As I started researching the lives of the men of the 2nd Kansas Militia, I discovered "William G. Cutler's History of the State of Kansas". While reading through the bios of many of these men, I realized the battle in which they fought at the Mockbee farmhouse had been given a name back in the 1800's: it was then called "the Battle of Locust Grove". With the passage of time this moniker has all but disappeared and the "Battle of the Blue" has been the title given to this battle and the many other actions and skirmishes that took up most of 22 October 1864 near the Big Blue River, Missouri. The "Battle of Locust Grove" eventually became lost in the bigger picture of the Battle of Westport, fought the following day at nearly the same place. The fact that Union forces won the Battle of Westport was partly due to the stubborn resistance of the 2nd Kansas Militia at the Battle of Locust Grove the day previous.
The subject of this sketch from Cutler's History of Kansas is Alfred Roberts, who was a private in Co. F and fought at the Battle of Locust Grove. Alfred migrated to Kansas in 1856 and was witness to the border "troubles" which plagued the Kansas/Missouri border in the years preceding the Civil War. No doubt he had many stories to tell.
ALFRED S. ROBERTS, farmer and stock-raiser, Section 22, P. O. Big Springs, Douglas County. Owns 170 acres, fifty under cultivation, fifty in pasture, sixty in meadow and eleven in timber. He has thirty head of cattle. Came to Kansas in the spring of 1856 with his parents, his father locating on the section west of this. When he was of age he bought and improved a quarter section west of his father, but sold out and went to Chautauqua County in 1869, and remained there eight years, improving a tract of land and dealing extensively in stock, but having lost two children and his family being in poor health, he sold out and went to Colorado for his health. Came back to Leavenworth County, bought eighty acres of land, improved it, sold out and came to his present location in 1880. Has held all the different positions on the school board as well as township. Was in the State militia during the Price raid and was with his command at the engagements on the Big Blue and Locust Grove, in Missouri. He made his escape by having a good horse and taking desperate chances. Mr. R. was born in Ohio, January 7, 1841, and came from there to Kansas. He was married August 23, 1868, to Miss Ellen Crum, and has one child, Rosa. He is a member and elder of the Christian Church. Mr. Roberts' farm was the scene of a bloodless affray during the troublous times of 1856. A party of Texas Rangers came suddenly over a hill on the east side of his farm, but halted at seeing a few men and boys who had met hunting for stray horses. Among them was Mr. R., who on seeing the Rangers started to run, thinking they would make a charge on them, but the Texas Rangers, thinking they were the advance of Lane's men and that they were trying to draw them into pursuit, made a precipitate retreat, never stopping until they had reached the Kansas River.
The Battle of The Blue
Rebel forces charge the Topeka Battery at Mockbee farm, original painting by Benjamin Mileham
Saturday, October 6, 2012
Friday, August 31, 2012
Private John P. Majors, Co. D: “I Wish the Federal Line Would Wash Right Over Us”
John Pollard Majors (courtesy of Jon Totten)
John Majors was a natural born wanderer who traveled halfway across the continent in order to join the 2nd Kansas Militia in the summer of 1864. Unlike most of the other men of Company D from Indianola Kansas, John migrated to Kansas at the beginning of the War for the specific reason of fighting for his country.
The journey of John Majors began in Wayne County Kentucky, where he was born in 1822. Like many others at the time, John’s family sought the cheap land and freedom of the western frontier and when he was still a child they had migrated up the Mississippi River to Morgan County, Illinois. After John’s father died in the early 1840’s, the family moved once again upriver to Mahaska County Iowa where the Majors family claimed a large land tract in the Scott Township. During a land dispute that erupted between the Major’s and other local citizens, John and his older brother Jacob were taken by a mob to Knoxville Tennessee where they were tarred, feathered and told they must abide by the rules of the land claim association. Undaunted, John returned to Iowa where he met Ezilda Norton and they were married in 1848. The couple traveled by wagon to California during the Gold Rush but returned to Mahaska County after a short time penniless. After the birth of their first two children, John and his wife decided to try California again - this time with John taking over as Postmaster of Visalia. John however grew restless with the start of the Civil War and by the early 1860’s the Majors family had travelled back toward the conflict, settling in Burlington Kansas.
John had a profound desire to protect the Union and when he heard that a Militia had been formed in nearby Shawnee County he traveled north from Burlington and arrived in Topeka in the middle of June, 1864. He enlisted in the 2nd Kansas Militia, Company D under the command of Captain Sterling Miles. John Majors was prepared to give his life for the Union cause but instead received what could be thought of as a much crueler fate.
