Having previously posted my Men of Hood's Texas Brigade thread, I thought I ought to do one on the 1st Missouri Brigade (CS). As with the Texas Brigade, the Missouri Brigade was filled with incredibly brave and daring men, each with their own story. When these Missourians were first swept up in the war they had no idea that they would fight in countless battles, skirmishes and sieges. They were, in a way, exiled from their home state and orphans just as much so as the famed brigade of Kentuckians. Many never saw old Missouri again, however they forged a reputation as one of the best Confederate brigades in the Western Theater.
Brig. Gen. Francis M. Cockrell, probably the most well-known officer and commander of the Missouri Brigade.
Cockrell was described by a newspaper reporter as "six feet and an inch, his weight fully 215 pounds. He has a full, strong habit of body, capable of much labor and strain, mental or physical. He has a bold, aquiline face, long brown hair falling back from a high arched forehead, and long brown mustache and goatee giving amplitude and shading to his features. His eyes are blue and animated and his complexion clear, indicating temperance and health. His manner is hearty and free, with a touch of shrewdness. He has a bright smile in talking. He is a fine man to look at and a good one for a friend to trust to in seasons of doubt and danger."
Francis Marion Cockrell was born October 1, 1834, near Warrensburg, Missouri. Graduating from Chapel Hill College in 1853, Cockrell studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1855, practicing law in Warrensburg until 1861. With the start of the Civil War, Cockrell enlisted on June 30, 1861, in Lexington as a private in the Missouri State Guard for six months' service. He was elected captain of Co. G, 3rd Missouri State Guard the next day, and would see action at Carthage, Wilson's Creek and the Siege of Lexington.
After many State Guardsmen's short terms of service began to expire in late 1861, Cockrell and others then volunteered to enlist in Confederate service. The Confederate 2nd Missouri Infantry, under Col. John G. Burbridge, was organized as part of the newly formed all-Confederate 1st Missouri Brigade in Sterling Price's Division. Cockrell was elected captain of Company H. Following Gen. Price into Northwest Arkansas, they would take part in the Battle of Pea Ridge in March 1862. There the 1st Missouri Brigade was in the thick of the fighting at Elkhorn Tavern.
Crossing the Mississippi River with Gen. Earl Van Dorn's Army of the West that spring, Cockrell was elected lieutenant colonel on May 12, 1862, after the brigade was reorganized near Corinth, Mississippi. He was then quickly promoted to colonel of 2nd Missouri Infantry on June 29 after Burbridge resigned, and would command the regiment in the Iuka-Corinth Campaign. The Missouri Brigade was yet again in the middle of the fighting at the Battle of Corinth, October 3-4, 1862. On the second day they charged Battery Powell (part of the fortifications around Corinth) under intense artillery and musketry fire. Cockrell commanded the 2nd Missouri Infantry from the front, cheering his men forward. He was, however, only slightly wounded by a shell fragment and was able to remain on the field.
Cockrell finally assumed command of 1st Missouri Brigade on April 17, 1863, and was known to have commanded it with distinction throughout the Vicksburg Campaign, leading two ferocious counter-attacks at Port Gibson and Champion Hill. Cockrell then commanded his brigade throughout the Siege of Vicksburg. When a mine was exploded under the 3rd Louisiana Redan on June 25, 1863, Cockrell was blown into the air; however, he soon stood back up, dusted himself off and led the Missourians in a counter-attack against Federal troops trapped in the crater. According to Ephraim M. Anderson of Co. G, 2nd Missouri Infantry, Cockrell cried out, "Forward, my brave old Second Missouri, and prepare to die!"
After the fall of Vicksburg and parole, Cockrell was officially promoted to brigadier general on July 23, 1863, and was declared 'exchanged' that September. He would then lead the Missouri Brigade throughout the Atlanta Campaign, Allatoona Pass, and at Franklin in Hood's Tennessee Campaign. Atop Kennesaw Mountain on June 19, 1864, Cockrell was wounded in both hands by a shell fragment; nevertheless, he was still in command when it repelled the Federal attacks up Pigeon Hill on June 27.
In the disastrous frontal assault at the Battle of Franklin, Nov. 30, 1864, Cockrell was wounded four times - shot twice in the right arm, the left leg, and in the right ankle - and had two horses shot out from under him. He later told his son, Ewing, that he "never expected to come out of it alive." In their charge at Franklin the 1st Missouri Brigade suffered a staggering loss: 419 officers and men out of 696, or 60.2%. Miraculously, Cockrell survived his wounds and returned to assume command of Samuel G. French's Division (including the remnants of his old Missouri Brigade) in the Mobile Campaign.
