Grant
had finally given his men a battle. They had for the most part acquitted
themselves well, though discipline broke down once they reached Camp Johnston.
They had tasted victory. Now they would taste defeat and its consequences.
Comic strip I found (https://emergingcivilwar.com/2021/08/05/the-battle-of-belmont-as-told-in-a-comic-strip/)
From Advance to Withdrawal
One
consequence of the Federals’ premature celebration in Camp Johnston was that
the Confederates, lying along the riverbank to the northeast, had time to
collect and rally themselves.[1]
Though he groused about it in his memoirs, Grant did not mention his force’s
breakdown in discipline in report. He instead claimed that Belmont was on low
ground and would be battered by enemy cannon fire. With no wagons to carry all
the captured goods, he ordered the camp set on fire. The Federals carried with
them captured horses and dragged off three artillery pieces. Just after the
flame started the Confederates opened fire from across the river. They reasoned
that since the camp was coming on fire there was no Confederates there. One
shell from the Lady Polk, one of the larger pieces, struck the ground and
caused Grant’s horse to whinny and rear up.[2]
When the Confederates later returned they found burned bodies of wounded men left behind in the tents. They believed the Federals had murdered them upon discovery and then left their corpses to burn alongside their dwellings. More likely the Federals failed to notice them or forgot them, so that they were burned alive. In addition to the rumors that they had bayoneted many of the wounded, this incensed and drove the Confederates. [3]
The
30th Illinois protected the batteries, helping guide the large guns
from both Taylor’s Chicago Battery and the captured pieces from the Watson
Battery over logs and ravines. Thanks to a lack of proper wagons, many of the
wounded were left behind. Surgeon J.H. Brinton added that the wagons they did
possess had no springs. As a result the wounded on wagons were jostled about
and sent into further pain as the wheels went over the rough terrain.[4]
Making matters worse, the Confederates were massing to the north, between them
and their escape at Hunter’s Landing.
Polk
sent Marks’ 11th Louisiana further up the river on the Charm to flank the Federals. After
braving artillery and gunboat fire, they made it to shore. There they
encountered a mob of Pillow’s men. They were trying to commandeer the Charm for their escape, while shouting
in defeatism, “Don’t land! Don’t land! We are whipped! Go back!” The Charm
deposited its infantry, though it lacked the planks to disembark a group of
cavalry. Colonel Marks traveled along the bank until he found Pillow. Pillow
had the same idea as Polk, that the 11th Louisiana should flank and
cut off the Federals.[5]
Another steamer was carrying artillery to the battle. However, the crew had misplaced their stage planks, and thus could not unload the pieces on shore. Because of this, the Confederates were not able to bring any artillery close against the Federals.[6] Near the end of the battle the 4th Tennessee would land with a battery. They found their way inland blocked by felled timber. Ten volunteers searched for an opening which they could use to bring the guns into the woods. Finally one called back, “Here’s the place!” The Tennesseans struggled to move their guns uphill in the woods, while the other regiments went ahead. None in this regiment would get to fight.[7]
Around
this time Brinton, guiding a column of wounded officers, saw a smokestack
passing over the treetops. He alerted Grant to this. The general saw a
foreboding sight: “…Two steamers coming from the Columbus side towards the west
shore, above us, black – or gray – with soldiers from boiler-deck to roof.” The
Federals turned captured artillery pieces on the ship sand opened fire. Though
they cheered at every shot, they fired at the further ships, which were out of
range. An exasperated Grant tried to get them to aim for the nearer transports,
but “in vain.”[8] Unable
to effectively bombard the counterattack, Grant ordered his staff officers to
set fire to the camp. Grant implies in his memoirs that this was a mistake. As
soon as the flames sprouted up, the Confederates on the boats opened fire, now
knowing that the camp was occupied by their foes.[9]
One
brief history of the 30th Illinois claims that Grant, McClernand,
and Logan held a quick meeting prior to retreating. Grant or McClernand claimed
he “would not risk his reputation on getting his men out.” Colonel Logan then
declared “I will.” If the story is true, it was likely McClernand, a canny
politician, who feared destroying his reputation with a retreat.[10]
The Fight Out
Cheatham
arrived in spectacular fashion from the steamer Prince. He jumped on horseback off his boat so that it landed
halfway on the bank and halfway in the water. Catching the attention of the men
huddled onshore, he shouted to them “to follow him, and he would lead them to
hell or victory.” He met Pillow, who so far had gathered 600 men. The two
generals continued to gather fragments of three of Pillow’s regiments, the 13th
Arkansas and 2nd and 30th Tennessee, until they had over
1,000 men. “In a few minutes” Cheatham put the 13th Arkansas in the
front, with the Tennessee regiments behind them. After marching 200 yards they
hit the Federal column and deployed in line of battle. After some “exceedingly
spirited” shooting, the Confederates surged forward, sending the Federals
running.[11]
The
Federals now saw the Confederates, lining up between them and the transports.
