Civil War
Washington, DC, ca. 1881, 1893
F. Benteen Survivor of Little Big Horn Campaign Reflects on Battle of Wilson?s Creek
Signed book

[CIVIL WAR.] Frederick Benteen, annotations to Robert N. Scott, comp., The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 69 volumes, 127 books (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1881-1901), Series I, Volume 3. 815 pp., 6.25" x 9.125". General toning; some wear to cover.

This volume of The War of the Rebellion was owned and annotated in 1893 by Frederick Benteen, a lieutenant colonel with the 10th Missouri Cavalry by the end of the Civil War and a troop commander in George Armstrong Custer?s ill-fated 7th U.S. Cavalry during the wars with Native Americans in the 1870s. This volume covers operations in Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, and Indian Territory (Oklahoma) from May 10 to November 19, 1861, including the Battle of Wilson?s Creek in southern Missouri on August 10, 1861. Benteen made annotations on more than two dozen pages, sometimes indicating the future career of persons writing reports or commenting on them generally. Benteen also added notes of commentary on a blank page before the index and on four blank pages at the end of the volume and inside of the back cover.

Excerpts (in Benteen?s hand):
?Jan-25-1893.
?Old Ben. McCulloch was absolutely correct about all of these statements; I know from the fact of being in all of the campaign related to.
?It was not ?unwisely? that Lyon attacked the combined force of Price & McCulloch at Wilson?s Creek, Aug-10-1861-, but it was unfortunate that Genl. Lyon had so weak a support as Sigel was, as had the latter had any push, dash, or soldiering of any kind about him, or could have managed his Dutch sufficiently even to keep them from running away=Our?Lyon?s wing?would have cleaned up the whole business. F. W. Benteen.?

?Bowen?s Battalion of Missouri Cav. 4 Troops
?W. D. Bowen, Lieut. Col.
?
??C? Captain F. W. Benteen, St. Louis Mo.
?1st Lieut. D. W. Ballou, Dixon
?2d " Ed. Emerson, Aurora, Ills.?

?The men of the Battalion were Missourians, but two Co?s were enlisted by Bowen & [John] McFall: the other Co. by [John] Ing, and officered by enlisted men from the 13th Ill. Vol. Infty, while in Camp near Rolla, Mo.?

?This Volume contains the situation of affairs in Missouri at the breaking out of the war. A report of the battle of Wilson Creek, 10th Aug ?61by J. M. Schofield Adjutant General of Genl. Lyon &c&c.?

?Carrying too much brandy in his Skin got away with poor Totten? (p74) on a report of Captain James Totten of the 2d Artillery about the Battle of Wilson Creek, attached to Totten?s statement about a wounded General Lyon: ?I offered him some brandy, of which I had a small supply in my canteen, but he declined and rode slowly to the right and front.?

?Hurra for Little Billy!? (p220) at the end of a report by Col. William P. Carlin of the 38th Illinois Volunteer Infantry to the Assistant Adjutant General for the Department of Missouri, correcting errors in Col. J. B. Plummer?s report about the Battle of Fredericktown, Missouri, on October 21, 1861.

?Good enough! Old John? (p597) at the end of a letter by John Ross, Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, to Confederate General Benjamin McCulloch, indicating that the Cherokee intended to stay neutral in the ?pending conflict between the United States and Confederate States.? Among many other observations, Ross wrote to McCulloch, ?We have done nothing to bring about conflict in which you are engaged with your own people, and I am unwilling that my people shall become its victims, and I am determined to do no act that shall furnish any pretext to either of the contending parties to overrun our country and destroy our rights.?

Historical Background
At the beginning of the Civil War, West Point graduate Nathaniel Lyon (1818-1861) was in St. Louis, where he took command of the federal arsenal and kept the weapons there from falling into Confederate hands by sending many of them to Illinois and arming Unionist militia. He pursued Missouri Governor Claiborne F. Jackson and southern-sympathizing Missourians to Springfield, Missouri. On August 10, at the Battle of Wilson?s Creek, Lyon became the first general to die in the Civil War and an immediate martyr in the Union cause. The other column was commanded by Col. Franz Sigel (1824-1902), a German immigrant who successfully recruited many German-Americans into the Union Army. They had a combined force of 5,430 soldiers but were met by a much larger combined force of Confederates under the command of Brigadier General Benjamin McCulloch (1811-1862) and Missouri State Guard troops under the command of Major General Sterling Price (1809-1867), totaling approximately 12,100 men.

When Lyon and Sigel?s forces attacked the Confederates on Wilson?s Creek, ten miles southwest of Springfield, the Confederate infantry responded by attacking the Union forces three times, driving Sigel?s column back to Springfield. They then concentrated their forces on Lyon?s column, and Lyon was killed leading a counterattack. When Major Samuel D. Sturgis assumed command of the remaining Union forces, the exhaustion of his men and lack of ammunition caused him to retreat to Springfield. Although the losses were heavy and comparable on each side, the Confederates claimed the victory, though they were unable to pursue the retreating Union forces.

In his December 22, 1861, report to Confederate Secretary of War Judah Benjamin, Confederate General McCulloch offered a summary of events in Missouri since the end of June. In discussing his march on Springfield with Price?s Missouri State Guard troops, he noted the lack of ammunition available to his men and observed that many were armed only with ?the common shotgun and rifle of the country, without bayonets.? ?However,? he continued, ?the enemy unwisely concluded to attack us in our position, which was well selected for the kind of arms we had to use against their long-ranged rifled muskets? (p746). It was this statement that Benteen objected to in his comments written on a blank page at the end of McCulloch?s report (p750).

Frederick W. Benteen (1834-1898) was born in Virginia, and his family moved to St. Louis, Missouri, in 1849. Although his father was a committed secessionist, Benteen joined the 1st Missouri Cavalry of the Union Army in September 1861 as a first lieutenant. The regiment was later redesignated as the 9th and then merged into the 10th Missouri Cavalry. With his regiment, Benteen participated in the Battles of Wilson?s Creek, Pea Ridge, Vicksburg, and Westport. He rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel and commander of the 10th Missouri. He was mustered out on June 30, 1865, but soon resumed command as colonel of the 138th Infantry Regiment, United States Colored Troops until again mustered out in January 1866. Later that year, he was commissioned as a captain in the 7th U.S. Cavalry. He served with that regiment for sixteen years, many of them under Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer. Benteen commanded H Troop during Custer?s 1876 expedition to find the Lakota and Cheyenne. When Custer divided his force into three battalions, he gave Benteen command of a battalion consisting of Troops D, H, and K. After scouting fruitlessly, Benteen received word from Custer to advance to his aide. En route, he met the remnants of the other battalion led by Major Marcus Reno but did not advance in time to save Custer?s force from annihilation. His force was repeatedly attacked but held. He was much criticized for his actions of that day, but he remained in the U.S. Cavalry for another 12 years and was promoted to major in the 9th U.S. Cavalry in 1882. In 1887, he was suspended for drunk and disorderly conduct in Utah. He retired in 1888 and was brevetted brigadier general in 1890.

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6.25" x 9.125"