THE CONFEDERATE RAID IN DOGTOWN ON SEPTEMBER 29, 1864

LOUIS SCHMIDT

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FROM THE BOOK "THE CIVIL WAR IN ST.LOUIS" ALSO FROM "THE HISTORY OF CHELTENHAM AND ST.JAMES CHURCH", AND "THE HISTORY OF RICHMOND HEIGHTS"-NO SPECIAL BOOK, BUT FROM FILES IN THE RICHMOND HEIGHTS LIBRARY. THIS STORY FIRST DEVELOPED WHEN RESEARCHING CHELTENHAM, WITH THE STORY OF THE RAID ON MUEGGE STORE. THIS STORY MENTIONED THE RAID WAS BY AN ATTACHMENT OF SHELBY'S CALVARY.

THEN ABOUT THE RAID ON THE POWDER HOUSES THAT WERE LOCATED WHERE ST.MARY'S HOSPITAL IS NOW LOCATED. THE STORY MENTIONS OF GENERAL PRICE AND HIS CONFEDERATE ARMY TRYING TO TAKE THE POWDER HOUSES, AND ALSO PLANNED TO BOMBARD ST.LOUIS.

A FURTHER LOOK FOR GEN.PRICE LED TO THE LARGER STORY AS TOLD IN "THE CIVIL WAR IN ST.LOUIS"(PG 94 & 95). ONE STORY TELLS OF THE RAID ON CHELTENHAM POST OFFICE WITH A FEW CHANGES. AUGUSTUS ARRIVED AT THE MILITIA CAMP ON OLIVE STREET ROAD AROUND 8:00PM ON SEPT.29,1864. HE FRANTICALLY TOLD HIS STORY: HOW SERIOUSLY THE UNION TROOPS TOOK MUEGGE'S REPORT IS DIFFICULT TO SAY.

ACCORDING TO MUEGGE, FOUR MEN RODE UP TO HIS STORE IN THE EARLY EVENING, PERHAPS AS EARLY AS 5:00PM. TWO MEN REMAINED MOUNTED AS THE OTHER TWO DISMOUNTED AND WALKED INTO THE STORE. AFTER LOOKING AROUND, THEY INQUIRED ABOUT THE DISTANCE TO THE NEAREST MILITARY POST. MRS.MUEGGE, SUSPICIOUS OF THE VISITORS' INTENT, CALLED OUT A WARNING TO HER HUSBAND IN GERMAN TO BE CAREFUL.

NEXT THE INTRUDERS ASKED ABOUT MUEGGE'S POLITICS. HE REPLIED THAT HE WAS A UNION MAN. THEN THEY ASKED WHETHER HE HAD EVER HELD OFFICE. MUEGGE SAID HE WAS THE UNITED STATES POSTMASTER FOR CHELTENHAM. IN RESPONSE, ONE OF THE MEN DREW HIS PISTOL AND ANNOUNCED, "IT'S JUST SUCH MEN AS YOU THAT WE WANT TO KILL". THE EVER ALERT MRS.MUEGGE THREW HERSELF BETWEEN HER HUSBAND AND THE INTRUDER, CAUSING THE WOULD-BE KILLER TO PULL UP HIS ARM.

HEEDING HIS WIFE'S CALL TO RUN FOR HIS LIFE, MR.MUEGGE SPRANG DOWN THE HALL, WENT OUT THE BACK DOOR, AND MADE HIS ESCAPE. AS SOON AS HE COULD FIND A HORSE, HE MADE HIS WAY TO THE UNION MILITIA CAMP. (THIS MUST HAVE BEEN CAMP JACKSON).

