Black Bob McCulloch and White Bob McCulloch

Lazy Bayou

1st Lieutenant
Joined
Apr 17, 2011
Location
Mississippi
Anyone have any history on these two? I think that Black Bob served under Forrest for a while but have not been able to find out much more than the information below:

They were cousins with Robert A. McCulloch from Howard County, Missouri and Robert McCulloch from Cooper County. Both obtained the rank of Colonel in the Confederate army. With only an initial to tell the difference people in the county started calling them "Black-Haired" Bob and "White-Haired" Bob. Robert McCulloch was the former and Robert A. McCulloch the latter. Both organized companies in the California Gold Rush. Robert was the Colonel of the Second Missouri with a Robert A. as a Captain under him.
 
Black Bob McCulloch commanded the 2nd Missouri Cavalry Regt, . Known as the "Butternut Boys" and "Butternut Cavalry" they served in the AoT after crossing the Mississippi in 62. Serving in first in Armstrongs brigade, then Chalmers Division first in the 5th Military District then in Lee's Cavalry Corps and finally in Forrest's Cavalry Corps.

The 2nd Missouri was raised first raised in 1861 as McCulloch's Company of Cavalry Missouri State Guard in Cooper County, Missouri where the McCulloch's were a prominent slave holding family, who had raised companies to fight in the Kansas Border War in the 1850's. During the winter of 1861-62 the Company mustered into CS Service and was re-designated the 4th Missouri Cavalry Bn and Black Bob recieved a commission as Colonel of Cavalry CS. the unit continued to recruit after crossing the Mississippi and after reaching Regimental Strength was re-designated 2nd Missouri Cavalry.
http://2ndmocavcsa.tripod.com/

http://www.missouridivision-scv.org/mounits/2mocav.htm

http://digital.archives.alabama.gov/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/photo&CISOPTR=6437&CISOBOX=1&REC=3

http://www.civilwarhome.com/missouri7.htm


Col. Robert “Black Bob” McCulloch was 5 years older than his cousin Robert A. McCulloch. Colonel Robert was a square-built frame and had a full beard. He raised a regiment in Missouri that was called the “Missouri Mongols”. He had been wounded at Tupelo, and wounded in the hand at Harrisburg.
The 2nd Missouri Cavalry were mustered into service at the same place and date as Quantrill’s cutthroat band.
Robert A. was ganglier build. He was wounded in the stomach at Wilson’s Creek in August 1864
Originally, the older Robert McCulloch was called “Black-haired Bob” and the Robert A. was called “White-haired Bob” since his hair was turning grey. They fought side-by-side throughout the war and many historians have confused the two men.
Later, Col. McCulloch’s nickname was shortened to “Black Bob” in reference to fighting under the black flag---taking no prisoners.


http://www.custermen.com/DixieBoys/FtPillowCSA.htm
 
The gold rush company organized resulted in a failed claim on the Sacramento River that yielded very little gold. Robert A. (Red Bob at the time) returned as Captain of a mule train after two years. Bob returned a year later, the 49er expedition was a bust for the McCullochs.

Black Bob was a delegate at the Pro-Slavery convention in Lexington Missouri in 1855 and the Pro-slavery companies that were raised by or served in at various times in the 1850's by the McCullochs fired on several steam boats on the Missouri chartered by the New England Emigrant Aid Company.

When the 2nd Missouri Cavalry was designated Robert A. (Now White Haired Bob) was promoted to Lt. Colonel and served under Black Bob.
 
Here is some genealogy info from Find-A-Grave.

Robert McCulloch
Birth: Nov. 23, 1820 Virginia, USA
Death: Sep. 4, 1905
Buried: Walnut Grove Cemetery
Boonville, Cooper County, Missouri

Robert Allan McCulloch
Birth: Nov. 2, 1825
Albemarle County, Virginia, USA
Death: Dec. 19, 1911, Cooper County, Missouri, USA
Burial: Pisgah Baptist Church Cemetery, Pisgah, Cooper County, Missouri.

