Capture of Wagon Train at Salem

This engagement involved Union forces escorting a wagon train of Unionist Arkansans to Missouri. According to an initial report in The War of the Rebellion, the compilation of official records of the Civil War, guerrillas attacked the wagon train, inflicting heavy casualties. However, a later report calls this event into question.

Unionist families fled to Federal outposts during the Civil War, seeking sanctuary from both Confederate sympathizers and guerrillas. After Jacksonport (Jackson County) fell to Union forces, families from the surrounding area began to take refuge at the town under the protection of the Federal troops. The town also served as the headquarters of the District of Northeast Arkansas under the command of Colonel Robert Livingston of the First Nebraska Cavalry. In an effort to relieve some of the pressure that the refugees were placing on his resources, Livingston ordered the families sent to Rolla, Missouri.

Departing Jacksonport in late May 1864, the group of about 150 men and an unknown number of women and children were escorted by a detachment of 200 men of the First Nebraska. After moving northward, the soldiers received orders to return to Jacksonport. The wagon train continued without any security. According to an initial report, near Salem (Fulton County), a group of approximately 300 guerrillas attacked the party. During the fighting, about eighty men were killed, along with an unknown number of women. All of the wagons were burned, and the guerrillas were able to escape without any reported casualties.

Union forces in Rolla learned of the attack on the wagon train and sent a group of men from the Second Wisconsin Cavalry to meet the party and provide security. These troops escorted the wagons safely into Missouri and helped provide food and other provisions to the now destitute civilians.

However, a June 5, 1864, report from Brigadier General Odon Guitar, based at Rolla, reads: “The report of the burning of train and the killing of refugees near Salem, Ark., turns out to be utterly false and unfounded. A portion of the men sent out from here to look after the train have just got in.”

During the Civil War, the lines between civilian and military targets in the state were frequently blurred, making such an attack and massacre plausible. However, attempting to document events could allow rumors to be recorded before they were refuted, which means that ascertaining the truth can often prove challenging for historians.

For additional information:
The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Series 1, Vol. 34, pp. 956–957. Washington DC: Government Printing Office, 1889.

The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Series 1, Vol. 34, part 4, p. 235. Washington DC: Government Printing Office, 1889.

David Sesser
Henderson State University