Perry J. Moore: From Escorting President Jeff Davis to Montana’s Confederate Gulch

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 150^th 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 10^th 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 18^th 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 19^th, 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 28^th 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 6^th. 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 2^nd 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 9^th 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 9^th 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 9^th 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 9^th 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 9^th 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 9^th 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 9^th 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 9^th 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 9^th 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 9^th Kentucky as part of the Kentucky Cavalry Brigade opposing Sherman’s Army in many engagements. On April 11^th 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 9^th 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 9^th 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 9^th Kentucky Regiment marched to Washington, Georgia and surrendered to Union forces. That same morning the 1st Wisconsin and 4^th 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 9^th 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.

Dan Dutro: From Drummer Boy to Photographer

Remembering Our Civil War Heritage and Heroes:

1861-1865

Dan Dutro: From Drummer Boy to Photographer

By Ken Robison

For The River Press

September 25, 2013

This continues a monthly series commemorating the 150^th Anniversary of the Civil War and the veterans that came to Montana after the war. This month’s feature highlights Civil War veteran Daniel Dutro who fought in the war before migrating to Montana Territory where he mined and gained fame as a photographer. Descendants of Montana Civil War veterans are encouraged to send their stories to mtcivilwar@yahoo.com. Descendants of Montana Civil War veterans are encouraged to send their stories to mtcivilwar@yahoo.com..

Daniel Dutro was too young to go to war when the Civil War started, but he joined as a drummer boy in 1865. Although he served but one year, he suffered the effects for the rest of his life. His health caused him to turn from mining in Montana Territory to photography. As a result, Dan Dutro gained fame as one of Montana’s greatest photographers.

Born on the Miami River at Taylorsville, Highland County, Ohio on September 17, 1848. He moved with his parents to Bloomington, Illinois, when a child, living there until he was fifteen years old. His father died just before the outbreak of the Civil War, and young Dan offered his services to the Union, but his widowed mother would not give her consent for his enlistment.

During the war the Dutro family moved to Pleasant Hill, Missouri and at age sixteen Dan Dutro, “animated with a flame of patriotism,” determined to become a soldier despite his mother’s continued opposition. He went to Springfield, Illinois to enlist on January 25, 1865 in Company B, 150^th Illinois Volunteer Infantry. He was made drummer boy of his company. After serving through the end of the war and beyond, he was stricken with pneumonia, thought to be fatal, and was sent home in a box car to die, but recovered so thoroughly that he was able to rejoin his unit in Missouri.

The 150^thIllinois was assigned to Reconstruction duty as a sort of vigilance committee to wage war against the activities of Confederate guerrillas in Missouri in the postwar years. These bandits included remnants of the Bill Anderson and Quantrill raiders with men like Jesse and Frank James turning from war to crime. In company with his fellow soldiers, Dan Dutro helped break up this coterie of outlaws, and rendered effective service in pacifying war torn Missouri. He was mustered out on 16 January 1866 at Atlanta, Georgia.

Two years later in 1868 Dan Dutro came to Montana Territory and began his long residence there. He made the long trip by the steamboat Andrew Ackley leaving St. Louis, Missouri April 14^th and arriving Fort Benton June 17^th. He then continued on to Helena to find work. His first employment at Helena was as a hod carrier. At that time he was so slender that it seemed impossible that he could carry the heavy hod, and his fellow workmen watched him to see that harm did not come to him as he tried to make good. As they expected, his strength proved unequal to the task, and he was caught as he fell from the ladder. The contractor, appreciating the grit of the lad, changed his job to that of stone cutting.

By the time he had learned the trade of stone cutting he became expert in mineralogy, and he added knowledge of mechanics and decorating to his other tradecraft. Once more he overworked, and his health broke down confining him to his bed for two years. When he was able to get out and around he realized that he must keep out of doors, so he began prospecting in the Neihart district in the Little Belt Mountains. He became one of the earliest prospectors in that silver-rich area. There he discovered the “Benton” group of mines and a number of others, which were developed into the best silver producers of the region.

Again his health broke down and he was forced to seek work at lower elevations. Retaining partial interest in the mines, in 1881 he moved to Fort Benton where he returned to stone cutting. During this building boom he provided the stone for foundations of several new brick buildings in Fort Benton. By 1883 his health forced him to give that up, and he took up photography.

