A Quick Visit to Prairie Grove

Intense fighting occurred near the small town of Prairie Grove, Arkansas, on 7 December 1862. For those interested in the campaign, William L. Shea’s Fields of Blood: The Prairie Grove Campaign (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2009) is the best modern account.

During spring break, I went on a one day road trip to Tahlequah, Oklahoma, and then on to Fayetteville, Arkansas. On the way, my friends and I stopped briefly at the Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park. I have visited this park a number of times and have enjoyed the walking trail as well as the driving tour. Today, though, there was only time to stop at the Archibald Borden House, the scene of some hot fighting. The original Borden House burned during the conflict but the house you see here was built on the original foundation. Since my last visit, the house has been repainted and new windows have been installed.

The photograph below is taken from the position of Captain William Blocher’s Arkansas Artillery Battery looking toward the Illinois River; the Borden House is not far behind this site. Several Union infantry regiments assaulted the Borden House ridge including the 37^th Illiniois Infantry which advanced right toward this camera position. Earlier, the 20^th Wisconsin Infantry had attacked across this view from the northeast. It is certainly a pretty view; one of my friends said it was peaceful, but it was anything but that on 7 December 1862.

The 37^th Illinois Infantry served mostly in the trans-Mississippi, and its activities were expertly detailed by Michael Mullins in The Fremont Rifles: A History of the 37^th Illinois Veteran Volunteer Infantry (Wilmington, NC: Broadfoot Publishing Co., 1990). The book is out of print and pricey on the used book market but is a good read.

You Won't Go Wrong With These Books

This is the conclusion of my miniseries about favorite accounts written by soldiers who served in the trans-Mississippi. Although I have listed six books altogether, please bear in mind that there are many others that I could have selected. The basic point of all of this? The trans-Mississippi, although perhaps not the most important theater of the war, is highly fascinating in its own right and is deserving of more attention than it is likely to get during the sesquicentennial.

Croushore, James H., ed. A Volunteer’s Adventures: A Union Captain’s Record Of The Civil War (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1946).

John William De Forest, of a wealthy Connecticut family, spent six years in traveling to Europe and Asia and had several publications to his name before the war. So, a gifted writer became a soldier and survived to share his experiences. His service in the 12^th Connecticut Infantry took him to Louisiana where he first experienced combat at Georgia Landing (Labadieville) and then later at Port Hudson. The book is a mix of narratives that were first published as articles soon after the war and letters. After serving in Louisiana, the 12^th Connecticut fought in the 1864 Shenandoah Valley campaign, however, the bulk of the book is about Louisiana, a place that clearly fascinated De Forest. Engagingly written, this account by a highly intelligent man contains a number of insights; my favorite chapter is titled “The First Time Under Fire.”

Wiley, Bell Irvin, ed. Fourteen Hundred And 91 Days in the Confederate Army: A Journal Kept by W. W. Heartsill For Four Years, One Month and One Day Or Camp Life; Day By Day, of the W. P. Lane Rangers From April 19, 1861 to May 20, 1865. (McCowat-Mercer Press, 1953; reprint ed., Wilmington, NC: Broadfoot Publishing Co., 1992).

Privately printed on a small press with pasted in photographs in 1867, this is a book that is difficult to describe. The words, “quirky,” and “unique,” though, spring to mind when describing it. Enlisting in east Texas, Heartsill was dispatched to west Texas; next authorities transfered his unit east where they were captured at Arkansas Post. Transported to a POW camp in Illinois, Heartsill is then exchanged by being sent east to City Point, Virginia, and then he fights at the battle of Chickamauga. Wearying quickly of the Army of Tennessee, Heartsill and three other Texans leave (“desert”) Bragg’s army and make a remarkable trip from Georgia to Texas; personally I think the account of their odyssey is a valuable look at Confederate society in the midway through the war. Heartsill’s war ends in Louisiana and then Texas. Heartsill’s diverse experiences make this unlike any other Civil War book that I am familiar with. In addition, he liked to emphasize words by putting them in all capital letters—thus we have “WIMIN” emphasized and then words were occasionally put in all capital letters for no apparent reason, but that is part of the fun of Heartsill’s book. And the title!! You just have to like a book with a title like this one. Broaden your knowledge of the Civil War by reading Heartsill—you won’t regret it.

