More details about 'Spurling's Raid' into Conecuh County during Civil War

Andrew Barclay Spurling

(The following article was originally published in the July 4, 1976 edition of The Evergreen Courant under the headline "An Historical Sketch: Spurling’s Raid." It was written by B.C. Smith.

Today’s residents of Conecuh County, unlike many millions, have luckily escaped the horror of having a war fought in and out and among their homes. What little we know of warfare we learned at Verdun in ’16, Guadalcanal in ’42, “The Punchbowl” in ’52 and Hue in ’68. Yet during the Civil War, Conecuh’s citizens were subjected to the catastrophe and destruction of warfare; and, while not the bloody slaughter of a My Lai or the destruction of a Coventry, to the people of Conecuh in 1865 it was just as trying.

Until 1868, the eastern two-thirds of Escambia County formed the lower part of Conecuh. When the Civil War began in 1861, this entire area became one vast fortress, the principal base of which was Pollard, dedicated to the protection of Southern Alabama. Following the occupation of Pensacola by Union forces, it became doubly important to protect the Montgomery-Mobile railroad, especially the junction and marshalling yards at Pensacola Junction (now named Flomaton). Throughout most of The War, aside from an occasional skirmish there was very little military action along this front. In fact, Confederate personnel considered posting to Pollard as soft duty – balls, picnics and barbecues were far more frequent than grapeshot or cannonshells.

The Federal victory on Mobile Bay in August 1864 changed the situation drastically. The towns of Blakely and Spanish Fort were invested and the city of Mobile placed under siege. The Confederate defenders had two access routes of which the Alabama and Florida Railroad through Pollard was the most important; and to stop or disrupt the flow of supplies and reinforcements, the Federals at Pensacola planned an attack on this strategic rail line. Consequently in January 1865, a strike was launched against Brig. Gen. James H. Clanton’s command at Pollard. The general’s available strength had been seriously weakened by the transfer of most of his infantry and all of his cavalry to Mobile. None the less, his troops fought a sharp battle before they were forced to retire on Brewton by the numerically superior and better equipped Yankees. The town of Pollard was looted and burned; rail and military facilities destroyed.

The prompt restoration of facilities at Pollard, coupled with the tenacious defense of Mobile soon prompted the Union command to devise a more extensive raid into Alabama. On Tuesday, 21 March 1865, Col. A.B. Spurling, 7th Tennessee Cavalry, USA, left Milton, Fla. with three cavalry brigades and orders to raid the railroad in Conecuh. Spurling advanced north into Covington County, passing Andalusia early on the morning of the 23rd, doing little or no damage to either public or private property (Covington’s well known and loudly proclaimed lack of sympathy for the Confederacy and its “cause” may have been the grace which saved Andalusia from nothing more serious than a bad scare.)

From Andalusia, Spurling’s Raiders turned westward into Conecuh and although not definitely known it is supposed that he passed along what is now U.S. 84 through Cohasset and Old Town to Owassa (then known as Gravella), where he struck the A&F RR about 11:30 p.m. A northbound mixed freight-passenger local train was captured at 4:30 a.m. on Friday the 24th, and the southbound train had 107 officers and men of the Confederate army aboard who, though half asleep and taken by surprise, gave the Yanks a hot little skirmish before their surrender. The two trains were destroyed, the station and other property burned and several hundred yards of right-of-way dislocated. From Gravella, Spurling descended upon the unsuspecting town of Evergreen, arriving an hour before noon, where railroad rolling stock, station, warehouse and commercial establishments were put to the torch.

Continuing south, the Union raiders occupied Sparta about four o’clock in the afternoon. At Sparta Station, two miles west of town, the entire community including homes and businesses were looted and burned. In Sparta proper, only the county jail was fired after releasing some prisoners-of-war captured at Pollard in January. The next morning, Spurling and his men continued southwestward into what is now Escambia County where they were engaged by a Confederate force at Muddy Creek. Spurling repulsed the Confederates and by Saturday, 1 April, had rejoined his main command in time to participate in the capture of Blakely and Spanish Fort in Baldwin County.

Colonel Spurling’s official report listed the following spoils of his Conecuh raid: 200 blacks, 250 horses  and mules, 120 prisoners, one of whom was the late Willie McCreary of Belleville, captured when the Bellevillians attempted to aid Evergreen. His report did not list a considerable amount of jewelry, silver and other valuables looted from homes and plantations, nor did he attempt to evaluate the financial value of private property destroyed.