CHAPTER XII

"YOU MEN MAKE FUN OF EVERYTHING"

When I returned to the camp Stillson inquired with keen interest: "What kind of a time did you have?"

"Rattling time for a small affair. It was a good ending of a long ride. A sharp little :fight in the open-they on one side of a narrow street and we on the other. You see we don't always take the bushes for it."

I mentioned briefly the features as seen by me, dilating somewhat upon the incident of the three young ladies.

"I wish I could have seen it."

"If you had been within seeing distance and a stray bullet had come to you, think in what a position it would have placed us."

"That's true. I should have liked to see it though. With my head on the ground from the :first shot to the last I saw but little of the battle last Friday. What amazes me is the manner you men went up that hill after the terrible ride of three days and four nights. In the first place I haven't seen a man of you that showed the slightest appearance of fatigue. When your colonel came to this spot and gave you your orders, the rapidity with which you men made your camp arrangements and flew out of here and up that hill was astounding. How far is it to where the :fight took place?

''1 should say half a mile."

"It seemed to me it was only a minute after your men disappeared over the hill before the rattle of the muskets began."

"If you think we went up that hill in a hurry you ought to have seen us when we got on the level ground."

"You went up that hill like race horses. Some of your men came back nearly half an hour ago. They were laughing and joking and half a dozen or more actually got up a jumping contest. 1 Now, you men haven't tasted a mouthful since Sunday forenoon and I haven't yet heard a proposition to mob your commissary sergeant. Since I have been with you it has been nothing but march, fight and frolic, and I don't believe you men care which it is."

"Well, considering that we are enervated by a life of leisure and you are seasoned by one of labor, we do fairly well when it comes to endurance."

"Oh, don't throw that up to me. I said what I believed to be true. What astonishes me is the endurance of you men and so many of you are nothing but beardless boys, whose appearance shows that they have never had any seasoning; again the indifference you manifest at whatever turns up. You men laugh at everything."

"Laughing is more conservative of energy than crying and ever so much pleasanter to the bystanders."

"I have been surprised and, I must say, more pleased than I can tell, at the way you have treated me."

"Do you understand Latin?"

"No , do you?"

"No, but my father has been drilling it into me since I was ten years old. I once read of an old German baron whose motto was 'Mens conscia recti.' The old fellow was proud of it, but his neighbors believed his life Wag little influenced by the condition claimed by the motto. The story 'Some of the boys were wasteful at their endurance, but the majority were very careful of it. It was a common thing for them to dismount and loosen saddle girths, even tor a short bait; tor a longer one saddled would be removed and they would stretch themselves on the ground to give themselves and their horses the full benefit at the rest, neglecting nothing calculated to better fit them for extraordinary labor and abstinence from food or water.

It's apocryphal. Very few of the old German lords knew any language but their own, and if they did their consciences never troubled them much over questions of right. When you go back to civilization and find out what this phrase means you may then realize that the mens conscia recti possessed by every Southern man is the cause of the lightheartedness you have commented upon. If you ever have a full opportunity to study the Southern people you will find their distinguishing trait to be a personal sense of duty. This is what gives our men endurance, fortitude and the supreme spirit of sacrifice. This trait is not seen only in the educated and cultured, where you might think it came by inheritance through several highborn generations and fostered by fortunate environment, but it is strongly marked in all classes. One of the two we had killed last Friday was a seventeen-year-old boy named Sparks. He was shot in the face-gave a gasp and died. His father was with him. I had seen fathers killed in presence of sons, brothers killed in presence of brothers, but I never before saw a son killed in the presence of his father. I shall not live long enough to forget the look of love, sorrow and resignation on the face of that father when he took ,that son in his arms and moaned out, 'the poor boy is gone.' Now, they were the poorest of the poor. Fate had never been kind to them. Their memory could bring up only a path in the desert without an oasis. Yet their hand was against no man and no man's against them. There was no sourness at the world or envy for those who walked in easier places. Their idea of duty guided and controlled their every impulse and purpose. I think I never saw a finer sense of it anywhere. Stillson, I am not telling you this in a spirit of brag, but partly in reply to your implied question and mainly for a purpose. Do you know why our boys have taken so great a liking for you? 'The subsequent record of the elder Sparks In the field and In prison was a further proof of  the correctness of this estimate."

"I do not, and if .I suspected the reason it would not become me to tell it."

"When you defended your side last Friday evening, while your bearing and language were respectful and courteous, your air plainly said, 'I'll say this if they kill me for it.' It was the manly spirit that captured everyone who heard you and they have told all their camp acquaintances their opinion of you. We have a genuine feeling of comradeship for you, and the fact that you are a Yank heightens the feeling and we think we know that you have the same feeling for us."

"Mudd, I am telling you God's truth when I say that I never met a set of men whom I liked better on so short an acquaintance. You have made no display of your friendship for me, but I see it in your every word and act."

"Stillson, you are a fair man; you wish to be just to everybody, friend and foe. Colonel Porter will parole you in a day or two-perhaps today. When you go among your people, in the army or in your home-but especially in your home-tell them your honest impression of us. Not of us individually-we have only a personal regard for your recollections of us as individuals-but of us as representing a class of which, if you knew more, your appreciation would be much higher. There are good people everywhere and they all have their distinctive virtues. If you have read extracts from the newspapers of the South for five years past and especially since the war began, you have the idea that our people are utterly indifferent to public opinion.

That is a mistake. The Southern people are more sensitive to public opinion than any people on earth. They are, on the other hand, less influenced by it when it runs counter to their convictions of right. They will not swerve a hair's breadth from the path of duty, but they do wish to stand well before the world."

"I say frankly that I never expected to Bee and hear what I have seen and heard during the past four days. It has been a revelation to me."

After we had fed our horses and breakfasted we made ready for a change of base. Before we left camp one of the boys brought in a copy of a newspaper which he had obtained in the village. It contained a graphic and very exaggerated description of the battle of Vassar Hill. According to the chronicler our force was much greater in number than the Federals; our loss much greater and we were driven from the field in great disorder. We made a desperate attempt to get away, but fortunately we were completely surrounded and our escape was impossible. This report caused much amusement. A half dozen or more were trying to read it at the same time and it was agreed to have it read aloud. At its conclusion a lean individual with a solemn face mounted a stump and began a harangue.

"Men, this is no time for levity. The situation is most serious. This news is astounding; it is overpowering. I may say in truth that it is appalling. When this mighty cordon of Whiskered Pandours closes in-"

"Pandours is a good word, Jim, hold to it."

"You ain't said nothin' 'bout the fierce hussars that leagued oppression poured."

"Boys, give Jim a chance and presently he'll tell us that Kosciusko shrieked when Freedom fell."