At first Grant’s men and officers were worried, believing they had been cut
off. Grant coolly pointed out “that we had cut our way in and could cut our way
out just as well.” This emboldened his men. (in his battle report back in 1861,
Dougherty claimed to have said the same thing himself).[12]
On Dougherty’s front the 22nd Illinois was in front, with the 7th
Iowa behind them. The 11th Louisiana was nearby. Marks’ men saw a
body of men that looked like the Federals, but carried a Confederate flag. Some
of them called out “For God’s sake, don’t fire on us.” Marks sent Major Butler
to figure out who they were. When they learned that it was a Union regiment
with a captured flag, they fired into their flank.
The
target was the 7th Iowa, the rearmost regiment in the line. The
Iowans returned fire as they withdrew, but with considerable losses.
Lieutenant-Colonel Wentz was killed, and three lieutenants were killed or
mortally wounded. A few others were also wounded. The Iowans briefly fell into
confusion. The reason was that so many of their officers had been killed or
wounded. Benjamin Crabb and Company H tried to get a captured gun out of the
woods, but were unable to. They spiked the gun and went on. As it happened two
men from the 13th Arkansas and 2nd Tennessee, both with
the surname of Hunt, took the gun together. Crabb and some others got
surrounded and surrendered. Among those caught in the encirclement was
Lieutenant-Colonel Augustus Wentz, a German immigrant. He shouted, “Remember
how the 1st Iowa held at Springfield – equal them!” Right after that
a bullet knocked him off his horse. When his men tried to rescue him he stopped
them with the words, “Let me alone, boys. I want to die on the battlefield.”
They left him sitting against a tree stump. With Lauman and Wentz both out of
action, the less severely wounded Major Elliott Rice took command. He was able
to lead much of his regiment out of the area, saving them from capture.[13]
Another
who escaped was Henry Smith, along with several other wounded. Confederates had
occupied the ground they were on and were discussing their next move when some
of Logan’s men came charging in. They placed Smith and the others on a crowded
wagon. The mules were made to race through the field and woods, avoiding the
roads. The wagon made it to the boats.[14]
Dougherty’s
two regiments, forming the rear of the column along with a portion of the 27th
Illinois, fell in disorder. As the fragments of his brigade tried to catch up
to McClernand, Confederates hidden in the forest fired on them. Casualties
mounted. One soldier in the 22nd Illinois believed he only survived
the heavy fire by running quickly “in a zig zag manner.” One Louisianan said
that the Federals “were shot down like deer.”[15]
Phil Stephenson of the 13th Arkansas recalled how his rallied
regiment ran into “a horizontal sheet of flame and bullets that took my breath
away!...Never shall I forget the sensation of that moment!...Something hit me
in the side and I fell on my face, stunned and breathless” It turned out that
Stephenson had suffered no wound. Something, a spent bullet or perhaps a
splinter from a tree, had struck him just enough to daze him so that he missed
out on the rest of the fighting.[16]
The
11th Louisiana and 15th Tennessee teamed up in an attempt
to seize Taylor’s guns. The Chicago Battery’s canister fire, supported by
infantry fire, was too much for them and they fell back to the river.[17]
The 30th Illinois was the next to receive fire. Colonel Fouke had
one of the guns prepared to fire, as its fatigued horses could not pull it over
logs. At this time a Rebel bullet killed Captain Marckley. Bullets tore up
Fouke’s saddle, and killed two horses from under him. The 30th
Illinois returned fire, but gradually they abandoned two of their captured
pieces in an effort to link back up with the 31st. They fought their
way through a cornfield, suffering a final volley that wounded 2 men.[18]
The
first of Cheatham’s division, Colonel Preston Smith’s 154th Senior
Tennessee and Blythe’s Mississippi Battalion, finally landed. Cheatham directed
them to the firing.[19]
Polk personally landed himself and met with Pillow and Cheatham. He directed
them to move against the Federal transports. The 154th Senior
Tennessee led the way.[20]
After this Polk caught sight of an important figure.