On the afternoon of 22 October,1864 after the 2nd KSM was defeated at the Battle of Mockbee Farm, John Majors found himself and about 75 other men prisoners under the command of Confederate General Jo Shelby. These men spent an uneasy night next to the Confederate field hospital and were forced to flee the next day along with the Rebel Army as it drove south toward the Arkansas border. The prisoners were forced to run most of their waking hours and many had inadequate shoes or clothing. John and the others were given very little food or water during the march and by 25 October several had already become seriously ill from fatigue and dehydration. John noticed however that the pursuing Federal forces had gotten very near to the rear of the fleeing Confederate Army and his spirits began to lift. “I wish the Federal line would wash right over us; I’d die right here to see it done.” These words were recalled by fellow prisoner Sam Reader and attributed to John Majors. John's wish was not to be however and the men from the 2nd were hurried south faster than ever, listening to the sounds of the Battle of Mine Creek fade off in the distance.
Just after noon on October 28th, John and his comrades straggled into Newtonia Missouri, nearly two hundred miles south from where they had started six days earlier. Although a few had escaped, there were still about 75 men who remained captive and most of these could barely walk. Just as Federal troops once again attacked Shelby’s Division, the General himself appeared and ordered the prisoners to be paroled. Everyone hastily signed an oath saying they would not take up arms against the Confederacy and then without further ado were left to themselves, barely alive but free. A Federal search party found them the next day and it seemed to the prisoners from the 2nd Kansas Militia that their ordeal had come to an end.
I found this scan of John Majors parole paper on Ancestry.com
John Majors returned to his family in Burlington Kansas by mid November but was never the same man again. He, like most of the others who had survived the long march, was suffering from some type of chronic illness; in John’s case “jaundice and general debility” were the symptoms. It is likely he contracted hepatitis at some point during his captivity and his body began to fail him little by little. He passed away on the evening of 3 April, 1877 at the home of his brother in Stewartsville, Missouri. Much later, John’s wife Ezilda filed for a widows pension but it was refused; the government could find no record of John’s service.
John Majors volunteered for the 2nd Kansas Militia to help preserve the Union which he so dearly loved. Although he suffered and died as a result of it, I believe that deep in his heart he was satisfied with the result of his sacrifice and I hope he shall always be remembered for it.
Monday, July 30, 2012
Robert McNown, Co. D: "His Body Was Found Well to the Front"
During the course of creating this blog I have come across descendants of soldiers of the 2nd Kansas Militia, including those of Robert McNown from Company D. Robert was an early homesteader in Kansas, arriving at the pro-slavery town of Indianola in 1854. Although nothing is left of the town these days, Robert left his mark on the area by way of his stubborn conviction that Kansas should be a free-state, a conviction that eventually cost him his life. Among Robert McNown's descendants are the McNown and Zwickel families, who provided most of the information for this biography.
Robert McNown was born on the Isle of Man in 1814 and moved with his family to Rawdon, Quebec, Canada when he was still a child. Robert left home about age 18 and found work on a British whaler; due to the severity of discipline aboard that vessel he left for a French whaler where he learned his trade well and soon became first mate. Deciding to settle down, Robert came to Racine, Wisconsin where he met Sarah Drought and married her on 9 March, 1845. Weary of the harsh winters in Wisconsin, Robert travelled to Kansas in 1854 and selected his claim, which grew to be 320 acres just east of the Indianola town site. The main structure on the property was a rectangular two room log cabin – a holdover from the Delaware Indian Reservation and the dwelling which would serve the McNown family for many years.
By 1858 the entire McNown family had arrived in Kansas and soon realized they lived amongst many who believed Kansas should be admitted to the Union as a slave state. Robert had very strong anti-slavery sentiments and was jailed briefly in 1860 for his stance on this subject. With Kansas' admission to the Union as a free state in 1861, it seemed that Robert and his family could now get down to the business of working and growing their farm. By October 1864 however, the Civil War was still raging and the Confederate Army, led by General Sterling Price, had invaded Missouri and was heading directly towards Kansas. Robert joined Company D of the 2nd Kansas Militia and left with about 300 of his Shawnee County neighbors for Jackson County Missouri, where they were placed to defend the border. As with his brother John at Shiloh two years earlier, Robert was killed on the field of battle at the Battle of the Big Blue River near the Mockbee farmhouse on 22 October, 1864. Late in the afternoon of 23 October, burial parties moved through the battlefield and reported that they found the body of Robert McNown well to the front, which did not surprise those who knew him. Robert and fourteen other men from the 2nd killed in battle that day eventually were returned to Topeka and buried in a special section at the Topeka Cemetery, reserved for those who paid the price of freedom that long ago day. He left behind his wife Sarah and nine children, a tenth child born after his passing. info.courtesy of the McNown/Zwickel families
photo courtesy Kansas State Historical Society
Photo taken on the property of Sam Reader in 1904 includes the son of Robert McNown: From left, John McNown (14 years old at the time of his fathers death), John Armstrong (Topeka Battery), Sam Reader (Company Quartermaster), Henry Winans (2nd Lt. Co. H), and Jacob Orcutt, 5th Kansas Volunteer Cavalry
Friday, June 29, 2012
Samuel Marshall, Company B: Another Muster Role Discovery
Sam Marshall in the 1870"s
A few months ago a gentleman named Greg Marshall contacted me about his Great Grandfather, a man named Samuel Marshall. Greg had come across an obituary for Sam that stated, “In November 1862, he removed to Topeka and reenlisted with Captain Hunton, Co B, Kansas Second State Militia.” While Greg was researching the 2nd KSM he came across this blog and was hopeful of finding Sam's name on the roster. Although Sam's name wasn't there, he did notice a Captain Huntoon in Co. B and sensed he was on the right track. After exchanging e-mails with me, Greg wisely contacted the Kansas State Historical Society and ordered the muster role for the 2nd Kansas Militia, Co. B.
