Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History
Benson Lossing, Ed.

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Blackwater, battle of the.

Late in 1861 the Department of Missouri was enlarged, and Gen. Henry W. Halleck was placed in command of it. General Price had been rapidly gathering Confeder ate forces in Missouri; and Gen. John Pope was placed in command of a considerable body of troops to oppose him. Pope acted with great vigor and skill. He made a short, sharp, and decisive campaign. Detachments from his camp struck telling blows here and there. One was inflicted by Gen.. Jefferson C. Davis on the Blackwater, near Milford, which much disheartened the Confederates of that State. Davis found the Confederates in a wooded bottom opposite his own forces. He car ried a well-guarded bridge by storm, and fell upon the Confederates with such vigor that they retreated in confusion, and were so closely pursued that they surrendered, in number about 1.300. cavalry and infantry. The spoils of victory were 800 horses and mules, 1.000 stand of arms, and over seventy wagons loaded with tents, baggage, ammunition, and supplies of every kind. In a brief space of time the power of the Confederates in that quarter was paralyzed, and Halleck complimented Pope on his “brilliant campaign.”