The Washington herald., 1914-12-06
Daring Exploits Of Union and Confederate Forces on Land and Sea

Confederates made rapid progress west.
until on November 81 they came in con-
tact with the head of a strong column
OF miIitiamen which Gen. Samuel r.
Il Curtis had hastily gathered on the
Kansas border. After a stubborn fight,
in which Gen. Marmaduke had two
horses shot under him. the raiders
4 gained possession OF the fOrds Of the
i Little and Great Blue Rivers and
camped near the town Of Westport.
only four miles south from Kansas
City, Mo.
/ Now a great danger threatened tho
Confederatss from the rear. Gen. Al
fred Pleasonton. a Federal cavalry
! commander. who had formerly served
i in the East. fell upon them with some
1000 troopers, defeating a brigade COM
manded by Brig. Gen. W. l. Cabell. cap
i tured 500 OF its men and two pieces OF
artillery.
On the same day. the militia under
Gen. Curtis. pushed back the COnfeder-
ates under Gen. Marmaduke near West
port. Night found the whole OF Gen.
Prices force in retreat. though main
tanning a bold front.
| Shelby and Marmaduke sent repeated
! warnings to their commander. urging
him to continue the retreat that night
and to draw away from the danger
| which threatened them from both sides.
BY this time the ConfedeFates had an
enormous train heavily laden with
plunder. and the rapidity Of movement
which had been an advantage to them
in the early part OF the campaign was
now impossible.
But Gen. Price spent the night in re-
post. and the following morning.
when he started south along the
Fort Smith road, he found the enemy
closing in on his 1anks and rear in SUI
periOr numbers.
Defeated by Two Brigades.
! By hard lighting the Confederates
managed TO hold off the enemy until
the bulk of the train was across the
Little Usage River. just over the Kan
sas border. Here, on November 25.
/ PleasOnton. by furious riding. came up
with the rear guard under Gen. Marina
duke. and. with only two brigsdes. put
the Confederates to flight. Eight guns,
two stands of cOlOrs. and fully a thou
sand men were captured. the latter in
cluding Maj. Gen. Marmaduke. Brig.
Gen. CabeIl. and fve colOnels. The de-
feat was such a crushing one that the
Confederates became panic-strickeu.
Gen. Fagan's division retreated in ut
ter and indesCribable confusion in spite
of the appeals Of its commander and
Gen. Price
u At this critical moment Shelby was
called upon to save the day. Dashing
mand. he stemmed the tide of Federal
victory and held back Pleasonton's
command until night ended the fight
ing and gave the COnfederates an Op-
portunity to steal away.
In the next few days the retreat de-
veloped almost to a rout. Hundreds Of
wagons and their contents were burned
straEEIers fell by the roadside and
were captured. and the men Abandoned
their knapsacks and rifles so that they
might march more rapidly to safety.
on November l the command reached
Boonesboro, Ark. in the border "
the Indian Territory. The Federals
had by this time Abandoned pursuit.
and Frice halted for three days to re-
cuperate his command.
Fearing to attempt a crossing Of q p
i Arkansas River between Little Rock
and Fort Smith. lest he might be at
tackled on the TANKS by the Federal
garrisons at those posts. Gen. Price de-
termined to take a roundabout way
through the Indian Territory. He he
leve that he would he able to hrd
more food for his men and animals in
that section Of the country than in TIE
waste lands he would have to traverse
in direct journey back To the Wachi-
Ia River.
Il For the following thr'c weeks the Con
federates suffered severe hardships. Food
, was scarce; horses were worn out and
abandoned: and the men trudged along
the cold trails on foot The command
reached Laynesport 10 miles southwest
OF Little Rock. on December :. Accord
ing to Gen Prices report. forty-two
battles and skirmishes had been fought.
20n Federals captured and paroied. AMI
eighteen pieces OF artillery. 500 stand 81
arms and sixteen stand Of COlors can
tured. He estimated that he had destroy
ed property valued at 100000
return Of the pXpPd-
tion. Thomas &. Reynolds. Confederat-
Governor of Missouri, who had accom-
PANIED Gen Shebv'S command. and who
had done good service in the raid. pub
liShed a scathinE criticism Of Gen. Price.
whose force he compared To "a Ca!mu k
horde"
southern men and women were As lit
tie spared as Tnionists" he declared.
The elegant mansion OF Gen. Robert r.
Lees accomplished niece and the cabin
Of the negro were alike ransaCked. John
peane the first civilian ever made a
State prisoner by Mr.. LinColn's govern
ment. had his watch and money r0bb-d
fIom his person in tho open street "f
Potosi in broad day. as unceromonious-
ly as the German merchant at Frcd"r
iCkstowR was forced. a pistol AT his ca.
to surrender his concealed Err,nhark~
AS citizens Of Arkansas and Northern
T, Nas have seen, in the goods uuhIush-
;ive spoil as the merchants silk and cal
leo or the curtain taken from tho rich
mans parlor Ribbons and trumpery Ec,-
gaws were stolen from millinerS AMI
jeweled rings from the fingers uf deli
cate maidens whose brothers were flGht-
ing in Georgia in COCkreIl's Confederate
Missouri Brigade
The natural result ensued. At
Bonneville, the hotel occupied as Cen
Prices own headquarters, was the srCn"
of public drunken revelry by night: Gu.r-
rillas rode unchecked in open day. be
fore it. with human scaIps hanging to
their brides and tauntinSiy shaking
bundles of plundrred greenbaCks at our
needy soldiers. On stilI darker
deeds shudderinEly keep silent
Numerous wagons which the soldiers
believed to contain untold wealth II
plunder by staff officers had dangerous
ly augmented his train. that il num-
bered over 500 vehicles. and shockinElv
controlled and conducted, often stretched
out eight or ten miles in length.
The real fighting soldiers, badly fcd.
badly marched and getting little rest.
in a noisy. disOrderly camp. where their
horses, blankets, pistols and even to the
spurs on their boots were often stolen
from them in their sleep. scarcely dis
guised their apprehension that the odi-
GUS train would occasion disaster to the