The Pocahontas Civil War Riverwalk Memorial
Historic records in Missouri indicate that John Pocahontas Randolph,
a cousin of Thomas Jefferson and a descendant of the original
"Pocahontas", was given a mandate to explore and document this area
of the Louisiana Purchase in 1806, and it is possible that
Pocahontas and Randolph County are named after him. Sometime before
1830, Ransom Bettis arrived and built a home on the bluff
overlooking this site. He operated a trading post for steamboat
passengers and pioneers traveling down the National Military Road.
Bettis Bluff, as it was called then, became an important and
flourishing commercial river port on the Black River and in 1856 the
town was officially chartered and renamed Pocahontas. On July 15,
1861, all military troops in the service of the state of Arkansas
were transferred to the Confederate States. General William J.
Hardee was appointed commander of all 6,000 available troops for the
protection of the upper district of Arkansas, and on July 22, 1861,
General Hardee established headquarters and training at Pitman's
Ferry in northeastern Randolph County, with mustering at Camp Shaver
here in Pocahontas. His force included the Arkansas regiments
commanded by Cleburne, Hindman, Cross, Lyon, Shaver, Borland,
Shoup's Artillery, Trigg's Artillery, Robert's Battery, and Phifer's
Calvary [sic]. Before leaving Pitman's Ferry for Kentucky,
Tennessee, and the Battle of Shiloh, General Hardee ordered the
transfer of all stores to Pocahontas, and left a force here under
Colonel Solon Borland's command in February 1862, General Earl Van
Dorn, commander of the Trans-Mississippi Dept. of the Confederate
Army, established headquarters in Pocahontas. His command included
all the Missouri and Arkansas, Indian Territory, and Louisiana down
to the Red River. General Van Dorn and his army of more than 16,000
troops marched from here to Northwest Arkansas, where they were
defeated at the Battle of Pea ridge March 7 - 8, 1862. On September
13, 1864, General Sterling Price and his army of 12,000 troops
arrived in Pocahontas for 3 days, repairing wagons and reshodding
calvary [sic] horses. On September 17, the army marched north from
here and the Invasion of Missouri began. Five engagements were
fought in Pocahontas between 1862 - 1864. Excerpt from the diary of
Pvt. Peter Hotze of the Little Rock Capital Guards, 6th Infantry,
Company A: "July 3, 1861. Today we arrived in Pocahontas after a
short march of eight miles. The band played as we marched through
the village. Captain Trigg's company greeted us with a gun salute.
Rumor is that several thousand men are camping in the area. We are
stationed 1 and 1/2 miles outside the village. July 6. I went with a
few comrades to the village and bought a pair of slacks, shoes, and
a few other items. Because of the large amount of men and officers
in the area, we are not able to eat at the hotel. We went to the bar
and bought two cans of sardines and had to eat them without a
cracker or bread. In the whole village there was nothing else
available. July 13. Yesterday I went to Pocahontas to buy a wool
blanket, but there was not a new one available in the whole village.
We had a long drill and for the first time practiced loading and
firing in the kneeling positions.
Concept, Design, and Text by Gary D. Gazaway for the 2006 Pocahontas
Sesquicentennial Committe [sic], Linda Oakley Bowlin, Chairman.
Pitman's Ferry
In 1803, William Hix operated the first ferry in Arkansas over the
Current River, which separates northeastern Randolph Country from
Missouri. It was on the Natchedoches Trace, also known as the Old
Southwest Trail. This important road had been used for centuries by
Native Americans and could have been an animal and Paleo-Indian
migration trail as early as 10,000 B.C. It was the main
transportation artery west of the Mississippi River, and traversed
from St. Louis, south to Texas, and then to Mexico. In the
government survey of 1817, Hix's Ferry was called the "Gateway to
Arkansas", and important geographical landmark for the early
pioneers immigrating west during the early 1800's. The ferry was
visited and described on record by early explorers Henry
Schoolcraft, Major Stephen Long, George Featherstonhaugh, Frederick
Gerstaecker, and Dr. George Englemann. Dr. Peyton Pitman acquired
the Ferry from Hix around 1820, and by the 1830's, the Southwest
Trail was declared the National Military Road, with a post office at
Pitman's Ferry. The first circus performance in Arkansas was at
Pitman's Ferry in 1838 by the W. Waterman Company on route to Little
Rock. On July 22, 1861, Confederate General William J. Hardee,
commander of more than 6,000 troops for the protection of the Upper
District of Arkansas, established headquarters and training at
Pitman's Ferry. It was reported that a fort existed there with
military well, trenches, earthworks, mass Confederate burials, and
that a newspaper was published by the Confederate while there. Three
engagements were fought at Pitman's Ferry in 1862. Excerpt from the
diary of Wallace Benson, Algonquin, Il., 36th Illinois, Company H:
May 15, 1862. "We traveled 28 miles and camped on the Current River.
