CIVIL WAR INCIDENTS IN HOWARD COUNTY
PART II: 1864
You may click on an event number on the map to take you to the incidents that happened there.
EDITOR'S NOTE.- This is the second of a two part piece based on the research of Howard County historian William Lay relating to the Civil War in Howard County. The first part appeared in the December 1997 issue of Boone's Lick Heritage and covered Civil War incidents in Howard County from 1861 to 1863. The second part covers in 1864" These incidents are numbered and keyed to the map on the opposite page. The numbering system works as follows: The first number. 4, refers to the year 1864. The second number or pair of numbers relates to the month in which the occurred. Thus incident 43 occurred in March 1864 and 410 occurred in October 1864. The final number relates to the chronological sequence of the incident in the month indicated, thus incident 4101 was the fim incident that occurred in October 1864 and 4 I 02 is the second incident in October 1864. Unnumbered items are mentioned either to provide a context for local events, to supplement numbered actions, or become they are difficult to specifically date. Sources are cited completely the first time they are mentioned and are abb. The citation 'OR,' refers to the 70 volume work War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies (1880-1902).
As was noted in the introduction to the first article, much of rural Howard County (especially of the river hills of southern Howard County and the areas around Lisbon and Boonsboro) were strongholds of Southern sympathies. This was also true of the Perche Creek hill area of eastern Howard/western Boone County and the so called 'Blackfoot' country of west central and northwest Boone County. Local guerrillas such as Capt. William Stuart (or Stewart) and Clifton D. Holtzclaw carried on intensive guerrilla activities throughout this area in 1864, and by the summer of 1864 they were joined by their better known Missouri guerrilla counterparts, William Clarke Quantrill, George Todd and William ('Bloody Bill') Anderson. Their actions were opposed by various local Union officers operating under Brig. Gen. Clinton B. Fisk, Union commander of the District of North Missouri, and other regional commanders. In terms of Howard County the most significant local officer was Maj. Reeves Leonard, son of a prominent Howard County Unionist family, who operated primarily out of Fayette.
Much of the guerrilla activity in central and northern Missouri during the summer of 1864 was related to Gen. Sterling Price's plan to mount a major raid into Missouri from Arkansas in the fall of the year. Price, who had decided to make St. Louis his first major point of attack, sent word to the guerrilla leaders to create as much diversionary activity as possible in the area north of the Missouri River in hopes of drawing Union troops away from St. Louis. This, along with a number of misdirected efforts (such as the commissioning of the brutal and largely uncontrollable Union agent Harry Truman mentioned in incident #451) by Union Gen. Rosecrans who had been appointed to succeed the controversial Gen. Schofield as commander of the Department of Missouri in January 1864, accounts for much of the in guerrilla activity in central and northern Missouri during the summer of 1864.
William Clarke Quantrill, who had spent the winter in Texas where he lost control over a significant portion of his command, returned to Missouri in March, followed by Todd and Anderson. The final break with these two chief lieutenants seems to have soured Quanta on the war and he spent much of that summer in the hills of Howard County with his young wife/mistress, Kate, before riding off to Kentucky for his rendezvous with death.
Captain William ('Bloody Bill) Anderson and George Todd terrorized many of the river counties both north and south of the Missouri River during the spring and summer of 1864, and by late summer had concentrated their activities in Chariton, Randolph, Howard, Audrain, Boone and Cooper counties. Anderson terrorized the citizens of Rocheport, which he sometimes referred to as his 'capitol,' made a futile and nearly fatal raid on Fayette, slaughtered a number of Union soldiers at Centralia, then (along with Todd and Quantrill) met Gen. Price at Boonville in October and participated in the Battle of Glasgow, afterward brutally assaulting Benjamin Lewis, one of the more prominent citizens of that town, before meeting his end in Ray County shortly thereafter.
Perhaps the most important full scale conventional military operation in Howard County during 1864 was the Battle of Glasgow on October 15, 1864, in conjunction with Price's final raid through Missouri. Another major incident was the Anderson raid on Fayette in late September 1864. But no attempt has been made to give a full account of these two incidents or of Price's Raid. The Battle of Glasgow and the Fayette fight were described in detail in a previous issue of Boone's Lick Heritage (Vol. 3, No. 3, September 1995) and Price's Raid has been fully described in other sources.
Most of the following Howard County Civil War incidents during 1864 relate
to guerrilla activities and the attempt on the part of Federal troops to control
them. Similar activities were, of course, taking place in a number of adjoining
central Missouri counties, and often these activities are closely related to
those taking place in Howard County. Only a few of these incidents outside of
Howard County are included here. Several Rocheport incidents (Boone County)
are mentioned (Item #474, Item #476, and Item #493) along with Guerrilla Capt.
George Todd's attack on Arrow Rock in neighboring Saline County on June lst
(un-numbered incident, p. 7); the July 15th incident in neighboring Cooper County
in which John Boller was killed by County guerrilla, Capt. William Stuart just
west of Boonville (Item #475, p. 8); the July 15th incident in neighboring Randolph
County in which Capt. William Anderson made a raid on Huntsville (unnumbered
incident, P. 9), the September 23rd incident in neighboring Boone County in
which a band of guerrillas attacked a train of Union supply wagons in @line's
Lane (unnumbered incident, P. 13); and the noting of Gen. Sterling Price's arrival
in Boonville on October 15th in the midst of his last raid through Missouri
(Item #4103, P. 15)
451. 5/2O/1864
"Sashwell Carson, brother of "Kit Carson, was killed by bushwhackers near his
farm a few miles north of Boonsboro on May 20,1864. Mrs. Carson was visiting
at a neighbor's and seeing Sashwell coming to take her back home, went down
the road to meet him. A band of bushwhackers intercepted him, held Mrs. Carson
and shot him dead right before her eyes. Mrs. Carson and her 12-year old son
brought the body home in an ox-drawn wagon. He is buried on the old Carson family
home grounds near Boonsboro.' (Bicentennial Boonslick History, compiled and
edited by Lyn McDaniel, Boonslick Historical Society, 1976, p. 96; see also
Howard County Cemetery Records, Karen Boggs and Louise Coutts, 1994, P. 89)
The perpetrators of the above incident were not Confederate bushwhackers, but rather some people connected with a notorious Union 'guerrilla' named Harry Truman who passed through central Missouri in May and June of 1864 killing and plundering. A number of communications both by and about Truman (often referred to simply as 'H.T.') appear in the OR, Vol. 34 (4), indicating that he was apparently acting as a kind of spy and "bushwhacker hunter," sometimes alone, and sometimes with an indeterminate group of men on orders from the Provost Marshal-General in St. Louis. Several commanders in the field were, however, less than pleased with Truman's conduct and activities. Brig. Gen. Clinton B. Fisk, Union Commander of the District of North Missouri, complains about him to Col. O.D. Greene, Assistant Adjutant General, St. Louis, on June 8,1864 (OR, Vol. 34,141, P. 270), asking Greene to 'immediately order H.T. to Saint Louis and keep him there." Fisk notes that Truman 'goes about with his most villainous conduct regardless of anybody,' arid that 'he is plundering the best men in North Missouri, insults and abuses women, travels in the most public thoroughfares in a state of beastly intoxication, with a notorious prostitute in company with him, and is guilty of all the crimes that I, as an officer of the Government, am under obligation to put down.'
