| Today's Feature Drury Students
at Final
Visioning
Meet.
The group of Drury University
students that have been working with the city of
Carthage and their visioning team to develop a
vision for the future of Carthage will be at
their final meeting tonight at 6:30 p.m. in
Memorial Hall. The students will be presenting
visual representations of the communities ideas.
There will be a brief graphical presentation to
the community. Everyone is encourage to attend.
Kiwanis
Club Keeps
Civil
War History Alive.
The Carthage Kiwanis Club has
published a reprint of the book by Ward L.
Schrantz, Jasper County, Missorui, in the
Civil War. The book was originally published
in 1923. An excerpt is included inside
today’s Mornin’ Mail. Schrantz
worked as a newspaper man for most of his life
and interviewed many local survivors of the Civil
War. Many of those personal interviews are in the
book.
The books are available at the
Powers Museum and the Civil War Museum and other
select locations.
EXTRA! Battle of Carthage
History Inside.
Jasper County,
Missouri, in the Civil War
COMPILED BY
WARD L. SCHRANTZ
Days of ‘61
Jasper county at
the beginning of 1861, although a new country,
was a prosperous and rapidly growing one,
checkered with fertile fields and dotted with
happy homes. The last census report had given the
population as 6,883 of whom 350 were slaves. The
largest towns were Carthage and Sarcoxie, the
former having about 500 residents and the latter
400. Both of these places had a number of good
buildings.
Feelings on the
political questions of the day were very strong
in Jasper county at this time, three distinct
parties being in evidence. There were the
unconditional union men-a small minority who
favored standing unreservedly for the union.
Prominent in this party were Norris C. Hood,
Archibald McCoy, Dr. J. M. Stemmons, John Crow,
Samuel B. LaForce and others.
Next was the
conditional union men whose local leader was
Judge John R. Chenault. This party believed in
staying with the union unless the northern states
tried to force the southern states back into the
union by force of arms. In that case the
conditional union men were in favor of joining
the south. The third party, and the one having
the overwhelming majority, was the secessionists,
advocating the immediate secession of Missouri
from the union to join the states of the
confederacy. Leaders in this party was A. J.
Fallion, Thomas R. Livingston, C. C. Dawson,
Senator James S. Rains and C. C. Cravens.
The pro-slavery
party was especially strong in Sarcoxie and this
town had always taken the keenest interest in the
long political fight which had been waged in the
United States between the slavery men mand the
rapidly increasing element in favor of the
abomlition of this system of involuntary
servitude.
In the early
spring of 1861 military companies were formed all
over the county, and the tramp of drilling men
preparing for the struggle that they sensed was
coming could be heard in almost every town and
village.
During this time a
confederate flag, the first to be raised in
Missouri, was flying at Sarcoxie. It had been in
existence for some weeks prior to the capture of
Fort Sumter in April 1861 and when word was
received of this first act of the war it was
hoisted to the top of a tall pole and floated
there, it is said, until in early July. Then the
flag was taken down and federal troops passing
through the town cut down the flag pole and
burned it. Meanwhile important events were
transpiring elsewhere.
On May 10 a
considerable portion of the Missouri state
militia, which had gathered in St. Louis
"for training" and which union men
believed was meant to seize the St. Louis arsenal
for the south, was cap-tured by a strong force of
federal volunteers under Captain Nathaniel Lyon.
This was the first act of open war in this state.
Missouri at once began to arm, the formation of
the new military force known as the state guard
being begun. After a temporary truce which ended
June 11, Lyon, now a general, led a column of
federal troops to Boonville where he scattered a
hastily assembled force of the state guard on
June 17. At the same time he sent a strong force
under Brigadier General Thomas W. Sweeny to
Springfield to hold that part of the state and to
prevent the newly organized state guard from
escaping to the south.
Following the
Boonville affair, Governor Claiborne F. Jackson
started for the south with all the state guard
that could be gathered up, and Sweeny at
Springfield ordered Col. Franz Sigel and a force
of U. S. Volunteers who were in or near the
border tier of counties to cut him off.
Sigel left a
company of 94 men at Neosho to hold this town
against the confederates who were gathering near
the Missouri-Arkansas border and with the
re-mainder marched to Carthage, camping at the
springs, now known as Carter springs, at the east
edge of town on the night of July 4. Here he was
visited soon after dark by several union citizens
who gave him valuable information about the
southern forces. The same night Governor Jackson,
his army augmented by a strong force from
southwest Missouri commanded by General James S.
