Arkansas Civil War

Gen George B McClellan was placed in charge of Federal armies in the eastern theatre after Joseph E Johnston’s (no kin to A S Johnston who died at Shiloh) victory at first Bull Run. The 35 year old PA native did a superb job of restoring order to a chaotic army and accelerating troop morale. He was however anti-Republican—-the party of Lincoln. The opposing capitals of Washington and Richmond would continue to be the poles around which both armies shaped their strategies.

Disregarding a land route to Richmond, McClellan moved his massive army of over 100000 men from Washington and down the Potomac before taking steam transportation on Chesapeake Bay to Fort Monroe on the tip of the VA Peninsula. He planned to move from the east against the Confederate capital and its defenders which turned out to be a thin line of 17000 troops. After probing carefully the enemy works, McClellan amazingly declared them too strong to carry with a single thrust. He occupied this time in April with laying siege to what became known as the Yorktown Line, situated a few miles east of Fort Monroe.

After Shiloh, the Commander of the Department of MO, Major Gen Henry W Halleck, arrived and began preparations to capture Corinth. He had relieved his subordinate Gen Grant from the job because he disliked Grant and his job performance. Halleck’s gargantuan invasion force was composed of Grant’s Army of the TN, and Buell’s Army of the OH.

Gen Beauregard had been fortifying Corinth with a slow influx of infantry and artillery units from where the Richmond government could spare them. With the redeployment of Van Dorn’s Army of the West, he could look at a total force of about 65000 with some assurance. They also compensated for losses suffered at Shiloh, but the abandonment of MO and AR released twice its number of Federal troops in MO and KN for service in the east.

Halleck began a cautious advance on April 29, entrenching at the end of each day. He wasn’t going to be caught unaware like Generals Grant and Sherman at Shiloh. But a plodding advance of 1.5 miles a day didn’t inspire confidence or intimate the enemy.

Reacting to Van Dorn’s movement eastward, Gen Samuel Curtis had trekked back up into MO. The twisting highland roads or tracks through the Ozark wilderness were difficult and sometimes dangerous. Adding to the discomfiture were flooded stream crossings and short rations. Throughout the exhausting march supplies of every type were in demand.

At last on April 27, West Plains in south central MO was reached and much friendlier terrain seemed to suddenly open up. Halleck had recently directed Curtis and Brigadier Gen Frederick Steele to push their separate columns into northeastern AR and meet near Jacksonport. Satisfied that Price and Van Dorn had moved to Memphis, Halleck considered MO safe from invasion. He then left St Louis and took personal charge of Grants battered but victorious army.

New Orleans fell from naval operations initiated by Captain David G Farragut and Commander David D Porter . The city surrendered on the 25th. With the loss of Island NO. 10 and New Madrid MO, the MS River was open to the Confederacy as far as Memphis. After a year time would tell if the new nation could survive.

One hundred and fifty years ago the stark realization of war has hitting home in Arkansas. The past several columns have identified a grave problem of an overwhelmed medical infrastructure in the state in 1862 as thousands of sick and wounded soldiers lie convalescing in the homes of total strangers whose patriotic duty it was to nurse and care for the men of the Confederate Army.

Newspapers across Arkansas were steadily pounding out notices and announcements regarding the recovering soldiers and the work that must be done. Washington, Arkansas had its own newspaper. The Washington Telegraph, in fact, was the only newspaper that remained in print throughout the duration of the Civil War and remains to this day one of the best sources of information about Arkansas during the War.

Among the articles printed 150 years ago in Washington was one outlining the work done to prepare a wagon full of supplies to be sent to the capitol city in Little Rock to the sick and wounded soldiers in need. Among the items of most use solicited from the people of South Arkansas were in the article were basic:

“It may not be generally known that half worn clothes, such as shirts, drawers, socks, underclothes of all sorts, sheets, pillow cases, &c., are very much needed, and also large quantities of soap for washing. Soldiers are brought into the hospital in heavy woolen clothes, generally much soiled. They have mostly no change of garments, and are utterly unfit to be comfortably nursed. The hospital requires large stores to be kept constantly clean for frequent change. Life often depends on it, to say nothing of the comfort of the poor fellow, who lies many a weary day, thinking of home. Any food or herbs suitable for the sick or convalescent will also be acceptable.”