THE MISSOURI REPUBLICAN REPORTED JUST AFTER THE EVENT THAT A SCOUT WAS SENT OUT "IMMEDIATLEY". THE MISSOURI DEMOCRAT CLAIMED THAT, DESPITE CONSIDERABLE EFFORT ON MUEGGE'S PART TO GET THE UNION TROOPS INTERESTED, HE COULD FIND NO ONE "WHO HAD AUTHORITY TO ACT". BECAUSE EVERY BRIDGE AND FORD CROSSING THE MERAMEC RIVER WAS WELL GUARDED IN APPREHENSION OF STERLING PRICE'S ADVANCING ARMY, IT WAS ASSUMED THAT IT WAS NOT POSSIBLE FOR THE RAIDERS TO HAVE ESCAPED IN THAT DIRECTION. THE DIRECTION BEING OUT LACLEDE STATION ROAD.

UNION TROOPS WERE SENT IN PERSUIT OUT LACLEDE STATION ROAD BUT GAVE UP WHEN THEY REACHED OLD WATSON ROAD (CHIPPEWA) AND HAD SEEN NO SIGNS OF THE MARAUDERS. IT'S POSSIBLE THE MARAUDERS DIDN'T GO THAT WAY. MAYBE THEY WENT UP VALLEY ROAD STRAIGHT TO THE POWDER HOUSES IN RICHMOND HEIGHTS ON CLAYTON ROAD WHERE ST.MARYS IS NOW. OR - IT COULD HAVE BEEN A DIVERSION.

DANIEL PAYNE, AN OLD NEGRO RESIDING IN A SMALL LOG HOUSE ON THE EAST SIDE OF CLARKSON ROAD, MID-WAY BETWEEN CLAYTON AND KERRS MILL ROAD SAYS HE VIVIDLY RECALLS SEEING THIS SQUAD OF CONFEDERATE CALVALRY AND THOUGHT THE WHOLE SOUTHERN ARMY WAS MAKING A RAID ON ST.LOUIS.

THIS COULD HAVE BEEN THE MAIN BODY THAT TRIED TO TAKE THE POWDER HOUSES. THIS STORY OF THE POWDER HOUSES HAS NOT BEEN VERIFIED YET. BUT GEN.STERLING PRICE DID CROSS INTO MISSOURI ON SEPT.19, AND HE DID HAVE A JOSEPH O.SHELBY AS ONE OF HIS DIVISION LEADERS.

PRICE AND TWELVE THOUSAND CALVALRYMEN CROSSED INTO MISSOURI FROM ARKANSAS, CONVERGING ON FREDERICKTOWN. PRICES CORPS, THREE DIVISIONS UNDER JAMES F.FAGAN, JOHN S.MARMADUKE, AND JOSEPH O.SHELBY, WAS A GREAT CONCERN TO UNION GENERAL WILLIAM S.ROSECRANS AT HIS HEADQUARTERS IN ST.LOUIS. UNKNOWN TO ROSECRANS, SEVEN REGIMENTS AND ONE BATTALION OF PRICE'S COLUMN WERE MOUNTED INFANTRY WITH NO TRAINING IN CAVALRY TACTICS. NEARLY FOUR THOUSAND OF PRICE'S MEN WERE UNARMED. DESPITE THESE WEAKNESSES, PRICE'S FORCE WAS THE "MOST POWERFUL BODY OF CAVELRY" ASSEMBLED WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER DURING THE CIVIL WAR.

AS PRICE'S COLUMN MOVED NORTHWARD, OFFICIALS IN ST.LOUIS WERE JOLTED INTO ACTION. ON SEPT.26 ROSENCRANS ISSUED ORDERS THAT,ON RECOMENDATION OF THE MAYOR AND MANY LEADING BUSINESS MEN OF THE CITY, REQUIRED ALL BUSINESSES TO BE SUSPENDED AT NOON OF THE NEXT DAY TO ALLOW THE FORMATION OF CITIZEN GUARD UNITS.

