The 16th Missouri Cavalry scouted and patrolled routes across the Ozarks, seeing action in Wright, Dallas, Texas, Ozark, Laclede and other Missouri Counties. They also participated in the Battle of Mine Creek and other engagements during Sterling Price’s 1864 expedition into Missouri. During their time in service one officer and twelve enlisted men were killed or mortally wounded. One officer and thirty-one enlisted men succumbed to disease. In total, 16th Missouri Cavalry lost forty-five men.1

This collection contains three equipment reports from the 16th Missouri Cavalry outlining the use of supplies and their value. Researchers are encouraged to consult other equipment and supply ledgers located in the Community & Conflict collection to study the war’s impact on distribution of goods, demand and market value in the Ozarks.

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1. Frederick H. Dyer, A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion vol 2, (Dayton: Broadfoot Publishing Company Morningside Press, 1994), 1311.

The Eighth Division, under the command of Gen. James Rains, participated in the Battle of Wilson’s Creek on August 10, 1861. Wilson’s Creek was the second major battle of the Civil War. Union troops under Nathaniel Lyon marched from Springfield, Missouri to engage the Confederates encamped along the creek. Completely surprised by the attack, the Confederates were able to hold their ground and repel the Union advance. Gen. Lyon was killed during the battle, and Union forces retreated to Rolla, MO. Bradford sketched part of the battlefield noting the location of the Sharp house, Sterling Price’s headquarters at the Edwards’ farm and the Gibson’s Mill.

After the Battle, Bradford’s company marched north with Price and participated in the Battle of Lexington between September 18 and 20, 1861. Price mobilized roughly 7,000 men on his march to Lexington. The town was held by Col. James A. Mulligan and his force of 2,700 Federals. Southerners flocked to Price, and by September 18 his army had grown to nearly 10,000 men.

Mulligan fortified his position in the Masonic College on the north end of town. Rains and his men, which included 3,052 guardsmen and two batteries of artillery, took a position to the north and east of the college. Mulligan launched an unrelenting artillery barrage into the approaching Confederate line. The Rebels captured Oliver Anderson’s house, which at the time was being utilized as a Union hospital. This enraged Mulligan, and he quickly ordered a counterassault to reclaim the building. The order resulted in heavy casualties, and the Federals only held the Anderson home for a short period before the Confederates overpowered them again.

On September 19, the guardsmen encircled the college, and the federals eventually exhausted their supplies. The Union men, surrounded by enemy troops, were forced to endure the battle and heat without water. On September 20, the Confederates discovered a large quantity of hemp bales stored in a nearby warehouse. The guardsmen rolled the bales onto the battlefield slowly charging the Union trenches. The bales provided ample protection for the men; even the Union cannons could not penetrate the dense hemp. Finally, the guardsmen advanced close enough to charge the Union line. Hand-to-hand combat erupted, and soon Mulligan realized surrender was his only option. Price captured several pieces of artillery, 3,000 rifles and 750 horses.

In his journal, Bradford recorded the names of his men who fought bravely at Lexington. He then made a list of those who did not answer the call of duty.

The following list of names are those who stood bneath the enemies grape and muskets for 60 hours at Lexington Mo and won for themselves never dying glories

The following list of names are those who did not go to the brest works oposite these names are there and by excuses for them1

Price reported 25 killed and 72 wounded for the three day engagement. Rains reported only two men were killed from the 8th Division and twenty wounded. Bradford offered the following tribute to his fallen comrades.

So Sleep the brave who sink to res with all there countrys’ wishes best

Asbury C. Bradford journal – n.d.

While Confederate troops clinched victories at Carthage, Wilson’s Creek and Lexington, Governor Claiborne Fox Jackson prepared the political stage for Missouri admission to the Confederacy. The General Assembly elected to remain in the Union in early 1861, but Jackson was determined to cut ties with the United States Government. Days before the Battle of Wilson’s Creek, Jackson issued a “Proclamation of Independence,” which declared Missouri a sovereign and independent state. He cited atrocities committed by Union forces, who repeatedly violated Missouri’s rights and liberties. Two weeks later, the Confederate Congress passed a resolution admitting Missouri to the Confederacy, but technically Missouri had not seceded from the Union.

The momentum built from the victories on the battlefield gave Jackson the opportunity to achieve his goal. In September, Jackson called the General Assembly back into session, and asked them to meet at the Newton County Courthouse in Neosho on October 21. On October 20, Bradford’s men marched towards Neosho to protect the legislators as they gathered to solidify Missouri’s future with the Confederacy.

Sunday 20 marched to Neosho

Sunday 27 yet at Neos.