The muster role revealed that Samuel Marshal had indeed been enlisted in co. B on 10 October, 1864 and also that he been detached for service at Topeka – meaning that he was one of thirteen soldiers from company B assigned to remain at Topeka and protect the city should the Rebels break through into Kansas. These men were part of a large force of Militia that stayed in or near the City and were chosen due to the lateness which they arrived at Topeka or because they did not possess a reliable horse. Sam and the rest of the Militia remained at their posts until they finally received word on Monday, 24 October that the Rebel Army had fled south. As the balance of the 2nd KSM straggled home, Sam and his fellow soldiers gave what assistance they could to these men and their families - the sense of unity and loss was very palpable as Topeka struggled to recover from the blows it suffered at the Mockbee Farmhouse.
The following brief biography is a tribute not only to Samuel Marshall, but the many other men and women who remained at Topeka during Price’s Raid in October,1864 when the fate of Kansas hung in the balance.
Samuel Marshall was born on December 11, 1837, near Oberlin, OH, into a family that had emigrated from Lincolnshire, England, two years previously. In 1842, the family moved to southern Wisconsin and acquired farmland northeast of Lake Geneva. As a young man, Samuel traveled to California during the Gold Rush with his older brother and later accompanied his father to New York City. In 1857, Samuel came to Kansas, living briefly in Leavenworth, Lawrence, and Topeka, before settling in Breckinridge County, now called Lyon County. In April 1860, he was married to Martha Jane Courtney. The couple had two daughters, Allah Nora and Emma Jane, before moving to Topeka in 1862.
Samuel enlisted in Company B, 2nd Regiment, Kansas State Militia, on August 24, 1863, and was called to active duty on October 10, 1864, as the Militia was called up in response to the approach of Price’s Confederate army from Missouri. Muster roles reveal that Sam was detached from his unit and stayed at Topeka to protect the city in case the Confederates broke through and attacked.
After the war, Samuel and his family moved briefly back to Wisconsin, where a son, Robert Edgel was born, and then returned to Topeka, where a third daughter, Minnie, was born. In 1868, both Minnie and Martha Jane died.
In 1869, Samuel married Margaret Grabendike in Topeka and began a second family with the birth of Hattie Belle in 1972. In that same year, the Marshalls moved to Osage City, about 40 miles south of Topeka in Osage County. They had two more children, Edwin Charles, born in 1874, and William Loren, born in 1878. In Osage City, Samuel farmed, traded in real estate, and operated a livery stable and a brick kiln. Here is an item from a local newspaper about his house:
“The brick walls are said to be three or four courses thick, the bricks probably having been made in Marshall’s own nearby brick-making plant. Locally made bricks were also used for several Osage City Business Buildings still in use today [1962]. . . . Marshall built his house so that it was warm and dry. He built the kitchen and dining room partially underground, with two large rooms altogether above ground. The Marshall home and his brick factory, with its drying kiln, were both close to Salt Creek [south of Osage City].”
Margaret died in 1913 and Samuel in 1914. Both, along with Edwin, were buried in Osage City Cemetery, as were Hattie and William in later years.
Thanks to Greg Marshall for not only submitting the main body of Samuel’s bio but providing the impetus for me to acquire the muster roles of the 2nd Kansas Militia. Without these roles coming to light the names of the "other" Men of the 2nd KSM would have remained buried in a microfilm canister.
Samuel enlisted in Company B, 2nd Regiment, Kansas State Militia, on August 24, 1863, and was called to active duty on October 10, 1864, as the Militia was called up in response to the approach of Price’s Confederate army from Missouri. Muster roles reveal that Sam was detached from his unit and stayed at Topeka to protect the city in case the Confederates broke through and attacked.
After the war, Samuel and his family moved briefly back to Wisconsin, where a son, Robert Edgel was born, and then returned to Topeka, where a third daughter, Minnie, was born. In 1868, both Minnie and Martha Jane died.
