War: Where integrity and brutality collide
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Sterling Price was a man of honor. To lead thousands of soldiers into battle, it takes mutual respect and discipline.
Mob rule was on display in St. Louis. Earlier in the Camp Jackson affair, uncontrollable green Union troops panicked and opened fire into a ruckus civilian crowd, killing 28 and leaving 100-plus wounded. The act changed Sterling Price’s opinion on Missouri staying neutral in the early stages of the Civil War.
Following the victory at Wilson’s Creek, Missouri State Guard and Confederate regulars from Arkansas parted ways. General Price drove his 15,000 to 17,000-men north to retake important parts of Missouri and recruit.
It’s no small feat to maneuver an army. Food, ammunition, horses, soldiers and armaments for the likes of those numbers can produce a caravan 10 miles long.
As Price’s army meandered north along the Kansas and Missouri border, Jim Lane and his undisciplined Jayhawks tried to slow them down. Vastly outnumbered, Lane's boys skirmished, then wisely slithered back into Kansas, but he sensed an opportunity.
Lane knew the militia’s target had to be Union strategic strongholds; Fort Leavenworth, St. Joseph and/or Lexington.
Once a large foraging army on the recruit left an area there would be a vacuum, Lane took note.
Price was headed to Lexington, an important trading center on the Missouri River. A Union contingent had moved on the city, occupying the southern leaning town and looting local banks.
The Missouri State Militia moved through the countryside like a methodical monster. Price deployed part of his cavalry as the convoy approached Lexington, small clashes occurred as the Union retreated to their defenses, an abandoned Masonic College in the bluffs overlooking the River.
Remember Price is campaigning in his home state against his people. A measured attack commenced, “Price’s heart really wasn’t in it,” lamented Chris Fritsche, Superintendent of the Battle of Lexington State Historic Site.
Nonetheless, artillery barrages from both sides lasted hours, forcing Union troops under the command of Colonel James Mulligan to retreat into pre-established inner defenses.
A cannon ball from that exchange is visible to this day, embedded in a column of the Lafayette County court house.
Yards away from the College is the Anderson House, a stately manor used as a Union hospital easily taken by the Militia. With the sick and wounded from both sides soon filling the corridors, the militia started using the second floor windows as a perfect perch to snipe at the enemy.
Colonel Mulligan was incensed, “that violates the Laws of War,” he proclaimed and ordered an assault to take the hospital back.
Bugler George Palmer and 40 others left the cover of their positions, under heavy fire, they charged the back of the Anderson House, gaining entrance to the first floor. There was one main staircase to the second level where the snipers were positioned. No one wanted to lead the charge up the stairs … until George volunteered. He killed two men on his climb up before breaking down a second story door with comrades right behind, capturing four others.
On Sept. 18, 1861, for those actions, Union musician George Palmer earned the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Counterattacks forced the Yankees to abandon the Anderson House, repositioning themselves back to their formidable defenses in the bluffs. Storming the college would now be difficult and costly for the militia.
Then, soldiers in Brigadier General Thomas Harris’s division got the idea to use hemp bales from a local warehouse as rolling fortifications. They discovered soaking the bales in Missouri River water the night before made them impenetrable. It was a life-saving idea, men from other divisions joined in deploying the rolling barricade lower on the bluff encircling much of the enemy's higher defenses.
After soaking them on Sept. 19, the army rolled them out the very next morning. By noon, the outgunned and outmaneuvered Union force -- low on ammunition and out of water -- surrendered to General Price.
The Battle of the Hemp Bales was over.
Mulligan oversaw his 3,500-strong Illinois regiment stack their arms unconditionally. Price was impressed with his demeanor and respect for the “Rules of War.”
Considering the casualty count, this was a minor battle understanding what was to come. For the Union, 36 killed, 117 wounded, 8 missing and 3,000 captured. In the Missouri State Militia, 30 killed and 120 wounded.
Casualties were light partly due to Mulligan’s well-constructed defenses and Harris' genius use of the hemp bales.
As stated, Sterling Price was a man of principle, very conflicted about waging war in his own state.
The militia commander granted all surrendered Union soldiers a general parole. In the end some soldiers were exchanged for militia members taken prisoner after the riots in St. Louis months earlier. Others found their way back into army service.
After that benevolent act between men that lived by a military code, one day later on Sept. 21, men of opposite character took advantage of the vacuum Price’s Army left.
Just 90 miles south of Lexington in Osceola, Missouri, one of the larger towns in the state. The city was ransacked and torched with 800 buildings being set ablaze by Jim Lane and his band of drunken lawless Jayhawks.
In war, noble acts rarely go rewarded.
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Bob Ford’s History will appear in each edition of the Weekender, Midweek and Corner Post. To find more of Bob’s work go to his website bobfordshistory.com. His videos can be found on YouTube, TikTok and Clapper.
