Today is the 150th anniversary of the battle of Elkhorn Tavern (Pea Ridge) which took place on March 7-8, 1862. Four brothers from the area of Greenwood, Sebastian County, AR all served in Rector's 17th Arkansas Infanty; three of them were present during the battle with one being mortally wounded on March 8. Lt. Col. John Griffith and his three younger brothers who all served together in Co. B -- 2nd Sgt. Benjamin H. Griffith, Corporal Samuel Arthur Griffith, and Private Ellis Ringold "Major" Griffith -- were dramatically impacted by the events on March 7-8, 1862 as described below. A short bio appears below for each of them and also their actions during the battle of Elkhorn Tavern; there are also some links providing additional information and images. These four Griffith brothers were the uncles of my paternal grandmother, so I feel a strong obligation to document their participation in the battle on this 150th anniversary. Peace to their ashes!!!! - Kenneth Byrd
LT. COL. JOHN GRIFFITH
..Lt. Col. John Griffith was born August 1, 1831 in South Carolina and was the oldest of four brothers who served in the 17th Arkansas Infantry, 3 of whom were at the battle of Elkhorn Tavern (Pea Ridge). His parents, Samuel Acass "Cass" Griffith (b. 1805 in South Carolina) and Barbara Way Davidson Riddlesperger (b. 1806 in South Carolina) had moved first from South Carolina to Lauderdale County, Mississippi and then to Sebastian County, Arkansas before the Civil War. John Griffith's other siblings were Charity (b. 1833 in South Carolina), Samuel Arthur "Moss" (b. 1837 in South Carolina), Benjamin H. (b. 1840 in Mississippi), Barbara R. (b. 1842 in Mississippi), Mary Harlow (b. 1844 in Mississippi), and Ellis Ringold "Major" (b. 1846 in Mississippi). The Griffiths owned considerable land and slaves in Sebastian county just before the Civil War: over 2000 acres according to Freedmen's Bureau documents. In 1873, John Griffith married a young widow named Mary Catherine Weaver Weldon (b. 1851 in Arkansas) and became stepfather to her son Oscar Weldon (b. 1870 in Texas); John and Catherine also had one daughter, Nancy (Nina) Way (b. 1874 in Texas). John Griffith first enlisted in the 3rd Arkansas (Gratiot's) State Infantry, C.S.A. with the rank of Captain and commanded Company E in the battle of Wilson's Creek, Missouri on August 10, 1861. His younger brother, Benjamin , also in Company E, was slightly wounded at that time. John Griffith became a Lieutenant Colonel in the 17th Arkansas (Rector's) Infantry on December 17, 1861 and was elected Colonel of the regiment on April 16, 1862. On September 26, 1863, he was listed as commanding the 11th & 17th (Griffith's) Consolidated Arkansas Infantry. Colonel Griffith saw action at Elkhorn Tavern, Arkansas; Iuka, Mississippi; Corinth, Mississippi; Clinton, Mississippi; Port Hudson, Louisiana; Bogue Chitto Creek, Mississippi; Franklin. Mississippi; and orchestrated the capture of the Federal tinclad U.S.S. Petrel by Confederate cavalry on the Yazoo River. Mississippi on April 22, 1864. The 11th & 17th Consolidated Arkansas Infantry was ordered to join up with General Nathan Bedford Forrest's command in April, 1865 and being unable to do so, Colonel John Griffith and his men were surrendered at Citronelle, Alabama by Lieutenant-General Taylor on May 4, 1865. Colonel Griffith was then paroled at Jackson. Mississippi on May 13, 1865. An 1895 letter written by Ben B. Chism (17th Ark. Inf. and 11th & 17th Consol. Ark. Inf. CSA) to the sister of Lt. Col./Col. John Griffith describes the actions of Lt. Col. Griffith and the 17th Arkansas Infantry at Elkhorn Tavern thusly:
"The 17th Arks. Infty [sic] Regt. was organized at Cross Hollows, Arks. in Washington County I believe in Fall of 1861. Frank Rector was elected Col. – John Griffith Lt. Col. – Matheson Major. The Regt. went into Winter quarters at Bentonville, Arks. and left there a short time before the battle of Elk Horn (Pea Ridge) – in which battle the Regt. participated on both 7th & 8th March 1862. You had [a] brother either killed or wounded in this battle. The Regt. was hard pressed and retired [on the] 8th for want of ammunition, it seemed the Confederate Army had pretty well all left the battlefield before the 17th retreated. The enemy pressed us – hard. I remember this incident – we had little or no ammunition – and were retreating slowly when an artillery officer galloped up to Col. Griffith – who was commanding (Col. Rector, owing to a severe cold could not be heard to give a command) and said to him, “For God’s sake, save my battery!”. Three or four pieces of artillery were coming down a hill side – Col. Griffith answered, “Captain, I have no ammunition, but I can use the bayonet!”