Henry Emrich & The Battle Of Jenkins’s Ferry By Rich Hanson
The large red granite stone in Galesburg’s historic Hope Cemetery says nothing about Henry P. Emrich’s Civil War record. The slightly askew G.A.R. near it has to be studied closely for one to discern that Mr. Emrich was a member of Company A. in the 13th Illinois Cavalry. Fortunately, Henry Emrich was one of the lucky ones who survived the war. The account that he wrote of the Battle of Jenkins’s Ferry that appeared in Washington D.C.’s National Tribune on April 29th, 1886, gives a vivid picture of the fierce fighting in the eloquent prose of a man who spent his life mustering his words into newspaper columns.
Henry Emrich was born on January 26th, 1844, in a German village in Hesse-Darmstadt, just a few miles from Bingen-on-the-Rhine. His mother died when he was six years old. Two years later, his father took him and his brother to the United States, first settling in New York State, and then coming to Galesburg in 1856. In December, 1858 he was hired as an apprentice at the Free Democrat printing office. His training in the art of printing continued until he reached the age of 18, when on the day after his birthday in 1862, he enlisted in the 13th Illinois Cavalry. The regiment was organized at Camp Douglas, in Chicago, where they trained until they were deemed ready to be sent to the front. At that time, with only halters to guide their steeds, they rode barebacked to the Alton Depot. The bitter cold temperature had plunged to below zero by the time the 13th arrived there. From Alton they were sent to St. Louis. The weather evidently wasn’t on their regiment’s side, as Henry remembered that they arrived in St. Louis during a drenching rainstorm, and that it rained every day they were there. Despite that, their training continued. Emrich remembered that at Benton Barracks they were drilled, equipped, then formed in a line. Then the orders came to “move forward,” to “do or die for the grand old flag.” The first’s day’s ride, during which they had to endure severe rain, finally had them retiring at Jefferson Barracks without any supper. By the time the regiment arrived at Pilot’s Knob, Missouri, its young recruits had become adept at the time-honored military practice of “foraging.” The boys of the 13th were soon assigned the tasks of scouting, and of keeping the 200 miles of rail from Pilot Knob to Pocahontas open, a task that involved hundreds of hours in the saddle and countless skirmishes. The men of the 13th soon knew the trails in and out of Mingo Swamp, and the Lone Jack and Ozark Mountain region as well as they did the village streets and country lanes of their native Illinois.
During the winter of 1862-63 they were assigned to a failed expedition to take Little Rock. Upon their return they did constant foraging for the infantry and were good enough that they boasted that the infantry had become “fat and sassy” due to their efforts. In July of 1863 they moved to Clarendon, Missouri, where they became part of General Frederick Steele’s command. Again, they set out to take Little Rock. As an advanced scouting detail, the men of the 13th had some incredible adventures. One evening at about 2:30 am, Henry was part of an advance scout of 14 men, who ran head on into an ambush set up by about 200 rebels. The men were surrounded, and a rebel officer demanded their surrender. This demand was rejected, and punctuated with a volley from their revolvers. Soon a fierce firefight ensued; hearing the noise of battle, the remainder of the battalion came up at a run and drove off the Confederates, rescuing the scouting party that had managed to take cover, hold their ground and avoid capture. After weeks of other unnamed and unrecorded skirmishes such as this, Henry Emrich participated in the Battle of Bayou Metor and the capture of Little Rock. During the fight for the Capitol, Henry and the men of the 13th swam the Arkansas River, and after a desperate fight in a cotton field, the enemy retreated, and the dismounted cavalry took possession of Little Rock at a dead run. This success, on September, 10th, 1863, erased the stigma of the previous failed campaign.