A letter from W.A. Hall to General Rosecrans on June 12,1864 (OR, 34 [4t p. 324) says that 'a number of men, between 30 and 40, under an officer whose name is said to be Truman, have been in ... [Chariton County] and have killed a number of citizens." Hall says that Truman's actions have excited a "reign of terror...extending from that county to the adjoining counties,' and that 'I fear much that men driven to desperation will join the bushwhackers in self-defense." Hall also says that "no one seems to know where these men are from or who are,' but that his suspicion is 'that they may be what are called Red Legs, from Kansas." John Newman Edwards, in Noted Guerrillas or The Warfare of the Border( St. Louis,1877; reprinted 1976 by Moriningside Bookshop, Dayton, Ohio), makes this same assumption about Truman (P. 307). In 1864," Edwards says, 'a Kansas Red Leg Captain named Truman, passed through Howard like a scourge, cutting, slashing, hanging, and shooting. In Boonslick township he killed Sashet (sic] Carson, Oliver Rose, Tazewell Jones, John Stepp, John T. Marshall and John Cooper, all worthy and peaceful citizens. Others were killed in various parts of the county and the Guerrillas grew in proportion as the people were preyed upon.'
Truman was eventually arrested by Fisk, who returned a great deal of his plunder.
He was put on trial in St. Joseph (see Columbia Missouri Statesman, July 15,1864,
p. 2, col. 5) but was never convicted of any crimes because after several would-be
witnesses were murdered, the remainder would not testify against him. Michael
Fellman makes reference to the activities of Truman in Inside War. The Guerrilla
Conflict in Missouri the American Civil War (Oxford University Press, New York,
1989), P. 172.
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452. 5/25/1864
On May 27, 1864, the Howard County Advertiser reported (p. 2, col. 2) that
'during the past week, the military at this post, devoted several days to scouting
after bushwhackers. Some twenty men of the brush, supposed to be from Linn county
[possibly Hotzclaw's group], made their appearance in the vicinity of Glasgow,
when the military, on receiving the news, started immediately in pursuit, but
were unable to find them, until Wednesday evening, when they came upon them
at the Rocheport Bridge. Here, it is said the Federals were fired upon, and
one man slightly wounded. The fire was returned, and it is thought as many as
two of the bushwhackers were wounded. They retreated in the direction of the
Perche hills in Boone county."
6/l/1864
" [George] Todd by the first of June, was at the head of forty Guerrillas,
splendidly armed and mounted, and mowed with them a swathe through Lafayette
County into Saline, capturing the town of Arrow Rock and putting to the sword
its garrison of "-five militia. There Capt. Dick Yager was wounded ... [and
was later killed by Federals as he tried to recover from his wounds in Jackson
County]" (Noted Guerrillas, Edwards, p. 234)
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On July 2, 1864, the Boonville Weekly Monitor reported (p. 3, col. 2) that
'we are informed by our friend William Abottt, telegraphic repairer , that the
wire was cut, in Howard county, about three miles from the river on Monday night
last [June 27] and near two hundred yards carried off. The work is supposed
to be that of bushwhackers.'
End of June 1864
'[William Anderson left Texas three weeks after Quantrilll and made his way
back to Missouri.] In June Anderson crossed the Missouri River into Carroll
County below Waverly.-. killing as he marched, Anderson moved from Carroll into
Howard, entered Huntsville the last of June with twenty-five mem, took from
the county treasury $30,000, and disbanded for a few days for purposes of recruiting.'
(Noted Guerrillas, Edwards, pp. 236239)
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On July 2,1864, Major Reeves Leonard, Ninth Cavalry Missouri State Militia, Fayette, Mo., reported the following incident to Gen. Fisk, Commander of the District of North Missouri in St. Joseph, Mo.:
"Sergeant Koontze, of this command, with fifteen men had a skirmish yesterday six miles from Fayette, with [Clifton] Holtzclaw and twenty-five other guerrillas. Our loss was one killed and one wounded. Holtzcaw's two killed and one wounded. The guerrillas scattered; they were getting their breakfast at the house of one Henry Miller [site of the present Phillip Baylor home]- had been there all morning; no one reported the presence of these guerrillas although there was ample opportunity. Colonel Williams is here. He reports one hundred fifty guerrillas in Perche Hills and I suppose he will start there forthwith.'
Gen. Fisk, conveyed this information to Col. 0. D. Greene, the Assistant Adjutant General in St. Louis on the same date. Both reports are in the OR, Series 1, Vol. XLJ, Book 1, p. 10. (See also Columbia Missouri Statesman, July 8, 1WA, p 3, cot. 4, and July 15,1864, p. 1, col. 7)..
Michael Feilman (Inside War, pp. 137-138) says that Clifton D. Holtzclaw, the
well-known central Missouri guerrilla leader, sent the following communication
to the post Commander at Keytesville about this same period of time. "I wish
to inform you that you must restrain your troops or I shall be compelled to
retaliate [with] every violation of the rules of civilized warfare. I am determined
to kill two Union for every So[uthern] sympathizer that you or your party may
kill ( that is, peaceable citizens), and also will kill a Radical for every
house that is burnt I regret that these things are necessary, but you or the
men with you give me no choice.... I will state that I am only repeating my
instructions from the Confederate Government.'
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472. 7/4/1864
The Columbia Missouri Statesman, [July 15,1864, p. 2, col. 5], reprinted an
article from the Boonville Advertiser that stated: 'thirteen bushwhackers rode
into New Franklin, Howard County on the 4th of July, and robbed two stores in
that place. They took from the store of Mr. Warren Chilton, goods to the amount
of about two hundred and fifty dollars. They are the same party which had a
fight with a foraging party of militia the previous week, in which fight a soldier
named Hunt was killed and another wounded. In that fight that were only four
of the bushwhackers who were driven to the brush, and one of their number wounded,
and he was the leader of the thirteen men who entered New Franklin.'
7/10/1864
William Clarke Quantrill arrives in Howard County with his wife/mistress, Kate
King and establishes a camp in the river hills near Boonesboro. (Date of his
arrival derived from Noted Guerrillas, Edwards, p. 307, For a more complete
discussion of Quantrill in Howard County see the article on pp. 17-18 of Ns
issue of Boon's Lick Heritage.)
