Benjamin McCulloch

“ While McCulloch had no disposition to enter Missouri and defend it against the Union troops, he had no hesitation about treating it as part of Confederate territory. Desiring to embarrass and delay Fremont's advance as much as possible, he sent forward his Texas cavalry to burn the mills, forage and grain as far in the direction of Springfield as they could safely go, and urged Price to do the same. McCulloch's Texans soon lighted up the southwest country with burning mills, barns and stacks. ”

“ CHAPTER XII. A GALAXY OF NOTABLE MEN
The Union commanders were naturally very apprehensive that as soon as Price and Mc-Culloch realized that the field had been abandoned they would precipitate upon them their immense horde of vengeful horsemen. Such was not the case. Nothing tells so eloquently of the severity of the blow which Lyon had dealt his enemies than that it was two whole days before Price and McCulloch were in a frame of mind to move forward 10 miles and occupy Springfield, the goal of their campaign. ”

“ I did think of sending the money, at least the specie, direct from this point to North Fork, but have determined to keep it with me until I meet you. If you will meet me at Spaniard’s Creek, we can then determine what disposition to make of it.
Gen. Price is at Walnut Grove, eight miles south of Fayetteville; will take position near Cane Hill, and means to attack as soon as he gets 5,000. men in addition to his present force. McCulloch is on the telegraph road, to his right. They are not acting in harmony, Col. ”

“ McCulloch was a Tennesseean by birth. His father served under General Jackson during the Creek war. Ben followed the trade of a hunter until he was twenty-one years old. In those days the settlers depended chiefly on bear meat for food. If a man were a poor marksman he sometimes went without his breakfast. But young McCulloch was a fine shot; he often killed as many as eighty bears in the course of a season.
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He came to Texas with David Crockett. A fortunate illness kept him at Nacogdoches until after the fall of the Alamo, where Crockett perished. ”

“ The enemy fell back and could not again be rallied, and they were seen at 12 m. fast retreating among the hills in the distance. This ended the battle. It lasted six hours and a half."
By this time Gen. McCulloch had reduced the Union force to between 9,000 and 10,000, and he claims the Union loss to have been 800 killed, 1,000 wounded and 300 prisoners. He gave his own loss at 265 killed, 800 wounded and 30 missing. His colleague, Gen. Price, he curtly dismisses with this brief laudation: "To Gen. Price I am under many obligations for assistance on the battlefield. ”

“ McCulloch, and I am not only your senior in rank now, but I was a Brigadier-General in the Mexican War, with an independent command, when you were only a Captain; I have fought and won more battles than you have ever witnessed; my force is twice as great as yours; and some of my officers rank, and have seen more service than you, and we are also upon the soil of our own State; but, Gen. McCulloch, if you will consent to help us to whip Lyon and to repossess Missouri, I will put myself and all my forces under your command, and we will obey you as faithfully as the humblest of your own men. ”

“ With regard to the impotent poor, he is content with saying that it would be inhumanity to deny them support, and injustice to throw their support exclusively on the benevolent. A poor-rate is sometimes defended on what are professed to be strictly economical grounds, by showing that it is both less mischievous and less expensive than mendicity; but what strikes McCulloch is not so much the wastefulness of private charity in the hands of the benevolent as the injustice of suffering the avaricious to escape their natural obligations. ”

“ Next, it was important to the insurgents that the people of northern Texas should be subjugated; and the work was intrusted to the notorious Ben. McCulloch, who made his headquarters at Dallas, and had at his command some fifteen hundred men; and this force was soon increased by the arrival of reinforcements, to ten thousand; and having used his army in coercing Union citizens into secession, till he was satisfied, he marched it to Fort Smith, Arkansas.
Outside of the districts patrolled by the armies, the work of converting Unionists by force was adopted by irresponsible bodies of citizens. ”

