|
Civil
War historian Bruce Nichols [email protected]
– “The year
1864 had the heaviest concentration of
activities of the entire Civil War in Monroe County,
although the early part of the year was quiet.”
------------
Union
Troop Dispositions
Location:
Monroe County area
Date:
31 Jan 1864
Source:
O.R. series 1, vol. 34, part 2, p. 204.
Description:
Two companies of the 1st Provisional Enrolled Missouri
Militia under Major Lewis P. Miller were at that time
garrisoned on active duty at Mexico, Audrain County. Unbeknownst
to Major Miller and those men, the Prov EMM program at that
time was just days away from being discontinued. This
was mostly due to the infighting at regional and state level
from politics between the northern moderates then in power
and the northern radicals who were growing in power. I
recall from my reading that the Prov EMM concept finally
folded in February 1864 and those men affected reverted to
their previous Enrolled Missouri Militia assignments.
Guerrilla
Raid
Location:
Allen, east-central Randolph County
Date:
night of 27/28 May 1864
Source:
"O.R." series 1, vol. 34, part 4, p. 92
Description:
Four unidentified guerrillas armed with shotguns and pistols
robbed a store in the railroad village of Allen of $175
worth of clothing and then left. The
Union military report of this added the comment that
"they did not call for money" implying perhaps
that many other raiding guerrillas commonly took money on
such occasions.
Public
Appearance of Rebel Recruiter
Location:
Middle Grove, southwest Monroe County
Date:
sometime between 12 and 18 Jun 1864
Source:
"O.R." series 1, vol. 34, part 4, p. 492
Description:
This Union military report recorded the surprising
appearance of notable Confederate Colonel Caleb Perkins in
full uniform in the village of Middle Grove. COL
Perkins was one of the most prolific and successful of the
Rebel behind-enemy-lines recruiters and managed to recruit
hundreds of southern men quietly under the very noses of
Union soldiers across Howard, Boone, Randolph, Audrain,
Monroe, St. Charles, Pike, Ralls, Lincoln, Warren, Callaway,
and Montgomery Counties throughout almost the entire war. I
don't know if Perkins came and went different times from
this region throughout 1864, but I know he did finally lead
a number of his recruits south to Arkansas as late as early
November 1864. COL
Perkins was a careful, deliberate leader, so if he chose to
appear in public in uniform I'm sure he calculated that to
increase southern confidence in himself and encourage more
men to enroll with him. Kentucky-born
Perkins called southeast Randolph County home and began his
service to the South in that county with the Missouri State
Guard in mid-1861.
Skirmish
Location:
Prairie Township, southeast Randolph County
Date:
evening of 19 Jun 1864
Source:
St. Louis newspaper "Daily Missouri Democrat" of
27 Jun 1864
Description:
This article reported Wilhare Sorrell, constable of Prairie
Township, refused the approach of guerrillas or Rebel
recruiters and fired at them. Their return fire wounded
Sorrell in two or three places, but he survived. Since
COL Perkins' home was in Prairie Township, we can speculate
that these were some of his men, but that is mere guesswork.
Dispositions
of Union EMM Soldiers on Active Duty
Location:
Northern Missouri
Date:
23 Jun 1864
Source:
"O.R." series 1, vol. 34, part 4, p. 523
Description:
This long list of northern Enrolled Missouri Militia units
with soldiers on active duty across the breadth of northern
MO is notable for our purposes since there are absolutely no
EMM troops listed on duty any closer to Monroe County than
about 100 men of 38th and 62nd EMM in Linn County and a
detachment of 53rd EMM in New London, Ralls County. Of
course, this does take into account the regular soldiers of
the Missouri State Militia (MSM) then garrisoned in this
region, but perhaps this Monroe County gap gave COL Perkins
the encouragement to earlier appear in public in full
Confederate uniform. Increased
guerrilla activities across northern MO by this time of the
summer caused the Union military to awake to growing danger.
This level of
guerrilla activity had not appeared in this part of the
state in 1863, but former MO governor and now Confederate
Major General Sterling Price then in Arkansas was
implementing long-awaited plans to send military forces to
MO and liberate the entire state from Union occupation. The
increase in guerrilla activity especially in northeast MO in
late June 1864 was a purposeful harbinger of that liberation
expected to come within weeks. Another reason no EMM troops
were then on duty in Monroe County may have been the strong
southern sentiment then growing in confidence in the area. This
undoubtedly was intimidating to the EMM there.
Location
of Large Body of Rebels
Location:
southeast Monroe County
Date:
28 and 29 Jun 1864
Source:
O.R. series 1, vol. 34, part 4, p. 589
Descrption:
This Union army report says that COL Dorsey and Bill Myers
with from 150 to 300 recruits were then reported at
Goodwin's Mill. I
studied the 1860 MO census and noticed several Goodwin
households in South Fork Township of the southeast corner of
Monroe County and tentatively conclude Goodwin's Mill must
be located in that township.