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On July 11, 1964, Brig. Gen. Clinton B. Fisk, Union Commander of the Department of North Missouri made a half-hour speech in Fayette regarding Order No. 107, which recommended that each township appoint a committee of public safety to correspond with county committees, and to higher authorities, about such matters as will be beneficial to the public safety. The Columbia Missouri Statesman (July 15, 1864, P. 3, col. 4) published this report of the speech: '...He told them that General Rosecrans was the first department commander that ever offered them the 'olive branch of Peace in the shape of Order No. 107.... He said: 'Now is your time to forget all political differences and do something to protect your wives and families; your brothers and sisters everything that is near and dear to you.... Let Radicals, Conservatives, Southern sympathizers, and men of all parties, band themselves together as brothers and drive the marauding bushwhackers out of the county and State..... He told them to organize ... [and] promised them that he would see that they be armed and equipped with the best material, and hoped ... we could shortly restore civil law.... During the address of General Fisk the greatest attention was paid to his remarks, and it was plainly visible in the countenances of nearly all that they felt the force of his remarks....'
It is interesting to note that W. H.. Schrader, one of the Union soldiers stationed at Fayette when Gen. Fisk gave his speech, reported a somewhat different reaction on the part of the crowd in a reminiscence contained in the tenth installment of his "History of Brunswick' published in the Brunswicker, August 19, 1982. According to Schrader: "General Fisk, in command of the district, got an idea that a 'heart to heart' talk with the citizens in the locality would secure their assistance in making prompt report of guerrillas coming into that territory and for that purpose a meeting was called at which a large number of citizens were present, but we had little faith in the good it would accomplish.' Schrader also notes that the escort accompanying Fisk out of town after the speech was fired on and that "the General [who] had intended making these talks at several other places...[was convinced by this incident] that guerrilla warfare could not be suppressed by 'talk feasts.'
The July 15, 1864, issue of the Columbia Missouri Statesman (p. 2, col. 3) also noted the attack on Fisk and the related capture of Col. Clark H. Green, 46th Regiment Enrolled Militia, as he was returning home to Glasgow along with five or six other persons who had attended the Fisk speech. The newspaper account says that all the men except Col. Green were released and that the guerrilla who was posted as a guard over Col. Green decided to execute him. 'He pulled the trigger three times with the muzzle of his shot gun almost touching the latter's breast,' the newspaper reported, but "the caps exploded ... each time without setting off the charge in the barrels, and the would-be assassin then had recourse to a pistol. With this he shot Colonel Green through the arm, and fired two or three times more, but the succeeding shots fortunately missed their aim. The wounded man got off in the brush, and there remained until the guerrillas were put to flight by [a] pursuing force.' This pursuing force was apparently the escort to Gen. Fisk under Capt Glaze (see the OR account following).
In Gen. Fisk's report on the meeting and the aftermath to General Rosecrans
(OR, Vol. 41 [2], Correspondence, p. 109) he says: "Representatives from every
township in the county participated in the discussion of the order [General
Orders No. 107], and their resolutions heartily endorsing our measure and pledging
prompt and hearty co-operation with yourself and subordinates were adopted unanimously.
On my return to Glasgow last evening, when about three miles from Fayette, I
fell in with Holtzdaw's guerrillas and had a lively little skirmish, in which
Captain Glaze, Ninth Cavalry Missouri State Militia, commanding my escort, was
seriously though not dangerously, wounded. Three of the outlaws will trouble
us no more. When we attacked the party they had in their possession as prisoners
several citizens of Glasgow, whom they had captured an hour previous as they
were returning from the Fayette meeting. During the fight the citizens all escaped
unharmed excepting Col. Clark H. Green, upon whom they fired, badly shattering
his left arm. The prisoners then released were Messrs. English, Birch, Doctor
Lewis, Captain Morgan, Colonel Green, [and] Rice Patterson.' Fisk also notes
that 'Howard County has only sixteen men in the Enrolled Missouri Militia organization.
All other subject to duty paid out.'
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474. 7/13/1864
The Columbia Missouri Statesman, July 15, 1864 (p. 2, col. 1), reported that
'about 35 bushwhackers under Bill Anderson were in Rocheport on Wednesday [July
131. Besides taking a few articles such as bridles, holsters and money belts,
OW robbed Mr. Alex Hart of $513.75. Before leaving town their force was augmented
by the additon of three new recruits.'
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475. 7/15/1864
The Boonville Weekly Monitor, July 16,18M, p. 3, col. 1, reported that: 'On yesterday, Friday, morning, about 9 o'clock, two bushwhackers applied to be crossed on the ferry boat, then lying on the Howard (north) side of the river. James Porter, in charge of the boat, refused to cross them, when they presented revolvers to his head, stating that they were the bearers of important dispatches from Col. Perkins, and that they would deliver them or die, and threatened Mr. Porter with instant death if he did not cross them. Under this compulsion, they were crossed, and before touching the shore on the Boonville side, and whilst on the boat, they mounted their horses, holding a revolver in each hand, and their bridle reins in their mouths, and thus, dashed through the western part of the town. Several citizens were here met and robbed, and two horses belonging to the Wine Company were taken. But, sadder than all this, Mr. John H. Boller, one of our most worthy German fellow-citizens, was met about a mile from town, and without a word of admonition or caution, was ruthlessly shot down. He was fired at several times, and was mortally wounded, dying in about half an hour after being shot. Three or four citizens and officers [who] were on furlough, immediately mounted their horses and started in pursuit after the rebels, and overtook them about four miles from town, concealed in thick brush. They fired on them and killed one, who had joined them on this side and re-captured their stolen horses. Our community is greatly excited, and not without cause. The country is swarming with these bushwhacking devils, and every good citizen and all the interest of the county are imperiled.....'
An account of this incident also appears in W.F. Johnson's History of Cooper County, Missouri (Historical Publishing Co, Topeka, 1919, reprinted in two volumes by VKM publishing Co., Fort Worth, Texas, 1978). In this account, obtained from Fred J. Boller, son of John H. Boller, the guerrillas are identified as Bill Stewart [sic), Carter and Sloan. Fred Boller says that as his father's buggy passed what was then known as the Miller place, the three guerrillas were resting under the shade of a tree. They followed him to what was known as the Ripley place and then stopped him and demanded his money. Mr. Boller, his son says, 'complied with their demand by showing them his watch, but evidently not anticipating trouble, drove on. When he did so, they immediately began to fire upon him, shooting him four for five times.' Mortally wounded, Mr. Boller drove on toward Boonville where a Mr. Back took him into his home and tried to help him but he died soon thereafter. Boller says that in the pursuit of the bushwhackers, the one named Sloan was shot in the side of the head, and although he recovered from this wound he was permanently blinded. (pp. 211-212)
The Boonville Weekly Monitor, July 23,1864, p. 3, col. 2, carried a second,
more detailed report of this incident, and in this account it is noted that
Boller drove up to the gate of Mr. Hoffmeister where he was met by Hoffmeister's
little girl. At about the same time the bushwhacker, Stuart, approached Boller,
asked his name and demanded his money. Boller reportedly replied, 'I got none,"
at which point Stuart grabbed for Boller's watch. Boller suddenly threw his
hand over the pocket containing the watch and whipped his horse to get out of
the way. Mr. Hoffmeister said that the two men ahead of Stuart called on Stuart
to "Kill the d-m-d old son-of-a-bitch" and he commenced shooting firing about
six shots, two of which took effect and he died soon after.
