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Chapter 2: The Trans-Mississippi Campaignsof 1861 and 1862
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Chapter 2 The Trans-Mississippi Campaigns of 1861 and 1862 Re a dy or not, Maj. Joseph Osterhaus and his rifle battalion left St. Louis on their first campaign on June 13. His men were clad in multicolored uniforms made or donated by various civilian volunteer groups; there were not enough shoes, blankets, or tents to go around. But at least the men of the Second Missouri began their first campaign in relative comfort, traveling the first leg by train, then boarding steamers for the rest of the ride into the capital, Jefferson City, where Gen. Nathaniel Lyon hoped to capture Gov. Claiborne Fox Jackson and Gen. Sterling Price. When the battalion arrived on the morning of June 16 itching for battle, they were disappointed to find the American flag flying over the capitol building high on the hill. Lyon had already taken possession of the deserted capital without a fight.1 Jackson and Price were now reported to be gathering a thousand Missouri State Guard recruits at Boonville, so Lyon pushed on up the Missouri, taking Frank Blair’s First Missouri, Osterhaus’s battalion of riflemen from the Second Missouri, Capt. James Totten’s Company F, Second U.S. Artillery, and several companies of Regulars, seventeen hundred men in all. Ten miles below Boonville , the Union commander spotted an enemy battery partially hidden on the bluff ahead, so he decided to disembark his little force on the south bank and go ahead on the river road. At this point, he needed skirmishers to feel out the enemy ’s position. Turning to Major Osterhaus, he asked him if his battalion, now three companies strong, could skirmish. After all his training efforts, Osterhaus was able to reply that they certainly could, so Lyon sent them on ahead. Thus, Osterhaus led the advance of the first Union attack in Missouri’s first official battle of the war. The rebel force was not nearly as big as Lyon had been led to believe. Rumored at up to a couple of thousand men, it really amounted to fewer than five hundred, led by Jackson’s reluctant nephew, West Point graduate Col. John Marmaduke. Marmaduke knew it was hopeless to pit his hastily gathered 30 31 The Trans-Mississippi Campaigns of 1861 and 1862 [18.208.197.243] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 13:41 GMT) 32 Yankee Warhorse and ill-equipped few hundred recruits against two thousand or so better-trained and -equipped men with artillery support, but his uncle insisted on a fight.2 After two miles of cautious advance, Osterhaus’s men found themselves under enemy fire for the first time in real battle. They found Marmaduke’s small force spread out on both sides of the road on a slope near a brick farmhouse. As the rebels opened up, the Union troops prudently responded by lying flat on the ground to shoot and reload. This tactic, as it turned out, demoralized and disgusted some of the untrained rebels, who were expecting the traditional shoulder-to-shoulder line. One later accused the Federals of not fighting fair. If lying low to shoot did not seem fair, what happened next was completely unacceptable . Captain Totten briskly wheeled his battery to the front and opened fire, soon joined by heavy firing from both flanks of Union infantry. Not only did the artillery land nine-pound shells in the MSG lines, but two balls also penetrated the brick house, driving the family into the cellar and the rebels out the back. Soon Marmaduke’s wavering men fell back over the brow of the hill to protect themselves from the shelling, where they stood their ground briefly and fired another volley. But then the steady Union firing broke their resolve, and they fled. In twenty minutes it was all over, with Marmaduke making it official by ordering a retreat.3 The skirmish at Boonville was a relatively painless training exercise for Lyon’s new army. Casualties were light on both sides, the Federals losing two killed and nine wounded, the MSG about the same. In his official report of the battle, Lyon was well pleased with the performance of Osterhaus’s skirmishers: they were “thrown forward with excellent effect.” Major Osterhaus had led men into battle for the first time, and besides being pleased with his own men he was once again impressed by the effectiveness of properly used artillery.4 Lyon was determined to press on with his plan to scatter the MSG and drive...