Ninth Texas Regiment of Infantry

After action report -- Pea Ridge (Bentonville ARK), Oct. 26-28, 2007:

Gen. Van Dorn’s Oct. 1862 effort to drive the federals out of Arkansas and thence Missouri met doom when the lads of old made the efforts, and ours was similarly unsuccessful when we journeyed again to Bentonville AR this past October.

. ... Read on

Event montage, courtesy of Herb Shemwell and his talents!
The Battalion ( and the 9th) charge "The Hill" on Sunday, under its colors. The federal fortification is visible, on the right of the photo.
Messrs. Downey, Myers, and Keidel contemplating army life.
Mr. T Adams cleaning his rifle.
Mr. Andrews displays his spiffy brown bowler!
The Battalion's new guest, "Black Pearl", which made its attendance at the event painfully evident too early on Sunday morning.
Mr. Visser displays his enjoyment of army life.
Mr. R Matlacks wife, Leilani and new child Emma Rose, and Judy, Mr. J Matlack's wife, smile for the photographer.
The Battalion charges "the Hill" under its colors, leaving Mr. Lahey dead on the field (forground). The Ninth is visible to the right of the colors. Lt Col Williams is to the immediate left of the colors.
Color Sgt. Bell having gone down, Mr. Keidel takes over the job. The federal fortification is visible to the left.
Mr. J Matlack and his son David
Young Mr. Robbie Matlack, in a pair of light blue federal pants, cleans his rifle, unfazed by the fact that it is taller than he.
Captain Cox prepares his pistol for the afternoon battle. Mr. Visser is to the left.
The Federals blasting away behind reb casualties.
Col Amend, having called Mrssrs. Visser and Peiper out for chastising before the battalion, in fact applauds them for thier ingenuity.
Sgt Major Sutton enjoys a puff of baccy.
Cpl. Albert and Mr. Lahey ready for action.
Col. Amend and Lt. Col. Williams oversee the Battalion's line of battle.
Acting 1st Sgt. Downey enjoys a puff with his distinctive wind cap pipe.
Gen William Huckabee
The 9th, ready for action!
The 9th, in formal camp pose (missing T. Adams and M. Adams)
Mr. Shemwell presents Lt. Col. Williams a new battle flag.
Acting 1st Sgt. Downey inspects the men's arms.
Acting 1st Sgt. Downey inspects the men's arms.
The 9th's camp, behind a row of it stacked arms. Messr's Lahey and Shemwell appear behind the stacks.
Mr. Keidel, wearing a civilian cap, surveys the confederate camp.
Mr. Lahey is presented a Lincoln shield for his impression.
Mr. Visser and Mr. Peiper in camp
Cpl. Matlack and wife enjoy a quiet moment in the shad of a tent. Mr. Anspach and Cpl. Albert are seen the background.
Mr. T Adams displays the 9th's battle flag
Mr. Shemwell has taken a singular photo of the 9th advancing on the federal works, led by Major Albert.
Morning roll call, conducted by acting 1st Sgt. Downey.
Earlier in the morning, the 9th enjoys the fire.
The Battalion begins an assault (Photo courtesy of John Weir)
Having taken some casualties, the Battalion stands unbowed before the crowd (photo courtesy of John Wier)
Major Albert dresses the line (photo courtesy of John Weir) The Ninth is seen to his left.

The 9th with the Battalion has been to Bentonville at least twice before and had a great time, in 2003 and again in 2005

On the way down, we discovered the Bushwhacker Museum and Jail, in Nevada, and stopped to take the tour ($3 admission). While some of the exhibits there were from County history generally, they did have some Civil War and bushwhacker-related exhibits, and also some books, flags, and postcards for sale, and a number of free pamphlets, as well as an enthusiastic guide. Check out their website at http://www.bushwhacker.org/Default.html. (We elected not to stop, however, at the Precious Moments facility in Carthage.)

On site --

Present for duty:

Acting 1st Sgt. Downey; acting 1st Cpl. B. Albert; acting 2nd Cpl. R. Matlack; Pvt.’s M. and T. Adams, Andrews, Anspach, Keidel, T. Leahy, J. Matlack, Myers, Peiper, Shemwell, Visser, our special friend, Mr. Dave Jepsen, and your humble correspondent. Everyone was in good spirits and ready for a fight.

Of note, this was our biggest company of 9th men for all of 2007, and I appreciate the efforts of all to make the trip down.

