GOOD-BYE, GENERAL McCULLOCH

You don't have to know me well, to know that I have the ability to bore just about anyone with my tales of the history of the Civil War and the struggle for Texas independence.  My trip through the Pea Ridge battlefield gave me a chance to, again, meet up with and say 'good-bye' to one of my friends from both the Civil War to the Texas Revolution - Benjamin McCullouch.

On Nov 11, 1811, Confederate General Benjamin McCulloch was born near Rutherford City, Tennessee, one of 12 children and the 4th son. Two of his older brothers attended school in Tennessee with their neighbor, Sam Houston, as their teacher. McCulloch was a soldier in the Texas Revolution, a member of the Texas Legislature,  a Texas Ranger, a major general in the Texas militia and a major in the United States Army (Volunteers) during the Mexican-American War, a US marshal, and a brigadier general in the army of the Confederate States during the Civil War.

Raised in Tennessee, McCulloch followed his friends Davy Crockett and Sam Houston to Texas in 1835. He planned to meet Crockett's Tennessee Boys at Nacogdoches on Christmas Day. Crockett's arrival was delayed and by Jan 5, 1836, when Crockett found his way to Nacogdoches, Ben McCulloch greeted him but had contracted measles and was bedridden for several weeks. Crockett pressed on toward San Antonio; McCulloch's illness prevented him from arriving in San Antonio until after the Alamo had already fallen. However, in April 1836, he served with Houston at the Battle of San Jacinto, when Texas gained its independence with the defeat of Santa Anna's Army.  

After the war, McCulloch served in the Texas legislature and the Texas Rangers. He fought under Gen Zachary Taylor during the Mexican War (1846-1848) and served as a US marshal in the 1850s.

When the Civil War broke out, McCulloch was appointed a colonel in command of Texas troops. He rode to San Antonio and forced the surrender of a Federal arsenal, while his brother, Henry, took control of Federal posts on the Texas frontier. In May 1861, McCulloch became a brigadier general in the Confederate army and was assigned to the Indian Territory. He formed alliances with several tribes before moving his force to southwestern Missouri, where he played a key role in the Confederate victory at Wilson’s Creek on August 10, 1861.

McCulloch commanded a wing of the Army of the West as it approached a Union force led by Gen Samuel Curtis in northwestern Arkansas in March 1862. Curtis took up a defensive position around Elkhorn Tavern and waited for the Confederates to attack. On the night of March 6, McCulloch marched his troops around Curtis’s right flank and prepared for an early morning assault on March 7. 

Curtis discovered the movement, and blocked McCulloch’s advance. That day, at the Battle of Pea Ridge, Curtis held off a furious attack by McCulloch’s force. McCulloch rode forward to encourage his men and monitor their progress. However, as he emerged from the brush,  he was directly in front of a Union regiment. Disliking military uniforms, instantly identifiable by his trademark black velvet suit and wellington boots, McCulloch was killed.  

McCulloch’s death was the turning point in the battle; the Confederate defeat ensured Union domination of northern Arkansas for the rest of the war.