In November 1883 Dutro bought the photographic studio and stock of S. Duffin and developed into an artist and practical photographer, gaining fame during the final years of the steamboat trade as Fort Benton boomed and construction flourished before the arrival of the railroads. Dutro’s photographic record of the people, places, and buildings of Fort Benton and central Montana are remarkable. He photographed a range of Blackfoot, Cree, and Gros Ventre at a time when their lives were evolving. He photographed a wide span of Fort Benton history, the river, the historic buildings, the street scenes, and the advances in transportation as steamboats were replaced by railroads. He captured many images of the countryside, ranches, and mines. He took many studio portraits of men, women, and children, and the ethnic Chinese. After the defeat of the Metis and Louis Riel in 1885, Dan Dutro photographed Riel’s military commander, Gabriel Dumont and others of the Metis and Cree communities in exile from Canada. He captured important aspects of history of the Missouri River, the changes in transportation, and the evolution from open range ranching.  Dan Dutro’s photographs are exceptionally important historically and prized by many families in the area.

Some of Dutro’s photographic techniques show both innovation and humor. When he photographed the Fort Benton School at recess one day in 1885 he had the children form in front of the building. After this session, he pronounced, “it is as hard to keep them quiet as a lot of calves in a corral.” He devised a “novel invention for catching the happiest expression possible, and for taking the pictures of children it cannot be beaten. It is called the ‘compressed air automatic countenance catcher.’” The mind wonders what that was all about!

Among the many Dutro photographs in our Overholser Historical Research Center are two “hanging” photos taken of convicted murderers before their execution. The hangings were public events, and the photos posed the doomed man with various law enforcement and legal community officials.

Dutro’s photographic record of the Fort Benton adobe trading post during the 1880s and 90s provides a valuable record of this decaying historic landmark and proved vital to the reconstruction of Old Fort Benton. In May 1886 in the second year of the fledgling Great Falls Townsite, Dutro visited to take photos of the falls of the Missouri and the new town. The next year he was back for more as the growth of “the future great” began to accelerate. When the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba (later Great Northern) Railroad arrived at Fort Benton, Dutro was there to photograph the driving of the silver spike. He visited the Dan Blevins ranch on Highwood Creek to take photos of his well-known race horses. Holiday treats during this period featured collections of Dutro’s famed photographic sketches of northern Montana.

In 1894 the Chinese community of Fort Benton and other towns in the area were required to comply with provisions of a new law, and Dutro was there to photograph them. Twenty-seven Chinese were photographed in Fort Benton, a dozen at Assinniboine, and twenty at Havre. The next year Dutro was back in Havre to photograph the “Wildest West” show aggregation. While there he also captured Cree Indians just ready to commence their famous sun dance.

By the mid 1890s Dutro’s reputation as an exceptional photographer attracted the interest of a young man who was destined to greatness. In early 1896 Roland Reed came to Fort Benton to apprentice at the Dutro Studio. Dutro and Reed formed a partnership with photographic studios in Fort Benton and Havre during 1896-97. In 1897, Reed went north to photograph the Alaska Gold Rush. He then went to national prominence during a long career photographing Native Americans, especially the Blackfoot Indians. Many of his photographs were published in association with the Great Northern Railroad.

In one of Fort Benton’s greatest preservation disasters, the priceless collection of Dan Dutro’s glass plate negatives, stored for many years in the Benton Record building, were thrown out when the third story of the Record building was razed in August 1929 to develop Fraternity Hall.  

During his Helena years, Daniel Dutro had married Caroline McBurney, a daughter of George McBurney, who came from Farmington, New York, where Mrs. Dutro was born on October 17, 1849. The 1880 census recorded the Dutro family living in Helena with children: Alice age 8; Flora age 5; George age 4; and David age 2. Living in Fort Benton, the Dutros were active members of the community. In January 1882, Dan Dutro, as a “patron” of the Benton Public Schools publically supported the School Board in their stand to allow African American children to attend the Benton Schools. He served as president of the Fort Benton library association. Dutro was a founding member of G. K. Warren Post No. 20, Grand Army of the Republic, in Fort Benton.

Around 1900 Dutro’s father-in-law, George McBurney, builder of the McBurney House the first hotel in Deer Lodge County, lost his eyesight, and Dan Dutro ended his photographic career to devote himself to the care of McBurney until the death of the latter. Dutro then resumed mining operations in the Helena area and operated a mine at the mouth of Nelson Gulch, where he built a small stamp mill and foundry. Later, he discovered the “Arrow Head” mine of rich ore. Until his death, Dutro continued to operate his mill and take an active interest in mining affairs. Considering the state of his health Mr. Dutro was a remarkable man and his achievements stand out as a practical demonstration of what a man can accomplish if he only possesses sufficient ambition, no matter what his physical disabilities may be.

Mrs. Caroline Dutro survived her husband and lived at Central Park, Gallatin County, Montana. At the time of Dan Dutro’s death their children were: Alice, married to Rev. H. E. Clowes, of San Diego, California; Flora, married to Arthur P. Knadler, of Central Park, Montana; George, married to Helen, daughter of Robert and Lydia Culbertson; and David V, married to Anna Vaughn, of Dodson, MT.