Guerilla
Depredations
Location:
near Allen, east-central Randolph County
Date:
30 Jun 1864
Source:
St. Louis newspaper "Daily Missouri Democrat" of 4
Jul 1864
Description:
The article says that six unidentified guerrillas approached
Mrs. Armand Price, alleged wife of a Lieutenant in CPT
Thomas B. Reed's Company G of the Union 9th Cavalry MSM, and
demanded money of her. When
she denied having any money the men struck her, ripped part
of her clothing, whipped her with a switch, and before
leaving set fire to a building and nearby woods. If
this story is more than war hysteria or propaganda I have my
doubts that Rebel recruits would treat a woman of any
sympathy with such utter disrespect. I
also wonder if we are reading the entire story. If
this is a true account, I wonder if these attackers could
have been hardened bushwhackers. I
find no LT Price listed among the officers of the 9th Cav
MSM, although CPT Reed's company seems to have come mostly
from Randolph County.
Union
Detective's Report of Secret Rebel Locations
Location:
Northeast Missouri
Date:
30 Jun 1864:
Source:
"O.R." series 1, vol. 34, part 4, pp. 599-600.
Description:
Detective T. J. Stauber reported secret Rebel concentrations
located as close to Monroe County as near Mexico, Audrain
County, and that Confederate irregulars use the Salt River
in and near Monroe County as a "line of movement"
or a route they use to avoid the Union patrols along the
roads. The
Union military in MO used undercover detectives to
supplement military reports and those of informants in
increasing numbers beginning in 1863, but they still had
poor understanding of who was in charge of southern
irregular forces and where they were located at given times.
Sometimes such
detectives accidentally misled the Union leadership even
more with bad information.
Guerrilla
Depredations
Location:
eastern Randolph County.
Date:
early Jul 1864
Sources:
St. Louis newspaper accounts in "Daily Missouri
Democrat" of 14 and
16
Jul 1864
Description:
These accounts told of unidentified guerrillas who raided
the village of Allen and nearby farms mostly seizing money. These
raiders took only from people of northern sympathy, taking
money from three and a shotgun from one man. One
of the guerrillas gave a speech to the residents of Allen
that were present that they would kill any citizens who
organized for defense under General Order Number 107. G.O. #
107 organized "citizen guards" for home defense
and provided firearms and ammunition to any community that
organized itself under these provisions. In
essence, this was a move back toward eventual civil law in
that it authorized civilian posses to police their own
communities, but it was a blatant anti-guerrilla measure. The
newspaper articles then stated the Allen raiders rode next
to the village of Renick to the south but took nothing there
because of the large numbers of southern sympathizers in
that place. These
articles also provided more about the 30 June robbery and
attack of Mrs. Armand Price reported above. This
new information states her attackers did manage to get $100
from her and that they destroyed "a portion of her best
clothing."
Guerrilla
Raid
Location:
Renick, southeast Randolph County
Date:
morning 23 Jul 1864
Sources:
"O.R." series 1, vol. 41, part 2, p. 367; Albert
Castel, "the Life
and
Times of William C. Quantrill," 1962, p. 181; Richard
Brownlee, "Gray
Ghosts
of the Confederacy," 1957, p. 204.
Description:
Randolph County native "Bloody Bill" Anderson and
his gang of at least 40 guerrillas obviously did not have
the same appraisal of Renick being a southern town like the
raiders who seemed to spare the place in early July. This
time the raiders robbed stores, set fire to the railroad
depot, tore down telegraph lines, and stated their intention
to seize the train due in at noon. Some
townswomen secretly rode out three miles and stopped the
train so it's crew removed it from harm's way and perhaps
saved some lives. A careful study of events reveals that
traveling staff officers sent by Rebel Major General Price
were giving his directive to Anderson and other guerrilla
chieftains that they were to attack Union communications
such as railroad and telegraph facilities in order to
prepare for Price's coming liberation of the state.
Guerrilla
Raid
Location:
Allen in east Randolph County
Date:
about noon, 23 Jul 1864
Sources:
"O.R." series 1, vol. 41, part 1, pp. 124-5; part
2, pp. 364, 367;
Dyer's
"Compendium," vol. 2, p. 811; newspaper account in
Columbia's
"Missouri
Statesman" of 29 Jul 1864: Castel, "Quantrill,"
p. 181; Brownlee,
"Gray
Ghosts," p. 204
Description:
Anderson's band or 65 to 100 next rode north to attack the
railroad facilities at Allen, but instead were repelled
after a sharp fight there with 2LT Ebenezer Knapp and forty
troopers of Company G, 17th Illinois Cavalry, who had ridden
there from their Glasgow base to receive a weapons shipment
from the railroad. During
the hour of shooting, the northern side had one man wounded
and a number of horses killed and inflicted losses on their
attackers of one killed (a William Marney of Boone County)
and about eight wounded. The
raiders left when Union reinforcements arrived from Macon
County. Anderson's
men had mentioned their intention of assassinating the
telegraph operator and another named man at Allen, and these
men promptly left town after the fighting after hearing this
news.
