1861 Fall - Fremont Scouts Fight at Clear Fork and in the area of Johnson County Missouri

The Fremont Scouts were engaged in a number of brilliant fights with the enemy in the Fall of 1861 in and around Johnson County Missouri. (Holden, Clear Fork, Milford-Valley City, Rose Hill, Bear Creek)

John C. Fremont

John Charles Frémont or Fremont (January 21, 1813 – July 13, 1890) was an American explorer, politician, and soldier who, in 1856, became the first candidate of the anti-slavery Republican Party for the office of President of the United States. His father in law was Thomas Hart Benton.

They met the Whitley family of guerrillas, in a hand-to-hand set to, on Clear Fork (near Leeton), and completely routed them, driving them into Henry County in wild confusion. In this fight Morris Foster's (Major Emory S. Foster's brother) horse ran away with him, causing him to outrun his comrades, and overtake and capture the Rebel Captain, who was acting as rear guard for his retreating companions. They went to the relief of Col. Hough 

Roselle joined the Union Army on Septem­ber 10, 1861, with the rank of major. He served in Missouri, where he was wounded. He reenlisted June 13, 1862, with the rank of colonel. In 1864 Colonel Hough was active in recruiting volunteers for the army. With his help 6,0
00 men were recruited. On May 1, 1865, as chief marshal he led the funeral cortege for slain President Abraham Lincoln down Michigan Avenue. An estimated 37,000 people were in the march, with more than 150,000 lining the streets. This event was the culmination of his public service. Colonel Hough commanded the 9th infantry in the Civil War, and led the funeral cortege for President Lincoln down Michigan Ave. He was founder and president of the Chicago and Pacific Railroad and supervised construction of the Union stockyards. The town of Roselle, IL is named after him.

Colonel Hough commanded the 9th infantry in the Civil War, and led the funeral cortege for President Lincoln down Michigan Ave.

Col. Hough

at the California ford, west of Warrensburg, riding the forty-two miles from Sedalia to that place in less than six hours, and rescued that brave officer, after he had received a disabling wound and had been completely surrounded by a superior force. 

California Ford, NW Johnson County, MO , Sante Fe Trail Crossing

Foster, with ten of them, captured Col. Lewis, a Confederate officer on recruiting service, and fifteen of his men, at Holden, and brought the whole party safely into our lines. 

They joined forces with a squadron of the First Missouri Cavalry under Major Henry J. Stierlein, and recaptured 1,200 cattle belonging to a government train, the wagons having been burned before their arrival, rescued the guard, put the guerrillas engaged in the affair to flight after a sharp encounter, in which Dave Greenlee, a former resident of Warrensburg, was killed, and drove the herd overland to Fort Leavenworth, 

Fort Leavenworth was originally established in 1827 to provide protection along the Santa Fe Trail. During the Civil War, Fort Leavenworth served as a training station for Kansas volunteers, and in 1864 the fort's garrison prepared for a possible attack by Major General Sterling Price on his Missouri Expedition. Price, however, was defeated at the Battle of Westport, and Fort Leavenworth remained one of the few Western border sites never to suffer an attack. It is perhaps best remembered for its role in supporting the post-Civil War Indian Wars; for its modern military education at the United States Army Training and Doctrine Command and United States Army Combined Arms Center; and for its military correctional facilities and maximum security prison. At an age of more than 180 years, Fort Leavenworth is the oldest post west of Washington, D.C. that remains in continuous operation. 

there turning over to the United States quartermaster at that post 1,440 head of work oxen in tip-top condition.  The remainder of the regiment fought guerrillas, from the Missouri to the Osage rivers, almost every day in the week. 
In December, 1861, it took part in the Pope expedition, 

Brig. Gen. John Pope

Pope was serving on lighthouse duty when Abraham Lincoln was elected and he was one of four officers selected to escort the president-elect to Washington, D.C. He offered to serve Lincoln as an aide, but on June 14, 1861, he was appointed brigadier general of volunteers (date of rank effective May 17, 1861) and was ordered to Illinois to recruit volunteers. In the Department of the West under Maj. Gen. John C. Frémont, Pope assumed command of the District of North and Central Missouri in July, with operational control along a portion of the Mississippi River. He had an uncomfortable relationship with Frémont and politicked behind the scenes to get him removed from command. Frémont was convinced that Pope had treacherous intentions toward him, demonstrated by his lack of action in following Frémont's offensive plans in Missouri. Historian Allan Nevins wrote, "Actually, incompetence and timidity offer a better explanation of Pope than treachery, though he certainly showed an insubordinate spirit." Pope eventually forced the Confederates under Sterling Price to retreat southward, taking 1,200 prisoners in a minor action at Milford on Blackwater Creek,  (just North of Knob Noster a few miles and known as Valley City today), on December 18. Pope, who established a reputation as a braggart early in the war, was able to generate significant press interest in his minor victory, which brought him to the attention of Frémont's replacement, Maj. Gen. Henry W. Halleck.

and participated in the skirmish at Milford, where a part of two of its companies (Isaminger's and Foster's), with four companies of regular United States Cavalry, under Col. J. C. Davis, 

Col. Jefferson C. "J.C" Davis

and without either infantry or artillery support, surprised and captured a recruiting camp of 1300 rebels, under Col. Alexander, and marched the whole of that long line under guard to Sedalia, sleeping most of the time on the bare ground in the snow, with the temperature near zero. In this campaign Capt. Foster, with seventeen men of Company C of the Twenty-seventh, attacked a picket of thirty-three Confederates near Bear Creek, on the Sedalia road, one night, and chased them more than three miles to the outskirts of Warrensburg, killing five and wounding several more, without the loss of a man. He surprised the ''Johnnies" (Johnny' was applied as a nickname for Confederate soldiers by the Federal soldiers in the American Civil War) around their camp fire, and they fled pell-mell into town at the first fire, with the report that Pope's whole army was coming and not far away. 

Col. Clarkson (Confederate) had 1500 men at Warrensburg, but he immediately struck out for Rose Hill, (Rose Hill township, located in the southwestern corner of Johnson county, was originally a part of Madison township when that subdivision was organized in 1835 and subsequently was part of Chilhowee township, and was organized August 17, 1869. from Chilhowee township. It was named from Rose Hill village, and the village is said to have been named from the abundance of wild roses that grew on the little hillsides of what came to be called Rose hill, and greeted the first settlers in the spring of 1832. In 1842 the town was laid out by Garrett J. Wood and named Rose Hill.) and thus escaped capture by Pope's advance guard, who were moving up the Fort Scott road, some twelve miles south of Warrensburg. 

Col. James J. Clarkson

Instead of receiving any credit for this exploit, Foster was sharply reprimanded for flushing the game before it could be bagged. But if the First Cavalry on the Fort Scott road had moved as promptly according to orders as Foster did, Clarkson would have been surely captured at Warrensburg.

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Lt. Caleb Morris Foster

1861 Comparitive Area of Northern and Southern States - East of the Rockies