7th Missouri Cavalry CSA 

Solomon George Kitchen was born in Roane County, Tennessee, in 1820.(1) Some accounts state that he came to Stoddard County, Missouri in 1836.(2) However, he is not listed in the 1840 Missouri Federal Census.(3) Prior to 1847 he married Martha Ann Giboney, the daughter of John Giboney of Cape Girardeau County, Missouri.(4) The 1850 Federal Census lists he and Martha as residents of Duck Creek Township.(5)

Seven children, born to this marriage, were living in 1880. They were Cornelia A., Cornelius A., Cortez, Sr., Cecil A., Celestia A., Clement, and Solomon.(6)

During his early manhood, he was employed as a surveyor for the federal government. He assisted in surveying land throughout Southeast Missouri.(7)

Kitchen eventually turned to law as a profession. He studied law privately and was the first licensed attorney in Stoddard County, being admitted to practice at Bloomfield in 1842.(8) He served as County Assessor during 1842 and 1843.(9) He moved to West Prairie in 1843 but returned to Bloomfield in 1849.(10)

Solomon Kitchen served a term as judge of the Stoddard County Court between 1845 and 1847.(11) He was elected to represent the 15th District in the Missouri Senate in 1854 and 1856. During his 1856 term, he led the prosecution in the celebrated impeachment trial of Judge Albert Jackson.(12)

When the "Bloomfield Educational Society" was established in 1853, Kitchen served as a trustee. A two-story frame academy was established by the Society which was the primary educational facility in the area until the Civil War.(13)

About 1854, Solomon Kitchen represented a Joseph Upton who was accused of murdering Parsons Burrows in Ripley County, Missouri. On a change of venue Upton was convicted but Kitchen succeeded in provoking Judge Albert Jackson into making unfair rulings against Upton, and thus, on writs of error, obtained two rehearings. Upton was convicted a third time, and pending an appeal, died in jail.(14)

Kitchen also involved himself in land development and was the contractor responsible for building the first courthouses in Stoddard and Butler counties. Kitchen was appointed superintendent of building a small brick courthouse in Bloomfield, Missouri, in 1856.(15) In 1859 a contract was let to Kitchen and D.B. Miller to build a brick courthouse at Poplar Bluff, in Butler County. The building which cost $6,000 was paid partly in cash and partly in lands.(16)

Early railroad development in Southeast Missouri interested Solomon Kitchen. The construction of the Cairo and Fulton Railroad from Bird's Point, on the Mississippi River, to St. Luke in Stoddard County was planned in the early 1850s. New officers and a new Board of Directors were elected in 1857 and progress began. Solomon Kitchen served as president of the line and over 20 miles of track were laid prior to the Civil War. The first train to enter Charleston from Bird's Point on April 1, 1859, was drawn by an engine named the "Solomon G. Kitchen." The advent of the Civil War halted further construction.(17)

Solomon Kitchen sought election to the Missouri Convention in 1861, as a secessionist, but was defeated by the Conditional Unionist candidate.(18) On June 15, 1861, he organized the "Stoddard County Rangers," a mounted unit, which would eventually serve under M. Jeff Thompson as Company C, 2^nd Regiment Cavalry, 1st Division, Missouri State Guard.(19) When the company was organized with other companies to form the 2nd Regiment of Cavalry, on July 31, Kitchen was elected Major of the regiment. He served as Major until September 17, 1861, when he was elected Lieut-Colonel. He served in that capacity until the expiration of service of the State Guard's six month service on December 24, 1861.(20)

During his State Guard service he and his regiment participated in numerous skirmishes and raids during the summer and fall of 1861. On August 11 or 12 General Thompson ordered Major Kitchen with a party of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment to go to the town of Hamburg in Scott County, Missouri, to gather arms and destroy a fort there. Kitchen's force approached the town, charged the surprised German-American Home Guards and "scattered the Dutch in all directions." This action was the first brush and first blood for the State Guard in Southeast Missouri. (21) Kitchen also participated in the Battle of Big River at Blackwell's Station on the Iron Mountain Railroad on October 15 and the Battle of Fredericktown on October 21, where he was almost captured.(22)

Upon the expiration of service of the Missouri State Guard in Southeast Missouri, most of the men returned home. Thompson, however, allowed each man who desired to hold a rank in the Confederate Army, to begin recruiting units that would serve in Confederate service.(23) Solomon Kitchen re-enlisted, this time in the Confederate service, and was appointed Captain of his company on January 26, 1862.(24)

When Thompson's force was ordered south to Memphis, his brigade consisted of infantry, cavalry and artillery.(25) However, at Memphis, the artillery companies were ordered to turn over their guns and they and the infantry companies were ordered aboard the army's "Cotton Clad Fleet," on the Mississippi River.(26) Thompson's cavalry companies, including Kitchen's, were ordered to Corinth, Mississippi and formed into a battalion.(27) The 4th (also called the 1st) Battalion Missouri Cavalry was organized at Guntown, Mississippi, in compliance with S.O. #66/5, Headquarters, Army of the West, dated Memphis, April 26, 1862.(28)

