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While
preparing his book “With Porter in North Missouri”,
Civil War veteran, historian and author Joseph A. Mudd
reviewed county histories and newspaper articles and
corresponded with several Confederate veterans. I have
extracted the Monroe County stories so that readers may
understand the lives and activities of these First Northeast
Missouri Cavalry veterans.
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“I was plowing tobacco on Friday, July 25, 1862, when my
father came home from Paris with the news that the Governor
had ordered everybody between the ages of eighteen and
forty-five to join the militia and, as I was nineteen, my
mother said she would rather I would go with the rebs. That
settled it. I left home next day and fell in with fifty or
more men that night. Sunday night we left camp at
Bradley’s Old Mill site on Salt River, and Monday night we
joined Colonel Porter at Brace’s old camp on the Elk Fork
of Salt River. From there we went to Newark, Knox County,
arriving on the morning of Friday, August 1. Here there were
two hundred Federals camped.
Colonel Porter
divided his force, sending between four hundred and five
hundred men around to attack from the north. These were put
under command of Joe Thompson, who had been sent by Colonel
Porter two days before to capture Paris, which he did
without trouble. Colonel Porter with the remainder of the
force attacked Newark on the south, but by some means the
other detachment failed to show up. We dismounted and
charged up a slant of about two hundred and fifty yards. In
this charge my brother, R.D.W. Austin and Raymond Shearer
were killed, and Aleck Smith was wounded – all from this
locality.
A young man named
Major with fifteen or twenty mounted men charged and lost
one killed, Thomas Noonan. The Federals took refuge in a
brick school house and it took three hours’ fighting to
dislodge them. They refused our invitation to surrender and
Colonel Porter loaded a wagon with hay and had it pushed up
against the house when up went the white flag.”
- Source quoted: Andrew J. Austin of Goss, Monroe Co
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“When we went to
press last Thursday evening (July 31), Colonel McNeil, with
some three hundred and fifty or four hundred men and three
pieces of artillery, was in this place, having arrived her
early in the morning after a forced march of several
successive days and nights’ travel in search of Colonel
Porter. The horses and men looked jaded and fatigued.
Learning that Colonel Porter was encamped at some point ten
or twelve miles east of this place, about eight o’clock he
mad a start for the aforesaid camp, but before getting out
of town the alarm was given that Porter was coming, and
preparations were at once made for his reception. But the
alarm proved a false one and quiet was restored.
Toward evening
Colonel McNeil received reliable information that Porter had
broken up camp and with some two thousand men had started,
at two o’clock, in a northerly direction – and
immediately after supper he resumed the pursuit. The next
(Friday) evening Major Caldwell with a portion of his own
command, part of Colonel Smart’s brigade of Pike County,
part of Colonel Guitar’s regiment and some of Merrill
Horse, numbering in all about one thousand men, arrived at
this place, and the next morning struck north to the support
of Colonel McNeil, the two commands forming a junction at
some point below Shelbyville. Colonel Porter struck directly
for Newark, where a company of Major Benjamin’s command,
some seventy-five strong, under Captain Lear, was stationed.
He detailed a part of his command to take this company in;
they were encamped outside of the town and he ordered a
company of infantry to get in their rear to prevent their
escape to the brush, and a company of cavalry to get between
them and the town and prevent them taking shelter in the
houses; but these two divisions, it is said, failed to act
in concert, and the cavalry charging directly upon the camp
received the full charge of the company; the latter then
made good their retreat to a large brick church, when
Colonel Porter immediately demanded their surrender, stating
his force and his ability to take them and his desire to
save any unnecessary loss of life. The demand was acceded to
and Captain Lear and his men delivered up their arms –
whereupon Colonel Porter addressed them a few kind words,
restored to the officers their sidearms and then paroled
them.
In this action
Colonel Porter had eight killed and thirteen wounded, and
the Federals four killed and seven wounded, two of the
latter having since died. It is also reported that several
of Colonel Porter’s men were mortally wounded. The most of
the killed and wounded on his part were citizens of the
county. Among those killed on the spot were W.T. Noonan,
Richard Austin, John Harrison and a young Mr. Shearer. When
last heard from, Colonel Porter was encamped on the Fabius,
some ten or twelve miles beyond Newark, and the Federal
forces were close enough at hand to drive in Porter’s
pickets – both seemingly awaiting for reinforcements
before coming to battle. Colonel Porter’s force was
variously estimated at three thousand to four thousand, and
the Federal force about two thousand. A bloody battle in
that quarter seems imminent.”
