Scout from Helena (December 15–17, 1863)

A three-day Civil War scouting foray by the Fifteenth Illinois Cavalry Regiment out of Helena (Phillips County) in mid-December 1863 netted fourteen Confederate prisoners, including several officers.

Major Eagleton Carmichael led 171 troopers of the Fifteenth Illinois Cavalry out of the Union base at Helena on December 15, 1863. They rode to Big Creek, which they crossed at Wallace’s Ferry, and camped there, with Carmichael noting: “Night dark and stormy.”

It was still raining when they left the next morning. During the course of the day, they captured twelve Confederate soldiers and irregular troops, including several from Lieutenant Tom C. Casteel’s company—among them Lieutenant A. J. Thomson—and “Davis’ Co. Guerillas,” as well as a private of the Twenty-first Texas Cavalry Regiment, Captain John Clendenin, Lieutenant Milton D. Norton and a private of the Twenty-third Arkansas Infantry Regiment, and privates William Clift and Daniel Clift of Alexander T. Hawthorn’s “rebel Infty.” The major noted of the latter two: “I think they could have avoided us if they had been so disposed.”

After camping at Moses Peterson’s farm, the Illinois troopers headed back toward Helena on December 17, capturing one irregular soldier each from Casteel’s and Davis’s bands. They seized eight horses from their prisoners, “two that were concealed by a citizen” and one from a man named Holland, who “was informed he could have [it back] by coming in and taking the oath of allegiance.” They also seized “one Breech loading Rifle, one Sharp’s Carbine, four Shot Guns [and] Three Pistols.” Carmichael also wrote that the saddle found in Lieutenant Thomson’s possession had been stolen from Fifteenth Illinois bugler John Lemley “about six weeks ago.”

While largely uneventful, the December 15–17, 1863, scouting expedition from Helena was typical of the near-constant sweeps made by the Union garrison there in search of Confederate troops and guerrillas operating in the region.

For additional information:
Carmichael, Maj., to Capt. T. C. Meatyard, December 18, 1863. National Archives and Records Administration, Records of Named Departments, 393P2E299, Box 1.

Mark K. Christ
Little Rock, Arkansas