The Battle of Belmont can be divided into two phases: The Federals on the attack and the Federals on the retreat. This section covers the former. It was Grant’s first significant battle and the only one where he would be around the front line. Despite this, he is fairly absent from the drive on Belmont. Even in Nathaniel C. Hughes’ comprehensive study of the battle it is usually McClernand or Dougherty who make the wider decisions. Grant appears to have been content to devise the general battle plan and then let his subordinates take initiative. Most accounts place him staying in close proximity to Dougherty, and he did come under fire many times, with one horse shot out from under him. Likely he gave general directions to his brigade commanders and approved their choices, which were sound up to the taking of Camp Johnston.
Opening
Order of Battle
Union
Commander: Brigadier-General Ulysses S. Grant
First (Cairo)
Brigade: Brigadier-General; John McClernand
27th
Illinois: Colonel Napoleon Bonaparte Buford
30th
Illinois: Colonel Francis B. Fouke
31st
Illinois: Colonel John A. Logan
Second Brigade:
Colonel Henry Dougherty
22nd
Illinois: Lieutenant-Colonel Harrison E. Hart
7th
Iowa: Colonel Jacob G. Lauman
Dollin’s Cavalry
Company: Captain James J. Dollins
Delano’s Adams
County Cavalry Company: Lieutenant James K. Catlin
Chicago Light
Battery: Captain Ezra Taylor
Fleet: Commander
Henry A. Walke
U.S.S. Lexington: Commander Roger N.
Stembel
U.S.S. Tyler: Commander Henry A. Walke
Confederate
Commander: Brigadier-General Gideon J. Pillow
Camp Johnston:
Colonel James C. Tappan
13th
Arkansas: Colonel James C. Tappan
1st
Mississippi Cavalry Battalion: Lieutenant-Colonel John H. Miller
Watson
Battery: Lieutenant-Colonel Daniel Beltzhoover
Pillow’s
Reinforcements
12th
Tennessee: Colonel Robert M. Russell
13th
Tennessee: Colonel John V. Wright
21st
Tennessee: Colonel Edward Pickett, Jr.
22nd
Tennessee: Colonel Thomas J. Freeman
The
Morning Engagement
Grant’s army marched in
column down the Belmont Road. McClernand’s brigade went in front. As they
brushed against Confederate cavalry pickets, McClernand put his men into line
of battle, a difficult task in the thick woods. He put the 27th
Illinois on the right, the 31st Illinois in the center, and the 30th
on its left. Taylor’s artillery unlimbered to the left and rear of the 30th.
Dougherty’s brigade went onto McClernand’s left, the 7th Iowa lining
up next and then the 22nd Illinois on the northern left flank. The
rest of the artillery went behind Dougherty. McClernand ordered two companies from
each of his regiment to advance (with Dougherty following suit). The
skirmishers from the 30th and 31st Illinois ran into
enemy fire, so McClernand sent more of his brigade their way.[1]
For a good while only the occasional pop of a musket could be heard. One
sergeant in the 7th Iowa recalled, “Many of our boys began to
despond of having a fight.”[2]
Company A of the 27th
Illinois encountered enemy cavalry and exchanged fire. Buford moved up the rest
of his regiment and it crossed over a bayou. Since this was the only
considerable firing heard so far, the other four regiments to the north, having
only trekked through uninhabited forest, shifted right in an oblique maneuver.
McClernand attempted to shift his men to the south while keeping their
alignment with each other. As it happened this was the correct move for finding
the enemy. If they had kept going forward they would have gone past Pillow’s
line and the camp. The move was not without complications. Buford’s 27th
Illinois severed its link with the 30th. Dougherty’s men ended up
marching towards the rear of McClernand’s brigade instead of coming on its
left. Regardless, this movement flanked the Confederate skirmishers and sent
them running for Pillow’s main line.[3]
Taylor’s Battery struggled to keep up with
the infantry. If the forest made it difficult for the infantry to advance
together, it was awful for large field pieces to maneuver. Taylor wrote, “The
trees were so thick that we had to cut them down to allow the guns to pass…the
march through this dense forest with plenty of underbrush and dead wood, was
one of the most difficult I ever experienced, and I am astonished to say that
we succeeded in getting the pieces through this wild country.”[4]
On the other side, the men in Pillow’s
main line got a preview of what was to come. Captain Robert Hancock Wood of the
12th Tennessee saw two Arkansas emerged from the trees carrying a
grievously wounded comrade between him. A bullet had torn across his throat.
