The Civil War in Arkansas - Disptches, Events, and Newslatter Template

THE QUEEN CITY WAS A HELPLESS WRECK

by Mark Christ

J. O. Shelby’s Summer of ‘64

After the Federal failure in the Camden Expedition in the spring of 1864, one of the Transmississippi Confederacy's most daring generals, J. O. Shelby of Missouri, headed into north central Arkansas. He began a summer that would both restore order to a lawless section of the state and cause the Union hundreds of casualties, tons of supplies, and the loss of a warship.

Mark Christ is community outreach director for the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, an Agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage. He directs the agency’s National Register/Survey, education, special projects, and public information programs. He joined AHPP in 1990 after eight years as a professional journalist. A 1982 graduate of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, he receives a Master’s degree in 2000 from the University of Oklahoma, where he wrote a thesis based on the Little Rock Campaign of 1863.

He has edited several books for the University of Arkansas Press, including Rugged and Sublime, Reflections on Arkansas Properties Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and Getting Used to Being Shot At: The Spence Family Civil War Letters. He most recently edited All Cut to Pieces and Gone to Hell, The Civil War Race Relation, and the Battle of Poison Spring.

Joseph Orville Shelby was born on December 12, 1830 in Lexington, Kentucky. The Shelby family was one of Kentucky's wealthiest and influential families. Shelby. attended Transylvania University and was engaged in rope manufacturing until 1852 when he moved to Waverly, Missouri. There he engaged in various enterprises including steam boating on the Missouri and a hemp plantation. Being successful, Shelby became a member of the Missouri's social and political elite.

During the Missouri-Kansas Border War, he participated in several "border ruffian" invasions of Kansas. With the outbreak of war in Missouri in 1861, Shelby raised a cavalry company for the Missouri State Guard and served as its captain.

While in the Missouri State Guard, Captain Shelby saw action at Oak Hills (Wilson's Creek), Lexington, and Elkhorn Tavern (Pea Ridge). Shelby transferred to the Confederate Army in the spring of 1862 and went with General Sterling Price east of the Mississippi River.

In the summer of 1862, Shelby headed an expedition into Missouri. The fruits of this expedition were a thousand-man cavalry regiment. For this accomplishment, Shelby was promoted to colonel and put in command of a cavalry brigade under Major General Hindman. Colonel Shelby played an important role in the Battle of Prairie Grove, Arkansas.

1863 proved to be a very busy and rewarding year for Shelby. He was part of General Marmaduke's raid into Southeast Missouri, participated in the Battle of Helena, Arkansas, and made his own raid into Central Missouri. The latter activity gained Shelby notoriety and fame throughout the Confederacy.

Shelby refused to surrender in 1865. He planned an attempt to prevent General E. Kirby Smith from surrendering at Shreveport, Louisiana but muddy roads prohibited the plan. After Smith’s, surrender on May 26, Shelby and several hundred of his Iron

Brigade went to

Mexico

. When crossing the Rio Grande, Shelby ceremoniously buried his unconquered flag.

He offered the service of his men to the Mexican Emperor Maximilian who declined the offer so not to offend the

United States

. Shelby then established a wagon freight company near the Confederate exile colony of Carlota in the state of Vera Cruz. This enterprise thrived until guerilla raids and the withdrawal of the French Army (the support of Maximilian) forced Shelby to return to Missouri in the summer of 1867.

Shelby began growing wheat near Lexington, promoting railroads and operating coalmines. In 1893, Shelby was appointed

U. S.

Marshal by President Grover Cleveland and held that position until his death on February 13, 1897.

Close to 100 viewed the celebration of the 141^st Memorial that was held this month. The Robert C. Newton Camp and the David O. Dodd Camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans sponsored the event. Reenactors from all over the state joined in making the event a success. Capt. Tom Ezell. Of the 6^TH Arkansas, led a company of 37 Reenactors and SCV members through their paces and the three-volley gun salute. Don Hamilton spoke on the life of David O. Dodd. If you missed it, you missed and excellent ceremony.

At the November Meeting, the members elected the new officers for the 2005 year.

Drew Hodges then presented an excellent program on A. P. Hill. The election of new officers for the Central Arkansas Civil War Heritage Trail was postponed until the January Meeting.

A reminder about your 2005 dues:

The dues are $15.00 for a family membership. If you would like to pay, your dues contact Brian:

A Tragedy of Errors: Failure of the Confederate High Command in the Defense of Vicksburg

(1807-1870), American soldier, General in the Confederate States Army, was the youngest son of major-general Henry Lee, called "Light Horse Harry”. He was born at Stratford, Westmoreland County, Virginia, on January 19, 1807, and entered West Point in 1825. Graduating four years later second in his class, he was given a commission in the U.S. Engineer Corps.

In 1831, he married Mary Custis, great-granddaughter of First Lady Martha Washington, A month prior to the wedding; Robert had received news of his new assignment to Old Point Comfort where Fort Monroe was under construction.

The news had pleased the Custis family; it meant Mary would remain close to Arlington. Even so, both mother and daughter were faced with somber adjustments when she moved away.

Her mother was faced with the loss of the one person she had doted on most of her life and Mary was faced with the challenges of managing a household without the slaves or her mother nearby to direct matters.