No doubt his skill with the English language and his printing background were considered as he was next detailed to serve on the staff of General Samuel Allen Rice, an Oskaloosa, Iowa attorney and Iowa Attorney General before the war. His brigade consisted of the 29th and 33rd Iowa, 9th Wisconsin, 50th Indiana, and the 3rd Iowa Battery. After the 1864 spring campaigns began the first major battle took place on April 2nd, Henry followed Rice on horseback into battle at Terra Noir Creek, and discovering that the 29th Iowa was falling back due to an assault by Jo Shelby’s rebels, the General spotted a gentle rise at the edge of some timber with a clear field in front of him. He figured this would be a good place to make a stand. A line of battle was formed with a section of the 3rd Iowa’s artillery there as well. General Rice sent orders to bring the 50th Indiana up, and they had just arrived when the rebels charged the new position, their impetus carrying them up to the bayonet points of the two regiments. The charge was repelled though, but during this action the horse that Henry Emrich was riding was hit in the neck by a canister shot. During the remainder of the day the Confederates harassed Rice’s rear guard, but were never able to make any headway against the boys in blue. It was a costly day’s battle though. Losses in Rice’s brigade totaled near 50 in killed, wounded and missing.
After a day of rest, they crossed the Little Missouri on April 4th in the face of the enemy who had swung around to their front. General Rice just missed becoming a casualty here, as a bullet cut the skin on the back part of his head. The Rebels had thrown up some temporary breastworks on their side of the river, but were driven from them with a bayonet charge. On the 6th the brigade was joined by Thayer’s Brigade, which had been sent from Fort Scott. With their arrival another forward movement was undertaken. This fight, the Battle of Prairie D’Ann, ran through April 10th, 11th and 12th, as the two forces maneuvered for position. On the 12th Henry witnessed a colored regiment from Thayer’s Brigade handsomely repulse a charge of rebel cavalry, which raised them much in the eyes of many of the Union soldiers, who had before that questioned their fighting ability. It was during this battle when a shell burst near Henry Emrich inflicting some injury to his eyes.
On the 15th Rice’s Brigade was ordered to jettison their packs and embark on a forced march to Camden, Arkansas. General Steele had heard that the Rebs were moving as quickly toward it in order to establish defenses there. After making good time for four or five miles, they began to run into more determined resistance. Skirmishing continued for several more miles, then the cavalry which had been scouting ahead fell back and the infantry took up a line of battle. The Battle of Poison Springs began with an artillery duel which shifted to the bluecoat’s favor when the 3rd Illinois Artillery was brought up. The Confederates retreated down a side road, and the capture of Camden was accomplished on April 15th. Henry Emrich said that they found the city pretty well fortified, and that it would have cost the Union a great many lives to have driven the rebels out had they occupied it first.
On the 18th a forage train guarded by the 18th Iowa and a colored regiment was attacked some miles from Camden, and the entire train and four pieces of artillery were captured, the entire escort being overwhelmed. About this time General Steele received the information that General Banks had been decisively beaten and was in full retreat. The Rebels were now free to move their entire force against General Steele’s command. Knowing that he did not have the troops to successfully defend Camden against such a disparity in numbers, he contemplated ordering his Union command, including Rice’s Brigade, to retreat back to Little Rock. More unwelcome news came on the 25th, when it was heard that a brigade that had been escorting a train of wagons had been attacked; the entire lot of wagons and artillery pieces falling into rebel hands. That clinched it. On the night of the 26th, the artillery wheels were wrapped to muffle them, a pontoon bridge was built, and Steele’s command commenced their retreat. General Rice’s Brigade had the post of honor, and it was reported that he was the last man to cross the makeshift bridge before it was pulled up. The retreat was unhindered until the evening of the 29th, as the retreating army neared the Saline River. A loud report, then an artillery shell fell close to General Rice and his staff, which included young Emrich, causing no damage. This was answered by the Union guns. Some minor skirmishing ensued, but Rice’s men, who again held the position of defending the rear of the retreating army, beat them back. Soon everything became quiet. A note of regret enters Henry Emrich’s reminiscences at this point.
Had the army crossed the Saline that night all would have been well. But darkness came early, the sky being black with clouds, and a heavy rain began which continued all night, and this probably explains why we did not cross that night. Rations had been given out on the 27th, and the troops made themselves as comfortable as they could on empty stomachs upon the wet and muddy ground of the swamp upon which we were camped.”
