CLEBURNE TURNS ON HOOKER AT RINGGOLD. 445 sertion, that his men quite generally | mauga, where the enemy had burned and shamefully misbehaved and were panic-stricken. It is plain that they were largely outnumbered, and that they saw and felt it; yet, with such dispositions, such handling on both sides, as rendered Fredericksburg a black disaster to us, there is no obvious reason for believing that Bragg's eyrie, so difficult of approach, might not have been triumphantly held. Thomas returned directly from the battle-field to Chattanooga to expedite the movement of Granger's corps thence to the relief of Knoxville; while Sherman and Hooker pursued, at daylight," the routed columns of Bragg: the former, by way of Chickamauga Station; the latter by Greysville and Ringgold; Palmer, in his advance, having overtaken and charged by the way the Rebel rear-guard under Gist, breaking it and capturing 3 guns: our advance-badly delayed by the non-arrival of pontoons at the Chickamauga-bivouacking on the crest of the ridge east of that stream, and resuming the pursuit at dawn next morning;10 Osterhaus. leading, followed by Geary, and he by Cruft; and going into Ringgold, 5 miles farther, close on the heels of the flying enemy. the bridge behind him. A most gallant but rash effort was made to drive him out, wherein the 13th Illinois was honorably conspicuous. Two or three charges on our part were repulsed with loss; and it was not till afternoon, when some of our guns had come up, and the mouth of the gap had been flanked by our infantry crowning the ridge on either hand, that Cleburne was persuaded to continue his retreat; having inflicted on Hooker a loss of 65 killed and 367 wounded. The enemy left 130 killed and wounded on the field. Hooker remained at Ringgold till Dec. 1st; but was not allowed to advance: Sherman, with a large portion of our army, having been dispatched to the relief of Knoxville. Meantime, Gross's brigade visited the battlefield of Chickamauga and buried the moldering remains of many of our slain, who had been left by Bragg to lie as they fell. Osterhaus took post in the valley of the Chattanooga, while Geary and Cruft returned to their camps in Lookout valley. Granger's corps turned back from the battle-field to Chattanooga,1o3 and was impelled directly thence to the relief of Knoxville-Sherman's corps likewise turning back" from Greys Granger, and moving rapidly by Charleston, Athens, and Loudon, to Knoxville; 105 making the last 84 miles over East Tennessee roads in three December days; thus compelling Longstreet to raise the siege and decamp; then turning at once and marching back to Chattanooga. Cleburne was now in command here a man always hard to drive-ville, he assuming command also over and the gap in Taylor's or White Oak ridge, through which he was retreating, was one easy to hold and difficult to carry. Having guns advantageously posted, he refused to be hurried; while our men, flushed and exultant, could not be restrained from attacking, though our guns were still behind, having been detained at the crossing of the Chicka Grant states our losses in this se204 Nov. 29. 106 Dec. 6. Nov. 25-6. of the latter being included in our lists of prisoners. These, however, ultimately exceeded the number reported by Grant; while Bragg's loss by stragglers must have been very considerable. On the whole, his army was doubtless weakened by this struggle and its result by not less than 10,000 men; while its losses in guns, munitions, supplies, and camp equipage, were seldom paralleled. No further fighting of consequence took place in this vicinity that Winter, and our possession of Chattanooga was not thenceforth seriously disputed. XIX. MISSOURI AND ARKANSAS IN 1863. MISSOURI, Save when fitfully invaded or disturbed by domestic insurrection, remained under the Union | flag from and after the expulsion of Price's army by Fremont near the close of 1861.' But the Rebel element of her population, though overpowered, was still bitter, and was stirred into fitful activity by frequent emissaries from compatriots serving with Price, Marmaduke, and other chiefs, who, with their Governor, Claiborne F. Jackson, who died in Arkansas, and his Lieutenant, Thomas C. Reynolds, who thenceforth 2 assumed the rôle of Confederate Governor, invincibly hoped, and intrigued, and struggled, for a restoration to the homes they had deserted and the power they by treason had forfeited. Hardly had the year opened, when a Rebel force, led by Marmaduke, estimated at 4,000 strong, mostly mounted, emerged from northern Arkansas, and, evading our main body, under Gen. Blunt, struck at SPRINGFIELD, known to be filled with Federal munitions and provisions, lightly guarded. But that important wa; among our wounded, Cols. Baum, 56th Ill., Wangeline, 12th Mo., Wiley, 41st Ohio, and Berry, 5th Ky. 107 The Telegraph (London) had a Richmond correspondent's description of these battles, which estimates the Confederate loss in killed and wounded at 2,500, and in prisoners at 5,000. 