By S.O. #5, Headquarters Army of the West, dated Priceville, Mississippi, July 2, 1862, the battalion was increased to a regiment, and designated the 2nd Regiment Missouri Cavalry. Kitchen's company became Company B and was mustered August 17, 1862, for the war, at Guntown, Mississippi. The 2^nd Missouri Cavalry was commanded by Colonel Robert McCulloch, and would serve the entire war under General Nathan Bedford Forrest.(29)

While serving as Captain of Company B, 2nd Missouri Cavalry, Kitchen participated in the Battle of Corinth, Mississippi, where he had a horse killed beneath him on October 4, 1862. He would later receive $300 for the horse at Abbeville, Mississippi, on November 30, 1862.(30) Meanwhile, he had resigned his position as Captain of Company B, to return to Missouri to recruit a regiment. Solomon Kitchen tendered his resignation on September 25 and it was accepted on October 16, 1862.(31)

Kitchen returned to Southeast Missouri and began recruiting men from Stoddard and Dunklin Counties. By authority of the Secretary of War, dated August 20, 1862, Colonel Henry E. Clark recruited and equipped a regiment which was known as Clark's Regiment of Recruits, Missouri Volunteers. In October 1862, Colonel Clark was captured and his regiment was broken up and the companies scattered. After being exchanged, Colonel Clark returned to Missouri in January 1863, and collected eight companies of the regiment which he organized into a battalion on April 9, 1863, in Greene County, Arkansas. (32) Later two other companies of the old regiment were gotten together and joined the battalion.

Solomon G. Kitchen was sworn in as Lieut-Colonel of the battalion and the unit was now known as Kitchen's Battalion, Missouri Cavalry.(33) The unit participated in a skirmish at Chalk Bluff, Arkansas, on April 20, 1863, and then reported to Brigadier General John S. Marmaduke for duty.(34)

Kitchen's Battalion Missouri Cavalry was assigned to Colonel John Q. Burbridge's Brigade, John S. Marmaduke's Division Missouri Cavalry, Trans-Mississippi Department.(35) During this time the battalion saw action in Marmaduke's Cape Girardeau Raid during April and May 1863, established a line of couriers in Northeast Arkansas, and participated in the skirmish at Taylor's Creek.(36)

The battalion organization having been declared null and void, Solomon G. Kitchen was elected Colonel on July 9, 1863, and the organization designated Kitchen's Regiment Missouri Cavalry. The regiment was designated by the Confederate War Department as the 10th Regiment Missouri Cavalry and finally as the 7th Regiment Missouri Cavalry.(37)

The regiment was then assigned to Marmaduke's Brigade, commanded by Colonel Colton Greene. It did not participate in the Little Rock action, arriving September 10, as the brigade was retreating on the Benton Road. (38) It did participate in the Camden and Old River Lake actions in Arkansas, and Price's Raid into Missouri in 1864.(39) Kitchen was wounded at the battle of Big Blue October 23, 1864. (40)

Solomon Kitchen's son, Cortez A., following his 12th birthday, joined the 7th Missouri Cavalry. During his short service he served on the staffs of his father, Major J.F. Davies and Major C.E. Birthright. He was captured by General A. J. Smith's Federal Cavalry shortly after the battle of Iron Mountain and was held prisoner for one month. (41)

Following the breakup of Price's Army on its retreat into Arkansas, the Indian Territory and Texas, Kitchen, in late 1864 and early 1865, formed Kitchen's Legion in Northeast Arkansas, made up of stragglers from Price's Army.(42)

On January 22, 1865, Kitchen finally received his commission as Colonel of the 7th Regiment Missouri Cavalry, dated Richmond, July 9, 1863. He claimed he would have accepted the commission sooner, but for the fact that the last year he had been on detached service and the document did not reach him until a late date.(43) Kitchen surrendered his legion, including a part of the 7th Missouri Cavalry, as a part of the Army of the Northern Sub-District of Arkansas, commanded by General M. Jeff Thompson, on May 11, 1865. He was paroled at Wittsburg, Arkansas, May 25, 1865.(44) A part of the 7th Missouri Cavalry was surrendered in Louisiana, as part of the 8th Missouri Cavalry, and was paroled at Shreveport, Louisiana.(45)

Following his parole, Solomon Kitchen lived in Jacksonport, Jackson County, Arkansas, where he became principal of the Jacksonport Institute, a private school opened in 1866.(46)