Work continued on a pontoon bridge to cross the Saline during the night’s miserable weather; eventually the nearest troops began to cross to the opposite shore. In an evening’s consultation at Headquarters, General Steele ordered General Rice to hold his position until the rest of the army had crossed the makeshift bridge. This was a critical responsibility, as Steele’s army would be very vulnerable at this time, separated by the river. General Rice promised to do so, and immediately took steps to make his task easier. He asked for Colonel Englemann’s Brigade, and placed it next to the 33rd Iowa. With his usual good eye for terrain, Rice placed the men in the edge of some timber with a partially cleared field in front of it for a clear line of fire. On their right was a dense forest, through which rolled a creek swollen by the heavy rains. On their left was an impassable morass of swamp.
At roughly 5:30am on the 30th, the Rebel army began to advance on General Rice’s position. General Fagan, leading the Arkansas troops, led the first general assault, and….well; let’s tell the account of the Battle of Jenkins’s Ferry in the words of Henry Emrich.
“for an hour and a half made charge after charge upon our thin line, only to be repulsed each time. Fagan then gave up and fell back, and for a short time there was only light skirmishing. About 7:30, however, the storm burst anew, and General Parsons with his Missouri troops tried to accommodate what Fagan had failed to do. Our thin line had in the meantime been reformed, ammunition had been replenished and General Parsons was met with a fire that no mortal man could withstand. Again and again did he lead his men across that fatal field, and each time he was hurled back, while the field was strewn with dead and wounded rebels. During this attack a few prisoners were taken, from whom we learned that the whole of Kirby Smith’s army was in our front (or rear). The enemy had brought several pieces of artillery up during this attack on our right and began to throw shell; but they did not do it long, for after two or three shots had been fired the 29th Iowa led by Colonel Benton, and the 2nd Kansas (colored), led by Colonel Crawford, promptly charged the rebel battery and brought the guns into our lines, turning the rebel cheers upon the appearance of the battery into howls of dismay. After Parsons had withdrawn, General Steele ordered General Rice to withdraw and cross the pontoon, but the latter did not deem it safe to do so, and prepared to charge the enemy before retiring from the field. It was well that he did not obey the order to retreat, for while making preparations to charge, another column of fresh rebel troops appeared on the other side of the clearing, and with fearful yells charged upon our line .This was General Walker’s Texas Division. Bravely did they come, but they met the same undaunted courage and withering fire that had destroyed their comrades, and, after doing all that brave men could do, fell back into the shelter of the woods. During this charge General Rice was shot through the ankle, and Colonel Solomon, of the 9th Wisconsin took command of the field. For another hour did the enemy make charge after charge upon our now wearied and rapidly-thinning line, but no one thought of faltering, as knee deep in mud and water, hungry and wet, our boys stood as firm as a rock; and at last the rebel leader, seeing the utter uselessness of slaughtering his men by hurling them against the Union line, retreated and left us in possession of the bloody field. As soon as this was discovered our troops started to cross the river; for, with a largely superior force in point of numbers close to us, a deep and rapidly rising river to cross, a swamp to which the water, now a foot deep, was running, our only safety was on the north side of the Saline. Those of our wounded who could not help themselves were quickly placed out of reach of the rising water and surgeons left to care for them, and our victorious troops crossed the river unmolested, and were safe from further pursuit.
The rebel loss was terrific. A rebel account of the battle, acknowledged a loss of 1,500 killed and wounded, and in that division Generals Ward and Scurry were killed, and General Randel was twice wounded and had two horses shot from under him. Our loss, too, was heavy, being over 500 killed and wounded, nearly all the latter being captured.
Henry Enrich went on in his article for the National Tribune, was justifiably proud of the heroic stand his brigade made, and went on to elaborate on how much he believed the battle at Jenkins’s Ferry meant to the Union cause.
Had the rebels brought the Union army to bay on the uplands, it is likely that Steele’s army would have been annihilated; for the large number of the enemy, some 25,000 men, would have been enabled to out flank us on both flanks. The Battle of Jenkins’s Ferry saved the state of Arkansas to the Union arms at that time. Had Steele’s army been defeated and captured, nothing could have saved Little Rock and Pine Bluff, and every point in Arkansas, except Helena, would have fallen into rebel hands. The results of the “Camden trip” were a loss to the Union troops of about 2,000 men killed, wounded and captured, a loss of 8 cannon, and about 400 wagons with wheels and harness. The writer has no intention to slight General Steele or General Solomon, but it is but justice to General S. A. Rice, who was formerly colonel of the 33rd Iowa, and who died from the effects of his wound, to say that to him belongs the credit in winning the Battle of Jenkins’s Ferry. Where all the regiments engaged in so nobly, it would be unjust to particularize, but I would instance the terrible fighting by giving the loss of the 50th Indiana, which was 150 killed and wounded, Company D loosing 23 out of 39 engaged. Colonel Wells of this regiment, was everywhere in the thickest of the battle cheering and encouraging his men, and had two horses shot.