“His face wore a ghastly expression & as they passed me he was gasping out
complaints against his Lieutenant who he said had ordered him too far forward.
The man was laid down and he died. Wood tended to his corpse, closing his eyes
and straightening out his limbs to create a more dignified picture.[5]
Pillow had just started sending out
skirmishers when contact was made. He claimed in his report that the fighting
began so suddenly that he had no time to make other preparations, such as
scouting out the ground and choosing the best battleground. At least this was
his excuse when he faced criticism for his deployment.[6]
Far to the east Companies B and H of the
7th Iowa advanced as skirmishers in a corn field. They got separated
by a slough, with Company H under Captain Benjamin Crabb going further ahead.
Crabb’s men bumped into a line of Confederate skirmishers “and immediately
engaged them, driving them before us entirely through the woods into the open
field of Belmont, where they disappeared beyond a long ridge in the middle of
an open field.” Company H was in pursuit, when the Confederates rose from
behind the ridge and drove them back with combined musket and cannon fire.[7]
Logan’s 31st Illinois was now
the left flank of Union line. It faced the 12th Tennessee, 13th
Arkansas, and the northern end of the 22nd Tennessee. Logan gave
Colonel White command of his left flank. White attacked the 12th
Tennessee and withdrew after an exchange of volleys. The 31st
Illinois took cover behind trees, logs, and buses. Despite their cover, two
captains in the regiment fell wounded. Logan ordered his men to lie down and
further minimize casualties.[8]
While the action unfolded, Chief
Medical Officer Brinton set up a field hospital at the edge of a wood, having
all water collected there. He then rode out to find the battle line and General
Grant. Following the sounds of firing, he came upon several wounded Federals
left amidst the woods. One had only been grazed by a bullet, but was crying out
in terror. Brinton told him his wound was nothing to worry about and the man
calmed down. The next casualty he viewed was much worse. A shell had torn off
“the whole of the skin and muscles of the back from the nape of the neck to the
thighs and on both sides of the spine…as if the tissues had been scooped out by
a clean-cutting curved instrument.” Brinton said he never saw a worse case. The
unfortunate man died. For the rest of the fight Brinton followed the firing
line, stopping to dress wounds and direct casualties to the hospital, or
assistant surgeons and ambulances to where the wounded were thick.[9]
Brinton also came across an
armed Federal. The soldier displayed no wounds and the surgeon suspected he had
slunk away from the firing line. The medical officer asked his name and
regiment. After getting an answer he declared against him, “you are a coward
and are skulking, and I will report you.” Riding past the soldier, he suddenly
got an uneasy feeling. He looked over his shoulder to see the skulker aiming at
him with his rifle. Brinton pulled out his pistol and rode off. No shots were
fired.[10]
A painting of the Confederates in the woods around Belmont. Presumably
the pistol-wielding officer is Gideon Pillow based on one of his photographs.
The Bayonet Charge
It took a little time for the Federals
on the east to join the fighting. Hearing the firing on his right while most of
his brigade remained unengaged, Dougherty ordered his two regiments to the west
“through almost impenetrable woods, climbing over felled trees and filing
around tree-tops.” When they got through this tangle, they sorted themselves
back into a line, now on the right of McClernand’s brigade, and encountered the
13th and 21st Tennessee.[11]
Back at the battle line, Colonel Logan
thought his 31st Illinois was being outflanked. It was true, as the
12th Tennessee fired into the northern end of his line. Under
McClernand’s direction Logan moved to the left. It soon did not matter, as the
Tennesseans ran out of ammunition. Their commander, Colonel Robert Russell,
ordered a detail of men under Lieutenant-Colonel Tyree Bell to the rear to look
for cartridges. The first cartridges they found were too large for their
muskets, forcing them to search longer. Pillow came up and learned of the 12th’s
vulnerability. He ordered the Bell’s regiment to charge with their bayonets. In
fact, Pillow ordered the entire line to charge, though the 13th
Tennessee on the left failed to get the word.[12]
One Confederate soldier, Private
Stephenson, recalled the bayonet charge in very dramatic fashion. “We ran out
of ammunition! The twenty rounds were gone in a little while! And there we
were! A pretty predicament! What then? We did the only thing we could do except
to run! We charged! Charged bayonet!”[13]
Pillow went out into the open with his staff, cheering on the men. This drew
the attention of the Federals. One took aim at him with his rifle. Seeing this,
staff officer Gustavus A. Henry Hr. cried out to his commander. Pillow “spurred
his horse & the fellow fired & down went my horse.” Two staff officers
fell wounded. Every horse went down dead or wounded.[14]
The effectiveness of the charge differed
along the line. An officer in the 12th Tennessee estimated that his
regiment only got within 50 yards of the Federal line before it had to fall
back.[15]
Colonel Tappan of the 13th Arkansas at first thought the order was a
mistake, “as the enemy was not visible to my regiment up to this time.” When he
saw the 12th Tennessee advance, however, he quickly followed suit.