In 1836 he became first lieutenant, and in 1838 captain. In this rank, he took part in the Mexican War, repeatedly winning distinction for conduct and bravery. After the war, he was employed in engineer work at Washington and Baltimore, during which time, as before the war, he resided on the great Arlington estate, near Washington, which had come to him through his wife.

In 1852, he was appointed superintendent of West Point, and during his three years here, he carried out many important changes in the academy. Under him as cadets were his son G. W. Custis Lee, his nephew, Fitzhugh Lee and J. E. B. Stuart, all of whom became general officers in the Civil War.

In 1855, he was appointed as Lt.-Colonel to the 2nd Cavalry, commanded by Colonel Sidney Johnston, with whom he served against the Indians of the Texas border. In 1859, while at Arlington on leave, he was summoned to command the

United States

troops sent to deal with the John Brown raid on Harper's Ferry.

In March 1861, he was made colonel of the 1st U.S. Cavalry; but his career in the old army ended with the secession of Virginia in the following month. Lee was strongly averse to secession, but felt obliged to conform to the action of his own state.

The Federal authorities offered Lee the command of the field army about to invade the South, which he refused. Resigning his commission, he made his way to Richmond and was at once made a Major General in the Virginian forces. A few weeks later, he became a brigadier-general (then the highest rank) in the Confederate service.

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Nine hours of narrated battle analysis is interesting, but wait until you load the CD-ROM and start fighting the Battle of Shiloh yourself. The folks at Battlevision have built a product that will rope you in and occupy your weekend. With the animated graphics walking you through the battle you may find yourself yelling at the computer, “no don’t do that!”

Battlevision will have you living the battle; carefully reading the biographies and battle reports. An excellent way for the Civil War Buff to study The Battle of Shiloh; it combines an array of multimedia sound and visual effects to offer hours of learning and enjoyment!

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On the eve of the American Civil War, Wade Hampton, one of the wealthiest men in the South and indeed the United States, remained loyal to his native South Carolina as it seceded from the Union. Raising his namesake Hampton Legion of soldiers, he eventually became a lieutenant general of Confederate cavalry after the death of the legendary J. E. B. Stuart. Hampton’s highly capable, but largely unheralded, military leadership has long needed a modern treatment.

After the war, Hampton returned to South Carolina, where chaos and violence reigned as Northern carpetbaggers, newly freed slaves, and disenfranchised white Southerners battled for political control of the devastated economy. As Reconstruction collapsed, Hampton was elected governor in the contested election of 1876 in which both the governorship of South Carolina and the American presidency were uncertain.

While aspects of Hampton’s rise to power remain controversial, under his leadership stability returned to state government and rampant corruption was brought under control. Hampton then served in the U.S. Senate from 1879 to 1891, eventually losing his seat to a henchman of notorious South Carolina governor “Pitchfork” Ben Tillman, whose blatantly segregationist grassroots politics would supplant Hampton’s genteel paternalism.

In Wade Hampton, Walter Brian Cisco provides a comprehensively researched, highly readable, and long-overdue treatment of a man whose military and political careers had a significant impact upon not only South Carolina, but

America

. Focusing on all aspects of Hampton’s life, Cisco has written the definitive military-political overview of this fascinating man.

WALTER BRIAN CISCO is the author of States Rights Gist: A South Carolina General of the Civil War, an alternative selection of the History Book Club, and Taking a Stand: Portraits from the Southern Secession Movement. He lives in Cordova, South Carolina.

In 1862, Confederate troops constructed an earthen fortification known as Fort Hindman. In January, 1863, Union troops destroyed the fort and adjacent river port town, ensuring control of the Arkansas River. By mid-1862, Union gunboats commanded most of the Mississippi River.

When the gunboats went up the White River into the heart of Arkansas, the Confederates began to prepare defenses on the Arkansas River, an important water route to the capitol at Little Rock. Before the end of 1862, Confederate General Thomas J. Churchill completed an earthen fortification at Arkansas Post called Fort Hindman, or the Post of Arkansas. The battle took place on January 10, 1863, when Union forces under Generals John McClernand and W.T. Sherman captured the fort. While the remains of Fort Hindman now lie underneath the channel of the Arkansas River, there are still remnants of the Confederate trenches.

From Fort Hindman, at Arkansas Post, Confederates had been disrupting Union shipping on the Mississippi River. Maj. Gen. John McClernand, therefore, undertook a combined force movement on Arkansas Post to capture it. Union boats began landing troops near Arkansas Post in the evening of January 9, 1863. The troops started up river towards Fort Hindman. Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's corps overran Rebel trenches, and the enemy retreated to the protection of the fort and adjacent rifle-pits. Rear Adm. David Porter, on the 10th, moved his fleet towards Fort Hindman and bombarded it withdrawing at dusk. Union artillery fired on the fort from artillery positions across the river on the 11th, and the infantry moved into position for an attack. Union ironclads commenced shelling the fort and Porter's fleet passed it to cutoff any retreat. As a result of this envelopment, and the attack by McClernand's troops, the Confederate command surrendered in the afternoon. Although Union losses were high and the victory did not contribute to the capture of Vicksburg, it did eliminate one more impediment to Union shipping on the Mississippi.