In the fall of 1863, Colonel Robert McCulloch's Brigade consisted of the following units:
2nd Missouri Cavalry - Lt-Col Robert A. McCulloch
Willis' Texas Cavalry - Lt-Col Leonidas Willis
5th Mississippi Cavalry - Lt-Col Wiley Reed
Duff's 8 Mississippi Cavalry - Col. Wm L. Duff
McDonald's Tennessee Cavalry - Lt-Col J. M. Crews

Colonel McCulloch and 2nd Missouri Cavalry had a distinguishing career. The 2nd Missouri Cavalryfought in many battles and campaigns under General Chalmers and later General Forrest. Some of the battles include:
Fort Pemberton(MS), Elkhorn(Ark), Siege of Corinth, Booneville, Iuka, Holly Springs, Looxahoma, Waterford, Brices Crossroads, Salem, Collierville(TN #1), Wyatt, Collierville(TN #2)Moscow, Fort Pillow, Harrisburg Memphis Raid.

Sometimes both McCullochs were there at the battle and sometimes one would be recovering from wounds or the 2nd Missouri would be separated from the brigade.

Steve
 
In River Run Red, Ward refers over and over again to Black Bob's "Missouri Mongols
Here is some genealogy info from Find-A-Grave.

Robert McCulloch
Birth: Nov. 23, 1820 Virginia, USA
Death: Sep. 4, 1905
Buried: Walnut Grove Cemetery
Boonville, Cooper County, Missouri

Robert Allan McCulloch
Birth: Nov. 2, 1825
Albemarle County, Virginia, USA
Death: Dec. 19, 1911, Cooper County, Missouri, USA
Burial: Pisgah Baptist Church Cemetery, Pisgah, Cooper County, Missouri.

In the fall of 1863, Colonel Robert McCulloch's Brigade consisted of the following units:
2nd Missouri Cavalry - Lt-Col Robert A. McCulloch
Willis' Texas Cavalry - Lt-Col Leonidas Willis
5th Mississippi Cavalry - Lt-Col Wiley Reed
Duff's 8 Mississippi Cavalry - Col. Wm L. Duff
McDonald's Tennessee Cavalry - Lt-Col J. M. Crews

Colonel McCulloch and 2nd Missouri Cavalry had a distinguishing career. The 2nd Missouri Cavalryfought in many battles and campaigns under General Chalmers and later General Forrest. Some of the battles include:
Fort Pemberton(MS), Elkhorn(Ark), Siege of Corinth, Booneville, Iuka, Holly Springs, Looxahoma, Waterford, Brices Crossroads, Salem, Collierville(TN #1), Wyatt, Collierville(TN #2)Moscow, Fort Pillow, Harrisburg Memphis Raid.

Sometimes both McCullochs were there at the battle and sometimes one would be recovering from wounds or the 2nd Missouri would be separated from the brigade.

Steve

Steve: In River Run Red, Ward refers over and over again to Black Bob's "Missouri Mongols". I had never heard of them before. I googled the phrase and I can only find it three times (probably not a scientific test given my abilities)....... your page is one and the book is another. It looks like you may have gotten it from the book.... or maybe from the Ft Pillow people who got it from the book.

Had you ever run into it before or since? Could it be a case of Ward overusing a term that fits his biases?
 
I have not heard that term used anywhere except as you say in RRR. Most of the 1st hand accounts that I read are from Confederates so I'm sure they would not use it.

your page is one and the book is another.

Are you saying I used that term in my webpage? Hmm?
 
I have not heard that term used anywhere except as you say in RRR. Most of the 1st hand accounts that I read are from Confederates so I'm sure they would not use it.



Are you saying I used that term in my webpage? Hmm?

Steve: Isn't the last snippet in post #2 above from your page(s)?
 
Steve: Isn't the last snippet in post #2 above from your page(s)?