Cockrell later wrote in an April 1865 letter to a friend that his brigade was "almost obliterated" at Franklin, and that it "was by far the fiercest and bloodiest and hottest battle I have ever been in. My Brigade acted more handsomely, defiantly and recklessly than on any field of the war; and you know what it required to eclipse all former conduct on so many bloody fields."
The Siege of Fort Blakeley, Alabama, was the Missouri Brigade's last fight. After about a week under siege, the fort fell to a Federal attack on April 9, 1865. The Missourians fought until they were overpowered and forced to surrender.
After the war, Cockrell returned to Missouri and resumed his law practice. In 1874 he was elected to the United States Senate, where he served thirty years. In 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt appointed Cockrell to the Interstate Commerce Commission, a position he held for five years.
Cockrell died in Washington, D. C., on December 13, 1915, and is buried in Warrensburg, Missouri. However, Cockrell never forgot his Missourians as long as he lived. Senator Champ Clark of Missouri said that "The secrets of Cockrell's influence over his men were his personal courage and his unfailing kindness. In his estimation superior rank did not place him socially above his fellow citizens who followed him enthusiastically from Lexington to the Gulf. He was the father of his soldiers."
Brig. Gen. Lewis Henry Little.
Lewis Henry Little was born in Baltimore, Maryland on March 19, 1817. Little was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 5th U.S. Infantry in 1839 after graduating from West Point. He served in the Mexican War and was awarded a brevet promotion to captain for his service at the Battle of Monterrey in 1846. He was promoted to captain in the regular army on August 20, 1847.
Little resigned his commission as a U.S. Army officer on May 7, 1861. He helped Sterling Price train the Missouri volunteers that soon joined the Southern armies. He entered the Confederate service as a captain on March 16, 1861, but soon was made an artillery major that same month. Little was promoted to colonel on May 18 and served Price as his Adjutant General in the Missouri State Guard.
At the Battle of Pea Ridge on March 7, 1862, Little commanded the 1st Missouri Brigade in Price's division. In the thick of the first day's fighting near Elkhorn Tavern, he demonstrated competence and initiative. "During the course of the battle he gradually assumed more and more responsibility until he became the de facto commander of Price's division during the last hours that the Army of the West was on the field." His appointment to brigadier general occurred on April 12.
Little came east of the Mississippi River with Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorn's army and served under Gen. P. G. T. Beauregard at Corinth. There, he caught malaria and was in poor health for the few remaining months of his life. Even so, he was regarded as "a thorough soldier and an excellent disciplinarian." At Corinth he was given command of the 1st Division in Price's Army of the West. His peers praised his division as well drilled and disciplined.
Maj. Gen. Dabney H. Maury stated that "The magnificent Missouri brigade, the finest body of troops I have ever then seen, or have ever seen since, was the creation of his (Little's) untiring devotion to duty and his remarkable qualities as a commander. In camp he was diligent in instructing his officers in their duty and providing for the comfort and efficiency of his men, and on the battlefield he was as steady and cool and able a commander as I ever seen."
He led his division at the Battle of Iuka on September 19. At about 5:45 p.m., while sitting on his horse behind the front line and next to Sterling Price, he was struck in the head by a bullet and killed instantly. He was buried at Prices headquarters after the battle by his men, but was eventually reentered at Green Mount Cemetery in Baltimore. Afterwards, Price stated "Than this brave Marylander no one could have fallen more dear to me or who's memory should be more fondly cherished by his countrymen."
Colonel Elijah Gates, 1st Missouri Cavalry
Elijah Gates was born on December 17, 1827, in Garrard County, Kentucky. He was the son of John Gates, owner of a large plantation there. Unfortunately, his father died when Elijah was only a year and a half old. He and his family later moved to Platte County, Missouri, in 1846, later settling on a farm in Buchanan County. In 1852 he married Maria Stamper, they having twelve children together.
At the outbreak of the Civil War, Gates enlisted in St. Joseph and was soon elected a captain in the Missouri State Guard. When the Confederate 1st Missouri Cavalry was organized on December 30, 1861, he was elected colonel of the regiment. He would lead his men in the Battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas, March 6-7, 1862, and in a number of skirmishes.
During the Iuka-Corinth Campaign in fall of 1862, Gates was acting commander of the 1st Missouri Brigade. He commanded it with distinction at the Battle of Corinth, Mississippi, on October 3-4, 1862. On the second day of the battle the 1st Missouri Brigade overran the earthen Battery Powell, advancing under a severe crossfire from artillery and small arms fire. For a period of time, they busted a giant gap in Gen. Rosecrans' final line around Corinth, temporarily capturing nearly every single Union artillery piece in and around Battery Powell, until driven out by counter-attacks.