In 1869 Kitchen again became involved in railroad building. The Cape Girardeau and State Line Railroad was organized to build a road from Cape Girardeau to some point on the Arkansas line. G. C. Thilenius was president; John Ivers, vice-president; and, S.G. Kitchen, manager. Through bad management and exhaustion of funds, not one single mile of road was completed. (47)

Solomon G. Kitchen and his family then moved to St. Louis and took up residence at 1821 Cass Avenue. He opened the law firm of Kitchen and Tyrell at 16 South 4th. In 1871 Cortez A., his son, became a law student.(48) Kitchen remained in St. Louis working in various law firms until 1877. (49)

On November 9, 1872, for a "consideration of $2,000 et al" William C. and Matilda Grimsley made a deed for a lot with other lands in Bollinger County to Solomon G. and Martha A. Kitchen. Mr. and Mrs. Kitchen lived in St. Louis so in 1874 they transferred the same lot 20 (Range D) to Samuel Rogers.(50)

On January 20, 1877, a group of Kirkwood citizens proposed that Kirkwood become the St. Louis County seat of government. Solomon Kitchen was appointed to a committee to secure a location for the new government. However, on December 4, 1877, Clayton won the title as the County seat.(51)

About the same time, February 2, 1877, Cortez Kitchen, Solomon's son, bought and became editor of the Kirkwood based St. Louis County News. The paper was not a financial success and only lasted about six months under Cortez as the editor. Cortez sold the paper on August 16, 1877. Following that venture Cortez ran for town clerk on November 19, 1877.(52) Colonel Kitchen's political alliance after 1875 was with the Greenback Party.(53)

Martha Ann, Solomon's wife, became ill from pneumonia in early 1877 and passed away February 8, 1877.(54) He married a second time, this time to Mary Richardson who had at least three children by a previous marriage, Sallie, Leonard, and Fannie. Mary was a native of Kentucky but all three of her children were born in Missouri.(55) Solomon married Mary after returning to Stoddard County in November of 1879. (55a) Solomon Kitchen returned to Stoddard County and became associated with his son Cortez in a law office in Dexter. They are both listed on the 1880 Stoddard County Federal Census as lawyers living in the same house in Dexter. Cortez had married by this time and had a one year old son, Cortez, Jr.(56) While living in Dexter, Solomon helped establish the local Christian Church.(57)

Kitchen moved back to Kirkwood, Missouri and spent his last days.(58) After a brief illness, he died at 8:12 p.m. on Friday April 10, 1891. He died at his home 3413 Bell Avenue in Kirkwood. Funeral Services were conducted at the Central Christian Church, and he was interred in the Oak Hill Cemetery on April 12, 1891.(59)

Oak Hill Cemetery (Est. 1835), is located on Big Bend about 1/2 mile east of Lindbergh Boulevard and about 1/4 mile west of I-44 at the Big Bend exit. To locate the grave go straight down the main road past the "Garden of Light" marker. The Kitchen grave is located about 20 feet to the left of the road between the William L. Pipkin and George Holsman monuments and just before you reach the Granville O. Eades monument.(60) No marker existed until the early 1970s when an ancestor placed a simple marker over the grave.(61) The grave is in Lot #104-28-J. The marker faces west and is in error as it reads he passed away in 1895.(62)

Cortez A. Kitchen continued to live in St. Louis and was a newspaper reporter for the Post. He was a member of Camp No. 731 of the United Confederate Veterans and at one time the state commander of the Veterans. He died in Charlotte, North Carolina June 8, 1929.(63)

1) Dexter, Missouri Daily Statesman, February 26, 1976. St. Louis Globe Democrat, April 11, 1891; St. Louis Post Dispatch, April 11, 1891, April 13, 1891.

2) Daily Statesman; Forister, Robert H., History of Stoddard County, (Stoddard County Historical Society, n.d.), p. 50.

3) 1840 Federal Census, Stoddard County, Missouri.

4) Daily Statesman; Goodspeed, History of Southeast Missouri, (Southern Historical Press reprint, 1990), p. 274; Oak Hill Cemetary, Kirkwood, Missouri, Kitchen grave headstone.

5) 1850 Federal Census, Stoddard County, Missouri, p. 261.

6) 1860 Federal Census, Stoddard County, Missouri, p. 417; 1880 Federal Census, Stoddard County, Missouri, p. 635.

7) Daily Statesman.

8) Daily Statesman; Forister, p. 50.

9) Forister, p. 12.

10) Ibid., p. 50; Goodspeed, p. 400.

11) Forister, p. 13.

12) Post Dispatch; Missouri Secrtary of State, Historical Listing of the Missouri Legislature, (Missouri State Archives, 1988), p. 68.

13) Daily Statesman; Douglass, Robert, History of Southeast Missouri, (Cape Girardeau: Ramfre Press reprint, 1912), pp. 296, 403.

14) Goodspeed, p. 337.

