Slayback's Missouri Cavalry Regiment

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Slayback's Missouri Cavalry Regiment
Slayback's Missouri Cavalry Battalion
ActiveLate 1864 to June 14, 1865
Allegiance Confederate States of America
Branch Confederate States Army
TypeCavalry
EngagementsAmerican Civil War
  • Price's Raid

Slayback's Missouri Cavalry Regiment was a

Major General Sterling Price in Texas
in December. Probably around February 1865, the battalion reached official regimental strength after more recruits joined.

On June 2, 1865, the Confederate Trans-Mississippi Department surrendered. The men of the regiment were located at different points in Louisiana and Arkansas when they were paroled twelve days later, leading the historian James McGhee to believe that the regiment had disbanded before the surrender.[1]

Background

Main article: Missouri in the American Civil War
Alonzo W. Slayback
Alonzo W. Slayback

At the outset of the

Major General[a] Sterling Price in command on May 12. In June, Lyon moved against the state capital of Jefferson City and evicted Jackson and the pro-secession group of state legislators. Jackson's party moved to Boonville, although Lyon captured that city after the Battle of Boonville on June 17.[3]

In July, anti-secession state legislators held a vote rejecting secession. Brigadier General

Major General Earl Van Dorn.[6] In March, Price officially joined the Confederate States Army, receiving a commission as a major general.[2] That same month, Van Dorn was defeated at the Battle of Pea Ridge, giving the Union control of Missouri.[7] By July 1862, most of the men of the Missouri State Guard had left to join Confederate States Army units.[8] Missouri was then plagued by guerrilla warfare throughout 1862 and 1863.[9]

Organization

Slayback's Missouri Cavalry Regiment originated when

Price's Raid. Accompanying the brigade of Brigadier General John S. Marmaduke, Slayback was able to recruit a small group of men, which became part of Marmaduke's forces on September 23, while the men were at Zalma, Missouri.[10] John Newman Edwards, an adjutant serving with Shelby, stated that a stop in the town of Union gleaned many recruits for the unit.[11][12] The unit grew in strength over the course of Price's Raid, reaching battalion strength in October 1864. It was expanded to full regimental strength around February 1865.[13] By this point, Slayback was the regiment's colonel, Caleb W. Dorsey was lieutenant colonel,[b] and John H. Guthrie was the regiment's major.[c] At full strength, the regiment comprised ten companies, all Missouri-raised, designated with the letters A–I and K.[10]

Service history

In the

Western Theaters. This proved to be impossible, as the Union Navy controlled the Mississippi River, preventing a large-scale crossing. Despite having limited resources for an offensive, Smith decided that an attack designed to divert Union troops from the principal theaters of combat would have the same effect as the proposed transfer of troops. Price and the new Confederate Governor of Missouri Thomas Caute Reynolds[d] suggested that an invasion into Missouri would be an effective operation; Smith approved the plan and appointed Price to command it. Price expected that the offensive would create a popular uprising against Union control of Missouri, divert Union troops away from principal theaters of combat (many of the Union troops defending Missouri had been transferred out of the state, leaving the Missouri State Militia as the state's primary defensive force), and aid McClellan's chance of defeating Lincoln;[17] on September 19, Price's column entered the state.[18]

On September 27, 1864, Slayback's unit made a minor assault against the defenses of

Fort Pillow Massacre if the fort fell, as Price might not be able to restrain his soldiers.[19] Slayback's unit was then positioned north of the fort to detect any potential Union movement.[20] That night, the Union garrison retreated without being detected by Slayback's force and blew up the fort's magazine.[21] Other elements of Price's army had suffered bloody repulses at Pilot Knob; the defeat led Price to abandon a planned movement against St. Louis and instead aim for Jefferson City.[22] On October 2, while stationed at Union, Slayback's unit, now known as Slayback's Missouri Cavalry Battalion, was assigned to Brigadier General M. Jeff Thompson's[e] brigade of Shelby's division.[24] The Confederate column reached Jefferson City on October 7, but the sight of strong defenses and faulty intelligence that inflated the number of Union defenders in the city led Price to cancel his attempt on the city and head west.[25] While the Confederates were moving through Missouri, a Union force was reported to have left Jefferson City; Slayback's battalion was detached on October 13 to scout for the approach of this force.[26] By the next day, Slayback's battalion had reached Longwood, where it was joined by other Confederate units.[27]

Map of Price's Raid
Map illustrating the route of Price's Raid

Needing supplies, Price ordered two side raids, one of which targeted the town of

flank. Jennison's brigade scattered, but the Union line was able to reform.[33] Later that day, the Confederates again moved against the Union position, with Slayback himself in the lead. The Union forces withdrew before any action occurred.[34]

