Hedgpeth's Battalion

The Battalion first fought as a part of the 1^st Division of the Missouri State Guards on May 10, 1862 at Plum Point Bend, TN (2 killed 8 wounded). It was consolidated with the 1^st Confederate Infantry Battalion on July 10, 1862 to become the 1^st Confederate Infantry Regiment. Company C which included Ripley County men was consolidated on August 25, 1862 to become Company K of the 6^th Missouri Infantry. Major battles of the 6^th MO included: Corinth, MS Oct.3-4, 1862 (40 killed 130 wounded, 53 missing); Vicksburg Campaign May 1863 (46 killed, 189 wounded, 132 missing). Following their heavy losses at Vicksburg the 6^th MO was consolidated with the 2^nd MO to form the 2^nd & 6^th Regiment. Major battles of the 2^nd/6^th included: the Atlanta Campaign, June 1864 (12 killed 126 wounded, 58 missing); Allatoona GA, October 1864 (16 killed 62 wounded 13 missing); Franklin TN, November 1864 (46 killed 57 wounded, 61 missing); Fort Blakely, AL where they were captured then paroled at Jackson, MS in May 1865.

Commanding Officers of the Regiment

Hedgpeth’s Battalion: Major: Isaac Newton Hedgpeth

Company C: Cape Girardeau, Ripley and Wayne Counties, Missouri; State of Arkansas

Issac Newton Hedgpeth, promoted Major on July 10, 1862; Alvah G. Kelsey

6^th MO Company K: Alvah G. Kelsey, killed Oct 3, 1862; Ebenezer G. Liles

2^nd-6^th MO Company Company C: John D. Parsons, captured November 30, 1864

McGhee, James E. Guide to Missouri Confederate Units, 1861-1865 Fayetteville: The University of Arkansas Press , 2008 pp 189-192, 206-209, 242-244

A roster of the Unit can be found at the Missouri Division, Sons of the Confederacy Website. Companies K was organized in whole or part by Ripley County residents.

A Ripley County Confederate:

The Civil War Service of Colonel Isaac Newton Hedgpeth

James E. McGhee

When the civil war erupted in Missouri, the first volunteers for the southern cause were the soldiers of the Missouri State Guard. Created by the legislature following the bloody affair known as the “Camp Jackson Massacre” in St. Louis on May 10, 1861, the Guard was the legitimate militia of the state. Organized in geographical “divisions” that coincided with existing federal congressional districts, Ripley County properly belonged to the 7^th Military District of south central Missouri. Circumstances would dictate, however, that most Ripley County volunteers would serve in the 1^st Division of the Guard, which encompassed fifteen counties in southeast Missouri.[1]

Just when the men of Ripley County initially began organizing military companies cannot be firmly established, but by mid-June an anonymous letter to the Missouri Democrat, a St. Louis newspaper, reported that a large number of men had gathered in the county for the purpose of raising a force to oppose Federal actions in Missouri.[2] What is certain is that the first Ripley County unit formally entered state service on June 22, 1861. Under the militia law creating the Guard, the members of the company elected their officers. Aden Lowe, a veteran of service in the Mexican War, was elected captain of the company, while the 1^st Lieutenant was Isaac Newton Hedgpeth. Although Hedgpeth had no known prior military service, it is apparent that the men of the company believed that he possessed sufficient leadership abilities to lead them in combat.[3]

Other companies were raised and organized in the county and surrounding area in addition to Lowe’s. By July 1 companies from Ripley and Carter counties were encamped near Martinsburg in numbers adequate to organize an infantry battalion. When the battalion organization was completed on July 5 the commander, M. Jeff Thompson, appointed Hedgpeth as his adjutant. As the adjutant, Hedgpeth was responsible for all of the paperwork a military unit generates, such as rosters and reports. The battalion was increased to a regiment on August 1 after even more companies joined the unit. In the new organization Lowe was elected colonel, while Hedgpeth served as lieutenant colonel of the regiment soon known as the 3^rd Infantry Regiment, 1^st Division, Missouri State Guard.[4]

