Lost Cause
1st Lieutenant
- Joined
- Sep 19, 2014
The civilian population, especially in the South, suffered greatly during the Civil War. Author James McPherson estimated the number of deaths at 50,000. Such deaths were primarily by starvation, disease, and deliberate and indirect result of armed incidents. Thousands more were displaced. Their stories were often lost or hidden in obscure areas of the war. Some stories remain through recent ancestral studies, diaries, generational accounts, or limited record keeping/published material. Records often either destroyed or overshadowed by military operations. One so called lesser known incident was dubbed the Huntsville Ar. Massacre:
“In the midst of the Civil War, on January 10, 1863, nine men were taken from a guardhouse and led to a field on the Samuel P. Vaughn farm about one mile northeast of Huntsville, where they were shot by Union soldiers on the bank of Vaughn’s Branch near the road that led to Carrollton. One survived. Although the reason for the execution may never be known, it may have been in response to the ambush of a Union army escort and the mistreatment of the daughters of Isaac Murphy by locals.
Isaac Murphy was elected in 1861 to the Secession Convention from Madison County on the Unionist platform, receiving eighty-five percent of the vote and eventually becoming the lone delegate to vote “no” on Arkansas’s secession from the Union. Upon returning to Huntsville, he was greeted well by the locals. However, this attitude changed as the war progressed and, particularly, as the war came closer to home. Although a majority of the people in and around Huntsville had been Unionists, sides were now changing.
Following the Battle if Pea Ridge, Murphy’s life was threatened, and he, along with Dr. James M. Johnson and Frank Johnson, were forced to flee to Pea Ridge,where Murphy took a civilian position on General Samuel Curtis’ staff. Although Murphy had made arrangements to have his family moved to Missouri, the plans did not materialize, and his daughters, Louisa and Laura, remained behind in Huntsville, where they faced constant harassment. By the fall of 1862, Murphy’s daughters were most eager to visit him and made the trip to Pea Ridge. As preparations were being made for the Battle of Prairie Grove, they had to be sent back to Huntsville weeks later, a journey they began on November 16, 1862. For protection, Colonel Alfred W. Bishop furnished an escort of twenty-five soldiers to accompany them.
When they were within about two miles of Huntsville, the escort decided to send the Murphy daughters into Huntsville alone. While resting, the escort was surprised by a local guerilla band, and a skirmish ensued. Of the twenty-five soldiers sent as escort, only seven returned to Pea Ridge alive.
Following the Battle of Prairie Grove, General Francis Herron was ordered to take his 5,000 troops northeast to the Mississippi River to join General Ulysses S. Grant on his push toward Vicksburg, Mississippi. This trek took Herron and his troops through Madison County via Huntsville. Upon arrival, it was reported that the Murphy daughters were still being harassed by the locals to the point of having their personal belongings taken from them. Within days, several citizens were arrested and held for reasons not entirely clear.
In the early morning hours of January 10, 1863, nine men were taken out for execution by members of Company G of the Eighth Missouri Cavalry, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Elias Briggs Baldwin. Those executed included Chesley H. Boatright, a blacksmith, former county treasurer, deacon of the Huntsville Presbyterian Church, and prominent Mason; William Martin Berry, a prominent member of Odeon Masonic Lodge and son-in-law of Isaac Murphy; Hugh Samuel Berry, son of the aforementioned William M. Berry and captain in the Confederate army, home on leave; John William Moody, nephew-in-law to Chesley H. Boatright and a deputy US Marshal and farmer; Confederate army captain Askin Hughes; John Hughes; Watson P. Stevens, a cousin of the Berrys; Robert Coleman Young, a Baptist minister; and Bill Parks. One of the nine, Parks, survived and left for Mississippi after he had recuperated.
