As the patriarch of a prominent Union family in the Ozarks, John S. Phelps was one of the most important figures in the Civil War history of southwest Missouri. His experiences as a politician and soldier illustrate how complicated the war was in the bitterly divided Trans-Mississippi Theater. John however, was not the only member of his family to serve the Union cause. His wife, Mary Whitney cared for Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon’s body after the Battle of Wilson’s Creek, treated wounded soldiers after Pea Ridge and established a much needed orphanage in Springfield after the war. Their son, John E. Phelps commanded the 2nd Arkansas Cavalry (U.S.).

John S. Phelps was born in Simsbury in Hartford County, Connecticut in December 22, 1814.1 Phelps attended Trinity College, where he studied law. After graduation, he returned to Hartford and worked in his father’s law office. Phelps moved to Missouri in 1837 and eventually settled at Springfield, in the southwest corner of the state. He prospered in the growing town and in 1840 Phelps was elected to represent Greene County in the Missouri General Assembly. Just four years later, Phelps was elected to Congress and served in Washington for 18 years.

Unlike most of his neighbors, Phelps was a slaveowner. Phelps owned 10 slaves in 1860, a significant sign of his wealth and status.2 He was also a staunch Democrat who opposed wartime emancipation efforts. Although party affiliation and slave ownership did not affect the strong Unionism of him and his family, Phelps was concerned as the destruction of slavery became a goal of the Northern war effort. It also left him at odds with many of his pro-Union neighbors who were increasingly likely to be Radical Republicans during and immediately after the war.

Phelps was elected colonel of the Greene and Christian County Home Guards when the Civil War broke out. Authorized by Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon, Home Guard companies were important local defense forces. Lyon’s forces quickly secured the Missouri River Valley and drove the state government, including Governor Claiborne F. Jackson from office. As Jackson and the Missouri State Guard retreated into the southwest corner of the state, Phelps and his regiment provided important intelligence to Union commanders. Phelps wrote the Commanding Officer of U.S. Troops for Southwest Missouri on June 19, 1861, warning them that “Jackson will make his escape via Laclede & Texas Cos. Or via Benton & Jackson Cos.”3 He also commented on the difficulty the German soldiers were having in following orders, because they did not speak or understand English very well. Two days later, Phelps wrote Colonel Franz Sigel informing him that if he wanted to capture Gov. Jackson, he needed to send men to Neosho, Missouri immediately.4

Sigel met Jackson and the Missouri State Guard in a small battle at Carthage on July 5. Sigel was defeated and retreated back to Springfield where he was soon joined by Lyon and his command. The State Guard joined forces with Confederate troops from Arkansas under the command of Benjamin McCulloch and advanced on Springfield. Lyon attacked their encampment along Wilson’s Creek on August 10. Lyon was killed in the battle and as the Union army retreated to Rolla, Phelps’s wife, Mary Whitney, protected his body.5

The Greene and Christian County Home Guard was only a ninety-day regiment and when its enlistment expired, Phelps organized a new unit in September. Named for its commander, it was known only as Phelps’s Regiment and would serve for six months. Colonel Phelps led his command in heavy fighting at the Battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas on March 7-8, 1862. Although the troops fought well, Phelps’s regiment suffered heavy casualties and were driven back by a Confederate advance near the Elkhorn Tavern. Once again, Mary Whitney assisted the Union cause, this time by treating the wounded. She had followed the army on its advance into northwest Arkansas and was on hand immediately after the battle.

Pea Ridge permanently altered the strategic situation in Missouri and Arkansas. The battle forced Confederate commanders to seriously question their ability to hold the Trans-Mississippi Theatre. Soon, most of their troops had been transferred east of the Mississippi River. In July 1862, Col. Phelps was appointed the Military Governor of Arkansas by President Lincoln. As governor, Phelps was disappointed with the performance of General Samuel R. Curtis, the victor of Pea Ridge. Phelps complained that instead of occupying more of the state, Curtis led his army to Helena. From here the Federals controlled just a tiny fraction of the state, while officers openly speculated in the lucrative cotton market.6

Phelps’s status as a slaveowner was clearly evident during his administration. As they had in other parts of the South, slaves ran away from their plantations as the Union army approached. Curtis often granted them freedom with unofficial “freedom papers,” months before Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation would take effect. Phelps challenged the legality of Curtis’s actions and the slow movement towards Emancipation left Phelps out of step with a growing number of officers and the administration. Still a stalwart Democrat, Phelps found himself with few allies in Republican dominated Washington. Phelps’s controversial administration ended in July 1863 when his office was dissolved. In reality, Phelps had been sick during most of his tenure and was forced to remain in St. Louis.7

In 1864, Phelps returned to his law practice at Springfield. The next year he tried his most famous case, a successful defense of James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickok who had killed Dave Tutt in a duel on the Springfield square.8

Phelps returned to politics in 1868. Transformed by war, Missouri’s political landscape bore little resemblance to the time when he last held elected office. Now Missouri was bitterly divided between Radical Republicans and Conservatives. Since thousands of Missourians had been disenfranchised by the Iron-Clad Oath due to their Confederate sympathies, political participation was limited to Unionists. Radical Republicans dominated in the immediate post-war years, but a number of men like Phelps were still deeply Conservative, despite their commitment to the Union. Because of this, Phelps lost the election in 1868, but he was nominated again in 1876. By this time the Radicals had largely been driven from power and Phelps won. Phelps was a popular governor and when he left office in 1881, the St. Louis Globe Democrat wrote, “it will hardly be disputed that Missouri never had a better governor than John S. Phelps.”9

Phelps passed away in St. Louis, on November 20, 1886 and is interned at Hazelwood Cemetery in Springfield, Missouri. Phelps Grove Park in Springfield, Missouri is named in his honor.10

Contributed by Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield

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1. Lawrence O. Christensen, Dictionary of Missouri Biography. (Columbia: University of Missouri Press), 614; R.I. Holcombe, “Chapter 18: Biographies of Prominent Citizens,” History of Greene County, Missouri 1883, http://thelibrary.springfield.missouri.org/lochist/history/holcombe/phelps.html
2. Greene County, Missouri, 1860 U.S. Federal Census – Slave Schedules [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004. Original data: United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Eighth Census of the United States, 1860. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1860. M653, 1,438 rolls.
3. Phelps, John S. Letter to Commanding Officer of U.S. Troops for Southwest Missouri. Jun. 19, 1861. John S. Phelps Papers, WICR 31002, Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield, Republic, Missouri.
4. Phelps, John S. Letter to Franz Sigel. Jun. 21, 1861. John S. Phelps Papers, WICR 31003, Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield, Republic, Missouri.
5. R.I Holcombe & Thomas W. Adams, An Account of the Battle of Wilson’s Creek or Oak Hills. (Springfield: Greene County Historical Society), 96-104
6. Michael B. Dougan, “John Smith Phelps 1814-1886,” The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture, http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=4469
7. Dougan, “John Smith Phelps.”
8. “John Smith Phelps, 1877-1881”, Office of Governor, Missouri State Archives Finding Aid 3.23 http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/resources/findingaids/rg003-23.pdf
9. Dumas Malone, ed., Dictionary of American Biography Volume XIV. (Charles Scribner’s Sons: New York: 1934), 530.
10. Missouri Death Records, 1834-1910 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2008.