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Francis Herron

Fri, 28 Dec 2007 02:32:59 GMT

Francis J. Herron was a banker in Dubuque, Iowa, before the Civil War. As a Captain, he fought in the Battle of Wilson’s Creek, on August 10, 1861, then soon returned to Iowa to help field the 9th Regiment, Iowa Volunteer Infantry. The 9th Iowa’s first assignment was to guard the railroad in Pacific, Missouri, and Herron and the regiment arrived on October 11, 1861.

Wilson’s Creek, near Springfield, is on the Wire Road, as were the Arkansas battles at Pea Ridge and Prairie Grove. At Pea Ridge in 1862, Herron was wounded and captured, and received the Medal of Honor and a promotion to Brigadier General for his actions there. On December 3, 1862, Herron commanded a division of the Union Army of the Frontier, camped just south of Springfield. Summoned to northwest Arkansas, Herron moved down the Wire Road and arrived with 3500 troops to save the Union Army at Prairie Grove. His march, 110 miles in less than three days, was the greatest forced march of the Civil War. His actions there brought Herron a promotion to Major General, and he was (at age 25) the youngest man to wear 2 stars since Lafayette.

Hildebrand, Sam

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 02:40:14 GMT

Son of one of the early settlers of St. Francois County, Hildebrand had his baptism in 1861, when federal sympathizers captured and lynched his brother Frank. Later, federal troops shot and killed a 13 year old brother, Henry, and burned the family home. Hildebrand traveled south and was allegedly commissioned a “major” by Jeff Thompson, and periodically returned to his haunts in St. Francois County. Hildebrand became a notorious killer during and after the War, and the story of his life is legendary in southeast Missouri. Throughout the War, he carried old “Kill-Devil,” his musket, and when it was recovered after his death it had 80 notches carved in its stock, it is said. In 1872, Hildebrand was involved in a gunfight in the town of Pinckneyville, Illinois, and was shot dead. His body was returned to St. Francois County, and he was buried in Hampton Cemetery, in Elvins, just southwest of Park Hills.

McNeil, John

Mon, 19 Mar 2007 00:15:11 GMT

A native of Nova Scotia, John McNeil settled in St. Louis in 1836 and became an insurance executive before the Civil War. McNeil is one of four Canadians who have achieved the rank of general in the U.S. Army. McNeil's Civil War years were spent entirely in Missouri. A mediocre battlefield commander, he played a part in a number of Missouri's most important engagements, including the Battles of Cape Girardeau and Westport. McNeil's place in history, however, is defined by his act of ordering the execution of 10 southern sympathizers in October, 1861, at Palmyra, Missouri. The Palmyra Massacre created a sensation in the world press, and sparked Missouri's descent into a war of retribution. McNeil died in 1891 and is buried in Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis.

Sherman, William Tecumseh

Fri, 09 Feb 2007 03:33:49 GMT

A career army officer, like U.S. Grant, it is difficult to assign a "home town" to William T. Sherman. St. Louis, where he lived on and off throughout his career, is the city which has the clearest claim to Sherman. As the war approached, Sherman took a position as president of a St. Louis steet railroad, and was present to witness the Camp Jackson affair in May, 1861. He served briefly at Benton Barracks in St. Louis after being relieved of his command in Kentucky when he was thought to have become insane. Restored to field command in early 1862, Sherman went on to achieve legendary success in the Civil War. After the war, Sherman moved to a home in St. Louis purchased for him by admirers, and from time to time during his post-war career maintained his headquarters there. He retired to St. Louis in 1883, and there in 1884, in the parlor of his home on North Garrison Avenue, penned his famous telegram: "If nominated I will not run; if elected I will not serve." The Sherman family moved to New York, where Sherman died in 1891. His body was returned to St. Louis and interred at Calvary Cemetery, where son Willy had been buried in 1863.

Anderson, William T.

