Killed In Mexico Unrepentant

Confederate Officer Mosby Monroe Parson received his commission to Brigadier General November 5^th 1862.

Mosby Monroe Parson was born May 21^st 1822 in Charlottesville, Virginia, the oldest child of Gustavus Adolphus and Patience Monroe (Bishop) Parson.  His family moved to Cooper County, Missouri when he was thirteen, finally settling in Jefferson City, Missouri.  He worked in his father’s brickyard, to pay tuition at St Charles College.  Parson read for the law with Judge James W Morrow and passed the bar, becoming a lawyer in 1846.  When the Mexican American War started he served with the rank of Captain with the Cole County Dragoons and was cited for gallantry at the Battle of Sacramento.  He returned to Missouri after the war and served as the United States District Attorney for western Missouri as well as in the Missouri State Legislature.

When the Civil War started Parson took an appointment to lead the Sixth Division of the Missouri State Guard.  He led his men in the Battle of Wilson’s Creek.  After this action, Parson went to Richmond, Virginia to try to get an appointment in the Confederate Army.  He received a commission on November 5^th 1862 to Brigadier General, and one month latter was leading men at the Battle of Prairie Grove.  He would see action at Helena, Arkansas, and in putting down Union Major General Nathaniel Bank’s Red River Campaign, the Battle of Pleasant Hill, and the Battle of Jenkins’ Ferry among others.  He finished the war in the Trans Mississippi Department under Confederate General Kirby Smith, as the commander of the District of Arkansas.

After the Civil War was over Parson didn’t return to Missouri, but went to Mexico, planning to join up with Confederate General Joseph O Shelby.  While in Mexico, he along with former Confederate Congressman Aaron H Conrow and Parson’s brother-in-law Confederate Captain Austin M Standish were taken captive by Mexican Juaristas cavalry, and executed on August 15^th 1865 near Chino, Mexico.  Their bodies were thrown into the San Juan River.  There is a marker for Parson in the Maplewood Cemetery in Charlottesville, Virginia.

They Got Across The River

Major General Frederick Steel

Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith caught up with Union General Frederick Steel's force on April 30th 1864, bring on the Battle of Jenkin's Ferry.

After having been slammed at Mark’s Mills and Poison Spring, and being low on supplies, Major General Frederick Steele’s Union forces were in retreat from Camden, Arkansas. On the afternoon of April 29th 1864 they began crossing the flooded Saline River at Jenkin’s Ferry. On April 30th the Confederate’s caught up and made repeated attacks on the Union troops. The Federals fought off the attacks and managed to cross the river with men and supply wagons. General Edmund Kirby Smith’s Confederates lost the last chance to destroy Steele’s army due to his army being deployed piecemeal. They failed to hit the Union’s vulnerable left, choosing instead frontal attacks, which devastated Kirby’s men.

Both armies had high casualties, with the Confederates reporting 443 dead, wounded or missing, and the Union side reporting 521 casualties. The battle is still consider a Union victory as they held back the Rebel’s until they could cross the Saline River. The Union troops continued to retreat toward Little Rock, Arkansas.