Huntsville Massacre

Huntsville Massacre

The Huntsville Massacre was an event that occurred during the American Civil War one mile northeast of Huntsville, Arkansas, in which nine men believed to be Confederate sympathizers were shot by Union soldiers. The event, which has since been called a , is little known today.

Background

The event occurred on January 10, 1863, in the midst of the Union Army moving to occupy Arkansas. Preceding this, in 1862, was an incident that is believed to have sparked the execution of the nine men. Following the Battle of Pea Ridge, Isaac Murphy, who was the first Reconstruction Governor of Arkansas, had received death threats and was forced to flee the area in which he lived. Under Union Army escort, he moved to Huntsville. By the fall of that year, his daughters wished to visit him. They went, under Union escort, to Huntsville. When they came to within two miles of the town, the escort, numbering twenty five soldiers, decided to send the daughters into the town alone, and the soldiers set up camp to rest. While resting there, they were attacked by a local Confederate Guerilla band. Only seven of the Union soldiers survived the skirmish.

Following the Battle of Prairie Grove, Union General Francis Herron was ordered to take his 5,000 troops northeast to the Mississippi River, where he would link up with the army under the command of Ulysses S. Grant in the push for Vicksburg. While Herron's troops passed through Huntsville, it was reported to them that the daughters of Murphy were still being harassed by locals, to the point that their personal property had been taken from them. Within days the Union soldiers had arrested several local men, with no known charges against them.

The executions

In the early morning hours of January 10th, 1863, nine of the arrested men were taken from where they were being detained by members of Company G, 8th Regiment Missouri Volunteer Cavalry, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Elias Briggs Baldwin. Those men were Chesley H. Boatright, William Martin Berry, Hugh Samuel Berry, John William Moody, Askin Hughes, John Hughes, Watson P. Stevens, Robert Coleman Young, and Bill Parks. Of the nine, only Hugh Samuel Berry and Askin Hughes were soldiers, both being captains in the Confederate Army and home on leave. John William Moody was a former US Marshal, and William Martin Berry was a son-in-law to Isaac Murphy. All were shot, with eight being killed. Bill Parks was left for dead, but survived the shooting and later moved to Mississippi.

There were no known charges against any of the men, and it has never been confirmed as to whether the executions were in reaction to the Union soldiers killed months earlier by guerrillas, or if the incident was due to some other unknown cause. It has been since indicated that it is possible the nine men were suspected to have taken part in the guerrilla attack that resulted in the killing of the eighteen Union soldiers. Two of the men executed were Confederate soldiers. There is no way of knowing for certain as to whether that did play a part in the executions. However, even in the event that any of those shot had been involved in the earlier attack on the Union detachment, it would have been considered an act of war on their part, and not punishable by death as the men would have then been considered prisoners of war.

After the executions, Bill Parks, who had been left for dead, crawled to a nearby farm house, where his wounds were treated. When asked what had happened and who did it, his response was "Men of the 8th Missouri Regiment. But Johnson, Ham and Murphy had it done." He was referring to Isaac Murphy, attorney E.D. Ham, and Union Colonel James Johnson. Although Baldwin was present during the murders and directly ordered the executions, he was not mentioned by Parks.

Word of the executions spread quickly through the ranks of the Union Army, and Lt. Col. Baldwin was arrested and charged with "violation of the 6th Article of War for the murder of prisoners of war." He was transported to Springfield, Missouri and held for trial. However, when many of the witnesses were found to be on active military duty and unable to attend the trial, and many civilian witnesses were displaced or not able to make the trip to Springfield, charges were dropped, and Baldwin was discharged from the army.

