New Book!

My book, Albert C. Ellithorpe, the First Indian Home Guards, and the Civil War on the Trans-Mississippi Frontier, will be published by Louisiana State University Press in November! The book is an edited edition of Ellithorpe's personal wartime journal, his correspondence, and the twenty-three wartime articles that he penned for the Chicago Evening Journal. Here is the description of the book from the LSU Press's website:

"The Civil War experiences of Albert C. Ellithorpe, a Caucasian Union Army officer commanding the tri-racial First Indian Home Guards, illuminate remarkable and understudied facets of campaigning west of the Mississippi River. Major Ellithorpe's unit--comprised primarily of Creek and Seminole Indians and African Americans who served as interpreters--fought principally in Arkansas and Indian Territory, isolated from the larger currents of the Civil War. Using Ellithorpe's journal and his series of Chicago Evening Journal articles as her main sources, M. Jane Johansson unravels this exceptional account, providing one of the fullest examinations available on a mixed-race Union regiment serving in the border region of the West.

Ellithorpe's insightful observations on Indians and civilians as well as the war in the trans-Mississippi theater provide a rare glimpse into a largely forgotten aspect of the conflict. He wrote extensively about the role of Indian troops, who served primarily as scouts and skirmishers, and on the nature of guerrilla warfare in the West. Ellithorpe also exposed internal problems in his regiment; some of his most dramatic entries concern his own charges against Caucasian officers, one of whom allegedly stole money from the unit's African American interpreters. Compiled here for the first time, Ellithorpe's commentary on the war adds a new chapter to our understanding of America's most complicated and tragic conflict."

A Morale Builder

No doubt you’ve read about different methods for improving morale during the war such as the development of corps badges, better rations, flags, etc. Today, I read about how an artillery demonstration boosted morale.

The Place: Leroy, Kansas

The Time: mid-June 1862

Context: An expedition is being organized to return “loyal” Indian refugees to the Indian Territory. Most of these Unionist Indians were from the Cherokee, Creek, and Seminole tribes. This venture was labeled as the First Indian Expedition, and the troops involved included the First Indian Home Guards, the Second Indian Home Guards, plus units from Kansas and Wisconsin.

Eyewitness: Indian Agent W. G. Coffin described the event to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, William P. Dole.

Coffin reported that after much effort, Captain Norman Allen’s Kansas Battery finally agreed to visit Leroy, Kansas. There, the battery gave a demonstration before “nearly two thousand Indians….[it] was received by the Indians with entire satisfaction and applause, it has made a grand impression upon them and has also strengthened their confidence in the success of the expedition….I doubt very much whether those Indians could have been induced to go at all had it not been for that Battery going along with them….”

Source: National Archives. Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs. M234.

W. G. Coffin to William P. Dole, June 16, 1862, reel 834, frame 1235.

The First Indian Home Guards Regiment: "I am much embarrassed..."

It is entertaining to read assessments of Civil War regiments contemporary to that time. Civil War regiments were a varied lot, and it was rare to have one that served well during their entire service. For example, the First Indian Home Guards, a unit comprised of refugee Creek and Seminole Indians from the Indian Territory, had served well at a skirmish at Locust Grove (3 July 1862) and during the Prairie Grove campaign, but their behavior in camp was another matter. The following is an assessment written on 19 January 1863 by Colonel William A. Phillips, the obviously frustrated commander of the Union Indian Brigade:

“The regiment did some service in June and July [1862]; it became badly demoralized for want of sufficient and competent officers; partially broke up in August; was collected in October, and had white first lieutenants mustered, under General Blunt’s order. Some 300 or 400 of the regiment, who had gone to Leroy [Kansas] in August, and who had refused to leave it, got down with the train just at the time the Army of the Frontier was rebrigaded. The regiment has drilled very little; are indifferently informed as to their duties.

These Creeks are about equal in scale of intelligence to the Delawares of Kansas; they are inferior to the Cherokees. They are now in bad shape, get out their details slowly, sometimes desert a post, or a party when sent on duty; yet I would be lacking in my duty to them or the Government if I failed to say that, with one or two good field officers, military men, and two, or even three, company officers, they could be made very effective. No party of them should be sent without a competent officer. Their own officers are, with few exceptions, useless, but there are one or two men of influence amongst the captains, brave fighters in the field, and of influence not to be overlooked. This Creek regiment gives me much more concern than either of the others….

Nothing but active steps to supply necessary orders can save the First Indian Regiment from utter demoralization. My orders to drill are disregarded. As I compel the regiments to draw on consolidated provision returns, I have difficulty in getting reports from them. I am much embarrassed, as arresting all the officers of a regiment is not to be thought of, and permitting it to run loose has a bad effect on the rest. I earnestly desire instructions and necessary authority to myself or some others. In the mean time I shall do the best I can” (Official Records, vol. 22, pt. 2, 57-58).

A Subject Waiting For A Historian

While looking for some additional background information about Albert C. Ellithorpe, an officer in the First Indian Home Guards, I found a short piece about him in John Carbutt’s Biographical Sketches of the Leading Men of Chicago (1876). The sketch states that Ellithorpe “remained in the service until the end of the War, passing through many hard-fought battles and ‘bushwhacking’ fights, and sharing in all the rough-and-tumble experience of those terrible years on the frontier—a kind of experience which was so entirely different from that of the Armies in other parts of the country—so much more wild, exciting and critical that none but those actually under [James G.] Blunt’s command can appreciate its character. If the detailed history of that Army of the Frontier could be fully and faithfully written, it would be one of the most thrilling narratives of peril, bravery, self-sacrificing endurance under hardship, bloody encounters and bold and dashing deeds, that mark the annals of modern warfare” (p. 257). Excusing some of the hyperbole near the end, I think the author is correct that such a history would be “different,” “wild,” and “exciting.” It would certainly be a lot more interesting to read than yet another book about_________________ [you fill in the blank].