Gates remained colonel of the 1st Missouri Cavalry and Cockrell took command of the 1st Missouri Brigade. During the Vicksburg Campaign, on May 16, 1863, he would lead his regiment in the devastating counter-attack by Cockrell's and Green's Brigades at Champion Hill. The following day at Big Black River, Gates and 90 of his men were cut off from the line of retreat and forced to surrender. Gates, however, managed to escape a few days later, rejoining the brigade after the Siege of Vicksburg. His 1st Missouri Cavalry would be consolidated with the 3rd Missouri Cavalry Battalion that fall.
Gates would command his dismounted Missouri cavalrymen throughout the Atlanta Campaign, Tennessee Campaign, and the Siege of Fort Blakely, Alabama. In the Battle of Franklin, Tennessee, November 30, 1864, Gates once again proved his sheer bravery. Shot through both arms in the charge, he nevertheless continued to lead his men forward, sitting upright on his horse and cheering them to the works. Lt. James R. Yerger of Sears' Brigade remembered, "I shall never forget the steady calm gaze of this old hero (Gates) as he sat his horse erect as a statue, his paralyzed arms hanging by his sides." Lt. Charles Cleveland of 1st-3rd MO Cav. eventually helped Gates off his horse and to the rear, where his left arm was amputated. He was later taken prisoner in a field hospital following the Confederate retreat from Nashville, but despite missing an arm, managed to escape capture yet again.
After recovering from his wounds, Gates returned to command his Missourians in the Siege of Fort Blakely, Alabama. He was captured with most of the brigade when a major Federal assault overran the fort on April 9, 1865 - the same day Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox.
Gates resumed farming when he returned to Buchanan county, and continued in that line until 1874. He was elected sheriff then on the Democratic ticket, and served four years. Gates was then elected treasurer of the state of Missouri, and served four years, residing in Jefferson City for a period of six years, during one year of which he was interested in the commission business in St. Louis. From 1884 to 1886 he was coal oil inspector. For a number of years he was in the transfer and bus business as a member of the firm of Piner & Gates of St. Joseph, but of late years had lived in retirement. He also remained close friends with Cockrell and other Missouri Brigade veterans after the war. Elijah Gates died on March 5, 1915, and is buried in Mount Mora Cemetery in Buchanan County, Missouri.
Colonel Hugh Alfred Garland, 1st Missouri Infantry
As captain of Company F "Jackson Grays" 2nd Regiment, Missouri Volunteer Militia, Garland was among those taken prisoner at Camp Jackson on May 10, 1861. After his parole, Garland enlisted in Confederate service and became a captain in the 1st Missouri Infantry, participating in the battles of Shiloh, Corinth, Grand Gulf, Port Gibson, and Champion Hill. Elected major in 1862, he advanced to lieutenant colonel the following year. After the surrender of Vicksburg, Garland was on recruiting duty at Richmond until he returned to field service. He succeeded to command of the consolidated 1st & 4th Missouri Infantry in 1864, and as colonel in command of the regiment, was killed in the battle of Franklin, Tennessee, November 30, 1864, and was buried on the battlefield. He was later reinterred at Bellefontaine Cemetery, St. Louis, Missouri.
Captain Joseph Boyce, the son of Irish immigrants, was born April 4, 1841, in St. Louis. Prior to the Civil War he was a member of the local militia company, the St. Louis Grays, and a volunteer firefighter in the city. In 1861, after capture in the Camp Jackson Affair and parole, Boyce and other former Grays formed Company D of the 1st Missouri Infantry (C.S.), organized by Col. John S. Bowen in Memphis, TN. Rising from sergeant to captain of the company by 1864, Boyce fought in nearly every major battle with the regiment, was wounded in the hip at Shiloh and in the neck at Allatoona, until a sever wound at Franklin put him out of action for the remainder of the war. He returned to St. Louis, where he married and worked in the tobacco manufacturing business and in real estate. Boyce was also involved in local veterans' organizations, authored a number of articles and gave talks on his service and the history of the 1st Missouri Infantry. He died July 28, 1928, and is buried in St. Louis.
Captain Boyce's memoirs have been published in Captain Joseph Boyce and the 1st Missouri Infantry edited by William C. Winter.
