BATTLE AT THE OLD FAIR GROUNDS

The Old Fair Grounds was a mile south of the Jackson courthouse. August Voshage was a Union soldier for Company D of the 12th MO Calvary. He related his side of the story of the battle in a letter to the editor in the Missouri Cash Book in 1906. The battle referred to in the letter occurred in Jackson April 9, 1862 at the old fairgrounds, that is where Russell Heights Cemetery is located.

One afternoon in the spring of 1862 we marched out of Cape Girardeau on the Bloomfield gravel road under the command of Capt. Walker of Stoddard County. When some distance out from the Cape Capt. Walker took sick and had to go back.

Capt. Wm. Flentge claimed that Capt. Walker, hen he left, did not turn the command over to his charge. We marched out on the road a distance of about three miles to the Benton Road and turned off then for Jackson. We camped that night somewhere east of Jackson, but I cannot remember where. Next morning we made a charge on Jackson, coming into town along the Benton road about 75 strong. It happened that Lieut. Hummel, a man named Henry Welge and myself turned down by the graveyard and ran by the school-house.

We saw a man at the west window who motioned to us with his hand toward the old Fair Grounds, from which we understood that the enemy was down there. Lieut. Hummel said, "Come, boys, let's go for them."

We went down toward the Fair Grounds and overtook an old man named Bock, who had been to the mill in Jackson. Hummel halted Bock and shot at him a couple of times, but the old man still kept on going until we overtook him.

Lieut. Hummel told me to hold Bock and guard him, but I told Hummel I knew the old gentleman and we had just as well let him go. However, he made me keep him and guard him.

We were holding on the middle of the road at the time. Hummel and Welge then ran across the hill towards where August Hennecke now lives (in 1906). Bock turned to me and told me to look down there in the bottom, there they were. I saw a number of men there standing behind large poplar trees, and they commenced to shoot at me and Bock. I told Bock to go on and get out of the way and turned my horse to follow Hummel.

By that time Hummel and Welge came back toward me. I said to the Lieutenant, "There they are," and he replied, "Let's go for them!" I told him no, there were too many for us three. He ran back to the road so he could see the enemy, and then concluded to go back to town and get more men. This we did, and gathered about twenty men and went back to the Fair Grounds, Lieut. Hummel in front.

Hummel was a reckless and daring man. We gathered at an open place in the edge of the woods on the south side of the road, where we stood, about fifteen or twenty in number, exchanging shots with the enemy. The enemy's bullets all seemed to pass over us as we could hear them in the trees about our heads.

I think we were about two hundred yards distant from the enemy, and from the high point where we stood the enemy down in the bottom, moving about with their shot-pouches hanging at their sides, appeared smaller than men and reminded me of school boys.

Lieut. Hummel, as I have before stated, was beyond us further to the front and his horse was shot from under him and I think he was slightly wounded and also another one of our men who was with him. Having no commander, we turned about and went back to Jackson. When we got there the balance of the men who stayed in own had already left for Cape Girardeau and we followed them.

Capt. Flentge took no part in the fight, and I suppose was in Jackson at the time with the others. Being only a private soldier, I knew nothing about any other action or occurrence that took place that day between any of our soldiers and the enemy. I will state that our soldiers were poorly armed, only a few having muskets, others private pistols, some of which were double-barreled. Lieut. Hummel himself had only a single shot pistol and a sword.

August Voshage was born Dec. 1847 in Germany, he was married on Aug. 29, 1869 to Anna Aufdenberg. In 1900 he resided in the Tilsit area.