Skirmish at Lawrenceville

This short skirmish appears to have taken place as part of general operations in southeastern Arkansas, with no direct connection to any larger Civil War campaign.

At 7:00 a.m. on November 19, 1863, Major William J. Teed led the Eighth Missouri Cavalry (US) in an attack against a Confederate force commanded by Major John B. Cocke, eight miles west of Lawrenceville (Monroe County) on the farmland of a Dr. Green. Teed’s force captured and destroyed cooking utensils and a variety of other material goods and foodstuffs.

The estimated casualties amounted to four Confederates killed. A claim made by local citizens that Maj. Cocke and a Lieutenant McBride numbered among the Confederate dead could not be confirmed by Teed. Maj. Cocke, in actuality, survived the skirmish and served until he was killed at the Engagement at Jenkins’ Ferry on April 30, 1864.

Teed reported the loss of one horse but no Federal casualties. Teed also reported the capture of a Lieutenant Sutton of Captain Edmondson’s company.

For additional information:
The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Series 1, Vol. 22, part 1. Washington DC: Government Printing Office, 1888.

Robert Patrick Bender
Eastern New Mexico University–Roswell