civil

Civil War History in Stoddard County
All of this information was taken from the book, History of Stoddard County by Robert Forister.

President Lincoln called for Missouri to furnish her quota of four regiments of Infantry. Governor Jackson refused. Francis P. Blair, a Unionist, seized the federal arsenal at Camp Jackson in St. Louis. Governor Jackson was forced to leave Jefferson City and a loyal Union government was formed

Jefferson City was in the hands of Unionists and in March of the following year, General Price and the main force of the Confederate army retreated out of the state. Since Missouri was a border state, its sympathies were divided for the duration of the war. Much of Southeast Missouri had been settled by people from southern states and many were slaveholders.

Stoddard County had few slaves. Most farms were small and situated in the hills above swampland.

Bloomfield was the only sizable town in the county and was a confederate stronghold in the early part of the was and was the headquarters of General Jeff Thompson.

General Thompson was known as the "Swamp Fox" because he was so illusive at escaping Union troops. From Bloomfield, he conducted raids all over southeast Missouri. He used horses, but often moved thru the swamp lands in dugouts.

Bloomfield was very early recognized by both sides as a very strategic location. The town was situated atop the highest point of Crowley's Ridge. and provided the only direct land route from the south.

The objective of the Union Army was to fortify Pilot Knob and Bloomfield, sealing off the two routes.

Grant reports that Bloomfield is " geographically a commanding position and if troops could be spared, I would earnestly recommend the occupation of it". Grant subdued Thompson's activities but failed to capture him.

Colonel Edward Daniels defeated William G. Phelan, who was the confederate commander at the time. Lawyers Solomon G. Kitchen and Major Bedford as well as Stoddard countian William L. Jeffers recruited regiments in Bloomfield to fight the Union Army. Major Bedford rescued all the records from the Stoddard County courthouse just before Prices army came in and the town was burned down. All records were taken to Arkansas and returned after the war. No records were lost.

Colonel S. H. Boyd and his 24th Missouri U.S. Infantry attacked 350 rebels in Bloomfield and drove them out.

Colonel James Lindsay and 250 men of the 68th Regiment of the Missouri State Militia drove a small Confederate detachment out of Stoddard County.

General Marmaduke began a major invasion of Missouri with a force of four brigades of Calvary composed of 5000 men. A series of events led Marmaduke from Bloomfield to Cape Girardeau then back to Bloomfield where he would battle Brigadier General John McNeil.

Two Infantry regiments joined McNeil and marched down Bloomfield road in pursuit of Marmaduke. He was near Bloomfield and by the next morning the combined Union force of about 8000 men pursued into Bloomfield. The confederates retreated over a crude bridge across the St. Francis river, constructed by General Jeff Thompson and Major Robert Smith, into Arkansas.

Sterling Prices army invaded Missouri. Colonel Reeves of Butler County, Jeff Thompson and Sam Hildebrand commanded many guerrilla raids in the area.

The towns and villages of Southeast Missouri bore the main brunt of the war. Stoddard, despite its fortification, Butler, Bollinger and Wayne County were ravaged. Van Buren, Poplar Bluff, Bloomfield, Patterson and Doniphan were burned to the ground.

Near the end of the war, an extensive fortification was completed on the burned out courthouse square in Bloomfield, A supporting outpost was constructed on a hill directly west, overlooking the town.

In one last desperate effort to capture Missouri, or at least divert Union armies from the field in the east, General Sterling Price, ex-governor of Missouri, made ready for an invasion of Southeast Missouri.

Plans were begun for the army to advance into Missouri in three columns, which would unite in Frederick town.

Prices raid turned into a major fiasco when the defense of Ft. Davidson at Pilot Knob delayed and crippled the Confederate army until Union reinforcement arrived and chased them back into Arkansas