As
he approached the shore, General Grant had expected to find the guard he had
left there. To his disappointment they were not there. They had fallen back
when the Confederate steamers had appeared. Alone, Grant rode into the
cornfield to see if any Confederates were nearby. The corn was so tall that,
even mounted, he could not see. Riding forward, he came upon “a body of troops
marching past me not fifty yards away.” General Polk and a staff officer
spotted the mounted Federal. Since Grant was in a simple soldier’s overcoat,
they did not identify him as an officer. Polk told his men, “There is a Yankee;
you may try your marksmanship on him if you wish.” None did so, likely finding
Grant too far out of range. He turned his steed and once he felt out of range
and hurried up to the bank.[21]
The
Federals were now getting on the transports. Dougherty guided the 22nd
Illinois onto the Belle Memphis. He
turned back to look for the 7th Iowa, which was “considerably
scattered.” As Dougherty rallied them towards the transports, he “received a
small shot in the shoulder and one on the elbow, and shortly afterwards a ball
through the ankle. My horse was also shot in several places, who fell with me
and soon expired.” Dougherty found himself trapped on land and was shortly
captured.[22]
The
31st Illinois had great difficulty with one of its transports. They
were trying to load their two captured Confederate cannon. However the pilot of
the designated boat, out of “cowardice or traitorism,” kept backing the boat
off before the pieces could be loaded. A furious and frustrated Colonel Logan
finally put a pistol to his head and “threatened to shoot him if the vessel was
not held still.”[23]
John H. Brinton
Chief Medical Officer John Britton had himself quite an adventure,
if his memoirs are to be fully believed. While making his way to shore, the
surgeon was hailed by a wounded Louisianan officer. The Confederate was lying
against a fence angle and begged Brinton to dismount “if you are a gentleman.”
Despite his need for haste, the sympathetic surgeon did so. The officer was
Major Butler, and he wanted to know how much longer he had to live. Brinton
replied, “but a very short time.” Butler begged him to stay, but the Federal
surgeon told him he could not. Instead Butler relayed a message to be passed
along to his father once there was a truce for the collection of the dead and
wounded, telling him that he fell leading his men from the front. Brinton
promised to pass the message along. He later learned that Butler lived long
enough to be taken to Belmont before expiring.[24]
Brinton’s next encounter with the enemy was not quite so tragic.
He rode right into a mass of Confederate troops who immediately raised their
weapons against this stranger. Fortunately Brinton “wore a civilian’s overcoat
of black cloth” over his uniform. Acting quickly, he raised his hand “in an
authoritative sort of a way, and they lowered their guns.” Brinton quickly
wheeled his horse left and sprinted off. He eventually came to a log house
where a woman and her son lived. Though she was pro-Confederate, the woman was
grateful to the surgeon because in the morning he had urged that her property
should be respected. She had her son guide him to the boats. Brinton boarded
the Texas. Having had no food and
only a couple drinks of horrid water, he gratefully accepted wine from the
captain and then went to work on 60-70 wounded men in the ship’s cabin.[25]
Colonel Preston Smith of the 154th Tennessee led the attack on the boats. Without artillery, the Confederates would have to try to shoot across large distances with their small arms. A section of the 154th under Lieutenant-Colonel Marcus Wright found the boats by falling a trail of thrown off gear. He waited until Smith got the rest of the regiment in position and then the Tennesseans opened fire. The rest of Cheatham’s brigade followed Smith, as did many of the scattered elements of the 11th Louisiana and 15th Tennessee. The Confederates optimistically imagined that they were filling the decks of the ships with dead Federals and “torrents of blood” that made the “decks so slippery that men could scarcely stand.” In fact there would be few casualties, hardly enough to create such a scene.[26]
Seeing
that the infantry was trying to leave, Commander Walke positioned his gunboats
against the west bank. “Our boats being in good position, we opened fire with
our grape, canister, and 5-second shells, and completely routed them.” The
Confederates were not routed, but did take a more cautious approach after
suffering a few casualties. The 154th Tennessee reported that the
gunboats killed 1 one of their men and wounded 12 others.[27]
Grant
suddenly found himself the one of the only Federals on shore. The captain of
one ship, recognizing the mounted Grant, yelled at his engineer not to start
the engine yet. The captain grabbed a plank and threw it over, providing a ramp
onto the transport. Grant’s steed performed well, creating his most daring
physical feat of the war:
My horse seemed to take in the
situation. There was no path down the bank and every one acquainted with the
Mississippi River knows that its banks, in a natural state, do not vary at any
great angle from the perpendicular. My horse put his fore feet over the bank
without hesitation or urging, and with his hind feet well under him, slid down
the bank and trotted aboard the boat, twelve or fifteen feet away, over a
single gang plank. I dismounted and went at once to the upper deck.[28]
Grant's Escape
Grant
had another close call. At that time Confederate bullets were whizzing at the
transport, riddling the smokestack and wounding several onboard. Grant had gone
into the captain’s room and thrown himself on the sofa to get a breather.
