Scalping durign the Civil War?

[nick19thind]

A fellow reenactor told me some Western Federals (Sherman's men, I think) would scalp the dead. Is this true or just a rumor?
If it's true what did they do with the scalps afterwards?
How would they decorate and display them, does anyone know?

[coastaltrash]

Re: Scalping durign the Civil War?

Sounds like your friend needs to provide some solid documentation and also sounds like a large load of crap.

[markj]

Re: Scalping durign the Civil War?

Anything is possible, but, as already mentioned, providing reliable documentation for it is problematic.

From what I've seen, the practice of scalping occurred primarily, if not exclusively, in the Trans-Mississippi West. The New York Times, 13 March 1862, carries a written exchange between Gen. Earl Van Dorn and Gen. Samuel Curtis after the engagement at Pea Ridge. Curtis pointedly observes:

"The General regrets that we find on the battle-field, contrary to civilized warfare, many of the Federal dead, who were tomahawked, scalped, and their bodies shamefully mangled, and expresses a hope that this important struggle may not degenerate to a savage warfare."

The Confederates replied thusly:

"General: I am instructed by Major-General Van Dorn, commanding this district, to express to you his thanks and gratification on account of the courtesy extended by yourself and the officers under your command to the burial party sent by him to your camp on the 9th inst. He is pained to learn, by your letter brought to him by the commanding officer of the party, that the remains of some of your soldiers have been reported to you to have been scalped, tomahawked and otherwise mutilated. He hopes you have been misinformed. The Indians who formed part of his forces have for many years been regarded as a civilized people. He will, however, most cordially unite with you in repressing the horrors of this unnatural war. That you may coöperate with him to this end more effectually, he desires me to inform you that many of our men who surrendered themselves prisoners of war were reported to him as having been murdered in cold blood by their captors, who were alleged to be Germans. The privileges which you extend to our medical officers will be reciprocated, and as soon as possible, means will be taken for an exchange of prisoners. "

There were also allegations of scalping carried out by bushwhackers in places like Missouri. Can't say if they're confirmable, but the press certainly reported such allegations in all their lurid glory. Michael Fellman's Inside War mentions one or more reports of scalping:

http://www.amazon.com/Inside-War-Guerrilla-Conflict-Missouri/dp/0195064712/ref=sr_1_1/104-4840745-4085515?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1174603944&sr=8-1

Regards,

Mark Jaeger

[Rear Guard]

Re: Scalping durign the Civil War?

A quick look in my "War on the Frontier" Time Life book Chapter 5, does mention that Albert Pike's Cherokee troops under Confederate Major General Earl Van Dorn did scalp federal soldiers at the battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas. Though, I can't find a mention of the federal troops scalping.

[Faugh-A-Ballagh61]

Re: Scalping durign the Civil War?

You also need to remeber that Sherman, of course, was a very hated man in the South so exaggerated and made up rumors and stories of his "Yankee Barbarity" would be common... However, Confederate renegade Bloody Bill Anderson was reported to hang Yankee scalps from his bridle.

[Chris Suppelsa]

Re: Scalping durign the Civil War?

Period, EVERYDAY and Correct

[Chihuahua]

Re: Scalping durign the Civil War?

After the Pea Ridge fight, rumors floated about scalping and/or mutilation of dead Federal soldiers by (presumably) Indians. Seeking the truth, General Cyrus Bussey (of my hometown Bloomfield, Iowa) ordered some disinterrments and discovered such to be true of several members (also from Bloomfield) of the 3rd Iowa Cav. Obviously, this was a very isolated case.
If this kind of stuff tickles you, I direct your attention to Bloody Bill, Little Archie, and the fun-loving boys of western Missouri.
Mark Warren
Hairy Nation
Bloomfield, Iowa

[Justin Runyon]

Re: Scalping durign the Civil War?

Primary source material should be the next thing in this thread if it is to survive.

[john duffer]

Re: Scalping durign the Civil War?

I think scalping is very under-represented in the hobby, I don't think I've seen one since TAG.

[CJDaley]

Re: Scalping durign the Civil War?