Word of the massacre spread quickly among the Union troops, and within weeks Lt. Col. Baldwin was arrested and charged with “violation of the 6th Article of War for the murder of prisoners of war.” He was transported to Springfield, Missouri, where he was to be held pending a trial before a military commission. Many of the requested witnesses were either too ill to attend or on active duty and did not attend the trial. Due to the lack of witnesses, charges against Baldwin were dropped, and he was discharged.“
“In the midst of the Civil War, on January 10, 1863, nine men were taken from a guardhouse and led to a field on the Samuel P. Vaughn farm about one mile northeast of Huntsville, where they were shot by Union soldiers on the bank of Vaughn’s Branch near the road that led to Carrollton. One survived. Although the reason for the execution may never be known, it may have been in response to the ambush of a Union army escort and the mistreatment of the daughters of Isaac Murphy by locals.
Isaac Murphy was elected in 1861 to the Secession Convention from Madison County on the Unionist platform, receiving eighty-five percent of the vote and eventually becoming the lone delegate to vote “no” on Arkansas’s secession from the Union. Upon returning to Huntsville, he was greeted well by the locals. However, this attitude changed as the war progressed and, particularly, as the war came closer to home. Although a majority of the people in and around Huntsville had been Unionists, sides were now changing.
Following the Battle if Pea Ridge, Murphy’s life was threatened, and he, along with Dr. James M. Johnson and Frank Johnson, were forced to flee to Pea Ridge,where Murphy took a civilian position on General Samuel Curtis’ staff. Although Murphy had made arrangements to have his family moved to Missouri, the plans did not materialize, and his daughters, Louisa and Laura, remained behind in Huntsville, where they faced constant harassment. By the fall of 1862, Murphy’s daughters were most eager to visit him and made the trip to Pea Ridge. As preparations were being made for the Battle of Prairie Grove, they had to be sent back to Huntsville weeks later, a journey they began on November 16, 1862. For protection, Colonel Alfred W. Bishop furnished an escort of twenty-five soldiers to accompany them.
When they were within about two miles of Huntsville, the escort decided to send the Murphy daughters into Huntsville alone. While resting, the escort was surprised by a local guerilla band, and a skirmish ensued. Of the twenty-five soldiers sent as escort, only seven returned to Pea Ridge alive.
Following the Battle of Prairie Grove, General Francis Herron was ordered to take his 5,000 troops northeast to the Mississippi River to join General Ulysses S. Grant on his push toward Vicksburg, Mississippi. This trek took Herron and his troops through Madison County via Huntsville. Upon arrival, it was reported that the Murphy daughters were still being harassed by the locals to the point of having their personal belongings taken from them. Within days, several citizens were arrested and held for reasons not entirely clear.
In the early morning hours of January 10, 1863, nine men were taken out for execution by members of Company G of the Eighth Missouri Cavalry, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Elias Briggs Baldwin. Those executed included Chesley H. Boatright, a blacksmith, former county treasurer, deacon of the Huntsville Presbyterian Church, and prominent Mason; William Martin Berry, a prominent member of Odeon Masonic Lodge and son-in-law of Isaac Murphy; Hugh Samuel Berry, son of the aforementioned William M. Berry and captain in the Confederate army, home on leave; John William Moody, nephew-in-law to Chesley H. Boatright and a deputy US Marshal and farmer; Confederate army captain Askin Hughes; John Hughes; Watson P. Stevens, a cousin of the Berrys; Robert Coleman Young, a Baptist minister; and Bill Parks. One of the nine, Parks, survived and left for Mississippi after he had recuperated.
Word of the massacre spread quickly among the Union troops, and within weeks Lt. Col. Baldwin was arrested and charged with “violation of the 6th Article of War for the murder of prisoners of war.” He was transported to Springfield, Missouri, where he was to be held pending a trial before a military commission. Many of the requested witnesses were either too ill to attend or on active duty and did not attend the trial. Due to the lack of witnesses, charges against Baldwin were dropped, and he was discharged.“
Encyclopedia of Arkansas
In the midst of the Civil War, on January 10, 1863, nine men were taken from a guardhouse and led to a field on the Samuel P. Vaughn farm about one mile ...
encyclopediaofarkansas.net