Barnett Atkeson, a merchant in Johnson County, Missouri, joined the Missouri State Guard and fought at the battles of Carthage and Wilson’s Creek. On December 2, 1861, he enlisted in Company A, 1st Missouri Infantry Battalion (later the 5th Missouri Infantry) in Springfield, Missouri. In January 1862, he was elected second lieutenant, and was promoted to first lieutenant in the fall of 1862 and to captain in 1863. Atkeson fought in the battles of Pea Ridge and Iuka, and through the Vicksburg campaign. On November 30, 1864, Captain Atkeson was killed during the Missouri Brigade’s assault on the Federal fortifications at Franklin, Tennessee.
Carte-de-Visite by Ben Oppenhermet, Mobile, Ala.
Thomas Duvall (left) and William Duvall (right), along with their brother Henderson, enlisted in Company C, 3rd Missouri Infantry on December 10, 1861, at Richmond, Missouri, after serving with the Missouri State Guard at Wilson’s Creek and Lexington. William was promoted to junior second lieutenant on May 8, 1862.
The Duvall brothers fought at Pea Ridge, Farmington, Iuka and Corinth. On October 4, 1862, Lieutenant William Duvall was killed during the Confederate attack on Corinth, while trying to plant the Confederate flag on the Union fortifications. Lieutenant Colonel Finley L. Hubbell, 3rd Missouri Infantry, recorded in his diary that William died waving his sword and shouting “Victory.”
Thomas Duvall and his brother Henderson were later killed at Champion Hill, Mississippi, on May 16, 1863.
Henderson Duvall was born in 1838 in Culpeper County, Virginia, one of eight children born to the Reverend James and Lydia Duvall. On December 10, 1861, after serving with the Missouri State Guard at Wilson’s Creek and Lexington, Henderson enlisted as a private in Company C, 3rd Missouri Infantry at Richmond, Missouri. His brothers Thomas and William were also members of the company. The Duvall brothers fought at Pea Ridge, Farmington, Iuka, Corinth, and several other battles.
Henderson and his brother Thomas were killed in action at Champion Hill, Mississippi, on May 16, 1863; brother William was killed at Corinth, Mississippi, on October 4, 1862.
Edward Brodie Hull, Jr., began the Civil War as captain of the Pike County Mounted Guards Company in the 4th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Division, Missouri State Guard. He was elected lieutenant colonel of the 4th Cavalry Regiment on August 14, 1861, and was wounded leading the regiment at the siege of Lexington in September 1861.
Hull enlisted in the 2nd Missouri Infantry on January 16, 1862, at Springfield, Missouri, and was elected lieutenant colonel of the regiment. When the regiment reorganized on April 16, 1862, however, he was not reelected; he was appointed a lieutenant colonel by General Earl Van Dorn and assigned to duty as a recruiting officer.
Hull was captured in Shreveport, Louisiana in 1865 and held until he signed parole papers on June 9, 1865.
Carte-de-Visite by John A. Scholten, St. Louis, Mo.
Joseph S. Dean, a native of Kentucky and a merchant in St. Louis, enlisted in Company C, 1st Missouri Infantry (CS) at Memphis, Tennessee, in July 1861 and was soon elected a first lieutenant. In January 1862 he was appointed an acting aide-de-camp to General John S. Bowen in the Army of the Mississippi. Dean was severely wounded at the Battle of Shiloh and died a few days later in Memphis, Tennessee.
James Kennerly and his brothers Lewis and Samuel, from St. Louis, were members of the Missouri State Militia, where U.S. Captain Nathaniel Lyon forced the surrender of the militia encampment on the edge of St. Louis on May 10, 1861. When they were paroled, all three joined the 1st Missouri Infantry on June 22, 1861, in Memphis, Tennessee. James was elected a lieutenant in Company G on May 22, 1862, and later assigned to Company A. He was wounded slightly at the Battle of Shiloh, and recovered at Corinth.
Kennerly was captured on April 9, 1865, at Fort Blakely, Alabama, and held at Ship Island before being transferred to New Orleans on April 28, 1865; he was moved to Vicksburg on May 1, 1865, and paroled.
Carte-de-Visite by J. A. Scholten, St. Louis, Mo.
James McCown came to Missouri from Virginia in 1840, settling in Warrensburg, where he became active in community affairs. With the start of the Civil War, he joined the Missouri State Guard with his three sons, and become lieutenant colonel and later colonel of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment, 8th Division. When the Confederate 5th Missouri Infantry was organized, McCown was elected colonel; he led the regiment at the battles of Iuka, Corinth, Port Gibson, Champion Hill, and Big Black River. McCown was captured at Vicksburg; when he was exchanged he assumed command of the consolidated Third and Fifth Missouri Infantry and fought at Atlanta, Franklin, and Nashville. McCown and his regiment surrendered at Fort Blakely, Alabama, on April 9, 1865.