In the history of armed human conflict, few men in 24 years of life have left a mark as indelible as Bloody Bill Anderson's. Reared in Huntsville, Missouri, his family moved to Kansas before the Civil War, and Anderson is believed to have enlisted in the Missouri State Guard in 1861. Little is known of his early history or his service before August, 1863; There is no reason to believe that brutality inhabited his character. The demon in Anderson was vengeance. A bad policy - Union authorities in western Missouri jailed relatives of Southern partisans on charges of aiding and abetting - became infinitely worse on August 13, 1863. A Kansas City building housing female prisoners collapsed. Four young women died, including Anderson's 14 year old sister, Josephine. Mary Anderson, 16, was disfigured and crippled. Anderson no doubt believed, as some still believe, that this was a case of criminal negligence or worse. Four days later, Quantrill began his murderous raid on Lawrence, Kansas, urged on by those intent on avenging Kansas City. Anderson rode with him. In 1864, Anderson was ready to assert himself as leader of the most violent wing of the Missouri partisans. He spent the Summer in central Missouri, spreading terror and making war without bounds. In September, 1864, Anderson's rampage culminated - and most would say his vengeance was fulfilled - in a small north Missouri town called Centralia. Centralia made Bill Anderson the most hunted man in America. He lived another month. Trapped by a Union patrol in Orrick, Missouri, on October 27, 1864, he lead a last charge and fell. His body was hauled to Richmond, Missouri, and his remains lie there in Pioneer Cemetery.

Shelby, Joseph Orville

Fri, 26 Jan 2007 13:53:01 GMT

Born and raised in Kentucky, a Missourian by choice, JO Shelby possessed the dashing charm of J.E.B. Stuart and the fighting instincts of N.B. Forrest. With the exception only of Ulysses Grant, Shelby is the greatest natural military genius Missouri has produced - and Missouri is the State which produced John Pershing and Omar Bradley. Before the Civil War, Shelby was a hemp planter and businessman in Waverly, Missouri, and by some accounts the richest man in Missouri. He had an active role in the Missouri-Kansas Border Wars of the 1850's, raising a troop of horseman in Lafayette County and equipping them at his own expense. Joining the Missouri State Guard, he entered the War early and played an important role in the Battle of Carthage, July 5, 1861. In 1863, Shelby participated in the three great Missouri raids, including the greatest of all, which bears his name. The saying went that Missouri had five seasons, Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter and "Shelby's on a Raid." In 1864, he had a key role in Price's Expedition, and his command twice saved the Confederate invasion force, at Westport and at Mine Creek. Shelby's exploits during the War are legendary. Conservatively, he traveled - in the saddle at the head of cavalry - more than 5,000 miles in Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky and Kansas. Measured in miles, Shelby is without doubt the most well traveled cavalry commander in U.S. History. Still, his wartime operations almost pale in comparison to his Long Ride in 1865. You can read more about Shelby's Long Ride in the Features section of this site. Shelby died in 1897, and was buried in Forest Hill Cemetery, on the hillside where he made his last stand during the Battle of Westport. Jo Shelby's funeral procession is the largest, to the present day, Kansas City has ever seen.

James, Frank

He was buried in Hill Park Cemetery in Independence.

Scott, Dred

Born in Virginia, Scott first lived in Missouri in about 1830, when the Peter Blow family emigrated to St. Louis. He was sold by Blow to Dr. John Emerson, an Army surgeon, and began his trek to freedom when Emerson took him to Rock Island, Illinois, in 1833. Several years later, Scott married Harriett Robinson Scott at Fort Snelling, Minnesota Territory. In 1846, Scott and his wife filed separate petitions in St. Louis Circuit Court, seeking their freedom according to a Missouri law which had long acknowledged that slaves taken to free territory were entitled to their freedom. They lost their first trial, on a technicality, in 1847; but the court granted a new trial. After some maneuvering in the appeals courts, the case again went to trial in 1850. The Scotts won. However, the Missouri Supreme Court, speaking through a 2-1 majority, reversed the decision and reversed years of precedent in holding that the Scotts were not free as a result of years of residency in free territory. The case which produced the infamous 1857 decision of the United States Supreme Court was commenced in federal court in St. Louis in 1854, and sought to use federal law to override the Missouri Supreme Court decision. The Scotts were freed in 1857, two months after the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court; The widow of Dr. Emerson had married a Congressman from Massachusetts, and his wife's role in the case became a serious political liability. See an excellent description of the Scott litigation on the Missouri Secretary of State's website, at http://www.sos.state.mo.us/archives /resources/africanamerican/scott/scott.asp.

