Marmaduke's First Raid Into Missouri.
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THE 14TH MSM CAVALRY REGIMENT ROLE IN MARMADUKE'S FIRST RAID
On the morning of December 31, 1862, Brigadier General John Sappington Marmaduke with Col. Jo. 0. Shelby's Missouri Cavalry Brigade, Col. Emmett MacDonald’s Missouri Provost Marshal Regiment and Col. James Monroe's tiny Arkansas Brigade left Lewisburg, Arkansas for Missouri. Located on the north bank of the Arkansas river, Lewisburg is more than one hundred miles from the Missouri border. The raid, which was to become known as Marmaduke’s first raid into Missouri, was begun on orders from Major General Thomas C. Hindman who commanded the 1st Corps. of the Army of the Tans-Mississippi. Three days before, Union General's James Blunt and Francis Herron, in a raid of their own, seized Van Buren, Arkansas, destroying several warehouses and steamboats containing supplies for Hindman's troops.
Major General Thomas C. Hindman was afraid that the attack launched by Blunt and Herron was intended to seize and hold Van Buren. This would have forced Hindman to withdraw his troops closer to Little Rock causing the forfeiture of Northwest Arkansas and the Indian Territory, a loss the Confederacy could ill afford. General Hindman's reaction was to order Brigadier General Marmaduke to take his 4th Cavalry Division north and raid the overextended supply lines of the Union forces and compel them to withdraw toward Fayetteville.
Despite the fact that Marmaduke's division was ill-prepared for a winter operation, he and his officers were excited at the prospect of returning to Missouri. For many of them, it was a chance to return to Missouri and stay there through the winter. Despite this ambition, the simple fact remained that Marmaduke had no business launching a raid into Missouri considering the state of his division. Many men were sick with Typhoid Fever and Small Pox. They were ill-clad and lacked the ordnance for any sustained fight. Additionally their horses were in poor shape. The entire force of Marmaduke's command had been in constant service since the previous summer
Despite these shortcomings in his command, Marmaduke realized that he held the advantage in being able to select where he could attack. He knows that there were no active Union forces between Lewisburg and the Missouri/Arkansas border to his north. The closest known garrison was that of the 2nd Battalion of the 14th Missouri State Militia Cavalry Regiment commanded by Captain Milton Burch in Ozark, Missouri. Other than that, as far as Marmaduke knew, there were several small posts containing garrisons of the Enrolled Missouri Militia which contained many Confederate sympathizers. Additionally he knew that bushwhackers, who owed no loyalty to either side were in the mountains along the border. It was his intention to strike immediately north into Missouri and raid the supply lines between Rolla and Springfield. He wanted to bypass Forsyth and its EMM garrison and see what developed once they crossed into Missouri
Once underway on the last day of 1862, a messenger arrived from General Holmes ordering Marmaduke to detach Monroe's Arkansas command and order Monroe to raid the Union supply lines from Fayetteville to the Arkansas river. Marmaduke was to proceed ahead with Shelby and MacDonald's commands. In return, he was allowed to commit the mounted elements of Col. White’s Missouri Brigade under the command of Col. Joseph Porter, then at Jacksonport. Marmaduke immediately sent a dispatch to Porter, ordering him to put his best mounted men in the field. He went on to order Col. Porter to unite with Marmaduke’s column somewhere in the vicinity of Hartville, on or about the 8th of January. On receipt of this dispatch, Col. Porter immediately set about to prepare for what was to them another raid into Missouri.
The Union high command at St. Louis and Fayetteville had lost track of. Marmaduke’s division and had no idea of his whereabouts. They knew that Marmaduke's division had been ordered to a more secure area where forage was more readily available for his animals. It was not until the morning of the 6th of January did anyone learn that Marmaduke was in Missouri. It was Captain Milton R. Burch of the 14th MSM that learned of Marmaduke’s raid first.
On the same day that Marmaduke left Lewisburg, the various Union garrison posts on the Missouri border were making out their year end and monthly returns. At Cassville, located in Stone County, Mo. at a point about midway between Springfield and Fayetteville, Ark., was located the Headquarters of the 1st Battalion, 14th MSM. The Orderly sergeants were busy with their field returns and the mounted elements of the First Battalion were escorting wagon trains to Fayetteville from Cassville or were on scouting patrols.
