Remembering Our Civil
War Heritage and Heroes:
1861-1865
Perry J.
Moore: From Escorting President Jeff Davis to Montana’s
Confederate Gulch
By Ken Robison
For The River Press
October 30, 2013
This
continues a monthly series commemorating the 150th Anniversary of
the Civil War and the veterans that came to Montana after the war. This month’s
feature highlights Civil War Confederate veteran Perry J. Moore who fought for
the South, escorted President Jeff Davis before his surrender, and in the
aftermath headed west to Montana Territory. His brother John T. Moore will be
featured next month. Descendants of Montana Civil War veterans are encouraged
to send their stories and photos to mtcivilwar@yahoo.com.
Perry J.
Moore was raised in northeastern Missouri in Shelby County and joined his
brother John T. in the Confederate Army to fight through three years of danger.
By war’s end the brothers returned to their home to find that their family had
moved west to Montana Territory. The brothers followed to settle on the rugged Montana
frontier and try prospecting and mining. Perry established a successful ranch
in the Musselshell Valley and became active in Democratic Party politics and a
leader in the United Confederate Veterans.
The son of
John W. and Eleanor Holliday Moore, Perry James was born on May 8, 1844, raised
on the family farm, and received a country school education. His father came originally
from Delaware and died when Perry was just ten years of age. His mother came from
an old distinguished Virginia family and held the family together after the
death of her husband. When the Civil War began older brother John joined the
Confederate Army while Perry remained on the family homestead until early 1862.
During the
spring of 1862, the fighting between Union forces and Confederate partisan
ranger bushwhackers in Shelby County and adjoining Knox County exploded. Colonel
John M. Glover of the Third Missouri Cavalry, commanding Union forces in
northeastern Missouri ordered his men to suppress the bushwhackers and shoot
them down. The conflict extended to civilians as well in the guerrilla warfare
environment. On April 10th Col. Glover issued Special Order No. 30:
“In every case within your reach where the
rebels take a dollar’s worth of property of any kind from a Union man or
family, do you take at least twice as much in value from rebels in the vicinity
(from parties who took the goods if you can identify them) and hold it for
security for return of the property, and hold it until the robbery is made
good. You will forthwith levy an assessment and collect it from the wealthy
secessionists in the vicinity sufficient to comfortably support the families of
those members of the M. S. M. [Missouri State Militia] who were killed by the
rebels, and see that they are comfortably supported by this means until further
orders.”
Two days
later, enclosing a list of 65 names of men in the region, Col. Glover wrote to
Captain John F. Benjamin of Shelbyville:
“Captain Benjamin—Sir: I send you a list of
names marked (A), who did the killing of militia in this (Knox) county. The
others are members of a “bushwhacking” company in this and other counties. Give
a list of the names to your commissioned officers, with instructions to hold
all such, if arrested. Keep their names as secret as possible; I do not want
them to know they are suspected, or we will not be able to catch them. You have
two of them, I am told (the Feltz). Hold them safely. We have five or six of
them, and on yesterday we killed one of the murderers, William Musgrove. These
men are scattered all over the country. You will be as active as possible, and
charge your men to be cautious . . . My instructions are not to bring in these
fellows, if they can be induced to run, and if the men are instructed they can
make them run. [Signed Glover]” And if they “ran” they were shot.
Into this environment
of total warfare in May 1862, eighteen year-old Perry J. Moore enlisted in Col.
Joseph C. Porter’s Regiment, joining his older brother John. Perry was
described as six feet tall with gray eyes, fair complexion, and light hair. Hundreds
of men from Shelby County belonged to Porter’s command, while at least a
hundred belonged to Union forces against them. Porter’s men lived off the
country foraging as they went and served as their own quartermaster and
commissary.
In guerrilla
fashion Porter’s men roamed the countryside until July 18th when
Union forces from Newark attacked resulting in a bloody engagement with about
180 casualties for Federal troops and just 20 for the rebels. Despite this initial
victory, arrival of Union reinforcements forced Col. Porter to retreat. By July
19th, Porter’s men including the Moore brothers had fought a battle
and marched 65 miles in less than twenty-four hours. The 200 men had not eaten
in 36 hours and were exhausted, yet the Federals kept the pressure on them. The
pursuing Federal commander Col. McNeil was asked where Porter was, and replied,
“How can I tell? He may be at any point within 100 miles. He runs like a deer
and doubles like a fox. I hear that he crossed the North Missouri, going south,
to-day, but I would not be surprised if he fired on our pickets before
morning.”