7/15/1864
On the same day as the above incident took place the Huntsville Citizen reported
in an article reprinted in the Columbia Missouri Statesman,August5,1864,p.2,col.3,
that "a band of outlaws under Bill Anderson' entered Huntsville, robbed the
county treasury of $18,000, a number of stores and citizens of an amount totaling
over $30,", and killed a traveling salesman named George Damon of St. Louis
who was staying in the hotel there.
The article containing the above account goes on to offer an interesting portrait
of Anderson and his men, part of which was apparently provided to them by Anderson
himself. The article says: 'Anderson lived in this place [Huntsville] when he
was a bay, and showed some favors to one or two of his old school mates whom
he recognized. His father, who was very poor, removed to California at an early
day, and some of the men who befriended the father when he left here, were repaid
by the son by being robbed of thousands of dollars. He [Anderson] says his father
returned from California to Kansas where he was murdered. He said that he was
a Captain under Quantrel [sk], who is at present sick on the south side of the
river. [This is an interesting comment since Edwards in Noted Guerrillas, p.
307, says that Quantrill came to Howard County on the north side of the river
about July 10th.] His men are principally from Jackson county, and are veteran
scoundrels, the most of them having participated in the burning and sacking
of Lawrence. They were the best armed men we have seen during the war, some
of their belts swinging as high as eight navy revolvers, while the most of them
were provided with revolving rifles. Although they pretended to be Confederate
soldiers while here.... in fact, they were an organized band of freebooters,
thieves and murderers, who have no respect for God or man, age, sex or condition.'
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"On July 17,1864, the guerrillas charged into Rocheport on the Missouri River
in western Boone County. While there they rioted around and entertained many
friendly inhabitants by attacking the steamboat War Eagle. Notorious guerrilla
leader Capt. William ("Bloody Bill') Anderson called Rocheport my capital,'and
the Union reports of the week announced that the Perche Creek hills in Boone
County were 'swarming with guerrillas.'
(Gray Ghosts of the Confederacy, Richard S. Brownlee, Louisiana State University
Press, Baton Rouge, 1958, p. 204)
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'Sometime during the summer of 1864 [probably in July) a large squad of marauding Knox county
Militiamen visited the town of New Franklin. After looting the stores, etc.,
[they] loaded their horses with the ill gotten plunder, [and] left the town
in a hilarious mood. At the Agnew hill, one mile east of town, a large funeral
procession was moving slowly along the dusty road toward the town. Riding horseback,
just in advance of the procession of mourners was Uncle Park Hecker, who that
day had tarried too long at the wine-cup. Uncle Park, seeing the band of marauders
coming, yelled, 'Here they are boys; CHARGE 'EM!' The band of militia, mistaking
the moving procession for a column of guerrillas, made a precipitous flight.
It was told that stolen plunder was scattered for miles along the route of their
flight.' (The Babe of the Company, Hamp B. Watts, Fayette, Missouri, 1913, p.
32)
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The Columbia Missouri Statesman, September 16,1864, carried " item (P. 1, COL 7) taken from the Boonville Advertiser": 'On the 16th of August, Mr. James E. McMahan was murdered by bushwhackers, at the house of Mrs. Nannie Burrus in Howard County. Mr. McMahan is said to be highly esteemed by all who know him' (McMahan worked for Naninie Burrus.. He is the 'foreman' men in the account that follows.)
Further clarification of this incident is provided in an article written by
the late Earl (Gene) Owen for the South Howard County Historical Society, October
1990, entitled 'Gray Ghost of South Howard County.' The article deals with a
local guerrilla /trouble- named Richard Kimsey who claimed to be a follower
of Quantrill. According to Owen, Kimsey had the habit of entering people's homes
and taking whatever he wanted. 'The Widow Burris,' Owen says, 'owned a very
fine stallion that attracted Kimzey's [sic] attention. Several times Kimzey
went to the farm to try and get the horse but he found that the horse had been
hidden. Finally Kimzey told the foreman to have the stallion at the house when
he arrived or it would be too bad for the foreman. Mrs. Burres told the foreman
to take the animal to Boonville and take whatever price he could get for it.
Shortly after that Kimzey returned to the farm and inquired about the horse.
Kimzey reportedly told the foreman, "You put a low value on your life when you
think more of her orders than you do mine.' He then drew his weapon and shot
the foreman through the head.' (See also Item #4101 P. 15 for the outcome of
this and other similar incidents perpetrated by Kimsey.)
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The Columbia Missouri Statesman, August 26, 1864 (P. 3, col. 2), reported:
"Last Saturday morning [August 20] as Maj. Leonard with a detachment of the
9th M.S.M. was proceeding from Rocheport to Fayette he was fired on from the
brush a half of a mile from the former place by a band of bushwhackers, numbering
about 30, under Jim Anderson. The fire was returned and a horse killed. The
bushwhackers immediately fled back in the woods. Three or four of Maj. Leonard's
command were wounded. During the evening of the same day the same band went
to Rocheport and remained several hours, and committed some depredations. The
store of Barth & Bro., was robbed of about $600 worth of goods. When this
band left it was immediately succeeded by Holtzclaw's. The business interest
of Rocheport is almost broken up, owing to the repeated incursions and robberies
of the guerrillas. A great many citizens have left the place.'
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The following account of an incident in which William Anderson and Clifton Holtzclaw ambush Capt. Joseph Parks [sometimes rendered as Park, Parke or Parker] of Boonville is derived from several sources including- the Columbia Missouri Statesman, September 2,1864, p. 3, col. 2; Noted Guerrillas, Edwards, pp. 243-244; History of Cooper County, Johnson, pp. 195-196, Babe of the Company, Watts, pp. 11-12; Schrader's "History of Brunswick," eleventh installment, The Brunswicker, September 30,1982; and The Civil War in Missouri Day by Day 1"1-1865, Carolyn M. Bartels, Two Trails Publishing, Shawnee, Kansas, 1992, p. 118. It should be noted that the only sources giving an accurate date for the incident (August 28,1864) are Bartels and the Columbia Missouri Statesman. Edwards says it happened on September 15th; Schrader places it on September 21st.
On Sunday, August 28,1864, a Federal scout consisting of 40 to 45 men (Edwards says 75 men and Hamp Watts says 100 men) under Captain Joseph Parks of the 4th Missouri State Militia from Boonville, finding little to do on the south side of the river, crossed into Howard county in search of Anderson's bushwhackers (Bartels says Parks was looking for Holtzclaw). They passed through New Franklin and took the road east leading to Rocheport. Anderson was known to be in full force in the neighborhood. Coming to the home of Uncle Sammy Pearson on Salt Creek, five miles east of New Franklin, he asked, 'Any of Bill Anderson's men around here?' He was told that Anderson had passed the place an hour before going east in the direction of Rocheport, but Parks was warned that 'your men are no match for Bill Anderson's boys; take warning, don't follow them.' The Captain's answer was quick and blustering, 'Show me the road. I'll find him."