Among the more unpleasant things in print 150 years ago was how to prepare the dead for transportation back home for burial, as it “will, in a great degree, prevent the offensive odor from corpses, and while the remains of so many of our deceased soldiers are being transported from the camps homeward, it may be of service to publish it. Take two pounds of common salt, two pounds of alum, one pound of saltpeter–dissolve in six gallons of water, and keep the shrouding wet with the solution.”

Not having the locations to detain or otherwise accommodate large numbers of captured troops early in the war, the U. S. and Confederate governments relied on the traditional European system of parole and exchange of prisoners. The French parole d” honneur was a pledge or oath under which a prisoner of war (POW) is released with the understanding that he will not again bear arms until exchanged for an enemy captive of equal rank. Sometimes the parolees went home to await notice of their exchange; sometimes they waited near their commands until the paperwork was processed.

As the war continued, the system became increasingly complex and cumbersome.
Also the system became tremendously expensive as the number of parolees soared. The prospect of being sent home encouraged many men to be captured in battle or they allowed their capture through straggling. Detention camps established by Federal authorities angered parolees, as did attempts to use them as guards and other noncombat assignments.

This of course eliminated the opportunity of going home, but it was a serious violation of the law and punishable through the military courts.

An odd arrangement occurred in July 1862 when Col N.B. Forrest captured parts of three Federal regiments at Murfreesboro TN. Finding his command short of guards to escort 900 POW’ s, he picked a number of willing prisoners to drive the many overloaded captured wagons. On arriving at McMinnville, he made good his promise to parole them with two days rations thrown in to start them to their northbound homes. The remaining prisoners were placed in the care of Confederate authorities in Chattanooga.

Federal authorities generally withheld parole and exchange from guerrillas, bushwackers and blockade runners, which resulted in retaliatory action by the Confederacy.

Finally admitting that the war was being prolonged by returning men to the ranks through parole and exchange—–which by 1863 was the Confederate army’s principal means of maintaining troop strength, Union authorities severely restricted the program. General Grant on April 17, 1864 ordered that prisoner exchange cease altogether. From then on, confining enemy troops to prison camps, became the policy for the two belligerents. (Patricia L Faust, Encyclopedia of the Civil War, 1986)

On April 19, the Arkansas Gazette published a list naming 41 soldiers who had died the previous week in area hospitals. Civil war surgeons, reflecting the backwardness of the time, often did their patients more harm than good. They gave no thought of wiping the knife on an old rag or even on the leg of their trousers before using it as a scalpel. They amputated limbs (Surprisingly most amputations were performed on hands and fingers. ) and probed wounds without sterilization and bled both sick and wounded with lancet and leech. The end result for wounded men was blood poisoning, secondary hemorrhaging and tetanus.

It is not meant to suggest that surgeons of the time were uniformly bad or universally incompetent, because that was not the case. The profession of medicine had to evolve through experience and experimentation. “The war had the unintended but fortunate effect of rapidly advancing medical technology and techniques” Jack Trammell wrote in ‘Life is Better Than Limb’ in the January 09 issue of America’s Civil War. (Civil War) Doctors shared information, exchanged letters and met together when they could.” A contemporary George Otis, noted that the Civil War led to important advances in dealing with head injuries, stabilizing traumatic wounds, litigating arteries and treating spinal and chest wounds.

One hundred and fifty years ago, Arkansawyers were getting a realistic taste of what war was. Following the Battle of Shiloh, hospitals in Arkansas were full and overflowing into private homes of heroic citizens who stepped up to the plate with compassion and selfless acts of bravery. It was hard and expensive work taking care of the ill and wounded soldiers.