"Men," resumed the orator, ''1 am amazed at this evident want of appreciation of our impending fate. Nero fiddled while-"

"Who is Nero? I never heard of him. Is he a Fed or Confed?"

"Mr. Nero, why don't you call a council of war, find out the weakest spot in the enemy's line and make a break for safety or death? I'll take safety if I'm to have any choice in the division."

And more of the same sort. Stillson was an interested listener and he said to me: "You men make fun of everything."

"Oh, yes, the boys can't help it. They are a romping, rollicking, devil-may-care lot, but beneath all this froth you will find a surprising strength of character, seriousness of purpose, devotion to ideals and, what you may least suspect, a deep religious sentiment. I say surprising, because we would scarcely expect such depth of feeling in boys so young as you see here. It is the effect of heredity and careful home training."

When just ready to ride out of camp we were thrown in close order and brought to attention. The colonel rode to the front and made one of his characteristic talks that stirred the boys to a high pitch of enthusiasm. He said the endurance, courage and patience we had exhibited in the extraordinary demand required of us during the previous six days were nothing short of marvelous. Seldom, if ever, in military history had such a march been made. That it was done without accident, without loss except by battle, without complaint or murmur, without apparent fatigue was an assurance that he had a body of men to be depended upon in any event that could arise. He emphasized the necessity of discipline and of a strict obedience to orders. This course was all the more necessary because very few in the command had the slightest benefit of drill, and because it would best aid his constant effort to protect the lives and comfort of his men. He repeated what he had said before, that he would rather run every horse to death than sacrifice the life of one man. He spoke of duty in words and manner that made every listener forget that there was such a thing as personal fear.

It was evident that Colonel Porter expected warm times in the immediate future. It was reasonable to suppose the lesson administered to Major Clopper would stimulate unusual activity in the Federal lines and that this wo.uld not be quieted by our subsequent movements. If the business, which brought him here could be finished before the various Federal commands, hot on our trail, could strike us, well and good. If not, what was done at Vassar Hill could be done again. Colonel Porter, while a rigid disciplinarian, was the most approachable of men. He had given the command to march by double file and was about to wheel his horse when Tom Moore called out: "Colonel, going to march all night tonight?"

"Maybe."

"1£ you do, I think you' ought to stop a few times for a little rest. My horse is a hard trotter, and if we are going lickety-split without breaking step till daybreak, like we did last night and several nights before that, I am afraid he will jolt out of my mouth the taste of this morning's breakfast. You know India-rubber bread and fat sow taste mighty good when you get only three breakfasts a week and no dinners or suppers, and I want the taste to stay in my mouth as long as possible."

"Ii there's anything a Confederate soldier ought to be indifferent about it is what goes into his stomach."

"That's me, Colonel, I'm perfectly indifferent as to what goes into my stomach, just so it's good eating and a plenty of it, and just so it's not a bullet."

"Some men would rather eat than fight."

"Well, now, Colonel, when it comes to choosing between fighting without eating and eating without fighting, put me down for eating. I think I'd live longer."

Poor Tom got the bullet six days later.

CHAPTER XIII

THE PRISONERS ARE PAROLED

Our march was in a southwesterly direction and extended some twenty miles. The guides and couriers along the route were carefully instructed as to what they were to say to the Federals in answer to their questioning concerning our movements and our strength. In certain contingencies our numbers were to be underestimated, our appearance demoralized,

our horses worn out, but still pressed forward with whip and spur; in others our numbers were to be greatly overestimated, recruits pouring in, morale unimpaired and men eager to meet the enemy. As Boon as darkness had well set in we turned back and, almost retracing our steps, went into camp at daylight in a secluded .spot not far from Santa Fe. We had a good rest for thirty hours. Except the time given to sleep, two breakfasts and attention to our horses, the boys kept Stillson busy every moment playing euchre. Early in the afternoon of the next day, Thursday, Stillson's guard was directed to bring him to Colonel Porter to be paroled with the other prisoners. A half dozen of us sprang up and, telling the guard to wait until we returned, hurried off to the colonel and begged him to parole the two Iowa cavalrymen but let us keep Stillson as long as possible; pleading that he gave us no trouble, that he took the hardship of the march and nothing to eat at all in good part, that the boys all liked him, that after all they had gone through they thought they ought to be humored if there were no particular reasons why they should not be, and every other excuse the self-appointed, deeply interested committee could think of. Colonel Porter listened attentively, let us down easy-very easy-and refused our request. The disappointed committee melted away; I remained a minute and said, "Colonel, your decision is a much greater disappointment to the boys than you may be able to understand. They are all really greatly attached to Stillson and his presence in camp has been a source of pleasure to us all. He, himself, has never given a hint of how he feels about it, for he seems to be scrupulously conscientious, but we have reason to believe, from his evident appreciation of the treatment he has received, that he would not be averse to our company for a while longer. If there's any way consistent with discipline or the good of the service, that he could be kept a week, or even a month, longer the boys would

be delighted."

"I should like to oblige you in this matter, but it would be the same at the end of a week or the end of a month. Prisoners are a burden, particularly so in an engagement. I can conceive of nothing more repugnant to my feelings than the exposing of a prisoner to the fire of his own men, and there is always a probability of not being able to prevent that. No, we have had the prisoner during one engagement, and I don't wish it to happen again. Major Caldwell is hot on our trail now and there is another detachment of Federals feeling its way in this direction. Its likely that we'll run into them tonight; failing that we'll meet them tomorrow if they don't keep out of our way."

Stillson reached our part of the camp shortly after I returned, with the announcement that he had his parole and was going to leave us. The situation was pathetic with just a tinge of the ludicrous. The ringleader-I call him ringleader because while I remember him very well I have forgotten his name-was inconsolable and at the moment he knew no better way to express his feelings than the renewal of his affected bluster.

"Yank, haven't I treated you square since you've been with us?"

"You certainly have."

"Then why don't you listen to me? Stay with us a day or two longer; you are not a prisoner any more, but there's not one of us that would object to you staying with us a few days, and I don't believe the colonel would if he were to find it out."

"I don't think it would be right for me to remain when I am free to go."

"Now, doggone it, Yank, why don't you have some sense?'

If you leave now the chances are that you will get no supper and will have to sleep in a fence corner, and to do that after we have fed you three times a day on mince pie and let you sleep on a feather bed, I call a mighty shabby way of showing regard for hospitality. Stay with us tonight and get a good start tomorrow, if you must go."

This breezy affectation, the evident expression of sincere sentiment, greatly impressed Stillson. "Men, you will never know, and I can't begin to tell you, how much I appreciate your treatment of me. It's useless for me to try; I wish you to know that. I am not tired of your company, but it is neither just to your command nor to my command for me to remain a minute

after being paroled."

Stillson shook the hand of everyone whose acquaintance he had made while a prisoner and with many expressions of regard he walked out of the camp.