In 1869, Samuel married Margaret Grabendike in Topeka and began a second family with the birth of Hattie Belle in 1972. In that same year, the Marshalls moved to Osage City, about 40 miles south of Topeka in Osage County. They had two more children, Edwin Charles, born in 1874, and William Loren, born in 1878. In Osage City, Samuel farmed, traded in real estate, and operated a livery stable and a brick kiln. Here is an item from a local newspaper about his house:
“The brick walls are said to be three or four courses thick, the bricks probably having been made in Marshall’s own nearby brick-making plant. Locally made bricks were also used for several Osage City Business Buildings still in use today [1962]. . . . Marshall built his house so that it was warm and dry. He built the kitchen and dining room partially underground, with two large rooms altogether above ground. The Marshall home and his brick factory, with its drying kiln, were both close to Salt Creek [south of Osage City].”
Margaret died in 1913 and Samuel in 1914. Both, along with Edwin, were buried in Osage City Cemetery, as were Hattie and William in later years.
Thanks to Greg Marshall for not only submitting the main body of Samuel’s bio but providing the impetus for me to acquire the muster roles of the 2nd Kansas Militia. Without these roles coming to light the names of the "other" Men of the 2nd KSM would have remained buried in a microfilm canister.
From the “PAYROLL of Captain Huntoon’s Company B of the (cavalry) second Regiment, Kansas State Militia, Colonel George W. Veale, from the 10th day of October, 1864 to the 30th day of October, 1864”
“Detached service at Topeka:”
1st Corporal Jacob Willets
Pvt. Byron Jewell
Pvt. George Ludington
Pvt. Samuel Mulligan
Pvt. Samuel Marshall
Pvt. Hiram McArthur
Pvt. A. Palmer
Pvt. W.H. Ragland
Pvt. Gabriel Wright
Pvt. William Young
Pvt. David Young
Pvt. Samuel Reese
Pvt. Patrick Tighe
Monday, May 28, 2012
Reverend Richard E. Taylor and the "Kansas Alamo"
Reverend Richard E.Taylor, who passed away in February of this year, was a preservationist of Kansas history and author of the book "I Love Kansas". Besides saving numerous historic structures from the wrecking ball, Rev. Taylor also attempted to save Kansas History from fading to obscurity, including the story of the 2nd Kansas Militia. He believed that the stand made by the 2nd KSM at the Mockbee Farmhouse should be remembered as the "Kansas Alamo" and was often the subject of newspaper articles where he voiced his beliefs about the rich history of Kansas that was in danger of being forgotten. The following article from the Topeka Capitol-Journal was published Memorial Day Weekend, 1998.
The Reverend Richard Taylor plans on Monday to honor the Kansas militiamen who kept the confederates from invading the state in October 1864 with a speech at Enterpise Cemetery in Dickinson County.
By GENE SMITH
Twice already the men of Gordon's Regiment, Col. Sidney D. Jackman's Brigade, of Gen. Jo Shelby's Confederate cavalry division had come thundering down the lane six abreast. Each time, the Kansas gunners opened fire at 100 yards' range, shredding them with canister shot.
Every round was marked with the blood of the 43-year-old German immigrant, the only veteran in the battery.
The howitzer crew been hurrying north along the lane from Russell's Ford when they were fired upon from a locust grove and orchard east of the Mockbee barn. It was late Saturday afternoon, Oct. 22, 1864, and Lt. Gen. Sterling "Old Pap" Price was swinging west toward Kansas after a raid from Arkansas deep into Missouri.
Capt. Ross Burns ordered the heavy gun unlimbered, double-canister loaded, and fired into the grove over open sights. The cannon roared and the rebels scrambled back to the north over the ridge and out of sight, about where Watertower Park is today, at 75th and Holmes Road in Kansas City, Mo.
Burns then ordered the gun relaid and fire resumed on the mass of Shelby's men, assembling several hundred yards downslope to the north.
As he did so, Col. G.W. Veale arrived with the whole of the Second Regiment, Kansas State Militia -- nearly 300 volunteers. They promptly formed in line of battle -- just in time to receive the Confederates' first charge. The Kansans' first line broke under fire and some fled, but order was restored and the unit held its ground for the rest of the action, nearly an hour total.
The short and dashing Shelby's action was typical. A wealthy Waverly, Mo., planter and hemp producer and one of the South's finest cavalry commanders, he sent flanking columns out to the left and right and ordered a charge by double columns, nearly 2,000 or 3,000 men.
This third charge overran the Kansas militia, killing 24, wounding 20 more and capturing 68 prisoners along with the gun and 100 badly scared farm horses.
It cost the Missourians 43 dead and wounded.
Jackman's men -- mostly Vernon County who had already been at war with Kansas for eight long years -- nearly beat Burns to death with their carbine butts, leaving the young lawyer unconscious and bleeding in the dirt.