Union
Operations
Location:
Randolph County
Date:
23 & 24 Jul 1864:
Sources:
Dyer's "Compendium," vol. 2, p. 811
Description:
I suppose Frederick Dyer means by this notation that
elements of 17th Ill Cav and 6th Cav MSM operated in
Randolph County these two days that LT Knapp's detachment
and his reinforcements of 6th Cav MSM from Macon County
probed a little ways out from Allen to see what became of
"Bloody Bill" Anderson's tempestuous bunch after
the Allen attack.
Anderson's
Guerrillas
Location:
Middle Grove, southwest Monroe County
Date:
evening of 25 Jul 1864
Source:
"O.R." series 1, vol. 41, part 2, p. 411
Description:
A Union army report out of northern Boone County said that
as of this evening "Bloody Bill" Anderson's
bushwhacker band was in the village of Middle Grove in the
southwest corner of Monroe County. There
seems to be no follow up report of violence or damage there,
so I wonder if Middle Grove was of mostly southern sympathy
then.
Activities
of Anderson's Band
Location:
in Monroe, Shelby, and Randolph Counties
Dates:
26 to 28 Jul 1864
Sources:
"O.R." series 1, vol. 41, part 1, p. 174; part 2,
pp. 410, 421, 422,
423,
424, 441, and 445; Dyer's "Compendium," vol. 2, p.
811; 1884 history of
Marion
County, p. 539
Description:
It appears that Anderson and company were responding to the
directives of Confederate staff officers for the MO
guerrillas to disrupt Union communication lines preparatory
to General Sterling Prices' long-awaited invasion or
liberation of the state.
If so, the timing was off, for Price and 11,000 Rebel
troops didn't arrive for two more months. "Bloody
Bill" Anderson's band of anywhere from 36 to 100
raiders crossed Monroe County quickly without much notice
the night of 25/26 July and the day of 26
July
and attacked the railroad installations at Shelbina and
Lakenan in south Shelby County later on 26 July. They
burned the long Salt River railroad bridge, and a water
tank, and a protective blockhouse near Shelbina, as well as
a dwelling and two rows of railroad cars, did the same to
more railroad facilities at Lakenan, then turned back
southwest and went toward Howard County and roughly the way
they came. The
band covered ground quickly, as was Anderson's style, and
there is little record of any incidents in Monroe County to
mark their passage to Shelby County and back again. However,
Union authorities arrested one southern sympathizer who fed
the guerrillas the
evening
of 26 July and local Union officials put about 200 local
"distinguished rebels" to work helping to rebuild
the ruined bridge. The
Union military and the railroads were very efficient in
repairing such sabotage of the vital rail links here, so the
trains were probably only held up a day or three.
Movement
of Several Guerrilla Bands
Location:
northeast Missouri
Date:
27 & 28 Jul 1864
Source:
O.R. series 1, vol. 41, part 2, pp. 424, 441
Description:
Other Union military reports from the field told of a band
of 100 guerrillas near Sturgeon, north Boone County, and 35
to 40 more both several miles north and south of the village
of Hunnewell, southeast Shelby County. A
colonel at Hannibal to the east joined in the hysteria to
say that Marion County "is now full of roving
bands." Indeed,
the real prospect that former MO governor and now Major
General Sterling Price
would
soon make good on his promise to return with an army to
liberate MO from the northern "tyranny" seemed to
encourage more and more young men to take up the guerrilla
banner particularly in northeast MO.
Anderson's
Band
Location:
Milton, east-central Randolph County
Date:
28 Jul 1864
Sources:
"O.R." series 1, vol. 41, part 2, p. 441; 1850
census of Huntsville area of Randolph County.
Description:
This Yankee military report tells us where Anderson's band
left Monroe County on their rapid return trip from attacking
the railroad facilities in south Shelby County. Bill and
brother and fellow guerrilla Jim Anderson held Randolph
County in special regard as their original home, even though
they had been living in central Kansas since the mid-1850s. Their
family had been of modest means back then, so "Bloody
Bill" really enjoyed his new status as
death-defying devil-may-care raider with old acquaintances.
Guerrilla
Depredations
Location:
near Swingey Town, Elizabethtown or Indian Creek, northeast
Monroe County
Date:
last of July 1864
Sources:
St. Louis newspaper "Daily Missouri Democrat" of 6
Aug 1864
Description:
This newspaper article told how unidentified guerrillas
murdered Thomas Spaulding, a northern sympathizer, and
attempted to murder another young man nearby, but he was
fortunate to escape with only a bullet hole in his hat to
show for the experience.
Guerrilla
(?) Depredations
Location:
south of Paris, Monroe County
Date:
evening of 30 Jul 1864
Sources:
St. Louis newspaper "Daily Missouri Democrat" of 8
Aug 1864 (Note: This article and the one above may have
originally come from the "Paris Mercury" which was
a weekly publication throughout the war, or it may have come
from one of the other weeklies in the region.)
Description:
This article says that an unknown assailant shot at Dr. J.
Long near the river bottom south of Paris. The
shooter escaped into the brush and the doctor was unharmed
even when his rearing horse broke the saddle girth and
dropped the rider to the ground. The article doesn't
identify Dr. Long's politics or why someone would take a
potshot at him. |