1See Vol. I., pp. 592-3. 2 At Little Rock, Dec. 6, 1862. FIGHT AT HARTSVILLE-THE SAM GATY. 447 abruptly southward and escaped into Arkansas before a sufficient force could be concentrated to intercept him. 5 post had by this time been rudely banon; while Marmaduke, moving fortified with detached earthworks, 13 miles eastward that night, turned which were of decided service against raw, undisciplined troops, as Marmaduke's appear to have been. Springfield was held by Brig.-Gen. E. B. Brown, Missouri militia, whose entire strength can not have exceeded 1,200 men, mainly State militia, with 156 of the 118th Iowa, Lt.-Col. Thos. Cook, rëenforced, on the instant, by some 300 convalescents from the hospitals, known in army jargon as 'the Quinine Brigade,' Col. B. Crabb. With this motley force, Brown fought the Rebels bravely and skillfully from 10 A. M.3 till dark; when they desisted and drew off, having taken one gun and lost some 200 men. Our loss was 14 killed, 145 wounded, and 5 missing; but among our wounded was Gen. Brown, whose valor had animated his men to fight gallantly, and whose able dispositions had probably saved the post. Repairing, with a part of his force, to Batesville, Marmaduke was here attacked by the 4th Missouri cavalry, Col. Geo. E. Waring, who drove him over the river, taking Col. Adams prisoner, with others. In a fight the day before, a Rebel band of guerrillas had been routed in Mingo swamp by Maj. Reeder; their leader, Dan. McGee, being killed, with 7 others, and 20 wounded. Lt.-Col. Stewart, with 130 of the 10th Illinois and 1st Arkansas cavalry, scouting from Fayetteville, Ark., surprised and captured,' at Van Buren, the Arkansas river steamboat Julia Roon; making 300 prisoners. Gen. Curtis was relieved' as commander of the Department of Missouri; Gen. Schofield being ultimately appointed to succeed him. 8 The Missouri steamboat Sam Gaty, Capt. McCloy, was stopped' at Sibley's landing, near Independence, by a gang of guerrillas, headed by George Todd, who frightened the pilot into running her ashore, robbed boat and passengers of money and valuables, and then proceeded to murder a number of unarmed White passengers, with 20 out of 80 negroes who were known to be on board, and who were the ostensible object of the raid. The other 60 made their escape; but all who were taken were drawn up in line by the side of the boat and shot, one by one, through The Rebels moved eastward; their advance striking, at daylight, at Wood's fork, the 21st Iowa, Col. Merrill, which, after some fighting, they flanked, moving by a more southerly route, on HARTSVILLE; where Col. Merrill was joined by the 99th Illinois, with portions of the 3d Missouri and 3d Iowa cavalry, supporting Lt. Waldschmidt's battery, and was ready to dispute their progress. A spirited fight ensued, wherein the enemy was repulsed, with a loss of about 300, including Brig.Gen. Emmett McDonald, Cols. Porter, Thompson, and Hinkley, killed; having 1 gun dismounted and abandoned. Our loss was 78, including 7 killed. Merrill, short of ammuni- the head. Barely one of them surtion, fell back, after the fight, on Le-vived. They were probably escaping 12 from slavery to Missouri Rebels; and | 10,000 strong, he moved north-eastthis was their masters' mode of pun- ward into Missouri;" marching up ishing that offense. the St. Francis to Frederickton,' thence striking south-eastward at Cape Girardeau, a large dépôt of Union army stores, on the Mississippi, whither Gen. John McNeil had repaired from Bloomfield, with 1,200 men and 6 guns; reaching it, by hard Fayetteville was our chief outpost on the Arkansas frontier; and here Col. M. L. Harrison, with the 1st Arkansas (Union) infantry and 1st Arkansas cavalry, was charged" by Gen. W. L. Cabell, who, with 2,000 mounted men and 2 guns, had rap-marching, two days before Marmaidly crossed the Boston mountains from Ozark, intending to attack at daylight, but not arriving till after sunrise. After due shelling, a spirited cavalry charge on our right wing was led by Col. Munroe, but repulsed; and by noon the enemy were on their way back to Ozark. Harrison, having very few horses, was unable to pursue. His loss was but 4 killed, 26 wounded, 16 prisoners, and 35 "missing," whom he bluntly reports as "mostly stampeded to Cassville during the engagement." He took 55 prisoners, 50 horses, and 100 shotguns. He says all of his force who did any fighting numbered less than 500. Marmaduke, after his failure in south-western Missouri and his mishap at Batesville, repaired to Little Rock; where a new campaign was planned, in conjunction with the choice spirits there assembled. South-western Missouri was preponderantly Union; while south-eastern, at least below the Iron mountain, was considered otherwise. It is an unprepossessing, swampy, thinly peopled region, and had been scouted over by each party in turn, and not firmly held by either. Leaving Little Rock about the middle of April, with Price's 1st corps of the trans-Mississippi department,' reported (doubtless, with exaggeration) as April 18. April 20. 