The 3^rd Infantry Regiment initially operated with a Confederate force from Arkansas commanded by Brigadier General William J. Hardee.[5] The southern objective was to advance on Ironton, where other Confederates and Missourians would join Hardee, capture the Union garrison at that location, and then move on St. Louis or into central Missouri. For reasons not germane to this sketch that campaign stalled and then was finally abandoned. Thereafter, Hardee left the area for Kentucky, and Colonel Aden Lowe, commander of the 3^rd Infantry, soon moved the regiment, along with some other small units, to join the 1^st Division in Stoddard County. Lowe’s troops were in Stoddard County by August 26.[6]

While Lowe’s men did some hard marching, the only real combat experienced by the 3^rd Infantry Regiment occurred on October 21, 1861 at the battle of Fredericktown. At that engagement the 3^rd Infantry occupied the front line of the Missouri State Guard’s deployment and suffered substantial casualties. Colonel Lowe was killed early in the action, and command of the regiment then devolved on Isaac Hedgpeth. After fighting gallantly against a much superior force for some two hours, Hedgpeth extracted his men from a very precarious position, under a heavy enemy fire from both flanks and front, and led them in retreat from the field to Greenville.[7]

Following the battle of Fredericktown the 3^rd Infantry did garrison duty at Bloomfield and New Madrid. As the six months term of enlistment in the Guard readied to expire, several individuals began recruiting for service in the Confederate army. On December 16, while at New Madrid, Isaac Hedgpeth wrote the following letter to Major General Leonidas Polk, then at Columbus, Kentucky, seeking authority to recruit for the Confederacy:

Dear Sir: The time of my service as Commanding Officer of the 3^rd Regiment Infantry 1^st Division of Missouri State Guard having nearly expired, I desire to enter immediately the service under the auspices of the Southern Confederacy. My ends will be materially advanced by an authority to muster and swear in volunteers for the Confederate Service. I desire to operate in Ripley and adjoining counties, in [the] vicinity of Pittmans’ (sic) Ferry [Arkansas]. As such recruiting officer I desire also permission to draw rations from some post under your jurisdiction.[8]

The letter was accompanied by the endorsement of General M. Jeff Thompson, commander of the 1^st Division of the Guard, who described Hedgpeth as “efficient and worthy.”[9] No record has been located of any immediate response from General Polk to Hedgpeth’s letter.

Two days after Hedgpeth wrote Polk, on December 18, General Thompson ordered the 3^rd Infantry Regiment to move to Pitman’s Ferry, where the regiment would be disbanded. The men of the regiment made the long march to Pitman’s Ferry and mustered out of service on January 8, 1862. Hedgpeth must have heard something from Polk by that date, or received recruiting authority from some other source, as he began recruiting for the Confederate army immediately following the termination of his state service. He successfully organized a company of infantry in short order, for his Confederate commission as captain is dated January 9, 1862.[10] The company lingered in the area of Pitman’s Ferry for several weeks, drilling, seeking arms and supplies, and allowing the men to visit their families and homes before the next campaign began.

In early March the Confederate “Army of the West” fought and lost a major engagement at Pea Ridge in northwest Arkansas. All of the Confederate troops were then ordered to report to the east side of the Mississippi River to reinforce the Confederate army in Mississippi then threatened by Union General Ulysses S. Grant. General Thompson issued an order on March 21 for all recruit commands from the 1^st Division to report to Jacksonport, Arkansas. Later, on April 8, Hedgpeth’s company, among others, was instructed to rendezvous at Helena. Once the troops had collected at Helena they were transported by boat to Memphis, Tennessee.[11]

The troops that accompanied Thompson to Memphis consisted of three artillery companies, and five companies each of infantry and cavalry. The cavalry boys went their separate way, but the artillery and infantry units were eventually stationed at Fort Pillow, Tennessee to perform special duty as “marines” aboard the Confederate River Defense Fleet then attempting to defend the Mississippi River from Union gunboats. The Missourians, including Hedgpeth’s company, were aboard when the Confederates engaged Federal ironclads at Plum Run Bend on May 10 which resulted in considerable damage to the Federal ships, while the rebel forces suffered the loss of only 2 killed and some 12 wounded.[12] After this successful fracas on the river the fleet returned to Fort Pillow. Thompson’s men thereafter performed uneventful duty aboard the fleet until early June when they were returned to infantry service.