Returning to Warrensburg, McCown died of typhoid fever on July 5, 1867.
Carte-de-Visite by Duffee & Co., Mobile, Ala.
Brig. Gen. Francis M. Cockrell, probably the most well-known officer and commander of the Missouri Brigade.
Cockrell was described by a newspaper reporter as "six feet and an inch, his weight fully 215 pounds. He has a full, strong habit of body, capable of much labor and strain, mental or physical. He has a bold, aquiline face, long brown hair falling back from a high arched forehead, and long brown mustache and goatee giving amplitude and shading to his features. His eyes are blue and animated and his complexion clear, indicating temperance and health. His manner is hearty and free, with a touch of shrewdness. He has a bright smile in talking. He is a fine man to look at and a good one for a friend to trust to in seasons of doubt and danger."
Francis Marion Cockrell was born October 1, 1834, near Warrensburg, Missouri. Graduating from Chapel Hill College in 1853, Cockrell studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1855, practicing law in Warrensburg until 1861. With the start of the Civil War, Cockrell enlisted on June 30, 1861, in Lexington as a private in the Missouri State Guard for six months' service. He was elected captain of Co. G, 3rd Missouri State Guard the next day, and would see action at Carthage, Wilson's Creek and the Siege of Lexington.
After many State Guardsmen's short terms of service began to expire in late 1861, Cockrell and others then volunteered to enlist in Confederate service. The Confederate 2nd Missouri Infantry, under Col. John G. Burbridge, was organized as part of the newly formed all-Confederate 1st Missouri Brigade in Sterling Price's Division. Cockrell was elected captain of Company H. Following Gen. Price into Northwest Arkansas, they would take part in the Battle of Pea Ridge in March 1862. There the 1st Missouri Brigade was in the thick of the fighting at Elkhorn Tavern.
Crossing the Mississippi River with Gen. Earl Van Dorn's Army of the West that spring, Cockrell was elected lieutenant colonel on May 12, 1862, after the brigade was reorganized near Corinth, Mississippi. He was then quickly promoted to colonel of 2nd Missouri Infantry on June 29 after Burbridge resigned, and would command the regiment in the Iuka-Corinth Campaign. The Missouri Brigade was yet again in the middle of the fighting at the Battle of Corinth, October 3-4, 1862. On the second day they charged Battery Powell (part of the fortifications around Corinth) under intense artillery and musketry fire. Cockrell commanded the 2nd Missouri Infantry from the front, cheering his men forward. He was, however, only slightly wounded by a shell fragment and was able to remain on the field.
Cockrell finally assumed command of 1st Missouri Brigade on April 17, 1863, and was known to have commanded it with distinction throughout the Vicksburg Campaign, leading two ferocious counter-attacks at Port Gibson and Champion Hill. Cockrell then commanded his brigade throughout the Siege of Vicksburg. When a mine was exploded under the 3rd Louisiana Redan on June 25, 1863, Cockrell was blown into the air; however, he soon stood back up, dusted himself off and led the Missourians in a counter-attack against Federal troops trapped in the crater. According to Ephraim M. Anderson of Co. G, 2nd Missouri Infantry, Cockrell cried out, "Forward, my brave old Second Missouri, and prepare to die!"
After the fall of Vicksburg and parole, Cockrell was officially promoted to brigadier general on July 23, 1863, and was declared 'exchanged' that September. He would then lead the Missouri Brigade throughout the Atlanta Campaign, Allatoona Pass, and at Franklin in Hood's Tennessee Campaign. Atop Kennesaw Mountain on June 19, 1864, Cockrell was wounded in both hands by a shell fragment; nevertheless, he was still in command when it repelled the Federal attacks up Pigeon Hill on June 27.
In the disastrous frontal assault at the Battle of Franklin, Nov. 30, 1864, Cockrell was wounded four times - shot twice in the right arm, the left leg, and in the right ankle - and had two horses shot out from under him. He later told his son, Ewing, that he "never expected to come out of it alive." In their charge at Franklin the 1st Missouri Brigade suffered a staggering loss: 419 officers and men out of 696, or 60.2%. Miraculously, Cockrell survived his wounds and returned to assume command of Samuel G. French's Division (including the remnants of his old Missouri Brigade) in the Mobile Campaign.
Cockrell later wrote in an April 1865 letter to a friend that his brigade was "almost obliterated" at Franklin, and that it "was by far the fiercest and bloodiest and hottest battle I have ever been in. My Brigade acted more handsomely, defiantly and recklessly than on any field of the war; and you know what it required to eclipse all former conduct on so many bloody fields."
