Cotton Speculation in Arkansas: Part III

Maj. Gen. Samuel R. Curtis, on more than one occasion, was accused by his men for having more interest in cotton speculation than in the welfare of his troops. After routing Confederate Maj. Gen. Thomas C. Hindman’s hastily organized force on July 7 as Hill’s Plantation, Curtis’s army reached Helena on July 12. Exhausted and nearly destitute, it took days for his meager force of 10,000 to dawdle in.

With the rebels being classified as traitors with the Confiscation Act of 1862, and Federal troops ordered to confiscation of their property, including the freeing of slaves, cotton grabbing became the main goal of the Union army at Helena and in other Federally held territory in the Western Theater. An Illinois captain, wrote of his displeasure, expressing what most Union soldiers probably felt, that their commanding officers were more interested in acquiring cotton than in the welfare of their troops:

We were moved on July 26th . . . [to] “Old Town Landing” . . . the most pestilential camp we ever occupied, and where the men of the regiment sickened and died by the score. There was no reason that we should be sent to that deadly place, except that we would be somewhat nearer the cotton area. How much of this “cotton collecting,” was done for the government and how much for private interests, I do not know, but from the fact that serious trouble on account of it came to a number of officers in high command [including Curtis and Steele], justifies the opinion that we were not doing very much at that time toward saving the country in this hard and dangerous service, and I know that I but reflect the feeling of every comrade when I say that every life that was lost in those expeditions was a useless and wanton sacrifice.

As the summer wore on, more and more Federal troops became increasingly angry when it became apparent that their officers had crossed the line between enforcement of the Confiscation Act and profiteering. This included Colonel Charles E. Hovey of the 33rd Illinois, as well as Wisconsin officers, and perhaps even Curtis himself.

Here are the issues I am dealing with: 1) Did Curtis (And perhaps Gen. Steele) keep Hovey and his Cotton Brigade in southeast Arkansas on purpose to hunt for cotton?  There are accusations that more could have been done to quell Hindman and the Rebels who would never lose some degree of control on the state, along with terrorizing its people for years.  2) Who profited from the cotton confiscating?  There is no doubt officers on the regimental level were making large sums of money. 3) What are the charges in human life, and not just for the soldiers, but for civilians and slaves.  Human life was lost for the exploitation of cotton so a few could get rich. 4) Col. Hovey of the 33rd Illinois has thus far been ignored for his clear role in this cotton effort, and this needs to be brought to historians attention. I have an article coming to me from the Arkansas Historical Quarterly by historian Earl J. Hess, which seems to be the only scholarly work on cotton stealing along the Mississippi across from Arkansas. I am hoping this will be a good jumping off point for more investigation.