Mr. Downey and the rest of the non-coms did an excellent job of stepping up to their acting jobs for the weekend.

Some of the other companies there in the Battalion were Captain Keith’s 4th Missouri, Captain Burnos’ 1st Missouri (ably led for the weekend by Lt. S. Montgomery), Captain Girdner’s 3rd Missouri, and Captain Kimmel’s 9th Missouri. The TMVI was present as well (see note below). Hope I didn’t leave anyone out.

Some of the so-called “hardcore” men were there, including Mitch, an old 9th man from back in the day.

Some of the federal units there were the 2nd Colorado, 8th and 10th Kansas, and the 1st US.

Numbers -- approx. 500 registered but that kept going up according to the event organizers

We discovered on our arrival that our new man Mr. Roy M. beat us in and set up his family for the weekend. Roy is a major in the regular army and just back in the States since March from Iraq. We salute his service in behalf of our country.

We also had a large smiling pumpkin and a smaller one carved out of a turnip by Sgt. Downey. While likely objects for target practice, both survived the weekend.

The weather on-site was a little chilly at night (there is a more colorful term for that in the 9th), but definitely tolerable, and very comfortable during the day. No rain. Morning fog. Some frost on Sunday morning.

We were to have three battles, including two on Saturday, one at 1:00 and the other at 4:00.

The 9th had the position of color company, second in the line of march. Our own Color Sgt. Bell, and the estimable Dave Jepsen of the 10th Missouri led the effort.

Sutlers included Fall Creek, James Country, Dixie Gunworks, Galla Rock, and some others, less well known to us. Our only complaint was the single food vender -- the cotton candy place. We also saw another old 9th man, Wayne Joplin, who has done his blacksmith impression for some years now.

Wood was plentiful and water was provided in plastic jugs. From what I could see, we were provided mostly hay, instead of straw. Porta potties were plentiful and as far as I could tell, kept clean and well-supplied. Parking was too close (we like to complain, at least until Sunday) approximately 100 yards from camp. Registration was quick and simple.

Excellent location, open grounds to fight, fringed by forested areas. Morning mists led to quite wet grass in the early am.

Friday night --

Some of the lads, obviously happy to be out of the office and into the wool and with their pards, got a little lit up on popskull and other beverages including Maker’s Mark and Wild Turkey. Col. Sanders and his pard Preston Sanders came around our fire and were quite entertaining as a kind of stand up tag team. We had some other more serious discussions that night.

Saturday --

Another sgt.-major stand-in attempted the job early on Saturday morning and while he did a creditable job, he fell short of the mark we are used to. On a related note, a black rooster, “Black Pearl,” was on-site and an amusement to the lads until he woke us up on Sunday morning with a persistent crow, even prior to Sgt. Major Sutton’s booming voice.

We got up and fixed breakfast -- the region is now many pigs down -- and got on with the day. Men late for forming up were greeted with the 9th’s traditional “golf clap.”

Mr. Matlack got in and he brought his wife Leilani, and son Robbie, and daughter Emma Rose. Also, Mr. Jon Matlack, a 9th man from back in the day, also came with his wife Judy and son Daniel. Jon is now living in Shreveport and will reenact down there and fall in with us -- we hope -- when he can. He may also be able to turn us on to some good events in the Tex./La. areas for those interested.

Mr. Peiper fried up some tasty pheasant, Mr. Anspach brought some delicious pickled okra compliments of Kim, and Gen. Walton provided a large apple pie prior to Sunday’s battle.

In addition to his usual duties entertaining the troops with his cuteness, at one point on Saturday, young Mr. Robbie Matlack suggested a weariness quite beyond his years when he allowed that he was “all bored out.” Nonetheless, we were glad to see that he is keeping his wooden rifle properly cleaned.

We had a short ceremony Saturday afternoon in which the Brigade was formed up for the TMVI to retire their colors as they are apparently ceasing to be an active, stand-alone unit.

Mr. Shemwell made a couple of special presentations on Saturday. One was a commemorative shield provided to Mr. Lahey for his Abraham Lincoln impression, and the other was a battle flag to Lt. Col. Williams.

We had a busy day on Saturday, including regimental and Battalion drill, a 1:00 battle, and another at 4:00.

Some of the federal cavalry made a show of coming over to our camp on Saturday and one of their mounts unceremoniously left us a pungent souvenir of the visit. Mr. Peiper later scooped it up, put it in a box, and took it back to them with an explanatory note of thanks but no thanks.