“ No one can doubt that he is a man of unusual energy and ability. McCulloch will increase Price’s force to about thirty-five thousand, which number we must expect to meet.
Hunter and McKinstry have not yet appeared, but Pope reported himself last night, and some of his men came in to-day.
Camp White, October 22d. The bridge is built, and the army is now crossing the Osage. In five days a firm road has been thrown across the river, over which our troops may pass in a day. The General and staff crossed by the ferry, and are now encamped two miles south of the Pomme-de-Terre. ”

“ It is an undoubted fact that at one time Gen. McCulloch had decided to retreat into Arkansas. Gen. Price, however, was anxious for an immediate advance and attack. He knew that Lyon’s force was inferior even to his own, and that the entire Southern army had but little to risk in offering battle. He knew furthermore, that Lyon ought to be reinforced, and that the chances were that he could and would be, and of course it was desirable that the enemy be attacked before this reinforcement should be effected. ”

“ Then McCulloch would come up with his Texans, Louisianians and Arkansans, and Albert Pike with his horde of Indians. There would be such an overthrow and annihilation of their enemies as the world had never before seen, followed by a race to get to St. Louis before Polk, Pillow and M. Jeff Thompson could reach her from down the Mississippi.
Sterling Price was eager to fight Fremont among the rough, high lands south of Springfield, and his ardent followers wanted a repetition of the triumph of Lexington; but McCulloch would not come up from his fastness at Cross Hollows. ”

“ A glance passed between Harding and Grant—each understood the thought of the other—and, as if by pre-concert, they broke away from their guards, sprang upon the count, and, before his men could interfere, dragged him, a prisoner in his turn, within the chancel! Scarcely giving him time to speak, two of the rangers hurried him away through the priest’s room, and delivered him in charge to the guard stationed at the door.
“Lay down your arms!” shouted McCulloch, through the din which now arose—chiefly from the domestics—“and every man’s life shall be spared. ”

“ The relations between the two Generals constantly became more strained, and for the latter part of the two weeks which McCulloch remained at Springfield there was little communication between them. Gen. Price made good use of the time to bring in recruits from every part of the State which was accessible and to organize and discipline them for further service.
At the end of a fortnight Gen. McCulloch suffered Gen. Pearce to return to Arkansas with his Arkansas Division, while Gen. McCulloch retired with his brigade of Louisianians and Texans, and Price was left free to do as he pleased. ”

“ The best comfort he could give Sterling Price was to destroy that part of Missouri and make it worthless to the enemy. McCulloch wanted to advance into Kansas, however, and utterly destroy that Territory, to strike terror to the Abolitionists. It speaks very badly for their intelligence system that both Price and McCulloch maintained, that neither of them was aware for days that the Union army had left Springfield, Nov. 8, on its retreat to Rolla and Sedalia. Although their camps were only some 70 miles from Springfield, they did not learn of the retreat until Nov. ”

“ Yet Gen. McCulloch was unflinching in his insistence that a Confederate Brigadier-General outranked a State Major-General. The dispute became quite acrimonious, but was at last settled by Price's yielding to McCulloch, so anxious was he that something decisive should be done toward driving back Lyon and "redeeming the State of Missouri." According to Gen. Thomas L. Snead, his Chief of Staff, he went to Gen. McCulloch's quarters on Sunday morning, Aug. 4, and after vainly trying to persuade McCulloch to attack Lyon, he said:
"I am an older man than you, Gen. ”

“ Coming to the island just to rest, he gained his health and liked the climate so well he settled there. His wife was a highly cultured lady. While not wholly Mormons, they were just enough so as to live peaceably with the King. Mrs. McCulloch was the leader in much of their amusements, and she often ridiculed Strang about his way of living and insisting upon the women wearing short hair and bloomer costumes. She always wore her dresses long when going on her annual trips home to Baltimore. But when on the island she wore the regulation short dress, as she said, "Just for fun." ”