10 11 12 duke's arrival." McNeil found here 500 men, mainly of the 1st Nebraska, Lt.-Col. Baumer, with 4 more guns, behind four very rude and simple earthworks. As a measure of prudence, he sent away most of the stores on steamboats, and was then ready for the fight with which Marmaduke, with four brigades, soon accommodated him: the place being first formally summoned "by order of Maj.-Gen. Sterling Price" (who was not within 100 miles)-30 minutes being allowed for an answer; but only one was taken. The enemy next shelled a while; when another summons was sent; but McNeil refused to stop firing or to make any answer. And now gunboats were seen coming up with rëenforcements to the besieged, and Marmaduke drew off," having lost considerably, and commenced his retreat toward Arkansas; which he was enabled, by burning bridges, to prosecute with little loss-McNeil having been ranked by Gen. Vandever, who arrived with the rëenforcements, and whose ideas of pursuit were of the slow-and-easy pattern. Two or three ineffective skirmishes occurred between our advance and the Rebel rear: McNeil, in the last, having his horse shot: but Marmaduke got over the St. Francis unharmed, and was April 22. " April 25. 14 April 26. BLUNT DEFEATS COOPER AT HONEY SPRINGS. thenceforth safe; retreating into Arkansas with as many prisoners as we had taken from him; but his losses in killed and wounded were far the heavier. 449 Indians proved of no account. Standwatie was driven off, with a total loss of 23 on our side, including Maj. Forman, wounded. The Rebels left. 40 dead on the field and 9 prisoners. Gen. Blunt, learning that Fort Blunt, his advanced post, was in peril, rode thither from Fort Scott175 miles-in five days, arriving just in time." Learning that the Rebel Gen. Cooper was at Honey Springs, on Elk creek, 25 miles south, waiting, with 6,000 men, for a rëenforcement of three regiments from Texas, which he expected on the 17th, and purposed then to advance and fight, Blunt could not perceive the wisdom of waiting, but resolved to bring the matter to issue forthwith. So, setting out at midnight," with 250 cavalry and 4 guns, and, moving 13 miles up the Arkansas, he crossed and came down the other side, driving back the Rebel outpost and be ginning forthwith to cross in boats his entire force-3,000 men, with 12 light guns. Advancing five miles, he came upon the enemy, posted behind Elk creek: their numbers and position concealed by a growth of bushes. At 10 A. M.,20 Blunt advanced in two columns, under Cols. Judson and Phillips; deploying rapidly to right and left when within 400 yards of the enemy's line, with cavalry dismounted on either flank, The next blow in this department was struck" by the Rebels, perhaps 3,000 strong, under Col. Coffey, at Fort Blunt," in the Cherokee Nation, which was held by Col. Wm. A. Phillips, with some 800 mounted men and a regiment of Creek Indians. Phillips's Indian scouts proved untrustworthy, letting the enemy approach him unannounced; still, he had works which they did not care to attack, but, crossing the Arkansas, pounced upon his cattle, that were grazing on his left, and took the whole; only a part being recovered by a charge of his mounted men. "The Creek regiment refused to charge, or they would all have been saved," the Colonel dolefully reports. The enemy posted themselves in a strong position five miles from his fort; and there Col. Phillips attacked them with spirit-he driving them (or they escaping with their booty) over the Arkansas, with a loss of 50 or 60 on each side. Phillips seems to have conducted his part of the affair with judgment and energy. A train of 300 wagons, conveying supplies from Kansas to Fort Blunt, and guarded by ten companies of Western cavalry, with the 1st Kan-armed with carbines and fighting as sas colored, 800 strong, Col. J. M. Williams, and 500 Indians, Maj. Forman, had a fight" at the crossing of Cabin creek, Indian Territory, with a force of Texans and Indians under Standwatie, the Cherokee Rebel chief. The Texans fought well; but they were only 700; while the Rebel 25 May 20. 16 Near Fort Gibson, Creek Nation. VOL. II.-29 infantry. In two hours, the Rebels were driven, and, in two or three more, hunted through two or three miles of timber to the open prairie, when they fled in disorder, leaving behind them 150 dead and 77 prisoners, with one dismounted gun and 200 small arms. Blunt estimates " July 1. "July 10. "July 15-16. 20 July 17. |
