John R. Kelso’s Civil Wars:
A Graphic History - Episode 15
More on the text
Teacher, Preacher, Soldier, Spy, 167-86. This chapter’s account of the Battle of Springfield, and the events preceding it, is based on the dispatches and official reports of the Union and Confederate officers involved in The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, ser. 1, vol. 22, 178-211; “The Battle of Springfield, Mo.,” New York Times, Jan. 26, 1863, 2, by a reporter signing as “Kickapoo” who was at Fort. No. 4 during the attack; John N. Edwards, Shelby and His Men: Or, the War in the West (Cincinnati, Ohio: Miami Printing and Publishing Co., 1867), chaps. 8 and 9, by a Confederate major who was Col. Joseph Shelby’s adjutant; Return I. Holcombe, History of Greene County, Missouri, (St. Louis: Western Historical Co., 1883), 424-56, a detailed local history informed by interviews with some of the participants; and Kelso’s autobiography. See also Paul M. Robinett, “Marmaduke’s Expedition into Missouri: “The Battles of Springfield and Hartville, January, 1863,” Missouri Historical Review, 58, 2 (Jan., 1964): 151-73; Elmo Ingenthron, Borderland Rebellion: A History of the Civil War on the Missouri-Arkansas Border (Branson, Mo.: Ozarks Mountaineer, [1989]), chap. 25; Frederick W. Goman, Up from Arkansas: Marmaduke’s First Missouri Raid, Including the Battles of Springfield and Hartville (Springfield, Mo.: Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield Foundation, 1999); Larry Wood, Civil War Springfield (Charleston, SC: History Press, 2011), chaps. 10 and 11.
MAP CAPTION: Teacher, Preacher, Soldier, Spy Figure 9.1: The Battle of Springfield, Missouri, January 8, 1863. Drawn by Rebecca Wrenn. Map sources: “Plan of Springfield, Mo., Showing the Location of the Forts,” Record Group 77, National Archives and Record Administration, Washington, DC, in Frederick W. Goman, Up from Arkansas: Marmaduke’s First Missouri Raid, Including the Battles of Springfield and Hartville (Springfield, MO: Privately printed, 1999); Elmo Ingenthron, Borderland Rebellion: A History of the Civil War on the Missouri-Arkansas Border (Branson, MO: Ozarks Mountaineer, [1989]]), 262; Larry Wood, Civil War Springfield (Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2011), 106; Map: Battle of Springfield, Missouri, 1863, https://springfield1863.org.
More on the Illustration
This was a complicated one. There was so much information in the episode that seemed really vital for the drawing. My initial sketch didn't have a lantern, or the rebel ambulance wagon or the town in the background. Night scenes are a challenge, so I started looking up different artists, such as Frederic Remington, and how they handled them. The lanterns provided a light source but I could still indicate it was nighttime. I did other things to suggest what was happening—relaxing Kelso’s hand to match the moment, for example, because he was playing possum. I enjoy the size changes to create the illusion of depth—the hand and the head, the boots of the rebel striding over the top of him.