Monday 28 a fine day News confirmed that the Fedrals are in Springfield Also the Legislature in Neosho assembled ratified the Proclamation of the Govens delivered at Newmadrid

Asbury C. Bradford journal – October 20 – 28, 1861

Bradford served in the Missouri State Guard for six months. On March 1, 1862, he was transferred to the 5th Missouri Infantry, C.S.A. According to his service records, Bradford participated in the Battles of Carthage, Wilson’s Creek, Dry Wood, Lexington, Pea Ridge, Fort Gibson, Champion Hill and Vicksburg. Bradford left the service on furlough in August 1863. His records state he was last heard from on December 22, 1863, when he reported that he was extremely sick and did not expect to live. Bradford resided in Bolivar, Missouri.

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1. Asbury Bradford, Journal, 1861. WICR 30060. Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield, Republic, Missouri, 49-52.

Benjamin Fullager enlisted in Company A of the 3rd Wisconsin Cavalry, who served mostly in Arkansas and the Kansas Territory. The 3rd Wisconsin Cavalry organized in Janesville, Wisconsin from November 30, 1861 to January 31, 1862. In spring 1862, the Regiment was stationed at Benton Barracks in St. Louis, Missouri, before being assigned to frontier and provost duty in Kansas.1 As the regiment moved across Missouri, passing through Lexington and eventually reaching Fort Leavenworth, Fullager encountered bushwhackers and Jayhawkers. Fullager and his regiment were in constant pursuit of one of the most infamous individuals of the region, the Missouri bushwhacker, William C. Quantrill.

Quantrill had a checkered past when he joined the Confederate army in 1861. He quickly became the leader of a small group of men who acted with their own authority. Quantrill and his band of guerrilla warriors terrorized the Missouri – Kansas border throughout the war. They targeted Union supporters and abolitionists, pillaging the land and killing indiscriminately. Quantrill is most known for the raid and massacre in Lawrence, KS on August 21, 1863. Quantrill led 450 men into town, burning buildings and murdering men throughout the Union stronghold. 183 men and boys were killed by the guerrilla band, before they retreated back to Missouri.2

Quantrill and his raiders also plundered the Kansas towns of Shawnee, Spring Hill, Aubrey. With guerrilla warfare increasing along the Missouri-Kansas border many citizens left their homes and sought refuge in other parts of the country for safety. Fullager’s regiment continued to pursue Quantrill and other Rebel forces along the borderline all the way into Arkansas. The company stayed at one of these deserted properties on their campaign across Arkansas. They had comfortable quarter in a large deserted resident, which had a large grist mill. However, by time they reached the property it was beginning to be overrun with weeds, the mill had been partially burned, and the farm was in disarray since no one was there to maintain the land. Fullager and his fellow soldiers came across many farms in this condition south of the Mason-Dixon Line.3

On November 28, Fullager and Company A had a brief encounter with Confederate forces at Cane Hill, AK. General John Marmaduke occupied Cane Hill with 2,000 cavalry men and was met at dawn by General James Blunt and 3,000 Union men. The Battle raged on for nine hours, over 13 miles.4 At night fall, Marmaduke withdrew toward Van Buren, AK while Blunt and the rest of Company A continued to Ft. Smith, which was one of the last strong holds of the rebels in northern Arkansas.

In the early years of the war, the Ozarks experiences several major battles and was a heavily contested region. The massive influx of men and the numerous engagements had a disastrous impact on the land. In December 1862, Fullager walked over the Pea Ridge battlefield. He wrote to his brother, describing the how ravaged the land still looked eight months after the battle concluded. Trees bore marks of hard fighting, splintered and cut to pieces from shots fired in combat. Fullager was impressed by the strong position held by Sterling Price and further amazed that it was overtaken in combat.5

Fullager recognized the inadequacies of some of the officers in the army and how ill prepared they were for a war of this magnitude. He wrote a letter explaining the inefficiencies of the commanders and the devastating consequences that followed.