My forgetfulness of names has always been a cause of annoyance. Nothing relating to Stillson during his six days captivity escaped me in all these years except his name, which dropped out of my mind before the war ended. On the occasion of the national re-union of the Grand Army, in Washington in 1892 and again in 1902, I made diligent inquiry of the Michigan delegations in the hope of picking up the lost name and possibly of meeting our old time prisoner, but without result. When I began the collection of material for this narrative I applied to the Pension Office and through the courtesy of Colonel Gilbert O. Kniffen, chief of the Record Division, was allowed to copy the names of the survivors of the Michigan companies of Merrill Horse, with the intention of obtaining all the information they could or would give concerning their relations with us in the summer of 1862. The success in this line was much greater than had been anticipated. Before the correspondence with the Michigan survivors had gotten under way I came across the report of the Adjutant General of Michigan,

1901, in forty-five volumes, in the Library of Congress.

This report gives the military history of every man from that State who enlisted in the United States service during the Civil War. In volume 45, page 34, is this entry:

"Edward D. Stillson, enlisted in Company H, Merrill Horse, August 29, 1861, at Battle Creek, for three years, age 21. Mustered September 9, 1861. Absent with leave July 25, ,1862. Captured by the enemy. Paroled July 28, 1862."

The date of the parole was wrong, but I was sure of the name, because up to that date Merrill Horse had lost but one prisoner-he whom we took at Vassar Hill. To make sure, however, I wrote to the Adjutant General of Michigan concerning the erroneous date. Adjutant General James N. Cox promptly replied that he had no other information than was contained in the published record referred to, and suggested that I consult Captain Geo. H. Rowell, Battle Creek, in whose company Stillson served.

The first letter I wrote to our one-time enemy was to an address selected at random-possibly the fact that the residence was in St. Louis determined the choice-Sergeant William Bouton, 2909 Park Avenue. He replied promptly, giving not only much information, but a list of comrades best fitted for the same duty, and this list has proven very valuable to me. In regard to Stillson, Sergeant Bouton writes: "When he came into camp he sought an interview with the commanding officer of the detachment. My memory is that it was Major Clopper and that Lieutenant-Colonel Shaffer had not yet joined us. In a later talk he told me that he had asked to be sent where he should not have to serve against the guerrilla forces. The officer had replied that he should not take his parole so seriously; that the Government looked upon the work we were engaged in as police work, and that our opponents were not to be recognized

in any sense, whether officers or men, as organized Confederate forces. Stillson insisted that he had given his word and meant to keep it. 'Very well, I will forward an account of your case to headquarters for instructions.' The reply came back that he should have his discharge; and he left us a citizen with an honorable discharge in his pocket, if memory serves me right, before the battle of Moore's Mill."

Mrs. Ashbell Riley, a sister of Stillson, who lives on l\ farm near Battle Creek, instead of answering my letter came shortly afterwards on one of her not very infrequent visits to her husband, and the two spent an evening at my home in Hyattsville. She said her parents heard of her brother's capture two days after it occurred through a letter from Lieutenant Gregory and that, having heard such terrible accounts in the papers about the guerrillas, they gave him up as lost. When about two weeks afterwards he reached home it was almost like the dead coming to life. And when he told how well the Confederates had treated him they could not understand it. The fidelity of my memory of the appearance of Stillson and the traits I had

observed were corroborated by Mr. and Mrs. Riley. In answer to my inquiry they said he was fond of playing euchre with the members of his family and that he was expert in the game. Mrs. Riley was mistaken about the notification of her' brother's capture coming from Lieutenant Gregory. Lieutenant Jasper L. Gregory was so severely wounded at Vassar Hill that for a day or two he was unconscious and for many weeks was incapable of writing. Today he feels the effect of his wound. I should hate to know that my bullet caused him all these years of suffering. Edward D. Stillson's father, David Stillson, was a native of Rochester, New York, and when he died his body was sent to that city and buried the same day as one of his

brothers-March 4, 1889. Edward Stillson died in California, leaving a widow who later married again.

CHAPTER XIV

THE BATTLE OF SANTA FE

Half an hour after the prisoners were paroled the word to saddle was passed around, and presently a newcomer rode into camp. I knew he was a newcomer because, the day being warm, he had thrown his coat across the pommel of his saddle and his white shirt was fresh-laundered and clean. He was a fine specimen of the handsome, vigorous, intelligent man. In conversation with a little squad he said that he was from Boone County, and that his name was Kneisley. He had scarcely attached himself to one of the companies-not ours-when the order to march was given. Captain Penny's company led the column and the gait was a moderate one. A mile or two from camp, at the forks of the road, we met Stillson in the left. He told us that the Federals were down the road a short distance and that we should meet them in a few minutes if we kept on. "How many are there?" some one asked. "Oh, I don't know. I turned back as soon as I saw they were not of my command, and if I did know how many they are would you expect me to tell you?"

"Certainly not, unless you let it slip without thinking; all's fair in love and war, you know. But why is it that you did not join them instead of coming back to tell us?"

"I consider it the proper thing, as well as the most prudent, to strike for a post unless I can sooner reach my command. As for giving you this information, you men have treated me so white, I couldn't help it."

Mutual expressions of good will and hopes for safety were heartily given and after a round of hand shaking Stillson took the other road and was soon lost to view. In the meantime Colonel Porter had been sent for. The messenger met him coming forward to learn why the column had halted. When informed of the situation he directed a man to gallop back to where the main body of the command would be found and hurry it forward. By some means a break in the column had occurred just behind Captain Porter's company, leaving that company and ours to compose the advance. The colonel said there was an excellent spot for battle about a third of a mile to our left and that our little force could hold any. number of Federals

until the other companies came up. We lost no time in getting there. The place seemed to be made for our purpose. Our horses were completely sheltered and the contour of the ground was favorable to us. When the remainder of the command had come up and taken its place an event looked for with interest and which happened in the nick of time-a bank eighteen inches deep was a natural fortification for one-third of our men on the left, and two half-decayed logs lying in a straight line, with a gap of ten feet between, were in the proper position on our right, leaving us in the center to hug the ground. The colonel standing behind our company ordered every man, officer and private, to lie flat on the ground. This was scarcely done

before the enemy began firing. They fired eight or ten volleys before they came into sight, the bullets whistling over us.

