I AM BACK IN EXILE

The McDougal Family Tree: A portrait of greatness (Part 2).

And now we here at FOMcD will continue our series on other members of the McDougal clan who have achieved some level of greatness.

General Ambrose "Brickfence" McDougal has the distinction of being the only person to command troops on both sides of the American Civil War... simultaneously. McDougal, a Mississippi plantation owner, had not taken much interest in the rebellion during the early days of the war, however upon hearing of President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation he was profoundly moved. Early the next morning he set off on a long and dangerous journey, sneaking across the Union border and returning, at considerable risk, with a load of uniforms and weapons. Upon his return, McDougal informed his slaves that any who wished to enlist in the Union army would be freed immediately. As you can imagine, the slaves showed a great deal of enthusiasm for the freedom to fight. Uniforms and muskets were issued out. The now General McDougal informed his troops that they would invade the nearest town at dawn.

Late that night McDougal rode into the town and informed the residents that invasion from an army of freed slaves was imminent. He told them that their only hope for survival would be to raise a militia and head off the invasion at the edge of town, in the fields of the McDougal plantation. The townspeople, in a panic, asked McDougal to lead their militia in combat against the slave army. McDougal said that he would be willing to accept the burden of leadership in exchange for a modest fee, which the townspeople were eager to pay.

The next morning McDougal's Union Free Negro Army of Mississippi marched out through the fields toward the town, right into an ambush set by the townspeople's militia. The battle raged for days, attracting a large crowd of spectators, as was the custom at the times. There was not much else in the way of entertainment in the mid-1860s, especially with a war on. Friendly wagering about the outcome of the battle soon began and McDougal, being the landowner where the battle was taking place, made his way through the crowd facilitating this gambling, taking a cut of the action of course. The town militia soon began to be overwhelmed by the assault of the slave army however, as McDougal's was a large plantation having a great multitude of slaves. McDougal quickly sent a courier bearing a letter to the nearest Confederate headquarters informing them of the Union assault and requesting more troops.

With the arrival of seasoned troops the Confederate forces were able to push back against the Union invasion, driving them nearly to the brink of defeat. Ambrose was forced to purchase more slaves from neighboring plantations with his gambling earnings and free them so that they could join his Union army. These fresh troops rushed into battle in a brilliant flanking manuver that would have surely crushed the Confederate resistance if General McDougal had not been aware of it beforehand and arrayed his troops to repel the advance. The Confederate command, growing tired of this prolonged combat taking place so embarassingly deep inside Southern Territory decided to put an end to the Union slave army once and for all. They sent a letter to General McDougal informing him that they had pulled four cannons out of front line combat and sent them South to Missisippi. These would certainly turn the tide of battle in favor of the Confederacy. As the convoy bearing the cannons approached the battlefield however, it was ambushed by scouts from the 1st Mississippi Negro Cavalry, who managed to capture two of the cannons. This brilliant tactical move was, no doubt, the work of General Ambrose McDougal.

Both sides withdrew and dug into fortified positions, from which they could exchange cannon fire. This assault continued on for months. Periodically one side or the other would attempt an infantry charge, but opposing forces always managed to anticipate these manuvers and neither side was ever able to gain the upper hand. The months stretched into years, yet the battle raged on, continuing even after the end of the Civil War by popular demand, as it had become the most visited tourist destination in the state of Mississippi.

General Ambrose McDougal was hailed as a hero by both sides of the conflict for many years, until they finally realized that they were both hailing him as a hero. Several statues in both Northern and Southern cities were dismantled in the middle of the night and it was generally agreed that the whole episode should never be spoken of again. If one spends enough time attending Civil War re-enactments, however, you will begin to hear whispers about the legend of General Brickfence McDougal, the only man who ever grasped the true spirit of the Civil War, a grim spectacle perfect for wringing the cash from slack-jawed tourists.