Others fared better. Edward Hatch continued to serve under Grierson but was wounded in the chest in fighting near Memphis. He recovered and was promoted to brigadier general in April 1864. After the war Hatch was made a colonel in the regular army, given command of the 9th U.S. Cavalry, and once again served with Grierson in the far west. He died in 1889. Colonel Prince, jealous of Grierson’s sudden fame, maneuvered to be out from under his command. He never gained further promotion but lived a long life after the war before dying in 1908.4
Many lower-level officers likewise rose in the ranks. Captain John Lynch, who had led the two-man detachment to Macon, became the last colonel of the 6th Illinois Cavalry in 1865. Major John Graham, who had led so many of the battalion-level detachments during the raid, also rose to command his own regiment in 1865, becoming colonel of the 7th Illinois Cavalry. Captain George Trafton, who had also led detachments, rose to lieutenant colonel of the regiment in 1863.5
Others went on to illustrious nonmilitary careers, although they always considered the raid to be the center point of their existence. Adjutant Woodward followed Grierson out west after the war. He served as his aide until Grierson retired and then rose in rank to lieutenant colonel in the 7th Cavalry. Woodward retired in 1903 and died in 1924, but not before writing a detailed two-part history of the great raid. Intrepid scout Richard Surby survived his wound and subsequent captivity in Richmond, Virginia, was exchanged by the end of the year, and fought through the remainder of the war. Afterward he became one the major historians of the raid, writing numerous books and accounts of his service. He died in 1897. Captain Henry C. Forbes recovered from his mental fatigue and rose through the ranks to ultimately become lieutenant colonel of the 7th Illinois Cavalry. After the war he became a businessman and librarian. Forbes took an interest in the raid’s history and wrote a very personal account of it that was never published. He died in 1903. Henry’s younger brother, Stephen, also became one of the major historians of the raid. The teenager grew to manhood and became a successful science professor at the University of Illinois. He wrote extensively on the raid and corresponded with many veterans of the two Illinois regiments. He died in 1930.6
Many of the Confederates who pursued Grierson survived the war and went on to live interesting lives. Clark Barteau was promoted to colonel and fought through the remainder of the war, during which he was twice wounded. He survived, practiced law for decades, and died in 1900. William Wirt Adams became a Confederate brigadier general, serving under Nathan Bedford Forrest for the remainder of the war. Once the fighting ended, he became a Mississippi state government employee and postmaster. He was walking through Jackson in 1888 when he exchanged heated words with local editor John Martin, who had criticized Adams in his paper. Both men drew weapons and fired. Both were killed. Colonel Edward Goodwin, who defended Enterprise from the “horde” of Yankees numbering all of 35 horsemen, died five months later. Some surmised he lost his command because of the ruse he fell for. Henry C. Forbes, who performed that ruse, later recalled, “We afterwards learned from the Mobile papers that the effrontery of our game seemed so unendurable to those in authority that the Rebel Col. commanding lost his commission because he had lost his hand.”7
The lives of the two general officers who had the greatest stake in the raid’s success or failure could not have been more different. John C. Pemberton was captured and paroled at Vicksburg and exchanged a few months later. Unable to find a suitable command, the disgraced lieutenant general resigned his commission and continued fighting with the Confederacy as a lieutenant colonel of artillery and an inspector of ordnance. The financially strapped officer lived on a small farm in Virginia from 1866 to 1875 before moving to Philadelphia to live with family. He died in 1881. Grant, on the other hand, captured Vicksburg, saved Chattanooga, went east to defeat Robert E. Lee and accept his surrender at Appomattox, and became president of the United States. He died in 1885.8
The people of Mississippi never forgot the raid that swept through their state, especially the planters who lived in Grierson’s path. William D. Sloan survived his request to have his throat slit but lived only four more years before dying in 1867. Stephen Daggett lived much longer, until 1880, and is buried in the city cemetery in Pontotoc on the route Grierson’s troops took through the town. Dr. Benjamin Kilgore lived only a little more than a year after the raid before dying in late 1864 and being buried near his plantation where Grierson’s troops had camped. Charner Estes in Winston County lived until 1875; his son, W. E. W. Estes, lived into the next century and died in 1906.9
The planters in southern Mississippi, south of Grierson’s target at Newton Station, likewise mostly lived beyond the war. One of the oldest men in the state, Griffin M. Bender, died in his 90s in 1880. Elias Nichols lived until 1882. Chambers McAdory went back to Alabama after the war and eventually served in the Alabama legislature, dying in 1908. George W. Williams survived until 1877, went by the title “colonel,” and is buried near his plantation on the east bank of the Strong River. Jesse Thompson lived until 1900, dying at 87. A. C. Snyder lived until 1876, Uriah T. Gill until 1872, and Dr. Spurlock near Liberty, Mississippi, until 1915, when he died at the age of 85.10