A portion of General Street's division has just passed over the
river. The report is that patients here are sick with small-pox.
Mail came in with the news that Memphis was taken. We passed men
constructing telegraph . We learned that this place Pitman's Ferry
was occupied by about four thousand of Hardee's forces and that this
was his headquarters. There is abundant evidence, for many a board,
some of them hastily marked, stands at the head of a grave that was
caused by this accursed rebellion. A portion of our boys crossed
before the regiments came up and on returning, the boat sprung a
leak, and the boys were frightened, and rushed for one end of the
boat and sank it. I saw five that were taken out dead from the 15th
Missouri, and the report was that twelve were drowned.
Concept, Design, and Text by Gary D. Gazaway for the 2006 Pocahontas
Sesquicentennial Committe [sic], Linda Oakley Bowlin,, Chairman.
"The Missouri Swamp Fox" is Captured in
Pocahontas
Confederate Brigadier General Jeff Thompson was known as "The
Missouri Swamp Fox" because he was so elusive at ambushing and
escaping the Union Army during the first years of the war. General
Thompson led a battalion of calvary [sic] that conducted raids over
Southeast Missouri and Northeast Arkansas and used horses, but often
moved with his soldiers on the rivers and through the swamps in
small boats, ambushing and seizing ships and soldiers on the
Mississippi River, then disappearing into the wilderness. General
Thompson and his staff were captured at the St. Charles Hotel in
Pocahontas on August 22, 1863. Thompson, whose humor, civility,
charm and prowess at guerilla tactics earned him such a reputation
that when he was finally captured, he was treated like a gentleman
and a celebrity by the Union. Thompson was released in exchange for
a Union general on July 29, 1864. He returned to Arkansas in time to
take up his command for General Sterling Price's 1864 invasion of
Missouri. He was one of the last Confederate commanders to surrender
and did at Jacksonport, Arkansas with 6,000 soldiers on June 5,
1865, nearly two months after General Lee's surrender on April 9.
Excerpt from a Report from H.C. Gentry, Captain, Commanding, 2nd
Missouri State Militia Calvary [sic], Cape Giradeu, Mo. August 27,
1863: "The whole command marched south in the direction of
Pocahontas, on the morning of August 20; continuing our march until
the 22nd, we were informed at a mill 4 miles north of Pocahontas,
that General Thompson and staff were at that time in town, and
number of rebel soldiers were strolling about the place with their
guns. I immediately informed the colonel of the fact, when I was
ordered forward and "to catch him if I could." On entering the
suburbs of the town, a lady, seeing our guidons, swung her
handkerchief and shouted, "Glory, glory, glory!" when the boys
raised a shout that would have done credit to the Chickasaws, and
made the straggling rebels shiver in their shoes (those that had
any), and brought the general himself to the window of a lower room,
he pointed to his saber setting in the corner of the room. He then
introduced me to his adjutant-general, and I told him that I was
glad to see him; he said he "did not doubt it." An ordinance
officer, a captain, not knowing that the Feds were in possession of
the town, entered the general's room, by permission of the guard,
and saluted the general, who inquired where he was from; he said
"From Major Crandall's camp", and, on seeing me remarked, "You have
a Federal prisoner, I see." "Yes," says the general, "You are a
prisoner yourself." I then ordered him to hand over his dispatches,
when he moved toward the door. The guard brought his "sharp" to bear
on him; the general told him to fork it over, it was no joke, when
he handsomely came down with the papers, and seemed to realize his
situation.
Concept, Design, and Text by Gary D. Gazaway for the 2006 Pocahontas
Sesquicentennial Committee, Linda Oakley Bowlin, Chairman.
General Sterling Price's Invasion of Missouri
Randolph County was a "No-Man's Land" during all the years of the
Civil War. Pocahontas and Pitman's Ferry were strategic locations
because of their necessary river crossings and important roads, and
both the Union and the Confederate Armies occupied the county off
and on at different times throughout the war. Many citizens and
families in Arkansas and Missouri were divided about secession.
