Civil War Era New Madrid, Missouri

In 1862, New Madrid, Missouri, had 85
businesses and two hospitals.

When 1st Lt. Louis Boedicker, 2nd MO. Art., Army Engineer, drew this map in March 1862. The Confederates still controlled New Madrid and Island Number Ten. The town was the county seat of government, it had 85 active businesses, two hospitals, and a thriving Port of New Madrid, and its citizens enjoyed freedom from the Union troops. Few people understand that Missouri saw more than 1,200 engagements within its boundaries when you count minor actions and skirmishes. Only Virginia and Tennessee exceeded this total. The movie "Gone With the Wind" implies that the Civil War was only fought in the Deep South. Missouri, Kentucky, and Tennessee citizens suffered much throughout the war. In my opinion, the high action in these three states was primarily because of the intense loyalty of its people to both sides. Even those citizens who supported remaining in the Union resented the invasion of Union Troops into Missouri and other border states.

Missouri was essential to the Union and Confederacy because of its strategic location on the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, natural resources, and manpower.

Missouri experienced some of the most violent conflicts of the Civil War, and its people came to symbolize the tragedy of the nation's divisive struggle. The fighting in Missouri was unique in the American Civil War. They experienced arson, murder, robbery, torture, and more from Bloomfield to Commerce, Cape Girardeau, and Jackson to Fredericktown, Benton, Bertrand, New Hamburg, and Sikeston. Citizens in Southern Missouri received more violence than other sections of the state, but the Kansas City area also suffered heavily. Often, local deaths were not among the numbers tallied as war deaths. All Missouri citizens experienced events from destructive guerrilla fighting, murders of neighbors, raids, and the pursuit of outlaws through their property, to the hunting down of Southern sympathizers. This was topped by citizens fearing Federal scouting parties across the state. Growing up in Southeast Missouri, I felt the recurring hatred of one generation to the next but failed to understand what I witnessed. Anger was prevalent toward the Germans in northern Scott County, above Benton Hill, who turned in Southern sympathizers, and Blacks just because of the color of their skin. Rebuilding and recovery were slow following the Civil War. After one hundred years, flames of passion still flared up from time to time. The divisiveness appears to be softening, but much healing is still needed.

This map shows a few of the battles
 fought around New Madrid, MO.

One minor battle in Southeast Missouri was near Belmont, across the Mississippi River from a Confederate stronghold at Columbus, Kentucky. November 6, 1961, Gen. Grant moved by riverboat from his base in Cairo, Illinois, to attack the small outpost near Belmont in Mississippi County, Missouri. (As information, Belmont is only 37 miles from Sikeston and 36 miles from New Madrid.)  Grant landed his men north of the camp and marched to Belmont. Grant's troops overran the surprised Confederate camp and destroyed it. However, the scattered Confederate forces quickly reorganized and were reinforced from Columbus, Kentucky. They were counterattacked, supported by heavy artillery fire from across the river. Grant retreated to his riverboats and took his men back to Paducah, Kentucky. Both sides declared victory. The battle was relatively unimportant, but with little happening elsewhere at the time, it received considerable attention in the press, and a Union General engaged the Confederates was well received in the North.

In mid-February 1862, some seventy miles south of Cario, Gen. Grant's Union troops captured Fort Henry on the Tennessee River. A week after winning Fort Henry, Grant marched his troupes twelve miles cross-country to Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River. After five days of fighting, the Confederates asked for terms of surrender. Grant demanded "Unconditional Surrender" from the commanding officer, and he got it. Both these forts were near the Kentucky-Tennessee border, only 135 miles overland to New Madrid, and about 45 miles less using a ferry to cross the Mississippi  River. The solid wins for Union forces led to the promotion of Big. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant went from an obscure officer to the rank of Major General.

Once these forts fell to the Union, the town of New Madrid and Island Number Ten, which stood about ten feet above the Mississippi River water line and just north of New Madrid, became the confederate solid point for defending the Mississippi River. It was a long battle turned siege, lasting from February 28 to April 8, 1862. Unfortunately, there is not enough space on this Blog to address the critical role Island Number Ten and New Madrid played in the war. However, many books are available on Island Number Ten and New Madrid during the Civil War. I encourage you to read one or two to better understand their pivotal role in the American Civil War.  

