- Joined
- Feb 23, 2013
- Location
- East Texas
Part I - The Battle of Leetown
Following the Confederate victory in the first battle of the war in the West, fought at Wilson's Creek, Missouri, dissention and indecision beset the victors. Brig. Gen. Ben McCullough took his Texas, Arkansas, and Louisiana troops back to Arkansas and Indian Territory where they spent the winter of 1861 - 62 in snug encampments. Meanwhile Maj. Gen. Sterling Price led his Missouri State Guard on a raid through the western part of the state before also withdrawing into northern Arkansas before a revitalized Federal thrust from St. Louis. To rectify the divided command, Confederate President Jefferson Davis sent former Regular Army officer of Dragoons Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorn of Mississippi to take command.
The Federals, now under the command of Iowa Brig. Gen. Samuel R. Curtis, moved south along what was known as the Telegraph or Wire Road, the old route of the Butterfield Overland Stage from Springfield, Mo., towards Fayetteville, Ark., halting in the vicinity of the stagecoach inn known locally as Elkhorn Tavern for the horns mounted on its roof. While his men went into camp in the area above, Curtis sent out scouting parties and began a series of defensive earthworks a short distance farther south along the northern bluff of Little Sugar Creek below.
Van Dorn decided to sieze the initiative and "steal a march" around Curtis' army and cut him off from his base at Springfield by using a little-known country road to the west that passed near a hamlet called Leetown. Dividing his command, Van Dorn sent McCullough east to engage the Federals there while he continued with Price's State Guard around the Elkhorn Mountain spur of Pea Ridge to gain Curtis' rear. Leetown below was the Federal right flank held by troops led by Brig. Gen. Franz Sigel, who had done poorly at Wilson's Creek the year before. Sigel was a refugee from the failed revolutions wracking the German states during the 1840's and his command consisted largely but not entirely of German immigrants from St. Louis and other areas of the Midwest.
Above, Confederate commander Major General Earl Van Dorn, flanked at right by Union commander Maj. Gen. Samuel Curtis, and at left by Curtis' second-in-command, Brig. Gen. Franz Sigel.
Sigel and his men reacted quickly however, and formed a line against the advancing Confederates. At this point a crisis occurred when Ben McCullough decided to investigate things for himself and rode forward, clad in a black velvet suit and top hat. He made a tempting target for a Union rifleman and soon this wing of the Confederate attack was without its leader. Command devolved upon Arkansas Brig. Gen. James McIntosh but he too was soon killed while leading a cavalry charge. The best uniformed, drilled, and led unit on this part of the field was the 3d Louisiana which went into line of battle in the thickets and became disorganized; a Union counterattack captured its Colonel Louis Hebert, leaving this entire wing leaderless and essentially out of the battle for the remainder of the day.
Above, Confederate commanders at Leetown; center, Ben McCullough, said to have been killed by a Federal sharpshooter named Peter Pelican, flanked at right by James McIntosh who died leading his Arkansas cavalry in a charge, and at left by Col. Louis Hebert of the 3rd Louisiana, who was captured.
Union artillery from their position above duelled with the 1st Texas Battery and other artillery in their position below during the remainder of the afternoon but essentially this part of the fight was over despite the presence of Brig. Gen. Albert Pike. Pike was a political appointee with no military experience commanding the Confederate Indian Brigade of Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Cherokee warriors who had charged and captured one Union battery but refused to do so again!
Next, Victory on the Confederate Left!
Following the Confederate victory in the first battle of the war in the West, fought at Wilson's Creek, Missouri, dissention and indecision beset the victors. Brig. Gen. Ben McCullough took his Texas, Arkansas, and Louisiana troops back to Arkansas and Indian Territory where they spent the winter of 1861 - 62 in snug encampments. Meanwhile Maj. Gen. Sterling Price led his Missouri State Guard on a raid through the western part of the state before also withdrawing into northern Arkansas before a revitalized Federal thrust from St. Louis. To rectify the divided command, Confederate President Jefferson Davis sent former Regular Army officer of Dragoons Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorn of Mississippi to take command.
The Federals, now under the command of Iowa Brig. Gen. Samuel R. Curtis, moved south along what was known as the Telegraph or Wire Road, the old route of the Butterfield Overland Stage from Springfield, Mo., towards Fayetteville, Ark., halting in the vicinity of the stagecoach inn known locally as Elkhorn Tavern for the horns mounted on its roof. While his men went into camp in the area above, Curtis sent out scouting parties and began a series of defensive earthworks a short distance farther south along the northern bluff of Little Sugar Creek below.
Van Dorn decided to sieze the initiative and "steal a march" around Curtis' army and cut him off from his base at Springfield by using a little-known country road to the west that passed near a hamlet called Leetown. Dividing his command, Van Dorn sent McCullough east to engage the Federals there while he continued with Price's State Guard around the Elkhorn Mountain spur of Pea Ridge to gain Curtis' rear. Leetown below was the Federal right flank held by troops led by Brig. Gen. Franz Sigel, who had done poorly at Wilson's Creek the year before. Sigel was a refugee from the failed revolutions wracking the German states during the 1840's and his command consisted largely but not entirely of German immigrants from St. Louis and other areas of the Midwest.
Above, Confederate commander Major General Earl Van Dorn, flanked at right by Union commander Maj. Gen. Samuel Curtis, and at left by Curtis' second-in-command, Brig. Gen. Franz Sigel.
Sigel and his men reacted quickly however, and formed a line against the advancing Confederates. At this point a crisis occurred when Ben McCullough decided to investigate things for himself and rode forward, clad in a black velvet suit and top hat. He made a tempting target for a Union rifleman and soon this wing of the Confederate attack was without its leader. Command devolved upon Arkansas Brig. Gen. James McIntosh but he too was soon killed while leading a cavalry charge. The best uniformed, drilled, and led unit on this part of the field was the 3d Louisiana which went into line of battle in the thickets and became disorganized; a Union counterattack captured its Colonel Louis Hebert, leaving this entire wing leaderless and essentially out of the battle for the remainder of the day.
Above, Confederate commanders at Leetown; center, Ben McCullough, said to have been killed by a Federal sharpshooter named Peter Pelican, flanked at right by James McIntosh who died leading his Arkansas cavalry in a charge, and at left by Col. Louis Hebert of the 3rd Louisiana, who was captured.
Union artillery from their position above duelled with the 1st Texas Battery and other artillery in their position below during the remainder of the afternoon but essentially this part of the fight was over despite the presence of Brig. Gen. Albert Pike. Pike was a political appointee with no military experience commanding the Confederate Indian Brigade of Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Cherokee warriors who had charged and captured one Union battery but refused to do so again!
Next, Victory on the Confederate Left!
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