Shortly he got up to return to deck. Just as he left a bullet entered the room
and “struck the head of the sofa,” right where he had lain.[29]
Grant was fortunate. Dozens of men from Dougherty’s two mangled regiments
appeared on shore, begging to be let on board, or coming up just in time to see
the transports already well away from shore.[30]
All
guns on the ships blasted away at the Confederates on shore. Taylor’s Battery
was unlimbered on deck and helped out. So did the men who had guarded the
transports under Colonel Detrich. Having missed out on the fighting earlier,
they were fresh and eagerly swarmed onto the decks to spray the shore with
their muskets.[31] The
gunboats next rescued a ship full of casualties. It was still attached to shore
by lines, and the man aboard were too wounded to fight back. Worse, the fire
was so hot that they no one could get to and cut the lines holding it to shore.
The gunboats battered the bank of Confederates and they were finally able to
get free.[32]
The
Belle Memphis’ stern got caught on a
“wrack heap.” The boat jerked as its pilots tried to break it free. The 22nd
Illinois on board grew frightened now that they were stuck in the Mississippi
still in range of Confederate fire. Their experience grew more harrowing when
Captain Roger Stembel, of the Lexington,
called out to the men on deck to lie flat. This was because the Belle Memphis was now blocking his field
of fire. The men did so and the Lexington
fired shell, grape, and canister a few yards over them. At least this artillery
barrage struck the shore and sent the Confederates reeling. Among the gunboats’
hits was a Confederate cannon that was just about to fire when a shell “burst
directly under the carriage of the gun throwing all high into the air. The
rebel gunner and several others were killed, the carriage demolished and while
in the air it exploded.”[33]
The
27th Illinois under Colonel Buford took another road on the way back
to the transports. They practically took the same route they had used to get to
the Camp Johnston that morning. Buford claimed that this was no mistake, but a
snap decision when his men were suddenly fired upon. “Covered by the woods and
guided by the descending sun,” the colonel led his men back to the bayou they
had marched around that morning. He was going to turn south into the enemy
flank, but decided it was too dangerous and kept on a northward path. His men
marched around the Confederates and appeared on the riverbank having only
suffered the accidental (and fortunately bloodless) fire from their own
gunboats.[34]
When
they got there the boats were already steaming down the river. The already
exhausted men now faced “the prospect of a long night’s march.” Buford gave his
available horses to the wounded men. He had Adjutant Rust mount a horse and
speed towards the closest steamer, the Chancellor.
Rust was successful, and the Chancellor
came back to pick up the 27th Illinois. Further down the river they
found Dollins’ cavalry and more of the 27th along with a group of
prisoners. The Tyler took these
aboard.[35]
Buford
received heavy criticism for his alternate march. John Logan furiously blamed
him for the rout of the other regiments. If they had been with the 7th
Iowa, he claimed, the Federals would have had the extra manpower needed to hold
off the Confederates and avoid a panic. Leonidas Polk’s son William did not
expound along this line of criticism, but did claim that if the Confederates
had more cavalry and were not so disorganized, they would have easily
discovered and destroyed the 27th Illinois.[36]
The Confederates also saw some late arrivals, these mostly from McCown’s
Division. They had crossed the river and struggled through the rough forested
terrain only to learn they had just missed the battle.[37]
Immediate
Aftermath
Grant’s
men were excited by their first battle, though their judgment of its outcome
was mixed. Grant at least claimed a victory. When the fleet passed by the Rob Roy, he shouted across the water to
a war correspondent that they had just had a success. He then ordered the boat
to take the wounded and prisoners off the Tyler
so the gunboat could take up a defensive position.[38]
Grant’s scattered columns received orders to return to their places of origin.
Oglesby, Plummer, and others received messages that Grant had retreated after a
battle at Belmont and that they needed to get to safety.[39]
The
withdrawal of the columns came as a relief to General Thompson and his
guerillas. Sensing that his men were not up for another big fight, the State
Guard leader had withdrawn south to escape Oglesby’s column. He then learned of
the Battle of Belmont and its effects. He noted “the curious spectacle was
witnessed in the morning of my hurrying Southward, and the Enemy hurrying
Northward.” Though Grant had failed to take out Thompson, the Rebel did end
operations for the year, first because an epidemic of measles ran through his
camp and then from expiring terms of enlistment.[40]
Following are the casualty figures.
McClernand’s
Brigade
27th
Illinois: 11 killed, 47 wounded, 27 missing (total: 85)
30th
Illinois: 9 killed, 27 wounded, 8 missing (total: 44)
31st
Illinois: 10 killed, 63 wounded, 18 missing (total: 91)
Dollins’ Cavalry: 1 killed, 2 wounded
(total: 3)
Taylor’s
Battery: 5 wounded
Dougherty’s
Brigade
22nd
Illinois: 31 killed, 78 wounded, 37 missing (total: 146)
7th
Iowa: 31 killed, 77 wounded, 114 missing (total: 222)
Walke’s
Fleet: 1 killed, 3 wounded
Dougherty had the worst of it. His brigade suffered 368 casualties out of 1,084, while McClernand’s only received 220 out of 1,852. The 7th Iowa, caught in the worst of the retreat, had the lion’s share of Dougherty’s losses. One soldier who had been in Oglesby’s column in Missouri recalled a dress parade by the Iowans. “One company had but 11 and another but 15 men; all that came out of the Belmont fight safely.” Overall 12 percent of Grant’s force were killed, wounded, and missing.[41] In its haste to get back to the transports, Taylor’s battery lost its caisson and wagon, though it now sported additional guns taken from the camp.[42]
Polk
placed his total losses at 105 killed, 419 wounded, and 117 missing for a total
of 641. These are the casualties broken down by unit.
