Viewing the Holly Springs Raid from a Hospital Bed

On December 20, 1862, General Earl Van Dorn’s command surprised the Union garrison at Holly Springs, Mississippi and quickly seized this important depot of General U.S. Grant’s army. After rounding up the prisoners, the Confederates ransacked the town, liberating enough Yankee whiskey to get many of them “gloriously drunk.”

          One drunken officer ordered a building set fire where the Federals had stored their ammunition. “The flames speedily communicated to the adjacent buildings and to add to the confusion, the magazine blew up sending the burning fragments into all parts of the city. I was standing on the pavement some hundred yards off when the explosion took place. The concussion was so great even at that distance, I was thrown from my feet and every door in the almost was thrown from the hinges. Windows, sash and all were shattered into fragments of pieces of timber weighing a hundred pounds were found four squares from the scene of the explosion,” remembered one soldier of the 83rd Indiana.

          Van Dorn’s raid slammed the brakes on Grant’s Mississippi offensive and our correspondent acidly commented that “Colonel Robert C. Murphy was in command. He is the same man who was at the head of affairs at Iuka. The government will, I suppose, applaud him for the part he has taken and make a brigadier general of him!” Not quite, but his pithy letter first saw publication in the January 8, 1863, edition of the Aurora Journal. Two days later, Colonel Murphy would be cashiered for the Holly Springs debacle.

 

The explosion of the magazine at Holly Springs set a number of buildings afire throughout the town. Our correspondent, a resident in the army hospital, witnessed the conflagration until the risk of the hospital also catching fire led the surgeons to evacuating it. 

Holly Springs, Mississippi

December 23, 1862

          You are doubtless surprised to hear from this little village so soon after the raid upon us here but having some leisure time I thought I could give you some few particulars in regard to the “great battle of Holly Springs.”

          Last Saturday morning about daylight we were aroused from our peaceful slumbers by a tremendous cheering and going to the door, we perceived a force of cavalry scouring the streets in every direction. I went out and spoke to one and asked him what it meant when to my surprise he immediately ordered me to another part of the city where a large portion of our men were gathered together. You may believe I skedaddled back into the hospital as soon as I could.

          Concluding that we would enjoy our imprisonment as well on a full stomach as on an empty one, we ordered breakfast and while we were eating, they broke into the room and ordered us to fall in two ranks outside. In vain we pleased with them to let us finish our breakfast before we left but it would not do as they were in too great a hurry to wait. Before we reached the door, however, the surgeon put forward some point which the trooper could not answer and he left, saying he would see the General about it but never returned. Thus, we were rid of that customer.

          The hospital was examined some six or seven times by different parties and once the sick were all taken down to the dining room to be paroled. After burning the ammunition which we had, they went around to the cellars and got “gloriously drunk.” One captain, after getting in the how-come-you-so state, compelled a Negro to set fire to the building in which the ammunition was stored. The flames speedily communicated to the adjacent buildings and to add to the confusion, the magazine blew up sending the burning fragments into all parts of the city.

Colonel Robert C. Murphy, 8th Wisconsin Infantry
Commanding the garrison at Holly Springs, Mississippi in December 1862

I was standing on the pavement some hundred yards off when the explosion took place. The concussion was so great even at that distance, I was thrown from my feet and every door in the almost was thrown from the hinges. Windows, sash and all were shattered into fragments of pieces of timber weighing a hundred pounds were found four squares from the scene of the explosion. After the explosion, the imminent danger of the hospital catching fire induced the surgeons to vacate it for awhile at least and the sick were all safely conveyed into the street where they remained until about dark when, the fire having subsided, we returned to our old quarters.

While we were in the street, this same drunken captain came and was going to march us all to General Van Dorn’s headquarters, some of our men being unable to help themselves. Seeing me, he flourished a pistol over his head and swore he would take that youngster with the stripes on his arms, anyway. I own I felt like knocking him from his horse and had I possessed a weapon, he should have felt its power. As it was, however, I could do nothing. The surgeons managed to pacify him and he left us.

In the evening, the fire broke out anew and it was with great effort only that the hospital was saved. We worked near half the night trying to stay the progress of the flames. During the night, our cavalry returned and by 9 o’clock the next day, we had a pretty respectable force. They burned a large buildings which had been filled up for hospital purposes together with the depot and a large supply of sanitary goods, etc. The citizens helped themselves pretty liberally to the commissary goods which were in our possession and they looked rather blank when compelled to disgorge.

Colonel [Robert C.] Murphy was in command. He is the same man who was at the head of affairs at Iuka. The government will, I suppose, applaud him for the part he has taken and make a brigadier general of him! [H.S. underestimated the U.S. Army. Colonel Murphy was quickly court-martialed and cashiered effective January 10, 1863, about three weeks after the Holly Springs disaster.]

For another perspective on Holly Springs, please check out "A Yankee Sutler's View of Van Dorn's Holly Springs Raid." 

Source:

Letter from H.S., 83rd Indiana Volunteer Infantry, Aurora Journal (Indiana), January 8, 1863, pg. 2

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