Spies and Scouts were used to gather valuable information from the opposing military side, the location and movement of enemy regiments and their strength in numbers. Through his numerous and faithful scouts and spies, General Nathaniel Lyon learned of the concentration of Southern troops at Cassville and their intention to march on Springfield. Major R.K. Hart reported to the Republican in July 1913 that he had been a spy for General Lyon in Raines’ camp near Dug Springs, prior to the Battle of Wilson Creek.2 It was his duty to find out the number of men at the Confederate camp and the course of their direction. A Union spy known only as “Three”, later identified as Charles A. McNair did reconnaissance work on General Sterling Price’s army in Southwest Missouri and reported his finding to John D. Perry, stating that, “Sir I have just returned from a thorough trip through South West Missouri – was in the camps of the rebels his men are tolerably well clad, McCulloch was in Springfield on Friday last, with not exceeding 7000 men, perhaps not more than 3 or 4000. Price’s Men have no confidence in him & don’t think he wants to fight – they curse him all the time & say he has done nothing since the 10th August but eat up the substance of the state. The South West is nearly depopulated”.3

Some of the most prominent and finest spies for both sides were women, like Mary Ann Pittman, who dressed like a Confederate Lieutenant named Rawley, joined General Nathan Forrest, accompanying him through Tennessee and Mississippi.4 Disguises, alias, diversions, and secrecy were all weapons spies and scouts used to conduct their business during the war. Eventually, she revealed her female identity to Forrest in which he laughed and said she made quite a good looking woman. Forrest cautioned her to let this secret go no further, and believed “success would be more certain if she appeared as a woman dressed herself in a suit of female apparel.…” and then sent her off on a mission..5 Under the name “Mollie Hayes,” Pittman spied and smuggled goods for the Confederacy. As “Mollie Hayes,” Pittman visited St. Louis and gained information on Union troops and fortifications.

Pittman eventually concluded that the Confederacy would loose the war and allowed herself to be captured by General Lionel Booth’s troops. While at Fort Pillow, Tennessee, she informed Booth of Forrest’s pending attack with 4,000 men. Realizing her value, Acting Provost Marshall Genreral Joseph Darr Jr. petitioned to use Pittman as a spy for the Union. He stated, “she can be trusted and would be a proper person to send to [Sterling] Price’s Camp.”.6 In January 1865, Major General Grenville Dodge provided Pittman a pass through Federal lines, allowing her to begin her mission for the United States government. That April, Pittman served as a Union spy reporting information on Sterling Price, as well as bushwhackers, Samuel Hildebrand and Alfred Bolin.

Two other valuable allies for the U.S. government were Native Americans and freed African-Americans. Many pro-union refugees from Indian Territory entered southern Kansas to escape conscription and aggression of Confederate Native Americans on the tribal lands. Their presence in Kansas and proximity to Indian Territory encouraged Kansas regiments to employee Native American scouts and spies. Fall Leaf, a Native American scout, and ten of his men were employed to gather intelligence from Rebel soldiers in Kansas and Indian Territory.7 The Union also used freed African Americans for reconnaissance work. In one extreme case, two black men returned to Dixie acting as slaves to gather information about African American kidnapping rings in Tennessee.

These men and women risked their lives in gathering intelligence for the United States. If caught spies were automatically accused of treason and sentenced to death. Some informants such as J. H. Oreton, of Webster County, and Katie Smith, were identified by and attacked in their homes. This collection is contributed by the National Archive and Records Center, and focuses on Union intelligence efforts. The Confederacy intelligence network is documented in other individual collections. Researchers are encouraged to consult other collections within Community & Conflict for additional information on scouts and spies from the region.

Contributed by the National Archives and Records Administration
Photocopies Contribiuted by Mine Creek Battlefield, Kansas State Historic Site.