. The command was given “By [?] Regiment into line – guard against cavalry”. In this position we stood in line – until the Federal Cavalry had flanked us pretty well on the left, getting into our rear – at this juncture a Missouri (Confd.) Regt. passed near to us – making its way after our retreating army. When it was found the enemy was in or nearly in our rear, the command was given to move, and we started at a double quick, but we could not follow the army – my recollection is we moved North – pursued by the Federal Cavalry – we were cut off from the main army and the pursuit of us by the enemies’ cavalry continued ‘till late in the evening. When traveling in the mountains we [returned to?] the army. At this time Genl. Pike was seen making his way from the direction of the battlefield accompanied by two or three aids [sic]. He was hailed by Col. Griffith and asked what should [be] done. Genl. Van Dorn had retreated to the Northeast and we were making our way in a South or Southwestern direction [here Chism inserts “North or Northeast” as an apparent afterthought/correction]. Genl. Pike told Col. Griffith to disband his Regt. and let them go in squads of five or six men and make their way to Van Buren, [to] fall in with the Army there. This was [the] cause of the 17th Ark. breakup – for not more than half of the Regt. reported at Van Buren to go on East of the Miss. river, the Regt. numbering some 200 went with Gen’l. Van Dorn to Corinth, Miss. – reaching that point some time in April ’62. Here the Regt. was reorganized, John Griffith elected Col., Joseph Dodson Lt. Col., B.P. Jett Major."
more info/images at:
http://www.oocities.org/pentagon/1117/j_grfth.html
http://www.oocities.org/pentagon/1117/1117inf.html
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CORPORAL SAMUEL ARTHUR "MOSS" GRIFFITH
..Corporal Samuel Arthur "Moss" Griffith (b. 1837 in South Carolina) was the second oldest of four brothers to serve in the C.S.A. (see biographies of Lt. Col. John Griffith, 2nd Sgt. Benjamin H. Griffith, and Private Ellis R. "Major" Griffith). In 1860, he owned a plantation with slaves near present-day Excelsior, in Sebastian County, Arkansas. Earlier, he had married Miss Sophia Tucker near Meridian, Lauderdale County, Mississippi in the mid-1850s. They had two children, Samuel Arthur "Bud" (b. October 10, 1856 in Mississippi) and Barbara Ella (b. 1858?). Sophia died probably in Sebastian County, Arkansas on May 11, 1860. According to information provided by Arkansas CSA expert Bryan R. Howerton, Samuel Arthur "Moss" Griffith initially enlisted as a Private in River’s Battery, 1st Arkansas Light Artillery at Fort Smith, Arkansas on October 5, 1861 (see URL at http://www.couchgenweb.com/civilwar/1starty.html). Probably because of his desire to serve together with his three brothers, he then enlisted as a Private in Company B (Adam's), 17th Arkansas (Rector's) Infantry, C.S.A. by Captain Adams at Bentonville, Arkansas on February 14, 1862. His service records indicate that he was appointed Corporal on that same date. His older brother, Lieutenant-Colonel John Griffith, along with his younger brothers Benjamin H. Griffith, and Ellis R. "Major" Griffith all served together in the 17th Arkansas (Rector's) Infantry at the same time. Corporal Samuel Griffith was badly wounded by a Federal artillery shell fragment at the battle of Elkhorn Tavern, Arkansas on March 8, 1862. Although not known for sure, it is assumed that he was likely wounded during the furious Federal cannonade that was directed against the Confederate positions around Elkhorn Tavern that day. According to information provided in the book "Pea Ridge, Civil War Campaign in the West" by William L. Shea and Earl J. Hess, the 17th Arkansas Infantry was in support of Clark’s Missouri Battery at that time, located just south of Elkhorn Tavern and east of the junction of the Ford Road and Telegraph (Wire) Road. It is also possible that Corporal Griffith was wounded by Federal artillery during the retreat of the 17th Arkansas Infantry down Cross Timber Hollow as documented by authors Shea and Hess. Family history states that Moss Griffith’s badly infected shoulder was treated by his sister Mary Harlow Griffith back at the family plantation near the present-day town of Excelsior in Sebastian County, Arkansas. Both written and oral accounts describe how Mary Harlow Griffith pulled "silken handkerchiefs" through her brother’s badly infected shoulder wound in order "to draw puss out"; this inadequate treatment along with applications of poultices, was the best available in those days before antibiotics. Corporal Samuel Arthur “Moss” Griffith then made the fateful decision to return to the 17th Arkansas Infantry before he was fully recovered from his infected wound. Accompanied only by a family slave (name currently unknown, but possibly Lt. Col. John Griffith's manservant -- Dan Griffith), Moss Griffith’s condition worsened during the journey