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.

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.

Maxwell Phillips recorded all facets of the official procedures and events that took place at Fort Gibson. Phillips described in his reports the obstacles the regiment faced; such as desertion, cattle rustling, and improper processing of paperwork. Phillips often had men desert only to return asking to rejoin the unit. He would petition his superiors to allow these men to return with some minimal form of punishment. Normally, in a time of peace the Army would never have accepted a deserter back into service. They would have been considered Absent-With-Out-Leave and considered a criminal but the Union Army needed every able-bodied man they could find, so they were willing to bend the rules, slightly, to make some exceptions. In March 1864, Phillips wrote to a commanding officer requesting that several of his men who had returned of their own accord be reinstated to the regiment.

Sir I hereby Send you the names of Men who have deserted from My Co’ (G) and have voluntarily returned and respectfully Request that they be restored to duty with loss of Pay and allowances during absence

-Capt. Maxwell Phillips letter to A. Morton – Mar. 16, 1864

There were numerous hindrances that the soldiers assigned to Indian regiments dealt with on a daily basis. One of the most serious problems Phillips recorded was the theft of cattle from the Union supplies. With a scarcity of food, stolen supplies were a huge detriment to the survival of a regiment. He encouraged the support of local Native Americans to help with the procedure of finding the stolen cattle but it was difficult to prove who stole the cattle. This became even more difficult when higher ranking officers were giving permission or passes to incompetent men who came into the Indian Territory under the pretext of purchasing cattle legally, but they then stole the cattle from the Native Americans for their own financial gain. Occasionally, they even stole the cattle from the families of the Indian soldiers in Phillips own regiment.

I regret that I am Obliged to leave the State without being able to present; to You My business in person. I reported to Your Adjt General upon My Arrival, I have not been able to recover any Cattle: though I have found Several herds. I have reason to believe that persons who have Obtained passes or permits from you to purchase Stock in the Indian Nation have Abused the privelige Granted; and have Obtained the Stock by Stealing it

I examined a herd at Fort Scott [Kansas] of about 580 head of Cattle, in possession of one John McWhirt, I found Over 50 different Indian Brands both Creek and Cherokee, Some of the Stock being the property of Men in My Own Co’ the Greater portion of them being the property of Loyal Soldiers, who have not even been permitted to Sell their Stock, nor, in Many Cases, been permitted for Over two Years to leave the ranks to look after it, Some of the Stock was Contraband.

-Capt. Maxwell Phillips letter to Samuel Ryan Curtis – Sep. 12, 1864

Communication was very difficult to maintain between soldiers in the Western Territory and their commanders back east in Missouri. The inefficiency of communication and the nature of the war led to confusion and misplacement of important documents. Phillips repeatedly requested confirmation that invoices and reports he had sent were received. He also requested information on several new soldiers he received, so that they could be properly mustered in to the unit.

Fort Gibson C.N. [Cherokee Nation] Nov 23d 1864 Lieut J. S. Lane [6th Kansas Cavalry] Act’ Asst Com’ of Musters Sir! I had three men Mustered into my Co’ by You on the 28th day of June 1864! Namely Fox Kenner, Rope, & Teacher, I Signed blank Muster in Rolls, that were to be filled out by You and forwarded to me. I have not Received them & desire to have the Record of the Muster Will You please to forward to me the Muster-in-Roll of these men as Early as possible

-Capt. Maxwell Phillips letter to General Commanding District of the Frontier – Dec. 5, 1864

Phillips meticulously recorded the official procedures and events that took place within the Kansas and Indian Territories and how the problems faced by the men stationed there were different than what soldiers in Missouri and Arkansas encountered. His collection is unique in that it contains such a wide variety of documents. Not only do we have Phillips order books and official government documents including receipts and affidavits, but also included were educational materials he was personally studying.

Contributed by the Oklahoma Historical Society

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1. Maxwell Phillips, Ancestry.com. Official records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 1861-1865 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2008.
2. Oklahoma Historical Society, “Indian Home Guards”, Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/I/IN010.html
3. Frederick H. Dyer, . A COMPENDIUM OF THE WAR OF THE REBELLION. 3 Volumes. New York: Thomas Yoseloff, 1959.
4. William G. Cutler’s, “State History, Part 18”, History of the State of Kansas, http://www.kancoll.org/books/cutler/sthist/milrec-p18.html

after we thought we had them surrounded the Battery was brought into position and then crash – went into the camp – the bursting shells and mud shot and such screeching and yelling as went up from that camp you never heard – for by the way it was the camp under the command of Standwathy [Stand Watie] a half-breed Cherokee who had about 700 of the painted devils with him – while the shelling was going on an orderly came from the Gen ordering us around to the place that the major spoken of above, did not occupy as the Indians were in full retreat but before we could get there through the brush they had gone into Coffee’s camp we pursued them there but the whole force had left there we pursued them but our horses were wearied and so we returned to the camp with 40 prisoners – we stationed our pickets and laid down to sleep at 2 o’clock in the morning
Chester L. White Letter to Daniel H. Wright, June 14, 1862

