Author: Blake Sasse

Following the Journey of the 49th – The Mobile Campaign

In early 1865 the 49th Missouri was gathered together and sent from Missouri to New Orleans to participate in the Mobile Campaign.  They arrived at Camp Chalmette, east of New Orleans on February 21, 1865.  This low, swampy ground was full of mosquitoes and incredibly unhealthy and many soldiers took sick.  This area is now the Chalmette National Cemetery and at least 8 members of the 49th are buried there: Pvt David Berry (Co. F), Pvt. William Carver (Co. D), Pvt. Lewis Collins (Co. G), Pvt. James Graham (Co. D), Pvt. Thomas Hampton (Co. I), Pvt. Charles Harris (Co. I), Pvt. Joseph Harris (Co. I), and Pvt. Charles Stonebarger (Co. A).

After leaving New Orleans on March 10th, the 49th Missouri and other federal forces camped in heavy forest on Dauphin Island at the head of Mobile Bay.  The island is now a popular tourist destination, but of most interest to Civil War buffs is historic Fort Gaines.

Unfortunately, almost the entire battlefield upon which the 49th Missouri fought during the siege of Spanish Fort during the 1865 Mobile campaign has been turned into residential housing.  After federal forces, including the 49th Missouri, captured Spanish Fort on April 9, 1865 they were ordered north to help in the siege of Fort Blakely, however that battle was concluded before they arrived.  The 49th camped 3 miles from Blakely on April 10th and arrived just east of there on the 11th.  However, they only stayed there a few days before marching north to Montgomery.  The site of the battle of Fort Blakely is now an Alabama State Park and is open for visitors.

 

 

Chaos in 1864 Behind the Organization of the 49th Missouri

In the summer of 1864 guerrilla warfare was causing chaos in North Missouri and Union  General William S. Rosecrans wrote to the Secretary of War, Edwin M. Stanton,

“I regret to say matters in north Missouri are very disturbed and threatening.  Union men are fleeing from the river counties and central part of the State.  The malcontented spirits, and uprising of bushwhackers, with threats from the conspirators, are ominous of evil… Informing you of these things, I suggest that we will be obligated to have some other troops here, and if nothing better can be done, the state of things would be best met from our own resources, by authority from me to accept the services of, say, 5,000 volunteers for the defense of the state, in companies, to be armed, equipped, and paid by the Government.”

From the Official Records of the War of the Rebellion Series I Vol XLI Part 2, page 234.

Col. Dyer, Abraham Lincoln and the town of “Diarrhea”

In early 1865 shortly before his death, President Abraham Lincoln received a visit from Missouri Senator John Brooks Henderson and Congressman Robert T. Van Horn.  Senator Henderson asked the President to promote the 49th’s commander, Col. David P. Dyer, to the rank of Brigadier General.  President Lincoln responded, as he often did, with a story:

“The name of Dyer reminds me of an incident that happened in the State of Illinois when the first railroads were being built.  One of these road ran through a tract of land owned by a man named Dyer.  It was decided to locate a depot on the land and to map out a town.  The first question that came up was to find a name for the town.  Various suggestions were made as name but none seemed to suit until it was finally with much unanimity, agreed to call the town “Diarrhea”.”

From David P. Dyer, Autobiography and Reminiscences .  The William Harvey Miner Company, St. Louis, Missouri.  1922.