Death to Bushwhackers

During the Civil War, the Department of the Missouri was one of the most difficult places for the Union Army to control because of the political divisiveness within the state. Union forces never completely occupied all of Missouri; however, as the war progressed, Union forces mostly comprised of Missouri State Militia troops occupied almost all of the strategic cities and towns in the state. All of the Union generals commanding the Department of the Missouri believed in "death to Bushwhackers."

Headquarters of the Army, Washington, March 17, 1863

(To:) Major General E. V. Sumner, Saint Louis, Mo.:

It is represented here, by very reliable persons from Missouri, that General Curtis has retained in that department an unnecessarily large force, at the very time, too, when troops are most needed on the Mississippi River. Applications are continually made to send troops to particular localities or to retain those now there, on exaggerated accounts of impending dangers. I have found that most of such accounts are mere pretenses, gotten up by interested persons. If these applications were granted, our entire army would soon be so scattered as to be utterly paralyzed. There are not many points in Missouri that require military occupation, if the points of concentration are judiciously selected. All of Missouri is now in the military occupation of the United States. The inhabitants are, therefore, bound by the laws of war to render obedience to the occupying military authority. If they take up arms insurrection or render aid and assistance to the enemy, they become military insurgents or military traitors and thereby forfeit their lives and property. Every one who was not in arms at the time of the occupation and who has not continued in arms, but who subsequently takes up arms within the territory militarily occupied by us, is not to be regarded as a prisoner of war, but is to be punished as a military insurgent. … If he comes in disguise or under false pretenses, for the purpose of obtaining military information he is a spy. If in the service of the enemy and he comes in disguise, the law presumes him to be a spy. All such persons guilty of such offenses forfeit their lives. All flags of truce are frequently used to cover the operations of spies, they should never be permitted within our lines.

H. W. Halleck,

General-in-Chief

Major General Sumner never received this letter because he died of a heart attack. Because of Sumner's death, Curtis remained in command of the Department of the Missouri and issued the following letter addressing "The fate of Bushwhackers."

Department of the Missouri, St. Louis, March 30, 1863

General Bartholow, Glasgow:

All right. I am misinformed as to the locality of Sibley's Landing. I had telegraphed (Gen.) Loan, who has, no doubt, telegraphed commanders everywhere. "Death to Bushwhackers" is the order. Have a (military) commission always ready to try, determine and execute immediately, if they are unfortunately taken alive!

President Lincoln relieved General Curtis from the command, because General Curtis's method command was to considered to be to harsh by the Honorable H. R. Gamble, governor of Missouri and others.

Because General Sumner died, General Curtis remained in command of the Department of the Missouri until May 24, 1863 when he was relieved or replaced by Major General John M. Schofield. On May 27, 1863, President Lincoln wrote the following letter to General Schofield .

Executive Mansion, Washington, May 27, 1863

General John M. Schofield,

My Dear Sir: Having relieved General Curtis and assigned you to the command of the Department of the Missouri, I think it may be of some advantage for me to state to you why I did it. I did not relieve General Curtis because of any full conviction that he had done wrong by commission or omission. I did it because of a conviction in my mind that the Union men of Missouri, constituting, when united, a vast majority of the whole people, have entered into a pestilent factional quarrel among themselves and General Curtis … after months of labor to reconcile the difficulty, it seemed to grow worse and worse until I felt it my duty to break it up somehow and as I could not remove Governor Gamble, I had to remove General Curtis.

Now that you are in that position, I wish you to undo nothing merely because General Curtis or Governor Gamble did it, but to exercise your own judgment and do right for the public interest. Let your military measures be strong enough to repel the invader and keep the peace and not so strong as to unnecessarily harass and persecute the people. It is a difficult role and so much greater will be the honor if you perform it well. If both factions, or neither, shall abuse you, you will probably be about right. Beware of being assailed by one and praised by the other. Yours truly, A. Lincoln.

General Schofield commanded the Department of the Missouri for 8 turbulent, non-peacable months and was replaced by Major General William S. Rosecrans on January 22, 1864. All of the Union commanders of the Department of the Missouri believed in "Death to Bushwhackers" which helped with the successful Union occupation of Missouri, but this also prevented the Union conquest of the Show-Me-State!