Scout from Helena to Swan's Plantation (October 26–27, 1864)

A scouting foray by Illinois cavalrymen and Missouri infantrymen out of Helena (Phillips County) captured a pair of men that Federal troops had been seeking for several months. 

In sending Colonel William S. Brooks of the Fifty-sixth U.S. Colored Infantry Regiment on the expedition that ended with the Action at Wallace’s Ferry, Brigadier General Napoleon Bonaparte Buford’s July 25, 1864, orders said that “it is desirable to capture James Scaif…Lieutenant Swan…and all others who are giving active aid to the enemy.” Several attempts had been made to capture Swan, including the October 16–17, 1864, Clarendon Expedition and the October 18–20, 1864, Scout from Helena to Swan’s Plantation. 

At 6:00 p.m. on October 26, 1864, they tried again, with Major Eagleton Carmichael of the Fifteenth Illinois Cavalry Regiment leading one hundred of his troops and sixteen men of the Thirty-fifth Missouri Infantry Regiment under Lieutenant Milton H. David out of Helena. 

The Federals took a roundabout route before crossing Big Creek and heading toward Swan’s plantation, located on Big Creek about four miles from Indian Bay (Monroe County). As they passed through Trenton (Phillips County), they captured James W. Scaif, a wealthy farmer who in 1860 reported owning $25,000 in real estate and $30,000 in personal property, which included thirty-three enslaved men, women, and children. 

They reached Swan’s at daybreak on October 27 and “found Lt Swan had been there, after some little searching for him we found him where he had tried to hide in a horse lot.” The Union troops returned to Helena “by the most direct route.” 

Carmichael reported that in addition to Scaif and Swan “we captured three horses and Equipments, two muskets, one shot-gun and one revolver.” They found no other soldiers, he wrote, but found that “the rebel Major Black had been all through the country, between Big Creek and White river below Clarendon, endeavering [sic] to get the Port Hudson paroled men together” and back into Confederate service. 

For additional information:
E. Carmichael to Capt. T. C. Meatyard, October 28, 1864, National Archives and Records Administration, Records of Named Departments, 393P2E299, Box 1.

The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Series 1, Vol. 41, Part 2. Washington DC: Government Printing Office, 1885, p. 384. 

Mark K. Christ
Little Rock, Arkansas 

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