| Battle of St. Charles | |||||||
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| Part of theAmerican Civil War | |||||||
 TheBattle at St. Charles, White River, Arkansas—Explosion of the "Mound City" by Alexander Simplot | |||||||
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 United States (Union) |  Confederate States | ||||||
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| Joseph Fry (POW) | |||||||
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  St. Charles Location withinArkansas | |||||||
TheBattle of St. Charles was fought on June 17, 1862, atSt. Charles, Arkansas, during theAmerican Civil War. Earlier in 1862, aUnion Army force commanded by Major GeneralSamuel R. Curtis moved againstLittle Rock, Arkansas, but became bogged down in theBatesville area due to lack of supplies. The Union leadership decided to send a naval force fromMemphis, Tennessee, up theWhite River to resupply Curtis's men. Major GeneralThomas C. Hindman, the Confederate commander in Arkansas, had fortifications constructed near St. Charles to stop the Union movement. Two artillery positions were built, and three ships, includingCSSMaurepas, werescuttled to obstruct the river.
The Union ships advanced against the Confederate positions on June 17. The46th Indiana Infantry Regiment was sent ashore to attack the fortifications on land, while twoironclads and twotimberclads attacked the fort from the river. During the fighting, a Confederatesolid shot struck the ironcladUSSMound City, puncturing one of the ship'ssteam drums. In what has been referred to as the deadliest shot of the war,scalding steam filled the ship, killing or wounding all but about 25 of the roughly 175 men on the vessel. The 46th Indiana overran the Confederate defenses on land and the position was taken. The supply mission was unable to make it all the way to Curtis's position, and withdrew back down the river due to low water levels. Thereafter, Curtis's army cut loose from their supply line and marched toHelena, Arkansas. A portion of the battlefield is listed on theNational Register of Historic Places as theSt. Charles Battle Site.
After the election ofAbraham Lincoln asPresident of the United States in 1860, severalsouthern states consideredseceding from the union. The southern state ofArkansas held a statewide election on February 18, 1861, to create a convention to vote on secession, with anti-secessionist delegates initially holding the majority.Slavery was considered to be a key issue. After convening on March 4 (the same day thatLincoln was inaugurated), the convention adjourned on March 21 without reaching a conclusion.[1] Thebombardment of Fort Sumter by Confederate troops, forcing the surrender of the United States-held fort in seceded territory on April 12[2] swung political opinion to secession, and the convention reconvened on May 6, voting to secede later that day. Arkansas then joined theConfederate States of America.[1]
After significant military activity inMissouri throughout 1861, Major GeneralEarl Van Dorn of theConfederate States Army formed theArmy of the West in early March 1862 from forces commanded byMissouri State Guard Major GeneralSterling Price and Confederate Brigadier GeneralBen McCulloch. Van Dorn moved his army north towards theUnion army of Major GeneralSamuel R. Curtis, but was defeated at theBattle of Pea Ridge on March 7 and 8.[3] After the defeat, Van Dorn moved his troops east of theMississippi River, with the movement completed by late April. During the process, Van Dorn essentially stripped Arkansas of its military strength and supplies, and weakened the ConfederateTrans-Mississippi Department.[4]
Curtis fell back into Missouri after the battle, but then moved his army east toWest Plains before turning south. They re-entered Arkansas on April 29 and headed forBatesville.[5] By May 2, the Union soldiers had reached Batesville. A separate column commanded by Brigadier GeneralFrederick Steele reachedJacksonport, which was near Batesville and on theWhite River, on May 4. Curtis absorbed Steele's men into his force and began to move on the state capital atLittle Rock.[6] The movement caused the Confederate government of Arkansas to retire toHot Springs,[7] and Curtis's men crossed the White River near Batesville.[6] On May 19, a small Union force crossed theLittle Red River to forage, butwas attacked by Confederate cavalry nearSearcy; some of the Union soldiers, including wounded men, were murdered while attempting to surrender.[8] Curtis was informed the next day that his line of supply was at the breaking point, and he decided that further advance without a new supply line was untenable. A small offensive across the Little Red on May 27 was successful,[8] but lack of supplies forced Curtis to withdraw back across both the Little Red and the White, and he sent a message to the Union leadership inSt. Louis, Missouri, on June 4, that he would need to continue his retreat if not reinforced.[9]