The prisoners were herded into the yard of a nearby farmhouse for the night, without cover. Guilford G. Gage, for whom Gage Park and Gage Boulevard were named, said later he held the unconscious Burns in his arms like a child throughout the cold night. About 2 a.m. the Confederates came looking for him, and took him in charge until after the war.
Branner had been wounded again in the head and severely in the right arm, which a Confederate surgeon wanted to amputate. Branner refused. A shoemaker and owner of a highly successful Topeka boot and shoe factory, Branner had joined the militia after his whole work force quit to do the same. He was never again able to work with both arms -- but he kept them.
The list of unwounded prisoners included Dr. J.A. Huntoon, captain of Company B and the man for whom Huntoon Street is named; Samuel J. Reader, an Indianola farmer who later painted a series of oils depicting the engagement; and a number of men from Topeka, Tecumseh, Indianola, Big Springs, Auburn and Monmouth. One, Lt. Hiram Ward, later died from ill treatment while a prisoner.
They were lucky. It wasn't unusual for both sides to shoot prisoners, and in fact the captured Kansans had been lined up alongside their blackened and silent cannon -- each confronted by a mounted Missouri cavalryman with revolver in hand, ready to fire. Then Shelby appeared, and put a stop to it.
But Ben Hughes, the battery teamster, who was black, lay dead in the lane, his throat cut from ear to ear. Lt. William H. Delong was still shot after surrender and died of his wounds in Kansas City. A man named Race from Company A was also shot and died next day. Lt. Col. H. M. Greene was stripped of his clothes and shot three times. Dr. Huntoon, a witness, spurred his horse and tried to escape, but failed.
All that day, the Confederate cavalry screen had been probing for a suitable crossing of the Big Blue River, producing a series of brief, sharp encounters with Union detachments guarding the major fords. Each time, the rebels retired to look elsewhere. In the rear, time was running out for Price's 30,000 men and his train of 600 wagons.
After a four-hour battle Sunday morning, Price abandoned his plan of invading Kansas. Instead the rebels turned south, beginning their long retreat back to Arkansas.
It was a nightmare trip for the prisoners. The Confederates, in hard circumstances themselves, helped themselves to the Kansans' boots and shoes. The militia had been 10 days without a change of clothing already, and hadn't eaten well.
Now they were divided into parcels of eight, each parcel sandwiched between fours of cavalry riding abreast, and compelled to double-time to avoid being trampled. They marched 40 to 50 miles every 24 hours with little water and less food.
Gage, recalling it all years later, said they had only a single handful of dry coarse flour between a dawn breakfast Saturday -- before the fight -- and Wednesday night, after he and two other men, J.A. Polley and Nelson Young, escaped 15 or 16 miles east of Fort Scott. They crawled most of the way to Fort Scott to avoid discovery.
"I am not sure that I knew, during at least a part of the time, precisely what I was doing. The fact is that we all came near to death by exhaustion and thirst; and I, perhaps, no nearer than any other man." He called much of the experience "vague; something like a half-forgotten dream."
By 6 p.m. Wednesday the prisoners and their cavalry escort were in Carthage, in southwestern Missouri, where seven of the exhausted men were simply left, and an equally exhausted Confederate was hanged from an apple tree.
Horace G. Lyons, a grandson of a Boston Tea Party participant and a Berryton area farmer, escaped near Lamar. Shelby released the rest at Newtonia, 20 miles south of Carthage and 80 miles from their point of capture, eight days after the fight. They spent that night huddled together in the snow for warmth, and found other federals the next day.
People now seldom pause to remember that Memorial Day started as an occasion to honor the valiant dead of the Civil War, says the Rev. Richard E. Taylor Jr., who lives in the stone house that Lyons built in 1860 southeast of Topeka.
Taylor plans to remedy that at 10 a.m. Monday, when he speaks at Dickinson County's Enterprise cemetery, a mile south of his hometown. "They're going to get the full load," declared Taylor, fresh from researching the role played by the gallant band of Topeka artillerymen.
He has concluded the battle they gave Shelby at the Big Blue was likely the last critical element preventing Price's army from entering Kansas.
Memorial Day has been a national holiday since 1868, and today there are battle dead of many more wars to honor -- five of them major.
Still, this is a good time to remember those who died in America's most terrible conflict; a war that cost the lives of one Southern soldier in three and one Northern soldier in six.
Gage certainly thought so. After fruitlessly begging the Legislature to memorialize his fallen comrades for decades, the brick factory owner finally spent $10,000 from his own pocket to do precisely that.
It rained in East Topeka Cemetery the morning of May 30, 1895, but at noon a bright sun emerged. An hour later, a handful of survivors dedicated a tall monument honoring the Kansas militiamen killed at the Blue, where most of them slept nearby.
