Brig. Gen. M. Jeff Thompson

Thus did the soldiers of the southeast Missouri militia meet M. Jeff Thompson, the stranger they had elected the day previous to command them in battle. Within a few months they would get to know him well, and he would likewise know them. Before year’s end Thompson would achieve wide notoriety as the “Swamp Fox,” and the men who followed him would be known as the “Swamp Fox Brigade.”

Who was this stranger? Born Meriwether Thompson in Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, on January 22, 1826, he was the fourth child in a family of six. Always gloriously independent and full of excessive energy, he attached himself early on to a local African-American named Jeff Carlyle. Soon family and friends jokingly called him “Jeff;” but he liked the name, and years later he would legalize the sobriquet. He was educated at an academy in Charles Town, Virginia, where he commanded the school’s militia company. The son of an army paymaster, and the scion of revolutionary war officers, Jeff longed for a military career. His applications to West Point and the Virginia Military Institute were denied, however, and he settled for clerking job in stores at various locales. He eventually immigrated to Missouri, settling first in Clay County, and, after he married Emma Hayes in 1848, in St. Joseph.

Over the next decade Thompson rose in stature in St. Joe through a combination of hard work, good common sense, and a likeable personality. Just about everyone liked Jeff, and by 1860 he was the mayor that dispatched the first Pony Express rider on his way to California. He prospered financially as well, as he surveyed railroads, organized a gas company, participated in railroad development, and engaged in real estate ventures large and small. Soon he was the president of a gas company and two railroads, secretary for another railway, the agent for a fourth, and head of the Catholic Benevolent Society. He was also colonel and inspector of the 4^th Military District of the Missouri militia. During these busy years Jeff also managed to father four children, three girls and a boy. Life was good for Jeff in 1860; he was successful, well to do, and popular in social circles. Unfortunately, the war that loomed just over the horizon would cost him everything.

Jeff Thompson was not initially a secessionist. In fact, he was a Whig who very much loved the Union, and he had studiously avoided taking part in the cross border raids that Missourians conducted to try and seize control of territorial Kansas. But John Brown’s raid on his native Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, in 1859 convinced him that the abolition of slavery would be dangerous for the South, and he decided that if the nation split asunder that he would stand and fight for his Southern homeland. After the gubernatorial election in Missouri resulted in the election of Claiborne Fox Jackson, Thompson repaired to Jefferson City to view political matters up close. He was not impressed with what he saw. He was disappointed at the legislature’s failure to reorganize the militia and put the state on a war footing. His disappointment only increased when the so-called “secession” convention met in March and voted overwhelmingly against secession. Thompson was convinced that the moneyed interests of the north had unduly influenced the delegates, and that the Southern element in the state had been “sold out.” He returned to St. Joseph determined to bolster the Southern cause at home.

Shortly thereafter came the news of the firing on Fort Sumter. Thompson assisted in mobilizing militia companies about St. Joe and began drilling them regularly. Then the excitement increased many fold when it was learned that on May 10, Union forces had captured the Missouri Volunteer Militia at Camp Jackson in St. Louis, and that an ensuing riot had resulted in the death of several civilians, including women and children. Upset by these developments, and bolstered somewhat by a bit too much whiskey, Thompson symbolically severed his ties to the United States when he climbed atop the post office in St. Joe and cut down the American flag.  The following day he left to cast his fortune with the South in his native Virginia.

En route he stopped at the state capital and visited with Governor Jackson and General Sterling Price, the commander of the newly created Missouri State Guard. They urged him to stay and assist in preparing the state for war, and he agreed to do so. While in Jefferson City, Thompson jokingly suggested that a good strategy to win a speedy and bloodless peace in Missouri would be to burn all of the breweries in St. Louis, thus depriving the pro-Union German element of beer. By that means, he said, they would all die within a week, and the Yankees would then run from the state. When Price entered into an agreement with the Federal commander in St. Louis on May 21 to maintain “neutrality” in the state, Thompson had his fill of Missouri politics. He determined to follow his original intent and proceed to Virginia. He could not resist one last encounter with the governor before he departed, however. Having gained an audience with Jackson, Jeff looked him in the eye and said, “Governor, before I leave, I wish to tell you the two qualities of a soldier. One he must have, but he needs both. One of them is common sense and the other is courage – and By God! You have neither. ”Having spoken his piece, Thompson stalked from the governor’s office and headed south.