and he died somewhere in transit to his brothers and comrades in the 17th Arkansas Infantry. The family slave then buried him somewhere along the road before returning to the Griffith family plantation near Excelsior with the bad news. Corporal Griffith's two children then lived with their grandfather, Samuel Acass "Cass" and aunt Mary Harlow Griffith Bishop until they moved to Comanche County, Texas from Little River County, Arkansas after the war. They were there reunited with their uncles Colonel John Griffith and M.E.R. Griffith. Corporal Samuel Griffith's son, Samuel Arthur "Bud" Griffith, moved to Taylor County, Texas with his three uncles in 1877; his daughter, Barbara Ella Griffith, married a Confederate comrade of her uncles, Matthew McCrary, and stayed in Comanche County, Texas. The exact time of his death and burial place of Corporal Samuel Arthur "Moss" Griffith, Company B, 17th Arkansas (Rector's) Infantry are not known to any of his descendents. The charcoal-portrait image of Corporal Griffith was found in an old trunk by his great-granddaughter, Ella Sue Guthrie Findley; both she and her sister Rolene Guthrie Stewart remember seeing it hanging on the wall of their grandpa Samuel Arthur "Bud" Griffith’s house when they were children.
more info/images at:
http://www.oocities.org/pentagon/1117/s_grfth.html
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2ND SGT. BENJAMIN H. GRIFFITH
..2nd Sgt. Benjamin H. Griffith was born in Lauderdale County, Mississippi in 1840 and was the second youngest of four brothers who served in the C.S.A. (see biography of Lt. Colonel John Griffith). Just before the Civil War, he lived on a large plantation in Sebastian County. Arkansas with his parents and other siblings. He apparently never married. Private Ben Griffith initially served in Company E, 3rd Arkansas (Gratiot's) Infantry, Arkansas State Troops under his older brother, at that time Captain John Griffith, and was slightly wounded in the battle of Wilson's Creek, Missouri on August 10, 1861. He was then enlisted by Major G.W. Clark as a Private in Company B (Adam's) 17th Arkansas ( Rector's ) Infantry at Fort Smith, Arkansas on October 20, 1861. He was promoted to Corporal by December of 1861 and to 2nd Sergeant on January 2, 1862. A company muster roll for February 28 - June 30, 1862 lists Sergeant Ben Griffith as "Absent. Sent to Ft. Smith from Little Rock, Ark. by order of Lt.-Colonel Griffith" (his brother John Griffith). He therefore was probably not present at the battle of Elkhorn Tavern on March 7-8, 1862. Ben Griffith is then listed as a Private on Company B muster rolls between July - October 1862 and recorded as being "Absent, West of the Mississippi River". He next appears as a Private in Company C, 35th Arkansas (King's) Infantry for the time period October 31, 1862 - December 3, 1862, and is described as having been "transferred across the Mississippi to his old command, Dec. 3d, 1862". Private Ben Griffith was received at Fort Monroe, Louisiana on March 14, 1863 and listed in Company B, 17th Arkansas (Griffith's) Infantry now commanded by his brother, Colonel John Griffith. A service record dated August 17, 1863 for Private Ben Griffith, now in Consolidated Company I, 11th & 17th Consolidated Arkansas (Griffith's) Infantry, then describes him as being "Absent - on detached service in Arkansas" On March 3, 1865, Private Ben Griffith was being held by the Federal Provost Marshal in Donaldsonville Louisiana; he was then surrendered at Citronelle. Alabama on May 4, 1865 and paroled with his comrades at Jackson, Mississippi on May 13, 1865 - the service record document lists his residence at that time being in "Lavaca County, Texas". After the Civil War, Private Benjamin Griffith was a colleague of the Confederate guerrilla / bandit chieftain, Cullen Baker. By the year 1868, Benjamin Griffith apparently served as one of Cullen Baker's "lieutenants" along with Seth Rames, Bill Longley, Matt Kirby, and Jack English. On July 20 or 21, 1868, former Confederate soldier Private Ben Griffith was shot in the back by a United States officer / Freedman's Bureau Agent, Charles F. Rand, in Clarksville. Red River County, Texas. His younger sister, Mary Harlow Griffith Bishop (b. 1844 in Mississippi) in Comanche County, Texas, named her newborn daughter Lydie Ben Griffith Bishop (b. 1874) in his memory.The burial place of Private Benjamin H. Griffith, is apparently somewhere in the Old Baptist Cemetery, Clarksville, Red River County. Texas, and is memoralized with a CSA gravemarker there. A detailed historical account of Ben Griffith and his family can be read in the following journal article: Richter, W.L. (1998) "Oh God, Let Us Have Revenge: Ben Griffith and His Family during the Civil War and Reconstruction". Arkansas Historical Quarterly vol. 57, No. 3, pp. 255-286.