The Siege of Fort Blakeley, Alabama, was the Missouri Brigade's last fight. After about a week under siege, the fort fell to a Federal attack on April 9, 1865. The Missourians fought until they were overpowered and forced to surrender.
After the war, Cockrell returned to Missouri and resumed his law practice. In 1874 he was elected to the United States Senate, where he served thirty years. In 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt appointed Cockrell to the Interstate Commerce Commission, a position he held for five years.
Cockrell died in Washington, D. C., on December 13, 1915, and is buried in Warrensburg, Missouri. However, Cockrell never forgot his Missourians as long as he lived. Senator Champ Clark of Missouri said that "The secrets of Cockrell's influence over his men were his personal courage and his unfailing kindness. In his estimation superior rank did not place him socially above his fellow citizens who followed him enthusiastically from Lexington to the Gulf. He was the father of his soldiers."
Brig. Gen. Lewis Henry Little.
Lewis Henry Little was born in Baltimore, Maryland on March 19, 1817. Little was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 5th U.S. Infantry in 1839 after graduating from West Point. He served in the Mexican War and was awarded a brevet promotion to captain for his service at the Battle of Monterrey in 1846. He was promoted to captain in the regular army on August 20, 1847.
Little resigned his commission as a U.S. Army officer on May 7, 1861. He helped Sterling Price train the Missouri volunteers that soon joined the Southern armies. He entered the Confederate service as a captain on March 16, 1861, but soon was made an artillery major that same month. Little was promoted to colonel on May 18 and served Price as his Adjutant General in the Missouri State Guard.
At the Battle of Pea Ridge on March 7, 1862, Little commanded the 1st Missouri Brigade in Price's division. In the thick of the first day's fighting near Elkhorn Tavern, he demonstrated competence and initiative. "During the course of the battle he gradually assumed more and more responsibility until he became the de facto commander of Price's division during the last hours that the Army of the West was on the field." His appointment to brigadier general occurred on April 12.
Little came east of the Mississippi River with Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorn's army and served under Gen. P. G. T. Beauregard at Corinth. There, he caught malaria and was in poor health for the few remaining months of his life. Even so, he was regarded as "a thorough soldier and an excellent disciplinarian." At Corinth he was given command of the 1st Division in Price's Army of the West. His peers praised his division as well drilled and disciplined.
Maj. Gen. Dabney H. Maury stated that "The magnificent Missouri brigade, the finest body of troops I have ever then seen, or have ever seen since, was the creation of his (Little's) untiring devotion to duty and his remarkable qualities as a commander. In camp he was diligent in instructing his officers in their duty and providing for the comfort and efficiency of his men, and on the battlefield he was as steady and cool and able a commander as I ever seen."
He led his division at the Battle of Iuka on September 19. At about 5:45 p.m., while sitting on his horse behind the front line and next to Sterling Price, he was struck in the head by a bullet and killed instantly. He was buried at Prices headquarters after the battle by his men, but was eventually reentered at Green Mount Cemetery in Baltimore. Afterwards, Price stated "Than this brave Marylander no one could have fallen more dear to me or who's memory should be more fondly cherished by his countrymen."
Colonel Elijah Gates, 1st Missouri Cavalry
Elijah Gates was born on December 17, 1827, in Garrard County, Kentucky. He was the son of John Gates, owner of a large plantation there. Unfortunately, his father died when Elijah was only a year and a half old. He and his family later moved to Platte County, Missouri, in 1846, later settling on a farm in Buchanan County. In 1852 he married Maria Stamper, they having twelve children together.
At the outbreak of the Civil War, Gates enlisted in St. Joseph and was soon elected a captain in the Missouri State Guard. When the Confederate 1st Missouri Cavalry was organized on December 30, 1861, he was elected colonel of the regiment. He would lead his men in the Battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas, March 6-7, 1862, and in a number of skirmishes.
During the Iuka-Corinth Campaign in fall of 1862, Gates was acting commander of the 1st Missouri Brigade. He commanded it with distinction at the Battle of Corinth, Mississippi, on October 3-4, 1862. On the second day of the battle the 1st Missouri Brigade overran the earthen Battery Powell, advancing under a severe crossfire from artillery and small arms fire. For a period of time, they busted a giant gap in Gen. Rosecrans' final line around Corinth, temporarily capturing nearly every single Union artillery piece in and around Battery Powell, until driven out by counter-attacks.
