Information
Sheet
R Wright, Clark.
523 Papers, 1861-1863.
Two folders.
These are the Civil War papers of Clark
Wright, a resident of Polk County,
Missouri, and a Union cavalry
officer. The collection includes an
order to Wright from John M. Schofield, letters from St.
Louis and Rolla to his wife, Sarah Jane Wright, newspaper
clippings, rosters of the field and staff officers of the 6th
Missouri Cavalry, and a list of signs and countersigns for the post at Lebanon, Missouri.
Clark Wright came to Missouri
from Ohio in 1858, settling on the western
edge of Polk County.
He offered his services to the United
State when the Civil War broke out,
organized a cavalry squadron of 240 men from Polk and Dade counties, and was
commissioned captain of the Dade
County mounted home guard
by General Thomas W. Sweeney in July 1861.
Stationed at Greenfield, forty-five miles
from Springfield, Wright and his company
supported United States
forces under Nathaniel Lyon by scouting, operating grist mills, and gathering information
from secessionist camps. Wright
remained with the army after the Wilson’s
Creek campaign and his unit became Company D of the Frémont Battalion of
Missouri Cavalry. It participated in Frémont’s advance on Springfield
in the fall of 1861, when Wright gained
acclaim by leading victorious cavalry charges against Missouri State Guard and
secessionist forces at Wet Glaize and Linn
Creek, Missouri. Newspapermen covering the war in Missouri hailed him as a
dashing cavalryman. The correspondent of
the New York Times filed a story on
Wright in November 1861 which was reprinted by several midwestern newspapers
including the Rolla (Mo.) Express,
the Aurora (Ill.) Beacon, the Belleville (Ill.) Advocate,
the Belvidere (Ill.) Standard, the Quincy (Ill.)
Herald, and the Mount
Pleasant (Iowa)
Home Journal.
On 14 February 1862 Wright’s battalion
was consolidated with those of Samuel N. Wood and Henry P. Hawkins to form the
6th Missouri Cavalry. Wright
became the new regiment’s colonel. The
6th Missouri Cavalry scouted in advance of the Army of Southwest from
Rolla to battlefield at Pea Ridge,
Arkansas. Most of the regiment remained with the Army
on its march to Helena and was absorbed into
forces operating against Vicksburg,
Mississippi. Wright resigned his commission in 1863.
The Wright papers consist of an order by
John M. Schofield to Wright as captain of the Dade County home guard, two
letters to Sarah Jane Wright, two contemporary newspaper clippings of stories
by correspondent William Fayel, lists of the staff and field officers of the 6th
Missouri Cavalry (one marked “copy”), list of
“paroles” (signs) and countersigns for the guards at Lebanon, on the letterhead of the South-Western
District of Missouri, and an order by Wright to Lieut. Col. James Stuart at
Hartville, Missouri, concerning
organization of militia companies in Wright and Douglas counties. Wright’s letters to Sarah Jane concern the
Frémont campaign, escort of prisoners to St.
Louis, army news, and family matters. The newspaper articles by William Fayel describe
the advance of the Army of Southwest Missouri and the occupation of Lebanon, Missouri. One of the clippings mentions Wright and
other cavalry officers with the Army of Southwest Missouri.
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