General Rice’s staff on starting from Little Rock consisted of himself, five officers and four Orderlies. Of these General Rice was wounded twice, the last resulting fatally; Captain Townsend was killed, one Aide’s horse killed, Adjutant
Lacey’s horse and the writer’s wounded and one of the Orderlies captured. The writer is also suffering from the effects of a shell passing close to his eyes on Prairie De Ann. This will speak better words of the work this brigade was engaged in on this fatal trip, which for the defeat of Banks, would have resulted in sweeping the rebels from the State. There are, of course, many things that I have omitted or forgotten, and hope that some other comrade will supply what is lacking in the above—H. Emrich, Co. A, 13th Illinois Cavalry, Orderly at General Rice’s Headquarters. Galesburg, Illinois.”
After the death of General Rice during surgery to remove portions of a spur that had been driven through his boot into his ankle, his headquarters family was broken up and sent to serve elsewhere. Henry Emrich was transferred to the headquarters of General Frederick Steele, and received fulsome praise and thanks form that officer for special duties that he undertook while under a flag of truce. He remained with Steele’s headquarters until he was mustered out on January 27th, 1865, still only a 21 year old, but a man now, one who had served his country for three years and had been under fire on eighteen different occasions.
Henry Emrich returned to Illinois and took a job as a printer in the office of the Quincy Democrat, but after a few months there he was able to return to Galesburg and take a position in the office of the Free Democrat, where he had first learned the printer’s trade.
In 1867 He married Miss Caroline Rolf. Eventually five children would swell the union of the two into a family. It must have been a happy marriage. His obituary mentions what a severe blow the sudden death of his wife in 1898 was to him. In 1870 with a partner, he began the publication of the Galesburg Republican, but that endeavor didn’t continue for long. In 1872 he was again back in Quincy working for the Quincy Democrat. Looking to improve his lot, he returned to Galesburg again in December of 1879 and purchased an interest in the Plain-Dealer Printing Company.
With the immigration issue at the forefront of our century’s political discussions, it’s a good time to reflect upon Henry Emrich, and what this German immigrant brought to his new country. He fought three years to preserve the Union, and after the war involved himself as a concerned citizen in many Galesburg organizations. He joined the Republican Party, and played an active part both politically and editorially in 30 plus years of elections. He and the Plain-Dealer thrust forward General Philip Sidney Post for the Republicans of the then 10th Congressional District to nominate to run for Congress in 1886. General Post was elected and served in that legislative body until his death in 1893. Emrich then used his newspaper to promote the candidacy of George W. Prince, who also was elected to Congress. He was a member of the Congregational Church, the Galesburg Club, for which he was one of the driving forces in their efforts to erect a new building to meet in, and of Post 45 of the Grand Army of the Republic, having been commander of that post, Junior Vice-Commander of the Department of Illinois, and a frequent delegate to the national encampments. He was also a long-time member of the Typographical Union.
This young man from Germany proudly supported his adopted land in later his later life during the “War to End All Wars” in 1917-18. He was conspicuously active in the Liberty Bond drives and a liberal purchaser of them as well. One of his sons, Roy Emrich, became a U.S. Navy commander, and another died of illness while serving his country in China. Yes, Henry P. Emrich has left an interesting personal history and a legacy of patriotism behind him. Galesburg is the richer for him chosing to settle there.
SOURCES
Find Grave Entries for S. A. Rice and Henry P. Emrich
Generals in Blue Ezra Warner
National Tribune article “Fighting Them Over” an account of the Camden Campaign by Henry Emrich
Galesburg Republican Register Henry Emrich obit; November 14th, 1919
History of Knox County Vol II by A.J. Perry
History of the 13th Illinois Cavalry Frederick Behendorff
Wikipedia The Battle of Jenkins’s Ferry
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