Union patrols, bushwackers, and guerilla bands confiscated food and
livestock, burned homes and barns, and even killed local citizens
including women and children. In the summer of 1864, the Confederacy
was suffering defeats on all fronts, and Lt. General E. Kirby Smith,
commander of the Trans-Mississippi Dept. of the Confederate Army,
issued orders to Major General Sterling Price to invade Missouri and
retake possession of the state. General Price organized his army in
Southwest Arkansas in August 1864 with 12,000 men. The army left
Camden on August 28 for a rendezvous here in Pocahontas on September
13 with 3 Confederate Divisions, commanded by General James F.
Fagan, John S. Marmaduke, and General Joseph O. Shelby. On September
17, after repairing over 300 wagons and reshodding calvary [sic]
horses in war-torn Pocahontas, the Invasion of Missouri began. The
army advanced north from here with General Marmaduke entering
Missouri at Pitman's Ferry on the Military Road and arriving at
Poplar Bluff on September 19; General Price's headquarters with
General Fagan's Division moved up the center column, entering
Missouri at Indian Ford on Current River also on September 19; and
General Shelby's Calvary [sic] Division headed up the Pocahontas to
Doniphan road, arriving in Doniphan the afternoon of September 17,
1864, with the entire town in flames. It had been set on fire that
morning by a scouting part of Union troops upon learning of the
upcoming Confederate invasion, and a number of citizens were killed
while trying to defend their homes. Price and his army went on deep
into Missouri, fought at Westport (Kansas City) and them moved into
Kansas, where most of his army was captured. He then retreated
through Indian Territory into Texas, and re-entered Arkansas at
Laynesport. Some of the worst savagery in American history occurred
along the Arkansas-Missouri border during the Civil War. Never
before or since have Americans exhibited such brutality towards
their fellow Americans. Excerpt from a report by Colonel T.J.
Oliphant of General Fagan's Division, September 1864: "When we
passed the Arkansas line and entered Missouri, I will never forget
the scene of smoking ruins that was presented for miles; to see
women and children in the frosty morning standing beside embers
which but yesterday was a comfortable home, was heart-rending
scene."
Concept, Design, and Text by Gary D. Gazaway for the 2006 Pocahontas
Sesquicentennial Committe [sic], Linda Oakley Bowlin, Chairman.
Randolph County Civil War Time Line
1863
August 22 - 23 Actons [sic] at Pocahontas with Union Arkansas 2nd
Calvary [sic] and Missouri 2nd State Militia Calvary [sic]; against
Confederate forces under Genaral [sic] Thompson's command. Thompson
and his staff are captured at the St. Charles Hotel in Pocahontas.
August 24 Skirmish at Pocahontas with Missouri 1st Calvary [sic];
against Confederate unidentified forces.
1864
January 10 Skirmish at Pocahontas with Nebraska 1st Calvary [sic];
against confederate unidentified forces.
March 20 Skirmish at Pocahontas with 3rd Missouri State Militia
Calvary [sic] against Confederate unidentified conscripting party (bushwackers).
May 8 Skirmish at Cherokee Bay with 3rd Missouri State Militia
Calvary [sic] against unidentified Confederate forces.
September 13 - 19 General Sterling Price arrived in Pocahontas with
more than 12,000 troops, and on September 17, his invasion of
Missouri began.
1865
January 24 - February 22. Expeditions with Missouri 2nd State
Militia Calvary [sic]. Excerpt from a report by Colonel J.B. Rogers,
Commanding, February 27, 1865: "With the balance of the troops I
pushed on as far as the vicinity of Eleven Point River, some ten
miles below Pocahontas. We found the country almost entirely
destitute of forage. We killed several guerrillas in that vicinity.
Being unable to hear of any force of the enemy, and finding it
nearly impossible to subsist either men or horses, I returned to
Cherokee Bay, thoroughly scouting the country in pursuit of the
guerrilla bands of Reeves and Bowles. 19 guerrillas were killed, and
1 captured. I found that country infested by small bands of
guerrillas, who will not stand and fight but subsist by plundering
the inhabitants, and the swamps and the cane breaks of the region
afford them secure shelter, rendering it extremely difficult to find
and destroy them. I think a post at either Doniphan or Pocahontas
would soon dispose of them. I find the sentiment of the people of
Northern Arkansas friendly to the United State Government, much more
so than in Missouri, and think it but needs fostering and protection
to revive their affection for the old flag. The oppression and
wrongs suffered by them from the usurped authority imposed on them
serves but to render their remembrance of the olden time, the more
to be valued by them. I think a local force could be raised there,
loyal and true, sufficiently strong to guard themselves, if arms
were furnished them and an opportunity to organize."
Concept, Design, and Text by Gary D. Gazaway for the 2006 Pocahontas
Sesquicentennial Committe [sic], Linda Oakley Bowlin, Chairman.
