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Rob Swinson
reswinson@cox.net
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Where is Camargo Crossroads?
Written by Robert A. Braun
(1) Historians and enthusiasts familiar with the battle record of the Thirty-third Wisconsin
Volunteers know of an engagement with a strange-sounding name: Camargo Crossroads.
The skirmish took place on July 13, 1864 as the Thirty-third acted as a train guard, and
then rear-guard for the supply train of Maj. Gen. Andrew Jackson ("A. J.") Smith's
expedition against Confederate forces under General S. D. Lee and Nathan Bedford
Forrest.
(2) Simply put, General William T. Sherman sent Gen. A. J. Smith into northern Mississippi
with two goals in mind: 1) hunt down Bedford Forrest after his stunning victory at Brice's
Crossroads, and thereby 2) secure Federal rail lines for Sherman's army group operating
near Atlanta. Part of Smith's expeditions was a provisional brigade commanded by
Colonel Ward of the 14th Wisconsin. This brigade was comprised of the Thirty-third
Wisconsin regiment, led by Lieut. Col. Frederick Lovell, a 200-man battalion from the
14th Wisconsin, and one company from the 41st Illinois. The entire brigade could not
have numbered much more than 700 effectives.
(3) Departing from a staging area near LaGrange, Tennessee, the small brigade marched
generally south, and arrived at the southern outskirts of Pontotoc, Mississippi, by the
afternoon of July 12, 1864. There, Smith learned of a trap set by Bedford Forrest near
Oklona, Mississippi, some miles to the south and west. Smith suddenly switched his route
of march to the east along the Pontotoc/Tupelo Road, in the direction of the vital rail
junction at Tupelo, Mississippi. Surprised, Forrest send his horsemen galloping all over
the countryside looking to strike the Federal column wherever and whenever possible.
Repeated forays against the wagon train caused Col. Ward to order the Thirty-third
Wisconsin to quit its assigned role as flankers for the wagon train and act a rear-guard for
the train. With the Thirty-third Wisconsin gone, the remaining flankers of the 14th
Wisconsin were stretched dangerously thin as they tried to protect as many wagons as
possible. In the meantime, Col. Edmund Rucker's Sixth Brigade of Confederate horsemen
rode north from the Confederate main body, along narrow roads to a point south of the
Tupelo Road. Col. Rucker's intention was to intercept Smith's train and do some
significant damage in the Federal rear.
(4) Rucker deployed his brigade south of the Lockhart Plantation and the Pontotoc/Tupelo
Road, with his axis of attack planned along a narrow farm lane that headed north towards
Burrow's Shop (also known as Barrow's Shop.) Among the first regiments to deploy was
Col. Robert Duff's Eighth Mississippi Cavalry. Duff had recently reorganized the old
19th Mississippi Cavalry Battalion into a full-fledged regiment, although confirmation of
the new designation had yet to arrive from the Confederate War Department. The
impetuous Duff did not wait for the rest of the brigade to form, and instead ordered his
men to dismount and advance under the cover of tall grass and strike the wagon train.
Sudden blasts of Confederate musketry from a mere 20 paces away stunned the flankers
of the 14th Wisconsin and unnerved their commander, Lieut. Col. James W. Polleys. The
Wisconsin soldiers fled into the protection of some convenient woods north of and
adjacent to the Tupelo Road. There, small knots of men returned an ineffectual fire as
Confederate troopers raced to the wagon train and began shooting the mules in their
traces.
(5) Col. Ward was swift to react. He quickly sent a staff officer to order Lieut. Col. Lovell to
bring up the Thirty-third Wisconsin from its rear-guard position and strike the left flank
of Duff's 8th Mississippi. The Wisconsin men marched at a double-quick through stifling
Mississippi summer heat and rapidly formed a battleline in a cornfield some 100 yards
from the dismounted Confederates. The Captain of Company "A" reported that by the
time the Thirty-third was in position, he heard no sound of return fire from the Federal
side-only Confederate gunfire. Lovell then gave the command to open fire.
(6) The withering volley caught Duff's men by surprise. Perhaps among the first killed was
Lieut. William H. Barr, the color-bearer for the Eighth Mississippi. As he fell, the
flagstaff caught in the rails of a fence that bordered the cornfield, and remained standing.
Col. Ward directed the fire of the Thirty-third Wisconsin personally, as the regiment fired
volleys by wing. Mississippi troopers continued to fall, including Col. Duff himself,
before the regiment broke and retired from the field. After a time, Ward ordered Lovell to
have the right wing cease-fire, but directed the left ring to continue to fire, in order to
prevent any of Duffs' remaining men from retrieving their regimental banner. Behind the
line of the Thirty-third Wisconsin rode Lieutenant John M Read, staff officer to Col.
Ward and former Adjutant of the 14th Wisconsin, who shouted "Hurrah! Hurrah! A stand
of colors for the Thirty-third!" Ward then rode off to rally Lieut. Col. Polleys and the rest
of the 14th Wisconsin battalion.
(7) Volleys continued to crash from the right wing of the Thirty-third Wisconsin as Col.
Ward brought the 14th Wisconsin men from the shelter of the trees and into some
semblance of a battleline. History has not revealed what Col. Ward said to Lieut. Col.
Polleys, nor to Captain Carlos M. G. Mansfield. Perhaps it was an admonishment for
dashing for the tree line. Maybe it was words meant to bolster the 14th in the presence of
a sister Wisconsin regiment. What has emerged, however, was a clear desire on the part
of Col. Ward to capture the flag of the 8thMississippi for his own regiment.
Riding back to the Thirty-third, Col. Ward ordered the regiment to cease-fire. This
command seemed to be a signal to the soldiers of the 14th Wisconsin to charge south
from the Tupelo Road and sweep the field before them. Captain Mansfield, mounted on a
mule, perhaps from one of the wagons, quickly rode out ahead of the charging 14th
Wisconsin and snatched the flag of the Eighth Mississippi from the fence. All this
occurred as an astonished Thirty-third Wisconsin watched obediently from their position
in the cornfield. Later, an examination of the Eighth Mississippi flag revealed thirteen
bullets had struck it.
(8) The skirmish was over as quickly as it began. The Thirty-third suffered one man killed
and five wounded. Col. Ward recorded that the 14th Wisconsin had six men wounded for
the entire Tupelo campaign. Some or all of these injuries may have been sustained at the
fight near Camargo Crossroads. The Eighth Mississippi left behind forty-seven casualties,
including Col. Duff severely wounded. Soldiers labored to transfer wagon stores to other
wagons and burned the wagons that could not be moved. The Federal march east towards
Tupelo resumed. One stinging hurt was the flag issue, and to which regiment the trophy
truly belonged. For some, the issue remains unresolved to the present day...
Robert A. Braun © 1999
2011-03-08:
URL Source: http://www.33wis.com/articles/pdf/xroad.pdf