Background During the
American Civil War, on March 7 and 8, 1862, the
Union Army of the Southwest defeated the
Confederate Army of the West at the
Battle of Pea Ridge in northwestern
Arkansas. This victory secured control of
Missouri for the Union and opened the path for the Union to eventually capture Arkansas. After Pea Ridge, the Confederate commander,
Major General Earl Van Dorn moved his army east of the
Mississippi River, stripping Arkansas of most of its Confederate troops and military supplies. On May 31, command of the Confederate
Trans-Mississippi District was given to Major General
Thomas C. Hindman, who rebuilt Confederate strength in Arkansas, as well as outbursts of pro-Confederate activity in Missouri. However, Hindman had outraged many prominent Arkansas civilians, and he was replaced by
Theophilus H. Holmes, who was promoted to
lieutenant general and sent to Arkansas. Hindman moved about 6,000 men into southwestern Missouri in early September. The Union forces in Missouri were commanded by
Brigadier General John M. Schofield, as the District of Missouri in the Department of the Mississippi. The neighboring
Department of Kansas was commanded by Brigadier General
James G. Blunt. In response to Hindman's incursion, on September 19, the Union recreated the
Department of the Missouri, which contained the states of Missouri, Arkansas,
Kansas, the
Indian Territory, and the city of
Alton, Illinois. Major General
Samuel Ryan Curtis, the victor of Pea Ridge, was placed in charge of the new department, which it was hoped would unify Union leadership in the region. Curtis took command on September 24, and on September 26 sent Schofield to
Springfield, Missouri, to command Union operations there. Blunt and his force, known as the Army of Kansas, was sent to join forces with Schofield, who commanded two
divisions, which were led by Brigadier Generals
James Totten and
Francis J. Herron.
Formation commanded the Army of the Frontier for much of its existence Part of Blunt's army was defeated on September 30 in the
First Battle of Newtonia. The next day, the combined forces of Blunt and Schofield, with Schofield in overall command, was named the Army of Southwestern Missouri. Two days later, Blunt and Totten's troops were reported to be stationed at
Sarcoxie, Missouri, with Herron's division on the
Cassville Road. On October 4, Blunt and Totten moved towards Newtonia, and the Confederates abandoned the town and fell back into Arkansas. The Army of Southwestern Missouri was renamed the Army of the Frontier on October 12; on that day Blunt's division was at
Keetsville, Missouri, and Totten and Herron at Cassville. Blunt's division was given the designation of the First Division, Totten's the Second Division, and Herron's the Third Division, although Blunt's division was commonly known as the Kansas Division and the other two as the Missouri Divisions. Advancing, the Army of the Frontier entered Confederate territory on October 17, where the men camped on the old Pea Ridge battlefield, with army headquarters in the
Elkhorn Tavern. The army's communication and supply lines were kept over two routes: Blunt was supplied from
Fort Leavenworth, Kansas;
Kansas City, Missouri; and
Fort Scott, Kansas; while the other two divisions were supplied through
St. Louis, Missouri;
Rolla, Missouri; and Springfield. Confederate
Colonel Douglas H. Cooper and part of the Confederate cavalry were preparing for an offensive against Fort Scott.
James S. Rains and the rest of the Confederate force moved in the opposite direction. Schofield decided to split the Army of the Frontier, sending Blunt and two of his three
brigades after Cooper, while Totten and Herron pursued Rains. Both wings of the army left the Pea Ridge area late on October 20. Blunt defeated Cooper on October 22 in the
Battle of Old Fort Wayne. Totten and Herron reached
Huntsville, Arkansas, that same day. Schofield called off the pursuit, having reached the end of his logistical framework, and believing the Confederates had withdrawn enough to no longer be a threat, withdrew Totten and Herron in the direction of
Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Prairie Grove Blunt wished to attack
Fort Smith, Arkansas, while Schofield wanted Blunt to be stationed in the northern portion of the Indian Territory. Schofield further wanted to keep the army's other two divisions in northwestern Arkansas. Schofield was able to easily communicate with Curtis because of a rebuilt telegraph line along the
Telegraph Road, and Curtis wanted Blunt to remain stationed along the Indian Territory/Arkansas border and for the other two divisions to be withdrawn back into Missouri, so that they could be transferred to service in the
Vicksburg campaign. Totten's division was at
Osage Spring, and Herron's at
Cross Hollow, Arkansas. On October 27, Schofield went to Osage Spring to begin the process of withdrawing the two divisions into Missouri, but learned that Confederate cavalry was in the Fayetteville area. Schofield planned a converging attack on the Confederates with Totten and Herron's men, but the plan did not go through as expected and Herron's men fought and won the
Battle of McGuire's Store on October 28. After occupying Fayetteville, Schofield panicked at rumors of a Confederate advance and withdrew from the city. Blunt's division moved to a position where it would better support Schofield's two divisions, with the Army of the Frontier on October 31 being arrayed with Totten at Osage Springs, Herron at Cross Hollow, and Blunt near
Bentonville, Arkansas. On November 3, Blunt and Schofield held a conference with Curtis at Elkhorn Tavern over the telegraph line, where Schofield asked for and received permission to withdraw back to Missouri. Beginning on the next day, Totten and Herron's divisions made a forced march back to Springfield; Schofield had been alarmed by false rumors of a Confederate campaign against that city. November 6 saw Blunt with his division still in Arkansas with 6,200 men, Herron camped on