White became separated from his regiment, and was forced to struggle through rattlesnake infested brush and then a swamp in order to return to camp. “I got entangled in the d – dst place I ever got into nothing but Grapevines – rattlesnakes and wood-ticks – after trying for about an hour to get out I finally succeeded in doing so by jumping my horse down a perpendicular bank 15 feet into a swampy creek where I was not much better off than before.”3

After only five months in service on March 10, 1862, White was promoted to Full 2nd Lieutenant. White told his cousin in the letter the pros and cons with his new promotion, “I am now acting 2d Lieut but it is not so nice as you might imagine – have to sport “store clothes” but no Lieut’s pay to back it.”4

Before returning north, the 2nd Ohio Cavalry helped capture Fort Gibson in Indian Territory. That fall, the regiment joined General James Blunt’s campaign into northwestern Arkansas. They participated in skirmishes at Carthage, Cow Skin Prairie, Wolf Creek and White River. And in December 1862, the 2nd Ohio Cavalry received orders to Columbus, Ohio and remained there until March 1863. That summer the regiment served in Kentucky and Tennessee.5

In February 1865, the 2nd Ohio Cavalry joined the Army of the Potomac with Sheridan’s cavalry, at Petersburg, entering the campaign that closed the war. They were at Appomattox Station on April 8 and Appomattox Court House on April 9. After witnessing Lee surrendered his army and an expedition to Danville, the 2nd Ohio Cavalry marched to Washington, D.C. for grand review in May. On May 27, they received orders to St. Louis, Missouri and were on duty in the Department of Missouri until they were mustered out on October 12, 1865.6

Although this is a small collection, consisting of only one letter from Chester White to his cousin, it reveals the difficult duty men faced in the Trans-Mississippi Theater and represents the significant role the 2md Ohio Cavalry played during the War.

Contributed by the Pearce Civil War Collection, Navarro College

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1. 1860 United States Census; Census Place: Tate, Clermont, Ohio; Roll: M653_944; Page: 274; Image: 355; Family History Library Film: 803944.
2. History of Geauga and Lake Counties, Ohio, (Philadelphia: Williams Brothers, 1878), pages 47- 48. http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ohlake/military/civil/2ohcav.html
3. White, Chester L. Letter to Daniel H. Wright. 14 Jun. 1862. White (Chester L.) Papers, 1862, 2005.055. Pearce Civil War Collection, Narvarro College, Corsicana, Texas.
4. White, Chester L. Letter to Daniel H. Wright. 14 Jun. 1862. White (Chester L.) Papers, 1862, 2005.055. Pearce Civil War Collection, Narvarro College, Corsicana, Texas.
5. Frederick H. Dyer, A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion, vol 1 (Dayton, Ohio: Morningside Press, 1994), 1473 – 1474.
6. Dyer, Compendium of the War, 1473-1474.

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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The Enrolled Missouri Militia, 4th Military District

On August 17, 1861 Missouri Governor Hamilton R. Gamble ordered a proclamation establishing the Missouri State Militia for defense of the State against guerrilla activity. Gamble soon realized the need for additional troops, and on July 22, 1862 he issued General Order Number 29 organizing the Enrolled Missouri Militia (EMM). General Colley B. Holland assumed command of the 4th Military district, consisting of the counties in southwest Missouri, on October 30, 1862. Based in Springfield, Missouri, roughly 2,500 men reported for duty, operating under the jurisdiction of the State of Missouri. Holland’s documented all activities related to his command in the enrolled Missouri Militia order book for the 4th Military District in Southwest Missouri, from November 1862 through May 1863. His reports covered the Battles of Springfield and Hartville and also include details about depredation in Southwest Missouri and the extensive guerrilla activity that took place in the region.

Colley B. Holland was made captain of Company D, in the famous Phelps Regiment, organized in the summer of 1861. He took part in the Battle at Pea Ridge, Arkansas, the heaviest battle west of the Mississippi. Holland was promoted to the position of lieutenant colonel of the reorganized Phelps Regiment, and in the fall of 1862 he aided in recruiting the Seventy-second Regiment, of Missouri State Militia, and was commissioned colonel of that organization, his commission bearing date of September 9, 1862.

Holland’s control over southwest Missouri was tested early as Gen. John. S. Marmaduke led confederate troops from Arkansas and assaulted Springfield on January 8, 1863. Marmaduke had hoped to surprise Springfield’s garrison, but Union Captain Milton Burch’s Company H, 14th Missouri State Militia Cavalry Regiment, while scouting near Dubuque, Arkansas, on January 6, 1863, detected Marmaduke’s movements. Burch then retreated with his company to Lawrence’s Mill in Douglas County, Missouri, before daylight of January 7. Captain Burch then sent a warning message: A Confederate force, estimated between 4000 and 6000 strong, was moving toward Springfield. This was alarming news for Union Brigadier General E. B. Brown’s Springfield & Ozark garrisons, whose commands included only 1,343 veteran soldiers. With suggestions from militia officers Holland, Henry Sheppard, and Doctor Samuel Melcher, General E. B. Brown called upon all available Enrolled Missouri Militia commanders to concentrate their regiments immediately at Springfield.