Camp
Johnston
13th
Arkansas: 12 killed, 45 wounded, 23 missing (total: 90)
Beltzhoover’s
Watson Battery: 2 killed, 4 wounded, 1 missing (total: 7)
Pillow’s
Reinforcements
12th
Tennessee: 12 killed, 46 wounded (total: 58)
13th
Tennessee: 28 killed, 75 wounded, 46 missing (total: 149)
21st
Tennessee: 13 killed, 62 wounded, 5 missing (total: 80)
22nd
Tennessee: 10 killed, 67 wounded, 9 missing (total: 86)
Further
Reinforcements
11th
Louisiana: 13 killed, 43 wounded (total: 56)
1st
Mississippi Battalion: 1 wounded
2nd
Tennessee: 18 killed, 63 wounded, 33 missing (total: 114)
154th
Senior Tennessee: 13 wounded
Others
Pointe
Coupee Battery: 2 killed, 1 wounded (total: 3)
Staff
Officers: 3 wounded
Cavalry:
1 wounded[43]
Among
the casualties were two civilians who happened to be at the camp when the
battle began. Arch. Houston of Tennessee and Charles L. Roberts from Alabama
joined the 13th Tennessee. A shell exploded in the face of Houston,
wounding him, and a bullet found and killed Roberts early on.[44]
The
Confederates got a windfall of goods, at least those who had pursued the
Federals to the boats. In their haste to get away, Grant’s men had dropped much
of their own gear. Some Confederates upgraded their arsenals with rifles.
Another claimed to “have eaten from Grant’s mess chest, which was one of the
things he had to drop in his flight. It was plainly marked, ‘U.S.G.’” Grant
corroborated the loss of his chest, among other things. The captain of the
Charm got his horse and gold pen. He rode the horse around the battlefield and
used the pen to write his friends about its very acquisition.[45]
On
November 12, General Polk became a belated casualty of the battle. One gun from
the battle, Lady Polk, had not fired
its last shot. For four days the shot remained in the barrel. Doing an
inspection, Polk stood by to watch the expulsion of the shot into the river.
Polk said, “Well, if it goes any distance I will be able to see it. If you are
ready go ahead.” An artillery captain ordered “Fire” and the gunner pulled the
lanyard. “…The gun immediately exploded and was broken all to pieces. Almost at
the same instant a magazine which was built in the parapet on the right side
exploded also.” Polk and several other officers were thrown 25 to 30 feet away.
The officers survived with injuries. “My clothes were torn to pieces,” Polk
wrote his wife, “and I was literally covered with dust and fragments of the
wreck. I was only injured by the stunning effect of the concussion.” The bulk
of the gun crew was not lucky. 11 were killed, 2 thrown a hundred feet down
into the Mississippi.[46]
As
with many battles, a truce was agreed upon within days of the event for both
sides to collect the dead and any remaining wounded. The truce for Belmont
produced a pair of tragic familial discoveries. Rebecka Wentz found Augustus
Wentz, the lieutenant-colonel who had urged his men to leave him after he was
shot off his horse. She gave such a mournful cry that a Confederate observer
claimed, “I’d given ten thousand dollars to recall that man to life.” A captain
from the 27th Illinois discovered his dead brother. As it so
happened his brother was not a fellow Union soldier, but a surgeon in the 13th
Arkansas.[47]
One
correspondent noted that “the countenances of the dead were mostly expressive
of rage. One or two features were expressive of fear. One poor fellow, after he
was wounded, bethought himself to smoke. He was found in a sitting position,
against a tree, dead, with his pipe in his hand, his knife in the other, and
his tobacco on his breast.” One wounded soldier, his legs almost completely
severed, was discovered when he was heard singing the Star-Spangled Banner.[48]
A large number of the wounded were taken to Memphis City Hospital and Sallie
Law’s Southern Mother’s Home. The roughly 100 unwounded prisoners marched into
Mosby’s Cotton Shed. Some of the men would never be exchanged and spent the
entire remainder of the war going through Confederate prisoner-of-war camps,
culminating with Andersonville.[49]
Grant
and Polk met several times to organize prisoner exchanges. In one of these
meetings they and their attendant officers had a smoking and drinking session
together where they mingled freely and laughed together. Grant and Cheatham
bonded over their love of horses, and this exchange ended with Cheatham
suggesting that they resolve the war with “a grand, international horse-race