Had we been standing our loss might have been considerable, so well had they guessed our location. On they came, their commander giving his orders-and very many unnecessary

ones--in a very loud voice. It seemed to me that he was trying to give us an idea he was not afraid. I said to Colonel Porter: "Ain't that funny?" "I never heard anything like it," he said. I told him that I was not well acquainted with Captain McElroy, of Pike County, who had a number of my Lincoln County neighbors in his company, but the voice sounded like his. These loud-toned orders, continually kept up, assured us that the enemy, though unseen, was steadily advancing. After the fifth volley Colonel Porter in a low tone gave the order to load, and it was passed up and down the line. We turned on our backs, loaded our pieces and quickly and quietly resumed our position. Jim Lovelace, who had a witty or a stinging word for everybody and every occasion, had previously named Green Rector, "Daddy," and Mart Robey, "Lieutenant Daddy," saw, or thought he saw, that Green was getting a little closer to the ground than anyone else and cried out just loud enough to escape reprimand: "Oh, look at Daddy. He's trying to make a mole of himself."

"Didn't the colonel order us to lie :flat on the ground?"

"Yee, but he didn't tell us to burrow in the ground."

"Well, I'm obeying orders; I am. It might be well if you'd obey orders a little closer," and Green laughed heartily.

The enemy was now just breaking into view through the thick foliage. I glanced down our line to the right and saw twenty feet away our latest arrival, :Mr. Kneisley, standing erect. Whether he had been standing all the while through a misapprehension of orders or had become excited at the sight of the Federals and had now risen to his feet I did not know, but there he was, his clean white shirt a good target for the enemy. The colonel saw him nearly as soon and called out sharply, "Lie down there!" Before Kneisley could obey a bullet struck him just beneath the left collar bone, near the neck, passing through the top part of the lung and out of the body. Had it ranged an inch higher the subclavian artery would have been severed and death from hemorrhage would have been almost instantaneous. As it was, the wound was a dangerous one and it was a long time before recovery.

The Federal commander now caught sight of us. He stopped short, both in step and in orders and cried out as loudly as before: "Yonder are the God damned sons of bitches, now." 1

"Ready I" rang out the clear silvery voice of Colonel Porter, and a moment later: "Fire !"

When the smoke from our volley, which was as if from one gun, cleared away, not a Federal could be seen except those prone on the ground. Tom Moore broke out into a laugh and yelled out at the top of his voice: "The God damned sons of bitches are still here, and what's more, they are about all that are here."

In a little while the colonel called for a volunteer picket guard, one from each company, to go forward and ascertain the whereabouts of the enemy. Henry Lovelace sprang , forward and the two or three of us who were not quick enough, fell back into our places. I wished to go because I had never done anything of the kind and because I felt curious to know whether or not Captain McElroy had faced us, and if he had I might possibly see some of my acquaintances who were in his company, but Henry had fairly won the privilege. The pickets returned in about a half hour and reported that the enemy had also thrown out pickets on foot, who retired before ours and soon the whole force had gone out of sight. After the war, in conversation with Charles H. Cummins, who had been my schoolmate and who enlisted in the Third Cavalry, reaching a first lieutenancy in the Forty-seventh Infantry near the close of the war, I learned that he was one of the pickets who met ours. Two years

(I have little patience with profanity, but these were the exact words of the officer.)

before the war, in consequence of an unfortunate quarrel, our families became enemies and we thought at the time that that was the reason why his father espoused the cause of the Union. The opinion may have been unjust to Mr. Cummins. It was, however, the common practice for personal enemies to take opposite sides in the struggle. I wished at the time and I have since wished that Henry Lovelace had not been so quick. Had I met Charlie on the picket line I am sure that notwithstanding our political and personal enmity, I should have hailed him in a friendly spirit and I am equally sure he would have met my advances in the same spirit. When I returned home, two years after the war, his father and mother were the first acquaintances I met and they spoke in an exceedingly kind manner, which was the first time in eight years, the friendly relations between the families having been reestablished at the suggestion and through the medium of Charlie, who, though hot-tempered, was a warmhearted boy. While we were waiting for the return of the pickets Tom Moore said: "Boys, you see that man lying yonder behind that tree' He's mine. You know the colonel's orders have always been to fire behind trees and that's the reason why he won't let us stand behind trees, afraid them Feds might get onto the same practice. Well, when "Ready" came, I covered this man and as soon as we are allowed to break ranks we'll go over there and you'll find a small bullet wound in his belly. You know I have the only rifle in the crowd. If you: don't find the little bullet hole just where I say I'll own up that somebody else got him."

. Concerning this affair Captain B. F. Crail, of the Third Iowa Cavalry, writes: "On the 24th of July Major Caldwell mustered up eighty men and pursued Porter and ran into him at Santa Fe. I had the advance and ran your pickets off the road in toward Salt River. When the major carne up he ordered me to dismount with part of my men, go in and reconnoiter to find out your location. I proceeded with seventeen men. I was within a hundred feet of you before I saw you. You had piled up some old logs on a bank and fired a volley of buckshot into us the first thing. I ordered my men to lie down, but was too late. I had one man killed and ten wounded. You had one man killed that I saw later. We buried him on the widow Botts' farm by the side of my man, Case. The Major thought we did not have enough men to meet you then. We followed Porter south, but stopped at Mexico to care for our wounded."

The Official Army Register, Volunteer Force, United States Army, volume vlm, page 232, gives the casualties of the Third Iowa Cavalry at Santa Fe, Mo., July 24, 1862: Killed, two enlisted men; wounded, thirteen enlisted men. Colonel Richard G. Woodson, of the Third Regiment Cavalry, Missouri State Militia, in compliance with the request of Colonel John B. Gray, Adjutant-General of Missouri, writes from headquarters at Pilot Knob, December 19, 1863, a history of the battles, marches, etc., of the regiment, in which occurs the following: "As soon as the rebel Porter commenced organizing his forces in Northeast Missouri the regiment was placed in the field, and continued there continually until the following November. A part

of the command was in the first engagement with Porter the latter part of July, on Salt River, Monroe County, Mo., in connection with the Third Iowa Cavalry, Major Caldwell in command. It was next engaged with Porter's forces a few days after at Moore's Mill, in Callaway County, Mo., Colonel O. Guitar commanding." No reference is made to the casualties suffered anywhere. Nearly all of my acquaintances in Lincoln County who went into the Federal army were in this regiment. Colonel Edwin Smart was its first commander. He resigned in May, 1863, as did Lieutenant Colonel Frederick Morsey, and Major Woodson became colonel. He was dismissed by Special Order No. 35, Headquarters of :Missouri, February 27, 1864.  Company G was composed entirely of Lincoln County men and Companies C and D, commanded respectively by Captains S. A. C. Bartlett and Robert McElroy, had each many recruits

from Lincoln County.

I saw very many more than seventeen Federals before we fired and probably I did not see them all, as the undergrowth was thick in places. I remember hearing Charlie Cummins speak on several occasions of having been in this action. Bill Rector, a distant relative of Green Rector, of our company, also told at Millwood of having the same experience. I don't think I ever saw Bill after the war. I think he did not survive it. There were others who told me of having faced us at Santa Fe, but I have forgotten them. We did not have any pickets out. Our company was in the lead and we left the road in quick time for our position, before we saw the Federals and before they saw us. What they saw and took to be our pickets were the rear men of

Captain Porter's company. The piled up logs mentioned by Captain Crail were the two separate logs, where they had lain since they were felled. I know the captain aims to tell the truth, because that is his character, but we had a better and much longer view of the logs and the whole surrounding than he had.