More Great Books!

In my last posting, I bemoaned the heavy emphasis on eastern campaigns in the early stages of the sesquicentennial. In response to a list of Civil War books published in The Wall Street Journal, I started offering a counter-list of six personal accounts by soldiers in the trans-Mississippi. Last time, two Confederate primary sources were featured, and for balance two Union accounts are highlighted this time.

Britton, Wiley. Memoirs of the Rebellion on the Border: 1863. (Chicago: Cushing, Thomas, and Co., 1882; reprint ed., Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1993).

Britton, a young Missourian, served in the 6^th Kansas Cavalry, a unit that campaigned along the troubled border region. Britton’s war was fought in Missouri, Arkansas, and the Indian Territory. This account, possibly based on a journal, only discusses events that occurred in 1863. There is no attempt at objectivity in the book—Union soldiers only engage in good deeds in this account. However, Britton was a keen observer of the countryside and had a strong empathy for civilians, and these elements are the strength of the book in my opinion. Since Britton and his regiment served at times close to the area where I live, I find this book highly interesting.

Cotham, Edward T., Jr., ed. The Southern Journey of a Civil War Marine: The Illustrated Note-Book Of Henry O. Gusley. (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2006.)

Featured in an earlier posting on my blog, this book merits attention because it features naval actions along the Gulf of Mexico from Galveston and then eastward to Mobile Bay. Gusley was captured at the battle of Sabine Pass, and his captured “note-book” was published in the Galveston Tri-Weekly News during the war. His notebook has been paired with sketches made by Dr. Daniel D. T. Nestell whose service paralleled Gusley’s. Beautifully produced and edited, this is one of my favorite trans-Mississippi books to be published in the last few years.

April 17, 1864: A Soldier's Death

“Died—At Mansfield La, on Sunday April 17^th Capt. Theophilus Perry of Harrison Co. Texas, of a wound received at the battle of Pleasant Hill on the 9^th while gallantly heading his Company. He was born in Franklin Co. N. C. on Feb. 5^th 1833— “

These were the first words of the eulogy written by Harriet Perry in memory of her husband Theophilus, an officer in the 28^th Texas Cavalry (dismounted) of Walker’s Texas Division. The 10 May 1864 issue of the Galveston Weekly News detailed the seriousness of his wound:

Harriet closed her eulogy by quoting from William Cullen Bryant’s poem, Thanatopsis:

“’So live that when thy summons comes to join

The innumerable caravan which moves

To that mysterious realm, where each shall take

His Chamber in the silent halls of death,

Thou go not, like the quarry slave at night,

Scourged to his dungeon, but sustained and sooth’d

By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave,

Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch

About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams’”

[All quotes are from Johansson, M. Jane, ed., Widows by the Thousand: The Civil War Letters of Theophilus and Harriet Perry, 1862-1864 (Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2000), p. 243-244.]

An Eastern-centric Sesquicentennial?

The Wall Street Journal featured today a listing of the five best “Civil War Diaries, Blue and Gray” by Harold Holzer. The list is:

Beale, Howard K., ed., Diary of Gideon Welles (1960)

Jones, John B. A Rebel War Clerk’s Diary at the Confederate States Capital (1866)

Nevins, Allan and Milton Halsey Thomas, eds., The Diary of George Templeton Strong, 1835-1875 (1952)

Russell, William Howard. My Diary North and South (1863)

Woodward, C. Vann, ed., Mary Chesnut’s Civil War (1981)

