Information
Sheet
R Woodson, Richard Goodrich.
410 Papers, 1862‑1865.
Two folders.
This collection consists of
correspondence, orders, and miscellaneous military papers of Richard G.
Woodson, of Pike County, Missouri, colonel of the 3rd
Missouri State Militia Cavalry (New).
The papers concern the administration of the post at Pilot Knob, Missouri, and the activities
of the 3rd Missouri State Militia Cavalry.
Richard Goodrich Woodson was commissioned
major of the 10th Missouri State Militia Cavalry on 6 May
1862. The regiment, organized at Louisiana, Missouri, was
posted along the North Missouri Railroad during the summer before being ordered
to Jefferson City,
Rolla, and Pilot Knob by the end of the year.
The 10th regiment failed to recruit the minimum number of soldiers
required by state statutes, and at Pilot Knob in February 1863, the unit was reorganized
as the 3rd Missouri State Militia Cavalry (New). It replaced an earlier regiment with the same
numerical designation which had been disbanded. Upon reorganization, Richard G. Woodson was
commissioned colonel of the new 3rd regiment, with rank to date
from 21 May 1863. Portions of the regiment
served at Pilot Knob through the end of 1864, operating in southeastern Missouri and northeastern Arkansas.
Under Woodson’s command, cavalrymen of the 3rd regiment participated
in the campaign against Gen. John S. Marmaduke’s Confederate raiders, April‑May
1863. The zenith of Woodson’s career
came in August 1863, when he led a combined expedition from Pilot Knob and Cape Girardeau which resulted in the capture of Gen. M.
Jeff Thompson and most of his staff at Pocahontas,
Arkansas. This admirable feat was overshadowed by the
capture of an entire company of the 3rd Missouri State Militia by
guerrillas under Timothy Reeves at Centerville,
Missouri, on 23 December
1863. Although Woodson was not
personally responsible and though the prisoners were rescued by troops from
Pilot Knob, the episode was an embarrassment.
It led to a contretemps with Gen. Clinton B. Fisk, commander of the
St. Louis District, which included Pilot Knob, who wanted to cashier the
officers involved in the Centerville
affair. Woodson argued leniency, and
his disagreement with Fisk may have led to Woodson’s resignation of his
commission on 27 February 1864.
The Woodson papers consist of official
and personal correspondence, reports concerning quartermaster stores for which
Woodson was responsible at Pilot Knob, and accounts of ordnance stores issued
to the 3rd Missouri State Militia.
The correspondence includes letters from A. W. Alexander concerning
Woodson’s personal finances, from J. O. Broadhead, S. M. Breckinridge, and A.
W. Alexander regarding soldiers at Pilot Knob voting in state elections, with
Gen. Clinton Fisk in connection with the capture of Centerville, and with
officials in Washington, D.C., regarding claims against the government by
Thomas Vandevier of Callaway County for supplies used by the 10th
Missouri State Militia Cavalry.
The papers are a useful addition to
material on Woodson and the 3rd Cavalry which was published in The War of the Rebellion. They are also
useful for study of the military post at Pilot Knob.
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