in 1867, and if the biography is right, it
would have to have been in Fannin County. Her death
certificate (that is, that of Mary (Truesdell) Hoggard),
however, states that she was born in Grayson County, Texas.
Fannin County is north of Dallas and borders on Oklahoma.
Moving westward, we have Grayson, Cooke, and Montague
Counties. Paul Hoggard, her son, provided the information
for the death certificate, and since he stated incorrectly that
Mary’s maiden name was Perkins, I assume that Grayson
County as her birthplace was also an error. It’s possible,
however, that her mother, Mary (Breeden) Truesdell, had a
relative in Grayson County, and went there to have the baby.
117
Thirza and the Perkins girls – Levisa, Mary Ann, and Lucy –
went with the Truesdells to, or joined them in, Fannin County,
as recounted in Paddock’s biography. Mary, Sam’s wife, died
in 1867, just four days after Mary, Sam’s daughter, was
born.165 She was just 30 years old. Thirza was probably still
alive, according to family stories.166 In January, 1869, in
Fannin County, Levisa Perkins married Mat Davidson,167 from
the Hempstead County farm, the two being first cousins.
They had one child, Tom (Tommy) Davidson. Levisa died
before they could have a second child, under circumstances
that, according to family lore, were dramatic in the extreme,
but best told by someone to whom those stories were
recounted.168 Tommy was then raised by Sam, together with
Sam’s remaining half-sister, Lucy (Mary Ann had probably
also died by then).
The family escaped enumeration in the 1870 census,
notoriously unreliable in the South. In 1871, as recounted in
Paddock’s biography, Sam finally accumulated enough capital
to purchase his own land, a 77 acre plot near Caney Creek,
which flows into the Red River, about seven miles northwest
of Bonham, the Fannin county seat; see location on the map
below from the 1870s.169
165 Dale H. Edmonds, The Truesdells, unpublished manuscript 166 Ibid. 167 Texas Select County Marriage Index, Ancestry.com 168 Dale H. Edmonds, op. cit. 169 Historic Map Works, Fannin County, 187x
118
In 1875 Sam moved the family to Cooke County, executing a
complex land swap with J. H. and Annie Oliphant, who were
at the time residents of Fannin County, but owned land in
Cooke County. As recorded in the respective deed books of
Fannin and Cooke Counties, Sam sold the 77 acres in Fannin
County to Annie Oliphant for $1,000 on October 2, 1875.170 On
the same day, J. H. and Annie Oliphant sold 160 acres of a 320
acre tract in western Cooke County to Sam for $400,171 and,
again on the same day, sold the other 160 acres to Lucy
Perkins for $400.172
170 Fannin County Deed Book [?], p. 11 171 Cooke County Deed Book 12, p. 404 172 Cooke County Deed Book 12, p. 403
119
In the Cooke County deeds, both Sam and Lucy Perkins are
referred to as residents of Fannin County, implying that it was
after October 2 that the Truesdells and the Perkins moved on
to Cooke County. Sam’s death certificate, however, states that
he lived at his residence in Cooke County for exactly 47 years
and 2 months, which is to say that they moved in May, 1875.
Not a big discrepancy, but one wonders what the
circumstances were.
The land they had traded for in Cooke County was near the
county line with Montague County and near or on (“watered
by”) Elm Creek, about 17 miles west of Gainesville, the Cooke
county seat, and about 5 miles east of St. Jo in Montague
County. In the plat map below it is identified by the name on
the original survey, which was H. H. Howe.173
On the 1880 census of Cooke County, Sam, a widower, was
living with his daughters Katie and Mary, age 15 and 13,
respectively. Also in the house were Lucy Perkins and
Tommy Davidson. Thirza had died. Since Lucy was the only
Perkins to be involved in the land deal, it must be that Mary
Ann was either dead or married by 1875. The last record we
have of Mary Ann was in the 1860 census, so we can’t be at all
sure what happened to her.