over on the Missouri shore.” Grant laughed at the suggestion. In the same
meeting Colonel Buford proposed a toast to “George Washington, the Father of
his Country.” Polk jokingly added, “And the first Rebel!”[50]
Polk
still suffered from the explosion of the Lady Polk. When he finally sent in his
full report three weeks later, he complained that “my head and nervous system
generally has been in such a state since the bursting of the gun have been
unable to do more than a little at a time of anything.” He claimed to have gone
partially deaf for a while as well.[51]
Polk had to spend some time off. Pillow finally regained command, if only until his superior officer’s return. He continued to work on fortifying Columbus, Johnston’s earlier order to transfer troops to Clarksville canceled. Though he was industrious in his role, Pillow unwittingly caused panic in the Confederacy. He came to the impression that the Federals were mounting a proper attack on Columbus. Thousands of men went into formation, only for no Federals to appear. Pillow followed up with grandiose messages promising to fight to the very end. Railroad president Sam Tate wrote, “No one here has the slightest confidence in Pillow’s judgment or ability, and if the important command of defending this river is to be left to him, we feel perfectly in the enemy’s power…”[52]
Illustration from Harper's Weekly's coverage of the battle.(http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/civil-war/1861/december/battle-belmont.htm)
An Unnecessary
Battle?
The
battle was widely hailed in the Confederacy. The invader had been driven back,
and according to several reports they had been routed into the river, with many
drowning. President Davis pronounced that Polk and Pillow’s men had turned
imminent “disaster into a triumphant victory.” Polk’s telegrams and battle
report further added to the triumphal atmosphere with his profuse and, given
his civilian profession, understandable thanks to God.[53]
There
were dark clouds over this victory, however. In a couple months General Pillow
offered his resignation. The cause was Polk. Pillow felt that he had mismanaged
the battle, sending him to Belmont and then failing to send reinforcements when
he was overwhelmed. While acknowledging that there was real fear of an attack
on Columbus, “I was attacked by a greatly superior force” and “ought, at any
hazard, to have been promptly supported, and not abandoned to my fate for four
long hours, and until so much blood an so many valuable lives were sacrificed.”
Weeks
after the battle, Polk had taken the bulk of his quartermasters, commissaries,
and other integral officers without providing any replacements. When Pillow
complained, Polk sent a civilian, R.P. Baugh, to serve as Pillow’s
quartermaster. This was against the rules and Baugh was no qualified
quartermaster. Polk cemented his authority, only allowing general staff
officers to take orders from himself. Pillow further claimed that Polk was
dangerously dilatory in authorizing foraging for food. Men and horses were
running out of food, with many of the animals dying. Pillow sent orders to his
last remaining quartermaster to forage. Polk furiously castigated him for
acting without his orders, though the quartermaster was under Pillow. Pillow
cited this incident as the last straw.[54]
Polk responded in devastating fashion, collecting no less than 40 testimonies,
many from Pillow’s own subordinates, that disputed his long list of grievances.[55]
Polk
also faced severe criticism from the southern press (which may have been
motivated by the general’s attempt to preserve security by shutting down the
telegraph line that would feed them news). They said Belmont was far from an
exemplary victory. Polk had been caught off guard and it was the intervention
of Providence or luck that turned a disaster into a victory.[56]
Polk’s letter of resignation went through to President Davis. Though Polk was
facing some criticism and was still recovering from his concussion, Davis
refused to accept it. “You have just won a victory, which gives you fresh claim
tot eh affection and confidence of your troops. How should I hope to replace
you without injury to the cause…?”[57]
Views
from the Union side would go from negative to positive as the years progressed.
In his memoirs Grant argued that Belmont was an important battle. He believed
that his men had inflicted such heavy losses that it hurt morale at Columbus.