At Ozark, Captain Milton R. Burch, commanding the Post of Ozark and the 2nd Battalion of the 14th MSM was also involved with closing out the year end business. Additionally, he had scouts to keep him posted on the small bands of bushwhackers and rebel scouts that were constantly on the move in south central Missouri. It was one of these scouting expeditions that discovered a body of bushwhackers that were gathering in the Ozark mountains just across the border near Yellville, Arkansas. The scout reported that approximately 75 men had come together and had built a salt peter works to make gunpowder. Burch immediately determined that it was necessary to put together an expedition and destroy this band of marauders as well as destroy the salt peter works.
The Second Battalion of the 14th MSM Cavalry regiment had been operating along the Missouri-Arkansas border in Taney and Christian Counties since the previous summer when the regiment had been organized in Springfield. Captain Burch along with his lieutenants had been constantly in the field chasing bushwhackers, partisans and regular Confederate forces with great success. Both Captain Burch and his 1st Lieutenant John Kelso had become noted anti-guerrilla fighters and were much feared by the lawless elements that were active in the operational area of the 2nd of the 14th MSM.
Captain Milton Burch states in his official report that he left Ozark on the morning of January 4, proceeding to Beaver Station on Beaver Creek where Fort Lawrence was located. He then traveled south to Dubuque to join with troops promised by Major Turner, commander of the post at Fort Lawrence, and the local Enrolled Missouri Militia. But when Burch arrived, the troops were not ready to leave. At the Widow Fisher's Farm, located on Big Creek six miles from Dubuque, Capt. Burch captured two Confederate Soldiers who had been left behind sick. Upon questioning them, he learned Marmaduke was on a raid north into Missouri with Springfield as his objective. From the Widow Fisher's Farm, he returned to Fort Lawrence via the main roads, arriving at 4:00 a.m. on January 6. While Burch had recorded the events and their sequence properly, the dates on his reports are twenty-four hours behind the dates listed by Confederate reports and the vouchers submitted for payment by the wagon master who delivered supplies to Fort Lawrence. Therefore, the events Burch listed as beginning on January 4 actually began on January 5. The reason for this discrepancy is understandable when it is understood that he wrote his report some weeks after the battle of Springfield where he was badly injured
On the morning of January 5, Captain Burch left Ozark with 100 mounted man from his 2nd Battalion of the 14th MSM Cavalry. Through his informants, Burch learned Confederate sympathizers were operating a powder mill on Crooked Creek in Carroll County, Arkansas. He also discovered a band of guerrillas were organizing near that location, the same guerrillas that Elliott's Battalion of Scout's of Shelby's Brigade encountered on January 3. Neither side wanted anything to do with bushwhackers. Captain Burch intended to destroy the salt peter works and disperse the guerrillas. His first stop on his journey south was the post at Fort Lawrence, where he was to choose additional troops from the 73rd EMM and continue south to Dubuque.
Captain Burch arrived at Fort Lawrence that day near noon, after a short stop to rest and feed the horses. He met with Major William Turner of the 73rd EMM, commander of the post and it's approximately 300 men who had come from other posts to receive supplies. Major Turner told Burch he couldn't send troops with him until the supply wagon train from Marshfield, expected later that day, had arrived. Once supplied, he would dispatch Captain Greene with 100 men, who would meet Captain Burch at the Widow Fisher's Farm. The arrangements made, Burch then headed south with his command along a trail paralleling Big Creek, which emptied into the White River. At some point along that route, Burch camped for the night.
Late in the afternoon of January 6, Captain Burch arrived at the Widow Fisher's Farm finding two rebel troopers. Too sick to travel farther, they had been left behind. Interrogated by Burch, the rebels told him Marmaduke, MacDonald, Shelby and 6,000 men had crossed the White River at Dubuque earlier that day. They went on to tell Burch that Marmaduke had intended to attack Springfield.
These men could not have known that General Marmaduke had decided to attack Springfield. At the time they had been left behind, Marmaduke had not planned on attacking Springfield until he was informed on the evening of January 6 of the conditions at Springfield by the scouting party he had sent ahead three days before and sympathizers who lived in the area. These men had unknowingly told Burch of Marmaduke's plan to attack Springfield. This alarmed Capt. Burch, as he knew how weak the defenses of Springfield were.