- Source quoted: Paris Mercury, August 8, 1862
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“… The day after
the battle of Moore’s Mill we organized at Glenn’s Mill
on the Middle Fork of Salt River, east of Paris, by electing
Ben Ely, now of Monroe County, captain; William Martin,
first lieutenant, and myself third lieutenant; Stephen D.
Ely, orderly sergeant; David Ely and T.J. Pettitt,
corporals…”
- Source quoted: R.K. Phillips, of Perry, Ralls Co
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“By this time we
were stirring up trouble among the Federals and a large
force with cannons was sent after us. They came up with us
just east of Kirksville. Porter desired to fight them in the
town, so we were ordered to go beyond the town on the west,
hitch our horses and come back to the eastern edge. About
twenty of our company occupied a newly built house on the
northeast outskirts in plain view of the enemy. We could see
their every maneuver.
When the battle begun
it was furious, but most of the fighting was done at long
range, the enemy standing off and using their cannons. Our
house was shot to pieces and when a bomb burst in it we
left. Some went one way and some another; I went west. As we
left that house it seemed to me the air was as full of minie
balls as it could hold. I don’t see how they missed me;
but they did. I believe I had with me all the time a guiding
hand that protected me.
I think Porter had
three thousand men a Kirksville. I don’t know what our
loss was; I saw several men killed at the house we occupied.
Neither do I know the loss of the other side. The battle
lasted several hours. When we retreated they came into town
and captured some of our men who did not get the word to
retreat. One of the prisoners they shot was my neighbor,
Rube Thomas, who lived three or four miles from my home.”
- Source quoted: Andrew J. Austin of Goss, Monroe Co
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“From Kirksville we
went toward the southwest and then turned eastward, and on
Friday, the 8th, we fought another battle at
Painter’s Creek. A force of several thousand men attacked
us. Colonel Porter ordered us to go back a mile, hitch our
horses and return to the creek. There was timber a hundred
yards wide on the creek. We fought from one o’clock till
about night and we drove them from the field. We had one man
killed and one or two wounded. We turned back the same way
we had come. The next day, after reinforcements had come to
Macon City, they sent out a large force after us. They came
up while we were cooking breakfast.
Colonel Porter
ordered us to move. We were then on the west side of the
Chariton River and it was up to the saddle skirts, so the
wagons had to go around some ten or fifteen miles to a
bridge. In order to give them time, Porter had us dismount
and form a line to check the enemy. About the time the Feds
would get ready to fight we would be up and gone. Then the
Colonel would line us up again and give them another check
until he knew the wagons had had plenty of time. Then we had
orders to go and we left the enemy.
When we crossed the
Chariton, Colonel Porter had some large trees cut so the
enemy could not get out with their cannon. He then stationed
Captain Jim Porter with one hundred men to give the Federals
a gentle surprise – and Jim Porter was the man to do it.
When they came to cross, the river was swift and high. They
rode right in and were letting their horses drink and were
having a good time in the thought that the rebs were gone.
Their good time lasted a very short time.
They were stretched
clear across, a hundred or more. Our men raised up and
killed or drowned nearly every one of them. We took one
prisoner, a man about sixty years old. We went east for
twenty or thirty miles and late that evening Colonel Porter
stopped out in the prairie and told us that it would be
necessary for us to disband. Each company was directed to go
back to its own county and told that it would be called at
an opportune time. We came to Monroe and were not with
Porter again until the Palmyra fight.”
- Source quoted: Andrew J. Austin of Goss, Monroe Co
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“Thursday, the next
day after the battle (note: of Kirksville), quite a number
of ‘oath-breakers,’ as they were called, were tried by a
Federal drumhead court-martial, convened by McNeil, in
Kirksville, and fifteen of them were convicted of violation
of their paroles, and sentenced to be shot. McNeil approved
the proceedings and the order, and the poor fellows were
executed the same day. Their names, as can best be learned
now, were: William Bates, R.M. Galbreath, Lewis Rollins,
William Wilson, Columbus Harris, Reuben Thomas or Thompson,
Thomas Webb and Reuben Green, of Monroe County…”
- Source quoted: History of Shelby County, page 757
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Of his Palmyra prison
experience: “Provost- Marshal Strachan (of Palmyra, Marion
Co office) thought he had me pretty well worn out, and
writing to my father asked him to influence me to take the
oath, give bond and go home, or he would have to send me to
Alton, Illinois, the following Monday morning. My father got
Uncle Bob Threlkeld and Judge Foster to come to Palmyra and
see what they could do. They got me out that night on
parole, to report next morning at eight o’clock. Andrew
Allsman (note: of Marion Co PM office) was in the office
when I went in and remained there during my entire
examination. Strachan put a great many questions to me which
I answered. Allsman told Strachan that he very readily
recognized me, and that I had done some terrible deeds, all
of which I denied. It was hard to bear, but circumstances
were such that I had to make the best of it.
