What About The 39th Missouri Infantry?

The 150^th anniversary of Centralia is approaching, which reminds me of the nearly forgotten 39^th Missouri Infantry. Which Civil War infantry regiment suffered the most killed in a single engagement during the War? Most would readily answer that the 5^th New York Infantry had that unlucky distinction with its 120 men killed at the battle of Second Manassas. Certainly, historian after historian has stated as much over the years. But, is it correct? Read through the following sample quotations on the subject:

Alfred Davenport: “No other regiment suffered an equal loss in so short a space of time, on the Union side during the war.” (Camp and Field Life Of The Fifth New York Volunteer Infantry (Duryee Zouaves). New York: Dick and Fitzgerald, 1879; reprint ed., Gaithersburg, MD: Olde Soldier Books, 1995, page 286.)

William F. Fox: “One of the most remarkable losses in the war, both in numbers and percentage, occurred at Manassas, in Gen. Fitz John Porter’s Corps, in the celebrated Duryee Zouaves (Fifth New York), of Warren’s Brigade, Sykes’ Division….The deaths from wounds increased the number killed to 117, or 23 per cent of those engaged, the greatest loss of life in any infantry regiment during the war, in any one battle” (Regimental Losses In The Civil War. Albany, NY: Brandow Printing Co., 1898; reprint ed., Dayton, OH: Morningside, 1974, pages 27-28.)

John J. Hennessy: “During those ten awful minutes atop that ridge, the 5^th New York lost nearly three hundred men shot—120 mortally. For a single infantry regiment it was the largest loss of life in any single battle of the entire Civil War.” (Return to Bull Run: The Campaign And Battle Of Second Manassas. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1993) page 373)

Thomas S. Bradley and Brian C. Pohanka: “The killed and mortally wounded that day numbered at least 120, the heaviest fatality in a given battle of any Federal Infantry regiment.” (Introduction to the Olde Soldier Books reprint of Camp and Field Life Of The Fifth New York Volunteer Infantry (Duryee Zouaves), page number not listed.

Scott C. Patchan: “His regiment [5^th New York], though, had suffered the greatest loss of men killed and wounded by an infantry regiment during the entire Civil War.” (“Second Manassas.” Blue & Gray. Vol. 29, #3 (2012), page 24.)

Ethan S. Rafuse: “Although they eventually managed to rally on Henry Hill, 120 of the approximately 500 men in its [5^th New York] ranks had been killed. In the entire Civil War, no other infantry regiment would have more men killed in a single engagement.” (Manassas: A Battlefield Guide. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2014, page 116.)

Alfred Davenport served in the 5^th New York, and he only claimed that his regiment lost more men in a shorter amount of time than any other. However, when he wrote his history in 1879 there was not much comparative data available to him.

William Fox’s statement is odd because he actually listed another infantry regiment that lost more in a single engagement than the 5^th New York. Tucked away in the back of the book Fox stated, “The 39^th Missouri [Infantry] lost 2 officers and 120 men killed in a massacre at Centralia, Mo., September 27, 1864” (Fox, page 522). He clearly noted, then, that the 39^th Missouri Infantry lost more men in a single engagement than the 5^th New York Infantry, and yet he did not include the 39^th Missouri in any of his comprehensive listings earlier in the book. Why he failed to do so is not something I can answer with any certainty. Fox’s book was probably the source that has led so many subsequent historians astray.

The number of men killed at Centralia and Second Manassas by the two regiments was quite similar, and perhaps more complete records would show that indeed the 5^th New York lost more men than the 39^th Missouri. For now, though, unless someone can prove otherwise, it appears that the 39^th Missouri Infantry and not the 5^th New York Infantry suffered more men killed in a single engagement than any other Union infantry regiment.

This is not an attempt to denigrate the services of the 5^th New York Infantry but to simply correct the record. Both the part of the 39^th Missouri engaged at Centralia and the 5^th New York at Second Manassas found themselves in untenable positions and paid a heavy price. It’s about time that the sacrifices of both regiments are remembered. Please read my January 11, 2o12 posting about the 39^th Missouri at Centralia if you’d like more information.