The message was forwarded to Major GeneralHenry W. Halleck, who then directedFlag OfficerCharles H. Davis to send aflotilla up the White River to Jacksonport to resupply Curtis, as the roads in that region of Arkansas were too poor for easy resupply by land.[10] Halleck also communicated withUnited States Secretary of WarEdwin M. Stanton, who in turn passed the communication toSecretary of the NavyGideon Welles, who sent a telegram to Davis ordering him to move up the White to relieve Curtis. Davis received Welles's telegram on June 12 and began making immediate preparations for the movement. He askedColonelCharles R. Ellet, commander of theRam Fleet, to send some of the ram ships to serve with the vessels of Davis'sWestern Flotilla, but Ellet would agree to this only under the condition that the Ram Fleet and Western Flotilla vessels would be separate commands, which Davis refused.[11] Less than a week before, on June 6, the Ram Fleet, under Ellet's fatherCharles Ellet Jr., and Davis's flotilla, had defeated a Confederate naval fleet at theFirst Battle of Memphis and taken the city ofMemphis, Tennessee.[12] The furthest north Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River was nowVicksburg, Mississippi, as positions upriver atColumbus, Kentucky, andIsland Number Ten had been taken earlier in the year. Few Confederate gunboats remained on the upper portion of the Mississippi watershed, and they were generally in hiding.[13]
On June 13, Davis's detachment left Memphis.[7] It was composed of theironcladsUSSMound City andUSSSt. Louis, thetimbercladUSSLexington, and thetugboatUSSSpitfire.[a] The ships were under the command of CommanderAugustus Kilty.[15] On June 14, thesteamboatWhite Cloud arrived at Memphis; it was to transport the supplies that would go to Curtis. Davis had also heard that the Confederates had blocked the White with a submerged wooden raft, which would have to be removed. Expecting the riverbanks to be occupied by Confederate soldiers, ColonelGraham Fitch and his46th Indiana Infantry Regiment were sent on the transportNew National to provide infantry support.[16] Fitch's force was almost 1,000 men strong.[17]
On the morning of June 15, the timbercladUSSConestoga,New National,White Cloud, and the steamboatJacob Musselman left Memphis to join Kilty. Meanwhile,Spitfire had escorted a captured Confederate steamboat downriver and was replaced by the tugboatUSSSpiteful. The two groups of ships united on June 16.[16] On the same day, Kilty's ships approached St. Charles. The vessels made it within 8 miles (13 km) of the defenses. Two scouting parties were sent forward: one on shore and one onSpiteful. They detected the two Confederate batteries, as well as further infantry and naval components, but were unable to provide exact strengths. Fitch and Kilty decided to attack the next morning.[18]
Confederate Major GeneralThomas C. Hindman had replaced Van Dorn as commander in Arkansas. Working to build up the remnants left by Van Dorn's departure, Hindman declaredmartial law, authorizedguerrilla warfare, and formed the base of an army.[19] After Curtis's expedition bogged down, Hindman anticipated a Union naval movement up either the White or theArkansas River. He sent out a surveying expedition on June 3 to investigate the possibility of blocking the rivers. When the level of the Arkansas River fell, the Confederates focused on the White. A site nearSt. Charles was selected as a favorable location for the emplacement of abattery on the bluffs and an obstruction in the river. Captain A. M. Williams and 100 soldiers were sent to construct the emplacements. Logs were floated downriver and driven into the river bottom as an obstruction, and batteries were constructed on the bluffs.[20][21] Tworifled 32-pounder guns were taken from the gunboatCSSPontchartrain and mounted in the main battery on June 8,[22] while two 3-inchParrott rifles were sent from Little Rock and placed in a smaller position 400 yards (370 m) away.[20][21]Pontchartrain's guns were placed on a commanding position on a bluff 75 feet (23 m) above a bend in the river. While they had an excellent field of fire, they were also masked by trees and brush.[22] The gunboatCSSMaurepas arrived at St. Charles on June 14. Two days later, Hindman was informed of Kilty's movement. With the obstruction incomplete and no other troops available to reinforce the St. Charles position, 35 sailors and naval officers fromPontchartrain, including LieutenantJohn W. Dunnington, the vessel's commander, volunteered and were sent down to help man the defenses. They arrived at 18:00 that day.[20]
On the night of June 16/17, Williams informed Hindman that the Union force had reached the area, and that the obstruction still was not complete. Hindman ordered two civilian steamboats at St. Charlesscuttled to block the river.[23] The commander ofMaurepas, CaptainJoseph Fry, also had his ship, which would have been mismatched against the Union ironclads, scuttled, although a12-pounder howitzer, a rifled cannon made of brass,[23][24][25] and a third artillery piece were removed first.[26] The lower battery of 3-inch rifles was strengthened with the brass piece fromMaurepas and 34 of Williams's men of the29th Arkansas Infantry Regiment.[21][24] The other members of the Arkansas regiment did not have weapons and were sent back to Little Rock.[21][26] The Confederate sailors were largely armed with single-shot pistols, which would be of dubious value in a land battle.[21] Overall, the Confederates had seven cannons and 114 men at St. Charles.[26]
