 |
 |
 |
|---|
John S. Poindexter was born June 25, 1838 in Greene County, Illinois, the second son of Ambrose B. & Polly (Clark) Poindexter. When he was a boy of about ten, the family moved to Missouri, first to Carroll Co. and soon thereafter to Lawrence Co. He was just weeks short of his twenty-third birthday when the guns thundered at Pea Ridge, Arkansas, not forty miles south of his home near Mt. Vernon. A week later, John joined the Union Army, enlisting on 16 Mar 1862 at Springfield, MO.
He mustered as a First Sergeant into the dashingly-named Richardson's Mountain Rangers, taking his place in Company C, Captain Hargrove commanding. The first few weeks were no doubt rather grand, the new Ranger battalion riding tall and jaunty under their equally jaunty Colonel John M. Richardson. The Rebels were scoundrels and seemed to scatter into the brush as proper scoundrels should. Soon, by some mysterious military osmosis, the Mountain Rangers shed their proud name to become the 14th Regt. Missouri State Militia Cavalry. Perhaps not the most fetching title, but that is the army way.
Possibly the picnic ended at Neosho on May 31, 1862. What transpired there was a hot, confused little affair, which no doubt shocked the young soldiers with the idea that war was perhaps not entirely glamorous. Among other things, they learned that the Rebels employed Indians, genuine, wild, screaming Indians, and they could fight. Later that fall, a skirmish near Mt. Vernon on September 19 must have been equally unsettling to John personally, being entirely too close to his own home and family. The 14th was at the Battle of Prairie Grove, Ark. on December 7, and by then the young cavalrymen were thoroughly awake to the grim, dark realities of war. They next took part in the defense of Springfield, MO on January 8, 1863, where the 14th Missouri State Militia Cavalry suffered 3 killed, 16 wounded, and 3 missing.
In March of 1863, the 14th MSM Cavalry was disbanded by order of the War Department. Reasons for this disbandment are not clear to this writer, but may have been a combination of a shrinking regiment, along with more total Militiamen than the State of Missouri could afford to pay for. The members of the 14th were shuffled to other units and John, with many of his comrades, found himself in the 4th MSM Cavalry. The 4th was originally organized at St. Joseph, MO in early 1862, and had been also present at Springfield. At the time of this transfer the 4th was in service in Central Missouri, duties including guarding the Missouri Pacific Railroad. Upon joining them, John appears as a Private in Co. M, then Co. L, so evidently his previous rank as 1st Sergeant died with the old 14th.
Yet there possibly was controversy in this transfer, for as John would later write, the men of the disbanded 14th MSM thought they were thus released from service. He claimed that the men had even turned in their weapons, and that he felt this transfer might even be illegal. Evidence of this confusion may lie in the fact that some men were so late reporting to their new units, they required official amnesty from charges of desertion. Yet John had his orders and he was a soldier and so he reported for duty. He was not happy, but he was there.
In June of 1863, the brittle fields of winter had become softly green with the approach of summer, and John received a 20-day furlough for Illinois. It is the writer's belief that John at this time moved his teenaged sister and recently-widowed mother out of war-torn Missouri, and to safety amongst family in Illinois.
Yet that twenty days seemed to work a change in John, the soldier who had obeyed orders even when he might question them. He returned to the army, but on July 27 he simply walked away from the 4th Missouri State Militia Cavalry. It was a rather long walk, as the military did not catch up with him until February 22, 1864, and then it was in White Hall, Illinois. Oddly, it was an Enlistment Agent who arrested him. Possibly John felt so disaffected by his irregular transfer that he attempted to reenlist in an Illinois unit. However, official records do not give us such detail. All that is known for certain is that by March, Private John S. Poindexter was lodged in the military lockup at Jefferson City, awaiting court martial.
The military system marches to its own plodding drummer, as John found to be so. On March 15 he found the audacity to write to Major General Rosecrans himself, appealing for an investigation into his case and detailing what he felt was the injustice he had suffered. The army did not agree. In April, John stood before a court martial and received his sentence. Six months in prison, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and he would be further docked ten dollars a month for the six months of his imprisonment. It could have been much worse, and much, much more permanent.
On May 2, John heard the doors of Myrtle Street Prison at St. Louis clang shut behind him. They would stay shut for even longer than he realized. As yet, he had not quite got the hang of the military prison machine, and fumed mightily that a loyal soldier such as himself could be so misused. Within the week, he wrote a scathing letter to a cousin back home in Mt. Vernon, venting his feelings on pretty well every aspect of the military justice system. The cousin never saw this letter, but the Office of the Provost Marshal General did. Thereupon it seems that John's paperwork sort of ... got misfiled.
October came and with it the grey chill of autumn. The young soldier-turned-prisoner counted the days until his six months would be up. Soon, very soon. And then he got the bad news. His sentence, he was told, had not been properly approved. He promptly wrote an anxious inquiry to a Col. John DuBois of the Assistant Adjutant General's Department. The reply came back quick and stern. In military-speak, the General Order promulgating the sentence of Private John S. Poindexter was dated July 20, 1864. In other words, his six-month sentence began in July, not April, and would not expire until January of 1865 - three months later than anticipated. One should use prudence, it seems, if one chooses to exercise one's freedom of speech in the army. Also, it might be particularly well to reconsider thoughts of desertion, when one's regimental commander is a former Governor of Missouri, as was Colonel George H. Hall of the 4th MSM Cavalry.
Letters written in late November of 1864 reveal a very lonely, contrite young man, struggling to shake a prison illness, who wishes only for the welfare of the Union, and to see friends and family again. Mournfully he writes, "I have learned this much since my incarceration that the way of the transgressor is hard." On January 20, 1865, as belatedly scheduled, John walked free at last.
He returned to duty after his sentence was served, rejoining the 4th MSM in its current station at Sedalia, and remained with them in Co. B until the middle of March. John mustered out scant weeks before the war ended, when his 3-year term of service expired on 16 March 1865, at Warrensburg, MO.
Home again as a civilian in Lawrence Co., John married 26 Nov 1867 to Miss Louisa Stroud. Despite the stain on his military record, John evidently retained pride in his service, and is recorded as Vice President of the Union Soldiers of Lawrence County, upon its organization in August 1879. This former soldier lived a peaceful life as a farmer until his death on 19 May 1922. He is buried beside his wife at Ash Grove, in Greene Co. Missouri. They had no children, yet he has kinsmen who remember him with pride.
Written by: Gloria M. AtwaterJohn's Letters From
Myrtle Street Military Prison
Transcription of Letter
March 15, 1864
Actual Letter
March 15, 1864
Actual Letter
May 7, 1864
Actual Letter
October 21, 1864
Transcription of Letter
November 20 (30?), 1864
Actual Letter
November 20 (30?), 1864
Actual Letter
November 30, 1864Researcher of 1st Sergeant John S. Poindexter.
Gloria M. AtwaterWeb Site
Our Poindexter ClanOR