After the Confederates surrendered New Madrid, its citizens left the town for anywhere they could find a family to house them or work to support their families. Businesses were forced to close their doors until the war was over. I read in a statement from the General who took New Madrid that the only people found in the town were old men, women, and a few public officials running the County Courthouse.

To conclude this segment, we look at what happened to William Cline's children, starting with the marriage of Elizabeth to Theopholis Verlaque in 1856.  

William Cline's Life in New Madrid

In 1979, I began searching for the immigration document showing the ship that carried my great-great-grandfather Carl Wilhelm "William" Cline from Germany to the United States.  I have yet to locate the elusive record, but I am getting much closer to discovering his birthplace and the Port of Destination and Passenger List.

Meissen China Mark
on back of Cline China.

We don’t know what other items William Cline brought over from Germany; however, we know he brought some Meissen china with the mark shown here.  This manufacture mark was on the back of the Cline Meissen China.  Research shows that China with this mark was made between 1773 and 1814.  Dad’s grandmother, Anna Eliza Blount Kline, told him she inherited the china from her husband’s family.  Most of the china was destroyed in the 1926 Cline house fire in Morehouse.   

I had the pleasure of opening the tin box with all William Cline's probate records in the New Madrid County Court House in 1988.  I found the inventory of his household which included a safe.  I can only speculate that the safe was used in his grocery business.    Other documents included the receipt for his funeral and an interested deed outlined below in 1857.    

Carl Wilhelm "William" Cline (Klein) was born on May 27, 1807, in Schwelm, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.  His father, Peter, was 18 and his mother, Maria, was 20 at the time of his birth.  This information was obtained from one of the many databases at the Morman Family History Center at Little Rock in 1995.  I found it while searching in the book, Germany Selected Births, and Baptisms, 1558-1898.  He immigrated to America and settled in New Madrid at about the time the state of Missouri was admitted into the Union on August 10, 1821.  He married Nancy Cox in late 1834 or early 1835. They had five children in nineteen years.

Without a written diary, it is impossible to know what the family life of William and Nancy Cline was in early Missouri.  Based on what we know from other historical documents written on the first half of the 1800s, most families lived in a small square log cabin, worked long hours hunting, fishing, and cultivating the land for a garden.  The women were responsible for helping her husband as he needed, made clothes for everyone in the family, tended to the cow and other farm animals, taught her children how to read and write, then cared for the family's spiritual needs as well. 

The 1840 Census of New Madrid County, Missouri, his name was "Clyne," and he was married with one son under the age of five (unnamed and died before 1850), and one daughter the age of five (Elizabeth).  

In 1850, he was still living in New Madrid County, he listed his occupation as a hunter, and was a landowner.  His family had added a second daughter (Mary Jane) in 1848.  This date for Mary Jane's birth is different than other sources, but as the Census is the closest primary source found, I deferred to this date of 1848.

Inside the tin box holding William Cline's probate records, I found a surprise.  There was a transfer deed inside where he sold two slaves to Shapley R. Phillips on 20 Oct. 1857, for sixteen hundred dollars.  One was a negro boy, fourteen years old, standing five feet two inches high, and called Shatrick.  The other, a female, was known by the name of Lilly, twenty-six years of age, and of a very dark complexion.  This was surprising because most German in Missouri were against slavery of any kind.  Perhaps the woman helped keep up the house and care for the children after William's wife died.  It is interesting that the sale occurred a year after his eldest daughter married and moved from his house.  The young boy could have been related to the woman and used to do odd jobs in the grocery store.  This deed and other legal documents show that the family had the means to live a good life.

In the 1860 Census of New Madrid, recorded William Cline as a widower with four children living at home.  It showed his occupation as a Grocer.  The trade listed confirms what family tradition always reported, that he owned and operated a grocery store and sold whiskey.  In reviewing the 1860 New Madrid Census Slave Schedule, I found William still owned one female slave, age twenty-eight.  Sadly, no names of the slaves are listed on Census Slave Schedules.
  
The 1870 Census of New Madrid County, Missouri records William Cline, age 61, a widower, living with his youngest child, Louisa Cline, age 15, in the town of New Madrid.  A lot happened between 1860 and 1870 in New Madrid.  We will look at just some of what happened next week.  Then, we will conclude this segment by looking at what happened to his children, starting with the marriage of Elizabeth to Theopholis Verlaque in 1856.  I believe you will find it interesting.