At the

rear guard for Price. Slayback's unit was initially posted on the Confederate left, with the intention of threatening the Union flank, but Price ordered the rear guard to fall back to behind the line of the Little Osage River. Shelby's division fought by forming a series of weak lines, each briefly holding up the Union pursuit, and then falling back some distance in turn; these tactics gave Price some space to continue his retreat. Slayback's battalion saw some action during the rear guard efforts.[39]

At the Battle of Marmiton River late on the 25th,[40] the Confederate position at Marmiton River initially consisted of two ranks. The rear contained disorganized elements of the divisions of Marmaduke and Major General

mountain howitzers. After a repositioning of the Union line, the Confederates pressed the attack farther, gaining more ground. Union reinforcements commanded by Brigadier General John B. Sanborn stabilized the line and then charged. Shelby withdrew due to the arrival of the fresh Union troops.[46]

After the defeat at Newtonia, Price's

lances instead of firearms, although McGhee considers that to be improbable.[13][49] Historian Stephen Z. Starr repeats the lances claim as factual and attributes the idea for it to John B. Magruder.[50]

Notes

  1. ^ State militia rank.[2]
  2. ^ Dorsey had been commander of a group of recruits merged into Slayback's unit in February 1865.[13]
  3. ^ Guthrie was promoted to major in February 1865.[10]
  4. ^ Jackson had died in early December 1862 of cancer; Reynolds replaced him in office on February 14, 1863.[15][16]
  5. ^ Thompson's commission was in the Missouri State Guard, not the Confederate States Army.[23]

References

  1. ^ a b McGhee 2008, pp. 132–133.
  2. ^ a b Wright 2013, p. 480.
  3. ^ Kennedy 1998, pp. 19–20.
  4. ^ Kennedy 1998, pp. 20–21.
  5. ^ Kennedy 1998, pp. 23–25.
  6. ^ Kennedy 1998, pp. 34–35.
  7. ^ Kennedy 1998, pp. 34–37.
  8. ^ Gottschalk 1991, p. 120.
  9. ^ Kennedy 1998, pp. 377–379.
  10. ^ a b c d McGhee 2008, p. 131.
  11. ^ Lause 2011, p. 124.
  12. ^ Hulbert 2012, pp. 58–59.
  13. ^ a b c d e f McGhee 2008, p. 132.
  14. ^ Kennedy 1998, p. 343.
  15. ^ Parrish 2001, p. 49.
  16. ^ "Claiborne Fox Jackson, 1861". Missouri State Archives. Missouri Office of the Secretary of State. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
  17. ^ Collins 2016, pp. 27–28.
  18. ^ Collins 2016, p. 37.
  19. ^ Busch 2010, p. 31.
  20. ^ Busch 2010, p. 32.
  21. ^ Busch 2010, pp. 33–34.
  22. ^ Kennedy 1998, pp. 380–382.
  23. ^ Warner 1987, p. xviii.
  24. ^ a b McGhee 2008, pp. 131–132.
  25. ^ Collins 2016, p. 57.
  26. ^ Official Records 1893, p. 664.
  27. ^ Official Records 1893, pp. 664–665.
  28. ^ a b Collins 2016, p. 63.
  29. ^ Jenkins 1906, pp. 52–53.
  30. ^ Official Records 1893, p. 665.
  31. ^ a b Kennedy 1998, p. 382.
  32. ^ Monnett 1995, pp. 77–79.
  33. ^ Monnett 1995, pp. 80–81.
  34. ^ Official Records 1893, p. 667.
  35. ^ Sinisi 2015, pp. 219–220.
  36. ^ Collins 2016, p. 194.
  37. ^ a b Official Records 1893, pp. 658–659, 662.
  38. ^ Kennedy 1998, p. 384.
  39. ^ Sinisi 2015, pp. 295–296, 298.
  40. ^ Collins 2016, p. 163.
  41. ^ Sinisi 2015, p. 299.
  42. ^ a b Official Records 1893, pp. 659–660.
  43. ^ Sinisi 2015, p. 301.
  44. ^ Collins 2016, pp. 174–175.
  45. ^ Wood 2010, p. 122.
  46. ^ Collins 2016, pp. 177, 179.
  47. ^ Sinisi 2015, p. 328.
  48. ^ Kennedy 1998, pp. 437–438.
  49. ^ Sellmeyer 2007, p. 276.
  50. ^ Starr 1985, p. 525 fn. 73.

Sources

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