November 27, 1862: An Attack in the Making

College Road in Canehill, Arkansas

The news that the Confederate cavalry had crossed the Boston Mountains and occupied Cane Hill (see First Skirmish near Cane Hill), prompted the always aggressive Union General James G. Blunt into action.

Having sent out cavalry units on the 25th to skirmish with Confederate scouting units between his camp north of Siloam Springs and the Southern camps at Cane Hill, Blunt decided to attack. Even though he claimed in his reports that the Confederate cavalry numbered 8,000 men (the actual number was fewer than 3,000), the Union general organized an army of only 5,000 men to strike against them.

On November 27, 1862, 149 years ago today, the Federals moved out:

Gen. John S. Marmaduke, C.S.A.

Early on the morning of the 27th, I ordered all my transportation and commissary trains parked on Lindsey’s Prairie, and, after detailing a sufficient guard for its protection, I commenced my march, with about 5,000 men and thirty pieces of artillery, the men taking with them four days’ rations of hard bread and salt. The distance to be traveled to reach the enemy was 35 miles, of which 25 were made by 7 p.m. on the 27th, when the command bivouacked for the night. From that point I sent spies into the enemy’s camp, and learned that there pickets were strongly posted on the main road (on which I was advancing), and that it could be easily defended. - Brig. Gen. James G. Blunt, Dec. 3, 1862.

In the Confederate camps, meanwhile, General John S. Marmaduke knew that Federal troops were to the north in large force, but did not know they were on the move. His three brigades were not unified, but instead one was camped in each of the three large villages along the Cane Hill ridge. Although it was not really planned, this would allow him to fight a staggered or tiered defense the next day when Blunt attacked.

The Battle of Cane Hill would take place the next day and I will post about it tomorrow. To learn more in the meantime, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/ARCaneHill.

The events were prelimaries of the coming Battle of Prairie Grove. You can read more about it anytime at www.exploresouthernhistory.com/ArkansasPG1.

November 25, 1862: First Skirmish near Cane Hill

Bell Tower at Cane Hill College

Having occupied the three villages at Cane Hill on November 24, 1862 (see yesterday's post), General John S. Marmaduke pushed scouting parties of Confederate troops north up the roads leading from the community.
The purpose was to find out if any Union troops were in the immediate vicinity of the three small cavalry brigades that Marmaduke had brought across the Boston Mountains. It did not take long before at least one of these small forces collided with Federal cavalry that was moving in the same area.

Gen. James G. Blunt, U.S.

General James G. Blunt, commanding the Union division Bcamped about 30 miles north at Camp Babcock (near today's Siloam Springs), reported that his cavalry forces engaged a large Confederate reconnoitering force somewhere between his camp and Cane Hill on November 25th (149 years ago today).  His men, he reported, "scattered" the Confederate cavalry, which fell back on its support at Cane Hill.  Neither side reported any casualties in the encounter.

A more serious concern for the Confederates, but one unknown to Marmaduke, was the presence of Union spies at Cane Hill. The identities of these men were never made public, but they spent the 25th collecting information on the Confederate brigades information that would be relayed to the Union forces the next day.

The spies, based on Blunt's reports, were not the best. They estimated there were 8,000 or more Confederate cavalrymen camped at Cane Hill, when the actual number was roughly one-third of that estimate. They did, however, obtain good information on the disposition of the three Confederate brigades, intelligence that Blunt would use to plan his coming attack on Cane Hill.

The Confederates, meanwhile, were active behind enemy lines as well. In a report to his commanding officer in Missouri, Blunt reported that units of Southern cavalry were hovering along supply lines trying to interrupt the movement of his supply wagons down from Missouri.

I will continue posting on the Prairie Grove Campaign over coming days, so be sure to check back often through the holiday weekend. Until the next post, you can read more at www.exploresouthernhistory.com/ArkansasPG1.

Siloam Springs, Simon Sager and the Civil War

Although the modern city of Siloam Springs was not incorporated until 1881, the settlement of Hico existed on the site of the Northwest Arkansas community during the Civil War.

A Prussian immigrant named Simon Sager had arrived in the area by around 1839 and established a plantation adjacent to the little community, established a few years earlier as a trading post for the Cherokee Nation. The Cherokee had arrived in what is now eastern Oklahoma after their long journey west on the Trail of Tears. They were desperately in need of basic necessities and the trading post at Hico, along with other similar establishments along the border, supplied at least some of these needs.

In addition to his skills as a farmer, Simon Sager was an accomplished carpenter and furniture maker. He helped build the Cherokee Male and Female Acadamies in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, and supplied his neighbors with beautiful pieces of furniture, some of which survive to this day. He also raised beef and was by all accounts a successful entrepreneur along what was then the western frontier.

The outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, however, changed everything for both Sager and the little community that would eventually become Siloam Springs. The area was heavily raided by Blunt's Division of the Union Army of the Frontier during the summer and fall of 1862. The Federals defeated Confederate troops at the Battle of Old Fort Wayne - less than 20 miles to the northwest - on October 22, 1862 and more fighting followed before the end of the year at the Battle of Cane Hill and the Battle of Prairie Grove.

To supply his thousands of men with food and other necessities, Union General James G. Blunt ordered out foraging parties that ravaged the countryside around what is now Siloam Springs. Farms, including that of Sager, were stripped of forage, grain, beef, pork, poultry and anything else the soldiers wanted. Families were often left to face starvation or flee and pro-secession families watched their homes go up in flames.

After the Prairie Grove Campaign, the armies soon moved on, but the area along today's Arkansas-Oklahoma border was then overrun by guerrilla bands. Some of these were allied with the Union, some with the Confederacy and some with no one at all. They swarmed over the countryside, raiding farms, mills and homes. Murder, robbery and assault were the watchwords of the day.

On May 17, 1864, Simon Sager's home was surrounded by a pro-Union guerrilla party of Cherokee "Pin" Indians. When the attack ended, Sager was dead. The creek flowing through the heart of Siloam Springs, however, still bears his name and one of his cabins is preserved on the campus of John Brown University.

To see additional photos and learn more about Siloam Springs, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/siloamsprings. For a good account of the 1862 fighting in Northwest Arkansas, be sure to check out William L. Shea's new book, Fields of Blood: The Prairie Grove Campaign.