Before daybreak on June 17, the Confederates made dispositions to defend against the attack. Dunnington and his men were in the upper battery manning the two 32-pounders, while men fromMaurepas manned the lower position, which contained three guns. The infantrymen were sent downstream under Williams to serve assharpshooters, and were supported by the 12-pounder howitzer taken off ofMaurepas. Fry was in overall command.[27] Around 06:00, Kilty's ships began moving upriver again.Mound City led the approach, withSt. Louis,Lexington, andConestoga following; the other vessels were not armed and were in the rear. Within 2.5 miles (4.0 km) of St. Charles, Confederates were sighted on the river bank.Mound City opened fire and scattered them, after which the Indiana infantry disembarked fromJacob Musselman andNew National.[28] Sources disagree as to when the firing began. HistorianEd Bearss states that the firing started at 07:36,[28] while historian Mark Hubbs provides 09:00,[22] and Dunnington stated that the fighting began at around 08:30.[29]Conestoga andLexington began contributing fire later. Once Fitch's men were ashore, two companies were thrown out as askirmish line, and the men began advancing towards the Confederate defenses. It was planned for Fitch's men on shore and the ships in the river to move at about the same rate.[28]
Mound City kept steaming forward, and the lower Confederate battery opened fire when the ship was almost upon it, without effect. Kilty was unsure of the exact locations of the Confederate batteries, and had the two timberclads hold back while the ironclads moved forward. For fifteen minutes the two ships dueled with the lower battery, beforeMound City moved ahead. And she neared point-blank range of Dunnington's battery, the Confederates opened fire, but at first were unable to damage the Union vessel.[30] Meanwhile, Fitch's men had advanced and were about to attack the lower Confederate position[21] when asolid shot,[31] the third fired from Dunnington's position,[22] struckMound City at 10:03. The shot hit the ironclad'scasemate near agun port and penetrated the armor, killing three[32] or four sailors outright.[21] The shot then punctured one of the ship's poorly protectedsteam drums,[24] which connected to the ship's engines and fed them pressurized steam.[33] Steam filled the ship, scalding many of the ship's men. Many of those not near escape points were killed.[21] Of the roughly 175 men onboardMound City, 105[24] or 125 were killed and a further 25[22] or 44 wounded; only 25[24] or 26 escaped unhurt.[34][31] This shot has been described as the deadliest shot of the war.[24]
With steam pouring out of her and badly scalded men visible on the decks,Mound City drifted downstream and ran into the riverbank near the lower battery. Fry demanded that the remaining Union sailors aboard surrender, and when this was refused, ordered his men to fire on Union sailors in the river trying to swim to safety.[35] Several of the wounded men were killed when the Confederates opened fire.[21] WithMound City out of the fight,St. Louis and Dunnington's guns began dueling, until Fitch signaled for the ships to cease fire.[36] The Union infantrymen were about to storm the Confederate fortifications, and Fitch wanted to prevent accidentalfriendly fire.[17] Scaling the bluffs, Fitch's men moved into a position from which tooutflank the Confederate defenses. Williams attempted to have some of his men occupy Charles Belknap's house as a defensive position, but the Union men beat them to the position. After learning of this, Fry had the guns in the lower batteryspiked and the position abandoned.[37] Spiking the cannons involved driving a metal spike into thetouch hole of the cannon to temporarily prevent it being capable of firing.[38] After a short skirmish, it became clear that the Confederates would be captured if they did not retreat.[24]
Fry ordered Dunnington to cover the retreat with his men, but Dunnington refused, noting that some of his men were unarmed and those who were had only single-shot pistols which had already been emptied atMound City's survivors,[39] with no time to reload.[21] A final cannon shot was fired atSt. Louis, and the Confederates then scattered with Union troops within 50 yards (46 m).[39] During the retreat, Fry was wounded and captured while trying to reach the Belknap house.[21] In addition to Fry, 29 others were captured, although six of them were prisoners Fry had been holding on suspicion of treason. After taking the Confederate fortifications, Fitch signaled the ships.Lexington andSt. Louis advanced up to where the sunken ships blocked the river, whileConestoga andSpiteful towedMound City downstream.[40] Union soldiers were sent into St. Charles to patrol the town, and the local civilians were warned that it would be razed if guerrilla activity occurred. As punishment for the firing onMound City's wounded, 20 of the Confederate prisoners were placed under arrest,[21] including Fry.[41] The battle was over in under four hours.[25]