ENOUGH ST.LOUISANS RESPONDED TO THE CALL TO FORM FIVE REGIMENTS AND THREE BATTALIONS, ONE OF THEM BLACK CITIZENS. ON SEPT.30, FEARING A CONFEDERATE ADVANCE ACROSS THE MERAMEC RIVER, ROSENCRANS ORDERED UNION MILITIA UNITS MOVED FROM ST.LOUIS TO KIRKWOOD AS A DEFENSIVE MEASURE. MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW JACKSON SMITH, A PROVEN COMBAT OFFICER, WAS ON HAND TO LEAD THE FEDERAL TROOPS. FORTUNATELY FOR ROSENCRANS, SMITH WAS THE HARBINGER OF THE ARRIVAL OF HIS COMPLETE VETERAN CORPS. SMITH'S TROOPS HAD BEEN DIVERTED TO ST.LOUIS FROM TENNESSEE BY WAY OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER WHEN PRICE'S MOVEMENTS BECAME KNOWN.

UNTIL HIS VETERANS ARRIVED, HOWEVER, SMITH WOULD LEAD TWO BRIGADES OF MILITIA UNITS. ONE BRIGADE, CONSISTING OF TWELVE HUNDRED MEN. THE OTHER CONSISTING OF FIFTEEN HUNDRED MEN. THE 7TH KANSAS CAVALRY AND THREE COMPANIES OF MILITIA CAVALRY ACCOMPANIED THE FOOT SOLDIERS.

ON SEPT.27 EIGHTY MILES SOUTHWEST OF ST.LOUIS AT PILOT KNOB, PRICE'S COLUMN WAS BADLY HURT BY GEN. THOMAS EWING'S UNION FORCES DEFENDING FORT DAVIDSON. TO ADD INSULT TO INJURY OF THIS BLOODY REBUFF, THE UNION GARRISON WITHDREW, ELUDING CAPTURE BY THE CONFEDERATES. LEARNING THAT ROSENCRANS WAS BEING HEAVILY REINFORCED BY SMITH'S COMBAT-TESTED SOLDIERS, PRICE CONCLUDED THAT ST.LOUIS WAS NOT VULNERABLE TO ATTACK. HE TURNED HIS ARMY WEST, MARCHING ACROSS THE STATE TO DEFEAT AT THE BATTLE OF WESTPORT, NEAR KANSAS CITY.

AS A RESULT OF THE TIMELY MOVEMENT OF UNION FORCES, THE "BATTLE OF KIRKWOOD" WAS NEVER FOUGHT. THE DISCRIPTIONS OF THE "REBEL GUERILLAS" VARRIED WIDELY. THE MISSOURI REPUBLICAN REPORTED THAT THEY WERE "SPLENDIDLY MOUNTED AND FINELY DRESSED, WITH DUSTERS OVER THEIR FINE CLOTHES". DISPLAYING THE REGULAR CONFEDERATE UNIFORM, THEY WERE "EVIDENTLY OLD SOLDIERS".

THE MISSOURI DEMOCRAT DESCRIBED THE CONFEDERATES AS ALSO WEARING LONG DUSTERS "UNDER WHICH THE COLLAR OF THE REBEL UNIFORM" WAS VISIBLE. THE RIDERS WORE MOCCASINS WITH LONG MEXICAN SPURS AND "MIGHT HAVE SOME INDIAN BLOOD FROM THEIR COMPLEXION AND FEATURES", THE NEWSPAPER ADDED. WHATEVER THEIR INTENTION, THE CONFEDERATE RIDERS HAVE DISAPPEARED INTO HISTORY.

THE MISSOURI REPUBLICAN OFFERED THIS RATIONALE FOR THE EXCITEMENT AT THE CHELTENHAM POST OFFICE:"THE MOST PLAUSIBLE EXPLANATION IS THAT THE FRIGHT OF THE POSTMASTER INDUCED HIM IN IMAGINING A GREAT DEAL MORE THAN HE SAW, AND IN HIS STATEMENT DREW LARGELY UPON HIS FANCY". IT IS UNFORTUNATE THAT APPARENTLY NO ONE TOOK THE TIME TO INTERVIEW THE POSTMASTERS WIFE.

TO ME IT SEEMS SOMEONE DID INTERVIEW HER. FOR THERE IS MORE INFORMATION THAN MR.MUEGGE COULD HAVE KNOWN. BESIDES, HOW COULD THEY HAVE MISSED THE RAIDERS? ALSO WHERE IS THE STORY OF THE RAID ON THE POWDER HOUSES? AND DID THEY GET ANY MUNITIONS? WAS THERE SOUTHERN SYMPATHIZERS WORKING? I SUSPECT THAT'S HOW THEY GOT AS FAR AS THEY DID.

