The Missouri in the Civil War Message Board

Re: Majors' Battalion, Missouri State Guard

Follow up Capt Poindexter of Co A is the same as Col. John A Poindexter of later fame.

"John A. Poindexter was born October 12, 1825 in Montgomery County, Kentucky, the fifth child of seven born to David and Elizabeth (Watts) Poindexter. His was an old, genteel Virginia family, who followed the westward surge of migration to Kentucky, settling there about the turn of the century. In Stamping Grounds, Scott County, KY, John is found near his brothers and father, all living quietly as farmers, tradesmen, and family men. John's home was then graced with a wife, Melissa, and an infant daughter, yet that good woman died ere the child was much older. In 1857, he remarried to Martha K. Hayes, and the 1860 census shows a prosperous little family, John named as a "trader" of no small worth.

A man whose later letters reveal keen intelligence and self-possession, he would seem destined to become one of the solid citizens of his community. Yet it was perhaps the way of things that, when fateful cannon belched iron shot upon Fort Sumpter, he should follow his Southern countrymen into the grim storm-clouds of war. Rather than stand with neighbors in Kentucky, however, for reasons known only to the past, John looked to his neighbors further west. Former Missouri governor Sterling Price called troops to the defense of that state, and it was there John answered the martial summons.

In June of 1861 he made his way to Cowskin Prairie, on the Missouri-Arkansas border below Neosho. There he enlisted in the 3rd Division, Missouri State Guard. On the 16th, he was commissioned Captain of an independent company, which would later become Co. A, 1st Regiment Cavalry, 3rd Division MSG. These were the Confederate state militia, organized and commanded by General Sterling Price.Captain Poindexter's early days were occupied by duty with the MSG, his 3rd Division being included in the battles at Carthage, MO on July 5, and Wilson's Creek, on August 10. His activities at this time remain unknown, but doubtless he shared in the heady satisfaction of these strong Southern victories.

However, it would seem that Poindexter possessed other skills, a persuasiveness of word and manner whose value his superiors recognized. Soon after Wilson's Creek, the Captain was detached on recruiting duty, returning to his home country in and around Randolph County. There his first action of note was on the sultry afternoon of August 28, 1861. Leading a small detachment of Confederate troops, he held up the North Missouri Railroad at Allen. They reportedly came away with three trunks of money, totaling $100,000 in coin, which belonged to the Missouri State Bank in Fayette. A subsequent newspaper article revealed that the money shipment was engineered by a Unionist "committee," in an attempt to spirit the coin out of Missouri, and away from the potential hands of Secessionists. An odd twist to an odd story is that Poindexter's Rebel rabble is subsequently reported as having returned the money to the Fayette bank. Peculiarities aside, this may be the first train robbery in American history.

With some 700 new men, Captain Poindexter rejoined Price at Lexington, Missouri on September 16. Official Records there record him as leading "several independent companies" in the siege of Lexington. Records indicate that the Third Division remained mostly in reserves, but came under frequent fire and returned the same with good effect. After a week-long siege, the final battle was overall a fierce one, lasting three days. Perhaps one of the more unusual incidents of the war was the use of hemp bales, the same used for making rope, from a nearby warehouse. These were taken from their sheds by inventive soldiers and on impulse rolled forward of the Confederate advance, as moveable breastworks. Under this guise the Union fortifications were overwhelmed, and Union General James A. Mulligan soon offered surrender. Also taken by the victorious Rebels were a thousand horses, a hundred wagons, several pieces of artillery, and hundreds of stands of muskets."

Hope this makes sense.- JJR

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