Gates remained colonel of the 1st Missouri Cavalry and Cockrell took command of the 1st Missouri Brigade. During the Vicksburg Campaign, on May 16, 1863, he would lead his regiment in the devastating counter-attack by Cockrell's and Green's Brigades at Champion Hill. The following day at Big Black River, Gates and 90 of his men were cut off from the line of retreat and forced to surrender. Gates, however, managed to escape a few days later, rejoining the brigade after the Siege of Vicksburg. His 1st Missouri Cavalry would be consolidated with the 3rd Missouri Cavalry Battalion that fall.
Gates would command his dismounted Missouri cavalrymen throughout the Atlanta Campaign, Tennessee Campaign, and the Siege of Fort Blakely, Alabama. In the Battle of Franklin, Tennessee, November 30, 1864, Gates once again proved his sheer bravery. Shot through both arms in the charge, he nevertheless continued to lead his men forward, sitting upright on his horse and cheering them to the works. Lt. James R. Yerger of Sears' Brigade remembered, "I shall never forget the steady calm gaze of this old hero (Gates) as he sat his horse erect as a statue, his paralyzed arms hanging by his sides." Lt. Charles Cleveland of 1st-3rd MO Cav. eventually helped Gates off his horse and to the rear, where his left arm was amputated. He was later taken prisoner in a field hospital following the Confederate retreat from Nashville, but despite missing an arm, managed to escape capture yet again.
After recovering from his wounds, Gates returned to command his Missourians in the Siege of Fort Blakely, Alabama. He was captured with most of the brigade when a major Federal assault overran the fort on April 9, 1865 - the same day Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox.
Gates resumed farming when he returned to Buchanan county, and continued in that line until 1874. He was elected sheriff then on the Democratic ticket, and served four years. Gates was then elected treasurer of the state of Missouri, and served four years, residing in Jefferson City for a period of six years, during one year of which he was interested in the commission business in St. Louis. From 1884 to 1886 he was coal oil inspector. For a number of years he was in the transfer and bus business as a member of the firm of Piner & Gates of St. Joseph, but of late years had lived in retirement. He also remained close friends with Cockrell and other Missouri Brigade veterans after the war. Elijah Gates died on March 5, 1915, and is buried in Mount Mora Cemetery in Buchanan County, Missouri.
Colonel Hugh Alfred Garland, 1st Missouri Infantry
As captain of Company F "Jackson Grays" 2nd Regiment, Missouri Volunteer Militia, Garland was among those taken prisoner at Camp Jackson on May 10, 1861. After his parole, Garland enlisted in Confederate service and became a captain in the 1st Missouri Infantry, participating in the battles of Shiloh, Corinth, Grand Gulf, Port Gibson, and Champion Hill. Elected major in 1862, he advanced to lieutenant colonel the following year. After the surrender of Vicksburg, Garland was on recruiting duty at Richmond until he returned to field service. He succeeded to command of the consolidated 1st & 4th Missouri Infantry in 1864, and as colonel in command of the regiment, was killed in the battle of Franklin, Tennessee, November 30, 1864, and was buried on the battlefield. He was later reinterred at Bellefontaine Cemetery, St. Louis, Missouri.
Captain Joseph Boyce, the son of Irish immigrants, was born April 4, 1841, in St. Louis. Prior to the Civil War he was a member of the local militia company, the St. Louis Grays, and a volunteer firefighter in the city. In 1861, after capture in the Camp Jackson Affair and parole, Boyce and other former Grays formed Company D of the 1st Missouri Infantry (C.S.), organized by Col. John S. Bowen in Memphis, TN. Rising from sergeant to captain of the company by 1864, Boyce fought in nearly every major battle with the regiment, was wounded in the hip at Shiloh and in the neck at Allatoona, until a sever wound at Franklin put him out of action for the remainder of the war. He returned to St. Louis, where he married and worked in the tobacco manufacturing business and in real estate. Boyce was also involved in local veterans' organizations, authored a number of articles and gave talks on his service and the history of the 1st Missouri Infantry. He died July 28, 1928, and is buried in St. Louis.
Captain Boyce's memoirs have been published in Captain Joseph Boyce and the 1st Missouri Infantry edited by William C. Winter.
Barnett Atkeson, a merchant in Johnson County, Missouri, joined the Missouri State Guard and fought at the battles of Carthage and Wilson’s Creek. On December 2, 1861, he enlisted in Company A, 1st Missouri Infantry Battalion (later the 5th Missouri Infantry) in Springfield, Missouri. In January 1862, he was elected second lieutenant, and was promoted to first lieutenant in the fall of 1862 and to captain in 1863. Atkeson fought in the battles of Pea Ridge and Iuka, and through the Vicksburg campaign. On November 30, 1864, Captain Atkeson was killed during the Missouri Brigade’s assault on the Federal fortifications at Franklin, Tennessee.