The Arkansas made it 70 yards before falling back to their wooded protection.[16]
The 22nd Tennessee advanced
50 yards over a fence into the woods. Colonel Thomas Freeman followed the front
line on horseback. When he entered the woods he saw his lines broken up by the
dense brush, and the Federals within 100 yards in deeper forest. The 22nd
was immediately thrown into confusion. Colonel Freeman heard a voice crying
“Retire! Retire!” When he investigated, a captain claimed that they were
running into the 21st Tennessee’s line of fire. The 22nd’s
left flank fell back, battered by heavy fire. Freeman never learned who gave
the command “Retire” but judged that by the heavy volume of the enemy fire it
was the right call.[17]
The 21st Tennessee got
further. It charged over nearly 200 yards of open ground. Once it hit the edge
of the woods, “a tremendous fire of musketry suddenly opened upon my line from
the concealed enemy at very short distance.” Worse, Colonel Pickett realized
that he had no support on his right. He ordered his regiment to halt and fire
from a kneeling posture. Pickett claimed that his men were able to hold in this
position for three quarters of an hour. When it was obvious that no support was
coming up, the 21st withdrew to a ravine.[18]
In his reports Pillow would claim that
he ordered three bayonet charges and that these threw the Federals back a
significant distance. Hearing otherwise, an incredulous Polk (who was also in a
post-battle dispute with Pillow) would demand additional reports from the
commanders of the regiments to ascertain if there was indeed more than one
charge and whether they were effective. Colonel Freeman of the 22nd
Tennessee wrote that “the charge was ill-judged and almost impossible to have
been executed with success against an enemy in such numbers.” This view was
echoed in several other reports and Confederate veteran sources.[19]
After beating back the 21st
Tennessee’s assault, Colonel Lauman told his 7th Iowa “to fall to
the ground” so that enemy fire would pass over them. He then ordered them to
advance, but not in the customary fashion. He said, “Crawl boys,” and they
wormed their way closer to the enemy, the underbrush concealing their movement.
Finally Lauman barked, “Up, boys, and fire.” The Iowans rose up and hit the
Confederates.[20]
Napoleon Buford was well into his fifties but
would never rise above brigadier-general
except in a brevet capacity.
Further west, Buford led his regiment on
the Bird’s Point Road, away from the scene of battle. He claimed in his report
that he expected it to lead into the enemy rear, but just as likely he was
trying to get his men around an obstructive slough (a shallow but considerable
body of water) and got disconnected from his brigade as a result. Dollins’
cavalry went ahead of him to look for any foes in his path. Captain Bielaski, the
Pole from McClernand’s staff, personally attended Buford’s regiment. The 27th
Illinois ended far west of the main battle line.[21]
Around
noon, Walke attacked the east shore guns again, this time getting “nearly a
quarter of a mile nearer.” A shell struck the Lexington’s “starboard bulwarks, continuing obliquely through the
spar deck, and in its course taking off the head of one man and injuring two
others, one quite seriously.” Walke wrote, “This convinced me of the necessity
of withdrawing my vessels.”[22]
Pillow’s
Line Wavers
One company of the 22nd
Tennessee received an unwelcome visitor. An angry officer rode up and
threatened “to blow the brains” of any man who did not move back to a new
position. Captain Wood, commander of the company, was furious. He did not
recognize the officer, did not like the vile way he was giving out orders, and
recognized that a withdrawal of his men would destroy the battle line. He
demanded to know who the officer was, and learned that he was a drunk surgeon
from the 13th Arkansas who had decided to get involved in the battle.[23]
Beltzhoover’s artillerists in the Watson
Battery grew desperate, loading and firing their pieces at record speed. This
caused mistakes, the greatest when one man fired off his gun while Private
Clement Ory was still ramming in ammunition down the barrel. The rammer shot
out into Ory. It took out an eye, killed his hearing, and crippled his left
arm, hand, and fingers. Worse, the dense forestry caught and minimized the
impact of their projectiles. Many Federals said they caused no trouble at all
besides throwing branches down on them.[24]
Making matters worse, Taylor’s Chicago
Battery pulled up on the right of the 30th Illinois, very close to
the Watson Battery. Having passed many dead and wounded infantrymen on the way
over, Taylor’s gunners fired with “a spirit of revenge.” The opposing artillery
blasted heavily at each other. Thanks to the trees and brush, they caused
little damage, but plenty of debris. One officer wrote, “After their discharge
my men would shake the limbs and branches off themselves.” Taylor’s artillery
pieces, four of them, were positioned in advance of the infantry with just a
company of the 31st Illinois for protection. This guard fell back
under the intense shelling and the Chicago gunners felt exposed. They did begin
to see casualties among Beltzhoover’s Louisianans. They saw some of their solid
shot take off the heads of Confederates. A team of limber horses panicked and
ran away from the firing, dragging wheels over the legs of Lieutenant C.P.