I told Strachan
before I took the oath that I would never go into the
militia. I had been home two months when the order came for
every man to go into the militia. I got on my horse and went
to Porter, taking forty men with me, and we were sworn into
the Confederate service for three years or during the war.
When Porter went to Palmyra he burned all of Strachan’s
papers, my oath and bond with the rest, which was good for
me. He took Allsman with him. At Whaleys Mill he released
Allsman and furnished him with a horse to ride back to
Palmyra. I think Allsman’s bones lie in a cave between
Whaley’s Mill and Palmyra.”
- Source: J. B. Threlkeld of Shelbina, Shelby Co
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The number of
prisoners, citizen and Confederate, killed in Missouri
during the war by the Federal militia reached many hundreds,
but no case of single or wholesale slaughter created so
great an inquiry or so general reprobation as the killing of
Willis Baker, Thomas Humston, Morgan Bixler, John Y.
McPheeters and Hiram Smith, of Lewis County, Herbert Hudson,
John M. Wade and Marion Lair, of Ralls County, Thomas
Sidenor, of Monroe County, and Eleazer Lake, of Scotland
County, by order of General John McNeil, at Palmyra,
Saturday, October 18, 1862.
A notice was served
on Colonel Porter by publication in the local papers and by
a copy placed in the hands of Mrs. Porter which read thus:
Palmyra, Mo. October
8, 1862
Joseph C. Porter
Sir:- Andrew Allsman,
an aged citizen of Palmyra, and a non-combatant, having been
carried from his home by a band of persons unlawfully
arrayed against the peace and good order of the State of
Missouri, and which band was under your control; this is to
notify you that unless said Andrew Allsman is returned
unharmed to his family within then days from date ten men
who have belonged to you band, and unlawfully sworn by you
to carry arms against the Government of the United States,
and who are now in custody, will be shot as a meet reward
for their crimes, among which is the illegal restraining of
said Allsman of his liberty, and if not returned, presumably
aiding in his murder. Your prompt attention to this will
save much suffering.
Yours etc.,
W.R. Strachan
Provost-Marshal
General District N.E. Missouri
Per order of
Brigadier-General Command McNeil’s Column.
The dread day came
without light on the fate of Allsman… The fortitude of the
ten victims in the face of death robbed Strachan of half his
pleasure in the deed… Of all the men, Captain Tom Sidenor
aroused the greatest interest. Young, handsome, cultivated,
of high parentage, he had given his best to the cause of the
South and the din of battle was sweet music to his ear.
“Aim here,” he said, placing his hand over his heart,
and his executioners, merciful to him, did his bidding, but
many of the soldiers purposely aimed high; their repugnance
and horror preventing them from realizing that obedience to
orders was not only a duty but a mercy.
… The editor of the
Palmyra Courier whose hatred of everything Confederate or
Southern was bounded only by the scope of his vigorous
intellect, gave a minute description of the tragedy.
Heretofore he had gloried in all the lesser
“severities,” but now, no word of approval for this
tragedy, and scarcely a word of condemnation for its
victims: “He (Captain Sidenor) was now elegantly attired
in a suit of black broadcloth with white vest. A luxurious
growth of beautiful hair rolled down upon his shoulders
which, with his fine personal appearance, could not but
bring to mind the handsome but vicious Absolom…”
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Comrade A.J. Austin,
Goss, Monroe County, sends names of Porters’s men: Isaac
Greening and Joseph Smith, Florida; Joseph Adams and Reuben
Tillett, Paris; Robert Bush, Santa Fe; James Adams,
Holliday; Thomas Tewell, Clapper, all of Monroe County…
Mrs. James A McAtee,
Hunnewell, Shelby County… says her two brothers, Raymond
and Thomas Shearer, of Monroe County, were with Porter and
that Raymond was killed at Newark.
Comrade B.O. Wood
writes…S.J. Armstrong, of Paris…John Lyon, Stoutsville,
Monroe County…
The survivors of
Porter’s men here named have given me valuable information
used in the preparation of this narrative: … A.J. Austin,
Goss, Monroe Co… George Madison Botkins, Madison, Monroe
Co… Charles A. crump, Santa Fe, Monroe Co… J.D. Dowell,
Paris, Monroe Co… H.M. Goss, Florida, Monroe Co… Ben
Green, Santa Fe, Monroe Co… Ezekiel Bryan McGee, Paris,
Monroe Co… J.W. Young, Stoutsville, Monroe Co |
