‘Odd’ Facts about Several Battles in the Trans-Mississippi Theater of the U.S. Civil War – Black Jack, Osawatomie, Wilson's Creek and Pea Ridge
Why does this blog sometimes focus on the 1860s U.S. Civil War? Because it is still going on at a low level, and could increase in size, especially after this election. This new administration, which basically represents a Neo-Confederacy, will spawn political turmoil on a scale that many leftists are not prepared to deal with - if the Trumpers go through with their plans. So on to the first Civil War and any lessons we may learn for the present …
Black Jack battlefield
Civil War battlefields are by nature also
parks. These have hiking trails, horse
paths, bicycle ways and allow cars to drive the battlefield to visit key
points. All this while they are soaked
in blood and history. Most Federal ones
usually have a visitor center, but not small non-national locations like Black
Jack and Osawatomie – although the latter has a small museum. These are battles that have mostly been
ignored. Here are the odd facts:
2. Many in the Union Army of the Southwest did not speak English, as there were a good number of recent German and Dutch immigrants. This was the highest proportion of non-English European speakers in the Union armies.
3. Victories were attempted by Union and Confederate generals using 'tricks' – an early morning attack on Confederates from two directions at Wilson's Creek by West Pointer Nathaniel Lyons; a plan for a battle in winter by Union Genl. Curtis at Pea Ridge; a march to get behind Union lines at Pea Ridge by the flamboyant Confed Genl. Van Dorn. Tricks, however, do not suffice.
4. Four Missouri counties on the west central border of Kansas were so full of adamant pro-slavery types that the Union ordered them 'emptied.' They provided attackers against the free-staters in Kansas, as they sacked both Lawrence and Osawatomie, among others. They were John Brown's main enemies. To this day this area in Missouri is full of bad roads, few towns, few amenities, shabby or corporate farms and rural poverty.
5. In both the battles of Black Jack (June 1856) and Osawatomie, Kansas, (Aug. 1856) John Brown took up a position in front of a creek and downhill from the enemy to try to get them to attack. An odd tactic that worked once at Black Jack, where the pro-slavery militia surrendered; and failed at Osawatomie, when the pro-slavers turned away from Brown’s outnumbered and outgunned men and burned down nearly the whole town.
6. Missouri did not vote to leave the Union. However, the Missouri Governor and Genl. Price organized militias to support the Confederacy against the vote of the legislature. Take note – anti-democratic militias were crucial in Missouri.
7. Missouri, as a state, saw the 3rd largest number of Civil War battles, though most were small engagements.
8. The battle of Pea Ridge had the longest, most intense and accurate artillery barrage for its time in the war – 2 hours straight by Union gunners. It also saw the biggest infantry charge of the war to date – 10,000 Union soldiers in a solid line coming across open fields. These tactics shattered the Confederates, who fled in disorder. (March 1862)
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| The Union cannon line at Pea Ridge |
9. After Pea Ridge, volunteer Missouri militia rebels did not always return to arms, but instead went home to stay. A tip on the impact of victories over reaction.
10. Many German settlers and city-dwellers were veterans of the 1848 insurrections in Europe against the capitalist rulers, as was Union Genl. Franz Siegel, who fought in both of these battles. Politically they hated chattel slavery. Siegel redeemed himself with his massive and accurate artillery volleys at Pea Ridge after his retreat at Wilson’s Creek. German Unionists also helped seize the city of St. Louis in the face of slave forces.
11. Units on the Union side in these battles came from Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, Iowa and Indiana.
12. The battlefield at Black Jack, KS named after the small black jack oaks there, was also a transit point for the Santa Fe Trail, as it hosted a spring. There are deep wagon ruts across from the battlefield that still exist.
13. The battlefield at Pea Ridge was also a transit point for the Trail of Tears. The trail crossed at Elkhorn Tavern, a major site of the battle and a way station for the Trail. The battlefield is just across the border from Oklahoma in northern Arkansas. Many Eastern tribes were forced to resettle in Oklahoma, many dying on the way. Today the tribes play a visible role in Oklahoma, even running toll roads.
14. At Pottawatomie Creek, on the north edge of the little settlement of Lane, KS, Brown's men killed 5 Missouri slavers in revenge for the burning and killing done in Lawrence, Kansas by right-wing militias. Only a small sign in a children's park in Lane commemorates this event. The Creek is still there – wide and muddy near where the cabins were.
15. Confederate Genl. Van Dorn lost the battle of Pea Ridge by force-marching his troops in the cold, without proper gear or food from the Boston Mountains in northern Arkansas, south of the battlefield. It split his army in two in the process. This failure shows the importance of planning and logistics.
16. As a result of these battles, the Confederacy lost control of most of the western bank of the Mississippi River, which helped Grant split the Confederacy in two at Vicksburg, MS. It was not an immaterial theater of the war, though it is somewhat unknown.
Prior blogspot reviews on this issue, use blog search box, upper left, to investigate our 17 year archive, using these terms: “Civil War,” “John Brown.”
May Day carries a number of Left books on the Civil War.
Red Frog / November 29, 2024
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