Official Records
Extracted from a report by Shelby
HQS CONFEDERATE FORCES, July 16, 1864.
Lt J. S. Green, bearing this communication, is duly authorized by me to communicate with you and get definite instructions in regard to certain questions he will ask, but which I am unwilling to trust to paper for fear of accidents.
...Col Coffee has received authority from Gen Smith to raise a Regt, giving him until Sept 1. Shall I leave him here if I return before that time? But it will not do, in my opinion, to leave any troops here, as it will be only a nucleus for deserters to come back to.
SHELBY
Aug 10, 1864.
Col S. D. JACKMAN: You will order four of the Co’s of recruits just arrived at your camp to report to Col Schnable in order that his Regt may be filled up and organized according to law. You will notify me of the names of the cdrs of Co’s that you cause to report to Col Schnable. The remainder of the recruits you will order to report to Col Hunter, should he want them. You will order Pickler's Bn to report to Col Hunter as soon as they arrive, as Col Hunter is anxious to raise a Regt of Missourians, and you will use the utmost diligence in the furthering of the completion of Coffee's Regt, as I am anxious that he should organize. you will keep the roads west of Batesville well picketed and use every exertion to prevent a surprise. You will select a camp in the vicinity of Batesville where you think best, and camp your entire command. I would suggest that you keep a few trusty scouts on the opposite [side] of the river with instructions to keep you well posted. You will keep a patrol in the town of Batesville under a discreet officer. By command of Brig Gen Shelby: W. J. McARTHUR
11/17/64 Fort Towson, Maxey to Magruder-Price's men are arriving here daily by squads. I suppose the main body will reach here in a few days.
11/20/64 Maxey [Indian Territory] to K. Smith reporting what he has heard:
Freeman's, Dobbin's, McCray's, & part of Jackman's Bgdes & Coffee's regt, went down White River.
Fagan's division (with exception of McCray's and Dobbin's Bgdes), and
Clark's division (except Freeman's brigade), Shelby's division, and Col Tyler's Bgde are in this district. Wood's Mo Bn has just arrived
Price’s 1864 Missouri Raid
OOB
Shelby’s Division-Gen Joseph O. Shelby
Jackman’s Bgde: Col Sidney D. Jackman
Coffee’s Mo Cav Regt, Col John T. Coffee [transferred to Tyler’s Brigade]
Numbers 102. Report of Colonel Charles H. Tyler, C. S. Army, commanding unarmed brigade.
1)
HEADQUARTERS TYLER'S BRIGADE,
December 15, 1864.
MAJOR: In obedience to the order of the brigadier-[general] commanding the division to report the part taken by my brigade in the various actions from Independence to Newtonia, I have the honor to report that owing to its unarmed condition the brigade was not assigned to duty with either the advance or rear guard of the army, but had been marching on the flanks of the wagon train for its protection.
On the 25th of October the army marched from the Marais des Cygnes. General Shelby's division was in advance, General Fagan's in the center, and General Marmaduke commanded the rear. As usual, my brigade guarded the flanks of the wagon train.
About 10 a. m., while marching with the regiments separated, my attention was called to an action then in progress in the rear. Large numbers of troops were observed pursuing a retreating force and firing upon them with revolvers. Rightly conjecturing that our rear guard had as imposing a line of battle as possible. Soon our retreating troops confirmed my conjectures in respect to the fighting, and at the solicitation of some of the intelligent officers who were retreating I continued in this position until the rear of the train had safely passed. I then assumed the duties of rear guard and continued as such until meeting the commanding general. He hurried me to the front to guard a park of wagons in the advance. Upon my arrival at the park I found the train again in motion and took my position on the right flank, as originally assigned. An order soon came from the commanding general to support a battery of artillery then in position on our right front, and being the senior officer present, to take the command. I formed line of battle as ordered, but before the enemy appeared received another order from the commanding general to march in advance of the train. After advancing three of four miles in front of the train the general commanding, trough a staff officer, directed me to form a line of battle faced to the rear. Upon coming up he informed me that our rear guard was being driven and needed support, and directed me to support it morally by an ostentatious display and physically by the armed men under my orders. Accordingly when our retreating rear guard appeared in sight I told my unarmed recruits that the commanding general looked to them alone for the safety of the train; that they must charge the enemy and check him. This they did and very gallantly, considering that they were unarmed recruits and had the example of so many armed fugitive veterans to demoralize them:
The casualties of the charge were:
Killed. Wounded.