These are all Civil War classics written by civilians, but I fear that this is just a foretaste of what is to come during the sesquicentennial. Reading only the above primary accounts would leave a reader with mostly an eastern-centric focus, and as you know, there was much more to the war than what happened in the east. I fear that the national media will place a heavy emphasis on the war in the east with only occasional, trivia like mentions of the war in the trans-Mississippi. To broaden out Mr. Holzer’s list somewhat, I have created my own, admittedly subjective and personal list. The six books that I have selected are all primary accounts written by soldiers, but they are not confined to the diary format; all relate, of course to the trans-Mississippi. Here are the first selections:

Alberts, Don E. Rebels on the Rio Grande: The Civil War Journal of A. B. Peticolas (Albuquerque: Merit Press, 1993).

A soldier illustrated account of the Confederacy’s invasion of New Mexico in 1862, A. B. Peticolas, an attorney in civilian life, served in the Fourth Regiment of Texas Mounted Volunteers during a campaign that covered hundreds of miles through the deserts of west Texas and finally into the mountains of northern New Mexico. Peticolas’ journal contains vivid accounts of fighting at Valverde and Glorieta. He also fully acknowledges the incredible human suffering caused by campaigning in a hostile environment.

Baird, W. David, ed., A Creek Warrior for the Confederacy: The Autobiography Of Chief G. W. Grayson (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1988).

George Washington Grayson served in Creek Indian units throughout the war in the Indian Territory. Honey Springs, Flat Rock, 2^nd Cabin Creek, and other small actions are documented in this small volume. An unusual feature of this book is that both the antebellum and the postwar periods were discussed making for a well-rounded account. Grayson’s narration reveals that he was an intelligent man and a careful observer. I like the little, revealing touches in the book such as “I had loudly encouraged and cheered my men from the first, speaking always in Indian, until my voice gave way under the continued strain, and was now only a whisper and could scarcely be heard at all” (p. 103).

First at Belmont: The 7th Iowa Infantry

Iowa provided many fighting regiments to the war effort, and among those featured by William F. Fox in Regimental Losses in The American Civil War, 1861-1865 was the 7^th Iowa Infantry. Their first combat occurred at the battle of Belmont (Missouri) where they suffered an exceptionally large number of casualties. After service in Missouri they went on to serve in the western theater at such places as Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Corinth, and many other battles. For further information about the Fighting Seventh see:

Iowa GenWeb: 7^th Iowa Infantry Historical Sketch and Roster

University of Iowa Libraries: several manuscript sources relating to the 7^th Iowa are listed on this website

“Rice's Brigade — Sweeny's Division--Sixteenth Corps.

（1) Col. Jacob G. Lauman. R. A.; Bvt. Major-Gen.	（2) Col. Elliot W. Rice, R. A.; Bvt. Major-Gen.
（3) Col. James C. Parrott; Bvt. Brig.-Gen.

companies.		killed and died of wounds.			died of disease, accidents, in Prison, &c.			Total Enrollment.
		Officers.	Men.	Total.	Officers.	Men.	Total.
Field and Staff		1	1	2	1		1	16
Company	A		13	13	1	14	15	169
	B	1	13	14		21	21	175
	C	2	16	18	2	21	23	172
	D		11	11		8	8	124
	E		12	12		21	21	141
	F	1	18	19		14	14	139
	G	1	11	12		21	21	108
	H		22	22		12	12	133
	I	1	10	11		19	19	143
	K		7	7		9	9	158
Totals		7	134	141	4	160	164	1,478

Total of killed and wounded, 465; captured and missing, 73; died in Confederate prisons (previously included), 13.

