The Henry Rifle and the Battle of Prairie Grove

The Battle of Prairie Grove was fought 155 years ago today, and one of the participants was Major Albert C. Ellithorpe of the First Indian Home Guards. His regiment consisted primarily of refugee Seminoles and Muscogee Creeks from the Indian Territory and were part of James G. Blunt’s Kansas Division. This division arrived on the battlefield after soldiers from Francis J. Herron’s division had launched several bloody and futile attacks on Confederates from Thomas C. Hindman’s army. Ellithorpe’s regiment gave a “war yell” after positioning itself to the right of Herron’s Twentieth Iowa Infantry, and then the two regiments advanced toward the enemy. Ellithorpe had purchased a Henry rifle earlier in the year. This repeater had a sixteen-shot magazine and fired a .44 caliber bullet. Ellithorpe proudly wrote a month after the battle that, “my ‘Henry’ has done its work well I emptied 32 shots from it at the Battle of ‘Prarie Grove’ at a very short range. I think the gun has done good service.” The Major was so taken with the weapon that he asked for permission “to raise a battalion of sharpshooters” that would be equipped with the Henry rifle. For reasons unknown, his request was never granted. Were any other soldiers equipped with the Henry rifle at Prairie Grove? If any Henry bullets are ever excavated from the ground where the First Indian advanced, then they were probably fired by the redoubtable Major Ellithorpe.

Prairie Grove Relic Destroyed

Craig Swain had a recent posting on his excellent blog about the discovery of live artillery rounds on Civil War battlefields, including one found at Prairie Grove. A city crew there found a James Rifle shell while working on a gas line, but an Army bomb squad destroyed the artifact. To read all about it, check out this Arkansas Online news story.

Blunt v. Hindman: Sparring After Prairie Grove

Union Major General James G. Blunt and his Confederate opponent, Major General Thomas C. Hindman engaged in some verbal and written sparring after the battle of Prairie Grove. On December 12, 1862, just four days after the battle, Hindman sent the following note to Blunt:

“I send the bearer, Lieutenant Lawrence, to the battlefield, for the purpose of making a plat of it and the approaches to it. I request that you grant him the privilege, under such restrictions and obligations as you may see proper to impose. This courtesy to me on your part, if extended to me, will be reciprocated whenever occasion may offer.”

Blunt replied sarcastically:

“Your request, contained within, is a very modest one, and will be granted, provided you allow me to send an artist to your present camp to sketch it and the approaches leading thereto. Such little courtesies must be reciprocated.”

Hindman failed to respond.

Quotes are from the Official Records, v. 22, pt. 1, pages 81-82.

Naming A Battle

After the battle of Agincourt in 1415, English and French heralds who had observed the battle met with King Henry V, and they selected a name for the battle. In all but one instance during the Civil War, informality reigned when it came to choosing a battle’s name, with each side selecting their own name oftentimes for a battle. So we are left often with multiple, and frequently confusing, names for the same battle. Shiloh/Pittsburg Landing, Manassas/Bull Run, Sharpsburg/Antietam, Oak Hills/Wilson’s Creek are just a few examples. So, what is the one exception during the Civil War? The one time when opposing generals agreed upon a battle’s name?

On December 8, 1862, Major General James G. Blunt met his defeated foe, Confederate Major General Thomas C. Hindman. The two men discussed the disposition of the wounded, decided upon a truce, talked about paroling prisoners, and agreed upon the name of the battle that they had fought the day before. The name, as determined by Blunt and Hindman, would be Prairie Grove.

A Prairie Grove Hero

About three weeks ago, I went on a day trip to Fayetteville and visited the National Cemetery there. First established in 1867 with internments of Union soldiers from the battlefields at Pea Ridge and Prairie Grove, it is a beautiful and well-maintained cemetery. The Civil War burials are on the top of the hill, but soldiers from later wars are intermingled with their earlier counterparts. While studying the inscriptions, I took a photo of the grave marker of 4^th Sergeant Lindsey E. Teal and later discovered a story of heroism.

Sergeant Teal enlisted in St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin, in a unit that became Company A of the 20^th Wisconsin Infantry. The regiment’s highest casualties occurred at the battle of Prairie Grove on December 7, 1862. These Wisconsin soldiers entered the battle after an epic march of 120 miles over three and a half days. They were among the regiments that made piecemeal attacks up a ridge toward the Borden House; the specific target of the 20^th Wisconsin were the three guns of Captain William D. Blocher’s Arkansas Battery near the house. William L. Shea describes what happened next in his Fields of Blood: The Prairie Grove Campaign:

[Major Henry A.] “Starr bellowed ‘Forward!’ and the Twentieth Wisconsin dashed toward the Rebel guns. ‘We rushed over a rail fence and the battery was ours,’ wrote Captain Miller. ‘What a shout of exultation arose!’ Color Sergeant Lindsey E. Teal climbed onto one of the guns and exuberantly waved the Stars and Stripes. The ‘whole command was wild with excitement,’ noted a Wisconsin soldier. ‘We thought we could clear up the whole business at once,’ recalled another. A quick check revealed that not a man in the regiment had been hurt” (page 170). The regiment advanced on and part entered a ravine where they were mauled by Confederate troops. By the end of the battle, the 20^th Wisconsin had suffered a 49% casualty rate. Among the fifty men killed in action was Color Sergeant Lindsey Teal.