1) Perkins' regiment. 5 13
Searcy's regiment. 3 4
Coffee's regiment. 3 7
Total. 11 24
After the charge the recruits speedily rallied, and I again reported in line of battle to the commanding general. General Fagan then assumed command, retained me still as a support to the rear. The troops under my command behaved well even if they had been armed veterans. As unarmed recruits they distinguished themselves. During their whole march there is no known instance of lawlessness. In all the demoralization they have behaved well. No insubordinate spirit has been developed. They have reported in greater numbers for duty, comparatively, than any other brigade.
1) I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
C. H. TYLER,
Colonel, Commanding Brigade.
Guide to Missouri Confederate Units, 1861-1865 (The Civil War in the West) [Paperback]
James E. McGhee (Editor)
Coffee’s Regiment
COLONEL: John Trousdale Coffee
LIEUTENANT COLONEL: John T. Crisp
MAJOR: M. J. B. Young
Companies and Commanders:
Company A: ___ Kelley, disposition unknown; Henry M. Woodsmall
Company B: ___ Fulkerson
Company C: Thomas J. Shaw, promoted to major ca. October, 1864; John W. Cypert
Company D: ___ Dark
Company G: O. B. Smith
Company _: ___ Jackway
Balance of organization is unknown.
General Edmund Kirby Smith, commander of the Trans-Mississippi Department, authorized John T. Coffee, a former regimental commander in the Missouri State Guard, and later the 6th Missouri Cavalry Regiment, to recruit a regiment of cavalry on or about June 1, 1864. Coffee was given until September 1, to complete the organization. In fact, he had started recruiting exiled Missourians, and unattached Arkansans, in northeast Arkansas prior to the end of May, for Brigadier General Joseph O. Shelby, who at the time was in that area pushing conscription and recruitment, reported on May 31 that Coffee should soon fill his regiment. Garnering recruits must have been more difficult than Shelby believed, for Coffee did not complete the organization of a regiment until on or about August 10, likely in the vicinity of Searcy. Furthermore, the regiment was apparently small in numbers and possessed but few arms. Assigned to Colonel Sidney D. Jackman’s newly formed brigade, the regiment participated in the actions at Ashley Station and Jones’ Hay Station in August, but does not appear to have been closely engaged as it was barely mentioned in Jackman’s report. In mid-September, Coffee’s regiment entered southeast Missouri with the brigade as part of the “Army of Missouri,” the rather rag-tag force created to carry out Major General Sterling Price’s expedition into the state. Most of the regiment joined the brigade in destroying railroad tracks north of Pilot Knob, while Shaw’s company was detached to attack Farmington. That company, along with a detachment from a different regiment, captured a company of militia at Farmington after burning them out of the local courthouse. Coffee also dispatched recruiting detachments into the area. For reasons not of record, the regiment was detached from Jackman’s brigade on October 4 and ordered to report to General Price. Thereafter, probably in late October, Coffee’s command was assigned to Colonel Charles H. Tyler’s recruit brigade, which consisted primarily of unarmed troops, which probably indicates the paucity of arms in Coffee’s unit. Tyler’s newly organized brigade saw little combat during the raid, primarily acting as an escort for the army’s large wagon train, until October 23 at Hickman Mill, when the brigade was boldly deployed behind Brigadier General William L. Cabell’s Arkansas brigade to make the force defending the train appear much more formidable than it was. The ruse worked, for when Union Brigadier General John McNeil saw the large Confederate force deployed in defense of the wagons he called off his attack. Coffee’s Regiment also participated in an unlikely action on October 25, following the defeat of the Confederates at Mine Creek, Kansas. Fearing the loss of his train, General Price ordered Tyler’s mostly unarmed units to charge a pursuing Union force. The men made a valiant charge that temporarily halted the pursuit, and allowed the wagon train to continue southward unmolested. Coffee’s regiment suffered losses of 3 killed and 7 wounded in the charge. The troopers of the regiment saw no additional fighting during the raid, for the army soon retreated into Arkansas. After the army reached Clarksville, Texas, the regiment likely disbanded, for no parole records for the unit have been located. No muster rolls for the regiment are known to exist.
BIBLIOGRAHY
Bradley, George W., “Events I Remember in the Life of Colonel John T. Crisp,” Linn County Budget-Gazette, Brookfield, Missouri, December 16, 1936.
Halliburton, J. W., "That Charge," Confederate Veteran 28 (1920): 264.
Hulston John K., & James W. Goodrich, "John Trousdale Coffee: Lawyer, Politician, Confederate," Missouri Historical Review, 77 (April 1983): 272-295.
“M. J. B. Young,” in Roberts, O. M., “Texas,” Vol. XV of Evans, Clement A., (ed.), Confederate Military History, Expanded Edition Atlanta, GA: Confederate Publishing Co., 1899.
Winns, R. M., “Scouting in Arkansas and Missouri” Confederate Veteran 21 (1913): 538-539.