Once he reached Memphis, Tennessee, Thompson lingered awhile. Unsuccessful in obtaining a place in a Confederate regiment being organized by Missourians there, he decided to raise his own regiment. Then, in mid-June, he heard that the “neutrality” agreement in Missouri had collapsed, that Union General Nathaniel Lyon has essentially declared war on Missouri, and that the previously vacillating Governor Jackson had called for 50,000 volunteers to rush to the defense of the state. Thompson quickly boarded a boat to Arkansas and then rode hard for Missouri. His chance to be a soldier was finally at hand.

Soon after Thompson arrived on the Missouri border, his military ambitions reached fruition. A battalion of infantry in Ripley County could not agree on a commander, and he was asked to assume command. Happily accepting the position of lieutenant colonel of four companies, Thompson drilled them, read the soldiers the articles of war, and arranged for a “hard shell” Baptist preacher to “pour the arrows” into them. He then moved the troops west toward Van Buren with the intention of linking up with General Sterling Price’s main army in southwest Missouri. However, Thompson’s military career took a new direction when developments elsewhere, or destiny perhaps, suddenly intervened.

General Nathaniel W. Watkins, the man appointed by Governor Jackson to command the fifteen southeast Missouri counties of the 1^st Military District, had decided to resign his position. He was sixty-five years of age and felt incapable of assuming a field command. Somehow, someone heard of Jeff Thompson’s proximity and dispatched a messenger with word that if he would come to St. Luke he would be elected as Watkins’ replacement. After obtaining a promise from his Ripley County boys that they would join him if he were elected general of the 1^st Division, Thompson hurried east to Stoddard County. Although known by only a few of the soldiers present, a bit of questionable “log-rolling” gave Thompson the position he coveted after a single ballot on July 25, 1861.

Thompson moved his soldiers to Bloomfield following his election, where he issued a call for volunteers on August 1.He asked southeast Missourians to “leave their plows in the furrows,” and “rush like a tornado upon our invaders.” Asking them to bring their own muskets with them, he promised them plenty of ammunition and “the cattle on ten thousand hills” for food. (A wit with a St. Louis newspaper noted that Jeff claimed the cattle on just nine thousand more hills than the Psalmist claimed as the Lord’s.) The call also averred: “We will strike our foes like a Southern thunderbolt. ”The proclamation was carried throughout the region and volunteers rushed to the state standard in large numbers.

True to his word, Thompson immediately started striking blows against Union forces and garrisons in his area of command. His cavalry troopers ranged far and wide throughout southeast Missouri, driving in pickets and threatening outposts. Small parties of Union troops were often engaged in small fights and many prisoners were captured. Thompson’s men might hit Charleston, or Cape Girardeau, or Fredericktown, the enemy could never be certain. He even captured a steamboat at Commerce. When Union forces were dispatched to engage the Missourians, more often than not they would discover that Thompson’s men had disappeared into the swamps and could not be found. It was a frustrating experience for the Federal troops; it was like fighting an invisible foe.

Thompson’s little army, which numbered somewhat over four thousand men at maximum strength, was a rather motley crew. Most were without uniforms and armed with such weapons as they brought from home, mostly shotguns and hunting rifles. It was hardly a “spit and polish” outfit, and in truth not a particularly well disciplined outfit. Thompson tried to instill discipline, however. He hanged four soldiers for stealing and had another one shot for desertion.

Since the Federals generally outnumbered his army, Thompson wisely decided that partisan tactics, or guerrilla warfare if you will, was the most viable method of contending with the enemy. As it happened, he seemed to have an innate talent for that kind of warfare, and the region’s geography, with its vast swamps, provided the type of terrain that made his tactics very successful. Observations by his enemies verify this, as demonstrated by the following

“That fox of a Jeff Thompson that we chased down to New Madrid last week, had the impudence to follow us right back….Jeff is a shrewd one, and the man that captures him will do a big thing….This thing of sending infantry after him is all bosh, although we tried it again yesterday.”

Another commentator perfectly described the advantages garnered by the Missourian’s use of partisan tactics:

“We cannot fight him on his own ground unless in his own way. He will not risk any general engagement if he can help it; the ground in which he is acting is exactly fitted for his operations and in no respect fitted for ours. He has with him a crowd of Missouri swampers who know every inch of the woods, lakes, creeks and swamps in that region; he is encumbered by no baggage trains and but little artillery; and he can move from point to point with utmost celerity, making a dash whenever he sees a chance, defying any efforts of our men to find him, or to follow him if they can find him…. Our officers ought to understand by this time that Thompson can be fought only in his own way of fighting.”