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1. “Historical Times Encyclopedia of the Civil War” Edited by Patricia L. Faust, Article by Edward G. Longacre. updated 15 December 2002, accessed 22 November 2010, http://www.civilwarhome.com/espionage.htm
2. “Scout Tells of Incidents of Terrific Battle in Ozarks”, Republican, Vol. XXII, No. 179, July 1913, pg 1.
3. Charles A. McNair Letter to John D. Perry.  Nov. 28, 1861, Entry 36, Correspondence, Reports, Appointments, and Other Records Relating to Individual Scouts, Guides, Spies, and Detectives; Records of the Provost Marshal General’s Bureau (Civil War), RG 110; National Archives and Records Administration, Washington DC. pg 2 & 3
4. Joseph Darr,Jr. Letter to Frank Bond. Oct. 21, 1864, Entry 36, Correspondence, Reports, Appointments, and Other Records Relating to Individual Scouts, Guides, Spies, and Detectives; Records of the Provost Marshal General’s Bureau (Civil War), RG 110; National Archives and Records Administration, Washington DC. pg 4
5. Joseph Darr,Jr. Letter to Frank Bond. Oct. 21, 1864, Entry 36, Correspondence, Reports, Appointments, and Other Records Relating to Individual Scouts, Guides, Spies, and Detectives; Records of the Provost Marshal General’s Bureau (Civil War), RG 110; National Archives and Records Administration, Washington DC. pg 3
6. Joseph Darr,Jr. Letter to Frank Bond. Oct. 21, 1864, Entry 36, Correspondence, Reports, Appointments, and Other Records Relating to Individual Scouts, Guides, Spies, and Detectives; Records of the Provost Marshal General’s Bureau (Civil War), RG 110; National Archives and Records Administration, Washington DC. pg 1
7. Robert J. Roe Letter to John E. Tappan. May 27, 1865. Entry 31, Correspondence, Reports, Accounts, and Related Records of Two or More Scouts, Spies, and Detectives; Records of the Provost Marshal General’s Bureau (Civil War), RG 110; National Archives and Records Administration, Washington DC.

Comparison between slave records may provide an interesting study on the value of human property and the fluctuation of slave trade as the Civil War progressed. Researchers are encouraged to consult other slave records located in the Community & Conflict collection.

Contributed by the The History Museum for Springfield-Greene County

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The Cass Township Slave schedule cites the number of slaves and slave owners residing in the Greene County Township in 1863. This unique record provides a census of slavery in the middle of the Civil War. A Federal slave schedule was completed in 1860, providing a census of slaves and slave owners before the War. The emancipation of slaves prevented a post-war slave schedule from being completed. The historic value of this document resides in its comparison with the 1860 schedule and other slavery documents from Greene County. Through this comparison, researchers may draw conclusions about the impact the war, the Emancipation Proclamation and other events possibly had on number of slave owners and slaves in Greene County, Missouri.

Contributed by the Greene County Archives and Records Center

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Introduction
1st Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry

The 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry was one of the earliest African-American regiments organized during the Civil War. This regimental order book documents correspondences, general orders and special orders between 1863 and 1864. During this period the 1st Kansas Colored was stationed in southeastern Kansas, southwestern Missouri, western Arkansas and Indian Territory, Oklahoma.

In October 1862, soldiers from the regiment engaged Rebel troops at the Battle of Island Mound in Bates County, MO. This skirmish earned them the distinction of the first African-American troops from a northern state to see action as soldiers. The 1st Kansas Colored became seasoned veterans by the end of the war, participating in several battles and engagements. On December 13, 1864, the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry was re-designated as the 79th U.S. Colored Troops.

Original Documents Retained at the National Archives and Records Administration.

Photocopies Contributed by Mine Creek Battlefield, Kansas State Historic Site.

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RESOLVED by the National Committee and Council, that all free negroes coming into the Cherokee Nation, under any pretense whatsoever, shall be viewed and treated, in every respect, as intruders, and shall not be allowed to reside in the Cherokee Nation without a permit from the National Committee and Council.1

When the Civil War began in 1861, the Cherokee Nation found itself with divided sentiment. Leader of the National Party, John Ross, supported strict neutrality. While the Old Ridge party, led by Stand Watie declared support for the Confederacy.2 In July 1861, Watie organized the First Cherokee Mounted Rifles near Fort Wayne and he was promoted to Colonel. He took command of his companies and departed for Missouri to join the Confederate war effort. Over the summer the Confederacy secured victories at the Battles of Bulls Run and Wilson’s Creek, which perhaps persuaded further support for the Confederacy. Towards the end of August the Cherokee Executive Council met and elected to join the Confederacy. On October 7, 1861 the Cherokee Nation signed a treaty with the Confederacy at Tahlequah. The tribe dissolved all treaties with the Federal Government, and later the Chicksaw, Choctaw, Creek and Seminole tribes also gave their allegiance to the Confederacy.