Afterward

The backlash of the event prompted the two local colleges to close, due to them being funded by the Masons. The local Masonic chapter felt that Isaac Murphy had something to do with the executions, and several of those executed were members of the Masons. Murphy's daughters and wife ran one of the colleges, an all female seminary, and Murphy was the head of the other college. Therefore, the Masons chapter ended financial support of both schools, and the colleges closed. Murphy went on to have a distinguished political career with the event never effecting him publicly whatsoever. James Johnson would go on to become a Congressman and later Lieutenant Governor and Secretary of State for Arkansas. E.D. Ham would later serve as a Senator for Arkansas, as well as a District Attorney and Circuit Judge. Short of Baldwin's arrest and dismissal from the army on less than honorable circumstances, no one was ever punished for the crime.

For decades afterward, locals in the area commemorated the event by decorating the area with flowers on its anniversary each year, but no one spoke publicly about it. In 1974, historian John I. Smith published several articles about the murders in the "Northwest Arkansas Times", having uncovered accounts of the massacre while researching a biography he was doing on Isaac Murphy. Prior to those publications, the murders had become all but forgotten as by that time any who would have remembered it first hand had long since passed on. On September 30, 2006, a monument of the event was dedicated at the site in which the executions took place.

External links

* [http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=3795 Huntsville Massacre]
* [http://www.rootsweb.com/~armadiso/huntsville-massacre/huntsville-massacre.htm Huntsville Massacre Dedication]
* [http://history-sites.com/mb/cw/arcwmb/index.cgi?noframes;read=13760 Huntsville Massacre Memorial]
* [http://www.huntsville364.org/Huntsville%20Massacre.html Huntsville Massacre Power Point Presentation]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Huntsville, Arkansas — Infobox Settlement official name = Huntsville, Arkansas settlement type = City imagesize = image caption = image imagesize = image caption = image mapsize = 250px map caption = Location in Madison County and the state of Arkansas mapsize1 = map… …   Wikipedia

  • Characters of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre — The following are fictional characters in the American horror The Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise.The Sawyer familyThe Sawyers (renamed the Hewitts in the remake and its prequel) are a family of cannibals in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre… …   Wikipedia

  • List of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre characters — The list of members of the Hewitt/Sawyer family Contents 1 The Sawyer/Hewitt family 1.1 Chop Top Sawyer 1.2 Drayton Sawyer 1.3 Grandpa Sawyer …   Wikipedia

  • Isaac Murphy — For the African American Hall of Fame jockey see: Isaac Burns Murphy Infobox Governor name = Isaac Murphy order = 8th office = Governor of Arkansas term start = 1864 term end = 1868 lieutenant = predecessor = Harris Flanagin successor = Powell… …   Wikipedia

  • 8th Regiment Missouri Volunteer Cavalry — (August 6th, 1862 July 20th, 1865) was a Union Army regiment during the American Civil War. The regiment is best remembered for having committed what has become known as the Huntsville Massacre.The regiment was first organized starting on August… …   Wikipedia

  • Elias Briggs Baldwin — (June 17, 1834 October, 1893) was a Union Army lieutenant colonel, later Provost Marshal, and pioneer of Labette County, Kansas. He is best remembered for his part in the Huntsville Massacre that occurred on January 10, 1863, near Huntsville,… …   Wikipedia

  • School shooting — School shooter redirects here. For the Half Life 2 mod, see School Shooter: North American Tour 2012. Terrorism Definitions · Counter terrorism Inter …   Wikipedia

  • Texas–Indian Wars — The Texas Indian Wars were a series of conflicts between settlers in Texas and Plains Indians. These conflicts began when the first settlers moved into Spanish Texas, and continued through Texas s time as part of Mexico, as its own nation,… …   Wikipedia

  • Satanta (chief) — Satanta This article refers to the Kiowa chief Satanta. For the Irish hero Sétanta, please see Cú Chulainn. Satanta (ca. 1820 1878) was a Kiowa war chief. He was a member of the Kiowa tribe, he was born around 1820, during the height of the power …   Wikipedia

  • Mississippi Territory — Territory of Mississippi Organized incorporated territory of the United States …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”