County of site: Wayne County
Location of site: Cemetery Rd., (Wayne County Rsd. 312B), S. of MO 34, pass house up hill to site, Patterson
The Person:
Brigadier General William Plummer Benton (USA)
"William Plummer Benton was born in New Market, Maryland on 25 December 1828. In 1836, he and his mother moved to Richmond, Indiana. From age 15, he spent two to three years in Cincinnati as a chairmaker. At 18, Benton enlisted as a private in the Mexican-American War and fought with gallantry in the mounted infantry at Contreras, Churubusco, Chapultepec, and Mexico City.
"He studied law and was admitted to the bar in Indiana in 1851. In 1852, he was elected district attorney of Wayne County on the Whig ticket and served until 1854. In 1856, he was elected judge of the Common pleas court. In 1855, Benton married Sarah A. Wiggins, daughter of Daniel A. Wiggins of Richmond. They had three children. In 1861, he wife died of consumption.
"Benton raised the first company from Wayne County following President Abraham Lincoln's call for 75,000 volunteers in 1861. He was its captain when the company became part of the 8th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment but was elected the regiment's colonel. He led the 8th Indiana is some of the earliest fighting of the war during McClellan's Western Virginia Campaign of 1861, including the Battle of Rich Mountain.
"The regiment was then ordered to Missouri. There are contradictions of whether or not he commanded a brigade at the Battle of Pea Ridge. While in Missouri, he was remarried to a war widow, Emma Adolphin Lenhart, after a ten-day courtship.
"In April 1862, Benton was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers and served with distinction at the Battles of Port Gibson, Jackson (where he was wounded), Champion Hill, Big Black River, and at the Siege of Vicksburg.
"He then served in various district commands with the XIII Corps in Texas and Louisiana throughout 1864, until he commanded a division in the campaign against Mobile, Alabama in early 1865. Benton was mustered out of the volunteer service on 24 July 1865. He was awarded a brevet grade of major general following the war.
"After the war, Benton was appointed the Collector of Internal Revenue in the City of New Orleans. However, he died of yellow fever on 14 March 1867." ~ Civil War Talk
The Place:
FORT BENTON
Patterson, Missouri
"A natural hill used as an outpost during the Civil War by the Union Army to defend against Confederate invasion from the south.
"Named for General William Plummer Benton, who was commissioned to fortify the fort in November, 1862.
"Purchased by the Wayne County Historical Society and supporters in January, 1999.
Placed on the National Register of Historic Places, October 2002.
"Dedicated November 1, 2003 in memory of those who gave their lives here, for what they believed. May this nation never forget the lessons learned from this conflict." ~ The Wayne County Historical Society, November 1, 2003
SUMMARY: Fort Benton, near Patterson, Wayne County, is significant under Criterion A in the area of
military. Constructed in late 1862, the earthen fort served two primary missions during the American Civil War: it supported an encampment of Union troops stationed at Patterson to secure the area against local Confederate guerillas; and it was one of a series of forts and camps in Missouri, including Fort Davidson (NRHP 1970) at Pilot Knob, fortifications at Cape Girardeau, and a smaller fortification at Bamesville (NRHP 1998), which were designed to protect Union Missouri from invasion from Confederate Arkansas. Fort Benton was the southern most fort in southeast Missouri and was be the first obstacle the Confederates would encounter in their attempts to take control of the state. While the fort supported a number of expeditions and scouts against local secessionist forces, it was less successful as a defensive bastion against more organized incursions by Confederate forces. Fort Benton played a key role in two Confederate invasions of Missouri, the 1863 raid by John S. Marmaduke, when it was abandoned by its
Union defenders, and the larger 1864 expedition led by Sterling Price, when it was again abandoned and
reported as destroyed by J.O. Shelby. However, the fort and post were once again reoccupied and
remained in use until the end of the war. This major fieldwork is the only one of its kind in Wayne County and is an excellent example of this type of earthwork construction employed by the Union army during the Civil War. Because of its condition, the fort may offer clues to many unanswered questions regarding its construction. The development of land by commercial ventures, neglect, looting and irresponsible care has taken a toll of works of this nature in other areas associated with the Civil War.
NARRATIVE: During the Civil War, the Ozark Highlands between St. Louis and northern Arkansas was a virtual no-man's land, where the rules of conduct which governed war in the eastern theater of the war did not apply. Like twentieth century Lebanon, Nicaragua, and Northern Ireland, the Civil War in Missouri consisted of neighbor fighting neighbor and brother fighting brother, and the loyalties of any one participant were liable to change with the winds of the war and local political stability, or instability, however the case might have been. The Ozarks of the nineteenth century were characterized by unforgiving topography; steep rock strewn hills, thick virgin forests of oak, hickory and pine, and deep narrow river valleys lent to a particularly brutal type of guerrilla warfare which produced notoriously vicious raiders on both the Confederate and Union sides. The vast majority of roads which traversed this wilderness were little more than deer paths that either snaked through the river bottoms or followed high hard ridges over the crests of the towering hills. These woodland routes, many of which had been used by Native Americans for centuries and Anglo-American hunters for decades, provided little more than a clear path for horse and rider, and contributed to the mounted guerilla [sic] style tactics that remained prevalent through the war. Small bands of mounted marauders would ride out of the deep hollows and attack the small scattered communities which dotted the region. Once the guerillas,[sic] the majority being Confederate partisans, had accomplished their goal of looting and destruction, they would simply ride off into the deep, silent forests, hiding until the time came when they could once more attack. This type of hit and run warfare also made travel between the populated areas of eastern Missouri and the Arkansas River valley
virtually impossible for Federal control of the country. The need for a Union military presence in the Ozarks was paramount, if the Civil War was to be won in the west." ~ NRHP Nomination Form