Carte-de-Visite by Ben Oppenhermet, Mobile, Ala.
Thomas Duvall (left) and William Duvall (right), along with their brother Henderson, enlisted in Company C, 3rd Missouri Infantry on December 10, 1861, at Richmond, Missouri, after serving with the Missouri State Guard at Wilson’s Creek and Lexington. William was promoted to junior second lieutenant on May 8, 1862.
The Duvall brothers fought at Pea Ridge, Farmington, Iuka and Corinth. On October 4, 1862, Lieutenant William Duvall was killed during the Confederate attack on Corinth, while trying to plant the Confederate flag on the Union fortifications. Lieutenant Colonel Finley L. Hubbell, 3rd Missouri Infantry, recorded in his diary that William died waving his sword and shouting “Victory.”
Thomas Duvall and his brother Henderson were later killed at Champion Hill, Mississippi, on May 16, 1863.
Henderson Duvall was born in 1838 in Culpeper County, Virginia, one of eight children born to the Reverend James and Lydia Duvall. On December 10, 1861, after serving with the Missouri State Guard at Wilson’s Creek and Lexington, Henderson enlisted as a private in Company C, 3rd Missouri Infantry at Richmond, Missouri. His brothers Thomas and William were also members of the company. The Duvall brothers fought at Pea Ridge, Farmington, Iuka, Corinth, and several other battles.
Henderson and his brother Thomas were killed in action at Champion Hill, Mississippi, on May 16, 1863; brother William was killed at Corinth, Mississippi, on October 4, 1862.
Edward Brodie Hull, Jr., began the Civil War as captain of the Pike County Mounted Guards Company in the 4th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Division, Missouri State Guard. He was elected lieutenant colonel of the 4th Cavalry Regiment on August 14, 1861, and was wounded leading the regiment at the siege of Lexington in September 1861.
Hull enlisted in the 2nd Missouri Infantry on January 16, 1862, at Springfield, Missouri, and was elected lieutenant colonel of the regiment. When the regiment reorganized on April 16, 1862, however, he was not reelected; he was appointed a lieutenant colonel by General Earl Van Dorn and assigned to duty as a recruiting officer.
Hull was captured in Shreveport, Louisiana in 1865 and held until he signed parole papers on June 9, 1865.
Carte-de-Visite by John A. Scholten, St. Louis, Mo.
Joseph S. Dean, a native of Kentucky and a merchant in St. Louis, enlisted in Company C, 1st Missouri Infantry (CS) at Memphis, Tennessee, in July 1861 and was soon elected a first lieutenant. In January 1862 he was appointed an acting aide-de-camp to General John S. Bowen in the Army of the Mississippi. Dean was severely wounded at the Battle of Shiloh and died a few days later in Memphis, Tennessee.
James Kennerly and his brothers Lewis and Samuel, from St. Louis, were members of the Missouri State Militia, where U.S. Captain Nathaniel Lyon forced the surrender of the militia encampment on the edge of St. Louis on May 10, 1861. When they were paroled, all three joined the 1st Missouri Infantry on June 22, 1861, in Memphis, Tennessee. James was elected a lieutenant in Company G on May 22, 1862, and later assigned to Company A. He was wounded slightly at the Battle of Shiloh, and recovered at Corinth.
Kennerly was captured on April 9, 1865, at Fort Blakely, Alabama, and held at Ship Island before being transferred to New Orleans on April 28, 1865; he was moved to Vicksburg on May 1, 1865, and paroled.
Carte-de-Visite by J. A. Scholten, St. Louis, Mo.
James McCown came to Missouri from Virginia in 1840, settling in Warrensburg, where he became active in community affairs. With the start of the Civil War, he joined the Missouri State Guard with his three sons, and become lieutenant colonel and later colonel of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment, 8th Division. When the Confederate 5th Missouri Infantry was organized, McCown was elected colonel; he led the regiment at the battles of Iuka, Corinth, Port Gibson, Champion Hill, and Big Black River. McCown was captured at Vicksburg; when he was exchanged he assumed command of the consolidated Third and Fifth Missouri Infantry and fought at Atlanta, Franklin, and Nashville. McCown and his regiment surrendered at Fort Blakely, Alabama, on April 9, 1865.
Returning to Warrensburg, McCown died of typhoid fever on July 5, 1867.
Carte-de-Visite by Duffee & Co., Mobile, Ala.
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