Hartville was a Civil War engagement fought in Missouri, 1863. It was a Confederate victory.
John S. Marmaduke led a Confederate raid into Missouri in early January 1863. This movement was two-pronged. Col. Joseph C. Porter led one column, comprising his Missouri Cavalry Brigade, out of Pocahontas, Arkansas, to assault Union posts around Hartville, Missouri. When he neared Hartville, on January 9, he sent a detachment forward to reconnoiter. It succeeded in capturing the small garrison and occupying the town. The same day, Porter moved on toward Marshfield. On the 10th, some of Porter's men raided other Union installations in the area before catching up with Marmaduke's column east of Marshfield. Marmaduke had received reports of Union troops approaching to surround him and prepared for a confrontation. Col. Samuel Merrill, commander of the approaching Union column, arrived in Hartville, discovered that the garrison had already surrendered and set out after the Confederates. A few minutes later, fighting began. Marmaduke feared being cut off from his retreat route back to Arkansas so he pushed Merrill's force back to Hartville, where it established a defense line. Here, a four-hour battle ensued in which the Confederates suffered many casualties but compelled the Yankees to retreat. Although they won the battle, the Confederates were forced to abandon the raid and return to friendly territory.
On January 11, 1863, fighting broke out at Hartville in Wright County, Missouri, an engagement that formed part of the Civil War and occurred during John S. Marmaduke's initial push into the state.
In early January 1863, Marmaduke pushed a Confederate raiding force into Missouri, splitting his effort into two separate thrusts. One column, the Missouri Cavalry Brigade under Col. Joseph C. Porter, departed Pocahontas, Arkansas, aiming to strike Union outposts in the vicinity of Hartville, Missouri. As Porter's men drew close to Hartville on January 9, he pushed a detachment ahead to scout the area, and this advance party managed to seize the modest militia garrison stationed there. That same day found Porter pressing onward toward Marshfield. By January 10, a portion of his men had struck additional Union positions nearby before finally linking up with Marmaduke's column just east of Marshfield. Word had reached Marmaduke that Union forces were converging with the aim of encircling him, prompting him to ready his men for battle.
Meanwhile, on January 10, Col. Samuel Merrill led a Union column marching from Houston, Missouri, to bring relief to the threatened garrisons. Reaching Hartville that morning, Merrill's troops learned the small garrison had already fallen, so they turned their march toward Springfield instead. That night they made camp along Wood's Fork of the Gasconade River. Then, in the early hours of January 11, Porter's advancing Confederates ran into Merrill's scouts, and skirmish fire broke out between the two sides.
Convinced that multiple enemy forces were closing in on him, Marmaduke redirected the columns of Porter and Shelby onto a different route heading for Hartville. Merrill, catching sight of this maneuver, took his men straight into Hartville instead, settling them into a formidable defensive spot on elevated, sheltered terrain just west of the courthouse. His line stretched across 650 yards, backed by no reserves whatsoever. When Shelby and Porter brought their brigades against this position, they found it too well established to break.
Confusion then entered the fight when Lt. Dick Collins, watching from the bluff on the town's eastern side, apparently mistook what he saw and reported a wagon train heading toward Lebanon Road, suggesting the Federals were pulling back. Acting on this, Porter formed his men into column formation to chase down the enemy he believed was retreating.
Instead, his advance ran into concealed troops of the 3rd Missouri and 3rd Iowa, positioned on the far left of the Union line and armed with Sharps Carbines capable of firing four to five rounds each minute. The Confederate advance fell into disarray under this fire, and the fighting shifted eastward as Shelby's men pushed forward to reinforce Porter's struggling command. Across roughly four hours, the Confederates launched several attacks, but Union defenders turned back every one. In the end, Merrill pulled the bulk of his force out, though a portion, about a third, under Lt. Col. Dunlap never got word of the withdrawal and stayed put on the field until darkness fell.
As dusk fell, troops on each side watched their opponents pull back from the battlefield, and each army subsequently insisted it had won. In truth the outcome defied easy judgment. Union commanders believed they had beaten back Marmaduke's attacks and inflicted severe losses on his men, yet their own troops had ultimately abandoned the ground. Confederate leaders saw things differently: Marmaduke had managed to bring his scattered force back together and open a path for retreat. He also established a field hospital within the town and, for a short while, held nominal command of the field. Even so, he found himself forced into a hasty withdrawal toward Arkansas, followed by a grueling march to reach winter quarters. The frontal charges had also cost the Confederates dearly in leadership, claiming the lives, either immediately or from mortal wounds, of brigade commander Colonel Joseph C. Porter, Colonel Emmett MacDonald, Lieutenant Colonel John Wimer, and Major George R. Kirtley.
Beyond the battle itself, the raid threw Union operations across the region into turmoil, leaving several small garrisons overrun, wrecked, or simply given up. Still, the depot at Springfield, one of the campaign's central targets, stayed firmly under Union control. Yet the raiders' ability to slip away successfully hinted at a deeper problem, revealing just how exposed Missouri remained to swift Confederate incursions.
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