Between the Enemy and Texas: Parsons's Texas Cavalry in the Civil War

8. Off to Missouri

8. Off to Missouri A the situation in Arkansas worsened with Hindman's retreat from Prairie Grove in December 1862 and the surrender of Arkansas Post in January 186), Confederates felt disheartened. Secretary of War James A. Seddon observed in March that "the most deplorable accounts reach the department of the disorder, confusion , and demoralization everywhere prevalent, both with the armies and people of that State." Holmes, he believed, had "lost the confidence and attachment of all," and the result was "fearful."l To improve conditions , Seddon relieved the general and placed Edmund Kirby Smith over the Trans-Mississippi Department; Holmes retained control of the district of Arkansas, including the Indian Territory and Missouri. Both Kirby Smith and Holmes refused to abandon Missouri and in the spring authorized a raid which they hoped would rally support among the Missourians and also feed an army threatened with starvation in Arkansas. Richard Taylor, who oversaw the district of Louisiana, bitterly asserted that Kirby Smith worried too much about "the recovery of his lost empire , to the detriment of the portion yet in his possession." He firmly believed this strategy was a mistake and pointed out that "the substance of Louisiana and Texas was staked against the shadow of Missouri and Northern Arkansas." 2 Yet in the spring of 186) the Union Department of the Missouri under Samuel R. Curtis appeared vulnerable. The general-in-chief, Henry W. Halleck, had ordered Curtis to send all available troops to join Grant's Vicksburg expedition and to retain only enough men "sufficient to hold a few important points" against "guerrillas and small detached forces." Curtis had dispatched several regiments and the marine brigade by March/ and the time seemed propitious for a Confederate raid. This prospect particularly pleased John S. Marmaduke, who commanded a division of cavalry in northern Arkansas and who frequently expressed 113 114: Between the Enemy and Texas concern about the apathy prevailing in the Confederate Congress since the Federal occupation of his native Missouri. Marmaduke possessed impressive credentials not easily ignored by Richmond. His father, a former governor, had sent him to Yale and Harvard , and the young man had graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1857, thirtieth in a class of thirty-eight. As a member of the regular army he served under Albert Sidney Johnston in Utah; at the beginning of the war he resigned and joined Johnston in the service of the Confederacy. Following Shiloh he returned to the Trans-Mississippi region where he sedulously promoted Confederate support for Missouri.4 Marmaduke firmly believed that as long as the Confederacy demonstrated its concern for Missouri, its citizens with Southern sympathies would remain supportive. Convinced of the loyalty of his fellow Missourians , Marmaduke had led a raid into southwest Missouri after Christmas . While Federal gunboats steamed toward Arkansas Post early in January, his column of over two thousand cavalrymen rode across the Missouri border. The day the Federals assaulted Fort Hindman, Marmaduke attacked Springfield. His small raiding party could not hope to hold any territory, however, and he quickly retreated to Arkansas. Still, he judged his foray a success because "the heart of the people revived again at the presence of Confederate troops."s Marmaduke's reception in Missouri encouraged him to outline a proposal for another invasion. His correspondence revealing his plan to Holmes has been lost, but Holmes's reply suggests much about Marmaduke 's idea. "Your plan is a bold one," pronounced Holmes, "though I think you miscalculated the status of the Missouri people. I fear and believe they are thoroughly cowed, and now occupy that unenviable position that nothing short of an overwhelming force would induce them to raise a hand against their oppressors. ,,6 Undiscouraged, Marmaduke continued to push for support. By late February Holmes wrote: "I have considered your proposition relative to Missouri very carefully, and with an earnest desire to foster the plan." But he correctly cautioned Marmaduke that without infantry to sustain him, Marmaduke could do nothing more than raid and return, leaving Off to Missouri: 115 Southern sympathizers to the wrath of the Union army. "It is expecting too much of weak human nature to suppose that they will sacrifice all, unless we can give them at least a reasonable show of permanent protection ," warned Holmes. "Without this, though they would sympathize with us in their hearts, they would raise no hand to help us.... Consider...