more info/images at:
http://www.oocities.org/pentagon/1117/b_grifth.html
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PRIVATE ELLIS RINGOLD "MAJOR" GRIFFITH
..Private Ellis Ringold "Major" Griffith was born on May 11, 1846 in Lauderdale County, Mississippi - the youngest of the four brothers to fight in Arkansas C.S.A. forces (see biography of Lt. Colonel John Griffith). He also lived with his parents and siblings on a large plantation near Greenwood, in Sebastian County, Arkansas just prior to the Civil War. Ellis married Miss Priscilla Broughton on January 2, 1876 in Comanche County, Texas and had the following children: John Moss (b. 1877), Samuel (b. 1882), William Harlow (b. 1884), Walter Ringold (b. 1890), and Ella Reagan (b. 1887). Private E.R. Griffith was enlisted in company B (Adam's), 17th Arkansas (Rector's) Infantry, C.S.A. by Major G.W. Clark on October 21, 1861 in Fort Smith Arkansas. He was 15 years old and enlisted on the same day with his older brother, Benjamin H. Griffith (see biography of 2nd Sgt. Benjamin H. Griffith). The day before, their oldest brother, then Captain John Griffith of the 3rd (Gratiot's) Arkansas State Troops also enlisted in the same regiment. After another of Ellis' older brothers, Samuel Arthur "Moss" Griffith enlisted in the 17th Arkansas Infantry on February 14, 1862 (see biography of Corporal Samuel Arthur "Moss" Griffith) , three Griffith brothers served together in Company B, 17th Arkansas Infantry, while the oldest brother, John Griffith, was their regimental Lieutenant-Colonel. Service records indicate that 15 year-old Private E.R. Griffith, together with two older brothers ("Moss" and John), took part in the battle of Elkhorn Tavern, Arkansas on March 6 - 8, 1862. He likely witnessed the wounding of his older brother, Corporal Samuel Arthur "Moss" Griffith on March 8 -- an event that eventually took Moss' life. Young Ellis was discharged from the 17th Arkansas Infantry on March 30, 1862 after the battle of Elkhorn Tavern because of severe pneumonia; he was sent home to the family plantation near Excelsior in Sebastian County AR in order to regain his health. After the war, he traveled with his oldest brother, Colonel John Griffith, and two other Arkansas Confederate veterans/future brother-in-laws, Joseph L. Bishop and Mat McCrary, to Texas in search of his family. The Griffith and Bishop families were eventually located in Comanche County. Ellis R. Griffith later joined Company A, Frontier Battalion of the Texas Rangers in Comanche County on May 25, 1874 and helped guard the notorious outlaw John Wesley Hardin in 1877. E.R. moved his family to Bluff Creek, in Taylor County, Texas sometime around 1877 and help build the old school house there. Private Ellis R. "Major" Griffith of Company B, 17th Arkansas Infantry, C.S.A. and Company A, Frontier Battalion, Texas Rangers, died in 1920 and is buried with his wife and three of his sons in the Old Bluff Creek Cemetery in Taylor County, Texas.
more info/images at:
http://www.oocities.org/pentagon/1117/mer_grf.html