After receiving this information, Capt. Burch immediately abandoned his mission into Arkansas. He sent a dispatch rider to Fort Lawrence, instructing Major Turner to quickly forward the message to Ozark, where it could be telegraphed to Springfield. Burch also advised Turner to prepare to abandon Fort Lawrence. As it soon would be dark, and Burch's guide was unfamiliar with the back roads, he decided to take the main roads back to Beaver Creek
Unfortunately, Burch failed to inform Capt. Greene of the change in plans. Greene and his men were traveling a back road to join Burch at the Widow Fisher's. Since Greene was not aware of Burch’s actions and was marching south away from Fort Lawrence, he would not be able to aid in its defense.
Into the night Burch marched his command over the main roads, unaware that he passed within a few miles of Marmaduke's encampment, marching over the very road Marmaduke would have to travel. Additionally, he was unaware that Col. MacDonald's command was an hour’s march behind him. Around 10:00 p.m., when Burch reached the junction where the road south to Forsyth and the road north to Gimlins Mill met, MacDonald and his command were just leaving their camp.
Captain Burch returned to Beaver Creek at approximately 4:00 a.m. on the morning of January 7. He immediately urged Major Turner to withdraw from the fort, but Turner declined, citing a lack of transportation and the fact his post contained only one company of 80 men. Turner also doubted Burch, skeptical that such a large body of troops was on the move at this time of the year.
Knowing he couldn't convince Major Turner that he would be attacked, Capt. Burch set out pickets on the roads leading to Fort Lawrence. He ordered his men to dismount and rest, as they had been in the saddle for twelve hours, traveling sixty miles. Burch planned to stay until daylight, then continue to Ozark. He wanted to arrive there before Marmaduke.
In the meantime, Col. Emmett MacDonald was making his approach on Fort Lawrence. Marmaduke had ordered MacDonald to break camp at 10:00 p.m., march to Fort Lawrence, and attack it at dawn. Although it was a bitterly cold night, MacDonald's 270 men were in good spirits, looking forward to the coming battle. This was the first time they had been on Missouri soil since the previous October.
The night was moonless, the march slow, taking seven hours to cover the 17 miles to Fort Lawrence. Colonel MacDonald arrived just southeast of Fort Lawrence at daybreak. Leaving a detachment mounted, MacDonald had the rest of his men hitch their horses and made preparations to attack on foot.
Captain Burch had in the meantime assembled his command and had just left Fort Lawrence behind when gunshots were heard. Colonel MacDonald and his men had crept to within a few paces of the pickets when they were discovered. A quick exchange of fire resulted in two EMM killed and a third captured. The attack began in earnest now, as the garrison bad been alerted. Quickly scrambling toward cover in the buildings and the fort, the surprised and frightened militia abandoned all, fleeing in every direction. Within minutes, the firing ceased. Major Bennett, who wrote the official report of Col. MacDonald's regiment following the raid, claimed they had routed 500 men from the field. This, of course, was untrue.
With the intention of returning to the fort and aide in its defense, Capt. Burch turned his command back toward Ft. Lawrence. But before he gained sight of the post, the Rebels had seized control of both the outbuildings and the fort. With part of MacDonald’s mounted men attempting to cut him off, Burch turned once more. Under fire, he headed for a back road that would take him to Ozark.
The fighting at Fort Lawrence lasted maybe ten minutes, resulting in one reported Rebel casualty. The militia lost six killed, among them the mortally wounded Major Turner and Thomas Terry, the posts blacksmith. Major Bennett reported capturing 14 men, all of whom were paroled.
Captain Burch proceeded cautiously to Ozark, aware that he could run into Marmaduke's main body at any time. Arriving at Ozark at approximately 10:00 p.m. on January 7, (he states January 6) Burch immediately ordered all of the fort's baggage removed and sent promptly to Springfield. He telegraphed a quick report to Springfield, requesting orders. The reply came quickly, ordering Burch to fall back to Springfield.
