The Architecture of the Arkansas Ozarks - Donald Harington [70]
This was what Jacob was waiting for, but as soon as Major Melton had gone, he addressed his men, saying, “Boys, now listen to me good. I don’t want there to be no killin. You know what I mean? Okay, let’s go!” and he led his men out in search of John Cecil’s Rebels. For three months Jacob’s cavalry scoured the wilderness of Newton County, hunting and finding Rebels. Such was their marksmanship that they could fire at a Rebel and knock his weapon from his hands, or chip a boulder near his head to nick him with, or break a tree branch to fall upon him, or splatter mud in his face, or shoot his horse out from under him, or in various other ways annoy, harrass and slightly injure him. Of course the Rebels were equally good marksmen themselves, and they too had no desire to kill but only to make noise and annoy, harrass and slightly injure the Federals.
For three months the opposing forces fought one another all over Newton County, and only one man was killed—when he foolishly tried to yank his opponent’s weapon out of his hands, causing it accidentally to discharge. Most all of these men, Rebel and Federal, were cousins or in-laws or even, like Jacob and Noah, brothers. One of Jacob’s sergeants, Sam Cecil, was the younger brother of the Rebel leader himself. Sam Cecil had no more interest in killing John Cecil than Jacob in killing Noah. But when General Melton in Springfield learned that three months of fighting had produced only one fatal casualty, he was sorely displeased, and he dispatched his brother Major Melton with a shipment of heavy artillery. Major Melton remained long enough with Jacob’s men to instruct them in the deployment of cannon, and left Jacob with the general’s stern command: shoot to kill.
It is difficult to fire a cannon without killing or grievously injuring the enemy, but Jacob’s artillerymen practiced diligently and in time learned how to fire a cannon so that it would cause a tree limb to fall upon the enemy or splatter mud all over him, or at least make him wet his pants in fear. The best thing about cannon was the noise they made, and it was the noise of war, rather than killing, which the men enjoyed, and which relieved them of their need to kick posts or dogs or slam their fists into their palms. There were many men and boys who wanted to join Jacob’s army but had no horse or suitable riding animal, so Jacob created a regiment of Infantry Volunteers and promoted his son Isaac to captain and placed him in charge of the infantry. With both cavalry and infantry, Jacob could engage the enemy in a pitched battle instead of mere raids and skirmishes, and the only Newton County battle that made the history books was the Battle of Whiteley’s Mill, near Boxley in the western part of the county.
Capt. Cecil’s spies learned of the planned attack in advance, and his Rebels were reinforced by other guerrilla bands from neighboring counties, so that the Confederate strength was nearly 250 men, the same number that Jacob commanded. Jacob’s artillerymen rolled their cannon up onto a ridge overlooking the valley in which the Confederates formed their battle line, and, at a signal from Jacob, began firing their cannon in such a way as to splatter the enemy with mud and make him wet his pants in fear. Then Jacob charged the line with his cavalry from one side while Isaac brought up his infantry regiment from the other. For more than two hours the battle raged, tooth and nail. Jacob’s artillerymen blasted every tree in the valley, and the battle would have gone on longer except that the valley became overcast with a dark veil of gunpowder and smoke that blotted out the sun, and the men were choking from the heavy odor of it. Jacob assessed the situation and the casualties: one of his men had his horse shot out from