Capt. Monks Establishes a Post at Licking.
Gen. Schofield at once made an order that Capt. Monks be detached from his regiment and report at Rolla, with his company, for further orders. Gen. Sanborn, then in command at Springfield, informed the author of his final destination; that on reaching Rolla, he would be ordered by Gen. Schofield to Licking, Missouri, to establish a post.
It soon leaked out, and the rebels swore openly that if he established a post at Licking or at any other southern point, they would soon drive the post into the ground and annihilate him and his men. I went to Gen. Sanborn and requested that he send a telegram to Gen. Schofield, and ask him to countermand that part of the order that required Capt. Monks to report at Rolla for further orders, and order him to move directly from Springfield to Licking. The General hesitated for sometime, as to whether it would be good policy, owing to the large numbers of rebels in the country through which I had to pass. He didn't believe that I would be able to reach Licking with the one company, but he finally decided that if I was willing to risk it, he would ask Gen. Schofield to change his order. On Gen. Schofield's receiving the telegram, he made an order that I be detached from my regiment, be furnished two company wagons, be well supplied with arms, and proceed directly to Licking. On reaching Licking I was to report by courier to headquarters for further orders; and in obedience to said order, two company wagons, with tents, commissaries, arms and ammunition were at once furnished, and I set out for Licking, Texas county; passed Hartville, the county seat of Wright county, and struck the waters of Big Piney. There was considerable snow on the ground at the time. I took the rebels by complete surprise. While they were expecting me from Rolla to Licking, I struck them from the direction they least expected. On reaching Piney, I encountered a rebel force of about sixty men. We had a fight, two or three rebels were killed, and the rest retreated south. From that time until we reached Licking, we had more or less fighting every day. We would strike trails of rebels in the snow, where there appeared to be over one hundred men, but they were so sure that it was a large scout from Springfield that they did not take time to ascertain, but retreated south at once. On reaching Licking, I sent a dispatch to Gen. Schofield, telling of my arrival, and immediately received orders to establish a post and erect a stockade fort, and to issue such orders as I believed would rid the country of those irregular bands of rebels and bushwhackers and protect all in their person and property, especially the loyal men. I immediately selected a frame building for my headquarters, with an office near by for the man acting as provost marshal; issued my order requiring all persons who claimed protection from the Federal authorities to come in and take the oath, and bring with them axes, shovels, picks and spades, with their teams, for the purpose of erecting a stockade fort. And further setting out in said order, requiring all persons who knew of any irregular bands of rebels or bushwhackers roaming or passing through the country, to report them at once; and if they failed to report them, they would be taken as bushwhackers and treated as such. In a short time I had erected a complete stockade fort with port-holes, and room enough inside to place all the cavalry horses in case of an attack by the rebels. I had these orders printed and sent out all over the country. In a short time, a man who had been known to be a rebel, but had stayed at home unmolested, but who had been giving aid and comfort to the rebels, came into the office and said: "Captain, I want to see you in your private room." On entering the room he said: "I have read that order of yours. You don't intend to enforce it, do you, Captain?" I said to him that I did or I wouldn't have made it; that the rebels and I could not both stay in that country. He said to me, "Captain, of all the post commanders we have had here, there never was one of them issued such an order as that. You know if I were to report those rebel bands they would kill me." I replied, "Very well; you have read my order, and I have said to you and all others that if you fail to report them I will kill you; and you say if you do report them, they will kill you; now, if you are more afraid of them than you are of me, you will have to risk the consequences; for, by the eternal God! if you fail to report them, I have said to you that I would treat you as a bushwhacker, and you well know how I treat them." He dropped his head for a few minutes, then raised it and said: "Well, it is mighty hard, Captain." I replied that there were a great many hard things now; asked him where all of his Union neighbors were. He said that they had been forced to leave their homes and were around the Federal posts for the reason that they claimed to be Union men. I told him that "a lot of you rebels have lain here in the country and made more money than you ever made before in your lives, and at the same time you have been giving aid, comfort and encouragement to all of these irregular bands—giving them all the information that they wanted, so that they might know just when to make their raids, and now I propose to break it up and stop it, unless they are able to rout me and drive me away. The government proposes to protect all of you who will come in and take the oath and comply with every requirement set out in the order. All I ask of you men is to give me information of these irregular rebel bands and their whereabouts, and you can again return home and your information will be kept a secret; but this much you are required to do." In a short time a large number of them had come in and enrolled their names, took the oath and went to work on the fort like heroes.