The Confederates likewise took an interest in Thompson and his command. One correspondent reported that the First Division operated in an area that was “intersected with impassable swamps and lagoons, which nothing could penetrate but bears, snapping turtles, and Jeff Thompson.” Another observed, “I never saw a man more anxious to fight than Jeff Thompson is to get at the Lincolnites …His plans are fully laid, and, depend upon it, he will give us some cheering news soon….” Another admirer penned a letter to a newspaper that said, “The daring of Thompson is only exceeded by that of his command, one and all whom know not fear – they are a great annoyance to the Cairoites, and are the best ‘picket pickers’ in the service. ”By September, a little over a month after assuming command of the First Division, Southern newspapers were referring to Thompson as the “Swamp Fox,” the Francis Marion of the second American revolution.

 In October Thompson was ordered to sever rail communications between Ironton and St. Louis. He rode ahead of 500 cavalrymen to Big River Bridge, captured the Federal company guarding it at daylight, and burned the bridge to ashes. He also cut the telegraph line and destroyed some of the railroad. He then proceeded to Fredericktown and joined about 1000 infantry he had ordered to that point. The Missourians gathered up 18,000 pounds of lead needed for ammunition and started it south. Learning that Union columns from Pilot Knob and Cape Girardeau were converging on his position, Thompson ordered a retreat to Greenville, and then reversed himself and decided to give the Yankees a “whack” before heading to safety. On October 21 Thompson’s little army engaged a Federal force that outnumbered his by three to one just south of Fredericktown. After over two hours of fighting, the Missourians were flanked and hurriedly withdrew towards Greenville. Thompson’s decision to stand and fight was ill-advised, as he violated the partisan’s principle of not fighting when outnumbered, and he had little to gain by making the fight. Fortunately, the battle did not cost him too many casualties, and his force retreated safely to Bloomfield.

The balance of the year was filled with more little scouting expeditions and small fights with pursing Federals. In early November, General Ulysses S. Grant sent three columns toward Bloomfield in an attempt to destroy Thompson’s force. As usual, the Union troops arrived only to discover that the Swamp Fox had once again escaped the trap and skedaddled to New Madrid. The Missourians were next ordered to build fortifications at New Madrid, an onerous task at best, and one definitely not to Thompson’s liking. He recognized his proper role and value to the Confederate cause in southeast Missouri when he noted that inside the fort he was only one man, while outside of it he was Jeff Thompson. He undoubtedly spoke the truth, but his orders were not changed.

Personal tragedy struck Thompson in late November when he learned that his wife had suffered a mental breakdown in his absence. He wrote letters to Generals Grant and Henry Halleck explaining the circumstances and asking that his wife be allowed to join him. No record of any reply from either general has been located, but Mrs. Thompson was not permitted to join Jeff at this time. While she was institutionalized, his in-laws provided care for his small children.

The State Guard disbanded in late December 1861.Recruitment began immediately thereafter for Confederate service. Although sorely disappointed in the initial turnout, for a majority of his men insisted on a Christmas leave before joining the army again, Thompson took some 1000 southeast Missourians to Memphis with him in April, 1862.He and most of his men were sent to Fort Pillow and employed as “horse marines” on the Confederate River Defense Fleet. They gave a good account of themselves at the successful engagement at Plum Run Bend on May 10.Some sixty of the men then volunteered to man the heavy guns on the ironclad Arkansas and served on that storied ship as it fought its way through a Union fleet to Vicksburg. Eventually, all of the troops were consolidated into existing Missouri Confederate units and Thompson was without a command. Ironically, even when he was not in Missouri his reputation alone could create consternation in the Federal command, as evidenced by the following:

"Jeff Thompson, the nightmare of every post commander on the Mississippi, is the commander of the rebel fleet just below us, yet the commandant at New Madrid this night lies in an unquiet bed, assured that the immortal Jeff is after him with those naked and starved swamp rats.”

Thompson spent much of the balance of 1862 mustering in partisan rangers and militia in Mississippi and Louisiana. He “played talent” upon Union General Benjamin Butler, commanding in New Orleans, by sending word that he intended to attack the city with overwhelming force, causing Butler to re-deploy his troops, but he was not engaged in any serious fighting.

What Thompson wanted to do, of course, was to lead troops into battle, and to do that he believed that he would have to have a Confederate commission instead of the state rank he held. However, despite his most persistent efforts to obtain a Confederate commission as a general he was invariably unsuccessful. That may be explained by the fact that he had not campaigned with the main State Guard army under General Sterling Price and was therefore somewhat of an unknown quantity to Price at that time, and also because southeast Missouri had no Confederate congressman at that time, and thus very little political influence. He hoped to remedy the situation by recruiting a brigade of cavalry in his old district.