PRICE WAS A PAST MISSOURI GOV. HE HAD A RAG TAG OUTFIT BUT THEY WERE HILL PEOPLE FROM MISSOURI AND ARKANSAS, AND WERE SHARP-SHOOTERS IN CLOSE RANGE. THIS MADE UP FOR THE NORTH'S LONGER RANGE RIFLES. LONG RANGE MEANT NOTHING IN THE HILLS. MORE TO FOLLOW. THIS STORY MAY NEED IT'S OWN CHAPTER.

THE NAMES - GEN.PRICE, SHELBY DO FIT, ALSO THE DATES. SO A LITTLE MORE RESEARCH, HOPEFULLY MORE OFFICIAL RECORDS MAY MAKE A MORE COMPLETE STORY.

THE BOOK "THE CIVIL WAR IN MISSOURI DAY BY DAY 1861-1865", NEVER MENTIONS SHELBY'S RAID ON ST,LOUIS. BUT:IT WAS MORE GENERAL IN NATURE.

THE BOOK "GENERAL STERLING PRICE"(AND THE CIVIL WAR IN THE WEST) DID. PRICE BEGAN HIS CAMPAIGN BY CROSSING THE ARKANSAS RIVER BELOW LITTLE ROCK. IN ORDER TO COVER HIS MOVEMENT HE ORDERED SHELBY, WHO WAS STILL IN NORTHEAST ARKANSAS, TO ATTACK DEVALL'S BLUFF AND THE RAILROAD BETWEEN LITTLE ROCK AND THE WHITE RIVER. SHELBY CARRIED OUT THIS ASSIGNMENT BRILLIANTLY, CAPTURING SIX SMALL FORTS AND SEVERAL HUNDRED PRISONERS, INFLICTING HEAVY CASUALTIES, AND DESTROYING TEN MILES OF TRACK. THIS HELPED TO DIVERT ATTENTION FROM PRICE'S MOVEMENTS, ALLOWING PRICE TO SKIRT AROUND LITTLE ROCK TO THE NORTHWEST AND FORDED THE ARKANSAS RIVER AT DARDANELLE ON SEPT.7. A WEEK LATER HE REACHED POCAHONTAS ARKANSAS, ONLY A FEW MILES SOUTH OF THE MISSOURI LINE. AT THIS TIME SHELBY RETURNED, BRINGING EIGHT THOUSAND RECRUITS.

MANY OF THESE RECRUITS WERE ILL-CLAD AND IN POOR HEALTH. FOUR THOUSAND OF THEM - RECRUITS RAISED BY SHELBY- HAD NO WEAPONS. THE TRAIN CONTAINED AN INORDINATE NUMBER OF "WHEEZY,RICKETY WAGONS," AND ALTHOUGH INDISPENSABLE FOR CARRYING THE FOOD AND FORAGE REQUIRED IN A BARREN COUNTRY, WAS A SERIOUS ENCUMBRANCE. APPROX. HALF THE TROOPS WERE UNTRAINED TO FIGHT ON FOOT AND THE OTHER HALF WERE MOUNTED INFANTRY EQUIPPED WITH LONG-BARRELED MUSKETS, USELESS ON HORSEBACK. ABOUT A THOUSAND MEN LACKED MOUNTS, WHICH MEANT THEY COULD NOT MOVE VERY FAST. MOST OF SHELBY'S RECRUITS DIDN'T WANT TO BE THERE.