When Anderson learned of Parks' presence in the country, he sent James Commons, a swift rider, to Captain William Stuart, a guerrilla who was operating with ten men close to Anderson with Orders to report to him. He then found Rawling's Lane (the Columbia Missouri Statesman reports that the ambush was near the farm of Commodore Rollins, a short distance above Rocheport), a long lane with a heavy rail fence on each side. At the western extremity of this lane he formed his command in a column of fours. When Anderson got to Rawling's Lane he didn't make the right hand turn on the Fayette and Rocheport road but went straight east through Rawling's Lane from its west to east limit so as to make it appear from the horse's tracks that the guerrillas were still marching east. At the east end of the lane he turned his column north and counter marched west to a point opposite and just north of the west entrance to the lane. He deployed his men out of sight behind the brow of a hill to await Parks' approach. Anderson sent twelve men under Archie Clements as a decoy to fire upon the Federals on the east and retreat rapidly back as if in confusion. But according to Edwards in Noted Guerrillas (pp. 243-244), the twelve man decoy disobeyed Anderson's order and charged Parks' entire force recklessly. Edwards says the guerrillas killed twenty-three of Parks' men an captured forty Horses, and notes that despite the success of the attack Anderson later gave Clements a reprimand 'that abode with him to the day of his death' for disobeying his order.
Johnson says that seven of Parks' men fell in the first fire, and Parks in his report of the incident (see below) gives seven as the total number of his men killed. Schrader, who was riding with Leonard, says that they gathered up about fifteen dead of Parks' command, but he also says that "the Captain came over the river with 45 men and...only twelve or fifteen were afterward accounted for outside of the dead." Several of the accounts note that a number of the Federal dead were stripped, scalped and otherwise mutilated.
Apparently a number of Parks' men were chased by the guerrillas for five miles to Sulphur Springs, where they took refuge behind the walls of a deserted house and kept Anderson at bay until he drew off his men, then they mounted their horses and fled back to Boonville.
Captain Parks, who had deserted his command at the first assault, headed for
Fayette where he met Major Reeves Leonard's command of two hundred who had heard
the firing in the direction of Rawlings Lane and were riding to investigate.
When Leonard and his men arrived at Rawlings Lane they had a brief encounter
with the guerrillas and drove them off. Leonard then helped Parks recover his
dead and they crossed the river to Boonville where the bodies were buried in
one unmarked grave in the old City cemetery in the southwest part of Boonville.
Parks to reported to General Pleasanton, on August 30,1864 (OR, Vol. 41, [11,
p. 300) that the battle occurred on the morning of the 28th of August 1864 within
four miles of Rocheport, that he had 44 men and Anderson had about 100 men;
that they fought for 15 minutes and Anderson lost 6 dead and 2 wounded; and
that he had 7 dead, two wounded and three missing. Not long after this incident
Major General Pleasanton recommended that Captain Parks be dismissed from the
service, apparently because of his cowardice in fleeing from his command when
they were first assaulted.
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"Constantly fighting the bushwhackers and small Confederate camps, has become
the order of the day around Glasgow. The latest skirmish took the lives of twelve
militia men, by the hand of Bill Anderson's men. Anderson's men suffered the
loss of six men, upon whose bodies, were recovered no less than 30 revolvers.
The second militia assault on Anderson cost him four more men and twenty-five
good horses. Reports have it the area of Boone and Howard counties are virtually
swarming with bushwhackers, rebel Confederate bands, and outlaws of all nature.'
(-.Day by Day, Bartels, p. 119)
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492. Early September 1864
John Newman Edwards describes an incident in Noted Guerrillas (p. 308) that
apparently took place in early September 1864, in which Capt. William Sturat
and seven of his men encountered and seven of his men encountered a detachment
of the 17th Illinois, near Boonesboro, numbering eighty. "Stuart was hunting
for Anderson, but he found these Illinois people traveling briskly along from
Glasgow towards Boonville. The fight was near Squire Kivett's, the guerrillas
beginning with a charge. The 17th fought badly, and finally ran away without
sufficient pressure. Stuart was wounded severely in the left wrist, but Squire
Kivett dressed his wound and he rode forward with his arm in a sling.'
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493. 9/5/1864
The Columbia Missouri Statesman, September 9, 1864, p.3, col.2, reported that
on September 5th: "The steamer Yellow Stone was fired into at Rocheport while
passing down, by Anderson's band. The rebels followed the boat some distance
down the river, keeping up a fire on it, when another steamer, the Mara [should
be Mars] was met coming up. The rebels fired on her also, and followed her back
to Rocheport where she stopped in the channel of the river [and] indications
were received that she had surrendered. Two guerrillas started to her in a skiff
and when within close range were fired on from the boat and one of them severely
if not mortally wounded. The boat then put off for Jefferson City without material
damage. The rebel wounded is Harvey Rucker of this county, brother of Maj. J.F.
Rucker, a noted guerrilla.' This same incident is described in the History of
Boone County, p. 1005.
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494. Early September 1864
"About the beginning of the month of September, Bill Anderson commissioned Captain Bissett,
__Brown__ Bisfield__ Roberts and two others whose names cannot now be recalled (six of the company's most trusted men), to collect from non-combatants a 'Contributive Tax' for the support and maintenance of his company. This tax was not mandatory, but altogether voluntary in its levy and payment. Captain Bissett and five comrades had been engaged in the performance of their duties four or five days when, on the morning of September 6th, about nine o'clock, a steady rain began falling. The six guerrillas turned their horses from the public highway and sought shelter in the barn on the farm of the widow Turner.- Feeling secure from attack by the enemy on account of the weather conditions, saddles were removed from their horses, blankets were spread to dry, revolvers were taken from scabbards to be cleaned and oiled. They had been thus engaged for an hour or longer when a Federal scout of 200 men (who had trailed the guerrillas by their horses' tracks in the muddy road for a distance of two miles, rode through the gate at the front of the Turner farm. Coming in front of the residence the officer in command inquired of an old Negro man, 'Seen any Bushwhackers 'round here?' The old negro for answer, simply pointed toward the barn, into which he had observed the six guerrillas enter only a short time before. By this time the men in the barn had discovered the enemy's presence. It is now given as told this writer by Lieutenant Williams several years after the close of the war (Williams being one of the attacking force):
"As we rushed forward to surround the barn, two of the men emerged therefrom with a revolver in each hand firing rapidly. One man, whom we thought at the time to be Bill Anderson, fell dead at the) first volley from our guns, his body being literally riddled by musket balls. The second man was killed some thirty yards from the barn as he attempted to mount over a rail fence. The other four men had sprang into a field of standing corn on the south side of the barn and for a time they were hidden from our view. Three of them were soon discovered running southwest through the standing corn toward a bushy timber. Being afoot they could make much more rapid progress through the corn than their cavalry pursuers, though a fusillade was kept up by us in their direction. The three succeeded in getting a mile from the barn before bring overtaken. They fought desperately before we succeeded in their killing. The fourth man, who had secreted from his comrades, gained the timbered pasture one-half mile to the west, but was shot down, fighting to the last. It seemed a pity to kill such brave men, but it was war."
