Schofield, John McAllister

Thanks in part to Missouri friends, Schofield was nominated brigadier general of volunteers and assigned to command the Missouri Enrolled Militia in November 1861. Raising and equipping this force, authorized only for state defense, occupied Schofield until April 1862. A factional dispute in Missouri between "radicals," desiring immediate emancipation and punitive military actions, and "conservatives," seeking gradual emancipation and military restraint, complicated Schofield's position. More problems arose from Confederate incursions across the border with Arkansas. Given command of the "Army of the Frontier," Schofield campaigned in southwestern Missouri and Arkansas from October 1862 to April 1863. Although he had kept Missouri relatively quiet and supplied needed troops for the Vicksburg campaign, radicals defeated his nomination as major general of volunteers in January 1863, a rank he eventually attained in March.