I did not go with Tom Moore to verify his contention that he shot the man behind the tree, but one or two from our company did and a few others fell in with them. I was shortly afterwards told of a circumstance that reflected little credit on one of our boys and revealed a very discreditable record of the unfortunate victim of Tom's bullet. When the man was reached he was unconscious and his death seemed to be a question of a few minutes. Some one suggested that his pockets be searched for a possible letter to identify him and the name and address of some relative whose notification would be an act of kindness. There was a letter. It was disgustingly filthy and I shall not tell the relationship of the writer to the recipient. The soldier who

discovered it-I cannot believe that he was a member of our company-giggled over its contents and gleefully read it aloud. The wounded man opened his eyes, feebly asked for water and, when it was given him, feebly murmured his gratitude. A stately man came carelessly by without a glance at the little group; it was Lucian Durkee's companion- he who never smiled. The giggling idiot with the letter arrested his attention. One look at the name on the envelope lighted the hottest fire of the inferno.

"Is this your name?" reading it to the prostrate man.

"Yes."

"You are the damned scoundrel that murdered my brother because in the over-crowded foul-smelling prison at Palmyra he came to the window for a breath of fresh air. 1£ you have a prayer to say before you die, say it now. Your black soul has only one minute more to pollute this earth."

The watch; one minute, then the revolver. They said the handsome face mirrored the demon, and the writhing form of the victim was horrible to see. The names connected with this incident dropped out of my memory, but the other details are as vivid as they were when first told to me. Nat one of Porter's men with whom I have communicated-and I have  corresponded with every

(Over-crowded, un-ventilated prisons were very common in Missouri. There was so much sickness from typhoid fever and other diseases In the Gratiot Street military prison In St. Louis that Surgeon J. B. Colegrove, Medical Examiner, U. S. Army, Inspected it and his report was published In the Missouri Democrat of September 20, 1862. Among other criticisms he says: "The number of persons here confined Is large-too large even for the occupation of a room twice or thrice the size of this; hut with no facility for the renewal of fresh atmosphere, the constant accumulation of stagnant air, loaded with Impurities, necessarily arising from the presence of so many people, bow Is It possible to prevent the occurrence of disease? It Is impossible.)

known survivor-remembers the incident. Probably not one now living, except myself, ever heard of it. Frank McAtee, of Portland, Oregon, in writing his recollections, mentions that Tom Moore mortally wounded a Federal soldier named Jack Case. When Captain Crail. told of burying "his man Case," as before quoted in this chapter, I asked Frank how he learned the name of Tom Moore's victim. In reply he writes: "1 do not remember which our of the boys it was that told me the name of the man wounded by Tom Moore at Botts Bluff was Jack Case. It might have been some one in the military prison in St. Louis." So it is established that our men knew the name of the Federal soldier who was killed. This slight corroboration  is all the verification of this story 1 have been able to get after very considerable effort. I have failed to learn if Case had a wound in the temple as well as in the stomach, and failed to learn if he ever did guard duty at a military prison. I have no criticism for the man who did the horrible deed. Had his position been mine I believe that the admonition "Vengeance is mine, and I will repay," would have guided my action, but I do not know. When the pickets returned Colonel Porter sent two mounted men to make a more extended reconnaissance. They returned in a short time with the report that the enemy had gone for good. Captain Penny proposed a dash after them and Captain Porter thought it would be a fine thing to do and he was sure his men would like to have the opportunity. Colonel Porter would not consent. "No, I can't see that anything could be accomplished by following the enemy. We might give them a drive and kill a dozen of them and we might lose a man or two, and I wouldn't give one of my men for a dozen dead Federals unless to gain some particular purpose."

(We called this engagement Botts Bluff; the Federal records call It Sante Fe.)

"We haven't had a chase for a month," suggested Captain Porter. "The boys would like a lively chase and it would have a good effect on them."

"1 know the boys would like it all right, but they don't need it for the experience. They can be depended upon for any kind of work that will ever be required of them. One reason, and a good one, why we ought not to give chase is that it would be a heavy expense on the endurance of the horses and just now we must be economical of that, because in the next week or ten days we shall need it all."

We continued our course southward, making good time, until near daybreak, when we went into camp not far from the southern boundary of Audrain County. We rested the entire day, but Colonel Porter did not rest a moment. With the sending out of scouts and receiving their reports and the interviews with the neighborhood guides and couriers he was kept well occupied. I never saw a man who could accomplish so much with so little apparent effort or so little impatience. The History of Lewis County, page 115, truly says he "was a brave and skillful soldier, a man of mature years, of great personal bravery, of indomitable will and ,perseverance, and endowed with remarkable powers of endurance and indifference to exposure and every sort of hardship."

I thought there were signs of lively times ahead and that the command was not given another day's rest for nothing. The camp was in a pretty forest not far from the head of the South Fork of Salt River. The day was a beautiful one; the warm sunshine and the half unwilling breeze invited repose. As did nearly every one in camp, I observed the proprieties and was lying in the shade of a giant elm., on my blue blouse-the same that nearly proved my undoing at Florida. I had not been asleep long before an· unusual noise in camp aroused me. 1 recognized it as the sound of horses in a stampede and I well knew what a frightful thing that was. With a bound I hugged the elm whose shade had soothed my slumber, but not a second too soon.

Half a dozen horses, in a fury of fright, came dashing by and the calked heel of one left its imprint on the sleeve of my blouse.

That afternoon a remark made by Colonel Porter impressed me deeply, and revealed an element in his character which I did not before suspect. He, Captain Penny, myself and one or two others, were talking about the skirmish of the previous day at Santa Fe and some of its incidents. I had observed Colonel Porter's bearing in battle, especially in this affair; his perfect poise, his quick grasp of situations, his close attention to details and his reckless exposure of himself. I said to him: "Colonel, I don't believe you know what fear is."

"Fear?~ Why, I am the biggest coward in the world. I never go under fire that I don't suffer the tortures of the damned. If I didn't believe it my duty to be here, I'd go home today."

CHAPTER XV

BATTLE OF MOORE'S MILL

The command left the camp in the woods near Salt River in Audrain County sometime after dark Friday, July 25th, and marched rather leisurely, west of south, toward the line between Boone and Callaway Counties. It was probably in the former county that we pitched our camp near daybreak. Saturday was a busy day for Colonel Porter. Several scouting parties were sent out and the services of an unusual number of local guides and couriers were directed. It was plain to some of us, at least, that there was business ahead.