The Reverend Richard Taylor plans on Monday to honor the Kansas militiamen who kept the confederates from invading the state in October 1864 with a speech at Enterpise Cemetery in Dickinson County.
By GENE SMITH
The Capital-Journal
John Branner had been wounded in the left elbow by rebel fire and was bleeding badly, but he refused to leave the 22-man crew of the Topeka Battery serving the unit's only gun -- a huge 24-pound brass howitzer, emplaced in a narrow lane just north of the Mockbee house on the way to Westport.Twice already the men of Gordon's Regiment, Col. Sidney D. Jackman's Brigade, of Gen. Jo Shelby's Confederate cavalry division had come thundering down the lane six abreast. Each time, the Kansas gunners opened fire at 100 yards' range, shredding them with canister shot.
Every round was marked with the blood of the 43-year-old German immigrant, the only veteran in the battery.
The howitzer crew been hurrying north along the lane from Russell's Ford when they were fired upon from a locust grove and orchard east of the Mockbee barn. It was late Saturday afternoon, Oct. 22, 1864, and Lt. Gen. Sterling "Old Pap" Price was swinging west toward Kansas after a raid from Arkansas deep into Missouri.
Capt. Ross Burns ordered the heavy gun unlimbered, double-canister loaded, and fired into the grove over open sights. The cannon roared and the rebels scrambled back to the north over the ridge and out of sight, about where Watertower Park is today, at 75th and Holmes Road in Kansas City, Mo.
Burns then ordered the gun relaid and fire resumed on the mass of Shelby's men, assembling several hundred yards downslope to the north.
As he did so, Col. G.W. Veale arrived with the whole of the Second Regiment, Kansas State Militia -- nearly 300 volunteers. They promptly formed in line of battle -- just in time to receive the Confederates' first charge. The Kansans' first line broke under fire and some fled, but order was restored and the unit held its ground for the rest of the action, nearly an hour total.
The short and dashing Shelby's action was typical. A wealthy Waverly, Mo., planter and hemp producer and one of the South's finest cavalry commanders, he sent flanking columns out to the left and right and ordered a charge by double columns, nearly 2,000 or 3,000 men.
This third charge overran the Kansas militia, killing 24, wounding 20 more and capturing 68 prisoners along with the gun and 100 badly scared farm horses.
It cost the Missourians 43 dead and wounded.
Jackman's men -- mostly Vernon County who had already been at war with Kansas for eight long years -- nearly beat Burns to death with their carbine butts, leaving the young lawyer unconscious and bleeding in the dirt.
The prisoners were herded into the yard of a nearby farmhouse for the night, without cover. Guilford G. Gage, for whom Gage Park and Gage Boulevard were named, said later he held the unconscious Burns in his arms like a child throughout the cold night. About 2 a.m. the Confederates came looking for him, and took him in charge until after the war.
Branner had been wounded again in the head and severely in the right arm, which a Confederate surgeon wanted to amputate. Branner refused. A shoemaker and owner of a highly successful Topeka boot and shoe factory, Branner had joined the militia after his whole work force quit to do the same. He was never again able to work with both arms -- but he kept them.
The list of unwounded prisoners included Dr. J.A. Huntoon, captain of Company B and the man for whom Huntoon Street is named; Samuel J. Reader, an Indianola farmer who later painted a series of oils depicting the engagement; and a number of men from Topeka, Tecumseh, Indianola, Big Springs, Auburn and Monmouth. One, Lt. Hiram Ward, later died from ill treatment while a prisoner.
They were lucky. It wasn't unusual for both sides to shoot prisoners, and in fact the captured Kansans had been lined up alongside their blackened and silent cannon -- each confronted by a mounted Missouri cavalryman with revolver in hand, ready to fire. Then Shelby appeared, and put a stop to it.
But Ben Hughes, the battery teamster, who was black, lay dead in the lane, his throat cut from ear to ear. Lt. William H. Delong was still shot after surrender and died of his wounds in Kansas City. A man named Race from Company A was also shot and died next day. Lt. Col. H. M. Greene was stripped of his clothes and shot three times. Dr. Huntoon, a witness, spurred his horse and tried to escape, but failed.
All that day, the Confederate cavalry screen had been probing for a suitable crossing of the Big Blue River, producing a series of brief, sharp encounters with Union detachments guarding the major fords. Each time, the rebels retired to look elsewhere. In the rear, time was running out for Price's 30,000 men and his train of 600 wagons.
After a four-hour battle Sunday morning, Price abandoned his plan of invading Kansas. Instead the rebels turned south, beginning their long retreat back to Arkansas.
It was a nightmare trip for the prisoners. The Confederates, in hard circumstances themselves, helped themselves to the Kansans' boots and shoes. The militia had been 10 days without a change of clothing already, and hadn't eaten well.
