A few months ago, Mark and I went Civil Warring to the Trans-Mississippi theater, our epic campaign taking us to somewhere around twelve battlefields in Arkansas, Missouri, and Kansas — in one week. When we go, we go hard. One of the places we visited was Carthage. Fought, July 5th, 1861, it was an early battle in the campaign to control Missouri. A running battle back to the town ensued with no clear victor. Not only were we studying the battle itself, I, of course, was in search of a woman soldier connection.
Specifically, we wanted to locate the positions of the 3rd Missouri (US). Following an artillery duel, they, along with their fellow Federals, withdrew to another position south of Dry Fork Creek. I outlined the 3rd's position in red boxes on the map below.
We traveled down one road, but the distance looked off. So we decided to see if there was a parallel road that would be a more accurate geographical match. And wouldn't you know it? There was. When looking for a location on a battlefield, sometimes it's helpful just to look up. Here's your sign.
Duh.
Here it is on Google Maps. The 3rd Missouri deployed as skirmishers on the south side of Dry Fork Creek.
And here is our photo taken from the bridge on Civil War Road spanning Dry Fork Creek showing the general area of the 3rd Missouri's position.
Like many soldiers during this engagement when the Civil War was very young, this woman hidden in the ranks as "Charles Junghaus" was likely oblivious to the horrors that lay ahead. With the 3rd Missouri, a heavily-Germanic regiment, she would make a charge at Resaca, part of the Atlanta Campaign, and lose her life after being struck in the head with a ball. She's buried in Chattanooga National Cemetery. You can read more about her [HERE]. She appears prominently in my book, Behind the Rifle: Women Soldiers in Civil War Mississippi.
I will likely post more from our adventures this past summer.
Until next formation....rest....like we did.
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