Ball. Unfortunately they also took out one of their own men. In the deafening
moment, a George Q. White thought that his gun had fired. He ran to the barrel
to clean it out with a sponge just as another pulled the lanyard. His gun fired
for real this time, tearing off his right arm. Holding up his stump, he wailed
to his commanding officer, “Oh Lieutenant, I can’t help you.”[25]
Wright’s 13th Tennessee was
the closest protection for the artillerists. They suffered considerable losses.
Wright fell off his horse and twisted his knee, taking him out of action.
Lieutenant-Colonel Alfred Vaughan took over. His horse was cut down. Wanting to
be mounted and visible for his men, Vaughan cut a horse or mule loose from one
of the artillery teams and commandeered it. One company under Captain Sam Latta
had been positioned in the field, and had to lay down as they gave and received
fire. One of his men said “that if we had stood erect…not one half of us would
have escaped.” Latta became a minor casualty. A bullet struck him around the
waist. It was blunted by a watch fob and layers of clothing so that he escaped
with just an ugly purple bruise.[26]
Beltzhoover’s guns started to run out of
ammunition. Dead horses surrounded the caissons (around 45 would be killed by
the end of the battle). One of the guns was also dangerously exposed in a
field. Pillow wanted to direct part of the 13th Tennessee to the
rescue, but found them “hotly engaged” and “in such close proximity to [the
enemy], that I thought it would be better to let the gun go, even if it should
be ultimately lost, than to weaken the small force which then held in check the
enemy’s masses.”[27] The
Confederates abandoned the gun while the 7th Iowa came after it.
Realizing that they had forgotten to spike it, a boy turned around and ran
back. Somehow, with Federals swarming around him, he was able to spike the gun
and “escape without a scratch.”[28]
In
this part of the battle Union officers suffered a series of near-misses. A
bullet struck McClernand’s holster, striking his pistol. A Captain Dresser’s
horse was shot from under him, and a Captain Schwartz’s animal suffered two
wounds. General Grant’s horse was also shot from under him.[29]
Though the Confederates were getting it hard, they were still putting up a hard
fight. Unfortunately for them a mistake on the Federals’ part was to end up as
a tactical masters stroke.