MacDonald, Emmett

Proskauer, Adolph

Born in Mobile, Alabama, Adolph Proskauer joined the 12th Alabama Regiment and rose to the rank of Major. He was wounded at Antietem, Chancellorsville and Spottsvania, and retired from the service in December, 1864 on account of his wounds. His role at Gettysburg is treated in Robert Rosen’s new book, “The Jewish Confederates.” Major Proskauer moved to St. Louis after the War, where he became a merchant and prominent member of the St. Louis Jewish community. He was President of the St. Louis Merchant's Exchange and one of the founders of St. Louis' Jewish Hospital. He died in 1900 and is buried in Mt. Sinai cemetery in St. Louis County.

Hickok, James Butler

Mon, 19 Mar 2007 00:12:27 GMT

Born in Troy Grove, Illinois into an abolitionist family, James Hickok moved west in 1856 as the fight for Bloody Kansas began. In 1861, he joined Jim Lane's Kansans as a civilian scout, just in time to participate in the Battle of Wilson's Creek as a sharpshooter. Hickok served the Union throughout the War, as a scout, courier, teamster and spy, attached first to Fremont's command and then to the staff of Gen. Samuel R. Curtis. Before the Battle of Pea Ridge, Hickok and a small band infiltrated Confederate lines and brought Curtis intelligence regarding Confederate troop dispositions. He was also present when Zagonyi made his famous charge on Springfield in October, 1861, and was with Curtis at the Battle of Westport in 1864. Legend holds that Hickok's famous sobriquet, "Wild Bill," was bestowed in 1862 by a bystander who witnessed him stare down a mob in Independence, Missouri. Hickok at the time was escorting an army supply train out of Ft. Leavenworth. As the Civil War came to a close, Hickok ushered in the post-War West on July 21, 1865, in the square in Springfield, Missouri. There he gunned down ex-Confederate Dave Tutt in the first-ever western-style gunfight.

Twain, Mark

The Civil War exploits of Missouri's most famous literary figure are described under his given name, "Samuel Clemens."

Riley, Charles Valentine

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Husmann, George

Hermann, Missouri, was the new world home of George Husmann, who is acknowledged as the father of the Missouri wine industry. His fame extends well beyond the State of Missouri. Husmann was born in 1827 in Meyenburg, Hanover, Germany, and emigrated to the United States with his family at age 9. As a young man, he was one of the first to cultivate grapes in Hermann. Then, with the coming of the Civil War, Husmann served for a time as Quartermaster of the 4th Missouri Infantry Regiment (union). Towards the end of the War, Husmann was elected a delegate to the so-called Drake Convention, called to re-write the Missouri Constitution. Husmann is credited with authoring Missouri’s Emancipation Proclamation, which was adopted by the Drake Convention on January 11, 1865, and was the first legislative act of a former slave-holding state that totally outlawed slavery. Beginning in 1863, the French wine industry was devastated by an infestation of Phylloxera Vastatrix, a small insect that was, ironically, introduced to Europe through the importation of American vines in the years just before the Civil War. By the 1880’s, 40% of France’s vines had been destroyed, and the plague had spread throughout most of western Europe. George Husmann, by the late 1870’s a professor at the University of Missouri, discovered that certain Missouri grape species, having been developed from wild vines, had an immunity to the Phylloxera insect. Husmann, together with several other Missouri wine experts, were instrumental in the mass export of Missouri root stocks - 10 million of them - which were grafted to French vines, and the French wine industry was thus saved. Most of the vines now growing in France are descended from these Missouri vines. Husmann moved to Napa Valley, California, in 1881, and became the pre-eminent expert on California viticulture. He died in 1902 in California.

Bingham, George C.

George Caleb Bingham was born in 1811, in Virginia, and moved with his family to the Missouri frontier, near Boonville, in 1819. On his way to becoming Missouri's greatest artist, Bingham's life became entwined in Missouri's Civil War.