|
The story of battles and marching men are glamorous, but our heart strings are most touched by incidents that happened to people. We will devote this article to Butler county people as the war touched their lives.
To represent Butler County men in the army we have chosen Carroll Epps. This is very appropriate as he represents one of the great pioneer families of this country; and he enlisted in the only regiment, so far as we know, organized in Butler county. He was a grandson of Daniel Epps who lived on Ten Mile Creek alongside the Old Military Road and at whose cabin the County Court met for a few times before a county seat was founded. His father was Joshua Epps, who had a mill on Cane Creek at the place now called Roxie.
Carroll Epps enlisted in the Confederate Army August 3, 1862, in the 9th Missouri Infantry. He was then 23 years old, married and had a son, Thomas Anderson Epps. Whether or not he enlisted at the Little Black River bridge where the regiment was organized we do not know. We are not sure of the location of this bridge, but we believe it was at Brannum's Old Mill, now Ball's Mill but only a place name as the mill disappeared many years ago. He was enlisted by T.H. Turner. The 9th Missouri was successively designated as 3rd (also known as White's) Regiment Missouri Infantry, 9th (also known as Ponder's) Regiment Missouri Infantry.
On August 17, 1862, after serving 24 days as a private, he was elected Lieutenant, Company I, and on March 2, 1863 was promoted Captain. Mr. R.S. Douglass, in "History of Southeast Missouri" states that after the 9th Missouri was organized it marched to Pocahontas, Arkansas, then went to Fort Smith, Arkansas, where it participated in the battle of Prairie Grove, then was stationed at Shreveport, Louisiana, and took part in the battles of Pleasant Hill and Mansfield, Louisiana. The battle at Prairie Grove was December 7, 1862, and the battles of Pleasant Hill and Mansfield were April 8 and 9, 1864. We do not have any information on the activities of the 9th Regiment in these engagements. On November 24, 1863, the name of Carroll Epps is on the roster of "Commissioned Officers of the 4th (Parsons') Brigade Missouri Vols., Price's Division, Camp Bragg, Arkansas." On December 6, 1863, Captain Epps was absent on recruiting duty by order of General Parsons.
On December 25, 1863, Captain Epps was taken prisoner in Ripley County, Missouri. What a way to spend Christmas? He was then taken to Pilot Knob, Missouri. At Pilot Knob he signed a roster of prisoners transferred to St. Louis, Missouri, December 31, 1863. Captain Epps must have been exchanged or escaped, for at the close of the war in 1865 his name is in the roll of men belonging to Army of the Northern Sub-District of Arkansas, which army was surrendered by Brigadier-General M. Jeff Thompson on May 11, 1865. On June 5, 1865, he was paroled at Jacksonport, Arkansas, and was free to return to the activities of civilian life. In the Muster Roll of the paroled prisoners he is described as 25 years old, gray eyes, dark hair, dark complexion and 5 feet 6 inches in height.
The officers and men under the command of General Thompson were paroled in two groups, one group at Wittsburg, Arkansas, May 25, 1865, and the other group at Jacksonport, June 5, 1865, a total of 7,454 parolees. The men must have been suffering from hunger and from the lack of almost every convenience, even for army life. We quote from the report of Lt. Col. C.W. Davis, Union officer in charge of paroling, as follows: "General Thompson had no transportation, except 300 to 400 dugout canoes, and no public animals or property of any other description except $4,821 C.S. money, which I received and gave receipt for. Most of the men we paroled were without food, and I issued them about 28,000 rations. They seemed highly pleased at the surrender, and said all they wanted now was to be allowed to live at home." While General Thompson did not have any public animals, it is implied that some of the men had horses and mules as personal property. Under the terms of surrender the parolees could keep their personal property except arms and ammunition, but commissioned officers could retain their side arms. The Confederate money was, of course, worthless.
We suppose most of the paroled men had to walk home. Now the issuing of 28,000 rations assumes more significance than merely relieving the hunger of the moment. This was enough food for each man for three or four days, a ration being a supply of food for one man for one day. We estimate that Jacksonport was about 125 miles from the home of Carroll Epps in Butler County. Food for three days would enable him to get home without begging or scrounging for food. If he had a horse, he could travel in more comfort but would make but little better time than if he walked.
Even though the war was over the trip home for the returning soldier could be dangerous. He had to travel in border country where most of the people had suffered terrible hardships from marching armies and marauding bands of men who had no real allegiance to either side but lived by plundering the country. Hence the returning soldier had to be very careful in meeting strangers. He might be roughly handled, robbed or even killed.
Mr. Epps got safely home, rejoined his family and entered again into the life of his community. By occupation he was a farmer but also took an active part in public life. In 1866 he was commissioned by the County Court to build a bridge across Cane Creek. In 1876 he was elected assessor for Butler County. This was about as soon as he could hold public office, for under the much hated Constitution of 1865 anyone who had adhered to the confederate cause was prohibited to hold public office. In 1875 Missouri adopted a new Constitution which abolished the "test oath" of the 1865 Constitution. On January 22, 1877, the bond of Mr. Epps for $1,000.00 was approved by the County Court. His securities were Peter Macom and John Epps.
Note: The Federal officers who paroled the men were met at Memphis by a staff officer and a St. Francis River pilot sent by General Thompson. The party then proceeded to Wittsburg on the St. Francis River by steamboat. After paroling the men as assembled at Wittsburg, the party went to Jacksonport on White River, near the mouth of Black River. We assume the trip from Wittsburg to Jacksonport was overland, about 50 miles. A boat trip would have required a return to the Mississippi River and then up the White River, hardly possible in the ten days between the two paroling dates.
We wish to thank Mr. Fred Epps for use of copies of the Muster Roll papers of Carroll Epps. Mr. Fred Epps is a grandson of Carroll Epps.
|