On July 2, 1862, the five infantry companies were consolidated into three due to a decrease in numbers and organized into a battalion. Isaac Hedgpeth was elected major and battalion commander. The battalion did guard duty for several weeks at various locales in Mississippi. Hedgpeth’s Battalion was for a short time incorporated into a regiment commanded by Colonel George H. Forney, but that was only a temporary arrangement. Finally, on August 26 the battalion was united with 3^rd Missouri Battalion, and some separate companies, to form the 6^th Missouri Infantry Regiment. Hedgpeth was elected lieutenant colonel and deputy commander of this new organization.[13]

The 6^th Missouri Infantry Regiment was assigned to Brigadier General Martin Green’s Brigade, Little’s Division, Price’s Corps. Although present on the field at the battle of Iuka, Mississippi on September 19, 1862, the regiment was not engaged. Within a matter of days, however, the regiment experienced the bloodbath at Corinth on October 3-4. At Corinth the Confederate army attacked a Union army that was well entrenched behind prepared fortifications that bristled with artillery and was defended by experienced infantry. On October 4 the Confederates launched a frontal assault on the Federal positions. The objective of Green’s Brigade was the redoubt called Battery Powell. The charging gray-clads crossed an open field with little protection only to be met by a veritable torrent of artillery and rifle fire. Gaps appeared in the rebel lines, but the men only kneeled to return fire and then continued the charge. As the soldiers of the 6^th Missouri Infantry ran toward Battery Powell the flag bearer went down, mortally wounded. Lieutenant Colonel Hedgpeth picked up the colors, yelled for the men to follow him, and continued to race toward the Union line. He also soon fell, wounded in both legs, and the regimental flag was seized by another soldier and carried forward. The Federal line was pierced and driven into their inner works, but the Confederates could not sustain their position and retreated southward.[14]

The Confederate army suffered frightful casualties at Corinth. The 6^th Missouri Infantry went into the fight with some 300 men and only 30 reported for duty the day following.[15] Many of the badly wounded, including Isaac Hedgpeth, could not be moved from the Confederate field hospitals and were abandoned to the enemy. Colonel Hedgpeth was paroled at the hospital, but his wounds were so serious that he was transferred to Overton Hospital, a Union facility, in Memphis, Tennessee.

Colonel Hedgpeth’s stay at the Memphis hospital was not a pleasant one. In fact, the treatment of Hedgpeth by the Federal authorities caused his brigade commander to call for retaliation against Federal prisoners of war. The letter, in part, was as follows:

Headquarters 1^st Brigade

Bowen’s Div, Army of the West

Camp near Wyatt’s Ferry [Miss.]

November 22d 1862

Major [Waddy]: I have just been reliably informed that Lt. Col. Hedgepeth (sic) of the 6^th Missouri Infantry, this Brigade, who was severely wounded in the engagement near Corinth, Oct. 3^rd, while gallantly leading the colors of his Regiment (the Color Sergeant having fallen) is now at the Overton Hospital in Memphis. The Col. was so severely wounded, it was impossible to remove him from the hospital near the field. He was therefore left to the “tender mercies” of the enemy. The Col. was paroled at Corinth, and afterward removed to Memphis, where his parole, watch and money were taken from him, and he incarcerated in the above mentioned hospital. He is deprived of all attention, is suffering severely from his wounds, and his friends are denied the privilege of ministering to his wants and he is treated as a man guilty of the most damning crimes. None of the privileges or courtesies due an officer of his rank are extended to him, and he sends me word, “for God’s sake to have him exchanged immediately and thereby save his life as he cannot long survive the treatment received at the hands of so brutal a foe.”

I earnestly desire that steps be immediately taken [by the Lieutenant General commanding] to effect the exchange of the Col. and thereby save the life of one of the most gallant and efficient officers in my command.

Other officers of this Army are imprisoned with the Col. and under the same restrictions.

My informant is a member of the 4^th Missouri Infantry and was in Memphis, [and] called to see Col. H. The Col. desired a bottle of “Lemon Syrup”. Mr. Appler (the gentleman referred to) procured the syrup and when he returned to the hospital the officer in charge would not permit him to give it to the Col.

I desire that the attention of the President may be called to “these outrages,” and retaliation demanded.

