The FReeper Foxhole Profiles General Joseph Orville Shelby - June 28th, 2004

www.civilwarhistory.com ^

[SAMWolf]

Lord,

Keep our Troops forever in Your care

Give them victory over the enemy...

Grant them a safe and swift return...

Bless those who mourn the lost.
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FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer
for all those serving their country at this time.

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Joseph Orville Shelby
(1830-1897)

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Joseph Orville Shelby was born on December 12, 1830 in Lexington, Kentucky. The Shelby family was one of Kentucky's wealthiest and influential families. J. O. Shelby attended Transylvania University and was engaged in rope manufacturing until 1852 when he moved to Waverly, Missouri. In Waverly, he engaged in various enterprises including steam-boating on the Missouri and a hemp plantation. Being successful, Shelby became a member of the Missouri's social and political elite.

General Joseph Shelby

Name: SHELBY, Joseph Orville “Jo”
Born: December 12 1830, Lexington KY
Died: February 13 1897, Adrian MO

Pre-War Profession: Rope manufacturer, planter, Missouri-Kansas conflict.

War Service: 1861 Capt. of cavalry, Wilson's Creek, June 1862 Col., commanded a cavalry brigade, Prairie Grove, Helena (w), raided in Missouri 1863, December 1863 Brig. Gen., commanded a division in Price's Missouri raid, fled to Mexico to offer services to Maximilian.


General Joseph Shelby

Post War Career: Returned to US after the downfall of Maximilian, farmer, US marshal. General Jo Shelby led his "Iron Brigade" under this banner, and later used it after he ascended to Division command. In June 1865, he sunk his flag in the Rio Grande River on his way to Mexico rather than surrender the flag to the Federals. However, one of his men reputedly rescued the flag from its watery grave

One of the Confederacy's most effective cavalry leaders, Joseph 0. Shelby served entirely in the Trans-Mississippi West. A planter and rope manufacturer, he had had investments in both his native Kentucky and Missouri. During the Bleeding Kansas episode he led a company of Kentuckians on the slavery side.

Early in the Civil War he entered the Missouri State Guard and his assignments included:

• Captain, Shelby's Ranger Company, Missouri State Guard (spring 1861);
• Colonel, 5th Missouri Cavalry (1862);
  • commanding brigade, Marmaduke's Cavalry Division, 1st Corps, Trans-Mississippi Department (summer December 1862);
  • commanding brigade, Marmaduke's Cavalry Division, District of Arkansas, Trans-Mississippi Department January-July 4, 1863 and late 1863-September 1864);
• Brigadier General, CSA (December 15, 1863);
  • commanding division, Army of Missouri, Trans-Mississippi Department (September 18-September 1864);
  • commanding lst (Missouri) Cavalry Brigade, lst (Missouri) Cavalry Division, Cavalry Corps, Trans-Mississippi Department (September 1864-May 26, 1865)

As a company commander he fought at Carthage, Wilson's Creek, and Pea Ridge before being sent back to Missouri to raise a regiment. As a colonel in charge of a brigade in John S. Marmaduke's mounted division, he fought at Prairie Grove and was wounded at Helena. Upon his recovery he was promoted to brigadier general and led a brigade at Jenkins' Ferry.


The Battle of Pea Ridge

During Price's invasion of Missouri in the late summer and fall of 1864 he led a cavalry division. When the Confederacy's collapse came he refused to surrender and led part of his force to Mexico where they unsuccessfully offered their services to either side.

When General Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House, some Confederates refused to abandon their cause.

Having heard that Lincoln liked the idea of having former Confederate soldiers oust Emperor Maximilian from Mexico, Shelby decided that he had found a way to save their honor, spread their lost Southern empire, and gain riches and glory all at the same time.


This battle flag of C.S. Gen. Joseph O. Shelby was never surrendered, Oklahoma Historical Society.

Marching from camp at Corsicana, Texas, behind their war-scarred guidon or flag, the brigade passed through Waco, Houston, Austin, San Antonio, and other towns, declaring martial law and discouraging looters. In a funereal ceremony they buried their Confederate battle flag in the murky waters of the Rio Grande before heading into Mexico.

But Shelby's men did not want to join Mexican guerrillas to fight the emperor's forces. Identifying themselves as "imperialists," the "Iron Brigade" headed for Mexico City to offer their services to Emperor Maximilian. Along the way they spilled the blood of guerrillas and bandits, and in the name of diehard chivalry, they carried out a fiery, bloody attack on a hacienda to rescue an imprisoned woman. Once in Mexico City, the "Iron Brigade" discovered its march to have been futile, and in a bittersweet final review, Shelby said good-bye. The fate of the brigade's guidon is unknown.