Rains, camped about 18 miles to the north. It
seems probable that the company raised in
Sarcoxie was with Rains.
Colonel Monroe,
quartermaster of General M. M. Parson’s
division of the state guard, had been sent on
south by his chief to Carthage to obtain
subsistence and forage. Just after sundown a
mounted man rode up to Parson’s headquarters
at the state camp and reported that Monroe at
Carthage was menaced by a superior force of
federals and asked that reinforcements be sent to
him. This was the first intimation that the state
guard had that there was an enemy in its front.
Parsons
immediately ordered his men to be ready to move
at 10 p. m., intending to make a night march to
Monroe’s relief. Governor Jackson, however,
as soon as he learned of Parsons news and the
action he proposed to take, very wisely
countermanded the order for a move that night and
gave instructions that the entire state army
should move south as a unit early the next
morning.
A clash between
the two forces were now inevitable.
Jackson’s object was to make his way to the
south where his untrained force could be
organized and drilled into shape. Sigel’s
object was to destroy or scatter Jackson’s
army and in this he probably hoped to be aided by
General Lyon who he erroneously thought was
following immediately in the governor’s
rear.
The union column
consisted of nine companies of the Third Missouri
Infantry, 550 men; seven companies of the Fifth
Missouri Infantry, 400 men, and two batteries of
artillery, 4 guns each, 150 men-a total force of
1,100. Col. Sigel was an old German soldier,
experienced in war, and many of his men were also
veterans..
His soldiers were
well trained and disciplined for this period of
the war and the infantry was armed with the 69
calibre rifle musket, an efficient weapon.
The union column
consisted of nine companies of the Third Missouri
Infantry, 550 men; seven companies of the Fifth
Missouri Infantry, 400 men, and two bat-teries of
artillery, 4 guns each, 150 men-a total force of
1,100.
The armed total
(of the State Guard) probably consisted of over
4,000 men, in addition to which there were 2,000
or more unarmed. Few of Jackson’s men had
uniforms, most of them going into battle in
ordinary civilian dress and some of the officers
wearing high "plug" hats.
In the early
morning of July 5 Colonel Sigel broke camp at
Carthage and marched northward, Monroe’s
detachment of the state troops falling back
before him. A short distance north of Dry Fork
and about eight miles north of Carthage his
advance guard was held up by Captain Jo
Shelby’s company of the state guard. General
Rain’s column had left its camp at 4 a. m.
that morning, Governor Jackson riding at its
head, and when it came near the enemy,
Shelby’s rangers had been pushed out to
cover the main body while it formed for action.
Sigel, finding his
advance guard checked and sharply engaged, first
sent two companies of infantry and two pieces of
artillery to support it and then threw his whole
force into line of battle except one cannon and
one company of infantry which he left to guard
his baggage train and protect his rear. The state
troops were by now also ready for battle, and
Shelby, in accordance with orders, skillfully
disengaged his company and fell back to the main
line.
The state troops
had formed in line on a high ridge of prairie
which sloped southward with undulations to the
timbered-fringed creek about a mile and a quarter
away. Sigel was on the lower ground facing north,
and between the two armies were open fields with
an occasional fence.
Well to the rear
the unarmed men with Governor Jackson were drawn
up to give the appearance of a reserve and
forming what Shelby called "the line of
spectators."
The action began
with Sigel’s artillery opening fire with
round shot, shell, spherical case shot and grape.
Parson’s four brass six-pounders promptly
returned the fire and Capt. Bledsoe’s three
guns immediately joined in. This artillery duel
continued for a short time and then Capt.
Guibor’s battery ceased fire on account of a
shortage of ammunition. Sigel, not unnaturally
considering that these guns had been silenced,
prepared to advance with his infantry. However
one battery of his own artillery was complaining
of a shortage of ammunition by this time and,
what was more important, the state guard cavalry
both on the left and the right were moving around
his flanks in an effort to cut off his line of
retreat.
The union
commander could no longer think of attack. His
task from now on was to extricate his troops from
their perilous position and escape from the
superior forces which were closing around him. A
portion of his artillery shifted fire to the
menacing cavalry and the whole federal force
began to fall back by successive stages to Dry
Fork. Seeing this retirement, the state guard
infantry pushed forward all along the line and
the cavalry on the flanks continued on its
encircling movement.