He also argued that by causing a scene at Belmont, he had prevented the enemy
from concentrating against and capturing Oglesby’s force. As the battle
happened because of his decisions, he was one of the few to prop it up as a
success.[58] William
Polk, also writing years later, said that Grant’s movement was a failure
because he both failed to break up the camp at Belmont and also failed to push Thompson’s
guerillas out of southeast Missouri. After the battle Grant had recalled all
his columns, leaving Thompson in command of his area.[59]
One Confederate veteran, writing in the Missouri Republican in 1886, was not so impressed by Grant. He
criticized him for leading a small part of his force into a well-manned area of
the Mississippi, and added that if the Confederate commanders had been more
competent Grant would have destroyed himself and his men with this audacious
move. He claimed that as soon as more Confederates arrived, the Federals fled
in “great disorder.” The same veteran also claimed that there was much more
open terrain than claimed in Grant’s memoirs, and that it was a lack of guns on
the east bank that saved the Federals from a hard shellacking. Finally the
Confederates had placed infantry, not cavalry, on the roads as pickets. The
failure of fast, mounted men enabled the Federals to surprise the camp and then
get away.[60]
Grant’s
soldiers understandably also did not see the battle as a success. The last
phase of the battle had been a highly desperate escape attempt, where
Confederates continually materialized to shoot at them and where many of them
had almost been trapped on shore. One Illinoisan wrote, “Well, Grant got
whipped at Belmont, and that scared him so that he countermanded all our orders
and took all the troops back to their old stations by forced marches.” Colonel
Lew Wallace, hearing of the battle, wrote his wife, “I see that [Grant] &
his friends call it a victory, but if such be victory, God save us from
defeat.” Much of the northern press felt the same, questioning Grant’s
interpretation of a hasty casualty-laden retreat as a victory. The
near-destruction of the 7th Iowa drew heavy criticism from their
home state. One newspaper article opened up with, “Iowa poured out her first
terrible dole of loyal blood to garnish the sword of Grant.”[61]
In
a troubling turn of events for Grant, the same press that criticized him for
ordering a seemingly unnecessary and perilous undertaking praised McClernand.
The general narrative was that Grant’s main subordinate had recovered the
situation and prevented an outright disaster. He had heroically gone into the
fray with his men and had been instrumental in getting them out of their
predicament. Though chagrined, Grant did not dare challenge this view because
of McClernand’s connections. Still, McClernand had performed well considering
his background.[62]
As
time passed, Union veterans began to view the battle more favorably. They
rationalized that they had prevented Polk from reinforcing Missouri.[63]
The view of a Union strategic, if not tactical, victory has passed down to 20th
and 21st Century historiography. Pro-Grant writer Edward Bonekemper
III argued along these lines, praising Grant’s strategy as a “hit-and-run
attack” that unbalanced the Confederates and stopped them from realizing and
utilizing their superior numbers.[64]
Another
Grant booster, Ron Chernow, wrote “He had broken up the enemy camp at Belmont
and unleashed the animal spirits of his men, imbuing them with lasting
confidence. Indeed, Belmont damaged the mystique that Confederate soldiers were
always fearless and fought to the bitter end.” Chernow did balance out his
praise by pointing out that Grant started a pattern of focusing so much on his
offensive movements that he failed to prepare for surprises, in this case the
disembarkation of fresh Confederate units in his rear.[65]
Writing back in 1887, Logan concurred with today’s historians. He felt that the
men learned valuable lessons about discipline and gotten acclimated to
battle. Like Chernow, Logan declared
that Grant’s force had disproven the idea that one Southerner “could whip five
Northerners.”[66]
In the inverse, Grant later suggested that his move may have been unwise and a
symptom of his relative inexperience in a major command. “In the beginning we
all did things more rashly than later.”[67]
Confederate veterans either called it a victory for their side or
an inconclusive fight. One claimed “Belmont was one of the useless battles of
the war, entirely premature, fitting into no general scheme of things, and
fought rather to satisfy a demand of the North for activity than in any
reasonable hope of accomplishing anything.”[68]
So what was Belmont? Which side did it favor, if at all? Without
further reinforcements, Pillow would have lost the battle. He did a poor job
setting up his lines, exposing his center on more open ground. His bayonet
charge may or may not have been a good choice. Since he was comparatively low
on ammunition it was not unreasonable that such a move would put the Federals
off balance. By early afternoon Federals swarmed into Camp Johnston, while his
regiments were a tangled mess on the riverbank.
Grant appeared to be concentrating his scattered columns for a
major movement against Belmont and Columbus. There is no firm evidence,
however, what his ultimate goal was besides battle-testing his men with a
strike. If the goal was to score a tactical victory at Belmont and then abscond,
he was half-successful. His soldiers got a battle and a victory, only to flee
under panicky conditions. In the process they abandoned most of whatever
supplies they captured at Camp Johnston, notably the guns from Beltzhoover’s
Watson Battery. Tactically, Belmont was a victory, if not a solid one, for the
Confederates as they held the field and recovered most of the loot. At best it
was a successful Union raid.
Strategically
the battle boosted morale on the Confederate home front. However, it did embolden
many of the Federals, and provided lessons for amphibious operations. These
would help the Union Army capture Forts Henry and Donelson, as well as several
sites along the Mississippi River. Ultimately there was no need for the battle
to take place except the Federals’ frustration with inactivity. It’s greatest
function for Grant and his men was a lesson to be learned from.
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.:
The Fighting Bishop. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1992.
Polk, William M.
Leonidas Polk, Bishop and General.