To offset the expenses of caring for convalescent soldiers, a series of fundraiser, akin to the current U.S. military’s U.S.O. programs, began making their way into advertisements in newspapers across the state. A common fundraising event in the mid 1800’s was a military ball. This week 150 years ago, one such event was held at the Episcopal Church in Little Rock, featuring soldiers from the Capitol Guards. According to the Weekly Arkansas Gazette, “The supper, prepared by the ladies of the Episcopal Church, afforded ample evidence that they are judges of the good things of this life. The beaux, with their profusion of Military ornament, made a good display, but they were outshone by the sparkling eyes of the beauteous fair who graced the occasion.”

Another fundraising event that became commonplace during the War Between the States was a concert. As noted above, the Episcopalians were devout supports of “the cause”; Catholics were likewise as supportive in their fundraising endeavors. Known today for its Catholic school education for 9-12 grade female high school students, St. Mary’s Academy, founded in 1851, it was in 1862 a venue for entertainment:

“A Concert of vocal and instrumental music, interspersed with entertaining dialogues, will be given on to-morrow (Friday) evening, at St. Mary’s Academy. This promises to be a pleasant affair, as the ladies of the Academy are noted for their taste and ability in such matters. The concert is given for the benefit of the sick soldiers in this city. Tickets, price 50 cents each, can be procured at the Drug stores of Doctors McAlmont and Brugman, and at Mr. Reardon’s bookstore. Secure a ticket and go early if you want a good seat. “

As spring temperatures rise, so does the casualty lists of sick and wounded soldiers in Arkansas.

General Earl Van Dorn exhorted his subordinates to quicken their pace to the river port at Des Arc on the east side of White River. Mo Gen Henry Little arrived on April 6 and departed next day—-the day the battle of Shiloh ended. By April 11, the Third TX Cavalry, now dismounted, took their turn on a small side-wheeler down the surging waters of the White, now in flood stage. Many of the young men boarding a steamboat for the first time, were fascinated by the huge throbbing engine and the enormous rotating paddle wheels. Many were astounded at the incredible speed of their new conveyance. The overloaded steamer threatened to capsize when crowds would shift from one side to another to view some curiosity. (Douglas Hale, The Third Texas Cavalry, 106) Col Louis Hebert’s brigade, the last to leave Van Buren, didn’t reach White River until April 15, and didn’t get away until April 24 and 25.

But Van Dorn didn’t merely transfer the army to the eastern side of the MS. He directed that all arms, ammunition, food and all other military stores be sent to Memphis after the army. Machinery from the Arsenal complex as well as the telegraph line from Clarksville to the Capital City were not exempt. As if this were not enough, the most ordinary things such as canvas miles of rope, empty barrels , buckets and two wheeled vehicles were not left behind. The District was stripped of everything that resembled a war footing and abandoned in the literal sense of the word.

By April 3, the wounded stopped arriving in Little Rock from Pea Ridge and were accommodated in four large buildings converted into hospitals. A local newspaper estimated 1000 to 2000 patients were in the city by April 10. Some days later the wounded from Shiloh appeared, eventually increasing the number to eight converted facilities. Public buildings such as the main Arsenal building and the state house contributed hospital space. Also the local theatre which had previously been the sewing building was now converted into a hospital with MO soldiers assigned to it.

The overload of sick and wounded soldiers found respite when taken into the homes of charitable citizens. George Brodie, a wealthy building contractor, generously took in 13, and his neighbors also opened their homes. Generally only convalescents and men whose wounds were not serious enough to require a physician’s constant attention were sent there. Other patients were being sent downriver to Pine Bluff. (Margaret Ross, Chronicles of Arkansas, April29, 1962)

And so it appeared after a year of warfare—- the river cities from Fort Smith to Pine Bluff were transformed into hospital zones, while the poorest state in the Confederacy was rapidly being stripped of men and material—- everything in fact that made it defensible, by a self-aggrandizing friend of President Davis.

The Confederate Conscription Act was passed on April 16 for three years’ service for all white males between 18 and 35 who were not legally exempt. The age was raised to 45 in September, and by February, 1864 the age limits were 17 and 50. Substitutions were allowed but this provision was repealed in December, 1863. Conscripts accounted for one-fourth to one-third of the Confederate armies east of the Mississippi between April, 1864 and early 1865.