Ten days
later on July 28th Porter’s harassed men suffered another defeat by
troops of Col. Odon Guitar, a snarling Missouri Unionist “tiger.” Retreating
again, Porter managed to evade, while building up his force until by early
August it numbered around 3,000 men. Feeling confident, Porter occupied Kirksville,
county seat of Adair County in northeastern Missouri, and set up defenses.
Union forces, under Col. John McNeil, known as “a savage fighter,” attacked on
August 6th. McNeil sent ten men to reconnoiter Porter’s defensive
positions in the town. The scouting force “charged into the very heart of the
town, around the square, and through the streets, developing the fact that
every house was a Trojan horse, and every garden fence an ambuscade, while the
court-house was a castle, with its lower windows boarded up and loop-holed and
all its rooms filled with sharpshooters.
After receiving the fire of a thousand shot-guns, rifles and revolvers .
. .” yet losing just one man, the cavalrymen rode to safety to report to their
commander.
As the fight
began, Porter’s fatal miscalculation became clear—he had no artillery, while
Col. McNeil had five cannon. Methodically, the Union artillery tore the frame
“Trojan horse” houses to fragments and crushed brick walls as if they were eggshells.
The Confederates fell back. Slowly the Federals advanced under cover of their
artillery, yet out of range of Confederate shotguns. Demoralized by the
artillery fire, the Confederates began to give way. The Federals skirmished
slightly, then stood off and battered the Confederates to pieces with their
artillery. Finally, the Federals charged, creating panic among the rebels and
driving the whole force in terror from the field.
The Battle
of Kirksville August 6-9 devastated Porter’s men. Confederate losses were never
clear, but numbered as many as 200 killed, 400 wounded, and 250 prisoners at
the cost to the Union of 8 killed and 33 wounded. Porter and his men fled from the
battlefield suffering large-scale desertions among officers and men. With this catastrophic
defeat Porter disbanded his regiment, and his surviving men broke into small
groups to escape.
Perry Moore
in company with his brother John and a young man named John B. Suttle, dressed
themselves in civilian clothes. crossed the Mississippi River in a skiff a few
miles below Quincy, Illinois, walked out into the country a few miles, boarded
a train at a water tank and rode on to Madison, Indiana on the Ohio river. From
there they made their way by foot into Kentucky and spent the first night with
Jesse James’ grandfather, John M. James.
The Moore
brothers and Suttle planned to continue moving south to join some command in
the Confederacy. Confederate general Braxton Bragg had abandoned Kentucky,
moving south of the state, and leaving it wholly in Union hands. As the Moores
and Suttle proceeded south they were passed from one southern sympathizer to
another until they reached the home of a man named Pendleton who had sons in Colonel
John Hunt Morgan’s 2nd Kentucky Cavalry. He advised them to remain
quiet and wait for an expected raid by Morgan.
After
waiting in vain for some weeks, the Moores and Suttle joined a man who was
moving north with beef and got as far as Indiana and Illinois. From there they
returned to Kentucky, and finally after many hairbreadth escapes and much
exposure, traveling by night and hiding by day, they all got across the
Cumberland River and joined the 9th Kentucky Cavalry, under command of Col. W.
C. P. Breckenridge. The 9th Kentucky was assigned to the Second
Brigade of Brig. Gen. Morgan’s Division of Cavalry. With this command they
joined Bragg’s army and went on south, being in the retreat from
Murfreesborough to Chattanooga, skirmishing on the way and around the latter
place before the Battle of Chickamauga September 19-20, 1863.
At this time
Perry Moore became ill with typhoid fever and sent to a hospital in Georgia,
where he remained six weeks, after which he rejoined the regiment, then in
Alabama. The 9th Kentucky soon reunited with Gen. Bragg’s army a few
days after the disastrous Battle of Chickamauga, but in time to take part in the
Battle of Missionary Ridge on November 25th, after which they were fighting
almost every day for thirty days.