By Jove, you are right. I did state that on my website. Obviously picked it up from a source I was quoting. I think I will remove it.
Besides, it is spelled wrong. I'm sure it should be Mongrels.
 
Quoting from earlier thread: Regimental Nicknames.

http://civilwartalk.com/threads/regimental-nicknames.22295/#post-279625

2nd Missouri Cavalry Regiment CS, (originally formed as the 4th Missouri Cavalry Bn) known also as McCullochs Cavalry, was known as the Butternut Cavalry and the Butternut Boys due to their orginial uniforms being butternut in color.
 
By Jove, you are right. I did state that on my website. Obviously picked it up from a source I was quoting. I think I will remove it.
Besides, it is spelled wrong. I'm sure it should be Mongrels.

Do you really think so? I only got one hit for mongrels and that one didn't make sense to me.

So here's the score by my count.........

References to Missouri Mongols and the 2nd Missouri Cavalry (CSA) :

Somebody, somewhere (maybe) ........ 1
Civil War Historians.......... 0
Andrew Ward in River Run Red....... approx. 157 times
 
It is "Mongols". Did you see my next post time stamped 11:59?

I revised my page and removed that reference. This is one of those comments/facts made by Ward that I just don't quite agree with.
 
No besmirching. Not sure what that is.

Since I didn't know who used the handle "Missouri Mongols", I decided to remove it from my webpage. It doesn't seem to be the name they called themselves so it must be a name used by their enemy or civilians. But who knows----so I deleted it.
 
Steve...... do you still feel comfortable with the Black Bob/black flag linkage?
 
Steve...... do you still feel comfortable with the Black Bob/black flag linkage?

Chuck, I missed your post.

That is another name for McCulloch that I would like to know the real truth behind it. I've read about many of the battles that the Colonel and the 2 Missouri Cavalry fought in but I can't say McCulloch took any prisoners or not.
I forgot which of the two battles in Collierville that McCulloch participated in. I think White Bob was at one and Black Bob was at the other. I believe it was sometime during the fall of 63, Black Bob went to Richmond for recruiting or something.
I just know he was always in the thick of a fight, such as at Harrisburg, so I can how he earned a reputation.
 
Black Bob organized the Cooper County Rifles as a state guard unit before the war. I am pretty sure they were a mounted group, easily morphing into a regular cavalry unit pretty quickly. I saw an interesting photo of him this morning--a portrait made later in life. It belongs to a collector and I don't yet have his permission to post it. I visited his grave Saturday morning.

balck-bob-stone-1.jpg
black-bob-cross.jpg
 
Here's a watermarked portrait of Black-haired Robert McCulloch later in life. He is reading a Boonville, MO newspaper of the era. (Regarding the watermarked image: The owner has spent a small fortune gathering a local history photo collection and is understandably cautious about allowing them to be reproduced.) A county history says McCulloch's popularity and reputation were such that he could have won any election in the land. The implication was that all he needed to do was announce his candidacy.


Black Bob watermark.jpg
 
I'm am inclined to believe that Black Bob's nickname was completely derived from his hair color. Black Bob and White Bob are catchy nicknames--easy to remember and an easy way for their troops and their neighbors to distinguish them in conversation. Whether Col. McCulloch never gave quarter I can't say, but I'm not inclined to believe it. He was highly regarded and popular after the war--the sort of respect that can't be earned by rash brutality.

On another note, I read last night that his body was dressed in full uniform for his funeral, and that attendance was the highest on record in Boonville at the time, with people coming from great distances to pay their respects.

Living where I do, and with my penchant for walking cemeteries and reading monuments, I run into these soldiers fairly frequently. Sergeant Vaughn is buried in a small country cemetery at Overton, Missouri. It is only about ten miles at most from Boonville. I discovered his grave by accident and if he had not been given the military monument I'd have walked past him without ever knowing of his service. I have wondered if he and Col. McCulloch ever got together and discussed the war in their later years.

sgt vaughn CSA.jpg
 
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