Amidst “torrents” of rain, the Union troops charged the farmhouse and captured Jones and several of his men, along with nine horses. Jones and his men were caught off guard but, from the protection of a house and surrounding log structures, managed to fire a volley at the Union troops as they approached. Seley immediately sent three companies to the farm of “one McKinney” about four miles west of Smithville where Jones and his men were taking shelter. (Some sources say the camp was at Smithville rather than at Milligan’s campground near Strawberry, although it is common for records to refer to Smithville, a key reference point for the area, to encompass the broader geographical area, including Strawberry-which was not yet founded as a town at this time.) Seley sent a company of fifteen men into the countryside to obtain some cattle to feed the soldiers and to “assist a Union man with his family and effects into camp.” En route back to camp, a woman sympathetic to the Union warned the Federal troops that a Confederate force of about 100 men was pursuing them and informed them of the enemy’s whereabouts. Seley’s Union force established an outpost at Cumberland Presbyterian minister John Milligan’s campground (near the present-day town of Strawberry in Lawrence County) about ten miles southwest of Smithville, and another at a farm about four miles east of the town. Jones of Smithville (Lawrence County) about four miles west of the town, resulting in a Union victory. On June 17, companies D, F, and L of the Fifth Illinois engaged a Confederate contingent of Coleman’s Regiment, Missouri Cavalry, under Captain Wiley C. Seley was sent to the vicinity of Smithville, the seat of government for Lawrence County and a strategic location along the Military Road that connected to Batesville and Evening Shade (Sharp County). From there, a battalion of the Fifth Illinois under Major A. There, Curtis divided his force in the region, and the Fifth Illinois Cavalry (US) moved into Pocahontas (Randolph County) from Doniphan, Missouri, to reinforce a Union division under General Frederick Steele. Jones (CS)įifth Illinois Cavalry, companies D, F, and L (US) Captain Wiley Jones’s mounted company of Coleman’s Regiment, Missouri Cavalry (CS)ġ killed, 2 mortally wounded, 5 slightly wounded (US) 1 killed, 2 wounded, 12 captured (CS)Īfter securing Missouri for the Union by routing the Confederate Army of the West at the Battle of Pea Ridge in March 1862, the Union Army of the Southwest under General Samuel Curtis moved into northeast Arkansas and occupied Batesville (Independence County) on its mission to capture Little Rock (Pulaski County).

Skirmish line torrent