The Battle of Prairie Grove: The Human Toll

One hundred and fifty years ago today, the battle of Prairie Grove was fought near Fayetteville, Arkansas. The Confederate army altogether suffered casualties of 1,483 men (204 killed, 872 wounded, and 407 missing); the Union army suffered losses of 1,233 men (175 killed, 808 wounded, and 250 missing). The human toll of the battle is seen more clearly in the casualty lists that give personal names and a description of the wounds. Here are two Confederate casualty lists from the battle of Prairie Grove:

Captain Henry West’s Arkansas Battery:  Situated on top of a ridge, the Borden House was the epicenter of the battle. West’s Battery was positioned near the base of this ridge when “The fire of several Federal batteries was soon concentrated on him, and his loss in men and animals was quite heavy.” This action resulted in the following casualties:

“Killed: First Sergeant John B. Whitsitt, Corporal H. T. Boatright, Private Peter Gallagher. Wounded: Privates Thomas J. Lane, left arm off; R. J. Irvin, slightly in face; Charles Clifton, slightly in leg and head. Missing: Private Albert Brooks.”

Captain William D. Blocher’s Missouri Battery: Blocher’s Battery was positioned near the Borden House and was the target of several Union assaults. The Battery’s casualties were: “Killed: Privates Joseph Leech and John Conn. Wounded: Corporal A. Choate, arm off; Privates H. J. Cox, right arm off; M. D. Dunnaway. left hip; Louis Hillborn, left foot; James Keel, in the chest; -----Tyree, left hand off; Musician Sol Catharina, supposed fatally. Missing: Martin, wounded by fall of horse; Alex McComas, left arm off; S. B. Clary, left arm; Hardy Tucker, in breast. Missing: Ogden Bryant, Patrick Cain, David Cheatham, Peter Fitzpatrick, James Gibbons, Larry Gallagher, Patrick Grady, ----- Hogan, E. W. Johnston, ----- Sanders, Daniel Wilson”

For those of you who enjoy battlefield tramping, the Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park is well worth a visit.

Source of quotes: W. E. Woodruff, With The Light Guns In ’61-’65: Reminiscences Of Eleven Arkansas, Missouri and Texas Light Batteries, In The Civil War (Little Rock: Central Printing Co., 1903; reprint ed., Little Rock: Eagle Press, n.d.), p. 87, 89.

The 20th Iowa Marches to Prairie Grove

So, what was it like to participate in the greatest march of the war? And, how many men actually made it all the way to the battlefield? Colonel Joseph Bloomfield Leake’s report contains some interesting observations about the 20^th Iowa Infantry’s role in the epic march from near Springfield, Missouri, to the Prairie Grove battlefield. Leake noted that “On the morning of December 4, the condition of the regiment was as follows: Present, 30 commissioned officers, 3 of whom were sick; 637 enlisted men, of whom 22 were sick.” After describing the march into Arkansas, Leake continued by writing “We then marched on rapidly until we arrived at the battlefield between 11 and 12 o’clock on the morning of December 7, a distance of nine miles. The regiment thus marched the distance of 100 miles in eighty consecutive hours, the last fifty-three and one-half of which we accomplished in thirty-one hours. Very much of the command marched with shoes so much worn that their feet were upon the ground, and were badly bruised and cut up by the stony road. Many of the boots furnished at Camp Lyon fitted the feet of the men so illy that they became inflamed and blistered by the continuous marching, and a few carried their boots in their hands, and marched to the field in their bare feet, whilst many fell out by the way, unable to march further. Under these circumstances, we went into the engagement with only 270 men enlisted men, and twenty-three commissioned officers.” This means that the regiment suffered a loss of 42.4% of their enlisted men on the march and 7.7% of their commissioned officers [I included the sick in the totals].

Source of quotes: Janet B. Hewett, Noah Andre Trudeau, and Bryce A. Suderow, eds., Supplement To The Official Records Of The Union and Confederate Armies (Wilmington, NC: Broadfoot Publishing Co., 1995), Vol. 4: pp. 43-44.