New York: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1915.
[1] Grant, Personal Memoirs, 145.
[2] OR III, 270; Hughes, Battle of Belmont, 147.
[3] Hughes, Battle of Belmont, 131.
[4] OR III, 275, 286.
[5] OR III, 307, 354, 363; Hughes, Battle of Belmont, 137.
[6] OR III, 307.
[7] Banasik,
Confederate Tales of the War,
156-157.
[8] Brinton,
Personal Memoirs, 77; Grant, Personal Memoirs, 145.
[9] Grant, Personal Memoirs, 145.
[10] Alvan E. Sample, A History of Company “A”, 30th
Illinois Infantry, (Lyons, 1907), 2-3.
[11] OR III, 343-344, 356; Hughes, Battle of Belmont, 142; Hughes, Gideon J. Pillow, 203.
[12] Grant, Personal Memoirs, 145, 147; OR III, 293.
[13] OR III, 270, 293, 297-299, 354;
Smith, Seventh Iowa, 16, 28, The 1st Iowa at Springfield references that regiment's determined defense at the Battle of Wilson's Creek, Missouri, on August 10, 1861; Hughes, Battle of Belmont, 144-145, 149, 152.
[14] Smith, Seventh Iowa, 12.
[15] Hughes, Battle of Belmont, 155-157, 161.
[16] Hughes, Battle of Belmont, 145.
[17] Hughes, Battle of Belmont, 145-146.
[18] OR III, 286; Hughes, Battle of Belmont, 154.
[19] OR III, 346.
[20] OR III, 308; Hughes, Battle of Belmont, 165.
[21] Grant, Personal Memoirs, 147-149.
[22] OR III, 293.
[23] Hughes, Battle of Belmont, 170-171.
[24] Brinton,
Personal Memoirs, 80-81.
[25] Brinton,
Personal Memoirs, 81-82, 86, 89.
[26] OR III, 348-349; Hughes, Battle of Belmont, 166-168; Barnwell, “The Battle of Belmont,” 371.
[27] OR III, 276, 346.
[28] Grant, Personal Memoirs, 148.
[29] Grant, Personal Memoirs, 148.
[30] Hughes, Battle of Belmont, 171-172.
[31] OR III, 281, 295.
[32] Smith, Seventh Iowa, 12-13; Hughes, Battle
of Belmont, 173-174.
[33] Hughes, Battle of Belmont, 172-173.
[34] OR III, 270-271, 280, 284-285.
[35] OR III, 285; Hughes, Battle of Belmont, 174-175.
[36] Polk, “General Polk and the
Battle of Belmont,” 351; Hughes, Battle
of Belmont, 175.
[37] OR III, 353.
[38] Grant, Personal Memoirs, 148; Hughes, Battle
of Belmont, 175.
[39] Hughes, Battle of Belmont, 193-194.
[40] Donald Stanton
(ed.), Civil War Reminiscences of General
M. Jeff Thompson, (Morningside Bookshop, 1988), 118-120.
[41] OR III,
282-283, 285; Hughes, Battle of Belmont,
184; Charles Wright Wills, Army Life of
an Illinois Soldier, (Washington, D.C.: Globe Printing Company, 1906), 42.
[42] OR III, 290.
[43] OR III, 310; Hughes, Battle of Belmont, 184-185.
[44] OR III, 334.
[45] Hughes, Battle of Belmont, 158, 184.
[46] Polk, “Bishop and General,”
44-46.
[47] Hughes, Battle of Belmont, 179.
[48] Smith, Seventh Iowa, 21.
[49] Hughes, Battle of Belmont, 182.
[50] Hughes, Battle of Belmont, 186-187; Polk, “General Polk and the Battle of
Belmont,” 357.
[51] OR III, 305.
[52] Hughes, Gideon J. Pillow, 205-206.
[53] OR III, 310-312.
[54] OR III, 313-315.
[55] OR III, 320-324.
[56] Hughes, Battle of Belmont, 191.
[57] Parks, The Fighting Bishop, 195-196.
[58] Grant, Personal Memoirs, 149.
[59] Polk, “General Polk and the
Battle of Belmont,” 353.
[60] Banasik,
Confederate Tales of the War, 144-146,
150.
[61] Hughes, Battle of Belmont, 193-195; Wills, Army Life of an Illinois Soldier, 43;
Smith, Seventh Iowa, 17-18.
[62] Kiper, Politician in Uniform, 47.
[63] Hughes, Battle of Belmont, 196.
[64] Bonekemper, A Victor, Not a Butcher, 22.
[65] Chernow, Grant, 159-160.
[66] Logan, Volunteer Soldier of America, 625.
[67] Chernow, Grant, 160.
[68] Barnwell,
“The Battle of Belmont,” 370.
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