Primary source material should be the next thing in this thread if it is to survive.

Thanks Justin. Whiile this may make a great topic for a term paper, this really has little to do with authentic campaigning.

[Old Reb]

Re: Scalping durign the Civil War?

The Choctaw brigade, which had shown little stomach for combat that day, outdid all other Confederate units in the post-battle butchery. “The havoc among the negroes had been tremendous,” wrote Lieutenant Stafford, “over a small portion of the field we saw at least 40 dead bodies lying in all conceivable attitudes, some scalped & nearly all stripped by the bloodthirsty Choctaws.” “You ought to see Indians fight Negroes,” exclaimed Private Charles T. Anderson of the 2nd Arkansas Cavalry, “kill and scalp them. Let me tell you, I never expected to see as many dead Negroes again. They were so thick you could walk on them.”

The above refers to the Battle of Poison Spring, Arkansas in the spring of 1864 and was connected to the Camden Expedition which was the northern movement of the overall Red River Campaign. While I don't advocate the adoption of scalping among authentic campaigners, it did happen and only further shows how brutual the fighting was in the Trans-Mississippi. Below is the documentation sources dealing with the battle.

1. Gregory J. W. Urwin, “Notes on the First Confederate Volunteers from Ouachita County, Arkansas, 1861,” Military Collector & Historian 49 (Summer 1997): 83; J. A. Newman, The Autobiography of an Old Fashioned Boy (El Reno, Oklahoma: Privately printed, 1923), 23.
2. Wiley Britton to his wife, “The Camden Expedition,” June 1, 1864, p. 10, Wiley Britton Letters, J. N. Heiskel Historical Collection, H-4, 13, UALR Archives and Special Collections, UALR Library, University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
3. John W. Brown, “Diary,” April 15, 1864, Arkansas History Commission, Little Rock, Arkansas.
4. Wiley Britton, The Union Indian Brigade in the Civil War (Kansas City, Missouri: 1922), p. 347; U.S. War Department, The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 128 vols. (Washington, D.C.: 1880-1901), ser. 1, vol. 34, pt. 1: p. 657 (Here-after cited as OR, with all references to ser. 1, vol. 34, pt. 1, unless otherwise noted).
5. John M. Harrell, “Arkansas,” in Clement A. Evans, ed., Confederate Military History, vol. 10 (Seacaucus, New Jersey: 1975), p. 239; Virginia Mc’Collum Stinson, “Memories,” in Mrs. M. A. Elliott, comp., The Garden of Memory: Stories of the Civil War as Told by Veterans and Daughters of the Confederacy (Camden, Arkansas: 1911), p. 31.
6. OR, 779-81; Roman J. Zorn, ed., “Campaigning in Southern Arkansas: A Memoir by C. T. Anderson,” Arkansas Historical Quarterly 8 (Autumn 1949): pp. 241-42; James L. Skinner, III, ed., The Autobiography of Henry Merrell: Industrial Missionary to the South (Athens: 1991), p. 352; Harrell, “Arkansas,” 238-39; John N. Shepherd, “Autobiography,” Guthrie, Oklahoma, 1908, 42, Richard S. Warner Papers, Tulsa, Oklahoma.
7. OR, 662, 679-80, 734; Brown, “Diary,” April 15, 1864; Mrs. A. J. Marshall, Autobiography (Pine Bluff, Arkansas: Privately printed, 1897), p. 101.
8. OR, 680.
9. Ibid., 743-44.
10. OR, 743-44, 746, 748-50; Steele’s Kansas cavalrymen became notorious for their depredations. For more details on this topic, see Gregory J. W. Urwin, “‘We Cannot Treat Negroes . . . as Prisoners of War’: Racial Atrocities and Reprisals in Civil War Arkansas,” Civil War History 42 (September 1996): pp. 199-200.
11. OR, 848-49; Henry Cathey, ed., “Extracts from the Memoirs of William Franklin Avera,” Arkansas Historical Quarterly 22 (Summer 1963): pp. 102-3; Stinson, “Memories,” 34; Allan C. Ashcraft, “Confederate Indian Troop Conditions in 1864,” Chronicles of Oklahoma 41 (Winter 1963-64): p. 445.
12. OR, 791, 819, 826; Washington (Ark.) Telegraph, May 11, 1864.
13. OR, 744, 751.
14. Ibid., 744, 846.
15. Ibid., 744, 750-52, 755.
16. William F. Stafford, “Battery Journal,” April 18, 1864, M.D. Hutcheson Papers, Camden, Arkansas; Anonymous to “Dear Sally,” n.d., Spence Civil War Letters, photostat copies on loan to the Old State House Museum, Little Rock, Arkansas; OR, 752.
17. OR, 745, 752.
18. When Colonel Randolph Barnes Marcy, one of the regular army’s four inspector generals, inspected the 1st Kansas Colored on July 19, 1864, he found the regiment armed with “230 U.S. muskets calibre 69 and 126 Enfield rifled muskets calibre 58.” Either type could fire buck and ball cartridges. OR, 745, 752, 847; R. B. Marcy, “Report of Inspection of the Department of Arkansas Made in June and July 1864 by Colonel Randolph B. Marcy, Inspector General U.S. Army,” Record Group 94, Office of Inspector General Letters Received, 1863-1876, National Archives, Washington, D.C.