That night we marched some fifteen or twenty miles eastward to Brown's Spring, where early the next forenoon we were reinforced by the company of Captain L. M. Frost, under command of Lieutenant John Bowles, a few days before organized and recruited in Boone County, except seven members from Randolph, and an hour or two later by that of Captain Alvin Cobb, the most dreaded bushwhacker, with the possible exception of Bill Anderson, in North Missouri. The military-or perhaps it is more correct to say political-exigencies of the time required the district commanders, and the rabid press to denounce Colonel Porter, Poindexter and others as bushwhackers, but there was a great difference in the methods of the authorized Confederate officers, whose duty and main purpose were to gather and forward recruits to the army in Arkansas and whose incidental purpose was to fight whenever necessary, and the unauthorized bodies in the class of Cobb and others, whose main purpose was to fight Federals. Cobb had seventy-five men and the Blackfoot Rangers under Lieutenant Bowles numbered about sixty-five, making our total about two hundred and sixty. I am sure our number was not less than two hundred and fifty-five nor more than two

hundred and sixty-five, with the lesser number as the more probable. Comrade C. C. Turner, presiding justice of the Boone County Court, who was a member of the Blackfoot Rangers~ thinks our forces numbered two hundred and eighty, of which about two hundred went into battle; but my opportunity for knowing our exact strength at every stage was equal to that of any man under Colonel Porter, and it seemed to me that my memory is ,very clear on this point. Every man went into battle except a small camp guard and a very few on special duty, not over twenty men in all.

We expected an attack that afternoon and remained in line an hour or more, ready and willing, but the enemy came not. We were in a very good position, but there was a better one a few miles down the Auxvasse, and if Colonel Guitar was opposed to Sabbath breaking we would occupy  it on the morrow, and wait for him. We had gone but a short distance when a halt was called and Colonel Porter gave us a twenty minutes' talk. He never made a more earnest and impressive address. Comrade Charles H. Hance, the treasurer of the city of Los Angeles, California, who had just joined us as a member of Captain Frost's company, in his description of the two days he was with us, says of this incident: "In a beautiful grove of white oak

trees we were addressed by Colonel Porter in a most patriotic and touching manner. I could see that many eyes were dimmed by tears. I really believe there was not one in hearing of his eloquent words but would have cheerfully faced death for our glorious cause." The silence with which this fervent appeal was listened to was itself most impressive. Not a sound or a movement, so eager were his listeners to take in every idea, every word, and this stillness continued for some minutes after the speech was ended.

No one was more attentive than Tom Moore, whose horse almost touched noses with the colonel's. Presently Tom's face lost its serious look and he said loud enough to be heard by a dozen around him: "Colonel, you've told us of the glorious record of Missourians and of the grand and beautiful State of Missouri. I agree with you. Now just let me keep on being a Missourian for fifty years at least."

We did not return to camp, which we had left rather hurriedly, in the midst of preparation for dinner, to meet the advancing enemy. That was a little hard on us who had no breakfast and no opportunity, as Judge Turner says the Blackfoot Rangers had to forage off the farm houses for supper. We rode three or four miles, encamped on the farm of Thomas Pratt, where some of the horses were fed and we had a much needed night's rest.

The next Monday, July 28, we were in the saddle by sunrise. The morning was hot and the smell of battle was in the air. We took care that our tracks could be readily followed. After three or four miles we left the road and went through a long, narrow field of oats which had been cut and shocked. Ranks were broken and every man lifted three or four bundles across his saddle and fed the tops to his horse while marching on. The castaway straw plainly marked our path. Presently the rendezvous was reached. We hitched our horses in a sheltered valley, placed before them the remaining sheaves of oats, made ready as to guns and ammunition, and cooked a rather slim ration of flour, but before it was ready the order was passed around to form in line of battle. We marched about five hundred yards to the side of the road, and lying on the ground in the thick brush awaited the enemy. In about an hour, and at noon

or a little before, they come.

Our first volley was a surprise; that and our second were rather demoralizing. Judge Turner, in a communication in Guitar's home paper l during the general's life-time, says, "the general swore a little in those days and after indulging a little bit, got his men formed." This may have been so. I did not hear any swearing by the general--Colonel he was then; but he was much excited and he roared out, "Bring on them cannon."

The line of attack had not yet developed and it occurred to Colonel Porter to inquire about the safety of the horses. He accordingly picked out a man here and there and directed Lieutenant Bowles to take the squad and make the circuit of the camp. At the nearest point reached and just across the little ravine, on either side of which the horses were hitched,

were a farm wagon and team, a negro boy about grown, all under the charge of one of our men. A load of shucked corn had just been emptied in a pile on the ground. The boy was

standing near the head of the horses and on their left, the soldier on the same side and near the rear end of the wagon as we came up. "Them cannon" had evidently been brought

up and placed in position. Lieutenant Bowles and the soldier in charge had been talking scarcely a minute when the discharge was heard and a ball struck ten feet to our right,

tearing up the earth and flint stones in a lively manner. The negro gave a startled look and stealthily moved off. He had gotten twenty feet away before his guard noticed him. The

latter called out in a tone that compelled obedience: "Come back here, you black rascal!"

The boy: came back slowly and haltingly, but it was with a powerful effort. The ashy face and wild eye marked his mental agony. Before he reached his first. position another

cannon ball plowed up the earth. The negro started to run. "You damned scoundrel, come back here, or I'll blow your

(The Columbia Herald, published by my friend, Edwin W. Stephens, who established the Herald at about the same time I did the Troy, Missouri, Dispatch.)

head off," shou.ted the guard in a sterner voice than before. The negro turned and saw a revolver in the hand of his tormentor. His aspect was pitiable and yet intensely ludicrous.

The tormentor kept a straight face, but we could not entirely control our laughter.

"Fore God, sir, I can't come back. 'Deed, sir, I can't stay here."

"Yes you can and you will, too."

"Massa, massa," the tears streaming down his face, '''deed I can't stay here when them things 'is goin' on."

"Well, take your choice; stay here with us and risk your head taken off by a cannon ball or get ten feet away and I'll kill you sure."

That settled it; the negro preferred the risk of the cannon ball to that of the unerring revolver. During the dialogue four other cannon balls came, all six striking in a space ten feet square, each scattering earth and gravel and adding fresh torture to the terrified negro. The strut and mimic realism of the stage are weak and colorless beside this little scene of living drama. The tormentor turned his back on the tormented to hide his subdued exhibition of enjoyment. In leaving, the lieutenant sought to quiet the fellow by saying: "Boy, you must not take it so hard; you are just as safe here as we are."

"Yassir, I knows I is, sir; but I wants to be a heap safer dan you is."

