144 



AEMY OPERATIONS. 



militia and the other of the enrolled Missouri 

 militia, exerted themselves to the utmost to 

 call together a force adequate to the defence 

 of the town, but their most strenuous efforts 

 only sufficed to bring together about 1,100 

 men, of whom 400 were either convalescents 

 in the hospitals or those who had just been 

 discharged from those institutions, and the re- 

 mainder were in about equal numbers Missouri 

 State militia and enrolled Missouri militia, al- 

 most wholly raw troops. The commissary and 

 quartermaster's stores were sent north toward 

 Bolivar, only enough being reserved to main- 

 tain the siege, which were placed in one of 

 the forts. The Confederate force (or rather 

 about one-half of it, not far from three thou- 

 sand men) appeared before the city about one 

 p. M. on the 8th, and commenced firing with 

 solid shot at once, without giving any notice 

 for the removal of non-combatants. The fight- 

 ing which followed was irregular, and occa- 

 sionally the Confederates gained some advan- 

 tages; but the courage of the new Federal 

 troops seemed to increase under fire, and late 

 in the afternoon they commenced driving the 

 enemy from one position after another, till at 

 night the battle ended, having continued five 

 hours, when the Confederates retreated, carry- 

 ing with them a part of their wounded. The 

 Federal loss was 14 killed, 145 wounded and 5 

 missing. The Confederates lost 41 killed, and 

 over 160 wounded, of whom 80 were left in 

 the town as prisoners. The next day the gar- 

 rison of the town were ready to renew the 

 battle, but found that the Confederates had es- 

 caped, and they were too feeble to make a vig- 

 orous pursuit. 



Before proceeding from Ozark to Springfield, 

 Gen. Marmaduke had detached Gen. Porter 

 with nearly 3,000 men to follow the road south 

 of the Ozark mountains to Hartsville, and hav- 

 ing made what captures he could there, to rejoin 

 the main force again at or near Marshfield, 

 having in view, probably, the extension of hia 

 expedition either to Lebanon or Bolivar. On 

 the 9th, Gen. Porter occupied Hartsville, but 

 evacuated it that night, and moved toward 

 Marshfield. Gen. Fitz Henry Warren, in com- 

 mand of that Federal military district, sent 

 from Houston on the 9th of January Col. Mer- 

 rill, with 850 men, to Springfield to reenforce 

 the Federal garrison there. They reached 

 Hartsville on Saturday, the 10th, and learned 

 that Gen. Porter had been there the day pre- 

 vious. Leaving Hartaville at 3 p. M. they 

 marched to Wood's Forks, 'on the road toward 

 Springfield, by nightfall, and encamped in line 

 of battle. The next morning (Jan. llth), at 

 daybreak, they encountered Gen. Marmaduke's 

 forces marching from Springfield, and though 

 the Federal position was an unfavorable one, 

 Col. Merrill fought till 9 o'clock A. M., when the 

 Confederates withdrew in a southerly direction. 

 Sending out a pursuing force of cavalry, and 

 himself returning toward llnrtsville, Col. Mer- 

 rill soon found that the- Confederates were also 



marching toward Hartsville, and, as it after- 

 ward appeared, had formed a 'junction with 

 Gen. Porter's command. Col. Merrill immedi- 

 ately ordered -a forced march, and arrived in 

 Hartsville in tune to take a strong position, 

 and awaited their attack. Firing commenced 

 on both sides at a little after 11 A. M., and the 

 battle raged till half-past 4 p. M., the Confed- 

 erates charging repeatedly upon the Federal 

 position, but being met at short musket range 

 by so terrible a fire that they were compelled 

 to fall back each time. At length, finding 

 themselves unable to make any impression on 

 the Federal garrison, the Confederates retreat- 

 ed, going at first toward Houston, but early 

 the next morning they turned their faces south- 

 ward, and moved rapidly toward the Arkansas 

 line, near the north fork of White river. Their 

 losses had been very heavy ; Brig.-Gen. Emmet 

 McDonald, and acting Brig.-Gen. Porter, two 

 colonels, a major, a captain, and two lieuten- 

 ants being among the killed, and several other 

 officers severely wounded. Their entire loss 

 was over 300 killed and wounded, and 29 pris- 

 oners. The Federal loss was 7 killed, 64 wound- 

 ed, and 7 missing. 



A portion of Gen. Marmaduke's force made 

 their way to Van Buren Creek, and 300 of 

 them were taken prisoners, on the Julia Roan, 

 on the 28th of January. The greater part, 

 however, descended the White river, and, with 

 Marmaduke himself, camped at Batesville, Ark., 

 from which town they were driven, after a 

 sharp fight, by the Federal Col. Waring, on the 

 4th of February, a considerable number of the 

 Confederates being killed and wounded, and a 

 colonel and a number of privates being cap- 

 tured. 



Gen. Marmaduke now repaired to the head- 

 quarters of the Confederate army corps in 

 Arkansas, at Little Rock, and the next two 

 months were spent by the generals of that 

 corps mainly in enlarging and disciplining 

 their force. The guerilla bands in Arkansas 

 and Missouri made frequent dashes into the 

 towns, and occasionally stopped steamers on 

 the Missouri river, and plundered, captured, 

 and murdered Federal citizens and soldiers, as 

 in the case of the Sam Gaty, on the 28th of 

 March, but these were only the acts of the ir- 

 regular and bushwhacking troops in Missouri, 

 and they generally met with swift retribution 

 from the militia scouts and cavalry parties who 

 patrolled all sections of that State. There was 

 no considerable movement of Confederate 

 troops till the latter part of April. 



On the 17th of April, the Confederate gen- 

 ^eral, Cabell, left Ozark, Arkansas, with two 

 "thousand men, two pieces of artillery, and 

 three days' rations, to attack Fayetteville, Ar- 

 kansas, which had been so many times a battle 

 ground, and was then garrisoned by two regi- 

 ments of Federal troops (the 1st Arkansas in- 

 fantry and the 1st Arkansas cavalry), under the 

 command of Col. M. La Rue Harrison. The 

 attack was made on the 18th about sunrise, and 