Occasionally one would come in and say "Captain, I want to procure a pass for me and my family through the Federal lines; I want to leave." I would ask him; "What's the matter now? You have stayed here all through the war, up to the present time, and now I have come among you, and offered to protect every one of you who will take the oath and comply with orders." He would reply with a long sigh, "Yes, Captain but that order that you have made." I would ask him "what order." "You require all citizens, especially we people who have been rebels, and stayed at home, to report all of the roving bands of rebels and bushwhackers; if we don't do it, you will treat us like bushwhackers; if we were to report them, they would kill us." I said, "Now, you must chose between the two powers; and if you are more afraid of the rebels than you are of me, you will have to risk your chances. You say if you report them, they will kill you. Now, by the Eternal, I am determined to enforce everything that I have set out in that order. This day you must settle in your own mind whom you will obey. As soon as the first roving bands of rebels and guerrillas reached the country for the purpose of raiding the wire road between Rolla and Springfield, the night never was too dark but that this same class of men would come in and report them. I would at once make a detail, send these men right out with them. As soon as they would get near to the rebels, they would dismiss these men and let them go home."
The rebels, for several years, had been sending out a large scout from North Arkansas and the border counties of Missouri and when they would reach Texas and Pulaski counties they would divide into small squads and travel the byways and ridges; on reaching the wire road they would then concentrate and lay in wait until the wagon trains and non-combatants who were merchants, were moving through from Rolla to Springfield under the protection of an escort; and all at once they would make a charge upon them from their hiding places, rout the escort, capture the train and all others that might be in company with it, cut the mules loose from the wagon, take all the goods that was not cumbersome, especially coffee, sugar, salt and dry goods, place them on the backs of the mules, travel a short distance, divide up again into small parties, take byways and mountains, travel fifteen or twenty miles, go into camp; on reaching the counties of Oregon and Shannon, Fulton and Lawrence, of Arkansas, they would concentrate their forces, go into camp, eat, drink, and be merry. As soon as their supplies would run short, they would make another scout of a similar nature. The commanders of the post, as soon as they would attack the trains, would order out a scout to pursue them. They would strike their trail and follow them a short distance to where they would separate and take to the mountains. They would abandon the pursuit, return and swear that the country wasn't worth protecting. In that way they completely outgeneraled the Federal forces and held complete possession of the country almost in sight of the post.
On one occasion, when the weather was very cold and bleak, I knew of their capturing some of the Federal soldiers within one mile of the fort, kept them until the coldest part of the night, just before day, stripped them naked, turned them loose, and they were compelled to travel a mile before they could reach a fire, and they were almost frostbitten. Every Union man was driven away from his home and moved his family to different posts.
The author had declared that he and the rebels could not both remain in the country together; that he would either rout them or they would have to rout him, and for that reason every man that remained in the country would have to aid him in the work. So, in every instance, when he would send a force in pursuit of those raiding bands, he would order the scout to follow them, and when they divided to still continue pursuit of the most visible trail, and when they came in sight to not take time to count noses, but charge them and pursue them until they were completely annihilated. They would go into camp and move at their leisure, but not so when my scouts got in pursuit of them. In a number of instances they would overtake them from twenty to twenty-five miles from the wire road, in camp, having a jolly good time, and the first intimation they would have would be the boys in blue charging in amongst them, shooting right and left, and they would scatter in all directions.
It was but a short time until they remarked to some of the rebel sympathizers that they had never seen such a change in the movements of the Federal scouts; that they used to consider themselves safe from a Federal scout as soon as they left the main road and divided into small squads; but now they were in as much danger in the most secluded spot in the mountains as they were in the traveled roads; therefore, their commanders would have to change their tactics in regard to the scouts, and abandon that part of the country, as almost every scout that they had made to the wire road had proved disastrous since "Old Monks" had been placed in command of the post. In a short time, the Union men, who had been driven from the country, began to return and go onto their farms, and about five months after I had been placed in command of the post, the civil authorities came and held circuit court, Judge Waddle, of Springfield, then being circuit judge.
Skirmishes with the Rebels.
Some time in the summer, Col. Freeman, who was commanding the rebels in northeastern Arkansas, whose headquarters were near the Spring River mill, made a raid and threatened to capture the Federal forces that were then at the Licking post. I soon gained information of his intention, made every preparation to repel the attack, also informed the commander at Rolla of the intended raid. Col. Freeman, accompanied by other rebel commanders, concentrated all of the available rebel force then at his command, raided the country, came within about five miles of the post, learned that reinforcements had been sent to the post, countermarched and retreated to his headquarters near the head of Spring river.