Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1905-11-23
an honest story of what he saw

an honest story of what he saw
before the dead were collected.
In a recent conversation with
Col. John P. Bull, of st. Louis,
who led his Confederate Arkansas
regiment in the assault on Fort
Davidson on September 81, 1864,
he told me that he left AZ of his
regiment dead and mortally wound
ed on the field. AS there were q
regiments, s batallions and four
batteries engaged in the battle on
the Confederate side, the fair
minded man of to-day can do
some honest computing on his
own account as to what the Con-
federate loss probably was, if one
regiment lost AZ men by death.
But we also find something of an
official, or semi official, character
from that side worthy of noting.
Gen. Price studiously suppressed
the figures of his losses in this
battle, in his official report, but in
1894 Capt. T. J. Mackey wrote an
account of the battle. He had
been chief engineer on Prices
staff and was in the fight. He
knew much of the details of the
battle and had access to the official
information accumulated. In his
story of the battle he does not
mention the total number of killed
and wounded, but in describing
the disastrous results of the assault
on the fort he says: "In fifteen
minutes we lost 1866 men killed
and wounded!" And this does
not include the hundreds killed
and wounded on September 26th
and 9th before the assault, nor
those killed and wounded after the
assault.
Now for few statistics accum-
mulated after the battle: DR.. T.
w. Johnson, in charge of our post
hospital, remained behind with
our wounded, when we retired,
and spent some time on the battle
field and in the Confederate hos
pital at Ironton. In his official re-
port he states that when he last
talked with the Confederate nom
commissioned officer in charge OF
their burial squads, the latter
showed him his list and there had
been 1886 buried on the battlefield
and the scattering dead on the
mountains had not been collected.
These are known to have amounted
to about Is killed. The Con-
federates admitted to DR.. johnson
that their loss was 400 killed and a
corresponding number wounded.
which would make their total loss
in killed and wounded anywhere
from 1900 to 2400.
Capt. M. D. Smith was one o1
the first Union officers to return tc
Pilot Knob and he interviewed
Col. Wyatt G. Thomas, Genera
Fagan's chief of staff, in the hos.
pital at Ironton, and on asking
him what the Confederate losses
were, reports his reply as follows
ellis reply was that they lost 15O(
and that of the best men they had
that he was wounded in the las
charge on the fort and had as gooc
an opportunity of knowing thei
loss as any man engaged. HI
also spoke of the recklessness ane
bravery of our men; that the de-
termination and bravery displayed
by them had never been equaled.
Mai. H. H. Williams, of the 10tl
Kansas Volunteers, was also 10
Gated at Pilot Knob after the battl
and after prosecuting diligent in
quiry among the Confederat
wounded in hospital and citizen
who witnessed the battle and tn
burial of the dead, he found n
estimate of the Confederate losse
in killed and wounded, from an,
source, below 1900, while many Q
the estimates exceeded 1000. Lieut.
Col. A. w. Maupin, of the Att
Missouri Infantry, was also sta
, toned at Pilot Knob soon after tn
raid, and he too took pains t
compile all available data from
wounded Confederates and fror
citizens, and the lowest estimat
he could figure from these, of Con
federate losses, was 1926 kille'
and wounded.
So it seems that Mr.. Polk is
gentleman of very limited power
of observation, else he could no
have committed himself to max
ing such a statement as purport
to have come from him. AS a.
index to his faculty of acquirin
information, | must again quot
from his letter where he touche
upon the Union losses and the dis
position of their dead and wound
ed. "They must have taken thei
dead and wounded with them !!
For forty-one years it has been
, fact as we'll known in Arcadi
Valley as that a battle was tough
there, that the Union dead wer
buried in graves, singly, or GOV
cred by the explosion Of the maga
zine, and that fifty odd Wounds
were carried to the local hospital
| where they were left, under tn
care of Drs. S. D. Carpenter an
T. w. Johnson. Several of MI
Polk's neighbors served as nurse
in this hospital, and many other
still living near him, know tn
facts. From this | fear that MI
Polk has not been an eager in
quirer after facts during his resi-
dence in Southeast Missouri sine
the close of the Civil War.
DAVID MURPHY.
st. Louis, Oct. 10, 1905.
Mr.. Polk's Rejoinder.