In 1908, Benjamin James Farmer, then a resident of Camden, Arkansas, sent a memoir of his service in the civil war to William L. Skaggs, who was collecting information on Missouri Confederate soldiers, and whose collection is now housed at the Arkansas History Commission in Little Rock. In the memoir Farmer describes himself as a Confederate recruiting officer with a commission of lieutenant colonel. His experiences with Marmaduke’s Division at Pilot Knob follow:
(p. 11) We moved on to Pilot Knob. Gen. Shelby went around on the west side and swung around on the north in order to bag them in case they tried to get into St. Louis. Gen. Price moved on them from the south. The place was strongly fortified. The Federal forces were not very large, but they had such great advantage of us. The place is situated right in the heart of a valley surrounded by three long mountains. On the north is Pilot Knob and on the west is Bald Knob. On the south is Shepard’s Mountain and the fort was right in the basin. The mountainside is so rough with brush and rocks that a man can hardly climb them afoot. I saw 100 men tugging at one #6 gun by ropes, trying to pull it high enough up so it could throw shells in the slant (?) but it availed nothing. Gen. Price advanced on Pilot Knob on Sunday at 12 o’clock and drove in the pickets. The fight began and it was kept up till after dark that night. The Federals were all driven into the fort. Gen. Marmaduke that night camped some 5 miles east of Pilot Knob…….Just as soon as it was light enough to see any day light the firing began. The Federals had in their fort some long guns, some #64. They would fire them by platoons and we could feel the ground shake 5 miles away. The men climbed about on the sides of the mountain the best they could and the battle went on all day. The place was strongly fortified. The wall of the fort was 14 feet high on the outside and so steep it was impossible for a man to climb it. The ground around it was perfectly bare. The Federals had rifle pits running out. They could go down in the ground inside the fort and go in any direction. They had blocks laid along on top of the ground by the side of the rifle pits and (p. 12) a big log laid on the blocks. They had a run-board in the rifle pits. They would stay down in the pit and load their guns and step up on those boards and stick their guns out under the logs and fire; then step down out of danger. We never knew how many Federals we killed. When they left there they carried their dead with them. It was reported that we killed only some 5 or 6. I know we killed very few by the little amount of blood that I saw around there. The Confederates suffered heavily. I don’t now know how many men were lost. There were desperate charges made on those works. Gen. Cabell’s brigade suffered the most as he made several charges. Col. Wm Jeffries charged down on the works with his single regiment and held them there under that heavy fire for 30 minutes. While holding his men there he lost the fifth adjutant out of his regiment. I rode with him the next day for a short way and when I spoke to him of his adjutant being killed the tears rolled down his cheeks. He was as game a soldier as ever bore arms. I will mention him farther on. The fight went on all day Monday and till after dark Monday night. Orders came round for the men to sleep on their arms and the reserve was ordered to cook and carry it around to the men in the line. All that could be found were fed. But hundreds of them were asleep and never got anything. Gen. Price ordered the place must be taken next morning at sunrise. There was many a sad heart in the line that night. The men had mostly seen the situation. I could not see but one way to scale the walls and that was to fill the ditch with dead men and the balance walk over them. So that night the Federals had found a gap out in the direction of Caladoney and they had put a slow match to the magazine and the magazine blew up about 3 o’clock in the morning. We went and carried in the dead and wounded and started 2 hospitals. We buried the dead in long trenches. It was a sad sight to see your relatives and best friends thrown in ditches 5 and 6 deep. That day the army left there and went in the direction of Caladoney.
Source: Benjamin J. Farmer Memoir, Folder No. 33, William L. Skaggs Collection, Arkansas History Commission, Little Rock, Arkansas.