After the Confederate defeat at the Battle of Prairie Grove on December 7, 1862 the Union Army moved into Indian Territory. Union and Native American troops burned the Confederate Command Post at Fort Davis forcing Confederate army to retreat south. On February 20, 1863 the Cherokee tribe called an emergency session of the National Council at Cow Skin Prairie and revoked the treaty with the Confederacy. They pledged their allegiance to the Union, removed all Confederates from office, emancipated slavery and reaffirmed Ross as the Principal Chief.3 The Union army took control over Fort Gibson in April 1863, and began fighting Confederate Indian raiding parties over control of the territory. Brig. General Stand Watie was the last Confederate General to surrender during the War. He finally signed a peace treaty at Doaksville, Indian Territory on June 23, 1865.

After the War, the Cherokee Nation signed a reconstruction treaty on July 19, 1866 which stated,

The Cherokee Nation having, voluntarily, in February, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, by an act of the National Council, forever abolished slavery, hereby covenant and agree that never hereafter shall either slavery or involuntary servitude exist in their Nation… They further agree that all freedmen who have been liberated by voluntary act of their former owners, or by law, as well as all free colored persons who were in the country at the commencement of the rebellion, and are now residents therein, or who may return within six months, and their descendants, shall have all the rights of native Cherokees.4

The Act to Define the Status of Freedmen and their Descendants, written after 1880, sought to establish the rights and privileges of African Americans within the Cherokee Nation. The document defined freedmen as those who resided in the Cherokee Nation at the commencement of the American Civil War, those who were at that time slaves of any Cherokee or other citizen, those who were liberated by voluntary act or by law, and those who had not return to the Cherokee country within the time specified within the Treaty of 1866. These men became adopted citizens of the Cherokee Nation, and were granted the corresponding rights and privileges as adopted citizens.

they are hereby Entitled to all the rights and amunities of adopted Citizens of the Cherokee Nation, as here in after defined. That no distinction of rights or privileges shall be deemed to exist between the Colored Citizens of the Cherokee Nation by operation of art 9 of the treaty of 1866 and those who are made citizens by the operations of the preceding section of this act

-Act to Define the Status of Freedmen and their Descendants

The legal status and rights of Cherokee Freedmen has been an ongoing political and tribal dispute since 1866. The Freedmen and their descendants were considered Cherokee citizens until the early 1980s, when the Cherokee Nation’s administration stripped them of voting rights and citizenship for more than two decades. In March 2006, the Cherokee Nation’s courts ruled that the descendants of the Cherokee Freedmen were allowed to register and become enrolled citizens of the Cherokee Nation. However, Principal Chief Chad “Corntassel” Smith, one of the most vocal opponents of the Freedmen’s citizenship, wanted to amend the constitution to exclude their citizenship entirely. After circulating a petition, Chief Smith called an emergency election to settle the issue. As a result, the descendants of Freedmen were stripped of their citizenship, but they have continued to press for recognition within Cherokee Nation.5

Contributed by the University of Tulsa Special Collections and University Archives

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1. J.B. Davis, “Slavery in the Cherokee Nation,” Chronicles of Oklahoma, Vol. 11, No. 4, December, 1933, Oklahoma Historical Society, accessed October 20, 2010, pg 1064 http://digital.library.okstate.edu/chronicles/v011/v011p1056.html.
2. James Mooney, History, Myths, and Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees (Fairview, NC: Bright Mountain Books, Inc, 1992), pg 148.
3. http://www.cherokee.org/Culture/71/Page/default.aspx
4. J.B. Davis, “Slavery in the Cherokee Nation,” Chronicles of Oklahoma, Vol. 11, No. 4, December, 1933, Oklahoma Historical Society, accessed October 20, 2010, pg1071 http://digital.library.okstate.edu/chronicles/v011/v011p1056.html.
5. “Putting to a Vote the Question ‘Who Is Cherokee?’,” The New York Times, March 3, 2007.