I have the honor to be, most respectfully,

Your Obedient Servant,

Martin E. Green

Brig. Genl Comdg 1^st Brigade[16]

Hedgpeth did survive his stay at Memphis and was eventually exchanged and returned to the army. There is no record that the Confederate government took any retaliation for what Hedgpeth or any other officer experienced at the hospital in Memphis. In 1863 he was promoted to full colonel and commander of the 6^th Infantry Regiment. The wounds Hedgpeth received at Corinth disabled him from further field service, however, and he was placed upon the retired list. Oddly enough, when Major General Sterling Price led his last raid into Missouri in the fall of 1864, Colonel Hedgpeth accompanied the army. Whether he held any official position with the army cannot be determined, but it is likely that he was merely one of several hundred supernumeraries that rode with the army through Missouri to final defeat along the Missouri-Kansas border.[17]

Colonel Isaac N. Hedgpeth did not live in Ripley County following the war. Nevertheless, his record of service in the Missouri State Guard and the Confederate Army, a record of valor and sacrifice, constitutes a part of the county’s heritage that should not be forgotten.

(Editor’s note: James E. McGhee, a retired lawyer, is a highly respected researcher and historian who has published numerous articles and books on a variety of Missouri Civil War topics. Col. Hedgpeth apparently was held in high esteem by many in Ripley County. In 1900 the Missouri Division of United Confederated Veterans Camp 793, named I.M. Hedgepeth, was held in Doniphan and was commanded by Thomas Mabrey.)

[1] Richard C. Peterson, James E. McGhee, Kip A. Lindberg and Keith I. Daleen, Sterling Price’s Lieutenants: A Guide to the Officers and Organization of the Missouri State Guard, 1861-1865 (Shawnee Mission: Two Trails Publishing, 1995), 5, 22-23. 69.

[2] Missouri Democrat, St. Louis, Missouri, June 25, 1861.

[3] Peterson, et al, Price’s Lieutenants, 66-67.

[4] Ibid. 65, 207.

[5] Hardee, a former officer of the U. S. Army, at this time commanded a brigade of Arkansas Confederate troops.

[6] Donald J. Stanton, Goodwin F. Berquist, and Paul C. Bowers, eds., The Civil War Experiences of General M. Jeff Thompson (Dayton: Morningside Press, 1988), 62-63; James E. McGhee, transc. General M. Jeff Thompson’s Letter Book, July 1861 – June 1862 (Independence: Two Trails Publishing, 2004), 38, 40.

[7] U. S. Department of War, War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1880-1902), Series 1, III, 231-234.

[8] Isaac N. Hedgpeth Envelope, Roll 183, Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations From the State of Missouri. National Archives, Washington, D. C.

[9] McGhee, Thompson Letter Book, 107.

[10] Ibid. 108; Peterson, et al, Price’s Lieutenants, 65; Records of the Adjutant General of Missouri, Missouri State Archives, Jefferson City, Missouri.

[11] James E. McGhee, comp. Voices of the Swamp Fox Brigade: Supplemental Letters, Orders and Documents of General M. Jeff Thompson’s Command, 1861-1862 (Independence: Blue & Grey Book Shoppe, 1999), 42-43.

[12] Stanton, et al, Reminiscences of General Thompson, 156-159.

[13] Confederate Organizations, Officers and Posts, 1861-1865, Missouri Units (Springfield: Ozarks Genealogical Society, 1988), 6, 28.

[14] Stewart Sifakis, Compendium of the Confederate Armies: Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, the Confederate Units, and the Indian Units (New York: Facts on File, 1995), 121-122; Phil Gottschalk, In Deadly Earnest: The History of the First Missouri Brigade, CSA (Columbia: Missouri River Press, 1991), 143-146; War Department Collection of Confederate Records, Chapter II, Volume 274, Letter Book, Brig. Gen. John S. Bowen’s Command, Aug. 1861-Nov. 1863. National Archives, Washngton, D.C., 2; Bruce Allardice to James E. McGhee, e-mail, January 12, 2005.

[15] Gottschalk, In Deadly Earnest, 144; Letter Book of Bowen’s Command, 2.

[16] Letter Book of Bowen’s Command, 2.

[17] Records of the Adjutant General of Missouri; Cynthia Dehaven Pitcock and Bill J. Gurley, eds, “I Acted from Principle”: The Civil War Diary of Dr. William M. McPheeters, Confederate Surgeon in the Trans-Mississippi (Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2002), 228, 370.