There were too many Rebs for the 1:00 battle, as we were cycling in and out. At one point, the Battalion charged the feds en masse but they gave as good as they got and one massive volley by them stopped us dead in our tracks.

We were asked to galvanize for the 4:00 battle, and the 9th did so without complaint. Our Arkansas brethren traded the job with us for the Sunday battle.

My part in the 4:00 battle was short. We marched to the designated location and formed a battle line when the Rebs began to come at us from a break in the tree line. We were blazing away when I determined to take a hit in my right sword hand. I threw the sword down and turned to the right to fall, putting my hands out in front to break the fall. Unfortunately, my sword landed hilt down and blade up, and it sliced through the meat of my left hand near the thumb, and the tip in fact poked through. Thanks to Messrs. Visser and Peiper and the Bentonville ER, I was patched up and back to camp by about 8 pm, nothing seriously injured except my pride.

In any event, after I went down, as I later found out, our brave lads were butchered by Reb canister.

Saturday, after the battle, most of the men went over to Roy M.’s family’s location and were treated to ham, mashed potatoes, green beans, and root beer. Roy’s wife came by later with a mixed fruit cobbler. Really sorry I missed that!

Even from my early bed on Saturday night, I could hear the fiddle virtuoso from the 4th Mo., our immediate neighbor. That lad was Jake S., a mere 16 years of age. According to Travis, our Battalion drummer, his dad used to reenact but stopped and so he fell in with Travis in the civilian camp, and recently came back as a soldier. He started playing fiddle when he went to Branson and saw a show. Travis says he is now one of the better fiddle players in the nation. From what I heard, I have no doubts and was greatly impressed.

I missed the usual good cheer (and stories) around the campfire on Saturday night and the Blueberry Brandy which was passed around.

Later on, Messrs. Visser and Peiper must have “accidentally” discharged some rounds near the hard core camp on Saturday because all hell broke loose, and those boys were apparently busy for some time thinking there was a mass of federals on them. Col. Amend called Visser and Peiper out during the Sunday morning parade ostensibly to discipline them, but they were, rather, unofficially applauded.

Sunday --

“Rounders” -- we won again, 7 to 6, over our Arkansas brothers. But a good time was had and no injuries.

The battle was on us shortly. There was a man from another regiment who was singing before, during, and after the battle, including most notably, the ditty of Little Liza Jane, which even the 9th picked up, with some lyrics modified for the event. Others sang “Dandy Jim” and (the potentially tongue-twisting) “Keemo Kimo” marching into battle (two of the songs done well by the Freestaters).

The Arkansas boys galvanized for today’s battle.

We knew “the Hill” was there from the first hour we were on-site, and saw the facade there of Elkhorn Tavern and knew at some point that such would be our object. And so we fell in and advanced on it.

We were generally always in range of the federal cannon, but at various times were able to take some respite under their fire by hunkering down under their line of sight. But the Hill was still there and the federals were on it, so what was our choice?

We drove up the Hill three times, once driving the federals from their fortifications only for us to be driven off in turn.

At one point, Sgt. Bell went down and our new man, Mr. Keidel, took up the flag and ably did the job. At another point, we lost a man near their works and Mr. Andrews went up to help him, but then made an ill-advised suicide charge into federal lead and went down.

I saw a couple of truly impressive hits. Mr. Lahey was hit by a ball that immediately killed him and drove him off his feet and back from the front rank and clean through the men in the rear rank and to my feet. Mr. Visser took a ball to his head or torso, went down on his knees, seemingly stunned, but in reality in the grip of a death throes convulsion.

When it was all over, the federals remained on the Hill, and the 9th suffered 80% casualties.

Now that was a most satisfying battle!

The trip home --

The trip home was, at least for your humble correspondent and his pards, uneventful. We looked in vain for our traditional Cracker Barrel, but had to settle for a Sirloin Stockade and their buffet.

Another year is down on the 9th’s great, continuing journey back in time, and we already hunger for next year’s events.

It has been a special privilege for me to serve the veterans of the 9th this past year, and I appreciate the help I have been provided and the leadership, commitment, and camaraderie shown by the non-com’s, and the rank and file.

Until we meet again on the field of battle, I remain your most humble and obedient servant,

Brian Cox
Captain, 9th Texas