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Chapter 10: the last invasion of Missouri.--events in East Tennessee.--preparations for the advance of the Army of the Potomac.
- Arkansas overrun by the Confederates, 274.
-- decline of the National power there
-- dangerous secret associations, 275.
-- a conspiracy discovered and exposed
-- plan for a counter
-- revolution, 276.
-- Price again Invades Missouri
-- the Revolutionists Abashed, 277.
-- the Missouri capital threatened
-- Price moves toward Kansas, 278.
-- Price hotly pursued, 279.
-- he and his followers driven out of Missouri
-- the lust invasion of Missouri, 280.
-- affairs in East Tennessee
-- stirring operations there, 281.
-- Longstreet returns
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to Virginia
-- Morgan in East Tennessee, 282.
-- his last raid into Kentucky
-- he receives a staggering blow, 283.
-- the author in the great Valley of East Tennessee
-- Governor Brownlow and his family, 284.
-- Greenville
-- death of Morgan, the guerrilla chief, 285.
-- journey from Greenville to Richmond, 286.
-- Knoxville threatened by Breckinridge
-- Richmond threatened by General Butler, 287.
-- Kilpatrick's raid to Richmond, 288.
-- fortifications around Richmond, 289.
-- repulse of the Nationals at Richmond
-- death of Colonel Dahlgren, 290.
-- propriety of murdering Union prisoners considered by the Conspirators
-- preparations for blowing up Libby Prison with the prisoners, 291.
-- Ulysses S. Grant, General-in
-- chief
-- takes command
-- reorganizes the Army of the Potomac, 292.
-- co-operating forces, 293.
-- Grant's ideas about making War
-- patriotic Governors, 294.
The failure of the
Red River expedition, and the expulsion of
Steele from the country below the
Arkansas River, by which two-thirds of the
State of Arkansas was given up to the
Confederates, had a disastrous effect upon the
Union cause and people in that State, where the restoration of civil power in loyal hands, amply sustained by the military, had been, it was believed, made permanent.
1 The dream of security was now dispelled.
Steele was placed on the defensive at the
State capital, and the
Confederates everywhere showed, by their boldness and activity, a determination to repossess the
State, if possible.
Their cavalry roamed at will over all the region below the
Arkansas, after
Steele retreated to
Little Rock, plundering and overawing the Unionists.
Nor did they confine themselves to that region.
Late in June
Shelby, with a considerable body of Confederate cavalry, dashed across the
Arkansas eastward of
Little Rock, and pushed on to the
White River, on the eastern border of
Arkansas County, where they were attacked and thrown back, in the vicinity of
St. Charles, by four regiments under
General Carr, with a loss of about four hundred men, of whom two hundred were made prisoners.
Carr's loss was about two hundred.
Shelby was speedily re-enforced by
Marmaduke, when
Carr was pushed northward to
Clarendon, when he, in turn, was re-enforced, and the
Confederates retreated southward.
This bold movement was followed by others in that section of the
State.
In July about four hundred colored troops, led by
Colonel W. S. Brooks, went up the country a short distance from
Helena, when they were attacked
by a heavier force under
General Dobbins.
Fortunately,
Major Carmichael was then passing down the
Mississippi on a steamer, with one hundred and fifty of the Fifteenth Illinois Cavalry, and
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hearing the firing, he landed and hastened in the direction of its sounds.
He found
Brooks and his men gallantly fighting double their number, so, with his followers, he dashed through the
Confederate lines, joined the colored troops, and assisted them in repulsing their assailants.
Colonel Brooks was killed, and fifty of his men were slain or wounded.
The foe had lost more.
The Union troops fell back to
Helena, followed some distance by
Dobbins.
At about the same time fifteen hundred Confederates surprised
an outpost of
Fort Smith, on the border of the
Indian country, which was held by two hundred of the Fifth Kansas, under
Captain Mefford.
After a sharp fight, in which he lost twenty-five men,
Captain Mefford was compelled to surrender.
The Confederates lost thirty-two killed and wounded. Less than a month later,
Shelby, with about two thousand men, struck
the line of the railway between Duvall's Bluff and
Little Rock, and captured nearly the whole of the Fifty-fourth Illinois, who were guarding it at three points.
Guerrillas hovered in large numbers around
Little Rock and other places, making communications between the military posts dangerous, and requiring heavy escort duty, which wore down men and horses.
Gradually several of these posts were abandoned, and at the close of 1864 only Helena,
Pine, and Duvall's Bluffs,
Little Rock,
Van Buren,
Fort Smith, and one or two other posts in that region, were held by the
National troops.
These being insufficient to protect the Unionists of the
Commonwealth, they became disheartened, silent, and inactive, for the guerrillas, who roamed over the
State, dealt vengeance upon these “traitors” and “renegades,” as they called them.
General Steele, like other old officers of the regular army, was opposed to the emancipation policy of the
Government, and his alleged sympathy with the slave-holding Oligarchy of
Arkansas made the army under his command a feeble instrument in upholding the
National cause in that State.
The consequence was, that, at the close of 1864, that Commonwealth was practically surrendered to the
Confederates.
The disloyal Governor called a session of the Legislature, which met at
Washington,
and chose a Senator (
A. P. Garland) to represent the
State in the “Congress” at
Richmond.
The condition of affairs in