THERE WAS ONE BRIGHT SPOT. COL.DAVID SHANK'S BRIGADE OF SHELBY'S DIV.- FORMERLY SHELBY'S OWN COMMAND ("THE IRON BRIGADE"). IT WAS MADE UP OF VETERAN, BATTLE-HARDENED MISSOURIANS, EACH OF WHOM CARRIED SEVERAL REVOLVERS IN ADDITION TO A CARBINE OR A RIFLE.(THEY HAD LONG SINCE DISCARDED THE SABRE AS WORTHLESS). SHELBY'S OTHER BRIGADE CONTAINED THE NEW RECRUITS FROM MISSOURI AND ONLY FIVE HUNDRED OF IT'S FIFTEEN HUNDRED MEN POSSESSED ARMS. THE DIVISION WAS SUPPORTED BY THE FOUR GUN PARROTT BATTERY OF CAPT.RICHARD COLLINS, A HELL-FOR-LEATHER OFFICER WHO BELIEVED IN WORKING HIS CANNONS ON THE FRONT LINE IF NOT AHEAD OF IT. THIS DIVISION WOULD BE THE MAINSTAY OF PRICE'S ARMY.

THE "ARMY OF MISSOURI" AS PRICE CALLED IT SPENT FOUR DAYS PREPARING, THEN ON THE MORNING OF SEPT.19 SET FORTH INTO MISSOURI, MARCHING IN THREE PARALLEL COLUMNS- SHELBY ON THE LEFT, FAGAN IN THE CENTER, AND MARMADUKE ON THE RIGHT.

NOW FOR THE MOVE OF SHELBY- ON SEPT 24 A REPORT TO ROSECRANS IN ST.LOUIS STATED THAT SHELBY'S CALVALRY WERE BELOW PILOT KNOB, EIGHTY-SIX MILES SOUTH OF ST.LOUIS ON THE IRON MOUNTAIN RAILROAD. THIS MEANT AN ATTACK ON ST.LOUIS. BY THIS TIME SHELBY HAD RECONNOITERED PILOT KNOB AND FOUND IT TO BE INFANTRY AND NO WORRY, BUT AFTER MEETING THE OTHERS AT FREDERICKTOWN HE WAS OVER-RULED. PRICE HAD RECIEVED INFORMATION OF EIGHT THOUSAND TROOP WAITING SOUTH OF ST.LOUIS, AND THE PILOT KNOB GARRISON WAS BEHIND THEM. AT THIS TIME IT IS BELIEVED PRICE DECIDED TO FORGET ST.LOUIS AND ATTACKED PILOT KNOB IN ORDER TO OBTAIN BADLY NEEDED ARMS AND SUPPLIES. THIS WAS A COSTLY MOVE.

EARLY ON THE MORNING OF SEPT.26 PRICE SENT SHELBY NORTHWARD WITH INSTRUCTIONS TO DESTROY THE TRACKS AND BRIDGES OF THE IRON MOUNTAIN RAILROAD SO AS TO PREVENT SMITH FROM AIDING THE PILOT KNOB GARRISON. THEY FINALLY TOOK THE GARRISON BUT THE DEFENDERS GOT AWAY, AND IN TURN BLEW UP THE MAGAZINE LEAVING LITTLE FOR THE SOUTHERNERS. BY SEPT.29 PRICE SENT SOME OF SHELBY'S CALVALRY IN A FEINT TOWARDS ST.LOUIS, THEN TURNED HIS ARMY IN THE DIRECTION TOWARDS JEFFERSON CITY. SO THE STORY CAN COME TOGETHER IF HE - SHELBY COULD MAKE IT TO ST.LOUIS BY THE 5:OO SEPT.29 STORY OF THE RAID ON MUEGE'S STORE, AND THE POWDER HOUSES.

THE NEXT HEARD OF SHELBY IN THIS BOOK WAS ON OCT.6, SHELBY AS ALWAYS LEADING THE ADVANCE, FORCED A PASSAGE ACROSS MOREAU CREEK, A BRANCH OF THE OSAGE SIX MILES FROM JEFFERSON CITY. IN THE BOOK "MISSOURI'S CONFEDERATES 1861-1865 IN THE CHAPTER ABOUT SHELBY, NO MENTION IS MADE OF A RAID IN ST.LOUIS.(ALTHOUGH THE BOOK WAS NOT A DETAILED STORY OF SHELBY'S MOVEMENTS).

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