Harvey J. Vivian (Vivien) was born in Howard County, Missouri, in 1830. Vivian spent his childhood years in Sabine County and Platte County. He moved to Kansas City, Missouri in 1857 where he worked as a dealer of horses and mules.
At the start of the Civil War, Vivian enlisted in the Missouri State Guard. After the Battle of Pea Ridge, Vivian entered Confederate service and went with Maj. Gen. Sterling Price across the Mississippi River into Tennessee. Vivian received permission to return to Missouri on a recruiting mission, joining forces with Col. Gideon W. Thompson. During the recruitment, Vivian fought in the Battles of Independence and Lone Jack. During the frenzied fighting at Lone Jack, Vivian was briefly captured but was able to escape during the confusion of the battle by crawling through a thorny hedgerow. “Upon landing on the other side, I was somewhat of a tattered mess [as] the majority of my clothes had hung in the hedge.” He was wounded during his escape.
After Lone Jack, the regiment was organized as the 12th Missouri Cavalry (CSA) with Vivian as the captain of Company C. Vivian was wounded again during the Battle of Cane Hill and then once more during the Battle of Helena. During Price’s 1864 invasion of Missouri, Vivian was a major with the 12th Missouri Cavalry (CSA).
At the end of the war, Vivian surrendered in Shreveport, Louisiana. Vivian soon returned home to Kansas City and resumed stock trading.. In 1872, Vivian moved to Clay County where took up farming.
Matthews, Matt, and Kip Lindberg. “‘Shot All To Pieces’ The Battle of Lone Jack, August 16, 1862.” North and South 7, no. 1 (January 2004): 56–72.
Webb, William L. “Major H. J. Vivian.” In Battles and Biographies of Missourians, or, the Civil War Period of Our State, 366–69. Kansas City: Hudson-Kimberly Pub. Co., 1900.
Westport Improvement Association. “Personal Reminiscence of Maj. H. J Vivian of the Last Day of the Battle of Westport.” In Westport 1812-1912: Commemorating the Centennial of the Santa Fe Trail, 68–70. Kansas City: Franklin Hudson Publishing Co., 1912.
Whitney, Carrie Westlake. “Major Harvey J. Vivian.” In Kansas City, Missouri; Its History and Its People 1808-1908, Vol. 2, 592–93. Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1908.