The 9th
Kentucky spent the winter in scout and picket duty at Tunnel Hill in front of
the Army of Tennessee and encamped at Dalton, Georgia. During that period while
intercepting a baggage train, Perry Moore was shot in the left knee. After
eight weeks in a hospital, he again joined his regiment in the spring of 1864,
and from that time he and the 9th Kentucky were in very active
service under Cavalry Corps commanders Gen. Joseph Wheeler and Johnson,
advancing and retreating, always fighting, from Dalton to Atlanta.
On May 7,
1864, Union general William T. Sherman began his Atlanta Campaign. The 9th
Kentucky fought and helped defeat General Geary’s Division of Hooker’s Corps at
Dug Gap, and fought in engagements at Snake Creek Gap, Cassville, Cartersville,
Altoona, Marietta, Roseville Factory, Peach Tree Creek, and finally the Battle
of Atlanta. About May 10, the 9th Kentucky crossed the Chattahoochee
River, marching North with Wheeler’s Corp to destroy Sherman’s railroad
communications.
During the
Atlanta Campaign on July 31, 1864 a Union raiding force led by Gen. George
Stoneman, Jr. attempted to seize Andersonville Prison to free Union prisoners
held there. The 9th Kentucky was engaged in the Battle of Sunshine
Church, that led to the defeat and capture of Stoneman, who held the unfortunate
distinction of being the highest ranking Union officer captured by the
Confederacy.
The 9th
Kentucky marched through Tennessee to Virginia to join in the Battle of
Saltville where Confederates defeated Gen. Stephen Burbridge. Constantly on the
move for engagement after engagement, the 9th Kentucky returned to Atlanta
as Sherman began his March to the Sea on November 16, 1864. Over the next
months into the spring of 1865, the 9th Kentucky as part of the
Kentucky Cavalry Brigade opposing Sherman’s Army in many engagements. On April
11th the regiment moved on to Raleigh, North Carolina where they heard
of the surrender of General Robert E. Lee.
By early May
1865, while most Americans believed the war was over and the Confederate States
of America was disintegrating, President Jefferson Davis still held out hope for
the future of the Confederacy. On April 2 President Davis with a cadre of his
advisors and cabinet members fled from the capital at Richmond to Danville in
southern Virginia. Over the next month, the dwindling Confederate government
continued to move southward pursed by Federal forces. On April 18 Perry Moore’s
9th Kentucky Cavalry joined President Davis and his cabinet to
provide military escort for them. At Charlotte, North Carolina. the party
halted a few days pending negotiations between Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston
and General Sherman.
On May 8,
the Davis party with their military escort left Charlotte and moved on to
Petersburg, South Carolina on the Savannah River. At Abbeville, South Carolina,
the last Confederate council of war was held. At that meeting were President
Jefferson Davis, General John C. Breckinridge, General Braxton Bragg, and five
Brigade commanders: Generals Dibrell, Furguson, Vaughn, Basil Duke, and Colonel
W. C. P. Breckinridge of the 9th Kentucky, who was then commanding
the Kentucky Cavalry Brigade. At this council, the members decided that the
struggle was hopeless and that any effort to reach the Trans-Mississippi Department
would only fail. President Davis cast the only dissenting vote, but finally
accepted the resolution.
There, at
the Savannah River, President Davis authorized compensation for his advisors
from the remaining Confederate treasury. In addition Perry Moore and the other
soldiers of the military escort were paid $28 each in specie for services on
the Davis escort. The soldiers received an estimated $108,000, part of the last
money paid out by the Confederate government from their depleted treasury. Perry Moore retained one dollar of this payment
for many years as a souvenir of his role in the end of the Confederacy.
The Davis military
escort was then told to surrender to pursuing Union soldiers. On May 10, 1865,
the 9th Kentucky Regiment marched to Washington, Georgia and
surrendered to Union forces. That same morning the 1st Wisconsin and 4th
Michigan cavalries captured President Davis and his party at Irwinville, North
Carolina. On May 22, 1865, Perry J. Moore subscribed to the oath of allegiance
to the United States, and his war was over.