I have lately learned that the boy's name was Buck, that he still lives in the vicinity and that he belonged to a Mrs. Mary Strother. I suppose that after we left, the tormentor relented and allowed the boy to drive home and that the camp guards fed the corn to our hungry horses.

The battle was now on in earnest and for more than three hours it raged furiously. According to Colonel Guitar's official report he had four hundred and twenty-seven men besides

the artillery engaged before reinforced by the three hundred and six men under Lieutenant Colonel Shaffer. It was hard work for our two hundred and forty men, but we went at it as if success was inevitable. This was the first time we met an enemy who employed our methods of bush fighting. No advantage .could be· gained by us except through superior

marksmanship and esprit de corps. Time passes so rapidly in battle that it is difficult to determine the space between any two events. It seemed only a few minutes of intense effort

on both sides before we made a charge; it was probably a half hour and possibly three-quarters. I have often wondered why Colonel Porter said it, but he knew his business and he knew

his men. Loud enough to be heard by nearly all our men but not loud enough to be heard by the enemy, he said in his quick, decided way: "Boys, we can't stand this; we shall have to charge them."

And then in a clear, silvery tone that penetrated the entire field and quickened the life blood in every heart: "Forward! Charge!"

I don't know how it came about, who started it-if anyone person did--or exactly why it was done, but our line had scarcely gotten on its feet to obey the colonel's order before a great, spontaneous yell was raised. I had never before heard a yell in battle and none who swelled its volume now had ever heard it. It was the same rebel yell with which afterwards I

became so familiar. To me it always seemed a mingled note of encouragement to comrades and defiance to the enemy. Colonel Porter's statement was not needed for us to recognize the seriousness of the situation. It was before us, in full view. We well knew, too, the desperate chance we were taking in charging an enemy who, after the first surprises, had not flinched before a raking fire. Something must be done to even up the chances. In less than sixty seconds one aide or the other must give away. Our impetuosity must make the enemy believe our retreat impossible, and the yell was an inspiration. We went like the hurricane. The enemy fled. Colonel Guitar did all that mortal could do to rally his force, but if ours had been equal

in numbers we could have driven him into the Missouri River. As it was, we captured his artillery and took our position a hundred yards in its rear. The efficacy of the rebel yell was appreciated by Federal soldiers on every battlefield, but it was something they could not imitate.

Colonel Guitar was a lawyer and the reference to this incident in his official report shows his talent for special pleading. "Just at this moment a heavy fire was opened upon our left followed by the wildest yells, and in quick succession came a storm of leaden hail upon our center and a rush for our guns. On they came tearing through the brush. Their :fire had proved most destructive, killing and wounding four of the cannoneers and quite a number in the immediate vicinity of the gun; among the rest my chief bugler, who was near me and immediately in the rear of the gun, and who received nine buckshots and halls. Now was the crisis; the buckshot rattled upon the leaves like the pattering of hail. I could not see our line forty feet from the road on either side, but I knew that Caldwell, Duffield, Glaze, Cook and Dodd were at their posts and felt that all was well. On they came until they had gotten within forty feet of the gun. Our men, who had reserved their fire until now, springing to their feet, poured a well directed volley into their ranks and the remaining cannoneer delivered them a charge of cannister which had been left in his gun since the fall of his comrades. The rebels recoiled and fell back in disorder. They, however, rallied and made two other attempts to gain possession of the gun, but with like success each time. At this juncture Lieutenant Colonel Shaffer arrived upon the field with his command."

As Colonel Guitar practically admits, we had silenced his artillery before our charge. We did this by picking off its men and horses. The only reason for this was that the 166 WITH

artillery was more exposed. The other forces were, like us, taking advantage of the thick brush and the configuration of the ground for protection and concealment. We had no dread of artillery, as Colonel Merrill supposed when he wrote Major Clopper that it would make us scatter. I had sufficient experience on this point the year before and our men who had never faced artillery had here an opportunity to learn how harmless it was. The "bringing of them" was a mistake. The artillery was the indirect cause of most of the loss in our company and that of Captain Porter at the very close of the action. It accomplished nothing more and this was more than offset by its own casualties. Comrade E. B. McGee, of Monroe County, says

of this part of the engagement: "At this fight our physical condition was intense. The day was very hot and we were almost exhausted from want of water, food and sleep, and no relief or reinforcement could come from any quarter.

The Federals made repeated charges, which we repulsed. They were equipped with artillery which, after a severe struggle, we captured. We were finally forced to give up the guns, or rather leave them on the field, after spiking them." The comrade is mistaken about the guns being spiked. I don't think we had anything to spike them with. I know that one gun was not put out of service and that it was used at intervals until the close of the engagement, and I am satisfied that the reason why only one gun was used from then on was that the cannoneers, not the cannons, were put out of service. We could have carried off the guns, but they would have been more useless to us than would a fifth wheel to a wagon. About one o'clock the battalion of Lieutenant Colonel Shaffer arrived. It came on the field in good shape. We had known for twenty-four hours that Colonel Guitar was after us. A number of our boys recognized him on the field. There was some discussion as to the identity of the reinforcements. "Well," said Jim Lovelace, "call 'em the Dutch from Warrenton and you'll be as apt as not to strike

it, and if I am any judge of numbers there are about four hundred of 'em."

"Jim," asked Tom Moore, "can the Dutch fight?"

"Don't know. Never tried 'em."

These "Dutch" could fight and did. As soon as Colonel Porter knew of this reinforcement he withdrew our line to one almost parallel with, and ranging from twenty to :fifty yards in advance of its original position, because it was a better one, but mainly because it could protect the camp should the enemy, with much superior numbers, discover its location and capture or stampede our horses. This change in the line was made in perfect order-that is, in as perfect order as could be exhibited by undrilled men-and at no time was there a lack of entire confidence in our commander and in ourselves.

From now until four o'clock the struggle was maintained with dogged obstinacy. Major Clopper realized his mistake at Vassar Hill. If he did not his men did, and they knew the mettle of the men before them. Half of the battalion were from Michigan and they were splendid fighters. The whole battalion came down to business with but little delay after its arrival. The men "hugged the ground," as we did. The two lines crawled toward each other until the whites of the eyes could be seen and each man was a target. Of course, under the circumstances, much of the :firing was ineffective. We had never before wasted so much ammunition, but it had to be kept up. Many of our boys noticed that some of the enemy's bullets were planted in the little triangle described by the gun and the crooked right arm. Colonel Porter walked up and down the line, carefully noting every feature of the engagement and giving here and

there a word of encouragement and praise. Captain Cobb stood like a giant oak that would not bend before the storm. His countenance told of vindictive satisfaction in pouring an

endless stream of lead in the hated foe. I knew not how it was with Cobb's men and the Blackfoot Rangers, but about three o'clock our part of the line-that is, Captain Penny's and Captain Porter's companies--began to realize that we had been a little too extravagant with our ammunition and doubtless the other companies were in the same predicament. We husbanded our little stock during the last hour of the battle, but the incessant rattle of the enemy's musketry and the occasional roar of the one gun prevented us knowing whether or not the remainder of our force were following our example. What would be the outcome? Considering our diminishing cartridges, the undiminished obstinacy of the enemy, this was becoming a burning question.