“ You must either fight beside us or look on at a safe distance and see us fight all alone the army which you dare not attack even with our aid. I must have your answer before dark, for I intend to attack Lyon tomorrow."
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Gen. McCulloch replied that he was expecting dispatches from the East, but would make known his determination before sundown. At that time, accompanied by Gen. Mcintosh, in whose abilities Gen. McCulloch had the highest confidence, and was largely influenced by him, he went to Price's headquarters and informed him that he had just received dispatches that Gen. ”

“ McCulloch had no deposition to make, or would not make one. He seemed quite prepared to die and give no sign.
Not an hour later I was favoured with a visit from Turnbull, the travelling photographer. He had been lodging in the town, and of course had heard of the strange crime. He had heard also of my unsuccessful hunt for the sailor, and would probably have gone up to Edinburgh to see me had he not been loth to lose another day at the race-course, his stance being taken for three days. ”

“ Feb. 24—nine days before the battle—Van Dorn reported to Albert Sidney Johnston that with the combined forces of McCulloch, Pike and Price, he would "be able to take about 26,000 men into battle."
The best organized and drilled troops west of the Mississippi were McCulloch's. March 2 he reported his "effective total" to be 8,384 men, with 18 cannon. He received some accessions after that, raising his whole force to nearly 10,000 men. ”

“ McCulloch and "State Guards" under Gov. Jackson and Gen. Price, a total estimated by Maj. Sturgis and others at 23,-000 men. For lack of proper arms and organization, many of these were not very effective. McCulloch says that the great horde of mounted men "were much in the way," and hindered rather than helped But they were certainly very effective in harrying the Union people; in impressing recruits; in embarrassing Lyon's gathering of supplies; in driving in the small parties he sent out, and confining his operations to the neighborhood of Springfield. ”

“ Not having been able to force either McCulloch or Price to a decisive battle in which he might destroy or at least cripple them, it did not seem discreet to venture further forward where every step made them stronger and him weaker.
Halleck had relied upon Gen. Hunter sending down a flanking column from Leavenworth by the way of Fort Scott, but this had not materialized, owing to the disputes between Gens. Hunter and Jas. H. Lane. Thus 5,000 men who should have been effectively employed, either in menacing Van Dorn's flank or increasing Curtis's strength, were held idly, at Leavenworth. ”

“ Some say that she went awa’ wi’ a baker-man they ca’ McCulloch, and was aboot Leith for a while, but maybe it’s no true. He used to hae a great wark wi’ her.”
“And her husband—has he never been here?”
“Never since I cam’; but I heard that McCulloch was stabbed at the races by a sailor and I wadna wonder if that sailor turned oot to be Fisher himsel’.”
I thought the old woman the most acute I had met for a while; we always do when we find a person’s thoughts and opinions tallying with our own. I left the house and pursued my inquiries elsewhere. ”

“ Now, ‘Tough’ McCulloch, or Anton, or wotever you notion best, skunk as you are, you’re goin’ to die decent. You’re goin’ to die as a gentleman in a square fought duel. You’re goin’ to die in a slap-up way as is a sight too good fer you, but don’t go fer to make no mistake—you’re goin’ to die. Yes, you’re goin’ to get off’n that plug o’ yours an’ stand on that patch, an’ I’m goin’ to count three, nice an’ steady, one-two-three! ”

“ Among the English-speaking actors of later days few have been better known and better liked, in America at all events, than John McCullough, Dion Boucicault, Lawrence Barrett, Henry Edwards, and Edwin Booth, the faces of all of whom I am able to present here. John McCullough, the first of this galaxy of stars to quit the stage of life, was a man of strong and attractive personality, if not a great actor ”

“ I bought four—what do you think of that?"
"Baby," suggested his young daughter.
"Babies don't eat eggs," said Peter Smith, and under his breath he added: "Thank Heaven!"
"Go ocean?" his son demanded.
Peter Smith did not answer, for two reasons; one of which was that they had reached the front door of the shack, and the other of which was that a man always likes to defer the telling of bad news. Mrs. Peter met them at the door, her face the abiding-place of smiles, for Mrs. Peter loved her husband and clung to' him—something John Henry Benburker's spouse had not done. ”