Civil War veteran drummer boy Daniel D. Dutro died May 8, 1918 at Logan, a railroad town in Gallatin County near Three Forks. He rests today in Forestvale Cemetery, Helena.

Photos:

1.     Dan Dutro prospected and mined whenever his health permitted.

2.     Dutro & Reed’s Photographic Studio about 1896, the studio was located on the site of the Chouteau County Free Public Library.

Private Robert S. Culbertson: From Shiloh to the Culbertson House

Remembering Our Civil War Heritage and Heroes:

1861-1865

Private Robert S. Culbertson: From Shiloh to the Culbertson House

By Ken Robison

For The River Press

July 31, 2013

This continues a monthly series commemorating the 150^th Anniversary of the Civil War and the veterans that came to Montana after the war. This month’s feature highlights Civil War veteran Robert S. Culbertson, nephew of Fort Benton’ founder Alexander Culbertson. Descendants of Montana Civil War veterans are encouraged to send their stories to mtcivilwar@yahoo.com. Descendants of Montana Civil War veterans are encouraged to send their stories to mtcivilwar@yahoo.com..

While many Montanans know the Culbertson name and that Alexander Culbertson established the upper Missouri Fort Benton trading post for the American Fur Company, fewer are familiar with his nephew Robert S. Culbertson. Yet, Robert served in the Union army during the Civil War, came up the Missouri to Fort Benton to become a prominent hotel owner and raise a large family that is still spread around the state and country.

Robert Simpson, one of five sons of James F. and Biddy Culbertson, was born March 26, 1843 in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania about fifty miles west of Gettysburg. Most of the James Culbertson family moved west to southern Ohio where young Robert was raised.

When President Lincoln called for 90-day volunteers to build up the Union Army at the beginning of the Civil War, eighteen-year-old Robert S. Culbertson enlisted as a private in Company K of the 6^th Ohio Infantry Regiment. As it became clear the South would not quickly return to the Union, the 6^th Ohio was re-formed, and Robert re-enlisted for a three-year term of service.

Immediately after being mustered in and equipped, the 6^th Ohio was ordered to western Virginia to take part in operations at Laurel Hill and the subsequent pursuit of Confederate forces, ending in the battle of Carrick’s Ford. This minor but important battle routed the Confederates in a key victory for Union forces as they took control of what would become the loyal Union state of West Virginia.

The 6^th Ohio transferred to operations in the Western Theater, and on April 5, 1862 went into camp at Savannah, Tennessee near Pittsburg Landing or Shiloh. The next morning the Battle of Shiloh opened, and the 6^th Ohio rushed across country to become among the first of Major General Don Carlos Buell’s Army of Ohio troops to cross the Tennessee River to reinforce General Ulysses Grant’s beleaguered force. The river crossing by steamboat was under fire and with two other regiments the 6^th Ohio was thrown into the line just in time to repel the last charge Confederate forces made that day.

At the major Battle of Shiloh, the 6^th Ohio commanded by Lt. Col. Nicholas L. Anderson was assigned to the Tenth Brigade under the Fourth Division, commanded by Brig. Gen. William Nelson, known as “Bull” Nelson for his 300-pound size. Gen. Nelson was a colorful leader, wearing his hat with a large ostrich feather dyed black and mounted on his 17 hands black stallion Ned. Colonel Anderson submitted this report of the battle:
   “The regiment was disembarked at about 5 o'clock on the evening of the 6th instant [April], and marched up the hill as quickly as possible amid the confusion and panic existing among some disorganized regiments at the landing place. I formed line of battle, under your directions, some 200 yards from the river, to support a battery then in danger of being charged by the enemy. The regiment laid on arms all night, two companies acting as skirmishers.
   “At daylight on the 7th the [Tenth] brigade formed in line of battle, skirmishers
in advance, the Sixth [Ohio] Regt. holding the right [flank]. About a mile from the place we had occupied in the night our advance met the enemy, and the battle was immediately opened. During the day the regiment was continually under a hot and heavy fire, supporting for the greater time Terrill's regular battery [5^th U.S. Artillery], and at one time furnishing a company to manage the guns of said battery, its men having been mostly killed or wounded.

   “The regiment was held as a reserve, and once changed front perpendicular to the rear, and once forward on the first company, in order to re-enforce our hotly-attacked lines. Late in the afternoon we advanced briskly forward and occupied the left of the ground once occupied by [Confederate Brig. Gen. Alexander P. Stewart’s] brigade, which had been all day in the possession of the enemy.”

The 6^th Ohio then participated in operations leading to the vital rail hub at Corinth, Mississippi, and in the subsequent pursuit of the Confederates for 60 miles south of Corinth. In December 1862, the 6^th Ohio was heavily engaged at Stone’s River, losing 159 killed, wounded, or prisoners out of 383 officers and men. In the battle of Chickamauga the 6^th Ohio took more heavy casualties, losing 125 of the 384-man force. The 6^th engaged in more heavy combat at Chattanooga being deployed in advance of Four Corps on Orchard Knob and in the charge up Missionary Ridge.