By the time Capt. Burch arrived at Ozark, General Marmaduke, with Shelby's Brigade, had camped just five miles away. Marmaduke ordered the animals be foraged and the men cook something for themselves. By 9:30 p.m., they were on the road again, arriving just minutes after Burch had left. Captain Burch’s caution had allowed him to evade Marmaduke.
When Shelby arrived at Ozark, Shelby ordered Elliott's men and two companies from Gilkey's regiment to envelope the town, cutting off all retreat. Shelby then dismounted half of each regiment and deployed them as infantry. Deploying numerous skirmishers, they proceeded ahead slowly and cautiously, only to find that Capt. Burch had just left. Some of the few items that were left behind and could not be carried was destroyed and the post was burned.
Shortly after 10:00 p.m., General Egbert B. Brown, the commander of the District of Southwest Missouri and headquartered in Springfield, received a dispatch from Capt. Burch confirming the destruction of Fort Lawrence and the capture of its garrison. Burch informed Brown that he had ordered the Ozark stockade to be stripped, and the rolling stock moved across the James River to Springfield. General Brown had approved Burch's actions, and ordered him to abandon Ozark and fall back to Springfield.
With Capt. Burch’s confirmation in hand of Marmaduke's presence in Missouri, General Brown notified his senior officers of the situation. Preparations to ready the defenses of Springfield had been underway for six hours when Gen. Brown had received Burch's final dispatch. Excitement and near panic had set in as civilians and soldiers alike set about their various tasks to save themselves or prepare to fight.
Shortly after sunrise on January 8, 1863 a very exhausted Capt. Burch and more than one hundred men arrived in Springfield. Burch was ordered to join Lt. Col. Pound on St. Louis Street near the unfinished Fort No. 5. Burch's arrival had brought the 14th MSM Cavalry's presence at Springfield to a total muster of parts of four companies and 223 men all under the command of Lt. Col. John Pound. Pound had been under arrest on charges of murdering prisoners of war but had been ordered released and returned to his command.
Colonel Austin A. King, the commander of the 3rd Missouri State Militia Cavalry Regiment, and the largest command on the field, was placed in command of all mounted cavalry units at Springfield. At approximately 4:00 a.m., Col. Willard P. Hall, commanding three companies of his 4th MSM Cavalry arrived at Springfield. King immediately placed the 3rd MSM Cavalry as a screen on the south side of Springfield. The 4th was placed to the west along the wire road leading south out of Springfield. The 2nd Battalion, 14th MSM, was busy organizing as Burch arrived, was to the left and on the rear of the 3rd MSM. They would first act as a reserve, giving Burch time to rest his men.
At approximately 9:00 a.m., Marmaduke arrived before Springfield and quickly deployed along a ridge overlooking Springfield, approximately 1000 yards from Fort No. 4 which was the center of the defenses of Springfield. For an hour, Marmaduke busied himself in preparations while at the same time awaiting the arrival of MacDonald’s command, which arrived on the field at 10:00 a.m., after being in the saddle almost all night. Major Ben Elliott's Battalion of scouts’ with W. C. Quantrill's company of Partisan Ringers and under the command of Lt. Gregg, were ordered forward as a screen and at the same time were ordered in the direction of St. Louis Street between Jefferson and Dollison. This move was meant to test the line and learn if a route down the valley of Jordan's branch and St. Louis was practical.
At approximately 10:00 a.m., just as MacDonald was arriving on the field, Elliott's scout battalion, formed most likely with his two companies forward and Gregg's men in close formation to the immediate rear, approached St. Louis Street from the southeast. Before Elliott reached St. Louis Street, Lt. Col. Pound launched a mounted charge against Elliott's men. The charge was led off by Companies “D” and “H” of the 14th MSM, closely followed by the combined Companies of “F” & “G.” Just as the 14th MSM was about to make close contact with Elliott’s line, Lt. Gregg's Partisan company launched their own counter charge. It was the custom of Gregg's men to carry at least four or more revolvers and in many cases, carried short barreled shotguns and muskets. Gregg's company met the 14th charge head on and within moments, stopped it cold with a high volume of fire. In those few moments, Company “D” of the 14th MSM was rendered 'Hors de Combat’, losing a dozen men and two prisoners, plus half the company had their horses shot out from under them. Among the wounded was Captain Milton Burch who, while leading his Company “H” in the charge, had his horse killed under him. He sustained a severe hip and leg wound when he went down. The Injury would keep him in the hospital for six weeks.
