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.
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