Scout from Helena to Big Creek (November 27–28, 1863)

A two-day Civil War scouting expedition by the Fifteenth Illinois Cavalry Regiment in late November 1863 resulted in the capture of several Confederate soldiers and civilians.

Colonel George A. Bacon led men of his Fifteenth Illinois Cavalry out of Helena (Phillips County) on November 27, 1863, and rode to Slaughter’s farm on Big Creek, which they intended to cross when the moon rose, but “the night was so very dark and stormy I was obliged to remain their untill [sic] daylight on Nov 28th.” The Illinoisans captured Private Hector J. Randall of Colonel Archibald Dobbins’s First Arkansas Cavalry Regiment (CS).

Crossing Big Creek on November 28, they captured three men—apparently civilians—and another man who claimed to be a civilian, but “from the best information at my command I suppose to be a member of Weatherby’s Company in Dobbins’ Regt.” They also captured a local gunsmith who “has been employed during the past year repairing guns for the C.S.A.” and who “took a leading part in the hanging of an old Union man named Jackson some time since. He is in my opinion a bad man.”

They also captured the gunsmith’s son who “is said to be a Vicksburg or Port Hudson paroled prisoner.” After destroying sixteen guns and “a lot of gunsmith tools,” the Federals seized eight horses and mules before heading back to Helena because the heavy rain on November 27 “had so swelled the creek that I was compelled to return without further discoveries.”

While largely uneventful, the scout from Helena to Big Creek was typical of the frequent forays the Union garrison at Helena made into the surrounding area in search of Confederate soldiers and guerrillas.

For additional information:
Geo. A. Bacon to Brig. Capt. T. C. Meatyard, December 4, 1863. National Archives and Records Administration, Records of Named Departments, 393P2E299, Box 1.

Mark K. Christ
Little Rock, Arkansas