Seeing that the 14th MSM was in trouble, Col. Austin King ordered his 3rd MSM Cavalry regiment to charge Elliott's battalion. Soon they pressed Elliott's battalion back upon Marmaduke's line. As the 3rd MSM came into range of Lt. Dick Collins rifled 10 pounder and 6 pounder guns, they were met with a volley of cannon fire. King broke off further pursuit and fell back upon St. Louis Street with Elliott’s men in pursuit.
General Brown realized that the better armed and mounted cavalry in Marmaduke's command bad the advantage in a mounted fight, sent Col. King a dispatch ordering him to dismount the cavalry and fight as infantry from along the fence line behind the houses on the south side of St. Louis Street. While the main engagement began to the southwest of Fort No. 4, both the 3rd and 14th MSM rallied, dismounted and began a long range exchange of fire with Elliott's Battalion. This activity resulted in few, if any casualties for either side.
Around 3:00 p.m., General Brown went down with a severe wound to his arm and subsequently turned command of the battle over to Col. Benjamin Crabb, 19th Iowa Infantry, who was in command of the Post of Springfield. He, or someone, ordered the 2nd Battalion, 14th MSM back into the saddle and sent to the extreme right flank of the Union line and support the 4th MSM efforts in defending the line against Shelby's and Gilkey's regiments.
At 4:00 p.m., when Col. Crabb took command of the field, there were approximately 800 men of the 72nd EMM, the 18th Iowa Infantry, 4th MSM Cavalry (dismounted), and the 2nd Battalion of the 14th MSM (dismounted) and men from the 'Quinine Brigade’ engaged against the bulk of Shelby's Brigade, numbering at this time, approximately 1,200 men. The Rebel's had made at least two attempts in trying to gain the right flank of the Union line, defended by the 14th MSM, but each time were repulsed. An hour before the sun set, Shelby made one final attempt at breaking the defenses of Springfield. He personally led a charge against Fort No. 4 and when this attack had got underway, orders were sent to the 4th and 14th MSM to launch its own attack. They were met by a severe volley of fire from the rebel line and a company of the 14th broke and ran for their horses causing the whole line to think that a retreat had been ordered. Lt. Col. Pound though rallied the men and soon returned them to the line. Shelby's attack sputtered out and his men returned to their lines.
As the sun began to set over the smoking and burning homes of Springfield, the battle began to die down and no further effort was made on Marmaduke's part to push into Springfield and gain the valued prize of destroying the armory which had been a close thing. Sniping and exchange of gunfire continued throughout the evening. All fighting had died out by 10:00 p.m.. The Union forces had barely saved the day, but they did not know that at the time as they had fully expected a continuance of the battle the next day. However, Marmaduke prudently decided that it was best to conserve his forces and go around Springfield and continue his raid along the Springfield-Rolla road. This though would come to an end with a bitterly fought battle at Hartville three days later on January 11.
The 14th MSM played a key role in the defense of Springfield. The Missouri State Militia were the only organized veteran troops on the field and without them it is doubtful that Springfield could have been spared the destruction of its military stores so vital to the Amy of the Frontier. The fight of the 14th MSM against Gregg's partisans taught a severe lesson to both Lt. John Kelso and Capt. Burch. Both men had come to be regarded as the premier anti-guerrilla fighters in the Missouri State Militia. Yet when they had gone up against Gregg's company, which probably contained some of the best pistol fighters in the world, they had learned a harsh lesson. They had learned the value of firepower from a few men and that they needed to be better armed. Within the month, the 14th MSM Cavalry was disbanded and its companies distributed between the 8th and 4th MSM. Captain Burch's company was assigned to the 8th MSM and was later that summer sent to Newton County where they would test their skill against Tom Livingston's Partisan Rangers. Soon after their arrival in that bitterly contested portion of Missouri, Burch's former battalion of the 14th MSM would become a much feared organization.Written by: Joel Hedrick,
MSM Historian and Site Co-AuthorArthur F. Freeman,
HTML Programmer and Site Host.