Perry Moore
returned home to Shelby County, Missouri to find that his mother, sister, and
younger brother had headed west across the plains to settle in Montana
Territory. Because of severe conditions in Missouri, in 1864 Mrs. Eleanor
Moore, 20 year-old son Sanford, 26 year-old daughter Nancy, and 12 year-old
Willie Johns, son of Mrs. Moore’s step-daughter left their Shelby County family
farm to join a wagon train heading for Montana Territory. Despite being widowed
and 57 years of age, Mrs. Moore bravely led her family westward. The Moore
family drove their four milk cows and finally, one year later, arrived in Virginia
City still driving two surviving cows. After spending 1865 in Virginia City, the
next spring the Moore family followed a stampede of prospectors to Diamond City
in Confederate Gulch where rich strikes had occurred on Montana Bar. There, Mrs.
Moore opened a boarding house to support her family.
In July
1865, Perry T. Moore started for Montana Territory when he was hired to drive
an ox team from Nebraska City to Denver. There he wintered over and in the
spring of 1866 joined a wagon train to Montana. His first destination in the
territory was Bannack arriving in July to try his hand at prospecting, and from
there he pushed on to Last Chance Gulch and finally on to Diamond City to
reunite with his family. Mrs. Eleanor Moore died at Diamond City in November of
1868.
Perry joined
brothers John and Sanford to engage in hauling timber to the mines in
Confederate and the other gulches in the area. They employed a number of teams
and men, and after two years the Moore brothers moved east to the Smith River
Valley. There they bought a sawmill in the Dry Range country on the lower Smith
River and furnished lumber to Diamond City and Fort Logan.
The Moore
brothers also ran a small herd of cattle in the Smith River Valley. Perry Moore
was one of the first arrivals at White Sulphur Springs when that town was
founded. He and his brother John owned and operated a ranch in the Smith River
Valley, twenty-five miles from White Sulphur Springs.
In 1871, an
early winter caused some concern for their cattle, and hearing of open range in
the Musselshell Valley, John drove the cattle there while Perry and Sanford
were in California on a horse-buying expedition. In the spring of 1871 the
cattle were returned to the Smith River Ranch with John maintaining operations
there. In 1872 Perry and Sanford decided to remain in the Musselshell, and
later in the 1880s Sanford took up freighting operations.
In leaving
the Smith River area, Perry took up a homestead of 160 acres in addition to 400
acres of desert land along the Musselshell River in central Montana near the
later town of Two Dot, and lived there the rest of his life. Over the years,
Perry greatly expanded his holdings until his ranch encompassed 12,000 acres.
He became one of the leading landowners and for many years was one of the most
prominent sheep men in central Montana. The Moore ranch expanded into raising
hay, grain, cattle and sheep. In his later years he spent much of his time in
California.
A life long
Democrat, Perry Moore was elected narrowly to the Fourteenth Territorial
Legislature in 1885, representing Meagher County. He served as school trustee
at Two Dot for many years, was a past master of the Diamond City Lodge of
Masons at White Sulphur Springs, a member of Harlowton Chapter No. 22 Royal
Arch Masons, and belonged to Loyal Lodge No. 27, Knights of Pythias, at Two Dot.
He was a major stockholder in the State Bank of Two Dot. Perry Moore was a
member of the United Confederate Veterans and the Nathan Bedford Forrest Camp,
No. 1390 of Helena Montana.
On August
17, 1881, Perry Moore married Miss Nellie Robertson, who was born in 1859 at
Prescott, Ontario. Her father, George F. Robertson, came to Canada from
Scotland. Perry and Nellie Moore had four children: Nellie, the oldest, widow
of Dr. H. B. Tice, who was a physician and surgeon; two sons Perry James, Jr.,
and George Fulton; and Margaret.
Proud Confederate
veteran Perry J. Moore passed away August 16, 1921 in Lewistown and is interred
at Mayn Cemetery, White Sulphur Springs.
Photos:
1.
Perry
J. Moore and the 9th Kentucky Cavalry provided military escort for
President Jefferson Davis as he fled to the Carolinas at the end of the Civil
War. This newspaper cartoon depicts Davis at his capture dressed in woman’s
clothes, when in fact he was wearing only his wife Varina’s large shawl.
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