173 Historic Map Works, Cooke County, 1895
120
121
In 1882 Katie Truesdell married George Morgan, who had
been living in Montague County, according to the 1880
census, but whose father also owned land in Cooke County
just a mile and a half northwest of the Truesdell property
(inscribed Geo. W. Morgan in the map above). Two years
before that, Lucy Perkins had sold the 160 acres belonging to
her to Katie and Mary Truesdell for $400,174 the same value
placed on the property when it was obtained from the
Oliphants in 1875. Some family stories report that Lucy also
got married around then.175
George and Kate’s marriage took place on July 18, 1882. Two
weeks later, on August 1, George and Kate Morgan sold 80
acres, representing Kate’s share of the land she had purchased
(presumably) from Lucy Perkins, to ….
To Sam! He paid $200, equal to Katie’s share of the original
purchase from Lucy.176 Sam was no stranger to complex land
transactions. It is odd that the deed was not actually recorded
until 1889. Was this a way to provide Kate a dowry?
Probably not, judging by the next series of maneuvers. Mary
Truesdell married William Z. Hoggard on November 20, 1886.
On September 15, 1888, Sam sold to W. Z. Hoggard for $600
the 80 acre parcel of land Sam had bought from George and
Katie six years earlier for $200. Three days later, Sam bought
back 40 acres from W. Z. and Mary Hoggard, at a price of
$400. This left W. Z. and Mary Hoggard with 120 acres and
Sam with the other 200 acres out of the original 320. I was
unable to find a record of a sale of any of these lands by Sam
174 Cooke County Deed Book 23, pp. 250-251 175 Dale H. Edmonds, op. cit. 176 Cooke County Deed Book 48, pp. 242-243
122
or W. Z. or Mary, but another researcher177 reported that Sam
sold 100 acres to Tom Davidson in 1908, for $4,000.178
After the bizarre land transactions in the 1880s, the official
record of the passage of time was marked mainly by the
decennial censuses, and the next one, in 1890, was entirely lost
to fire. On the 1900 census Sam was on the Cooke County
farm, still with Tom Davidson. The situation was unchanged
in 1910.
Another resident of Cooke County at the turn of the century
was Benjamin H. Boone, not the one who had been a next
door neighbor to Sam in Greene County, but his nephew, the
son of James Boone, who had moved to Arkansas before the
Civil War.
I can’t find Sam in the 1920 census, but his death certificate is
on file. He died of influenza and bronchial pneumonia on
December 30, 1922, at 89 years of age, in St. Jo (Montague
County), Texas. He is buried at the Mountain Park Cemetery
in Saint Jo. The attending physician stated that he had been
treating him for 19 days, so Sam may have been in a hospital
in St. Jo. On the line of the death certificate for the county in
which death occurred, Cooke was written in but crossed out
and replaced by Montague.
177 Joanne Lattin, http://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/truesdell/126/ 178 Cooke County Deed Book 104, p. 599
123
Conclusion
Samuel R. Truesdell spent his last 47 years on a farm in rural
Cooke County, Texas, most of that time in the company of his
nephew, Tom Davidson. If, from our distance in time, it seems
like it must have been a very uneventful life, especially in
comparison to his youth, stories passed down tell a different
tale. Many of those stories, together with much more family
tradition, are recounted by Dale Edmonds in his invaluable
essay on the Truesdells.179
There is a fairly big discrepancy between the perception of
Sam’s role in the Civil War as recounted to his family and the
actual records. In a letter written by Sam’s granddaughter,
Ruby (Hoggard) Faison, she wrote that her “Grandad was the
famous Gentleman Sam” during the war and that she couldn’t
remember his rank but it was “among the top”. Actually, he
enlisted as a private and was discharged as a private. He
certainly saw more than his share of action, and it is easy to
179 Dale H. Edmonds, op. cit.
124
see how he might have left the impression on a young Ruby
that his part in the many stories he had to tell was at a level
higher than it really was. Curiously, there was a (brevet) Lt.
Colonel Samuel Truesdell who served during the Civil War,
but he was a Union officer from New York.
And if Sam did give himself a few promotions during the 57
years relating his many encounters in the war - some ending
in victory and others in ignominious retreat - who, given all
he went through, could possibly blame him.
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