Chapter 17: Second Campaign

Jun 22 - 26, 1861

We purposely took our time on the trip downriver, arriving, as planned, in the late afternoon of the 22nd, which was a Saturday. Once I was off the boat, I asked where I could rent a warehouse to hold two hundred slaves, as well as where I could find the Methodist Church and what time services were tomorrow.

I must have been convincing, since the guards on the dock barely looked at the six wagons we unloaded. I arranged to use a warehouse just outside of town, near the two slave markets. The twenty white men with me led two hundred shackled Negroes off the boat towards the warehouse. The wagons followed. The rest of our troops remained hidden aboard.

Once we were inside the warehouse, the shackles quickly came off and the men began rummaging through the wagons as if setting up for the night. What they were really doing was getting their weapons, ammunition, and uniforms.

I was out of the confining suit and back into my buckskins so fast that nobody even saw me change. I had felt as if I were bound tightly with rope the entire time I had to wear the suit. Just before 11:00, I crept back outside to check for guards posted in the city. The only troops that were awake were at the cannon batteries and on the docks.

By the time I got there, the troops on the docks were literally on the docks, unconscious, gagged, and bound securely. They were quickly secured aboard one of our boats. The grinning Sioux troops who captured them proudly signed that they had counted coup on the soldiers but hit them a little too hard in the head and knocked them out.

One by one, using stealth, the Sioux warriors captured the five batteries above the city guarding the river. From our supply wagons, we took cement and mixed it with sand and water, pouring the mortar into the barrels of the cannons after we loaded them with powder. The cannon would have to be recast before they could be used again. The powder should have dried by then and would provide an unpleasant surprise.

With the cannons secure, our troops surrounded the barracks while I captured the telegraph office. Once I secured the telegraph office, the Sioux crept into the barracks. Having successfully snuck up on guards who were awake and on duty, the poor souls in the barracks didn’t have a chance against the stealthy Sioux.

Once we had captured the Confederate troops, our troops spread out across town. Our white troops wearing their Union uniforms were indistinguishable from the Confederate troops since the Confederate troops still wore the Union blue at this early date in the war. Fifty of our white troops secured the docks so as not to alarm any new boats that arrived. More of our troops boarded and captured each of the fourteen steamboats docked for the night.

Our Sioux troops took to the hills around town, sealing the town off to prevent anyone from escaping. Several went out five miles from town to scout and warn us of any troop movements.

Negro troops secured the railroads, preventing any trains from leaving, and were ready to capture any that arrived. By dawn, we had the city secured as tightly as it could be. The citizens panicked in the morning when they awoke, finding Negro troops patrolling the city. We had the commander of the Confederate troops help calm the people down.

He was able to report that none of his men had been harmed when they were captured, and reminded everyone that we had released, unharmed, all the passengers on the steamboats we captured in New Orleans. He also warned that we would shoot on sight any civilians seen with a weapon, and any attempt to harm the Union troops would lead to us burning the entire city to the ground.

We began loading all the docked boats with everything of value in the warehouses and on the trains. At the same time, our troops rode out twenty miles and began raiding plantations, working their way back towards town. They led the shackled owners and white employees into town; the slaves were freed. The freed slaves assisted with looting the plantations of valuables, weapons, food, livestock, and crops. There was very little cotton left, although we found nearly a ton of sugar, some at the plantations and some in warehouses in town.

We raided seventeen plantations, freeing nearly four thousand slaves. We released even more slaves from the cells around the slave market, and from individual homes in Vicksburg. Then we looted all four banks.

In the four and a half days we were there, we captured eleven more steamboats, all but three arriving from the north. We conscripted the crews of every boat, forcing them to sail north, their boats loaded with our spoils and with more than six thousand freed slaves. As boats began leaving, escorted by our troops, our troops began sabotaging rail lines and telegraph wires. We loosened rails in several places, requiring a careful survey of a dozen miles in each direction before the rails were safe to use again. We sabotaged two bridges, so they were ready to collapse if they were used. We sent one final telegraph message to Washington, Richmond, St. Louis, and Libertyville: “Vicksburg and environs captured and looted by hundreds of armed Negroes in Union uniforms.” Then we cut the telegraph wires and removed a mile of wire in each direction.

Along with the telegraph wires, we took any telegraph keys we could locate in the telegraph office, chopped down the poles for the mile of wire we removed, and took the acid-filled batteries that powered the telegraph.

July 6-7

Upon our jubilant return to St. Louis, Captain Scott and a different general met us. Actually, Captain Scott was now Colonel Scott, receiving a promotion from the visiting general. Scott’s replacement was already on his way to Fort Leavenworth, and Scott was now officially, strictly in charge of our band of “irregulars.” The general was amazed that we had been able to capture three cities without the loss of a single life. He was even more impressed with the twenty-five steamboats we captured in Vicksburg, and the wealth we had loaded aboard those boats.

I learned that there had been another battle in Missouri in the far southwest corner. Confederate forces won the small skirmish, giving pro-secessionists hope.

I sent the five hundred Confederate troops we captured in Vicksburg to Libertyville to work the fields. The six thousand plus slaves we freed accompanied them, along with the livestock, most of the food, and anything else I felt Libertyville could use. Given the choice of working behind a plow all day or languishing in a disease riddled military prison until the hostilities ended, the Confederate commander chose staring at the back side of a mule all day.

Before he left, I warned him that if even a single person in Libertyville were injured by one of his troops, I would take my men back to Vicksburg and burn the city to the ground. Then I would begin along the shore of the Mississippi River and work my way to the Atlantic, burning everything and killing everyone along the way until someone managed to stop me. I reminded him that the captains aboard the steamboats had plenty of shackles, and if he felt one or more of his men were dangerous, he should have the captain shackle them for the duration. If someone were hurt, every one of his men would sit inside a warehouse until one side sued for peace. He assured me that he understood and appreciated us not sending them to rot in a prison for the duration.