Now they were divided into parcels of eight, each parcel sandwiched between fours of cavalry riding abreast, and compelled to double-time to avoid being trampled. They marched 40 to 50 miles every 24 hours with little water and less food.
Gage, recalling it all years later, said they had only a single handful of dry coarse flour between a dawn breakfast Saturday -- before the fight -- and Wednesday night, after he and two other men, J.A. Polley and Nelson Young, escaped 15 or 16 miles east of Fort Scott. They crawled most of the way to Fort Scott to avoid discovery.
"I am not sure that I knew, during at least a part of the time, precisely what I was doing. The fact is that we all came near to death by exhaustion and thirst; and I, perhaps, no nearer than any other man." He called much of the experience "vague; something like a half-forgotten dream."
By 6 p.m. Wednesday the prisoners and their cavalry escort were in Carthage, in southwestern Missouri, where seven of the exhausted men were simply left, and an equally exhausted Confederate was hanged from an apple tree.
Horace G. Lyons, a grandson of a Boston Tea Party participant and a Berryton area farmer, escaped near Lamar. Shelby released the rest at Newtonia, 20 miles south of Carthage and 80 miles from their point of capture, eight days after the fight. They spent that night huddled together in the snow for warmth, and found other federals the next day.
People now seldom pause to remember that Memorial Day started as an occasion to honor the valiant dead of the Civil War, says the Rev. Richard E. Taylor Jr., who lives in the stone house that Lyons built in 1860 southeast of Topeka.
Taylor plans to remedy that at 10 a.m. Monday, when he speaks at Dickinson County's Enterprise cemetery, a mile south of his hometown. "They're going to get the full load," declared Taylor, fresh from researching the role played by the gallant band of Topeka artillerymen.
He has concluded the battle they gave Shelby at the Big Blue was likely the last critical element preventing Price's army from entering Kansas.
Memorial Day has been a national holiday since 1868, and today there are battle dead of many more wars to honor -- five of them major.
Still, this is a good time to remember those who died in America's most terrible conflict; a war that cost the lives of one Southern soldier in three and one Northern soldier in six.
Gage certainly thought so. After fruitlessly begging the Legislature to memorialize his fallen comrades for decades, the brick factory owner finally spent $10,000 from his own pocket to do precisely that.
It rained in East Topeka Cemetery the morning of May 30, 1895, but at noon a bright sun emerged. An hour later, a handful of survivors dedicated a tall monument honoring the Kansas militiamen killed at the Blue, where most of them slept nearby.
It stands there today.
Copyright 1998 The Topeka Capital-Journal
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Oh Moses, Who Art Thou?
As I was researching Moses Banks of the 2nd Kansas Militia and why he was added to the muster role of "Company D of the colored troops, irregular service" after his death, I discovered something strange on the muster role for Co. D from Indianola. The far right hand column of the role entitled "remarks" listed among those killed at the Mockbee farmhouse a private named Moses Kellis. I knew that this man was never listed among those killed that day and was not among the wounded or prisoners for that matter. I now began to search for traces of this man in the various places that I seek facts about those who lived long ago: Ancestry.com, Familysearch.org, Find A Grave. Nothing. Next I Googled him and again came up empty. The only paper/cyber trail that Moses Kellis seemed to have left was as a member of the 2nd Kansas Militia in a handful of books devoted to Kansas history. These books appear to have acquired the roster of the 2nd KSM from the same muster roles that I did - It seemed as if Moses Kellis had never existed, save the one document. One last fact about the muster role of Co. D: Moses Banks name was not on it.
I was left to conclude that Moses Kellis and Moses Banks were one and the same. But why would this man enlist in Co. D of the 2nd Kansas Militia on 10 October,1864 under an assumed name? Why would his real name then be added to the muster role of a different Company a year and a half after he was killed in battle? Who filed this affidavit?
There are several possible answers to these questions but my theory is this: Moses Banks was a recent freedman, in all likelyhood escaping slavery in Missouri. When it became clear that Kansas was in danger of invasion by the Confederates, he decided that he wanted to be part of the fighting. Had he enlisted in the "Colored" Militia from Shawnee County he knew that he would have been relegated to serving with the Home Guard and not been in the thick of the action. He talked to the Captain of Company D (Sterling Miles) and convinced Captain Miles to take him on as a regular private, not as a teamster or a cook. But why did Moses Banks sign on as "Moses Kellis"? Because he knew he would be venturing back to a place where, if captured, he would be considered mere property. In other words, Moses Banks decided that he would give his life for his freedom but he would never be the property of another man again. Should he be captured, his alias would make it harder to trace his former owner.
