Guerilla Warfare In Missouri

Jim's Photo (Ozark County, MO, General Vicinity)

From The Blue and The Gray:


Guerrilla Warfare in Missouri: This account of guerrilla warfare comes from Colonel [William] Monks and describes conditions in Ozark County, on the Arkansas border, in 1862.

The Ozarks History blog also mentioned Colonel Monks.

More information here from the Ozarks Civil War website about guerrilla warfare in the area.

The Journal Of Jacob Fowler

The journal of Jacob Fowler: narrating an adventure from Arkansas through the Indian Territory, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, and New Mexico, to the sources of Rio Grande del Norte, 1821-22 (Google eBook) [also here]:

Major Jacob Fowler's great-granddaughter (on her maternal side) was Mrs. Ida Symmes Coates (of Louisville, Kentucky), daughter of Americus Symmes, who was named in the introduction to the diary.  Her mother was Frances Scott [daughter of Major Chasteen Scott] and Ida's grandmother was Abigail Fowler, Jacob Fowler's only daughter.

Major Fowler was born in New York [or New Jersey in 1764] in 1765, and came to Kentucky early in life.  He was an accomplished surveyor.

About 1821 Fowler went further west from the Fort Smith, Arkansas, area.

...we arrive at the following approximately correct roster of the party : 

1. Colonel Hugh Glenn, in command. 

2. Major Jacob Fowler, the journalist, second in command. 

3. Robert Fowler, brother of Jacob Fowler. 

4. Baptiste Roy, interpreter. 

5. Baptiste Peno. (French name, no doubt misspelled.) 

6. George Douglas. 

7. Nathaniel Pryor, ex-Sergeant of Lewis and Clark's Expedition. 

8. Bono. (French name, no doubt misspelled, possibly Bonhomme.) 

9. Barbo. (French name, no doubt misspelled, possibly Barbu.) 

10. Lewis Dawson. (Fatally injured by a bear, Nov. 13, 1831; died Nov. 16.)

11. Taylor. 

12. Richard Walters. 

13. Eli Ward. 

14. Jesse Van Bieer. 

15. Slover. 

16. Simpson. 

17. Dudley Maxwell. 

18. Findley. 

19. Baptiste Moran. 

20. Paul, a negro belonging to Jacob Fowler.

The most interesting of the above names is that of Nathaniel Pryor, of whose identity with the sergeant of Lewis and Clark I have no doubt: see L. and C, ed. of 1893, p. 254, delete the query there, and add: Nathaniel Pryor of Kentucky became an Ensign of the U. S. Army Feb. 27, 1807; Second Lieutenant May 3, 1808; resigned April 1, 1810 ; was appointed First Lieutenant of the 44th Inf. Aug. 30, 1813; promoted to be Captain Oct. 1, 1814; and honorably discharged June 15, 1815. 

Nathaniel Hawthorne's Boss

General James Miller was mentioned by actual name in Nathaniel Hawthorne's Custom House Sketch which introduces The Scarlet Letter.   Miller was the Collector of the Salem Custom House from 1825 to 1849, and was Hawthorne's immediate supervisor from 1846 until 1849.  [Source] 

In his younger days, James Miller was a War of 1812 officer, known as the Hero of Lundy's Lane.

Included in this article:
"...he [Hawthorne] tells how the gallant old general would slowly and painfully ascend the Custom House steps and with a toilsome progress across the floor--for the step was palsied now that had been foremost in the charge--attain his customary chair beside the fireplace. 

"...[in] the private office of the present chief executive [of the Custom House], the genial Collector Waters-- a portrait of the hero of Lundy's Lane now looks down from the wall upon the visitor; but no picture of Hawthorne is to be found in the edifice. [Source]

Between those two careers, James Miller was Governor of the Arkansas Territory.  He died in 1851.

General Van Dorn & The Battle Of Pea Ridge

 

 Photo of Elkhorn Tavern on the battleground taken during our 2010 visit

From The Blue and The Gray (Volume One)  by Henry Steele Commager:

The Tide Turns At Pea Ridge (Elkhorn Tavern)

In December he (Halleck) sent Pope out with greatly strengthened forces to restore Union control of Northern and central Missouri. Price had retreated to Springfield; he now moved southward to Arkansas where he was joined by Ben McCulloch with a force that included some 5,000 Indians from the Five Civilized Nations. Their combined force numbered over 20,000, and was under the command of General Van Dorn. After him went General Samuel Curtis. The two armies meat at Pea Ridge, Arkansas, at the southernmost tip of the Ozarks. With almost a two-to-one superiority Van Dorn thought it safe to divide his army and try an attack from front and rear.

He was wrong.

General Earl Van Dorn never had the confidence of his troops after the Battle of Pea Ridge. He was murdered by a jealous husband some 14 months after he lost the battle and the hearts of his troops (May 7, 1863).

Note:  Earl Van Dorn's mother was President Andrew Jackson's niece, Sophia Donelson Caffery.  Sophia was the daughter of Mary Donelson and John Caffery.  Mary Donelson was the sister of Rachel, Mrs. Andrew Jackson.

Why The Five Nations Favored The South

From: History and civics of Oklahoma: