A War Ravaged County:
Taney County During the Civil War
"Henderson's wife run to the body of her husband first, and when the soldiers left the house, I and others went to where it lay. His head was almost shot to pieces and the brains were spattered on the ground where the dead body lay, and Sarah Henderson, his wife, picked up all the bits of brains she could find on the ground and those thathad oozed out of the bullet holes in the head which werestill on the head, and she wiped them off with her handsand put them all in her apron and took them to a hollow stump which stood in a few yards of where the dead man was and dropped them into it. . . ." (S.C. Turnbo Manuscript)
The story above was shared with S.C. Turnbo by James C. Guin on August 4, 1906, recounting an incident he witnessed when he was twelve years old. Murph and Sarah Henderson were the son and daughter-in-law of Chris Henderson, who lived on Shoal Creek, Taney County. They were visiting the Guin home when the house was charged by around 30 Union soldiers who, upon seeing Henderson attempt to escape, shot him down with the family watching.
Though the killing took place on Big Creek across the state line in Searcy County, AR, such brutality was common fare throughout southwest Missouri and northwest Arkansas during the Civil War. Deeply divided in its sentiments, Taney County was subject to battery from both Union and Confederate soldiers as the two struggled for control of the region. In addition, renegades and bushwhackers who sympathized with one side or the other, but fought openly for neither, scoured the area, preying on residents--sometimes just for the thrill of brutality.
Turnbo relates several other incidents shared with him which detail savagery committed in the area, some of which may be embellished by the memories of the tellers but many of which are substantiated by other sources. Included are tales of scalpings, open ambushing, ransacking and destroying property, and ruthless killings. Anything of value--food, clothing, livestock, tack, and especially weapons--was confiscated by whichever side was moving through at the time. While residents may have harbored sympathies with one side or the other, they had little choice in complying with soldiers from both sides.
Like other properties in the area, Forsyth, the seat of Taney County, changed hands several times during the war. Occupied early in the conflict by Confederate troops, the city was strategically located on the White River, which made it an ideal port to receive goods and supplies transported by steamboat. An early Union attempt to retake Forsyth, led by Captain Jesse Galloway and Lieutenant F.M. Gideon, Sr., commanders of the Christian and Taney County Home Guards, had failed in May 1861 (Ingenthron 89). But this failed attempt opened the door for another Union onslaught in the months to come.
The Battle of Forsyth, as it is sometimes called, took place in July 1861. Union leaders in Springfield received word that the area along the Missouri-Arkansas border was filled with a bluster of activity, training Confederate sympathizers. Eager to put down the rebels before they gained momentum, plans were laid to take Forsyth, the central shipping location for the area. Brigadier General Thomas W. Sweeney was put in command of the nearly 1,200 Union soldiers who would march in the attack.
Included in that army were troops from several surrounding areas: 500 were from the first Iowa Regiment, commanded by Lt. Colonel William H. Merritt. A part of the Iowa Regiment were the Governor Greys, led by Captain F.J. Herron, and the Davenport Rifles, led by Captain Wentz. Other segments of Sweeney's army included a section of Captain James Totten's battery, sporting a 12-pound howitzer and a 6-pound cannon, led by Lt. M.J. Kelley; calvary sections "C" and "D" of the U.S. Dragoons, commanded by Captain D.S. Stanley and Kelley; the Second Kansas Infantry led by Colonel Robert B. Mitchell; a company of Mounted Kansas Volunteers, led by Captain Samuel N. Wood; and Eighty Taney and Christian County Home Guards, led by Captain Jesse Galloway (Ingenthron 90).
Leaving Springfield on July 20, Sweeney's troops arrived near Forsyth on July 22. They were assisted by John M. Layton, a former sheriff of Taney County and a current First Lieutenant in Galloway's Home Guards. Layton served as Union scout and guide into the area. (Layton's brother, Dr. A.S. Layton, allied himself with the Confederate forces.) They had spent two days--one in miserable heat and one in torrential rains--en route to an anti-climactic battle.
As the army neared its destination, Sweeney sent the calvary to a small town within three miles of Forsyth where a Confederate picket of 50 men were supposedly stationed. The mounted Union soldiers found no Confederates there, but an advance scout captured two men, from whom Sweeney learned that only 150 Rebel soldiers were at Forsyth (91). Dividing his troops, Sweeney commanded the attack to move forward, some advancing by road while others cut through fields and corn rows and streams.
The Confederates, aware of the impending attack, had practically deserted Forsyth. Women and children were moved to safety, and the soldiers divided their ranks: one segment hid in the brush on the steep hill near town and the other lined themselves in the brush across the river (93). Confederate troops offered up some resistance to the attack, but they were badly outnumbered and retreated quickly, the entire battle lasting less than an hour (95).
Galloway and the Home Guard had advanced on the courthouse, discovering it to be used as an arsenal for weapons and supplies. While they were inspecting the rebel storehouse, a misunderstood order from Sweeney led to three balls from the 12-pound howitzer to come crashing through the courthouse walls before Union troops discovered they were firing on their own men. In Captain Stanley's account of the battle, he alleges that it was the Kansas Volunteers who left the fighting to plunder the courthouse, though other journals contradict this claim (Ingenthron 96). In any event, the battle of Forsyth was over almost as soon as it was begun.
The casualties were not many. At least five Confederate soldiers were killed, including Captain Jackson, and three were taken prisoner. Other local rebels who escaped were Milt Haggard, Ben McKinney, William Ellison, John McGill, and Lafayette Snapp (99). Three Union soldiers were reported wounded--privates Martin, Wiltborne, and Corsey.
Union soldiers confiscated what was useable from the courthouse, including food, weapons, ammunition, boots, shoes, tack, and clothing. Two tons of lead was extracted from the town well. They then retreated to Springfield, leaving Forsyth intact. The Confederates then reportedly returned to their homes and resumed control of the county seat, control they would maintain for the next year and a half (100).
In January 1863, Union forces led by Captain Herron (allegedly numbering near 20,000 men) took control of Forsyth. The courthouse was a central location for the army, though the town itself could not even accommodate all of the troops. Learning that Confederate General Marmaduke (later to become Governor of Missouri) was planning an attack on Forsyth, which had by then become a federal outpost, Union troops were ordered to disperse.
Upon their withdrawal, troops burned the city to the ground, with little remaining but the charred brick hull of the old courthouse, in an attempt to keep the Confederates from using the fort. Only a few barns and buildings remained. When the war was finally over, the sparce population left in the area faced the task of rebuilding homes, farms, and businesses. Gradually, homesteaders from other areas moved into Taney County, but it would be several decades before the County recovered from those war-ravaged years.
Works Cited
Image of cabin from http:www.arttoday.com, member page. June 1999.
Image of Civil War guns from http:www.arttoday.com, member page. June 1999.
Ingenthron, Elmo. The Land of Taney: A History of an Ozark Commonwealth. Ozark Regional History Series. Book II. Point Lookout, MO: The School of the Ozarks P, 1974.
Turnbo, S.C. Turnbo Manuscripts. The Springfield-Greene County Library. Shepard Room <http://198.209.8.166/scripts/turnbo/v1/st005.html> (5 July 1999)
