Notable Officers

Missouri State Guards / Confederate States of America

Thompson was a colonel in the Missouri state militia at the outbreak of the Civil War. In late July 1861, he was appointed brigadier general of the First Division, Missouri State Guard. He commanded the First Military District of Missouri, which covered the swampy southeastern quarter of the state from St. Louis to the Mississippi River earning him the nickname of "Swamp Fox of the Confederacy."

Colonel Timothy Reeves - A Doniphan minister, Reeves served as a staff officer in the 3rd Cavalry Regiment, 1st Division Missouri State Guard. He formed Reeves Company, Independent Missouri Scouts which he commanded until 1863. the scouts were combined into the 15th Missouri Cavalry Regiment which Reeves commanded.

Colonel Cyrus Black - A Martinsburg (Oxly) businessman served in the 1st Division Missouri State Guard as Colonel in the 3rd Cavalry Regiment and later as a staff officer in the 12th Missouri Infantry Regiment, CSA.

Colonel Isaac N. Hedgpeth - Served as Lt. Colonel in the 3rd Infantry Regiment of the 1st Division MSG and promoted to Colonel at the death of Aden Lowe. He organized Hedgpeth's Battalion in 1861 which later were consolidated into the 6th Regiment CSA. He was promoted Colonel following the death of Col Erwin June 25, 1863. He was permanently disabled during the Battle of Corinth, MS October 3, 1862 and never assumed field command. He was a Doniphan farmer, sawyer and served as a Justice of the County Court in 1854.

Colonel Aden Lowe - Lowe was a veteran of the Mexican War where he served as an aide to Colonel Doniphan. He was elected Colonel of the 3rd Infantry Regiment of the 1st Division MSG. He served as Assistant Commander for the infantry under General M. Jeff Thompson until his death at the Battle of Fredericktown, 1861 Sep 21. He was a Doniphan attorney before the war.

Colonel Willis M. Ponder - Served as Lt. Colonel in the 3rd Infantry Regiment, 1st Division MSG. He as elected as Lt. Colonel of the 9th Missouri Infantry Regiment CSA. He resigned and raised the 12th Missouri Infantry Regiment which he commanded. Prior to the war he was a Doniphan businessman and Ripley County Clerk.

Colonel George Lee Waugh - A Doniphan businessman, Waugh, was commissary of the 3rd Infantry Regiment, 1st Division MSG before being promoted Colonel and commissary for the Division. He continued to serve with General M. Jeff Thompson through the remainder of the war.

William T. Hardee, Major-General

One of the more notable officers in the Confederacy, he wrote the definitive book of its time on infantry tactics while serving in the US Army. At the outbreak of war he resigned his US commission and joined the Confederate Army. His initial assignment as a General in the Confederacy was at Kelly Plantation, Pittman’s Ferry and Buckskull (Currentview)

United States of America

H. W. Halleck

As the Civil War began, Halleck was nominally a Democrat and was sympathetic to the South, but he had a strong belief in the value of the Union. His reputation as a military scholar and an urgent recommendation from Winfield Scott earned him the rank of major general in the regular army, effective August 19, 1861, making him the fourth most senior general in the Army (after Scott, George B. McClellan, and John C. Frémont). He was assigned to command the Department of the Missouri which put him in overall command of any activities conducted by the United States Army in Ripley County.

Frederick Steele, Brigadier General: Was the commander of the Department of Arkansas during the Civil War. Union forces under his command took military control of the northern half of the State in September 1863. Faced with immense military and political problems as a result of the continuing war, however, Steels failed in his larger mission of politically and militarily stabilizing the state. Much of his command bled over the state line into Ripley County.

William P. Carlin, Colonel: The 1st Commander of the 38th Illinois Infantry. He and his regiment were shipped to Missouri to help stabilize the region under Federal control. He participated in the Battle of Fredericktown on October 21, 1861, where his men help to rout part of the Missouri State Guard under M. Jeff Thompson. As a reward for his performance Carlin took command of the Southeast Missouri District, a post he held through the winter into early spring of 1862.

James Wilson, Major - Major Wilson was Col. Reeve's biggest nemesis. Much is written in the History Books of the actions committed against each other. Reeve's rightly so blamed Wilson for many of the atrocities inflicted on the residence of Ripley County by the federal army. Whether Wilson was directly involved or not, he ultimately is responsible for the actions of his officers under his command. Official records show that Wilson was leading the charge on Christmas 1863 at the Pulliam Spring. Sometimes referred to as Wilson's Massacre. Reeves had the final say when Wilson was captured near Washington, MO during Gen. Price's raid into Missouri in 1864. Wilson and six other federal soldiers were turned over to Col. Reeves who ordered their execution. This act lead to Confederates being held in the prison in St. Louis being executed in retaliation. More information on Major Wilson can be found at: http://www.mogenweb.org/lincoln/misc/ms-military-record-wilson.htm

William T. Leeper, Captain: Leeper is considered one of the most ruthless of the federal officers to invade Ripley County. Perhaps author Bruce Nichols puts it best in his book, "Guerrilla Warfare in Civil War Missouri, Vol III", when he wrote, " Captain Leeper was one of those extremists whose mania to restore the severed Union overrode the morality inherent in the oath he took as a officer in the United States Army." Early in the war his superiors tended to look the other way as they ignored his lack of respect for the law or his adversaries. His attitude about southern sympathizing residents can best be summed up in one of his reports where he writes, " guerrillas cannot stay in this or any other part of the State without friends, and their friends will have to be exterminated too." This pretty well sums up the kind of campaign Leeper conducted in Ripley County. During the war Leeper served as a Captain in the 12th MSM Cavalry (later Co. L 3rd MSM Cavalry). He was discharged for incompetence in April 1864 and joined the 68th EMM Co. F. Leeper resumed his rank of Captain in the 24th MSM in April 1865 and finally Colonel in the 24th Missouri Militia in 1865.