July 8

We hadn’t even finished cataloging the contents of the boats we brought back, deciding what to keep, what to sell, and what to send north, when fifty-nine boats arrived from Natchez. I was immediately glad that our agricultural production in Libertyville had continued to grow. We wouldn’t be selling any of it this year, as we would need it to help feed the more than twenty thousand freed slaves they brought with them. They even pressed the Paha Sapa into service to carry cargo, using several of her barges to carry livestock instead of coal. They filled two barges with nothing but pigs. Many of the other steamboats also pushed or pulled barges with livestock and other confiscated goods.

Their raid also went off smoothly, and they looted more than a million dollars in gold and silver bullion or coins from the wealthy plantations, slave markets, and the banks in town. That didn’t even count the confiscated jewelry.

They brought back a little more cotton than we did, as well as a little more sugar. We sold the sugar and loaded it aboard trains bound for the East. Once word of our exploits got out in the east, buyers quickly began descending on St. Louis for the express purpose of buying what we brought back.

July 11

Sixty-five boats arrived from Baton Rouge today. Aside from the more than fifteen thousand slaves they freed, they brought thirty-seven families from the Baton Rouge area who decided that they’d had enough of the “Confederate folly” that they could defeat Union forces quickly and easily. They asked to go with our troops to somewhere safe to raise their families. Our two attacks on Baton Rouge had left the entire area shaken. They also returned loaded with the spoils from the Baton Rouge armory and powder magazine, as well as plantations, banks, warehouses, and trains. They brought back another five thousand freed slaves from Natchez who didn’t fit on the boats that had already left there.

Both groups sent out the final telegraphed message announcing the capture of the city by Negro troops before cutting their telegraph service.

From the Baton Rouge arsenal, we got more than two thousand revolvers, single-shot rifles, and thousands of pounds of powder from the powder magazine that the Confederates confiscated when they seized the Baton Rouge federal powder magazine and arsenal. Our visiting general felt that our first raid on New Orleans, and these three raids may have captured a quarter of the Confederate supply of arms and munitions.

July 14

Our second flotilla of freed slaves, captive Confederate soldiers, and voluntary emigrants from Baton Rouge, as well as livestock, food, and goods left today for Libertyville. The commanding officer of the Confederate soldiers made the same choice as the previous one. I gave him the same warning I did the first commander about the consequences were anyone in Libertyville injured.

More than three thousand of the slaves wanted to stay and fight. Scott suggested training them here since we had enough weapons to arm them from among the captured weapons. Surprisingly, a couple of days after our return, a handful of men began showing up each day asking to enlist in our group. Now, a week later, the number was fast approaching a hundred recruits a day.

Many of the recruits were from eastern Tennessee. They were upset because they hadn’t wanted to secede from the Union and had tried unsuccessfully to form a separate state. They were also unsuccessful in the election to determine whether to remain as part of the Union or to secede. Now, Confederate soldiers occupied East Tennessee.

We sent off orders for more uniforms and weapons and set about training the new men. I sent word with one of the boats going to Libertyville to send us half of the three-inch ordnance rifles, and plenty of shells for them. More than a hundred of the freed slaves who were too old to enlist asked to help in some way. We had them start molding Minié balls and other bullets from the lead and measuring and filling paper cartridges with powder for our various rifles.

July 22

We got word today of a battle at Manassas where nearly a thousand men died. I had nightmares all night thinking about carnage like that on a potentially much larger scale.

We planned to train the new troops for thirty days before our next attack. Unfortunately, they got barely more than a week and a half before we were galvanized into action. Several recent arrivals told of twenty-thousand Confederate troops headed for Springfield, Missouri, where Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon’s much smaller Army of the West was encamped.

The good thing was that the supplies we ordered had arrived via train. Evidently, customers paying up front with gold and silver got first priority. I liked that, although the army probably didn’t.

We had taken a very limited number of horses on our previous raids, but since choosing St. Louis as our base of operations, horses and mules had been arriving from Libertyville aboard each of our boats that returned, and aboard any other boat that would take them. Some of the horses had been purchased and shipped by rail from Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Iowa, and Michigan.

We spent one day planning our next action, with Scott doing most of the planning. We needed to travel light and fast to get there in time. We took twenty of our three-inch ordnance rifles with us, along with the shells, powder, and everything else stored in the caisson and limber.

Jul 31

We were cheered as we left town at sunrise. I wasn’t aware that so many people in St. Louis were up at sunrise. The trip was hot; the temperature neared ninety degrees most days. It rained three days, providing us with an inch of rain and welcome relief from the heat and the sun. The humidity after the rain, however, made the cooler temperatures just as uncomfortable as the hotter temperatures.

Our Sioux scouts roamed far around us in every direction to warn of ambushes or approaching troops. They found the Confederates on August 7 and we hurried to catch up.

Aug 9 morning

The main body of our troops stopped well south of the Confederate scouts and pickets, hoping to remain undetected.

The Confederate scouts ranged north, east, and west, watching for movement from the Army of the West. Our Sioux scouts managed to get close enough to both camps to hear plans of attack, which were scheduled by both sides for tomorrow morning. The Army of the West planned to attack shortly before true sunrise.

I went with our scouts shortly before sunset to scout the Confederate artillery, and to plan locations for our artillery, sharpshooters, and troops. Throughout the night, we brought our artillery in slowly so as not to make any loud noises that would give away our presence. It wasn’t an easy thing, and we finally stopped a mile short of where I wanted to be rather than ruin the surprise.