John Polk Campbell was one of the first pioneers of European ancestry to settle in present day Springfield, Missouri. The Campbell family was instrumental in the establishment of Springfield and Greene County. As Springfield grew, so did the Campbell’s prosperity. On August 11, 1851, John created his last will and testament, bequeathing all of his “property, real & personal, monies and effects” to Louisa T. Campbell, his “dearly beloved wife.”1 With Springfield firmly established, John began to explore southward into Indian Territory and Texas. He eventually died on May 28, 1852 in Oil Springs, Cherokee Nation.2

After John’s death, Louisa attempted to secure his property and entered into a dispute over a mulatto girl named Margaret with Samuel Sproul. Louisa claimed Sproul wrongfully and unjustly detained the girl, even though she was rightfully left to Louisa through John’s will. Sproul responded that he had been the girl’s true owner since 1850, as she was a gift from John Polk Campbell to him and his wife, Mary. Mary Frances Sproul was the second daughter of John and Louisa, and was the first Caucasian female to be born in present day Springfield. Mary and Samuel lived in Greenfield and had no children.

The family unsuccessfully tried to settle the disagreement outside of the court system. In June 1855, Leonidas Campbell, John and Louisa’s son, visited his sister’s home and demanded they turn over the slave. Samuel refused, so Leonidas kidnapped her. He grabbed Margaret and rode back towards Springfield with her on the back of his horse. Samuel chased after Leonidas, and was able to reclaim Margaret and brought her back to his home.

Unable to settle the dispute, Louisa sued Samuel for $1,000 in damages and custody of the girl. On March 11, 1856, the court authorized Louisa T. Campbell to “collect and secure all and singular the goods & chattels rights and credits which were of the said John P. Campbell at the time of his death in whomsever hand and possession the same may be found….” This disagreement over Magaret did not split the Campbell family, but this case represents the circumstances many civilians faced before the Civil War. Rivalry over property, debt, murder and other preexisting issues often fueled feelings of revenge and hatred causing the Civil War to become even more personal and violent then it was already destine to become.

Contributed by the Greene County Archives and Records Center

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1. John Polk Campbell Will, 11 August 1851, Campbell vs. Sproul, 1855. African America Circuit Court, Folder 10. Greene County Archives and Records Center, Springfield, Missouri.
2. “Lucy M’Cammon’s Home, Built in 1851, Holds Memories of Civil War Visitors” in The Springfield Leader, 3 June 1932, pg 15.

John Polk Campbell was one of the first pioneers of European ancestry to settle in present day Springfield, Missouri; however, there are discrepancies among the historical records indicating the exact year Campbell ventured into the area. Some historians believe Campbell did not come until 1829 or 1830, while family records indicate he came to southwest Missouri as early as 1825. John Polk Campbell was the fifth child of John Campbell and Matilda Golden Polk. John Polk was born in North Carolina in 1804, and his family moved to Tennessee when he was three years old. When the Campbell boys reached adulthood, they wanted land of their own, and explored outside of well settled Maury County, Tennessee.

In 1825 my grandfather, John Polk Campbell with his brother, Madison, a cousin, and several other young men, went on a prospecting trip to Southwest Missouri, a country then peopled by the Kickapoo and Cherokee Indians.

Louisa (Lulu) Cheairs McKenny Sheppard – A Confederate Girlhood

The settlers encountered a tribe of Kickapoo Indians encamped along the James River. A young boy from the tribe was gravely ill, and John Polk offered to assist with his recovery. He gave the boy simple herbs which eventually lifted the boy’s fever and brought him back to full health. The Kickapoo Chieftain gave John Polk a tract of land to the north of their village near a large spring as a token of his gratitude. According to Lulu, granddaughter of John Polk and Louisa Campbell, John Polk built a small log cabin near the spring and began a small farm.

