Amen.

Hey everyone, welcome to episode number 224 of our Civil War podcast. I'm Rich.

And I'm Tracy. Hello, y'all. Thanks for tuning into the podcast. As y'all recall last week,

we looked at the 12-mile running fight between the Federals and Confederates at Cain Hill,

which took place on November 28th, 1862, and we talked about how it set the stage for the battle of

pre-grove. Yep, I remember after driving off the foraging rebel cavalry, commanded by John S.

Marmaduke, Union General James Blunt decided to make Cain Hill, in the rural countryside of

Northwest Arkansas, the new base of operations for his Kansas division. But that meant he was

barely 35 miles north of the Confederate encampments along the Arkansas River. By contrast, Blunt's

only possible support, Brigadier General Francis Haren's two Missouri divisions, were over 100

miles to the north at Springfield in southern Missouri. So you see the danger, of course. Blunt

was now much closer to the Confederates than he was to any possible help from fellow Federals.

To complicate matters, not only was the Union Army of the Frontier divided, but it was

effectively leaderless. Its commander, John Schofield, was sidelined by illness as was James

Toughton, who led one of the two Missouri divisions. That left Haren in charge of the Missouri

divisions and Blunt in nominal command of the Army of the Frontier. But for all practical purposes,

Blunt's control was limited to his isolated Kansas division. Actually, Blunt and Haren both assumed

that in the near future, Major General Samuel Curtis, the Department commander, would order one

or both Missouri divisions to cross the Mississippi River and join Ulysses S. Grant's command.

So neither Blunt nor Haren attempted to stay in touch, much less planned for contingencies.

Meanwhile, throughout November, Confederate General Thomas Heinmann had been working to prepare

his command for another offensive. As y'all recall, the rebels had struck up into southern Missouri

...