Here is the real T.L. Wright story entitled “Ripley County--No Man’s Land in the Civil War.” Note that it was published within his lifetime, and that he cites his sources: The Official Records of the War of the Rebellion; Shelby and His Men by John Edwards; and Pilot Knob: the Thermopylae of the West by Cyrus A. Peterson and Joseph Mills Hansen.
Now if Wright had interviewed local citizens in the 1920s, including a raised from the dead William H. Righter, why on earth did he not include those interviews in the story that he went through the trouble of having published.
And with this published account of the document in question, if Jerry Ponder’s version of “the Wilson Massacre” is to be accepted, one must also accept that Wright participated in part of the massive cover-up of the massacre that Jo Shelby and Jeff Thompson would have also been a part of. But, once again, Shelby and Thompson were not part of a cover-up, nor was Wright. And note Wright’s reference in this article regarding who it was that was the publisher of the newspaper this story appeared in. BUD PONDER. Jerry’s first cousin. Imagine your grandmother and aunts being killed in a massacre and not pointing that out to a writer you are publishing (who supposedly was already aware of that fact and let it slip his mind, also). So we had Jean Ponder failing to make mention of the Wilson Massacre, and now Bud Ponder failing to mention it.
By the way, note that Wright doesn’t refer to William H. Righter as being one of his sources in this article, or of having interviewed him when he was four years old.
Anybody who wants the scanned version of the actual article that T.L. Wright and Bud Ponder saw fit to publish, let me know. In the meantime, here is a transcription of it:
Doniphan Prospect-News
Doniphan, Missouri
Thursday, April 2, 1970
page 7
Ripley Recalled
RIPLEY COUNTY--NO MAN’S LAND IN THE CIVIL WAR
By T.L. Wright
In Missouri, the Civil War was neither lost nor won. In fact, neither the Confederate nor the Union Government considered activities west of the Mississippi River of any significance. However, to those thousands who gave their lives at Wilson’s Creek, Pilot Knob, Westport, and at many unnamed skirmishes, those encounters were most significant.
Missouri had more participants in the great conflict in proportion to her population than did nay other state in the nation, North or South. One hundred thirty thousand men, or sixty percent of the eligible Missouri males, were in service. They favored the Union almost four to one.
Throughout the four years of the far [sic], the vicinity of Doniphan and Ripley County was a virtual no man’s land. There were no major battles--only skirmishes. Booth Union and Confederate troops operated in and around the area, since Doniphan and Pitman’s Ferry were vital geographic locations because of their necessary Current River crossings: Pitman’s Ferry on the Nachitoches Trail, presently known as the Old Military Road, and Doniphan on the Greenville-to-Pocahontas road. These roads were Southeast Missouri’s main highways.
The Official Record of the War of the Rebellion contains many items of local interest to Ripley County residents.
Brigadier General M. Jeff Thompson organized and commanded the Ripley County Battalion of the Confederate Army. This unit was active for the most part at Bloomfield, New Madrid, Cape Girardeau, Sikeston, Fredericktown, Pitman’s Ferry and at Pocahontas, Ark.
In the Battle of Fredericktown, October 21, 1861, Col. Aden Lowe of Doniphan was leading an assault with his Confederate Infantry Regiment on a large force of Union troops when he was hit in the head by musket fire. He was killed instantly. Col. Lowe was the great grandfather of Chester “Bud” Ponder, current publisher of The Prospect News. Also mentioned for gallant action in this battle were Colonels Waugh and Hedgepeth of Doniphan. After this battle, the Rebels withdrew to Pitman’s Ferry.
During the winter of 1861-62, numerous skirmishes occurred over the occupation of Doniphan. The area was stripped of all produce, and many families suffered for the lack of the necessities of life. Doniphan inhabitants, mostly Rebel sympathizers, feared the Federal troops would destroy the town (a catastrophe which later happened), though Captain W.T. Leeper had promised destruction would not take place so long as the townspeople remained loyal to the Union.
General Jeff Thompson, in writing of the severe winter of 1861-62, mentioned men with names familiar today, such as Kelley, Peterson, Wise and Brannon, as “patriotic gentlemen who are willing to serve anytime, anywhere”, and who had remained with him though others had left for their homes when the regiment disbanded at the end of their original enlistment.
On April 1, 1862, a skirmish of considerable size took place at the Doniphan Ford on Current River. This engagement lasted for two days, and many men on both sides were killed, wounded or captured. This action followed an order from Major General H.W. Halleck of St. Louis to Col. W.P. Carlin at Pilot Knob to “occupy Doniphan and capture Pocahontas.” A month earlier, Col. Carlin had reported that the Rebels had “removed all ferries on the Current River.”
