REBEL RAID IN SOUTHEAST MISSOURI. ATTACK UPON PATTERSON. FIGHT BETWEEN 1,500 OF THE ENEMY AND 400 FEDERALS. THE LATTER FALL BACK TO BIG CREEK. INTERESTING DISPATCH FROM PILOT KNOB. MAJOR McCONNELL REPORTED MORTALLY WOUNDED AND A PRISONER. THE INCURSION AT AN END [caption title]

[Civil War]: Smart, Edwin

Published by [N.p., but likely St. Louis, 1863

Broadside, 13 3/4 x 4 1/4 inches. Remnants of tape at top edge and ink mark in top margin. Slight tanning and spotting, old folds. Very good. A rare Civil War broadside recounting Confederate General John S. Marmaduke's second raid into Missouri. It gives detailed news of battles between Union and Confederate troops in southeast Missouri, an area that saw bloody battles between Unionists and Bushwhackers throughout the Civil War. Marmaduke, aided by other Confederate units led by Joseph O. Shelby, and Sterling Price and others attempted to lay claim to Missouri in 1861; they were unsuccessful, but did not acknowledge defeat. Marmaduke planned his return for spring of 1863, confident that secessionist-minded Missourians would rally to his banner and he could make a decisive move on Jefferson City and even St. Louis. He needed the help: at the beginning of the raid Marmaduke had about 5,000 troops, of which 1,200 were unarmed and 900 were unmounted, and he hoped to resupply at Patterson and Bloomfield. He divided his forces, and sent 2,000 against Patterson, the furthest south in a string of fortified outposts in southeastern Missouri. Marmaduke's troops had the element of surprise initially, approaching Patterson and its small garrison of about 400 troops, commanded by Col. Edwin Smart. Marmaduke's men captured Smart's pickets but revealed themselves soon after, as over-eager artillery troops started firing before the infantry could get into place. Smart sent out a battalion under Major Wood to hold off the Confederates while he prepared his troops and supply trains for retreat. In the text of this broadside, Smart reports that Wood "held them in check, and skirmished them into town.Before I left the town I destroyed what stores I could not bring away. Nothing fell into the hands of the enemy." Marmaduke pursued them to Big Creek, about eight miles west of Patterson, and Smart writes: "The engagement was severe in the extreme, often fighting hand to hand. At Big Creek they got in my front, and attempted to cut off my retreat, but I forced my way and formed on this side of the Creek. The enemy did not renew the engagement." Smart lost about fifty troops, including Major McConnell. Marmaduke failed to obtain any military stores at Patterson or during his subsequent raid at Bloomfield and no sympathetic Missourians joined his cause; the raid was a failure, and confirmed that while Missouri was no Union stronghold, neither was it interested in furthering the Confederate cause. This broadside bears no imprint, and the place of printing is unknown, but the tone of the text and the fact that the news arrived so quickly indicates that it might have been printed in St. Louis. No copies of this broadside are listed in OCLC. Such broadsides bearing news of the Civil War in the Trans-Mississippi West are rare, and shine an important spotlight on an often- neglected aspect of Civil War history. Seller Inventory # WRCAM55392

Bibliographic Details

Title: REBEL RAID IN SOUTHEAST MISSOURI. ATTACK ...
Publisher: [N.p., but likely St. Louis
Publication Date: 1863