Events today mark historic Cape battle 150 years ago

Geography and topography might have made Cape Girardeau an attractive target for a Confederate general hoping to further his career in the spring of 1863, a local historian said.

The Cape Girardeau Convention and Visitors' Bureau will commemorate the 150th anniversary of the April 26, 1863, Battle of Cape Girardeau today at Grace United Methodist Church, 521 Caruthers St., situated at the site of the battle.

Dub Suedekum, president of the Cape Girardeau Civil War Roundtable, said the battle -- won by Union forces -- stemmed from a raid by Confederate Brig. Gen. John S. Marmaduke.

The raid, the second of Marmaduke's two incursions into Missouri, might have been motivated at least in part by self-interest, Suedekum said.

"Marmaduke was trying to raise his status," he said. "He was going to try to lend a little credence to his possible request for maybe obtaining a second star, becoming a major general."

As the first high ground between St. Louis and Cairo, Ill., and a stopping point on the King's Road -- El Camino Real, which followed the path of what later became U.S. 61 to New Madrid -- Cape Girardeau was strategically valuable, Suedekum said.

With the Union-controlled Port of Cape Girardeau on the Mississippi River, the heavily fortified city was virtually siege-proof, he said.

"It was self-sustaining, basically," Suedekum said. "You had the four forts strategically sited to protect avenues of approach from the south, the southwest, the north and the northwest."

Steven Pledger, director of the Cape Girardeau County Archive Center, said the Confederates also hoped to distract Union troops from more crucial battles farther south.

"The main significance was that it was to relieve the pressure on Vicksburg, Miss.," Pledger said. "They wanted to create a diversion, and that would draw off some of the [Union] troops."

But Suedekum said the local battle likely would have had little impact on Vicksburg.

"Gen. Marmaduke did not have sufficient forces to really affect what was happening further south," he said. "Basically, he conducted a small raid up through Southeast Missouri with very, very limited resources and little, if any, logistical support."

Casualty reports vary, but Pledger said the Union initially reported six dead and six wounded, later upping that number to 23 dead and 44 wounded, while the Confederates reported 60 dead, 120 missing and 300 wounded.

"It may or may not be exactly that number," Pledger said, noting that each side typically underreported its casualties and exaggerated its impact on the other side.

Suedekum said at least one writer exaggerated the importance of the battle itself.

In a May 1, 1863, issue of the New York Tribune, a "special correspondent" identified only as Guilbert gave a dramatic account of the fighting.

"During the battle I had taken my position with the artillerists in fort B, where, from the great eminence of the fort, I beheld the whole scene in its awful sublimity -- saw the flash of the cannon, witnessed the fall of killed and wounded men, and heard the roar of the dread artillery shake the heavens and the solid ground," he wrote. "…To have lost Cape Girardeau, an important military position in Missouri, and midway between Cairo and St. Louis, and immediately opposite to Southern Illinois, would have been a great disaster."

Such a loss was unlikely, Suedekum said, because Marmaduke lacked the resources to capture the city.

The battle, which lasted only a few hours, basically was an artillery duel with some brief skirmishes between Confederate and Union troops, he said.

"It's pretty well embellished by the Union side, who described it possibly in greater terms than it's actually worth," Suedekum said.

Still, the battle is worth remembering, said Chuck Martin, executive director of the Cape Girardeau Convention and Visitors' Bureau.

"We felt very strongly about putting something together that would serve as a commemoration of the actual battle on the actual date," Martin said. "Lives were shed. It is, I feel, hallowed ground. Blood was shed in defense of our country."

The sesquicentennial event will begin at 6:30 p.m. today at Grace United Methodist Church, 521 Caruthers St. Martin advised participants to arrive at least 15 minutes early.

The event will begin with an introduction on the north lawn, then move inside

Those in attendance will participate in prayers for past and current soldiers, witness a presentation by historian Scott House and be served historically appropriate refreshments, Martin said.

epriddy@semissourian.com

388-3642

Pertinent address:

521 Caruthers St., Cape Girardeau, MO