ARMY OF THE FRONTIER: A March from Fort Scott, Kansas, to Fort Smith, Ark.; Incidents and Scenes on the Route (3/27/1864)

New York Times - Times Machine ^ | 3/27/1864

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Correspondence of the New-York Times.

FORT SMITH, ARKANSAS, Friday, March 11, 1864.

Your correspondent finds himself in this important point, after a pleasant journey from Kansas, in company with the troops escorting Gen. BLUNT and Staff to this point, where he expects to reassume command of the Army and District of the Frontier.

We left Fort Scott on Friday the 3d inst., and reached here on Wednesday following, making the trip of 200 miles in five days and a half. No incident occurred on the entire march. The command was entirely undisturbed, no armed men being seen till we reached Bentonville, Arkansas, when the advance chased three Butternuts. We passed through the counties of Vernon, Newton and McDonald, in Missouri, and Benton, Washington and Crawford, in Arkansas.

If one wishes to realize the utter desolation that civil war can make, such a journey as this can best give an adequate idea of the devastation and ruin it produces. For one hundred miles in Missouri, the face of the country is black with desolation and fire, After leaving the Drywood, where we entered Missouri, until we reached the Spring River, 40 miles, the writer saw but two inhabited dwellings, and not more than six standing untouched by fire. Two score, or more, of brick or stone chimneys, a heap of charred and blackened ashes, long zig-zag lines of reddish grey lines, showing where once fences stood, are all that remain to tell of the settlements that once enriched the border. Truly "hath their bloody instructions returned to plague the inventors." Scarcely a human being was seen on the entire march till we reached Washington County, Ark., where less of this ruin is apparent. With two or three exceptions, those we did meet were women or boys, thin, pinched,

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Free Republic University, Department of History presents U.S. History, 1861-1865: Seminar and Discussion Forum
The American Civil War, as seen through news reports of the time and later historical accounts

First session: November 21, 2015. Last date to add: May 2025.
Reading: Self-assigned. Recommendations made and welcomed.

Posting history, in reverse order

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Link to previous New York Times thread

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[Homer_J_Simpson]

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[Homer_J_Simpson]

Army of the Frontier: A March from Fort Scott, Kansas, to Fort Smith, Ark. – 2-4
Department of the Gulf: Particulars of the Red River Expedition – 4-5
Interesting from Cairo: Movements of Troops – 5
Presidential Proclamation: The Amnesty Proclamation Defined – 5
Rebel Advance in Tennessee: Attack Upon the Federal Force at Union City – 5
Terrible Affray in Auburn Between a Squad of the Invalid Corps and the Seventy-Fifth New-York Veteran Volunteers – 5
The Exodus from Ireland – 5
German Recruits – 5-6
News From Washington: Dispatches to the Associated Press – 6
Proceedings of Congress – 6
The Projected Underground Railroad – 6-7
Editorial: The Nomination of McClellan – 7
Mexico – 7
Local Intelligence: A Desperate Attempt to Murder Two Policemen – 7
The Bark Scandinavian Ashore on Rockaway – 7
The America at Portland – 7

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

The Kansas Missouri border, where the Civil War began.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Thanks for posting...a window back to the past. (Hopefully not the future!)