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Civil War Trails

The Battle of the Hemp Bales

by Kathleen Walls

Anderson House

In all the annals of the War Between the States, few buildings changed hands so many times in one battle as the Anderson House in Lexington, Missouri. In spring of 1861, Missouri had chosen to remained an "armed neutral" in the war between the United States and the newly established Confederate States. U.S. President Lincoln's demand that Missouri furnish four regiments to fight their southern neighbors, enforced by Union General Nathaniel Lyons pushed Missouri Governor Jackson to flee the capital at Jefferson City and establish a government in exile. He established the Missouri Home Guards and appointed General Sterling Price commander. Jackson sought aid from the Confederacy to repel the "invaders" and drive them out of Missouri.

Battle of Lexington State Historic Site Resource Manager Janae Fuller at Anderson House explains the battle action

By early September 1861, General Price, in command of over 5,000 Missouri Home Guard, was flush from a victory at the Battle of Oak Hills. (called the Battle of Wilson's Creek by the Union) Price had been aided there by Confederate troops under the command of General Benjamin McColloch. The victory had been hard won and both sides had heavy casualties including the death of General Lyons, the first general to die in that war. Afterwards, the confederates withdrew form Missouri leaving Price alone in command of his Missouri State Guard.

Price reached Lexington on September 11 but delayed his first attack until the 13th. He engaged union troops at Machpelah Cemetery south of town where he expended most of his ammunition to drive the Union men back into Lexington. There the Union forces, mainly Colonel James A Mulligan's Irish Brigade, awaited Price's attack from behind the walls of a well fortified Masonic College.

Between the college and the Missouri River stood the three-story, red brick, Greek Revival Anderson House. It was being used as a Union hospital. The home belonged to Oliver Anderson, a staunch southern supporter whose daughter was married to a business partner of J.O. Shelby, presently a cavalry captain in the Missouri Home Guard. The home was described in a local paper as "...the largest and best arranged dwelling house west of St. Louis."

Price waited until September 18th when his ammunition and supply wagons arrived to launch an all out attack on the college.

Hall where Missouri soldiers were shot.

The tricky part was that the home was being used as a hospital by the Union, making it immune from attract under the accepted codes of warfare. On September 18, 1861, it contained approximately a hundred sick or wounded Union soldiers there under the care of a Dr. Cooley. Whether Price was unaware of the hospital status or, more likely, he considered it too strategic a location to leave in Union hands, General Harris and his 2nd division fired on and captured the home.

Colonel Mulligan of the Irish Brigade, commanding officer for the Union forces, was furious at the loss of the building and ordered Company B, 23rd Illinois, Company B, 13th Missouri, and volunteers from the 1st Illinois Cavalry to retake the house. They did but at the cost of heavy casualties. Upon entering the recaptured house, Union soldiers summarily executed three surrendered Missouri soldiers because the Union commanders considered the prisoners to have been in violation of the Laws of War for having attacked a hospital in the first place.

Diorama at Anderson House portrays the attack

Infuriated, the Missouri men determined to retake the home. Mindful of the uphill position of the home with no shelter on the slopes leading to it, they devised an ingenuous plan. They took hemp bales and dipped them in the Missouri River, then used the wet bales as shields as they closed in upon the home. It worked and for the third time the Anderson Home changed hands. The battle came to be known as The Battle of the Hemp Bales.

Price paroled the conquered Federal soldiers except for Colonel Mulligan who refused parole. Price then gave Mulligan a horse and had him escorted back to Union lines and freed. Price did not remain to guard conquered Lexington. Instead he pulled his troops out leaving the way clear for Union forcers to again retake Lexington and much of Missouri.

On October 31, 1861, Missouri's legislature-in-exile under Governor Jackson signed the Articles of Secession and were accepted into the Confederate State of America. Historians still argue as to whether this was legitimate or not.

An interesting side note was that after the battle, a young Missouri soldier was among those left behind because of wounds or sickness. He had measles and was too weak to travel. The young man was Alexander Franklin James. He was captured by the returning Union Army then paroled and allowed to return to his home in Kearney, Missouri. Back home, he was captured and arrested by pro-Union militia and forced to take an oath of loyalty to the Union. He did not honor the oath that was forced upon him, and along with his younger brother, Jesse James, became a well know member of a guerilla band fighting against the Union throughout the war.

The home is now open to the public as a museum. You can view all of the action that happened during those three fateful days one hundred fifty years ago.

For more info:

http://mostateparks.com/page/55020/oliver-anderson-house

 

If this interests you, the subject will be fully explored along with the entire course of the war in the west in my new series, War in the West. Under a Bloody Flag is already released and Under a Black Flag will be available soon.

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