In 1827, John Polk returned to Tennessee and married Louisa Terrell Cheairs on May 28.1 John and Louisa traveled to Missouri, but lived there for only a short period as Louisa became pregnant with the couple’s first child. John and Louisa questioned giving birth in the rural regions of southwest Missouri, and returned to Tennessee for the birth of Talitha Caroline. According to the family, John Polk left his wife and child in Tennessee and returned to Missouri. In October 1829, John returned to his family to escort them back to their new home.

Before John Polk left Missouri, he hired two men to clear timber for construction of a larger cabin near the spring. He carved his initials into an ash tree to mark the land and location of the new cabin. On his way to Tennessee he stopped at William Fulbright’s house in Rolla. Fulbright and John Polk were friends from Tennessee, and John told him about the ample springs and land in the southwest region of the state. John continued on to Tennessee where he was welcomed by his family and friends. As they prepared to leave, several friends and family members decided to join the Campbells as they set off towards Missouri. The party arrived in Missouri in March 1830, and John Polk found his lumber had been constructed into a cabin near his spring.2

After Campbell left Rolla, Fulbright and his brother-in-law, A. J. Burnett, decided to move to the area. They found the pile of lumber, and presuming the materials to be abandoned, built a cabin. John Polk showed Burnett his initials on the ash tree near the spring which marked his property. Burnett turned over the cabin, and both families worked together to build homes for everyone as they started a community in rural southwest Missouri.

Over the years John Polk built several houses. Each house was vacated for new settlers to inherit. The Campbell’s second child, Mary Francis, was born in 1831 and was the first white female born in the area. The settlers traded with the Native Americans in the region and began to stockpile goods in their homes. In 1833, John Polk donated fifty acres for the construction of a town, with two acres designated as the public square. Lots were sold to new settlers and John Polk began the organization of the county. He appointed his family members as county officials to assist with the establishment of Greene County. By 1835, approximately 500 people lived in Springfield which included five Campbell brothers, one sister and their mother, Matilda Golden Polk Campbell. Springfield was finally incorporated into a town in 1838.3 As Springfield grew John Polk began to explore new territory in Texas and Indian Territory, current day Oklahoma. John Pol died on May 28, 1852 in Oil Springs, Cherokee Nation.4

John Polk and Louisa had ten children: Talitha Caroline, Mary Frances, John Nathaniel, Leonidas Adolphus, Sarah Rush, James Cheairs, Thomas Polk, Samuel Independence, Constantine and William Argyll.5 John Polk outlived two of his children, who succumbed to diseases at an early age. Four of his sons fought in the Civil War, two of which died. The Campbell family supported the Confederacy, and they owned a number of slaves both in Springfield and on their Mississippi plantations near Vicksburg. Lulu was a young girl during the Civil War, but she recorded her memories of the family’s experiences in “A Confederate Girlhood.” After Union forces secured Springfield, the Campbell’s were forced from their home and they sought refuge on family land in Tennessee and Mississippi. After the war, Louisa and Sarah Rush came back to Springfield, but the Springfield they returned to was vastly different from the one they left. Much of the family’s property lost during the war was never regained, and Louisa died trying to rebuild their life.

The Campbell-McCammon Collection consists of letters written between friends and family members from 1861 through 1872. Included is Louisa T. Campbell’s exile order from Springfield, Missouri, several letters reflecting on the war’s impact on the family and letters written by former family slaves.

Contributed by the The History Museum for Springfield-Greene County

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1. Charles Sheppard, “Watch Out! The Campbells are Coming.” John Polk Campbell vertical file, Springfield-Greene County Library Center, 1-5.
2. Sheppard, “Watch Out! The Campbells are Coming,” 6.
3. Sheppard, “Watch Out! The Campbells are Coming,” 8-12.
4. “Lucy MCammon’s Home, Built in 1851, Holds Memories of Civil War Visitors” in The Springfield Leader 3 June 1932, 15.
5. “Genealogies of Some Early Springfield Families,” Ozar’kin, vol. 1, no. 1, (Spring 1979), 27.