'The three guerrillas pursued through the corn field were killed on the farm of our esteemed friend, William H. Long. Rough coffins were made by O.R. White, Ira Darby, Sr., and W. H. Long; the bodies of the six brave men placed therein and interred in the Turner family burial ground near the residence.
"Bill Anderson's love for his men was shown by his grief on learning of the
killing of Captain Bissett and five comrades. Indeed it was pitiable to behold.
Great tears coursed down his cheeks, his breast heaved and his body shook with
vehement agitation. For Captain Bissett, in physique, was an Apollo-an educated
gentleman-- with a courtesy that was displayed in both address and manner, a
superb horseman, a born soldier, with a valor and boldness devoid of fear. Therefore,
his killing brought sorrow to all his comrades as well as to his commander.
For days thereafter Anderson was morose, sullen and gloomy. Planning, as proved
by subsequent events, a coup de gruce, for revenge.' (Babe of the Company, Watts,
pp. 15-17)
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'Major Austin A. King, Howard County, had a run-in with sixty of Holtsclaw's command east of Roanoke in Howard County. Captain Turner (militia) succeeded in a running fight that covered five miles in killing six of them and capturing a quantity of their shotguns.
'Following this report, General Fisk, from his headquarters in St. Joseph writes
King-. 'I congratulate you on the good beginning of the bushwhacking campaign.
Strike with vigor and determination Take no prisoners. We have enough of that
sort on hand now. Pursue and kill. I have two of Holtzclaw's men, just captured.
They state the he camps when in Howard County, in the rear of old man Hackley's
farm, not far from Fayette. [J.P. Hackley is shown as owning a tract in the
north half of Section 29, Township 50, Range 17 in the 1876 Illustrated Atlas
Map of Howard County. The same source indicates that S.C. Hackley owns a tract
in the south half of Section 20, Township 50, Range 17.1 Make a dash in there
at night and get him if possible. Let a detachment secretly watch his mother's
residence (Lucinda Holtlzclaw is shown as owning a tract in Sections 31 of Township
51, Range 16, on p. 25 in the 1876 Illustrated Atlas Map of Howard County, and
in Section 36, Township 51, Range 17 on p. 32. This would be north of E highway
in the vicinity of the water tower north of the Bill Brown farm and south of
the Mike Schewe place.] He is home almost daily, and his sisters are great comforters
of the bushwhackers. Old man Hackley has a son in the brush. I shall soon send
out of the district the bushwhacking families. Go ahead and give us a good report.'
(-.Day by Day, Bartels, p. 120; see also OR, Vol. 41, Chapter 53, pp. 759-760,
for the reports of Fisk and King regarding this incident.)
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496. Mid-September 1864
Cyrus Markland, who lived about a half mile west of Armstrong and just southeast
of Roanoke in Howard County, was taken from his house to his orchard and sat
in a chair while the Federals shot him. Although the specific date is not known
for this incident it probably took place in mid-September 1864, about the same
time as incident #494 above. (Oral history, interview by William Lay with William
Markland)
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The following story was recorded in 1940 by members of the Boonslick Historical Society in an interview with J. Archie Maxwell, then 86 years old. He was 10 when this incident occurred on a farm four miles east of New Franklin. It was later printed in Bicentennial Boonslick History, p. 95:
"After General Ewing issued his Order No. 11 and so many people were driven out of the counties south of the Missouri River and to the west of us, some of the families came into our neighborhood. Mrs. Hamilton moved into a cabin back of our home while the Carter and Collins families found refuge on nearby farms.
'Al Carter, tall and slender, and 'Buck' Collins, a short blocky fellow, young hotheads of these families, joined Capt. Jackman's band of bushwhackers which made headquarters in the densely wooded bluffs to the south and east of our farm. Capt Jackman's mother lived at what is known today [19401 as the Kurtz farm. 'One afternoon, my father with four horses hitched to a harrow, and riding the wheel horse, was getting land ready for wheat just south and across the road from Salt Creek Cemetery. Nearby, I was helping our Negro man Green shuck some corn out of the shock. Al Carter on a beautiful bay horse and 'Buck Collins on a dun pony rode by us down to the cabin where Mrs. Hamilton lived. They sat there on their horses and visited with their mothers who had come over to spend the day with Mrs. Hamilton.
'Presently we all saw someone in civilian clothes riding down the road from the north toward the cemetery and us. Al and 'Buck' immediately turned their horses toward the road and as they passed my father, asked hun who was the stranger. Father replied that he did not know and cautioned the boys to be careful.
'Al pulled his gun out and held it concealed close by his side behind his left leg as he rode forward. Accosting the stranger, he demanded his identity. The stranger whipped out his gun and fired, shooting Al in the stomach. Al returned fire and that bullet disabled his opponent for the moment but the wound proved superficial.
'Just then about 25 Federals who had heard the shots rode up hurriedly over the hill and taking in the situation, began to shoot at Al and 'Buck' who had whirled their horses about and were riding hard toward Alfred Peeler's place. One of those shots went through the shock where I was shucking corn and I made it to the house in quick time!
"'Buck' Collins was shot off his horse at Peeler's gate and the Federals kept on after Al. He came to the dead end of the road and turned into woods. A grape vine caught him under the chin and dragged him off his horse. He was lying there on the ground when his pursuers overtook him. Al had long curly black hair which hung to his shoulders and the Federals thought he was Bill Anderson They shot out both his eyes and scalped him.
'When the men came riding back to our house each man had one of Al's black curls tied in the left side of his bridle. 'They announced to Father jubilantly that they had got Bill Anderson but father replied, 'No, you got the Carter boy.'
'Late that evening father had Green hitch up a yoke of oxen and they brought the bodies of the boys back to Mrs. Hamilton's cabin where they left them over night. The next day Joe Bradley made two plain coffins and they buried the boys in the same grave in Salt Creek Cemetery.
'After the war 'Buck's' father, who had returned to Jackson County, came down
and brought the double tombstone which marks the grave today. They were killed
on the 12th day of September, 1864. 'Buck' being 17 years, 11 months and 16
days of age and Al Carter just one day older.'
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The following incident is included, even though it occurred in neighboring Boone County, because it happened the day before the Fayette raid and involved many of the same guerrillas. The fool hardy daring of the Fayette raid may, in fact, have been partly due to the 'high' the guerrillas were still experiencing from the Gosline's Lane incident described here.
'On Friday, September 23,1864, a Federal train of fourteen wagons-.started from Sturgeon t to Rocheport. The train was escorted by about seventy men of the 3rd M.S.M. under Capt McFadden. The wagons were loaded principally with some subsistence, with ammunition, clothing and private property belonging to officers and soldiers. The majority of the wagons and teams were pressed from private citizens of the neighborhood....