15) Ibid., p. 358.

16) Daily Statesman; Douglass, pp. 293, 312.

17) Douglass, p. 293.

18) Daily Statesman.

19) National Archives, Record Group 109, Confederate Archives, Chapter 2, Volume 207 1/2, Record Book of the First Military Division, Missouri State Guard, p. 247; Stars and Stripes, military newspaper published at Bloomfield, Missouri, November 9, 1861, and reprinted by the Stoddard County, Missouri Historical Society, p. 2.

20) Volume 207 1/2, Record Book, p. 246.

21) The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. 128 volumes. (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1880-1901), Series I, Volume 3, p. 132, further references as ORA; Stanton, Donal J., Berquist, Goodwin F., and Bowers, Paul C., ed., The Civil War Reminiscences of General M. Jeff Thompson, (Dayton: Morningside Press, 1988), p. 76.

22) Stanton, pp. 100, 110.

23) ORA, Series I, Volume 8, p. 722.

24) National Archives, Compiled Service Records Of Confederate Soldiers Who Served In Organizations From The State Of Missouri, M-322, Roll 19, Kitchen Service File.

25) ORA, Series I, Volume 8, pp. 788-789.

26) Stanton, p. 152; ORA, Series I, Volume 10, Part 2, p. 588; National Archives, Military Pension Records, Record Group 48, File WL 894-591 Benjamin L. Bowman File.

27) Military Pension Records, B.L. Bowman File.

28) Compiled Service Records, M-322, Roll 19; National Archives, Compiled Records Showing Services Of Military Units In Confederate Organizations - Missouri, M-861, Roll 34.

29) Ibid.

30) Compiled Service Records, M-322, Roll 19.

31) Ibid.

32) Compiled Service Records, M-322, Roll 46; ORA, Series I, Volume 22, Part 1, p. 298; Stanton, pp. 189-190.

33) Ibid.

34) ORA, Series I, Volume 22, Part 1, p. 299.

35) Ibid., pp. 288, 299.

36) Ibid., pp. 296, 327; Part 2, pp. 936-937.

37) Ibid., p. 921; Compiled Service Records, M-322, Roll 46.

38) ORA, Series I, Volume 22, Part 1, pp. 533-534.

39) ORA, Series I, Volume 34, Part 1, pp. 641, 785, 825.

40) ORA, Series I, Volume 41, Part 1, p. 696.

41) Index To Missouri Soldiers, V206-0007; "Cortez A. Kitchen," Missouri State Historical Society, Missouri Historical Review, Volume 24, (1929-1930), p. 132 hereafter cited as MHR; St. Louis Reference Record, (St. Louis: Von Hoffman Press, n.d.), pp. 294-295.

42) Compiled Service Records, M-322, Rolls 46 and 49.

43) Ibid., Roll 46.

44) Ibid.; Stanton, pp. 185n, 186.

45) Compiled Service Records, M-322, Roll 49.

46) Watson, Lady Elizabeth, Fight and Survive! A History of Jackson County, Arkansas in the Civil War, (Conway: River Road Press, 1974), p. 150.

47) Snider, Felix E. and Collins, Earl A., Cape Girardeau: Biography of a City, (Cape Girardeau: Ramfre Press, 1956), pp. 256-257.

48) St. Louis City Directory, 1870 and 1871.

49) Ibid., 1872 - 1877.

50) Hahn, Mary L., ed., Bollinger County: 1851 -1976, (Marceline: Bollinger County Bicentennial Commission, 1977), pp. 164-165.

51) Dahl, June Wilkinson, A History of Kirkwood, Missouri, 1851-1965. (Kirkwood: Kirkwood Historical Society, 1965), p. 76.

52) Ibid., pp. 85, 99; St. Louis Globe Democrat, January 11, 1877, page 5, column 3.

53) St. Louis Post Dispatch, April 11, 1891, front page, column 7, S.G. Kitchen's obituary.

54) Oak Hill Cemetary Records, Kirkwood, Missouri, Card #237. St. Louis Post Dispatch, obituary, February 9, 1877, page 1, column 3.

55) 1880 Federal Census, Stoddard County, Missouri, p. 635.

55a) Stoddard County Marriage Records, 1864-1881. (Shawnee Press, n.d.), 21.

56) Ibid.

57) Daily Statesman.

58) Post Dispatch, obituary.

59) Ibid.; St. Louis Globe Democrat, April 11, 1891, Kitchen obituary.

60) Oak Hill Cemetary Records, Card #730.

61) Letter from Mrs. F. M. Sporer in author's collection.

62) Post Dispatch, obituary; Globe Democrat, obituary; Oak Hill Cemetary Records, Card 730.

63) Index to Missouri Soldiers, V206-0007; MHR, Volume 24, (1929-1930), p. 132.