Just south of Dry
Fork, Colonel Sigel stationed Capt. Essig’s
battery in such a position as to command the
ford. To the left of the battery one company of
the Fifth regiment under Capt. Stephani was
deployed while two companies of the Third
regiment under Captains Dengler and Golmer held
the right. Behind these front line companies were
two companies of the Fifth regiment under Captain
Stark and Meisner in immediate support.
The advancing
battle line of the state guard soon came under
fire from Sigel’s new position and
Bledsoe’s battery at once unlimbered and
hotly engaged Essig’s four guns. The
infantry pushed on down to the timber skirting
the stream in an attempt to cross the movement of
course being under a heavy fire.
Passing through
the timber, the infantry under O’Kane of
Weightman’s brigade, together with the men
of Parson’s and Clark’s divisions,
found themselves engaged in a brisk fire fight
with the federals across the stream, at points
the opposing lines being only forty or fifty
yards apart. Graves’ and Hurst’s
regiments on the right seem not to have been
strongly opposed but were unable to find a place
to cross the stream for some time. Bledsoe’s
battery had a number of men disabled during this
part of the action and the infantry on both sides
suffered losses in killed and wounded.
The state guard
cavalry was meanwhile continuing to push around
the union flank and the regiments of Colonels
Rives and Brown, which had worked around
Sigel’s right, formed behind Buck Branch
squarely across his line of retreat. Rain’s
cavalry from the west was also closing in. It was
high time for Sigel to move.
As Sigel’s
column neared Spring river the cavalry of General
Rains attempted to close in in front of his
advance and prevent him from crossing. It was
driven off to the west, however, and Sigel’s
rear guard made a brief stand on the high ground
north of the stream, beyond where the lower
bridge now is, to hold back the State Guard
infantry until the union column had had time to
cross the river and the valley.
South of the
river, on the heights northwest of Carthage, the
federals again took position, making sure of
their line of retreat by sending Lieut. Col.
Wolff and two pieces of artillery to the hills
east of town to keep the Mount Vernon road open
and to hold back Rives and Brown’s horsemen
who were crossing Spring river north of the city.
Captain Cramer with two companies of the Fifth
regiment was sent at the same time to hold the
west side of the town against the cavalry which
was working around in that direction.
As
Weightman’s brigade crossed Spring river and
emerged from the southern edge of the timber it
was fired upon by the artillery in the federal
positions northwest of the town. Graves’ and
Hursts’ regiments were moved to the west to
outflank this position and, soon after Sigel
again withdrew, entered the town at about the
same time as the infantry regiment of Colonel
Hughes of Slack’s division. A spirited fight
ensued with the federal rear guard which had been
ordered to hold the town long enough to give
their wearied comrades in the main body a short
time to rest. Sheltering themselves behind
houses, walls and fences the union soldiers
maintained their position for a time then retired
fighting to new positions which other units of
Sigel’s troops had taken up on the heights
east of the city on a ridge southwest of where
they had camped at the springs before. This was
along where River street now runs.
The three pieces
of Bledsoe’s battery, which by now had
passed through the city, went into action to
answer Sigel’s artillery which was already
firing, and a few minutes later two of Captain
Guibor’s guns chimed in. The infantry
previously engaged in the town, and now
reinforced by Parson’s division, advanced to
the assault, but Sigel’s main body was
already on the move again and after a brief brush
in which the attackers suffered some losses his
rear guard once more fell back, leaving the ridge
to the state troops. Two of Sigel’s wagons
were abandoned in the town. Another short stand
was made at the edge of the timber two miles
farther on and then the tired infantry of the
State Guard went into camp in and around
Carthage.
But there was no
rest for Sigel’s men despite the fact they
had already marched over 18 miles and had been in
battle for almost twelve hours. Taking advantage
of the darkness, Sigel continued his move
eastward, putting all the distance he could
between him-self and the superior forces of the
enemy.
It was well that
he did so. Generals Ben McCulloch and Sterling
Price, moving up from the south with 3,000 men to
assist Jackson, joined the governor the next
morning, and Sigel had escaped none too soon.
The company of 94
men that the Union commander had left at Neosho
were prisoners, captured by the confederates as
they advanced north. Sigel’s total loss
during the battle was 13 enlisted men killed and
2 officers and 29 enlisted men wounded.
The official
tabulation at Washington gives the southern
losses as 35 killed, 125 wounded, 45 captured.
Sigel’s report does not mention the taking
of any prisoners.
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