A sword of this type was carried by Gen. Joe Shelby, C.S.A. who never surrendered his command. Hence the sword is fondly called Gen. Joe Shelby sword.

He then returned to his business interests in Missouri. Shelby began growing wheat near Lexington, promoting railroads and operating coal mines. In 1893, Shelby was appointed U. S. Marshal by President Grover Cleveland and held that position until his death on February 13, 1897.

Thanks to FReeper Lee Heggy for suggesting this thread

[SAMWolf]

Morning stand watie.

Free Dixie!

[SAMWolf]

Morning Diva. The day is starting out fine, but it's still early. :-)

[SAMWolf]

Thanks Mayor.

[snippy_about_it]

Good morning stand watie.

[SAMWolf]

Plus the smell gets you high. :-)

[SAMWolf]

No good deed goes unpunished.

[Tax-chick]

Or makes you sneeze.

[stand watie]

GM, Sam!

free the southland NOW,sw

[stand watie]

!!!!!!!

[SAMWolf]

Don't remember it making me sneeze but it did give me a headache

[Professional Engineer]

It wasn't "official". LS called it a "flag o gram", not a "flag-o-gram". Close, but no trademark violation.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Pretty neat thread. I'll have to check in here more often.

Having grown up in Missouri and Kansas, PS education ( mostly Kansas) informs one of some of this, but I did not know much of the Missouri battles. Kansas highlight was the raid on Lawrence .

Have been to Pea Ridge, Mother's family was from Carthage, so I find all of the info on Shelby very interesting.

Thanks.

[Valin]

Hand over in Iraq.
From the blogashere

THE MESOPOTAMIAN
TO BRING ONE MORE IRAQI VOICE OF THE SILENT MAJORITY TO THE ATTENTION OF THE WORLD
http://messopotamian.blogspot.com/

Saturday, June 26, 2004
WE SHALL OVERCOME
IN THE NAME OF GOD THE COMPASSIONATE THE MERCIFUL

Hi Friends,

God knows that it does not please me leaving you for such a long time. Next to prayer and communion with the Lord, this cybernetic communication with friends far away in distance but near to the heart has become a necessity and highly therapeutic in these most trying times. Thoughts and feelings swarm and trouble the mind and heart and cry out for release and expression, and there are so many things that one does not know where to start.

But you know, there is this thing about knowing what is right or wrong. I don’t know if you experience the same kind of sensation. For me this feeling seems to come from the guts, I mean almost from the stomach. For example, I think it was in June of 2003 just over one month after the liberation, when three decisions were declared by the CPA under the then recent directorship of Mr. Bremmer. These decisions were about the surrender of illegal arms, and the dissolution of the Ministries of Defense and Interior. I was sitting in the Kitchen of my house and heard the proclamations on the radio, with the noise of our small electricity generator in the background. I remember that I experienced this cold sinking feeling that I am talking about. Not that these decisions were unjustified in principle, but that their practical implementation seemed fraught with problems. To start with, the conception that the populace were going to queue up politely with their weapons and hand them over the counter was so unrealistic that any Iraqi would have told you that the chances of that happening was almost nil. Nor did the Coalition forces have any effective means of enforcing that decree. Our Imam Ali (PBU), who was a very wise man once said: “ If you wish to be obeyed, make sure that your orders can be obeyed” (bad translation). Once an order is allowed to be ignored, the authority of the Ruler is compromised, and the emboldening of the unruly will start. The Army and security forces were actually disbanded and everyone had gone home. There was no need for the official decree; besides there were so many opposition officers who could have reorganized the armed forces and purged them of undesirables. Most would have come back then, and on the terms of the new order and were actually begging for that, whereas now they are being begged to come back and almost on their own terms. All these thoughts flashed through my mind almost at once, and a cold hand gripped my heart. It was a foreboding, fear of jeopardizing the great enterprise. Other mistakes followed.

But we don’t want to dwell on that. For there is another feeling that comes also from the guts: that the thing is right, that the liberation is real, and necessary and preordained by Providence. Salvation is to come through pain and tremendous suffering, like that of Jesus (PBU). And now we shall go through hell for it and gladly. There is no turning back. If the terrorist, obsessed by the devil is willing to explode himself to kill the innocent; we, filled with the light of Love and the Love of light are even more capable of sacrifice. It is at these extreme times that one can begin to understand the true meaning of such profound messages as that of Salvation through suffering. Yes, we shall bear our cross, like Jesus, for the salvation of generations to come.