'The escort and train traveling south from Sturgeon stopped near sunset in the lane of Sylvester F. Gosline, on Section 10, Township 49, Range 14, about seven miles from Rocheport. A few of the soldiers were in Mr. Gosline's yard and some of them in his orchard gathering apples; most of the command and all of the wagons were in the lane about 200 yards from the house....
"Without the least warning...a force numbering about 100 mounted men under Thomas and George Todd and John Thrailkill charged at full speed down this lane, yelling like Indians as they came, and...firing indiscriminately and with deadly effect upon the soldiers.
"The charge was so sudden that the Federal soldiers had not even time to form in line of battle. Under these circumstances they were scattered and no alternative left but to save themselves by flight. Some escaped by abandoning their horses and going into a [nearby] corn field ... and some rode across the country to Columbia and others went back to Sturgeon.... The train was taken possession of by the guerrillas.. [and after it] had been robbed of everything the bushwhackers could use, the wagons and their remaining contents were burned....
"After robbing and firing the wagon train and killing and scattering the escort,
the guerrillas left the scene by the same lane through which they approached
it, none of them having been killed, and only one mortally wounded. Bill Anderson
was not among them' of Boone County, Missouri, William F. Switzler, Western
Historical Co., St. Louis, Mo., 1882; reprinted by Ramfire Reprint, Cape Girardeau,
1970, pp. 437-439)
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498. 9/24/1864
135 rebels under Anderson make an unsuccessful attack on Fayette. (This raid
is described in detail in several sources, including Noted Guerrillas, Edwards,
Three Years with Quantrill: A True Story Told by his Scout John McCorkle, OS.
Barton, Armstrong Herald, Armstrong, Mo., 1914, and reprinted by University
of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Okla., 1992; and Babe of the Company, Watts. This
latter account was also reprinted in Boone's Lick Heritage, Vol. 3, No. 3, September
1995, pp. 10-12. A contemporary newspaper account of the battle appears in the
Columbia Statesman, September 30,1864, p. 3, col. 1)
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499. 9/1864
'After the fight [with Captain Parks] Anderson took his command to the hills on the Perche Creek in Boone county, dispersing it into small squads... Several [of these] squads of the guerrillas returned to Howard county-
"One of these squads, composed of six young men, Bob Todd, Andy Idson, Plunk Murray, Thad
Jackman, _Smith and Lee McMurtry, at the noon hour rode to the home of Capt Sebree, six miles southeast of Fayette. Their horses were fed, a bounteous dinner was served the guerrillas, Mrs. Sebree and her fair and accomplished sister, Miss Jennie Saunders, being the hostesses. After the meal, the horses were rebridled and all preparation made for departure, but before mounting, they repaired in a body to the house to bid adieu to the ladies. These young men loved women and the women loved them. They were met at the front door by Miss Saunders who suggested that they enjoy some music before leave taking. Alas, in accepting her cordial invitation and entering the parlor in a body, the usual precaution of detailing one of their number for picket duty was overlooked and neglected. Eternal vigilance, to the guerrilla, was the price of safety. Being lured by the smiles of beauty, enraptured by sweetest strains of music, laughter and song held full possession. War was forgotten for the hour. They were at peace with all the world, oblivious that the grim monster DEATH, molded in the leaden musket-ball was stealthily approaching.
'Murray, chancing to glance through the window, saw a body of 200 Federal troopers [from Putnam County under the command of Col. Catherwood] coming through the road gate, not more than 150 yards distant. He shouted loudly to his comrades, 'FEDERALS,'at the same time rushing through the door for the rear of the house. His comrades, thinking Murray was playing a joke, only laughed and answered, 'Where?' The advancing troops seeing Murray rush from the house, began firing upon him. Alarmed at hearing the fire from the troops, four of the remaining five rushed from the house, firing on the enemy as they attempted to escape. Todd was shot dead while running through the garden. Smith was killed in a pasture 300 yards south of the dwelling. Murray, Idson and Jackman succeeded in reaching a heavy growth of underbrush north of the house, making good their escape.
'For presence of mind and coolness facing imminent danger of death, McMurtry's
quick action and successful ruse to evade detection and being killed was seldom
if ever equaled during those perilous days. Realizing that all hope or means
of escape from death by egress from the house was closed by the Federals, who
had now surrounded the building, he quickly unclasped his belt of revolvers,
and handing them to Miss Saunders, said to her, 'buckle these around your waist,
beneath your dress skirt, and when the Feds come in address me as brother.'
Speedily divesting his Over-shirt, secreting it under the piano lid, he rushed
to the hall; an old straw hat on the wall, he donned it and then with no visible
outward show of fear or tremor, calmly faced a squad of the enemy as they made
excited inrush to the house. Both Miss Saunders and McMurtry were subjected
to much questioning and severe scrutiny as to his identity, but they managed
to retain their nerve and self-possession under the intense and trying ordeal.
McMurtry helped to untie his captured horse and those of his five comrades and
rushing in front and ahead of the Federal column, opened the gate for them on
their departure. Hastity returning to the house securing his revolvers and with
a 'God bless' for Miss Saunders, he lost no time in taking to the brush. The
Federal authorities, hearing of the aid given McMurtry in making his escape,
Miss Saunders was promptly banished south of the Mason and Dixon line.' (Babe
of the Company, Watts, pp, 12-14)
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4101. 10/8/1864
Earl (Gene) Owen in his 1990 article, 'Gray Ghost of South Howard County' (see
incident #481) describes the tames circumstances leading to the killing of Richard
Kimsey by Quantrill on this date. According to Owen, Quantrill had received
so many complaints about the ' renegade guerrilla" Kimsey that he finally decided
to take sone action- 'On Saturday, 8, 1864, a couple of weeks after the battle
of Fayette and three days before Shelby captured Boonville, Quantrill went looking
for his troublesome follower. On a high road west of Clark's Chapel, the two
men met. Quantrill ordered Kimzey [sic] to hand over his weapon. Apparently,
Kimzey made the motion of drawing and Quantrill shot him. Kimzey fell from his
horse dead. His body was interred in Clark's Chapel Cemetery.' (See also Howard
County Cemetery Records, Boggs and Coutts, P. 112. This citation indicates that
Kimsey was 21 years, 3 months and 11 days old when he was killed on October
8, 1864. Edwards also mentions the killing of Kimsey, who he identifies as a
'Federal soldier,' in Noted Guerrillas, P. 308)
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Not long after Quantrill killed Kimsey and two Federals named Montgomery and
West, some Putnam County militia came into Glasgow, stealing, shooting and burning.
Lisbon was consumed [and] Capt. James Cason's house was given to the torch.