Strike at Camp
Johnston
As
the battle raged to the east, Buford’s 27th Illinois and Dollins’
Cavalry continued on Bird’s Point Road to the south. They finally came upon a
clearing, beyond it abatis made of sycamore trees. This was the main
Confederate camp, protected only by Captain Matt Rhea’s Company A of the 13th
Tennessee. Though behind the main battle line, Rhea’s men were hit by bullets
that sailed through Beltzhoover’s Watson Battery. Rhea saw the 27th
Illinois coming at him, but it was not fully deployed for battle. Taking
advantage, Company A quickly got off a volley that had telling effect.[30]
 |
| Alexander Bielaski first served in the Russian military, but joined his Polish brethren for an independent country in the 1830-1831 November Uprising. When that failed he immigrated to America |
The 27th Illinois’ emergence below Belmont had exposed its left flank in an open space in full view of Columbus. Confederate batteries on the other shore, which had gone through two inconclusive rematches with Walke’s two gunboats, opened fire on the flank. Bielaski worked to organize the men as they went into line of battle under fire. He had to dismount his horse when it was wounded and now went on foot. Bearing the American flag, he shouted to the men to follow him. Around this time he was hit and killed, “making the Stars and Stripes his winding-sheet.” Buford ordered his regiment forward. Because of the uneven ground, obstacles, and enemy fire, the line became ragged, with each company advancing as best as it could.[31]
The
27th Illinois’ arrival on the flank expedited the collapse of the 13th
Tennessee. It now faced fire from Dougherty to the north and Buford to the
west. Colonel Wright of the 13th Tennessee informed Pillow what was
happening on his left flank, and then sent a message warning that his
regiment’s ammunition was dangerously low. The Tennesseans began to fall back. The
27th Illinois swarmed Company A, breaking through the tangle of
branches. They called upon Captain Rhea, wielding his father’s
Revolutionary-era sword, to surrender. Rhea defied them, waving “the grand old
relic” above his head until he was killed. Half of Company A became prisoners,
the rest fleeing into Camp Johnston.[32]
Around
this time the opposing cavalry faced each other. The remainder of the 1st
Mississippi Cavalry Battalion under Lieutenant-Colonel John Miller had crossed
the river to assist Pillow. Pillow told Miller to “lead your men into action,
Sir, and give the Yankees hell.” Miller responded, “That is the command I have
been waiting to hear.” Emerging in view of Dollins’ Illinois cavalry, the
Mississippians all shouted “Charge” and gunned for their opposing counterparts.
The actual nature of the ensuing fight is unclear. Both sides claimed to have
routed the other, and there is no confirmation if they actually clashed with
each other hand-to-hand. There may have been no fight at all, with Pillow
stating that the Federals “did not choose to accept a trial of strength”
against Miller’s men. He was satisfied that he no longer faced any danger from
that angle.[33]
Dougherty’s
Brigade was the next to reach the open field in front of the Confederate camp.
Taylor’s battery appeared on the right to open fire and he withdrew his
regiments to support the artillery while McClernand caught up.[34]
The 30th Illinois came next. Logan’s 31st Illinois
stopped pursuing the 12th Tennessee and 13th Arkansas
through the woods and closed the gap with the 30th. Grant’s entire
force now ringed Camp Johnston.[35]
The Federals were now in much better range for the guns in Kentucky, though
still covered by the trees. The history of the 7th Iowa described
the shells “literally mowing the tree tops where we were forming for another
advance.” No casualties were reported here.[36]
 |
| Grant's army attacks Camp Johnston. The illustrator already has some of the camp on fire, though this occurred later on. |
With the Confederates falling back, Buford ordered the 27th to cross the abatis and get into the camp. Companies A and G got ahead of the others, entering the site simultaneously. Seeing the 27th Illinois advance into the camp, McClernand called attention to this. Soon “the whole line was quickened with eager and impatient emulation.” McClernand spurred his horse to where Company K of the 27th was having a hot fight. “My own head was grazed by a ball; my horse was wounded in the shoulders, and his caparison torn in several places.”[37]
Lieutenant Wallen of the 7th
Iowa seized his regiment’s colors and directed his comrades’ attention to a
large flag in the Confederate camp, with twelve stars of the Confederacy on one
side and the Irish Harp of Erin against a green background on the other. The
Iowan, “with loud huzzas, went forward and secured it,” though not without
Colonel Lauman having his horse shot under him. Lauman got on another horse and
ordered another charge that drove the Confederates towards the riverbank.[38]
The
22nd Illinois overran a battery, taking two guns. Men from Taylor’s
Chicago Battery followed and took possession of the pieces. One, Taylor’s own
son, attempted to spike a cannon when “a wounded rebel raised up and fired at
him.” The wounded enemy missed and the young Federal rushed off. A member of
the 31st Illinois, E.D. Winters, rushed up to an enemy flag and cut
it down. As he did this he was wounded. A man from the 27th came
over and grabbed the flag before they lost their prize.[39]
Grant’s regiments poured in from all sides, congregating around the flagpole at
the south end of the camp “like bees around an overturned hive.” The routed
Confederates ran north, attempting to get around the 31st Illinois.[40]
Frank Cheatham
In
one of his later reports, Pillow would claim that Polk failed to get him
reinforcements despite constant calls for them. This was only partially true.
