The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1885-10-08
LITTLE ROCK.
Gen. Glover Tells What Cavalry First Crossed the
Arkansas River.


Gen. Glover Tells What Cavalry First Crossed the
Arkansas River.
| To THE EDITOR: Comrade Charles Sloan, of
Co. Il, 81 Mo. Cav, has called my attention to
a controversy that has been going on as to what
| cavalry first crossed the Arkansas River in the
movement on Little Rock, Sept. 10 1868, with
| the request that / settle the question, as l am
we'll able to do, having issued the order of
march for that day, as commander of the Sec
Ond Brigade of Davidson's Cavalry Division,
composed of the list Iowa, Sd Mo-. and the 10th
ILL., After council of war held by Gen. Steele
and his division commanders Gen. Davidson
called his brigade commanders before him on
the evening of the 9Th of September, to give
them the results of that council and a state
ment of what was expected of his cavalry divis-
ion on the next day. He repeated the state
ment of Gen. Steele to him, that 1.-The cavalry
must cross the river next morning, and that
they must capture Little Rock if it cost an en-
tire brigade" Davidson saying, at the same
time: Col. Glover, in that pleasing duty, you
are assigned the lead" l Immediately returned
to my headquarters to put everything III readi-
ness for the operations of next day. The Or
der of march for the next day was as follows:
The 1st Iowa to lead, the 10th Ill. next, the
Sd Mo- to follow the 10th ILL., Some of the dis
putants have been honestly misled by suisse
Guent events, which changed and reversed the
position of the regiments of my brigade. The
1st Iowa had the lead until we reached a fork
in the road, where one turned to the left to
cross an embankment over the Bayou Langre
| the other going up the Arkansas River to cross
the dry mouth of the bayou.
The enemy were posted in force behind this
bayou and in the heavy timber above its
mouth. To keep my TANKS protected, | or
dered the LIST Iowa to advance on the left-hand
road, and ordered the 10th Ill. to cross the
mouth Of the bayou and feel the enemy in the
woods, holding the Sd Mo. in reserve. Col
Stewart, commanding the 10th H., did more
than feel the enemy, and became seriously in
volved and was driven back in confusion. The
exact position of the enemy now being known,
having restored order in the 10th, the Sd Mo-
and the 10th Ill. were ordered into line of bat
tie (dismounted) and to move on the enemy; at
the same time ordering back the 1st Iowa from
the leftfand road to follow my other two regi-
mentS as a reserve, as soon rs they were re-
lieved by the next brigade then coming up,
commanded by Col Merrill. AS my brigade (the
Second) did all. or nearly all, the fighting that
day on the south side of the river, and were
ready to enter Little Rock as soon as the men
holding the horses could be ordered up, it was
deemed an unjust discrimination to give the
empty credit to another officer to ride first into
the city. While the 1st Iowa was in the lead
in crossing the river it fell into the rear before
the day was DONE l hope from these facts you
may be able to end the controversy. Nj.
GLOVER, Colonel, Sd Mo- Cav, commanding
Second Brigade, First Cavalry Division, Depart
ment of Missouri.
FROM A 10TH ILLINOIS CAvALRYMAN.
To THE EDITOR had supposed that our
Comrade Bacon had taken the cake with the
assertion that few companies of his regiment
the bloody" 18th III. Cav.-had driven Pap
Price out of Little Rock and for 80 or 40 miles,
but 10 q! here comes h. III. Smith in your paper
of Aug. q with bigger ones.
Comrade Bacon perhaps only forgot to men,
ton the fact that others besides tho 18th were
there, while Comrade Smith seems not only to
have forgotten what happened % years ago, but
forgot to quote a comrades recent writing cor
recty, for he says: 1.-THE comrade who details
his experience in following Gen. Price 80 miles
out of Little Rock that night made a great
mistake" The comrade did not write that they
drove Pap Price that night" The driving
or perhaps following " lisa better word-was the
next two days Not satisfied with forgetting
to quote correctly, the comrade says: For
Pap Price threw shell and solid shot into the
city that night, to our great annoyance, until
after midnight" We were there; followed the
advance pretty closely; can,ped near the edge OF
the city on the road over which the enemy had
retreated, and did not then know, nor have we
ever heard since Except in the above quota
tion), that the retreating rebels fired single
cannon shot into Little Rock that night, and
we are now surely of the opinion that they did
not.
Taking Comrade Smiths statements from the
"rear," we come next to where Gen Davidson,
Lieut. Col. Caldwell Hon. Isaac Murphy, and
your correspondent were riding towards the
city limits" etc. Col. Caldwell since the war
has been heard to say-and it was our under
standing of the fact at the time-that he led
the advance into Little Rock. This being so,
L. - L. L. ,,,fS tlNn
city with tho "big bugs" at the head of the
main column?
Next: The rigade advanced perhaps 90 rods,
when fow shots were fired, and all at once
several vOlleys, to which no reply was made by
the rebs, because there were none there, and
to stop the firing Gen. Davidson rode down the
front of the line with drawn saber, threatening
to kill the first man that fired another shot, and
placing himself at their head the brigade soon
cleared the woods" If there were no rebs in
the woods we would like to be informed rs to
what they were cleared of. The statement
would, to say the least, look more plausible if
this point was explained
AS to the Generals having "stopped to rest
| under large spreading elm," we have before
heard it mentioned that the General said he
was SO excited that he sat down under tree
and cried. We are now truly glad to learn
that this historic tree was a spreading elm.
Again: There were two roads into the city
one going up the river bank and the other
farther inland, coming into the city near the
Arsenal" Another sample of forgetfulness. At
the place where Col. GlOvers. Brigade was dis
mounted the travelled road ran to the left of
and further on crossed the bayou, while the
road Oh the right of the bayou, and between it
and the river, was a wood road very little used.
These roads again joined some two miles from
the city. Along this road, after passing the
junction, Col. Glover's Brigade lay waiting for
their horses, when Lieut.-Col. Caldwell, at the
head of the Third Brigade having come up
the left-hand road, passed them and were the
first in the city.
AS to when Gen. Davidson crossed the river
we are not able to say, but we know that he
was on the north side of it when he gave per-
mission to and the 10th Ill. forded it.
Taking it altogether, it docs seem to us that
I" in the movements of an army it is almost i'm
possible to be sure of the movements of all the
troops" for. in the article from which We quote,
the first part being confined more particularly
to the movements of one regInent-the LIST
Iowa Cav.-is perhaps less inaccurate than the
latter portion, where his duties as Orderly re-
CURED the covering of two much space; hence
our endeavor to make such corrections as it ap-
pears to us the Orderly's statements require
JNo. G. SPRINGER, 10th Ill. Cav.
An Epistolary "Reminiscences.
no THE EDITOR: While at Washington, after
Sherman's great campaign, l received letter