White river valley

Guerillas, Jayhawkers, Bushwackers
From Elmo Ingenthron Manuscript


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Following the battles of Pea Ridge and Prairie Grove changes in methods of warfare in the upper White River Valley took place. Prior to this, regular army officers directed operations according to the rules and regulations of war. Civilian populations regardless of their loyalties, seldom suffered from or feared a soldier.

Now the rebellion became a civil war. Every man joined one side or the other or became a "bushwacker."

The detached units of the armed forces obeyed no laws and the officers sometimes failed to be soldiers. This was guerilla warfare.

The term guerillas often referred to detached units of the regular armies operating as predatory bands behind the army lines or in areas of dispute. The term "bushwacker" applied to those who swore no allegiance to either side and often united into bands of outlaws preying on both sides. The term "jayhawker" once applied to predatory bands in Kansas, but through common usage came to be applied to anyone doing looting. As the Civil War progressed in this region "guerilla," "bushwacker," and "jayhawker" became synonymous in their meaning and usage. The term "bushwacker" was perhaps the most degrading and was often applied to anyone practicing the art of ambushing. "Jayhawking" became synonymous with stealing and was often used by commanding officers of both sides in their orders forbidding looting by their troops. Toward the end of the great conflict there were really just two classes of people, those loyal to their own side and the enemy.

Farmers occupied the upper White River watershed. They depended on the lands to provide food and clothing. The dye for the cloth for which the women spun the thread, wove the cloth, and made the garments came from the hulls of the butternut, a species of walnut. During the rebellion they had no other color.

Often outsiders, especially the soldiers from Illinois and Iowa, referred to the people as "Butter Nuts." So did the newspapers and reporters.

After General Herron’s command moved to Forsyth, a continuous flow of "butter nut" refugees came to the Union garrison. This is according to the diaries of Benjamin F. McIntyre and C. W. Huff. They note on March 6, 1863, concerning families from as far as Searcy, Ark., "never saw such large families of children as they bring. None of them have less than six and some number as high as 15 ... They come to us muddy, wet to the skin and nearly frozen

An 1883 history of Greene County says, "There were hard times …among all in Southwest Missouri. The Confederate sympathizers were preyed upon by’ those among the Federal soldiers that were vicious and unprincipled…the lot of the Union families was but little better.

Col. Weer, encamped at Carrolton, Ark., said "The Union people here are in deplorable condition, robbed of everything, the men secreted in the thickets to save their lives. The guerillas will shoot every Union man they see.
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