Polk indeed hesitated, having only sent Pillow’s five regiments across earlier
“with great reluctance” because he still expected the main thrust to come from
the east on Columbus. Earlier during the battle Brigadier-General J.P. McCown
had sent the 12th Arkansas north to look out for the enemy from the
north. The Arkansans saw no Federals, but a shell from one of the gunboats came
awfully close to taking off the head of their colonel. Polk did, however,
prepare a second wave of reinforcements under General Benjamin F. Cheatham. Cheatham
sent the 2nd Tennessee, 154th Senior Regiments and Andrew
Blythe’s Mississippi Battalion onto the boats, but fire from the Union gunboats
made it hard for them to start their crossing. The 2nd Tennessee was
the first to successfully get underway.[41]
Major
Henry Winslow, Polk’s aide-de-camp, went across the river to ascertain the
situation. He came upon a scene of disorder, or hundreds of men running. When
he found out they were out of ammunition, he tried to direct their attention to
crates of bullets sitting under the riverbanks. He further “endeavored by
expostulation and entreaties to halt them, but in vain.” [42] Pillow’s disorganized force ran past hundreds of
firing Illinois muskets. Men from each Union regiment decided to give chase,
creating a mixed-up mob under Colonel Lauman. In this fracas Pillow’s horse was
shot from under him. Being driven into the riverbank, the Confederates felt
forced to turn and fight.
Fortunately
the largely Irish 2nd Tennessee, the first of a wave of
reinforcements, arrived and bolstered them. Earlier that day the 2nd
Tennessee had been stirred to action by the report that “the Yankees have
bayoneted the sick men in Russell’s regiment.” This rumor stirred up the men’s
passions and now they had a chance to avenge the supposedly butchered sick.
Pillow rode up to its commander, Colonel J.K. Walker, to advances “as promptly
as possible to check the advance of the enemy’s force and hold him back, so as
to give me time to” rally and reorganize his men. This rallying was done behind
a strip of woods that covered the bank from view of Camp Johnston. The 2nd
Tennessee fired and drove the Federals back to the camp with several
casualties. Among them was Lauman, wounded in the thigh. This timely arrival
and charge also prevented the 31st Illinois from hammering more
Confederates trapped on the riverbank to the east.[43]
Many
of Walker’s Tennessee Irish had impatiently jumped into the water ahead of time
to get at the Federals. Now they tangled mostly with the 7th
Iowa. They charged them “on the full
run, yelling as if all the spirits of Tartarus were loosed.” Men got close
enough to club each other with their rifles or pull out their knives. One
soldier rammed his cartridge into his rifle without biting off the end. When he
pulled the trigger the gun did not go off. Not realizing he had not fired or
misunderstanding its failure, he properly loaded a second round without having
dispersed of the first. The overloaded gun exploded, knocking down its wielder.
He was not too badly hurt, as he joked that he had seven more rounds he had to
get out of his gun.[44]
While
the infantry battle showed signs of revival, Taylor’s Chicago Battery acted.
They quickly rounded up Confederate horses to replace their lost animals. The
guns themselves deployed to fire at the various Confederate steamers. At first
they missed wildly. After elevating their barrels, they were able to destroy
pieces of three boats, from chimneys to wheelhouses. A
veteran from the 4th Tennessee on the Kentucky No. 2 recounted the harrowing experience, wondering how
the Union gunboats and artillery did not blast the steamer to pieces and turn
the Tennesseans “into a legion of angels.” They further blasted the
infantry, blunting Walker’s attack. They sent a few shells at Columbus. Though
unable to discern any specific targets, they did cause consternation among
those troops trying to board boats. General Cheatham was so concerned that he
delayed the embarkation of his men and instead brought up artillery to bombard the
Missouri shore.[45]
Barraged
by artillery, the Confederates on the Missouri side fell back, once again with
some panic. One captain of the 2nd Tennessee ran for the water and
then sank halfway into the wet, muddy bank. Men jokingly asked him if he was
planning to escape by swimming to Memphis. The comedy soon ended. Trapped, the
captain could do nothing as a bullet smashed into his face, grievously wounding
him.[46]
Grant
recalled that throughout up to the taking of Camp Johnston his men, who had
never been under fire, conducted themselves well. “Veterans could not have
behaved better…” This was about to change. Grant recalled: “The moment the camp