More action came during the Knoxville campaign followed in the spring of 1864 by the Battle of Atlanta. On June 6, the 6^th Ohio Infantry was released from duty and ordered home to muster out. The regiment arrived at Cincinnati on June 15, and after a public reception given by the residents, the regiment including Private Culbertson was mustered out June 23 with 30 officers and 495 men.

With the end of Robert Culbertson’s war, he decided to remain in Tennessee. In the words of his great-grandson Bill Culbertson, Robert became “a carpetbagger,” serving as Chief of Police in Memphis. In these early years of Reconstruction, Memphis faced many racial problems.

During the war Memphis had been a hub for freed slaves, and the black population had swelled rapidly. At the end of the war black Union Army soldiers patrolled the streets, often clashing with white Memphis policemen, most of whom were Irish immigrants. Most of the black troops were mustered out of service on April 30, 1866 and the following day fighting broke out between the black ex-soldiers and white policemen. Fighting escalated into three days of full-scale rioting, and these Memphis Riots coupled with the similar New Orleans Riot swept Radical Reconstructionists, who wanted justice and equality for former slaves, into office in 1866 fall congressional elections. With their veto-proof majority, the Radical Republicans were able to pass key legislation including the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guaranteeing citizenship, equal protection of the law, and due process to former slaves.

The Memphis Riots led to major changes in modernization of the Memphis police force. What we don’t know is the exact role of Robert Culbertson in this tragic affair. The Chief of Police at the time of the riots was Ben G. Garrett. Did Culbertson come in as part of the reform movement after the riots? Based on the timing of Culbertson’s departure from Memphis, it is likely that he came as a reformer in the aftermath of the 1866 Memphis Riots.

In any event, by 1868 Robert Culbertson decided he had had enough of Tennessee. Prompted by the urging of his uncle Alexander Culbertson, who himself was just returning to the upper Missouri with his family, in the summer of 1868 Robert boarded a steamboat at St. Louis for the long trip up the Missouri River to Fort Benton.

Robert worked for his uncle for a short time before being hired to clerk in the store of I. G. Baker & Company in Fort Benton. Robert’s daughter Mollie Culbertson Sedgwick later wrote that her father told many stories of his experiences working there. He was regularly sent to the Cypress Hills with the payroll for the I. G. Baker store located there then doing extensive trade with the Indians. He would travel on horse back for several days on these trips. Mollie wrote that her father’s Indian name was Cap-cape-a-ca meaning “Cypress Hills.”

In 1877 Robert Culbertson left I. G. Baker & Co. to engage in the hotel business in Fort Benton. In partnership with Robert Mills, they opened a wood frame building on Front Street known as the Centennial Hotel in honor of the country’s centennial. By April 1881, Culbertson bought out his partner and became sole owner of the Centennial.

On April 7, 1879 Robert S. Culbertson and Lydia Ann Smith were united in marriage in Fort Benton. Eleven children were born, with nine attaining adulthood, and many descendants live today around Montana and other states.

By the early 1880s, the steamboat trade was booming, and Fort Benton was undergoing a building boom. Responding to the opening of the Grand Union in November 1882, R. S. Culbertson moved his Centennial Hotel to the back of the alley of his lot on Front Street in preparation for stonework for a new brick hotel. The Centennial continued to operate during construction of the new hotel, completed in 1883 and opened as the Pacific Hotel. Over the years this hotel became commonly known as the Culbertson House. Preserved by the family and other owners over the years, the Culbertson House stands today as a bright example of Fort Benton days of steamboat glory.

After the death of Lydia on October 15, 1912, Robert continued to operate his hotel until the fall of 1915 when decided he’d lived through enough [48] tough Montana winters and retired to an Old Soldiers Home in Los Angeles. Private Robert S. Culbertson passed on January 15, 1923 at Los Angeles, California. In the words of his great-grandson Bill Culbertson, “Montana was good to Robert, he went from being a clerk and deliveryman to eventually owning two farms and the Culbertson House Hotel in Fort Benton.” Today, Civil War veteran Private Culbertson rests in Riverside Cemetery.

Note: A special tribute to Culbertson descendants Kathy Lucke and Bill Culbertson for sharing their family history and photos with our Overholser Historical Research Center—and to Don and Kathy Lucke for their restoration work that has made the Culbertson House shine today.

Photos:

1.     Robert S. Culbertson as he appeared about 1878. [Courtesy of Kathy Lucke]

2.     The Pacific Hotel when it opened in 1883. [Courtesy of OHRC]

3.     The family of Robert & Lydia Culbertson. [Courtesy of Bill Culbertson]