The 13th Missouri Cavalry Regiment was a cavalry unit that served in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. In early April 1863, Captain Robert C. Wood, aide-de-camp to Confederate Major General Sterling Price, was detached to form an artillery unit from some of the men of Price's escort. Wood continued recruiting for the unit, which was armed with four Williams guns, and grew to 275 men by the end of September. The next month, the unit fought in the Battle of Pine Bluff, driving back Union Army troops into a barricaded defensive position, from which the Union soldiers could not be dislodged. By November, the unit, which was known as Wood's Missouri Cavalry Battalion, had grown to 400 men but no longer had the Williams guns. In April 1864, Wood's battalion, which was also known as the 14th Missouri Cavalry Battalion, played a minor role in the defeat of a Union foraging party in the Battle of Poison Spring, before spending the summer of 1864 at Princeton, Arkansas. In September, the unit joined Price's Raid into the state of Missouri, but their assault during the Battle of Pilot Knob failed to capture Fort Davidson.
Wood's battalion fought at the Battle of Little Blue River on October 21 after having participated in some further fighting and operationed against railroads. Two days later, Price's army was defeated at the Battle of Westport, and began retreating through the state of Kansas. During the retreat, on October 25, Wood's battalion was part of the Confederate line when it was shattered at the Battle of Mine Creek. During that action, the unit suffered 72 casualties, 50 of them as prisoners of war and the rest as killed and wounded. It then accompanied Price's army to Laynesport, Arkansas, via the Indian Territory and Texas. At an unknown date, it was enlarged to regimental strength and renamed the 13th Missouri Cavalry Regiment. After Price's Raid, the unit spent the rest of the war serving outpost duty in Arkansas. The Confederate commander of the Trans-Mississippi Department surrendered on June 2, 1865, and the men of the 13th Missouri Cavalry Regiment were paroled six days later. Around 670 men served in the unit over the course of its existence, at least 67 of whom died during that time.
Background and formation
At the outset of the American Civil War in April 1861, Missouri was a slave state. Governor Claiborne Fox Jackson supported secession from the United States, and activated the pro-secession state militia who were sent to the vicinity of St. Louis, Missouri before being dispersed by Union troops in the Camp Jackson affair on May 10. In response, Jackson formed a secessionist militia unit known as the Missouri State Guard; he placed Major General Sterling Price in command on May 12. In July, anti-secession state legislators held a vote rejecting secession, while Jackson and the pro-secession legislators voted to secede in November, joining the Confederate States of America and functioning as a government in exile. Militarily, the pro-secession forces won some early victories, but had lost most of their gains by the end of 1861. Price abandoned Missouri in February 1862, and a Confederate defeat at the Battle of Pea Ridge the next month gave the Union control of Missouri. By July 1862, most of the men of the Missouri State Guard had left to join units of the Confederate States Army. Missouri was then plagued by guerrilla warfare throughout 1862 and 1863.
Owing to a shortage of weapons controlled by the Confederate States War Department during the early stages of the war, units formed in the Trans-Mississippi Theater had to be armed by the states. An 1862 Confederate law required recruits to provide their own weapons (muskets, shotguns, rifles, or carbines). Some of the weapons used by Confederate cavalrymen in the Trans-Mississippi were privately produced in Texas. Many weapons were captured from Union forces and then put to use, and 25,000 firearms were ordered to be sent from east of the Mississippi in late 1862 (although only 3,000 were reported as received). Confederate cavalry operating in Arkansas were sometimes expected to produce their own ammunition. Overall, Confederate cavalry in the Trans-Mississippi was often armed with Bowie knives, shotguns, hunting knives, and muskets using the percussion cap system. The use of six-shooters was also popular, while the regulation sabers were not. The shotguns in particular were inferior to carbines.