Come rain, come tempest, descend fog and darkness, We Shall Overcome. The Devil is going to be defeated again, as usual, by the very evil of his machinations.

And the enemy is desperate, he is striking left and right, beheading, slaughtering, murdering; blind with the rage of the wounded dying beast. And we have seen them, Egyptians, Syrians, Palestinians, Jordanians, our “Brothers”, running amok in our streets, murdering our men, women and children, and for what? What are they trying to achieve? And the whole lot of lying hypocrites, shedding crocodile tears about the “Iraqi People”, it is they who should get out and shut up. That is the invasion and occupation that we want to be rid of.

But We Shall Overcome; have no doubt about that. This, more than anything else, I know with every fiber of my being. And praise be to Allah, and thank you America.

Salaam



# posted by Alaa : 2:03 PM

[rustbucket]

Here is a sampling of some of the published exhortations to the troops in Texas in April and May 1865.

Jo. O. Shelby, Brigadier General Commanding, Pittsburg, Texas, April 26, 1865, reported in the Galveston Daily News of May 13, 1865:

If Johnston follows Lee, and Beauregard and Maury and Forrest all go and the Cis-Mississippi Department surrender their arms and quit the contest, let us never surrender. … The Missouri Division surrender – My God! Soldiers! It is more terrible than death.

John P. Major, Brigadier General Commanding, Major’s Division, Walker’s Cavalry Corps, May 15th, 1865, in the May 20th Galveston Daily News:

If every soldier East of the Mississippi is surrendered, and every city, town and village occupied, we will not give up the fight, but unfurl our glorious banner to the breeze, we will send a shout of defiance to our hated foe.

Public Meeting at LaGrange, Texas, April 29th, 1865, reported in the Galveston Daily News of May 6, 1865:

…we do solemnly and irrevocably declare … that under no possible circumstances will we ever submit to re-union, or reconstruction with the Yankee nation, or live under them as a subjugated people. … our motto shall be “Fight it out, fight on, fight ever, fight everywhere”; and when the proper time comes, as it soon will, let every hill valley and prairie – every gulley, thicket and bottom – be a battle ground from which to hurl death upon our detested foes; and then let us welcome the canopy of Heaven for our tents, and parched corn, jerked beef, or wild game for our rations. Welcome poverty, hunger, thirst, heat, cold, fatigue! Welcome all privations – DEATH ITSELF – if necessary to secure the freedom of our country…

J. Bankhead Magruder, Major General Commanding, Headquarters District of Texas, Houston, May 10, 1865, reported in the May 12, 1865, Galveston Daily News:

Once more I say, let us be united, determined and defiant. Our President is doubtless on his way to the Trans-Mississippi Department. The Flag of the Confederacy will be kept proudly flying. Brave men from every Confederate State will rally to its support and swell your ranks.

[SAMWolf]

LOL! Great, we don't want any lawyers getting involved in lawsuits here. :-)

[SAMWolf]

You're welcome. We cover a lot of history here, we've done threads on Pea Ridge and Quantrill's Lawrence Raid.

The FReeper Foxhole Remembers The Pea Ridge Campaign (Jan-Mar/1862) - Mar 25th, 2004

The FReeper Foxhole Remembers Quantrill's Raid (8/21/1863) - May 18th, 2003

[SAMWolf]

For there is another feeling that comes also from the guts: that the thing is right, that the liberation is real, and necessary and preordained by Providence. Salvation is to come through pain and tremendous suffering, like that of Jesus (PBU). And now we shall go through hell for it and gladly. There is no turning back. If the terrorist, obsessed by the devil is willing to explode himself to kill the innocent; we, filled with the light of Love and the Love of light are even more capable of sacrifice.

Maybe there's a chance if enough people feel like this and realize that Freedom can't be given it has to be earned.

[SAMWolf]

Thanks for quotes Rustbucket.

Even at this late date in the war you can "hear" the determination to go on and not give up.

[rustbucket]

One thing that may have broken the resolve of the Confederate units in Texas at the end of the war was that large numbers of Confederate soldiers whose units surrendered further to the East were returning home in May. Why fight on when thousands of their compatriots had given up?

Some Texas units were assigned to protect Houston residents from possible looting by the returnees, but even those protecting units eventually dissolved of their own accord in late May. Travel on Texas roads was somewhat dangerous during this time.

[SAMWolf]

IMHO, the War between the States was the saddest and tragic period in our history.