was reached our men laid down their arms and commenced rummaging the tents to
pick up trophies. Some of the higher officers were little better than the
privates. They galloped about from one cluster of men to another and at every
halt delivered a short eulogy upon the Union cause and the achievements of the
command.”[47] Confederate
breakfasts were set up throughout the camp, abandoned when the Federals
appeared had appeared on shore. “…Fatigued with the hard march and fight,
hunger invited [the Federals] to the untouched breakfast, which seemed to have
been especially prepared for the…”[48]
Among
these eulogists in Grant’s description was General McClernand, who called out
“Three cheers for the Union.” Flush with apparent victory, the men eagerly
obliged “with the most enthusiastic applause.” Up to this point the politician
had actually performed fairly well, adjusting his lines in the initial fighting
to meet Confederate movements and then in the takeover of Camp Johnston
ordering an artillery barrage to further disorganize the fleeing Confederates
so they would not rally in their rear. Now his political instincts took over
his military judgment, and he encouraged celebration rather than discipline.[49]
Dougherty mentioned in his report that some of the men held a flag-raising
ceremony. As the Stars and Stripes flew above the camp, bandsmen struck up a
national song.[50] One
war correspondent described the scene as “a Fourth of July orgy of bubbling
eloquence.”[51]
Smith’s Column
On
the other side of the Mississippi, C.F. Smith carried out his demonstration
against Columbus. His objective remained the same, to draw attention but not
engage in battle. An attack against fortified and heavily manned Columbus with
his several thousand men would be foolhardy anyways. There was some drama when
one of his subordinates, Brigadier-General Paine, did not come back in time
from a diversionary maneuver. A message came from him stating that he was
encamped at Milburn, 31 miles from Paducah and much further than ordered.
Smith’s concerns mounted when he heard cannon fire from Columbus (though this
was directed across the river at Belmont, not at Paine). Indeed Paine wanted to
march to Grant’s aid, thought this would have meant a direct assault against
Columbus. When Paine did return to Paducah, his men were “without order of
discipline straggling loosely along the road and committing great excesses.”
The soldiers targeted and stole civilian property, a particularly unwise move
in a state with divided loyalties. The attributable cause was that Paine had
made them march much longer than ordered, rendering them footsore and slowing
them down. This created frustration as well as opportunities to abuse their
armed status. In his report Smith called for an investigation of Paine and his
subordinates.[52]
While
Paine had performed poorly, his forward movements did worry Polk. The Fighting
Bishop felt more certain that the attack on Belmont was a diversion from a
larger thrust toward Columbus. As the battle dragged on, however, he eventually
saw the necessity of rescuing Pillow, and likely doubted that any serious
threat would come from the north. Grant’s risky “demonstration” had seemingly
produced a Union victory at Belmont. But now Polk was entirely focused on the
Missouri shore, and thousands of fresh Confederate reinforcements were headed
there. Grant had led his men into a perilous situation.
Sources
Primary Sources
Banasik,
Michael E. Confederate Tales of the War
in the Trans-Mississippi Part One: 1861. Camp Pope Bookshop, 2010.
Barnwell,
371.
Brinton,
John H. Personal Memoirs of John H.
Brinton, Major and Surgeon U.S.V., 1861-1865. New York: Neale Publishing
Company.
Chetlain,
Augustus Louis. Recollections of Seventy
Years. Galena: Gazette Publishing Company, 1899.
Grant,
Ulysses S. Personal Memoirs. Penguin
Books, 1999. First printing 1885.
Logan,
John A. The Volunteer Soldier of America.
R.S. Deale and Company, 1887.
Montgomery,
Frank A. Reminiscences of a Mississippian
in Peace and War. Cincinnati: R. Clarke, 1901.
Polk, William M.
“General Polk and the Battle of Belmont” in Battles
and Leaders of the Civil War Vol. I. Century Company, 1887, 348-357.
Sample, Alvan E.
A History of Company “A”, 30th
Illinois Infantry. Lyons, 1907.
Smith, Henry I. History of the Seventh Iowa Veteran
Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War. Madison City: E. Hitchcock, 1903.
Stanley, Dorothy
(ed.). The Autobiography of Sir Henry
Morton Stanley. London: Sampson Low, Marston and Co. Ltd, 1909.
Stanton, Donald.
(ed.) Civil War Reminiscences of General
M. Jeff Thompson. Morningside Bookshop, 1988.
Stevenson,
William G. Thirteen Months in the Rebel
Army. New York: A.S. Barnes & Burr, 1862.
