March 7, 1862

March 7, 1862: 

THE BATTLE OF PEA RIDGE

Arkansas

Day One.  After marching all night, Van Dorn splits his force in two: one (under Gen. Sterling Price) to circle around and come in on Telegraph Road and attack the Union east flank, and the other, under Gen. Ben McCullough, to strike from the north at the Union west flank.  (Gen. Curtis notes the direction of the stolen Rebel march, and neatly and swiftly turns the facing of his line so that they face north to meet the threat—Sigel with two light divisions on the left, and Davis’s and Carr’s divisions on the right.)  In spite of pushing his men hard, and marching 55 miles in three days, Van Dorn does not have his troops in place for an attack until nearly 10 AM.  The Confederates are exhausted, out of rations, and (by marching to the rear of the enemy) cut off from their supply line.  Nevertheless, Price pushes his division forward, as they capture the gap in the hills as Telegraph Road runs through, at Elkhorn Tavern, and move south to hit the Union east (Right) flank. 

 

Farther west, McCullough marches his brigades south toward the small settlement of Leetown.  McCullough sends Gen. Albert Pike forward with his brigade of Cherokee troops, who drive the Federals back—but become disorganized, and in the misty ground fog, begin scalping some of ttheir victims.  McCullough directs Gen. McIntosh’s brigade of Texans and Hebert’s brigade of Arkansas and Louisiana infantry to launch an attack on the Union center.  As this advance marches toward Oberson’s Field, Gen. MCullough is personally leading, on horseback, his skirmish line.  Wearing a black velvet suit and sky-blue pants, he makes a good target, and a Union sharpshooter kills him with one shot.  Union artillery opens up on the advancing Confederates.  Gen. McIntosh is then killed, and Gen. Hebert wounded, and the Confederate attack stalls in confusion, due to lack of a command structure.  On the Union right, Col. Carr advances towards Elkhorn Tavern, but Price’s Missourians counterattack, and drive the Federals back.  Carr establishes a defensive line, and holds as Davis brings his troops up to support.

Battery placement at Elkhorn Tavern

—Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, sidelined for insubordination, writes to Gen. Halleck, pleading his case:

General U. S. Grant

FORT HENRY, March 7, 1862.

Maj. Gen. H. W. HALLECK, Saint Louis, Mo.;

   Your dispatch of yesterday just received.  I did all I could to get you returns of the strength of my command.  Every move I made was reported daily to your chief of staff, who must have failed to keep you properly posted.  I have done my very best to obey orders and to carry out the interests of the service.  If my course is not satisfactory, remove me at once.  I do not wish to impede in any way the success of our arms.  I have averaged writing more than once a day since leaving Cairo to keep you informed of my position, and it is no fault of mine if you have not received my letters.  My going to Nashville was strictly intended for the good of the service, and not to gratify any desire of my own.

   Believing sincerely that I must have enemies between you and myself, who are trying to impair my usefulness, I respectfully ask to be relieved from further duty in the department.

                                                                                                                U. S. GRANT,

                                                                                                                       Major-General

---Mary Boykin Chestnut writes in her diary:  “The Merrimac business has come like a gleam of lightning illumining a dark scene. Our sky is black and lowering.”

—On this date, Flag Officer David G. Farragut, having been put in command of the West Gulf Squadron at Ship Island, weighs anchor and sails with his squadron to the mouth of the Mississippi River, but cannot get over the silting-up mudbanks that have formed since the war began.