James Newman and his wife, Caroline, were true to their word and cared for the wounded Federals for weeks. In fact, they gave of their own means doing so and petitioned congress in the 1890s for $412. A House of Representatives committee investigated their claim. The Newmans “are now poor and old,” explained the report, “the bed and all the articles belonging to it were rendered utterly worthless by the use of it for Col. Blackburn, as well as many other articles used to replenish it during the eighteen days that Col. Blackburn lay at his house; and for his use and the other soldiers’, for bandages and other purposes, nearly all the bedding, bed covering, and linen owned and possessed by claimant were destroyed for use or used up.” The report added, “Claimant and his wife spent their whole time during those eighteen days waiting upon and working for the said wounded soldiers.” It was also planting season, which meant even more work for James. At the same time, Caroline cooked and washed for the entire party, including Surgeon Yule and others who had stayed behind. The committee report acknowledged that “provisions were scarce and very high in that country.” Newman also buried Blackburn and another soldier who died in addition to reburying Private Reinhold properly after the hasty burial by the soldiers on May 1.11
Of course, it was Grierson himself who received the most notoriety for the raid that bears his name. Southerners reviled him for the “great suffering” he had caused and all the jewelry and money he had allegedly stolen. One man openly hoped that “the Colonel has long since, by confession, repentance, and prayer, appeased the wrath of Him who said, ‘Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these, ye have done it unto me.” The federal government was more appreciative of the way he conducted himself and, in large part because of the raid, promoted him to brigadier general in June 1863. As a general he commanded larger cavalry organizations, sometimes including his old 6th and 7th Illinois Cavalries. He even conducted a reprise of his Mississippi raid in December 1864 and January 1865, marching through the heart of the state once more, tearing up railroads and inflicting war on the people of Mississippi a second time. Grierson was promoted to major general after the war. Although mustered out of the volunteer service, he went back into the regular army as a colonel of the black Buffalo Soldiers of the 10th U.S. Cavalry, serving the rest of his career mainly in Texas. He was appointed a brigadier general in the regular army just before his retirement in 1890.12
Grierson’s wife, Alice, died in 1888, and he remarried soon thereafter, but by this time he was suffering from a variety of health problems. He died in 1911, beloved by many Americans and especially his fellow soldiers. His death was remarked upon across the country. The Society of the Army of the Tennessee passed a resolution upon his passing.13
Despite all his other achievements, the 1863 raid remained his major claim to fa
me, and what Benjamin Grierson is still remembered for to this day, although the memory of the event has changed over time. Many books and articles have been written about the raid, although the writers did not always agree on everything. Richard Surby, Samuel Woodward, and Stephen Forbes wrote accounts for publication, while many others never appeared in print. Writing when Surby’s was the only account available, T. W. Lippincott, one of the soldiers on the raid riding with the 7th Illinois Cavalry, bemoaned the fact that it was the only account available, “poor as it is.” He advised Grierson to write a Century Magazine article about what he called “the greatest feat performed by cavalry in any war,” but Grierson never did. He did, however, pen his autobiography, which he never dreamed would be published.14
In addition to works by amateur historians, novelists, and moviemakers, the raid has been remembered in anniversary commemorations. Even the town of Newton celebrated the raid and attack on the 125th anniversary in 1988, complete with a visit by reenactors of the 7th Illinois Cavalry, who demonstrated how to make Sherman bow ties (the heating and bending of rails). Headlines from local newspapers shouted “Newton Welcomes Cavalry Troop” and “Grierson’s Raid Commemoration Scheduled in Newton for April 13.” Historic signage commemorating the raid also went up in the ensuing years, although it was anything but comprehensive.15
Benjamin H. Grierson Grave. After a long and notable career in the United States Army, Grierson died in 1911 and was buried in his native Jacksonville, Illinois. Author
Grierson’s Raid was an adventure of the first order that helped change the course of the Civil War. The fictionalized version does not do any justice to the true story of Benjamin Grierson and The Real Horse Soldiers.
1Surgeon’s Certificate, June 24, 1863, and John N. Niglas Statement, August 19, 1864, in Jason B. Smith, Compiled Service Record, NARA.
2House Report 650, 53rd Congress, 2nd Session, 1-2; “The Grierson Raid,” Weekly Register (Canton, IL), September 7, 1863; Soldier Letter, Fulton City Ledger (Canton, IL), July 21, 1863; “Camp Correspondence,” Fulton City Register (Canton, IL), May 26, 1863; Reece, Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Illinois, vol. 8, 3; John W. Blackburn to Edward Prince, January 22, 1864, and other death documents in William D. Blackburn, Compiled Service Record, NARA.
3David W. Lusk, Politics and Politicians: A Succinct History of the Politics of Illinois, from 1856 to 1884, with Anecdotes and Incidents, and Appendix from 1809 to 1856 (Springfield: H. W. Rokker, 1884), 419; Reece, Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Illinois, vol. 8, 3; John N. Niglas, Statement, August 28, 1863, in Reuben Loomis, Compiled Service Record, NARA.
4Ezra J. Warner, Generals in Blue: Lives of the Union Commanders (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1964), 216; Grierson, A Just and Righteous Cause, 197; Edward Hatch, Compiled Service Record, NARA.
5Reece, Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Illinois, vol. 8, 3, 53.