Kilty was among those scalded onMound City, and his wounds resulted in the loss of an arm. Lieutenant Wilson McGunnegle, commander ofSt. Louis, replaced him as expedition commander. The highest-ranking unhurt officer ofMound City had been unnerved by the events and was replaced by an officer fromConestoga. The 58- or 59-man replacement crew forMound City was drawn from the 46th Indiana.[21][42] Either 58[43] or 59[21] Union dead were buried in a mass grave at the lower battery,[43] while eight Confederates were buried in St. Charles.[21] Hindman claimed losses of six dead and one wounded.[24]The Civil War Battlefield Guide estimates that the Union had about 160 casualties and that the Confederates lost 40.[44] No serious casualties were suffered by the 46th Indiana during its capture of the batteries.[22] The historian Mark K. Christ provides Confederate losses as eight killed and 24 wounded. Historian Mark Hubbs suggests that seven percent of all Union Navy battle deaths in the entire war were the result of the single catastrophic shot that struckMound City.[45] The Union wounded were sent back down to Memphis onConestoga. Six Confederate cannons had been captured on the field.[46] Four were sent to Memphis, and the two 32-pounders were spiked and dumped into the river. The Union troops destroyed the Confederate fortifications after the battle.[22]
Hindman had sent the10th Texas Infantry Regiment to reinforce St. Charles, but the unit had to delay to be issued ammunition. By the time this was done, it was June 17. After learning of the fall of St. Charles, the Texans withdrew toDeValls Bluff, where they were reinforced by anotherregiment, abattalion, and three artillery batteries.[47] Establishing a supply point at St. Charles,[24] McGunnegle's fleet moved past the river obstructions and continued up the White.[21] The movement began on June 18, althoughMound City was left behind.[48] The damaged ironclad later returned to service and survived the war.[49] After meeting sporadic Confederate resistance on June 19, the vessels reachedClarendon, Arkansas,[50] where they halted due to low water. Fitch took his men ashore and advanced 5 miles (8.0 km) but withdrew after losing 55 men in a fight with Confederate dismounted cavalry.[21] After leaving Clarendon, McGunnegle's flotilla continued north, where they halted for the night at a point inMonroe County known as Crooked Point Cutoff.[24][51]
At Crooked Point Cutoff, McGunnegle was informed by his pilots that falling river levels would likely strand the ships if they continued further north, so the decision was made to turn around. Fitch was opposed to falling back without resupplying Curtis, but the ships turned back on the morning of June 20.[52] By June 25, they had returned to the mouth of the river. On June 23, Major GeneralUlysses S. Grant had taken command of Union forces in Memphis. After receiving communication from Halleck that he still wanted Curtis reinforced, Grant sent additional supply vessels and transports loaded with the34th and43rd Indiana Infantry Regiments to join the White River flotilla on June 26.[53] The new vessels reached the others on June 27, andLexington,Conestoga, andSpiteful escorted the transports and supply ships upriver, leaving on June 28 under the command of LieutenantJames Shirk.[54] At noon on June 30, Shirk's vessels reached Clarendon. With water levels falling, Shirk would not venture beyond the town. Fitch wanted to continue, but learned of a new Confederate strongpoint at DeValls Bluff, and decided that the infantry could not take the position without the gunboats.[55] The Union ships turned back down the river on July 3, but began heading back upriver again on July 5.[56] Union forces reoccupied Clarendon on July 7.[57]
Curtis learned that the vessels would not be able to reach his position, so he severed his line of supply and had his men march down the White for two weeks. This was the first time in the war that a Union army had campaigned without a direct line of supply;[31] this would not occur again until theVicksburg campaign the next year.[58] Curtis emancipated slaves during this movement, and foraging and plundering by his soldiers economically devastated the line of the march.[31][58] In one county alone, $1,500,000 of property damage was inflicted.[21] The Confederates made only one serious attempt to halt Curtis's movement. On July 7, Brigadier GeneralAlbert Rust led Confederate cavalry in an assault on the Union force while it was crossing theCache River. In the ensuingBattle of Cotton Plant, Rust's attack was repulsed, and his men were thenrouted by a Unioncounterattack.[59] McGunnegle's vessels had stayed at Clarendon until July 8, and Curtis's men did not reach there until July 9. Having missed his supply rendezvous, Curtis had his troops leave the White and march to the Mississippi River town ofHelena, which was reached on July 12.[60] The relief column itself turned up at Helena on July 15.[61] Helena was later used as a significant operating hub for the Union Army in the Vicksburg campaign; the Confederates never retook the city.[45]
A portion of the battlefield was listed on theNational Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1974 as the St. Charles Battle Site. Divers recovered two cannons from the river bottom in the 1930s and the Belknap house burned in 1962. The historic area covers about 9 acres (3.6 ha) along the west bank of the river; the river has moved to the west somewhat since the time of the battle. There are no signs left of the Confederate batteries, and as of 1974, the area was largely undeveloped and was similar to the site's appearance during the war.[25][62] Also on the NRHP is theSt. Charles Battle Monument, a commemorative marker placed in 1919. Unusually for a monument in the South, it commemorates both sides of the battle.[63]
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