Battles.	K. & M. W.	Battles.	K. & M. W.
Belmont, Mo. (8 Cos.)	74	Kenesaw Mountain, Ga.	1
Fort Donelson, Tenn.	2	Marietta, Ga.	1
Shiloh, Tenn.	12	Atlanta, Ga.	4
Corinth, Miss.	28	Allatoona, Ga.	1
Resaca, Ga.	15	Guerrillas	2
Dallas, Ga.	1

Present, also, at Fort Henry, Tenn.; Iuka, Miss.; Jonesboro, Ga.; Jenkins's Bridge, Ga.; Savannah, Ga.; Lynch Creek, S. C.; Bentonville, N. C.

Notes.—Leaving Iowa August 6, 1861, it proceeded to Cape Girardeau, Mo., where it was assigned to Prentiss's Division. It was engaged on active duty in Missouri for several months, during which it fought at Belmont, sustaining the heaviest loss of any regiment in that battle. The first man killed at Belmont was one of the skirmishers of the Seventh; its loss was 51 killed, 127 wounded, 39 captured, and 10 missing; a total of 227 out of 410 engaged. Lieutenant-Colonel Augustus Wentz and three line officers were killed there, while Colonel Lauman and Major Rice were wounded. At Fort Donelson the regiment was in General C. F. Smith's Division, Colonel Lauman commanding the brigade; loss 2 killed and 37 wounded. At Shiloh,--then in Tuttle's Brigade, W. H. Wallace's Division,--the regiment was on parade for inspection when the army was surprised by the Confederate attack; the Seventh moved promptly to the front, and immediately became engaged; loss, 10 killed, 17 wounded, and 7 missing.

At the battle of Corinth,--October 3d and 4th, 1862--it was in Davies's Division; under command of Colonel Rice it made a stubborn fight, capturing a stand of colors, but losing 21 killed, 87 wounded, and 13 missing; over one-third of those engaged. The year 1863 was spent near Corinth, and in 1864, the regiment having reenlisted, entered upon Sherman's Atlanta campaign, during which it was hotly engaged at Lay's Ferry, Ga. (Resaca), where it lost 11 killed and 51 wounded. It was then in Rice's (1st) Brigade, Sweeny's (2d) Division, Sixteenth Corps. After the fall of Atlanta, it was placed in Rice's (4th) Division, Fifteenth Corps, in which it served during Sherman's Georgia and Carolina campaigns. Mustered out July 12, 1865” (Fox, p. 407).

Trawling through the Cemetery

Regular readers will not be surprised to learn that I have visited yet another cemetery. This one, though, is one that I have visited many times—namely Fairview Cemetery in Shawnee, Oklahoma, the town where I grew up. While growing up, I was fascinated by a section of the cemetery (shown above) that marked the final resting place of a number of Civil War veterans. One time I made a complete list of all of the Civil War veterans and researched all of the military units represented by them. I often pondered why Parker Wilson, a veteran of the 12^th Vermont Infantry, moved to central Oklahoma. And what exactly drew 1^st Sergeant W. E. Murry, a former member of the 51^st New York Infantry, to Shawnee? The same could be asked of 13^th Maine Infantry veteran, Charles Styles. Did John W. Wheeler (4^th Wisconsin Cavalry) think longingly of the cool summers that he left behind? Certainly, though, there are Midwesterners represented at Fairview Cemetery…J. N. Talbott (1oth Kansas Infantry), Robert Deer (14^th Kansas Cavalry), Samuel J. Turner (48^th Illinois Infantry), and Frank Fox (1^st Iowa Battery).

And in amongst them are some Confederate veterans like J. C. Tyrone who served in the 1^st Mississippi (McNair’s) Cavalry. Did Union and Confederate veterans socialize much in Shawnee? Did they trade war stories with each other? I’d like to think that they did, and I have a feeling they helped name two of the major streets in Shawnee. No doubt those northern veterans suggested naming a street “Union,” and those Confederate veterans? Intriguingly there is a street named “Independence,” and it intersects with Union Street. These veterans are in the west part of the cemetery not far from an Oklahoma Historical Society sign that notes the resting place of Dr. Brewster Higley who may have written the song, Home on the Range.