St. Joseph Missouri

“Swamp Fox of the Confederacy” Surrenders at Chalk Bluff, Arkansas

/ sandramervillehart

In 1857, M. Jeff Thompson was elected mayor of St. Joseph, Missouri. He gave a speech about the importance of the Pony Express in a ceremony on April 3, 1860, before the first rider left St. Joseph.

Thompson supported secession in writings and speeches while mayor. After the war began, he commanded the First Division of the Missouri State as brigadier general. Located in the “boot heel” of Missouri, he and his troops caused trouble for the Union forces and won their admiration. Then Colonel Ulysses S. Grant called him “Swamp Fox.” He soon became known as the “Swamp Fox of the Confederacy.”

After suffering some defeats, Thompson was assigned to the Confederate riverine navy defending Memphis. This navy was destroyed and Thompson was sent back to Arkansas where he and his men raided into Missouri for the next few months.

Thompson was captured at Pocahontas on August 24, 1863. He spent the next year as a prisoner first at the St. Louis Gratiot Street Prison, then Johnson’s Island, Ohio, and then Fort Delaware. He was paroled in August of 1864.

He rejoined the fighting in Missouri. He had command of the Iron Brigade in Brigadier General Jo Shelby’s division and commanded the Sub-District of Northwest Arkansas beginning in March, 1865.

Union Lieutenant Colonel Charles W. Davis, 51st Illinois Infantry, requested a conference with Thompson. They discussed surrender terms on May 9th at Chalk Bluff, Arkansas. Thompson asked for two days to consult with his officers.

Thompson surrendered on May 11, 1865. The paroles took place at two Arkansas locations, Wittsburg and Jacksonport. Though some of Thompson’s men had already deserted, about 7,500 officers and enlisted men surrendered and were paroled.

-Sandra Merville Hart

Sources

“Conclusion of the American Civil War,” Wikipedia.com, 2018/03/21 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conclusion_of_the_American_Civil_War.

“Conclusion of the American Civil War,” Wikiwand.com, 2018/03/22 http://www.wikiwand.com/en/Conclusion_of_the_American_Civil_War.

“’Great Race Against Time,’ First Run: April 3, 1860,” National Park Service, 2018/04/21 https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/poex/hrs/hrs2e.htm.

“M. Jeff Thompson,” Wikipedia.com, 2018/04/21 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M._Jeff_Thompson.

Long, E.B. and Long, Barbara. The Civil War Day by Day: An Almanac 1861-1865, A Da Capo Paperback, 1971.

Perkins, Russell S. “Thompson, M. Jeff,” The Kansas City Public Library, 2018/04/21  http://www.civilwaronthewesternborder.org/encyclopedia/thompson-m-jeff.

Plante, Trevor K. “Ending the Bloodshed,” National Archives, 2018/03/21

https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2015/spring/cw-surrenders.html.

Mark Twain’s Observations about Pony Express Riders

/ sandramervillehart

mark-twain-391112_960_720

Pony Express Riders delivered mail from 1860 – 1861. Mark Twain traveled west by stagecoach during this time and longed to see one of the riders.

Twain and his fellow travelers hoped to spot one of the “pony-riders” on their way from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California. It took a remarkable eight days for letters to travel 1,900 miles, an unheard-of speed.

Before seeing a pony-rider, Twain already had an idea what to expect. Small men filled with spirit and endurance rode fifty miles by day or night.

Splendid horses “fed and lodged like a gentleman” raced at top speeds for ten miles or so until reaching the next relay station. The rider crashed up to two men holding a fresh steed. He mounted the new horse and transferred the precious mailbag “in the twinkling of an eye” and was off again in a cloud of dust.

Riders wore thin, close-fitting clothing and a skull-cap. His pantaloons were tucked into his boots “like a race-rider.” He carried no weapons.

Horses traveled lightly, too. A small racing saddle hid a blanket if one existed.

A child’s primer would fill one of the two mail pockets. Mostly business or newspaper letters filled these mail bags; postage alone was five dollars per letter.

Forty pony-riders rode west toward California at the same time as forty traveled east toward Missouri all day and night, in spite of bad weather.

Stagecoaches traveled between 100 and 125 miles in twenty-four hours; pony-riders managed about 250 miles.

-Sandra Merville Hart

Sources

“Pony Express,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 2016/06/03 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pony_Express.

Twain, Mark. Roughing It, Penguin Books, 1985.