6Grierson, A Just and Righteous Cause, 387n3; Dinges, “The Making of a Cavalryman,” 386-87n144; Richard W. Surby, Find a Grave Memorial 24359889, February 3, 2008, https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=24359889; Richard W. Surby, Compiled Service Record, NARA; “Finding Aid,” in Henry C. Forbes Papers, UI; “Finding Aid,” in Stephen A. Forbes Papers, UI.
7Ezra J. Warner, Generals in Gray: Lives of the Confederate Commanders (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1959), 3; Bruce S. Allardice, Confederate Colonels: A Biographical Register (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2008), 55, 168; Forbes, “Grierson’s Raid,” 22.
8Ezra J. Warner, Generals in Gray: Lives of the Confederate Commanders (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1959), 233; For Grant, see White, American Ulysses.
9William David Sloan, Find a Grave Memorial 15206302, August 10, 2006, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/15206302/william-sloan; Stephen Daggett, Find a Grave Memorial 14631957, June 17, 2006, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/14631957/daggett; Benjamin Kilgore, Find a Grave Memorial 59333701, September 28, 2010, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/59333701/benjamin-kilgore; Charner Estes, Find a Grave Memorial 22479366, October 27, 2007, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/22479366/estes
10DuBose, Jefferson County and Birmingham, Alabama, 511; Griffin M. Bender, Find a Grave Memorial 9121577, July 19, 2004, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/9121577/bender; Elias Nichols, Find a Grave Memorial 122137181, December 25, 2013, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/122137181/elias-nichols; George Washington Williams, Find a Grave Memorial 18083560, February 26, 2007, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/18083560/george-w-williams; Jesse Thompson Jr., Find a Grave Memorial 137537073, October 20, 2014, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/137537073/jesse-thompson; A. C. Snyder, Find a Grave Memorial 37477734, May 25, 2009, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/37477734/a-c-snyder; Chambers McAdory, Find a Grave Memorial 38840788, June 28, 2009, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/38840788; Thomas Jefferson Spurlock Sr., Find a Grave Memorial 104073536, January 23, 2013, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/104073536/thomas-j-spurlock; Uriah Thomas Gill, Find a Grave Memorial 34483133, March 5, 2009, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/34483133/uriah-gill
11House Report 650, 53rd Congress, 2nd Session, 1-2.
12Edwin C. Bearss, Forrest at Brice’s Cross Roads and in North Mississippi in 1864 (Dayton, OH: Morningside, 1994), 354; Thomas E. Parson, Work for Giants: The Campaign and Battle of Tupelo/Harrisburg, Mississippi, June-July 1864 (Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 2014), 306; Paul Selby to Jessie Palmer, January 3, 1912, in Paul Selby Papers, ALPL; Edwin C. Bearss, “Grierson’s Winter Raid on the Mobile and Ohio Railroad,” Military Affairs (Spring 1960), vol. 24, no. 2, 20-37; George W. Baskett, “Incidents of Grierson’s Raid,” Confederate Veteran (June 1914), vol. 22, no. 6, 268; “Brief Record of General Grierson’s Services During and Since the War, with Special Testimonials and Recommendations from General Officers, Senators, Representatives, and Other Officials, 1861-1882,” 1882, in Benjamin Henry Grierson Papers, Newberry Library; “Synopsis of Services Rendered to Government During the War,” n.d., in Benjamin H. Grierson Papers, ALPL. For Grierson’s later commands, see the Benjamin H. Grierson Papers, Texas Tech University.
13Leckie and Leckie, Unlikely Warriors, 298; “Letter to the Editor,” Chicago Inter Ocean, June 16, 1909; “Ben Grierson,” Rockford Daily Gazette, April 17, 1888; “Major T. W. Lippincott,” Rockford Weekly Gazette, April 28, 1886; “Colonel Grierson’s Military Achievements,” Chicago Inter Ocean, March 29, 1890; “A Music Master Goes for a Ride,” Mt. Vernon Register News, April 6, 1961; “Noted Civil War General Dead,” Daily Review (Decatur, IL), September 1, 1911; Society of the Army of the Tennessee, Report of the Proceedings of the Society of the Army of the Tennessee Meetings Held at Columbus, Ohio, November 3-4, 1909, Toledo, Ohio, November 16-17, 1910, Council Bluffs, Iowa, November 10-11, 1911 (Cincinnati: Charles O. Ebel Printing Company, 1913), 278.
14T. W. Lippincott to B. H. Grierson, June 1889, in Thomas W. Lippincott Papers, ALPL. For the memory of the raid, see York, Fiction as Fact, and Charles D. Grear, “‘Through the Heart of Rebel Country’: The History and Memory of Grierson’s Raid,” in Steven E. Woodworth and Charles D. Grear, eds., The Vicksburg Campaign: March 29-May 18, 1863 (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2013), 24-42.
15“Newton Welcomes Cavalry Troop,” Newton Record, April 20, 1988; “Grierson’s Raid Commemoration Scheduled in Newton for April 13,” Newton Record, April 6, 1988; “’Grierson’s Raid’ Historical Marker Ceremony Held,” in Grierson’s Raid Subject File, MDAH.
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Author’s Collection
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The Real Horse Soldiers Page 37