Forces led by Capt. Leeper, a Union officer from Wayne County, and Col. Timothy Reeves, a Rebel from Ripley County, were often engaged in battle. It is reported that one cold, wintry night Reeves caught Leeper above Doniphan and made the Captain and his troops swim across the river in their underwear, despite the cold.
For the November Election of 1863, Federal troops were dispatched to Poplar Bluff, Doniphan and Alton for the express purpose of “guarding the polls and stopping the bushwhacking in and around Doniphan.” The worst incident of bloodshed in Ripley County during the entire war followed this order.
On Christmas Day, 1863, Major James Wilson and 200 Union troops from Fort Davidson passed through Doniphan traveling on a southwesterly course toward the Pulliam Farm, 17 miles from town near Warm Springs, Ark., where Confederate Col. Reeves and his cavalry were celebrating the holiday. Major Wilson’s forces surprised the Confederates at dinner, killing 35 and taking 112 prisoners.
Almost a year later, Major Wilson met his fate while defending Fort Davidson against Confederate troops during Col. Price’s Rebel invasion of Missouri. The Major became trapped in a ravine on the east slope of Sheppard’s Mountain. Moments later, when his identify became known, he was summarily shot by a hastily formed Rebel firing squad. In the squad were some of the survivors of Price’s [sic] Christmas Day assault on the Pulliam Farm.
By the summer of 1864, the Confederate Army had suffered defeat on all fronts. In desperation, Lt. Gen. E. Kirby Smith, Commander of the Trans-Mississippi Department of the Confederate Army, issued orders to Maj. Gen. Sterling Price to invade Missouri and take possession of the State.
In Southwest Arkansas, Price organized his army of 12,000 men and 14 pieces of artillery, and left Camden on August 28 to rendezvous at Pocahontas in two weeks with three Confederate Divisions commanded by Major Generals James F. Fagan, John S. Marmaduke and Brig. Gen. Joseph O. Shelby.
After three days in war-torn Pocahontas, repairing more than 300 wagons and shoeing cavalry horses, the Rebels began their invasion of Missouri. They advanced in three columns, intending to junction at Fredericktown.
Marmaduke entered the State at Pitman’s Ferry near Current View and traveled North along the Old Military Road. By September 19, he was encamped at Poplar Bluff.
Gen. Price’s Headquarters Column, with Fagan’s Division, moved up the center, camping that same night on the old Indian Ford, six miles downstream from Doniphan. Today, this place is known as the Ruff’s Ferry area.
Gen. Jo Shelby’s Cavalry Division took the left route, the old Doniphan-to-Pocahontas road. They arrived in Doniphan via the Current River Ford at 3 p.m. on September 19 to find the town in flames. Only the Methodist Church, which had been converted into a hospital, and the residence of Col. Aden Lowe’s widow had been spared. The town had been fired that morning by a scouting party of 100 Union troops of the Third Missouri Militia Cavalry led by a Lt. Pape who had been warned of the Rebel invasion.
Gen. Shelby dispatched 150 cavalrymen under Lt. Col. Johnson to pursue the vandals. Early next morning the Rebels came upon the Union scouts encamped at Ponder’s Mill on Little Black River. They attacked, and killed or captured all but ten of the Federal troopers.; The dead of that fight are buried in the old military Cemetery northeast of Fairdealing.
Two days later, Shelby’s forces destroyed the Union fort at Patterson.
On September 24, Shelby’s Cavalry was dispatched from Fredericktown toward Farmington and Potosi with orders to destroy the railroad from St. Louis to Pilot Knob. Meanwhile, the Divisions under Fagan and Marmaduke made an assault on Fort Davidson near Pilot Knob. During the brief 20 minutes of battle, 1500 men were killed. Most were Confederates.
The remaining Confederates regrouped and prepared to attack again at dawn. That night, Brig. Gen. Thomas Ewing, Commander of the Union Fort, quietly withdrew, leaving behind only a small detail of horsemen to blow up the ammunition magazine before daybreak.
The Pilot Knob battle marked the beginning of the end of Price’s invasion of Missouri. Conditions worsened until Price was literally chased back into Northwest Arkansas. He reached that state only through the gallant protection afforded him by Gen. Jo Shelby’s Cavalry, the same Unit which had avenged the destruction of Doniphan a few weeks earlier.
This account is based upon the “War Of The Rebellion”, Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, published in 1885 by Government Printing Office, as well as the following books: “Shelby And His Men” by John Edward’s, and “Pilot Knob, The Thermopylae of the West” by Cyrus A. Peterson and Joseph Mills Hanson.