Quantrell [sic] was encountered and driven furiously into his camp, having barely
&m to take James Little [who had been with Quantrill since the battle of
Fayette recuperating from wounds received there] up behind him and fall back
behind John Barker and five other of his old men, who ran and fought and held
their own for fourteen miles.' (Noted Guerrillas, Ed p. 310)
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During Gen. Price's Raid through Missouri in the fall of 1864 Price stopped
in Boonville and met with the guerrilla leaders Todd, Anderson and Quantrill.
He ordered them to destroy portions of the railroads both north and south of
the river, an order they only imperfectly carried out. (This raid is described
in detail in various accounts of the Civil War in Missouri. It is also described
in the Howard, Saline and Cooper County histories.)
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'C.W. Wright saw Quantrill in Howard County while Price was moving west above
Boonville. Wright had been given permission to cross the river to see his family
and he met Quantrill in the road about half way from Arrow Rock to New Franklin.
Quantrill inquired where he could stay all night. He was alone, nervous and
afraid, appeared to be skulking, timid, and at a loss what to do, and was taking
no part in the war. Wright told him to go the house of a man named Basket, which
Quantrill did, and he remained there several days.' (Quantrill and the Border
Wars, William Elsey Connelley, Torch Press, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 1910, reprinted
by Kansas Heritage Press, Ottawa, Ks, 1992, P. 455. Note: In the 1876 Illustrated
Atlas Map of Howard County, P. 25, Robert Baskett is shown as the owner of a
large bract of land in Sections 23, 26 and 27 of Township 51, Range 16 about
6 miles north of Fayette)
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4105. 10/14/1864
'At the time of Price's raid ... there was a bank robbery [in Fayette]....
Mrs. [John E.] Ewing and her mother-in-law, and Mrs. Carr W. Pritchett were
in the building when the soldiers (or guerrillas) appeared. When the men were
told that the doors leading to the vault were open they procured crowbars and
worked from eight o'clock in the evening until midnight opening the safe. The
booty consisted of $28,000 belonging to the county, some silverware owned by
Mr. James R. Estell [sic], and a gold goblet the property of Major M. Johnson.
After the robbery the soldiers (or guerrillas) went to Roanoke where they gambled
away much of the money.' (Monograph on Fayette, collection of W.D. Lay, P. 3,
see also Inside War, Feliman, p. 11, OR KLI (4), October 11, 1864, and Gray
Ghosts, Brownlee, P. 224)
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The Battle of Glasgow takes place in conjunction with Price's Raid. (Mis battle
was described in detail along with a citation of key sources for the battle
by BHS member James Denny in Boone's Lick Heritage, Vol. 3, No. 3, September
1995, pp. 4-9; see also History of Howard and Cooper Counties, pp. 288-289)
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'On the evening of October 17th Quantrell [sic] with his band entered Glasgow
and sent two of his men to Mr. W.F. Dunnica's residence. They commanded him
to bring Dunnica to the bank of Thompson & Dunnica. After reaching the bank,
Mr. Dunnica was compelled to unlock the bank vault and safe and deliver their
contents to Quantrell. Mr. Dunnica had anticipated so g of the kind and had,
the day before, buried $32,000, which he saved. Quantrell took $21,000)", which
was all of the money in the safe. Quantrell then took Mr. Dunnica home so that
Quantrell's men, who were on the street would no molest him.' (see History of
Howard and Cooper Counties, P. 289)
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4108. 10/18/1864
Following the Battle of Glasgow the town was visited not only by Quantrill
and his men (as described in the incident above in which the Dunnica bank was
robbed) but also by the notorious William ("Bloody Bill') Anderson, who on the
evening of October 18, paid a visit to the of wealthy tobacco farmer and Unionist
Benjamin Lewis. Anderson had heard that Lewis had offered a $6000 reward for
his capture dead or alive. Anderson decided he would 'collect the reward' in
person. After brutally beating and torturing Lewis for several hours he forced
him to raise the $6000 reward from his neighbors. Lewis died a little over a
year later from the injuries he received from Anderson. (see History of Howard
and Cooper Co., P. 285, see also The Dream of Thirteen Men, Kenneth Westhues,
Glasgow, Mo., 1966, Chapter 3)
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4111. 11/18/1864
Death has overtaken another notorious desperado and robber, in the person of
rebel captain Stewart [sic], who, a companion of Anderson and a participator
in many of the enterprises of that brigand, has been a curse to this section
for many months past. Stewart was killed at the house of M'Donald in old Franklin,
Howard county, on Friday last, by a cattle drover. Two drovers were at the home
of Mr. M'Donald when Stewart and two companions rode up for the purpose of robbing
or murdering them. The drovers fastened the doors of the house and Stewart in
attempting to break them down was shot by one of the drovers and killed instantly.
One shot penetrated his neck, another entered near the mouth, and a third passed
fairly into the corner of the forehead. The other two guerrillas escaped. Stewart
was a man of medium height, spare made, smooth of face, and wore very long hair
of a red color. He was on the whole a fine looking man. The drover who killed
him was in town on Wednesday and had in his possession a photograph of the desperado
taken [by Boonville photographer O.D. Edwards] after death, exhibiting plainly
the holes where the fatal bullets entered[see cover of this issue]. Stewart
was from the vicinity of Warrensburg, Johnson County, Missouri.' (Columbia Missouri
Statesman, November 2.5,1864, P. 3, col. 1; see also Boonville: An illustrated
History, Robert L Dyer, Pekitanoui Publications, Boonville, Mo, 1987, p. 125.)
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A battle was fought on the old Hume farm [in Howard County] one cold winter day [in 18641 when the ground was covered with snow and ice. The Federals had burned the home of Joel Hume, a southern sympathizer, shortly before and had taken him to Glasgow [November 27, 1864] where he died in prison. The Lindsay Payton house, north of the Hume place, was burned the same night. Payton's wife was a daughter of Joel Hume. Mrs. Payton and her children then moved with Mrs. Hume to the Negro cabins on the Hume place.
Jim Jackson, a rebel bushwhacker and his three followers, regularly stopped at the Hume Negro cabins. The militia at Roanoke heard of his stop and 14 or 15 of them came out after him They hitched their horses in a grove...and walked to the Hume cabins where they formed a line. When the Roanoke militia began firing, Jackson ... charged them with his horses and men. One of Jackson's men was wounded and left at the cabins. Jackson and his two remaining (men] captured 'Hawk Phelps and one man was left to guard him. Before the Roanoke men could get on their horses Jackson killed 'Toad' Finnell. 'The men were so frightened by this time that they jumped on their horses and fled, some going toward Roanoke and others heading toward Armstrong.
"Jackson and his followers killed a man by the name of Godfrey when his horse
broke through the ice of the creek on the Snoddy farm. They also captured Tom
Patterson, but later freed both Patterson and Phelps, but not until they had
forced Patterson to kill two of the horses with an axe. Jackson took another
federal horse and... went north into Chariton County. About 80 of the militia
from Roanoke hunted for him that afternoon, but he had escaped.' (Bicentennial
Boonslick History, P. 96)
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