After fighting Union soldiers for several hours, Marmaduke realized that his force was too small to capture the Union garrison. He disengaged his Confederate forces about 11 p.m, and retreated from the battlefield on the morning of January 9. The Union won a major tactical victory since they successfully held onto the town and saved the Union Army of the Frontier’s winter supplies.

After the defeat at Springfield, General Marmaduke turned his sights towards Hartville. Marmaduke’s men were able to bypass the Union forces on the road and enter Hartville. Union troops raced to Hartville and formed a battle line on the high ground west of the courthouse. The Union forces had almost no time to prepare their position before Colonel Joseph Shelby and Colonel Joseph Porter’s commands engaged them in battle.

As the Confederates discovered the precise location of the Union battle line, they began concentrating their fire from the buildings in town. A portion of the Union line began to break and elements retreated, including the Union’s artillery. Confederate commanders noted the Union withdrawal, and presumed victory. The Union position west of the courthouse, however, was covered by ample brush and trees. While some Union forces indeed retreated from the battlefield, the 21st Iowa Infantry did not receive the order to retreat, so they held their ground in the bush. As Colonel Porter and his column reached the courthouse they realized their mistake as the enemy, only 50 yards away from his men, opened fire. Porter was wounded in the leg and hand.

Lieutenant Colonel Cornelius Dunlap, of the 21st Iowa Infantry, extended his line of defense and increased his regiment’s rate of fire to mask his weakness from the Rebel forces. The Confederates made three additional advances before sundown, all of which were repelled. Dunlap later reported, “My men all acted finely, and were cool and active when they learned that they were left alone in front of a rebel horde of 5,000 men.”1 After darkness, Dunlap retreated with the other Union forces toward Lebanon.

Along with calling upon men to fight in combat, General Holland’s responsibilities also included protecting the citizens of Southwest Missouri from guerrilla fighters as Col Henry Sheppards replied to General Holland the need for mounted men was great, “ It is mounted men that are wanted, to distribute them in the Counties of Newton, Jasper, Lawrence, Dade, Cedar, and Barton in the West, and in Christian Stone and Taney in the South, for in many localities in the counties named are bands of Guerrillas. Unless the loyal citizens in those Counties have some protection, they will be overrun and driven from their homes; and have their property destroyed.”2

Management of rebel civilians became a difficult issue for the Enrolled Missouri Militia and Holland. Holland issued General Orders No. 4, which required all able-bodied men between the ages of 16 and 55 years, residing in the Springfield area, to report for work on fortification and other necessary duties for the EMM. “All able-bodied men” did not discriminate among political affiliations and oaths of loyalty. Captured rebel prisoners began work on fortifications, a pragmatic use of idle manpower. Claims of maltreatment from rebel civilians by the Enrolled Missouri Militia reached Holland and General Egbert B. Brown, in which Holland responded:

Many complaints are made to me by persons who admit they have been active rebels, or that they sympathize with those in rebellion. They complain of depredations on their property by the Enrolled Militia. In many cases I find the complaints groundless… I am ready to sustain all measures which you may consider necessary for the public good; and to have maintained in the Enrolled Militia the strictest discipline. To disarm and disband any portion, because of alleged misdemeanors or crimes, is in my judgment not only irregular, but will tend to destroy all military discipline.
Colley B. Holland to Egbert B. Brown, December 15, 1862

By the end of the war, over 52,000 men were mustered into 70 regiments of the EMM. While plagued with a stereotype created by its notorious elements, many Enrolled Missouri Militia regiments “became professional in their demeanor and execution, defended their home areas with distinction, even won acclaim for occasional combat, and often performed these feats with their own private weapons, clothing, and horses.”3

This collection represents the bureaucratic task of organizing, supplying, training, disciplining, and maintaining a military presence in the Ozarks.

Contributed by the STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY of MISSOURI RESEARCH CENTER – Columbia

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1. U. S. War Department, The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series 1, Volume XXII, Part 1 (Washington D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1880-1901), 193.
2. Order Book Enrolled Missouri Militia, 4th Military District, pg 5.
3. Bruce Nichols, Guerrilla Warfare in Civil War Missouri, 1862 (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2004), 103.

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.

Contributed by Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield

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The collection does not contain any of Margaret’s letters, but it appears she may have been a secessionist. Elizabeth’s passionate belief in the Union and graphic news from home may have caused a rift among her family. It is unknown how Elizabeth’s letters were received, but through their context it becomes clearer Margaret did not always feel loved by her family’s correspondence. Despite Margaret’s political thoughts, Elizabeth remained adamant about her feelings; she believed the suffering of her family, friends and neighbors was the fault of the Confederates and their deplorable tactics. The Hunter-Hagler letters are a powerful collection depicting the hardships many families faced in a politically torn region as neighbors and even families turned on one another.

Contributed by the STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY of MISSOURI RESEARCH CENTER – ROLLA

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