Crane Creek with 2,800 men, and Totten on the
Spring River with 4,600 men. Blunt's men were south of
Maysville, Arkansas, at Lindsey's Prairie. As of November, the Army of the Frontier was organized with three brigades in Blunt's division, three in Totten's division, and two in Herron's, although one of Totten's brigades remained in Springfield and did not participate in field maneuvers. The plan was for Totten and Herron to spend only a little time at Springfield, and then move east to
Helena, Arkansas, to join the Vicksburg operations. Schofield was ill, so Curtis ordered Totten to take his division and Herron's to
Cape Girardeau, Missouri, as part of the transfer; the two divisions left
Ozark, Missouri, on November 14. Confederate cavalry under Brigadier General
John S. Marmaduke moved into the
Cane Hill, Arkansas, area in early November; the threat posed by this movement to Blunt led Totten's eastwards movement to be cancelled. By November 18, Totten's divisions were back at Cassville. After receiving news that Marmaduke had withdrawn, Schofield turned over command to Blunt and left for St. Louis on November 20. Totten, who had unpopular with his men and who had a drinking problem, was ordered to St. Louis for court martial duty on November 27. He was replaced as divisional commander by Colonel
Daniel Huston Jr. Herron's division camped along
Wilson's Creek, with Huston's division to the south. Also on November 27, Blunt left Lindsey's Prairie to confront Marmaduke's Confederates. The next day, his men defeated the Confederates in the
Battle of Cane Hill; Marmaduke fell back towards
Van Buren, Arkansas while Blunt remained at Cane Hill. Blunt's division was now over from the rest of the Army of the Frontier, but only about from the Confederates. Hindman and three of his subordinate commanders developed a plan to attack and destroy Blunt's division while it was still separated from the rest of the Army of the Frontier. Blunt learned of the Confederate offensive late on December 2, the day before the Confederate actually began their movement. He informed Curtis of the situation and requested that the two divisions camped in Missouri join him. Herron placed the two Missouri divisions on the road on the afternoon of December 3. By December 6, Herron's two divisions had reached Fayetteville; late that same day contact was made between the forces of Hindman and Blunt. When Hindman learned that Herron's men had arrived in the area, he changed his plans to defeat Herron first, and then attack Blunt. In the
Battle of Prairie Grove on December 7, Herron attacked Hindman and was repulsed; a Confederate counterattack met the same fate. Blunt arrived later in the day on the Confederate left and another series of attacks by each side failed to be decisive. Hindman withdrew his men during the night. Two days after the battle, the Army of the Frontier again split up, with Blunt's division going to
Rhea's Mill, Arkansas, with the other two divisions remaining on the field. On December 23, Blunt was informed that Schofield was on his way back to resume command of the army. Having learned that the Confederates were withdrawing from the Fort Smith area, Blunt decided to make one final offensive before the more cautious Schofield arrived. The Army of the Frontier began the
Van Buren raid on December 27. Two days later, while the Army of the Frontier was on its way back from the raid, Schofield arrived, but declined to take command until after the army had returned from the raid.
Later activities Schofield resumed command on January 1, 1863, and the Army of the Frontier withdrew from Arkansas. Blunt's division returned to Kansas, and the other two divisions to Missouri; the three divisions would never serve as a whole again. In January 1863, Blunt went to Fort Leavenworth to oversee the District of Kansas, and Colonel
William Weer took command of his division. By the end of that month, John G. Clark was in command of Totten's old division, and James O. Gower led Herron's former division. Schofield's headquarters was at Springfield. By the end of the following month, Washington F. Geiger was in command of the Third Division. In March, the two Missouri divisions were transferred to southeastern Missouri, in preparation for an expected incursion by Marmaduke's cavalry. On March 30, Schofield was reassigned to command the District of Southwestern Missouri, and Herron took command of the Army of the Frontier. As of that date, the First Division was at
Carrollton, Arkansas, the Second Division (now under the command of Dudley Wickersham) at
Elk Creek, Missouri, and the Third Division at
Rolla, Missouri. Brigadier General
William Vandever took command of the Second Division on April 9. Marmaduke began an expedition into Missouri on April 18. Vandever responded by moving his division to
Pilot Knob, Missouri, on April 23, and then to
Fredericktown two days later. Late on April 26, Vandever's men fought with Marmaduke's troopers at
Jackson. On May 1 and 2, the Union troops
battled Marmaduke's men at the crossing of the
St. Francis River at
Chalk Bluff, Arkansas; the Confederates escaped across the river. By the end of April, the First Division was at
Houston, Missouri, the Second Division at Pilot Knob, and the Third Division at
Lake Spring, Missouri. The army's headquarters was at Rolla. Brigadier General
Thomas Ewing Jr. took effective command of the First Division on May 13, and was ordered to send the Kansas units back to that state. On June 2, Herron and all of the infantry regiments from the Second and Third Divisions, along with two artillery batteries, were sent to reinforce the Union campaign ongoing at
Vicksburg, Mississippi; these units became the Second Division of the
XIII Corps in the
Army of the Tennessee in July. The Second and Third Divisions ceased to exist at this time. On June 9, Ewing's division was assigned to the District of the Border, and Blunt was assigned that day to command the District of the Frontier. The Army of the Frontier ceased to exist. == References ==