AKMY OPERATIONS. 



145 



after nearly six hours' severe fighting the Con- 

 federates were- thoroughly defeated and in full 

 retreat for Ozark. Gen. Marmaduke and his 

 superior officer, Maj.-Gen. Sterling Price, hav- 

 ing at last collected a sufficiency of troops, 

 mostly Texans, and a large portion of them 

 cavalry, to render an expedition into Missouri 

 probably successful, sought and obtained per- 

 mission to attempt the capture and destruction 

 of Cape*Girardeau, at that time the depot of 

 supplies for a portion of Gen. Grant's army. 

 The Confederate force, which consisted of 

 Price's (1st) army corps of the trans-Mississippi 

 Department, numbering somewhat more than 

 ten thousand men, under the command of Gen. 

 Marmaduke, left Little Eock, Arkansas, about 

 the middle of April, and on the 20th had cross- 

 ed the State line, and following the course of 

 the St. Francis river, reached Fredericktown, 

 Mo., about the 22d. From this point they 

 marched upon Cape Girardeau, and came be- 

 fore the town on the 25th. The garrison there 

 was under the command of Gen. John McNeil, 

 and consisted of one thousand seven hundred 

 men, mostly militia. Gen. McNeil had reach- 

 ed Cape Girardeau on the night of the 23d, and 

 had taken immediate measures for the removal 

 of the Government stores into Illinois, and had 

 sent to St. Louis for reinforcements. Confi- 

 dent of success, the Confederates, though re- 

 pulsed in their first attack, demanded on Satur- 

 day night (25th) the surrender of the town, 

 the demand being made by acting Brig.-Gen. 

 Carter, whose brigade was in the advance. 

 Gen. McNeil replied at once, declining to sur- 

 render, as he believed himself capable of main- 

 taining its possession. Fighting was not re- 

 sumed till 10 A.M. of the 26th, when Gen. Mar- 

 maduke again demanded a surrender, threaten- 

 ing to storm the town in case of refusal. Gen. 

 McNeil again refused, and after nearly five 

 hours' fighting, in which the Federal artillery, 

 which was admirably served, caused great havoc 

 among the Confederate troops, Gen. Marma- 

 duke retreated southward. He was pursued 

 closely by Gen. Vandever and Gen. McNeil, 

 and harassed severely, but succeeded in escap- 

 ing into Arkansas, on the 2d of May. His loss 

 in the battle of Cape Girardeau was sixty kill- 

 ed and about three hundred wounded. In his 

 retreat he also lost a considerable number of 

 killed and wounded, and many prisoners. 



On the 6th of May a Federal force of about 

 one thousand cavalry, and about the same 

 number of infantry, under command of Col. 

 (acting brigadier-general) Powell Clayton, left 

 Helena, Arkansas, on an expedition to the. re- 

 gion of Arkansas, lying between the White and 

 St. Francis rivers, to break up a band of gue- 

 rillas, and destroy Confederate stores accumu- 

 lated there. The infantry went only as far as 

 Snitzn's and then returned to Mariana. The 

 cavalry proceeded to the vicinity of Taylor's , 

 Creek, a large detachment, however, going to 

 Mount Vernon, and at these points, on the llth 

 of May, the two small bodies of cavalry, one 

 VOL. in. 10 A 



numbering two hundred and thirty men, and 

 the other seven hundred and twenty-five, had 

 each a severe fight with separate brigades of 

 Marmaduke's division, and both repulsed them 

 with heavy loss to the Confederates. 



On the 20th of May, the Federal forces, about 

 one thousand two hundred in number, under 

 the command of Col. William A. Phillips, near 

 Fort Gibson, Indian Territory, were attacked 

 by the Confederates', under Col. (acting briga- 

 dier-general) CofFey, commanding a force of 

 five regiments. After a desultory fight, in 

 which, through the cowardice of the Creek 

 regiment, the Federal troops lost a part of their 

 cattle, Col. Phillips succeeded in driving the 

 Confederate troops over the mountain, and 

 finally, in complete disorder, across the Arkan- 

 sas "river. The loss on the Federal side was 

 about twenty-six in killed, wounded, and miss- 

 ing ; that of the Confederates considerably 

 larger. There were repeated skirmishes in 

 this and other portions of the department, but 

 no severe fighting in the Indian Territory, till 

 July 15th, when Maj.-Gen. Blunt crossed the 

 Arkansas river near Henry Springs, in that 

 territory, and on the 16th attacked a superior 

 force of Confederates under Gen. Cooper, which 

 he completely routed, they leaving their dead 

 and wounded on the field. The Federal loss 

 was seventeen killed and sixty wounded, while 

 that of the Confederates was one hundred and 

 fifty killed (buried on the field by the Federal 

 troops), four hundred wounded, seventy-seven 

 prisoners, and one piece of artillery and one 

 hundred stand of arms captured. After several 

 subsequent skirmishes with the Confederates, 

 Gen. Blunt descended the Arkansas river, and 

 on the 1st of September occupied Fort Smith, 

 Arkansas. The army of the frontier having 

 been greatly depleted to furnish reinforcements 

 to Gen. Grant, while he was engaged in the 

 siege of Vicksburg, the Confederate generals 

 in the Trans-Mississippi Department took ad- 

 vantage of the fact to make an attack on Helena, 

 Arkansas, where the Federal general, Pr-entiss, 

 was in command, with a force of about four 

 thousand troops. Here again Gen. Sterling 

 Price and Gen. Marmaduke found scope for 

 action. The Confederate attack was made on 

 the 4th of July, with a force of about fifteen 

 thousand men. It was commenced about day- 

 light, and, at first, they were successful in cap- 

 turing a small fort forming a part of the out- 

 works, but the gunboat Tyler, coming up op- 

 portunely, and opening upon them with its 

 heavy guns, they were compelled to abandon 

 it with severe loss. Determined not to relin- 

 quish their purpose, the Confederates fought 

 desperately, charging repeatedly, and with 

 large masses, upon the defences of the town, 

 attacking now the north, and now the south 

 side, but everywhere they met with the same 

 terrible resistance from the Federal fire at 

 short range, and from the large missiles from 

 the gunboat; and at length, utterly foiled at 

 every point, having lost over one thousand in 