Vaughan, Alfred
J. Personal Record of the Thirteenth
Regiment, Tennessee Infantry. Memphis: Press of S.C. Toof & Co., 1897.
Walke, Henry.
“The Gun-Boats at Belmont and Fort Henry” in Battles and Leaders of the Civil War Vol. I. Century Company, 1887,
358-367.
Wills, Charles
Wright. Army Life of an Illinois Soldier.
Washington, D.C.: Globe Printing Company, 1906.
Secondary
Sources
Bonekemper,
Edward H. Ulysses S. Grant: A Victor, Not
a Butcher, the Military Genius of the Man Who Won the Civil War.
Washington, D.C.: Regnery Publishing, 2004.
Chernow, Ron. Grant. Penguin Books, 2017.
Hess, Earl J. The Civil War in the West: Victory and
Defeat from the Appalachians to the Mississippi. Chapel Hill: University of
North Carolina Press, 2012.
Hughes, Hr.
Nathaniel Cheairs. The Battle of Belmont:
Grant Strikes South. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1991.
Kiper, Richard
L. Major General John Alexander
McClernand: Politician in Uniform. Kent: Kent State University Press, 1999.
Parks, Joseph
Howard. General Leonidas Polk, C.S.A.:
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Leonidas Polk, Bishop and General.
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[1] OR III, 278.
[2] Hughes, Battle of Belmont, 89.
[3] OR III, 283; Hughes, Battle of Belmont, 89-92.
[4] Hughes, Battle of Belmont, 91.
[5] Hughes, Battle of Belmont, 93.
[6] OR III, 325.
[7] OR III, 298.
[8] Hughes, Battle of Belmont, 94-95; OR III, 288.
[9] Brinton,
Personal Memoirs, 75-77.
[10] Brinton,
Personal Memoirs, 87.
[11] OR III, 292; Hughes, Battle of Belmont, 100.
[12] OR III, 288, 326, 332, 335;
Hughes, Battle of Belmont, 95, 97;
Kiper, Politician in Uniform, 44.
[13] Hughes, Battle of Belmont, 97.
[14] Hughes, Gideon J. Pillow, 200.
[15] OR III, 332.
[16] OR III, 358.
[17] OR III, 339.
[18] OR III, 337-338.
[19] OR III, 340.
[20] Hughes, Battle of Belmont, 101.
[21] OR III, 283-284.
[22] OR III, 276; Walke, “The
Gun-Boats,” 361.
[23] Hughes, Battle of Belmont, 104-105.
[24] Hughes, Battle of Belmont, 105, 246.
[25] Hughes, Battle of Belmont, 105-107.
[26] Vaughan, Thirteenth Regiment, 13-14; Hughes, Battle of Belmont, 111-112.
[27] OR III, 326, 328.
[28] Hughes, Battle of Belmont, 107.
[29] OR III, 279.
[30] Hughes, Battle of Belmont, 109-112, 114-115.
[31] OR III, 280, 284.
[32] Vaughan, Thirteenth Regiment, 14; Hughes, Battle of Belmont, 114, 116; OR III, 334.
[33] OR III, 329, 351.
[34] OR III, 292.
[35] Hughes, Battle of Belmont, 117-118.
[36] Smith, Seventh Iowa, 12.
[37] OR III, 279, 280, 284.
[38] OR III, 297.
[39] OR III, 288-289, 292-293;
Hughes, Battle of Belmont, 119.
[40] Hughes, Battle of Belmont, 119-120.
[41] OR III, 307-308, 315, 343, 352.
[42] OR III, 360-361.
[43] Hughes, Battle of Belmont, 121-122; OR III, 326;
Stevenson, Thirteen Months in the Rebel
Army, 68; Robert W. Barnwell, “The Battle of
Belmont,” Confederate Veteran 39 (January, 1930), 370.
[44] Hughes, Battle of Belmont, 122-123; Stevenson, Thirteen Months in the Rebel Army, 70-71.
[45] Hughes, Battle of Belmont, 125-126; Banasik, Confederate
Tales of the War, 156; OR III, 343.
[46] Stevenson, Thirteen Months in the Rebel Army, 70.
[47] Grant, Personal Memoirs, 145.
[48] Logan, Volunteer Soldier of America, 623.
[49] OR III, 280; Kiper, Politician in Uniform, 45.
[50] OR III, 293.
[51] Smith, Seventh Iowa, 19.
[52] OR III, 300-303.
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