19. OR, 745, 752.
20. Ibid., 745.
21. Britton, Union Indian Brigade, 367; OR, ser. 1, vol. 22, pt. 1, pp. 447-52; Dudley Taylor Cornish, “Kansas Negro Regiments in the Civil War,” Kansas Historical Quarterly 21 (May 1953), p. 425.
22. OR, 791, 828, 843, 847.
23. OR, 746, 753-54; Anonymous to “Dear Sally,” n.d.; Stafford, “Battery Journal,” April 18, 1864; Fort Smith New Era, May 7, 1864.
24. OR, 746, 748, 749, 756, 757.
25. Fort Smith New Era, May 7, 14, 21, 1864; Washington Telegraph, May 25, 1864.
26. Britton, Union Indian Brigade, 372-73; Ralph R. Rea, Sterling Price: The Lee of the West (Little Rock: 1959), p. 106; Henry Merrell, “Receipts” Book (Diary), April 18, 1864, Southwest Arkansas Regional Archives, Washington, Arkansas; George Carr to “Dear Father,” May 2, 1864, Eugene A. Carr Papers, Archives Branch, U.S. Army Military History Institute, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania; A. W. M. Petty, A History of the Third Missouri Cavalry: From Its Organization at Palmyra, Missouri, in 1861, up to November Sixth, 1864: With an Appendix and Recapitulation (Little Rock: 1865), p. 76 .
27. Stafford, “Battery Journal,” April 18, 1864; Zorn, “Campaigning in Southern Arkansas,” pp. 242-43; Skinner, Autobiography of Henry Merrell, 367-68.
28. Washington Telegraph, May 11, 1864.
29. Urwin, “We Cannot Treat Negroes,” 202; Washington Telegraph, June 27, 1864, January 13, 1865; Arkansas Gazette, November 4, 1853, April 6, June 15, 1855; Helena Southern Shield, October 25, December 20, 1856; Skinner, Autobiography of Henry Merrell, 38-39.
30. Arkansas Gazette, October 11, 1862; Little Rock True Democrat, April 22, 1863; Washington Telegraph, October 15, 1862, June 8, 1864; For a balanced account of the Fort Pillow Massacre, see Brian Steel Wills, A Battle from the Start: The Life of Nathan Bedford Forrest (New York: 1992), pp. 179-96.
31. Washington Telegraph, May 25, 1864; Charles O. Musser to “Dear Father,” May 11, 1864, in Barry Popchock, ed., Soldier Boy: The Civil War Letters of Charles O. Musser, 29th Iowa (Iowa City, Iowa: 1995), p. 127.
32. OR, 669-70; Edwin C. Bearss, Steele’s Retreat from Camden and the Battle of Jenkins’ Ferry (Little Rock: 1990), pp. 102, 161; Samuel J. Crawford, Kansas in the Sixties, ( Chicago: 1911) p. 121-23.
33. OR, 697-98, 781, 813; Little Rock Unconditional Union, May 13, 20, 1864; George Carr to “Dear Father,” May 2, 1864; Crawford, Kansas in the Sixties, 124-28; Lonnie J. White, ed., “A Bluecoat’s Account of the Camden Expedition,” Arkansas Historical Quarterly 24 (Spring 1965): 87-88; William E. McLean, Forty-Third Regiment of Indiana Volunteers: An Historic Sketch of Its Career and Services (Terre Haute: 1903), p. 26; Samuel J. Crawford to Joseph T. Wilson, December 31, 1885, in Joseph T. Wilson, The Black Phalanx (Hartford, Connecticut: 1890), p. 242; Skinner, Autobiography of Henry Merrell, 368.
34. Milton P. Chambers to “Dear Brother,” May 7, 1864, Milton P. Chambers Papers, Special Collections Division, University of Arkansas Libraries, Fayetteville; OR, 781, 813; Little Rock Unconditional Union, May 20, 1864.
35. Crawford, Kansas in the Sixties, 131-32; OR, 759; Samuel J. Crawford to James T. Wilson, December 31, 1885, in Wilson, Black Phalanx, 245; William L. Nicholson, “The Engagement at Jenkins’ Ferry,” Annals of Iowa 11 (October 1914): p. 511.
36. Mamie Yeary, comp., Reminiscences of the Boys in Gray, 1861-1865 (Dallas, Texas: 1912), p. 437.
37. James McCall Dawson to “Dear Father Sisters and Brothers,” May 5, 1864, in James Reed Eison, ed., “‘Stand We in Jeopardy Every Hour’: A Confederate Letter, 1864,” Pulaski County Historical Review 31 (Fall 1993): 52; Junius N. Bragg to Ann Josephine Goodard Bragg, May 5, 1864, in Mrs. T. J. Gaughan, ed., Letters of a Confederate Surgeon 1861-1865 (Camden, Arkansas: 1960), p. 230; Yeary, Reminiscences of the Boys in Gray, 799; Edward W. Cade to “My dear Wife,” May 6, 1864, Edward W. and Allie Cade Correspondence, John Q. Anderson Collection, Texas State Archives, Austin, Texas.
38. Nicholson, “Engagement at Jenkins’ Ferry,” 509, 511-15, 519; Fort Smith New Era, June 16, August 6, 1864.
39. Milton P. Chambers to “Dear Brother,” May 7, 1864; William Blain to “Dear Wife,” May 17, 1864, in Dolly Bottens, comp., Rouse Stevens Ancestary & Allied Families (Carthage, Missouri: Privately printed, 1970), p. 108B