The 20th Wisconsin Suffered very severely being ordered to charge en a rebble batery they was very clumsily handled by their Lieut. Col [Henry A. Starr] who is reported to have been drunk the men found themselves huddled together twenty or thirty deep right in front of the batery which was just mowing them down by the dozen. But the brave boys rushed on and took the Batery but could not hold it, not being supported now I will give as my opinion that the greater part of our disasters is caused more by the jealousey of the commanding officers than anything else.
Benajamin Fallager Letter to his friend, Dec. 21, 1862

Fullager expressed his beliefs regarding the Union’s failure to support those who had sacrificed their lives to preserve it. His emotionally charged writing reflected the feelings of many poor-middle class men who sacrificed everything for their country. There was a strong sense of honor and duty that Fullager felt many civilians did not appreciate. It was the “Exausted class of me who think more of the honore of their country than of their political advancement or the filling of their purce. see that only which will shed honor & glory on our republic and make it the beacon star of freedom for the nations of the Earth to guide their course by.”6 He documented his disgust with men who sought to buy their way out of service. If a man had enough money, he could pay for another individual to take his place in the military. Fullager despised those who he viewed as starting the war, only to have others fight in the war. Fullager’s beliefs reflect a Marxist view of society; citing how the citizens of the lower class were in constant struggle against the upper classes.

do those who blowed for free niggers and Lincoln now come forward and offer their lives to free the one or defend the other or do they stand with a few dollars in their hands to get others to go in their places there may not be one Such in the State of N.Y. but if there is I wish I had the lungs that would forever screach in his Ear with the voice of ten thousand Cannons, the words Traiter Coward & Scoundrel
Benjamin Fallager Letter to his brother, Sep. 19, 1862

The Fullager letters span from September 1862 through January 1863. In that short time frame Fullager’s correspondence offer a candid and raw perspective into the life of a Union soldier from Wisconsin. In the spring of 1863, the 3rd Wisconsin Cavalry conducted scouting missions throughout southwest Missouri and northwest Arkansas. They entered Indian Territory in the fall of 1863, and in the spring and summer of 1864 conducted expeditions in Arkansas. In October 1864, Company A of the 3rd Wisconsin Cavalry changed to Company K; with the entire regiment being mustered out of service at Fort Leavenworth, KS on September 29, 1865.7

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1. Dyer’s Compendium of the War Vol. 2 pg. 1668
2. Albert Castel, William Clarke Quantrill: His Life and Times, (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1999), 122-143; “New Perspectives of the West: William Clarke Quantrill”, The West Film Project, 2001, http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/people/i_r/quantrill.htm
3. Benjamin Fullager Letter to his friend. Jul. 22, 1863. WICR 1027, Benjamin Fullager Collection, Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield, Republic, Missouri.
4. “The Battle of Cane Hill- Cane Hill, Arkansas”, Explore Southern History, http://www.exploresouthernhistory.com/ARCaneHill.html
5. Benjamin Fullager Letter to his brother. Dec. 1, 1862. WICR 1026, Benjamin Fullager Collection, Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield, Republic, Missouri.
6. Benjamin Fullager Letter to his friend. Jun. 15, 1863. WICR 1014, Benjamin Fullager Collection, Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield, Republic, Missouri.
7. Dyer’s Compendium of the War Vol. 2 pg. 1668

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Emmett MacDonald, born in Ohio, came to St. Louis around 1851. He joined the St. Louis City Guards, and participated in the 1860 Southwest Expedition to expel Kansas Jayhawkers from Missouri. MacDonald was one of the 669 militia men training at Camp Jackson and captured by Nathaniel Lyon. MacDonald was the only soldier that refused to take an oath of allegiance to the United States and imprisoned. He wrote this letter to his sister during his incarceration. Eventually, MacDonald was released and he joined the Missouri State Guard. He participated in the Battles of Carthage, Wilson’s Creek, Dry Wood, Lexington, Pea Ridge, Prairie Grove, Springfield, and was killed at the Battle of Hartville in 1863.

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Leavenworth’s wife, along with the other women in town, spent 10 days in the town’s courthouse making uniforms for the soldiers. More than 100 men had enlisted from Van Buren and more would be enlisting, especially since there were rumors that Gen. Jim Lane had three regiments marching towards Arkansas and Missouri from Kansas. Gen. Pike was conferring with the Creeks, Choctaws, and Cherokees about organizing regiments in support of the Confederacy.

While Leavenworth was motivated to join the Confederate Army he did not believe the outlook to be very good for the Confederacy regarding Missouri. The “treachery of Frost [Daniel Frost] in Missouri,” allowed the Union to gain control of the St. Louis arsenal which contained enough weapons to “arm two states.”3 He stated, “But I fear Missouri is lost. Harney [William S. Harney] is acting as military Dictator, and liberty is lost. The Dutch Home Guard holds St. Louis in subjection.”4

Leavenworth was most concerned about how his harvest would do while he was gone and for the safety of his wife. Prior to his leaving, he planned to move her to Camden, Arkansas. With so many men away from home, women were left to tend the family’s farm and they had to survive all on their own. Leavenworth hoped to get into the Engineer Corp of the Confederate Army and asked his father to send him “a small work [Dennis H. Mahan’s Treatise on Field Fortification] on field fortifications”.5 Leavenworth would become a Captain in the Provisional Army of the Confederate States (P.A.C.S).6