In the spring of 1863 Thompson returned to the swamps of southeast Missouri. On one occasion he planted the rumor that he intended to attack New Madrid. The Union commander subsequently burned many of his supplies and abandoned the post. In late April he participated in an attack on a Federal outpost at Chalk Bluff that succeeded in capturing an entire enemy cavalry company that he sent to Little Rock as prisoners. Following General John S. Marmaduke’s fight at Cape Girardeau, Thompson offered his services on the retreat and assisted in building a rickety bridge over the St. Francis River that permitted the Confederate raiders to cross the overflowed stream and escape Union pursuit.

Thompson stood for election as commander of the 7^th Missouri Cavalry Regiment in July, but was decisively beaten by Solomon G. Kitchen. In August, he and his small staff were at Pocahontas, Arkansas.  He had established headquarters there prior to mounting a recruiting drive into southeast Missouri. But on August 22, Union cavalry surprised the unwary Confederates, and Jeff and most of his staff were made prisoners. He was shipped north for imprisonment in St. Louis. While at Ironton, en route to St. Louis, some of the soldiers of the 1^st Nebraska Infantry threatened to kill Thompson, but cooler heads prevailed, and the Swamp Fox was put on a train for the trip to St. Louis. His treatment greatly improved once he reached the city, for he was paroled on his honor not to escape and checked into a hotel. Newspaper reporters immediately interviewed him regarding his exploits, and published accounts of his many adventures in the army. He also saw fit to treat himself and guests to a sumptuous dinner that he brazenly charged to the Federal government.

Thompson spent the next year in various prisons, including terms at Alton, Illinois, Johnson’s Island, Ohio, Point Lookout, Maryland, and Fort Delaware near Wilmington. He was very popular with the prisoners and appears prominently in many prison memoirs. He spent much of his time writing fairly bad poetry and planning escapes. Some of the poetry was published, but none of the escapes ever reached fruition. At one point in time the general was selected as a member of a group of prisoners that were kept on Federal ships in Charleston harbor, South Carolina. They were to be exposed to Confederate fire in retaliation for the Confederates treating Union prisoners in a similar manner in Charleston. As luck would have it, after a few miserable, seasick days aboard the ships, the Confederate and Union prisoners were exchanged.

A free man again after nearly twelve months of confinement, Thompson took thirty days of leave and visited relatives in Virginia. He requested and received an audience with President Jefferson Davis at Richmond. While visiting the capital he received orders to report to General Edmund Kirby Smith, the commander of the Trans-Mississippi Department. Thompson proceeded west via Atlanta, where he saw and visited with many old friends in the 1^st Missouri Confederate Brigade, then entrenched with General John Bell Hood’s Army at Jonesboro, Georgia. Traveling on he made his way to Mississippi, and obtained a mule to ride from General Nathan Bedford Forrest. He and three companions successfully crossed the Mississippi River in canoes with their mounts swimming behind them. Thompson finally reached Monticello in southeastern Arkansas, where he learned that General Sterling Price had started north on a raid into Missouri. The Swamp Fox immediately started in pursuit of the invading column.

Thompson and his small entourage reached Ironton just as Price’s rear guard was leaving. After the bloody repulse at Fort Davidson on September 27, the Confederates abandoned a plan to move on St. Louis and were heading north and west toward the state capital. He rode on, seeking to catch up with the main column, and finally reached Price’s headquarters at nightfall some eight miles west of Potosi. With no command, or official position with the army, Thompson was for a few days just another of the many supernumeraries that tagged along with the invading force. It was not at all to his liking, as he was a man of action, and wanted to be in on the fighting.

On October 6, while General Jo Shelby’s “Iron Brigade” was forcing a crossing of the Osage River eight miles east of Jefferson City, Colonel David Shanks, the brigade commander, was seriously wounded. General Price issued an order giving Thompson command of the brigade. At long last the Swamp Fox finally realized his dream – he not only commanded a brigade of cavalry, he led what was generally considered the best brigade in Price’s army. The appointment was highly unusual, of course, for under normal circumstances, a person with a state militia commission would not be placed in charge of regular Confederate troops. Perhaps the reputation Thompson earned early in war prompted Price to make the appointment, but the matter remains somewhat of a mystery.