In January 1863, Thomas A. Moore had written to his wife Clarrisa (Pilcher) from Helena, Arkansas.  He had enlisted in the 33rd MO Volunteers and they were at this time situated seventy miles downriver from Memphis and 230 miles above Vicksburg. Prior to the war, Helena had been a busy agricultural and commercial center on the Mississippi River with a population of just over a thousand citizens, but in July of 1862 it had been taken over and remained occupied by Union troops under the command of Major General Samuel Curtis. 

The 33rd Missouri was camped near the river bank, and opposite of Helena was a crooked bayou reaching from the Coldwater called the Yazoo Pass. It had once been navigable for ordinary steamboats, but before the war a levee had been thrown across the pass on the east bank, and Grant had thought that by cutting through this and allowing the current to run along the old water way, he could float his army down the Yazoo’s mouth and end up near Vicksburg. 

Part of Tom’s company had been sent on this expedition, he being on a steamer which proceeded to Duvall’s Bluff where a lively engagement had taken place. The expedition lasted ten days upon which time the men had returned to Helena. 

In a letter of January 22nd to his wife Clarissa, Tom explained that the fleet had consisted of 37 boats and that they had gone as far up the river as Duvalls Bluff expecting a desperate fight, but that within a couple miles the fleet stopped and closed in on the fortifications only to find that the rebels had left the day before by rail to Little Rock. 

"We will transfer from this steamer to the Florence or Blackhawk this evening and then we will be hurried off to (slaughter) vicksburg to night or early morning we havea good deal of sickness, the men being caged up on Board like hogs …"

The fleet returned to Yazoo Pass toward the end of February again in hopes of severing the Confederacy and opening the Mississippi Valley and had moved down the river when their Ironclads opened on the Rebel Works. The gunboats fought, but could not take Fort Pemberton and retreated, then meeting reinforcements under the command of General Quimby who stated that they "would take Fort Pemberton or kill every man and sink the fleet trying."

By the month of May, the men at Helena had received notice to be prepared for an attack at any moment.  At daybreak on the morning of July 2nd, Tom’s camp remained under arms. The hills of Fort Curtis were not yet tinted with the dusky hues of morning when the alarm pealed out that the enemy was near. To "horse" was sounded and the camp, except for its sick and those caring for them, moved out beyond the levee above town. Their line of defenses extended for some four miles along the river and were encamped for five miles along the river front with the 1st Indiana Cavalry three miles below town on their left, and the 5th Kansas Cavalry one mile on the right above town. 

The Union batteries were close on their right thundering for an hour as they watched the exchange of fire between the batteries and the rebel artilleries some four hundred yards away on the hill. The Union infantry was in position with sharp-shooters on the hills when the 5th Kansas was ordered to dismount and support the guns on the right. The firing of muskets was a steady roll along four miles of the base of the hills, and the ridges were vibrating with the harsh melody. 

The Union was using their thirty pieces of artillery and the gunboat Tyler had turned her side into the rebels, shelling down whole squads of the Rebs who rushed over the hills and ravines.  By ten o'clock the battle had become a fury of shot and shell tearing through brush and tree top. 

The Rebels were commanded by General Holmes who had been so convinced that within an hour's time they would have taken the fort, that a concourse of citizens had followed in wagons in hopes of loading up on the victorious spoils. Instead, they had been in battle for hours and deciding something needed to be done, ordered Price's force (who was massed in the front) to charge. This they undertook with a wild yell of rage charging over sharp ridges and ravines, and fully exposing them to the deadly fire of Lieutenant Curtis's battery and others. 

The Rebs never blanched or faltered - not even when shell and canister swept them away and grape and shell shot fell like rain. They rushed on in a confused mass swarming over the hollows and ravines, and leapt into ditches where they began to club the defenders with their guns. This hand to hand conflict ensued for a few moments and the few heroic defenders retreated leaving their weapons in the hands of the enemy. 

Thinking they had taken the main fort when it was only an out-post in easy range of the fort and batteries, they were now exposed to a raining torrent of fire. The weapons that had been left by the gunners had been filled with shot minus powder and rendered useless, but the Rebs quickly attempted to reanimate. 

The Rebels had occupied the fort for about thirty minutes when detachments from the 32nd and 36th Iowa, and the 33rd Missouri made a simultaneous charge up the hill. Here they engaged in close conflict, driving the Rebs into the hollows and ravines to the cheers of the Union soldiers which could be heard along the base of the bluff. 

The Rebs were now hemmed in with cross-fire all about, and because the sun had come up with a blistering heat, some of them were without water in their canteens and were nearly dying of thirst unable to withdraw from the ravines with shell and shot keeping them from moving. 

Holmes ordered his reserves to advance and Price encouraged them himself. They charged, but finding themselves being hammered with grape and shell and cut off from the main force with no escape, they surrendered, disarmed, and were transported to Memphis while the battle raged on. 

About thirty Rebs who had captured a battery, took up position in an old "negro" church in attempt to pick off their gunners, but it soon was targeted and fired upon and half of the men were killed and the other half surrendered. 

Marmaduke's cavalry of 5,000 to 7,000 which had been a mile above them at Underwood's farm, was awaiting orders to charge.  Meanwhile, Shelby' brigade was holding the hills in their front and two or three of their batteries on the hills were firing on them with the woods to their right swarming with their sharp-shooters - in all they numbered close to 15,000. 

Union guns located in the curve of the levee afforded ample protection from the gunners while the Rebs cannons were fully exposed on the hill beyond. The Dubuque battery was admirably discharging incessantly and the fighting continued for at least four hours, slackening soon after 12 o'clock only to resume time and time again until the Rebel line of battle was finally silenced and driven from the hills by the Union batteries.  By 3 o'clock they were in full retreat on the Little Rock Road. 

It was said that when Price saw what remained of his ragged battalions straggling back, he wept like a child. They had done severe fighting at Corinth and had been whipped there and at Iuka and now nine-tenths of them had been killed. Had the Union had the proper forces at their disposal, they might have captured nearly all the Rebel army. Their loss in wounded, killed and missing amounted to 250, and of that number 50 had been killed while the Rebs tragically suffered a loss of ten fold more. 

The Union victory was a result of skill and forethought on the part of Generals Prentiss and Salomon who were ably assisted by Colonel Heath of the 33rd Missouri. It was said that his cool sagacity and skill in commanding the heavy batteries owed him much admiration. 

Listed in the "Killed and Wounded in the Missouri Democrat, - T.A. Moore, Co. K, gun shot wound over right temple, pronounced mortal." Left on the battlefield for dead, a passing soldier found a whisper of a breath in him and he was transported to a hospital in Memphis where he was later treated by A.T. Bartlett, Surgeon of the 33rd Missouri Infantry Volunteers. 

Bartlett, at the request of a reunion of the 33rd Missouri, wrote an account of some of the men whom he treated after the Battle of Helena. On March 20, 1890 he wrote: "Private Thomas A Moore's wound consisted in an extensive compound fracture of the anterior portion of the skull and a large section of the bone was removed long after the receipt of the injury. He has attended one or more of our reunions and is a forcible and touching reminder of what our country cost."

Thomas Anderson Moore returned home to his beloved Clarissa, worked as a carpenter with the Pilchers, the Kalbs and others the remainder of his life. He and Clarissa reared a large family, and after her premature death at age 44, Thomas was heart-broken.  He never remarried and died at the age of 76.  He had been the GAR Chaplain of Lyon Post No. 2 in St. Louis, Missouri, a devoted father and a man of depth and sensitivity.