Pea Ridge: Civil War Campaign in the West

Chapter 1. Winter Campaign

1 WinterCampaign B y the end of 1861 the struggle for Missouri had reached an impasse. Federal forces firmly held St. Louis and maintained a tenuous grip on the Missouri River Valley, but the secessionist MissouriState Guard defiantly stood its ground near Springfield in the southwest corner ofthe state. Asthe opposing forces faced each other across the drab wintry landscape of the Ozark Plateau, developments were takingplace that would put thousands of men in motion and shatter the stalemate. Missouri 's fate, and the course of the Civil War in the TransMississippi , would be determined early in the new year on a frosty battlefield in northwestern Arkansas. Brig. Gen.Nathaniel Lyon was primarily responsible for Federal achievements in Missouriduring the first year of the war. He seized the initiative in the uncertain weeks following Fort Sumter and,relying heavilyonvolunteer regiments raised from the loyal German population of St. Louis, drove the secessionist government and its military arm, Maj. Gen. Sterling Price's Missouri State Guard, out of Jefferson City and into the far reaches of southwestern Missouri. Lyon was not satisfied with this partial victory He recognized that as long as the state guard remained in being, it posed a threat to Federal authority.In midsummer Lyonboldly marched into southwestern Missouri with a small army and occupied Springfield. This time Lyon's aggressiveness led to disaster. The Federals were outnumbered two to one by the 2 { I f Pea Ridge combined forces of Price's state guard and Brig.Gen.Benjamin McCulloch's Confederate army that had crossed into Missourifrom northwestern Arkansas . McCulloch believed it was essential to sustain the secessionist cause in Missouri, which still remained in the Union, because the state guard provided a buffer between the Federals and the Confederate states ofthe TransMississippi . The opposing forces clashed south of Springfield at Wilson's Creek on August 10, 1861. Lyon was killed, and his little army was driven from the field. While the Federals retreated to Rolla, Price led his triumphant state guard northward to wrench the MissouriRiver Valley from enemy hands. TheMissourians marched without their Confederate allies.McCulloch was prepared to edge across the border into Missourito help the state guard stay in the field,but he was unwilling to launch a major invasion of a Unionstate on his own initiative. Moreover, he did not believe such an offensive could succeed given the large number ofFederal troops in Missouriand their control of the rivers and railroads. McCulloch'sassessment proved correct. Price and the state guard managed to overwhelman isolated Federal garrison at Lexington on the southern bank of the MissouriRiver but soon were compelled to fall back toward Springfield.1 Maj. Gen. John C. Fremont, Lyoris successor, gathered a sizable Federal force and reoccupied Springfield in late October. Price again called on McCulloch, who responded by massing his troops along the ArkansasMissouri line. The Federal threat ended in an unexpected manner in early November when President Abraham Lincoln relieved Fremont from command . Maj.Gen. David Hunter promptly abandoned all that Fremont had gained and dispersed his army across Missouri.Forthe second time in only a few months the Federals had seized and then lost the initiative in Missouri.2 McCulloch was satisfied that the Trans-Mississippi Confederacy was secure for the time being and placed his men in winter quarters in Arkansas. Price, ever the opportunist, could not resist advancing northward once again in the wake of the retiring Federals. A bit more cautious this time, Price halted his command on the Osage River near Osceola, sixty miles north of Springfield, and settled down to await developments. While on the Osage, Price learned that GovernorClaiborneE Jackson and a rump session of the Missouri legislature had assembled in Neosho and had approved an ordinance of secession. The legitimacy of this proceeding was dubious, to say the least; but it satisfied the authorities in Richmond, and Missouriadded its star to the Confederate flag on November 28. Price hoped his state Winter Campaign \\\ 3 guardsmen would transfer en masse into Confederate ranks, but he was disappointed. Many Missourians had no desire to serve outside the state or for more than a few months at a time. Officers were especially reluctant to transfer for fear they would lose their commissions or be demoted. By the end of the year only about half of Price's Missourians had enlisted in the Confederate army;the other half remained in the state...