Moses Banks did ultimately give his life that day at Mockbee Farm and now a problem arose for the family he left behind: how would they receive compensation for the death of a phantom? Moses' family would be eligible not only for the pay he had accrued while he was alive but also a widow's pension. Thus on 25 May,1866 his name was added to the muster role of the "Colored" Militia from Shawnee County, based on the affidavit of someone who knew the true facts of Moses Banks enlistment. I believe the former Captain of Co. D Sterling Miles came forward - not only so Moses' family would be compensated for his service, but so his name would be rightly recognized among the men who had died so their neighbors would have the right to live free.
I was left to conclude that Moses Kellis and Moses Banks were one and the same. But why would this man enlist in Co. D of the 2nd Kansas Militia on 10 October,1864 under an assumed name? Why would his real name then be added to the muster role of a different Company a year and a half after he was killed in battle? Who filed this affidavit?
There are several possible answers to these questions but my theory is this: Moses Banks was a recent freedman, in all likelyhood escaping slavery in Missouri. When it became clear that Kansas was in danger of invasion by the Confederates, he decided that he wanted to be part of the fighting. Had he enlisted in the "Colored" Militia from Shawnee County he knew that he would have been relegated to serving with the Home Guard and not been in the thick of the action. He talked to the Captain of Company D (Sterling Miles) and convinced Captain Miles to take him on as a regular private, not as a teamster or a cook. But why did Moses Banks sign on as "Moses Kellis"? Because he knew he would be venturing back to a place where, if captured, he would be considered mere property. In other words, Moses Banks decided that he would give his life for his freedom but he would never be the property of another man again. Should he be captured, his alias would make it harder to trace his former owner.
Moses Banks did ultimately give his life that day at Mockbee Farm and now a problem arose for the family he left behind: how would they receive compensation for the death of a phantom? Moses' family would be eligible not only for the pay he had accrued while he was alive but also a widow's pension. Thus on 25 May,1866 his name was added to the muster role of the "Colored" Militia from Shawnee County, based on the affidavit of someone who knew the true facts of Moses Banks enlistment. I believe the former Captain of Co. D Sterling Miles came forward - not only so Moses' family would be compensated for his service, but so his name would be rightly recognized among the men who had died so their neighbors would have the right to live free.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
The Muster Roles of the 2nd Kansas Militia
I recently sent for and received the original muster roles of the 2nd Kansas Militia from the Kansas State Historical Society. These roles provide a wealth of information about the men who volunteered to fight for Shawnee county and I was pleasantly surprised to find that they also contained the full rosters of the companies who didn't fight in the Battle of the Blue. Previously mentioned in this blog only as "home defenders", these companies were part of the 2nd KSM but remained in Topeka to protect the city in case General Price's Army of Missouri broke through and invaded Kansas. In order to properly identify these mostly unrecognized members of the 2nd Kansas Militia I will reorganize the roster section of this blog and attempt to clarify the rosters of each company during their deployment.
The muster roles provide information such as where each man joined and was sworn in, the number of days served, pay per day (53 and 1/3 cents on average) and remarks such as if they had been killed, wounded or taken prisoner. Of interest to me was the muster role of "Company D of the colored troops, irregular service" under the command of Captain Thomas Archer. Although there is no indication that this unit saw action at the Big Blue River, there was a familiar name added to the very end of the role: Moses Banks. Moses had been previously given credit as being a member of Co. D from Indianola and was one of the men historically listed as killed in action. This remark was included on the muster role next to Moses name: "Killed in action Oct 22,1864 Big Blue, Mo, as per annexed affidavit (Name added May 25th, 1866) Affidavit on file."
Perhaps "Company D of the colored troops, irregular service" was attached to the 2nd KSM and was at the Mockbee farm that day. The muster role doesn't offer much more except this conclusion signed by Adj. General James Hughes on August 26th, 1907: "The muster roles and the payroll of this Co. do not show the Regt. or Col. but there is signed affidavit showing that it belonged to the Second Regt."
The muster roles provide information such as where each man joined and was sworn in, the number of days served, pay per day (53 and 1/3 cents on average) and remarks such as if they had been killed, wounded or taken prisoner. Of interest to me was the muster role of "Company D of the colored troops, irregular service" under the command of Captain Thomas Archer. Although there is no indication that this unit saw action at the Big Blue River, there was a familiar name added to the very end of the role: Moses Banks. Moses had been previously given credit as being a member of Co. D from Indianola and was one of the men historically listed as killed in action. This remark was included on the muster role next to Moses name: "Killed in action Oct 22,1864 Big Blue, Mo, as per annexed affidavit (Name added May 25th, 1866) Affidavit on file."
Perhaps "Company D of the colored troops, irregular service" was attached to the 2nd KSM and was at the Mockbee farm that day. The muster role doesn't offer much more except this conclusion signed by Adj. General James Hughes on August 26th, 1907: "The muster roles and the payroll of this Co. do not show the Regt. or Col. but there is signed affidavit showing that it belonged to the Second Regt."
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