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1. Letter from Frederick Leavenworth to his father, May 21, 1861, Van Buren, Arkansas, Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield, Republic, Missouri.
2. Frederick Leavenworth, National Park Service Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System, http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/soldiers.cfm
3. Letter from Frederick Leavenworth to his father, May 21, 1861, Van Buren, Arkansas, Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield, Republic, Missouri.
4. Letter from Frederick Leavenworth to his father, May 21, 1861, Van Buren, Arkansas, Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield, Republic, Missouri.
5. Letter from Frederick Leavenworth to his father, May 21, 1861, Van Buren, Arkansas, Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield, Republic, Missouri.
6. Frederick Leavenworth, National Park Service Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System, http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/soldiers.cfm.

Introduction
George Falconer & Albert Ellithorpe

This extraordinary diary contains entries written by both Union and Confederate soldiers. It originally belonged to George Falconer, enrolled in Col J. J. Clarkson’s Confederate Cavalry. During the Battle of Locust Grove, 3 July 1862, Falconer was taken prisoner, and Maj. Albert Ellithorpe, Indian Home Guards, 1st Kansas Infantry, captured the diary. Most of the entries are written by Ellithorpe, who described engagements with Confederate soldiers, Kansas politicians and bushwhackers. Ellithorpe participated in several battles including Locust Grove, Cane Hill, Prairie Grove and a smaller engagement with Thomas Livingston’s bushwhackers.

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In a letter written to his parents and sister in New York on March 13, 1859, Schooley stated “the troubles are ended” in Kansas, and “governor and the legislature have done away with all past offenses and released all prisoners.”2 The trouble Schooley referred to was the “Bleeding Kansas Era”. The passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854 opened the territory of Kansas to settlement and to a popular vote on allowing slavery in the territory. Many Missouri residents believed they could influence the territorial elections in Kansas by crossing the border and casting pro-slavery votes. Hatred grew along the Missouri/Kansas border as Free-Staters arrived from the Northeast to battle the Missourians. Both sides crossed the border, often committing depredations on the civilian population in the bloody struggle over the entry of Kansas into the Union. Kansas ultimately became a free state, and the Bleeding Kansas Era laid the foundation for an even more brutal and vicious guerrilla war in the 1860s.

Schooley commented that Capt. John Brown, a controversial abolitionist, was once again in Osawatomie, Kansas, helping a group of slaves escape to freedom on the Underground Railroad.3 Brown was an active participant in the Bleeding Kansas years and advocated violence in securing Kansas’s entry into the Union as a free state. He was hung in December of 1859 for treason after conducting a raid at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, in an effort to free more slaves.4

Schooley also mentioned in his letter the large influx of settlers and prospectors venturing west toward Pike’s Peak in search of gold. Schooley speculated that many would be disappointed although he contemplated about trying his luck further west but stated, “I am not prepared to go yet…”5 Although Schooley believed the violence was coming to an end in Kansas, it would be five more years of destruction and insecurity before peace would return to the Sunflower State. Schooley remained in Mound City until his passing in 1901, and is buried next to his wife, Polly Ann, in the Woodland Cemetery.6

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1. 1900 United States Federal Census; Census Place: Mound City, Linn, Kansas; Roll: T623_487; Page: 18A; Enumeration District: 113.
2. Letter from Hamilton Schooley to his parents and sister, March 13, 1859, Moneka, KS, Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield.
3. Letter from Hamilton Schooley to his parents and sister, March 13, 1859, Moneka, KS, Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield.
4. Henry David Thoreau, A Plea for Captain John Brown (Forgotten Books, republished in 2008), vii.
5. Letter from Hamilton Schooley to his parents and sister, March 13, 1859, Moneka, KS, Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield.
6. Hamilton Schooley, Woodland Cemetery, Mound City, Linn County, Kansas, Find A Grave.com, http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Schooley&GSfn=Hamilton&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSst=18&GScntry=4&GSob=n&GRid=41137098&df=all&

Introduction
John W. Fisher

John W. Fisher’s diary documents his duties in the Missouri State Guard from mid October, 1861, through the first week of January, 1862. Fisher was born in Virginia, and lived in Westport, Missouri prior to the War. Fisher served as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Missouri State Guard. The diary cites Fisher’s movement through Missouri and Indian Territory. Fisher survived the war, ending his days in a Confederate Veterans home in Harrisonburg, Missouri, in 1910.

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