Centralia, Missouri: September 27, 1864

In the last posting, I mentioned that the 39^th Missouri Infantry may have suffered more men killed and mortally wounded in a single engagement than any Union infantry unit during the war. According to records of the Adjutant General of Missouri, the unlucky 39^th lost 123 men at Centralia, Missouri, on September 27, 1864.

Organized in Hannibal, Missouri, in the late summer and early fall of 1864, the unit mostly engaged in scouting duties; some, if not all, of the companies were mounted. For a number of weeks, individual companies of the regiment were dispersed to different locations in Missouri; in January 1865 the regiment served briefly in the Nashville, Tennessee, area but then were quickly returned to Missouri. According to the sketch in Dyer’s Compendium Of The War Of The Rebellion, the 39^th “lost during service 2 Officers and 130 Enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 64 Enlisted men by disease. Total 196” (Dyer, vol. 2, p. 1336).

In the fall of 1864, Confederate General Sterling Price and his men embarked on a raid into Missouri. At the time of the action at Centralia, Price and his men were in the Pilot Knob area south of St. Louis. Before the raid, Price requested that various guerrilla leaders step up their activities, particularly in the area north of the Missouri River. The hope was that the guerrillas would draw Union troops away from pursuing Price’s men. As a result of Price’s call guerrilla activity spiked in August and September north of the Missouri River. The worst episode of guerrilla violence during this period occurred at Centralia, a town on the Northern Missouri Railroad about 120 miles northwest of St. Louis in Boone County.

On September 27, 1864, “Bloody” Bill Anderson, George Todd, and John Thrailkill and about 200 hundred of their men looted and burned much of Centralia. About noon the men attacked an incoming passenger train. Many of the passengers were robbed, and twenty-four unarmed Union soldiers from the train were murdered. Following this the guerrillas headed several miles out of town. Writing two days later, Colonel Edward A. Kutzner, the commander of the 39^th Missouri, reported:

“…detachments of Companies A, G, and H of this regiment, under the command of Maj. A. V. E. Johnston, left Paris, Mo., at 10 p.m. on the 26^th instant, marched during the night, and about 7 o’clock on the morning of the 27^th instant struck a trail which was supposed to be that of Anderson’s guerrillas. The major followed said trail to Centralia….The major determined at once to attack the enemy, and, sending a dispatch to Sturgeon for re-enforcements and leaving Captain Theis with thirty-three men in the town, marched with 125 of his command one mile and a half in a southeasterly direction, when, discovering the guerrillas, formed his line of battle and dismounted his men. About the time the order was executed Anderson charged with his whole force, a part of which had been concealed by a hollow in the prairie. Our forces had but time to fire one volley, when the enemy from his great superiority of numbers and arms broke through the line, completely surrounding the troops, giving no quarter and mutilating bodies. Captain Theis, hearing Major Johnston was killed and his command cut to pieces, ordered a retreat, and succeeded in saving eighteen out of the thirty-three men left in the town.

I have to deplore the loss of the brave and chivalrous Maj. A. V. E. Johnston, Capt. J. A. Smith, an officer of much merit, and the gallant soldiers who fell on this bloody field….” (Official Records, ser. I, vol. 41, pt. 1, p. 443).

Although the Official Records states that the 39^th Missouri lost 116 men killed at Centralia, the loss of life was actually higher. W. F. Switzler’s The History of Boone County Missouri (1882) had a list of the killed and mortally wounded provided by J. A. Waddell, the Adjutant General of Missouri. Switzler's book lists 123 killed and mortally wounded from the 39^th Missouri at Centralia.

The Jefferson City (Missouri) National Cemetery has a monument memorializing the dead of the 39^th Missouri Infantry; 118 of its dead from Centralia are buried in a mass grave at this national cemetery.