Missouri, 1889, - John C. Moore

Confederate Military History – The guerrilla warfare in Missouri was more bitter and merciless than in any other State; but as far as Southern men who took part in it were concerned it was strictly a war of retaliation. In September 1861, Jim Lane with a body of Kansas jayhawkers took and wantonly burned the town of Osceola in St. Clair county. Later in the fall of that year the butcher, McNeil, had ten prisoners, many of them non-combatants, shot because one Andrew Allsman, of whom they knew nothing, had disappeared from his home and could not be found.
In November 1861, Col. C.B. Jennison of the First Kansas Cavalry, issued a proclamation to the people of the border counties of Missouri, in which he said:
“All who shall disregard these propositions (to surrender their arms and sign deeds of forfeiture of their property) shall be treated as traitors and slain wherever found. Their property shall be confiscated and their houses burned; and in no case will any one be spared, either in person or property, who refuses to accept these propositions.”
Indeed, the Federals boasted of their barbarity. On December 27th, 1861, the St. Louis Democrat stated that “Lieutenant Mack, sent out to Vienna with twenty Kansas rangers, returned yesterday. He brought no prisoners, that being a useless operation about played out.” The Rolla Express of the same date said: “A scouting party of rangers, which left this place last week for Maries county, has returned. The boys bring no prisoners – it isn’t their style.”
At that time there was not an organized Southern guerilla band in the State. The first organization of that kind was effected in Quantrell. In January 1862, he had seven men with him and operated in Jackson county. During that month Capt. William Gregg joined with thirteen men, making his force twenty. After that his command increased rapidly.
Missouri was isolated and cut off from the rest of the Confederacy. It was far removed and practically beyond the range of vision of the civilized world. There was a Federal garrison in nearly every town and at nearly every crossroads. Any manifestation of freedom on the part of the people was repressed by banishment, the destruction of property or death. There was no law. The courts were terrorized, and the nominal officers of the law were puppets of the military power. Fire and sword, rapine and murder, reigned supreme, and the guerrillas simply paid back the insults and wrongs to which they and their families and their friends were subjected. They fought in the only way in which they could fight, and they fought to kill.
At Osceola, the reorganization of the State Guard into the Confederate service was begun. They were true to the Southern cause, and when General Price advised them to enlist in the Confederate army they responded favorably. On the 2nd of December 1861, General Price issued an order establishing a separate camp for volunteers in the Confederate service, and appointing officers to muster them in.
General Price remained in camp on the Osage river near Osceola something more than a month. During this time the term for which many of the men had enlisted expired, and some returned to their homes, while others re-enlisted.