[Tom Ezell]

Re: Scalping durign the Civil War?

A fellow reenactor told me some Western Federals (Sherman's men, I think) would scalp the dead. Is this true or just a rumor?
If it's true what did they do with the scalps afterwards?
How would they decorate and display them, does anyone know?

As Mark noted, on March 7, 1862, the 1st and 2nd Cherokee Mounted Rifles and Welch's Texas Cavalry Squadron under the command of BG Albert Pike overran two companies of Federal cavalry and captured three artillery pieces at Foster's Farm, on the Leetown battlefield. After the Confederates had withdrawn, 8 of the Federal dead were found to have been scalped and 17 others mutilated in some fashion or other. Accusations flew, and Pike's Indians have traditionally been held responsible for these acts. In fair play, the Indians blamed it on the Texas cavalry.

William Shea's & Earl Hess' Pea Ridge: Civil War Campaign in the West is probably the best reference on this incident; the NPS commemorates it at one of the battlefield tour stops (http://www.nps.gov/archive/peri/tour_stop4.htm).

These sorts of acts did occur in several campaigns here in the Trans-Mississippi... partially due to the closeness and hatred stirred up by the border wars between Kansas and Missouri, as well as the "wild west" background of many participants. Look up a battle referred to as "Poison Springs," near Camden in Ouachita County sometime...