On May 4th, 1858 Wadlow filed a claim against Benjamin Perryman in the Probate and Common Plea court in Greene County, Missouri for one thousand dollars. The outcome of the case hinged on the definition of the slaves’ condition. The way to determine the “sound condition” of a slave was very subjective and the evidence to prove that a slave was “worthless” had to be quite substantial for a claim to hold any legal standing in a court of law. When Violet and Aaron came to Wadlow, they were very ill. Mrs. Whittenburg, another slave of Wadlow’s, testified that when she helped Violet into bed she “discovered that the Negro woman could not lie on one side because it caused her a lot of pain.”3

The declarations of the Negro woman, Mrs. Whittenburg, were excluded by the court, and because the judge did not allow her testimony, the verdict came back in the favor of Perryman. Charles Wadlow, displeased with the outcome, decided to appeal the case to the State Supreme Court, in which they sided with Mr. Wadlow; sighting that the lower courts had erred in not allowing the testimony be submitted into evidence.

We see no difference between this case and that of Man vs Hill & Haynes, 10 Mo. 323. The evidence offered by the plaintiff of the declarations of the slave, made whilst she was laboring under sickness, as to the cause of her ilness and the source of it, was admissible and the Court erred in excluding them. With the concurrence of the other Judges, the judgment is reversed and the cause remanded
Charles Wadlow vs. John G. Perryman.

The slave laws that prevailed during the time did not allow for a slave to testify against a white person in court.4 However, since Mrs. Whittenberg was not testifying against Mr. Perryman, only stating the condition she saw Violet in after Wadlow bought her, her testimony was legally admissible into court. The case was returned to the Common Plea court, and no documentation of further ruling could be located.

Contributed by the Greene County Archives and Records Center

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1. 1860 United States Federal Census; Census Place: Cass, Greene, Missouri; Roll: M653_621; Page: 259; Image: 259; Family History Library Film: 803621.
2. Charles Wadlow vs. John G. Perryman, 1857. S1 F007. Greene County Archives and Records Center, Springfield, Missouri.
3. Charles Wadlow vs. John G. Perryman, 1857. S1 F007. Greene County Archives and Records Center, Springfield, Missouri. Part 2, pg 8
4. “Slave Codes”, U.S. History Online Textbook, Wednesday, January 19, 2011, http://www.ushistory.org/us/6f.asp

Introduction
Clinton Owen Bates

“Old Age,” written by Clinton Owen Bates in 1949, reflects on the life of a young boy growing up in Arkansas during the Civil War, and his career as a teacher. Bates was born in 1857, and grew up on a farm in Fayetteville. The Bates family had split loyalty among the North and South, and even as a young child, Bates remembered the tension that the War brought into their home. Bates recalled the bloody conflict along the border of Missouri and Kansas, encounters with runaway slaves, and various Trans-Mississippi Theater battles. After the War, Bates began his career as a teacher. He taught at the Cherokee Headquarters on the Tahlequah Indian Reservation and later held a position in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Contributed by the University of Arkansas Libraries Special Collections
Manuscript Collection MC 594

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Introduction
Louisa Cheairs McKenny Sheppard

A Confederate Girlhood, the memoir of Louisa Cheairs McKenny Sheppard, reflects upon the life of a young lady raised in the Ozarks during the Civil War. While her reminiscence is decidedly sentimental, it is a compelling representation of wartime and economic struggles and refugee life. Louisa wrote the memoir many years after the events took place. Researchers are reminded that the validity of the events recorded, as with any memoir, may be embellished and should be thoroughly researched.

Louisa Cheairs McKenny Sheppard, “Lou” or “Lulu,” was the fourth child of Talitha and E.D. McKenny. Talitha died during Louisa’s birth in 1848, and she was raised by her grandmother Louisa “Lucy” Terrell Cheairs. Lulu was twelve when the War began, and she recalled impact it had on Springfield and her family. Eventually, they were forced to flee Springfield, and her family left for uncle’s plantation in Mississippi. Over time the family moved to Arkansas, and did not return to Springfield until after the War. A Confederate Girlhood is a recollection of Louisa’s youthful adventures and a tribute to her beloved grandmother.

Contributed by the The History Museum for Springfield-Greene County

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