The fatigue from the fifteen terrible days, the bunger, the cruel thirst, the blazing sun were nothing if we could only maintain ourselves after the work of today. In the midst of these doubts and fears we were surprised to see our entire line, except the two companies, walk off the field. What it meant we did not know. Did it mean a surrender of the field or was the colonel going to strike the enemy's :flank or rear ¥ If the latter, why were we not ordered to hold the ground at all hazard ~ One thing we did know: That Colonel Porter intended that nothing

should ever be done without his order, and we were loyal. Come what might we would await orders. Presently a courier came on the run and, in an excited manner, demanded why we had not obeyed orders. "We got none," simultaneously answered Captains Penny and Porter.

"Colonel Porter has ordered a retreat and he sent Lieutenant Wills to you with the order fifteen minutes ago."

"He didn't come."

"Get to camp as quickly as you can."

We needed no repetition of the order, but we would go off the field as slowly as did the other men. We adhered to our determination in spirit but not exactly in the letter. When we got to our feet the enemy closed in on us and some of our men had to scramble to get out of the closing circle. Right here our company suffered. If we had a man touched before now I did not know it, but in less than two minutes Captain Penny was killed, Tom Moore and Mart Robey, as we thought, mortally wounded; Joe Haley seriously, and a few others slightly wounded. When Tom was struck, Captain Penny, Ben Vansel and Sam Minor picked him up and tried to get him off the field. After a few steps he said: "Boys, I can't make it. I think I'm done for. Put me down and save yourselves."

A second after Captain Penny loosed his hold of Tom he, himself, was struck in the breast with a cannister shot, and fell apparently dead. Ben Vansel and Mose Beck gently and reverently straightened his form and with heavy hearts we left him almost in the hands of the advancing enemy. It can be said that Captain Penny lost his life trying to save Tom Moore. We heard afterwards that he lived an hour or so. It was singular that about one hour before the battle began a little squad of us, Mose Beck, Frank McAtee, Sam Minor and one or two more whose identity I have forgotten, were wondering whether the enemy would really come or not, and the talk drifted into a discussion of individual chances in battle. Captain Penny

remarked that he had no idea he would ever be hit by a bullet.

"Why," he continued, "if I thought there was any danger of my being killed in battle, I'd quit the army and go home at once."

"You don't mean to say," I asked, "that you'd go home if you believed in the probability of your being killed?"

"No, I don't mean to say I'd go home in any event until after the war. I used that expression to show how confident I am that I shall survive this war." .

Captain Penny was not a very talkative man and the conversation turned into a lighter channel. 1 never knew what he meant, but 1 always thought his words a modest effort to make his men as indifferent to danger as he was. We were sure that Tom Moore had only a short time to live and the survivors of Captain Penny's company always thought he died on the field. Comrade A. J. Austin, of Goss, Missouri, then a member of Captain Wills' company, writes me, April 10, this year: "Thomas Moore was not killed at Moore's Mill. He was shot through the breast, the ball coming out at the back, but he got well. I knew him while I was in prison in Alton, Illinois, in the winter of 1862-3. He was a stout, heavy set man, and his sleeping bunk was next under mine. He told me of the circumstances of his being wounded. He was the first person who took the smallpox and, after several days, was sent to the hospital. I never saw him again, but I think he got well."

It is more than probable that he did not recover from this illness. I am reasonably sure he did not survive the war, or 1 should have known it, as his home was only fifteen miles from mine.

The official report of Colonel Guitar is a very fair statement except his omission of our capture of his artillery, his over-estimate of our numbers and our losses and his assertion that "Porter had studiously impressed upon the minds of his men that if taken alive they would be killed." Our men had good reason to believe that, but they got the impression from the rabid press and the orders of the Federal commanders and not from Colonel ·Porter. Considering the environment these little departures from fairness were entirely excusable. Omitting the extract already given, the report is:

HEADQUARTERS,

.COLUMBIA, Mo., October-, 1862.

SIR:-I improve this, the earliest opportunity, to report operations of troops under my command at Brown's Spring, July 27, and Moore's Mill, July 28, 1862. On July 27 I received at Jefferson City, of which post I was then in command, a dispatch from General Schofield, ordering me to send without delay two companies of my regiment to join Lieutenant-Colonel Shaffer, Merrill's Horse, at Columbia, advising me that Porter was in the north part of Boone County with a large rebel force. In pursuance of this order I at once started Companies A and

B of my regiment to the point indicated. Upon the same day, and close upon the heels of this dispatch, I received a message from Captain Duffield, Third Iowa Cavalry, commanding

post at Fulton, advising me that Porter, Cobb, and others were at Brown's Spring, eleven miles- north of that post, with a force variously estimated at from six hundred to nine 'hundred men; that they were threatening an attack upon the post and that the strong probability was it would be made before the following morning. Notwithstanding the absence of General Totten, then commanding the Central District, and the very small number of available troops at the post (then not exceeding five hundred men of all arms), I felt that the emergency

demanded prompt action and justified the assumption of whatever responsibility might be necessary to secure it. With one hundred picked men from my own regiment, consisting of twenty-five each from Companies E, F, G and H, respectively, under command of Lieut. J. Pinhard, Capt. H. N. Cook, Lieut. J. V. Dunn and Capt. H. S. Glaze, and one section of the Third Indiana Battery, thirty-two men, under Lieut. A. G. Armington, I crossed the river at Jefferson City, reaching the opposite shore about 10 p. m. Without halting, I continued to march over a broken and rough timbered country, arriving at Fulton about daylight in the morning, the distance being about twenty-seven miles. I found that the post had not been attacked, and that the rebel force was still posted at Brown's Spring and receiving accessions hourly.

The force at Fulton consisted of about eighty men, under Capt. George Duffield, Company E, Third Iowa Cavalry. Prominent Union men of Fulton advised that my force was too small to proceed farther, and insisted that I should wait at Fulton for reinforcements. Knowing of no available force in reach, and that delay would encourage the rebel element and greatly increase their force, I determined to advance with the troops at my disposal. After feeding and refreshing men and horses I started for their camp, having augmented my force by the addition of fifty men of Company E, Third Iowa Cavalry,. under Capt. Duffield, making my aggregate force one hundred and eighty-six men. Our route lay through comparatively open country until we reached the vicinity of the camp, which we did about 1 p. m. Here I learned, from rebel citizens brought in, that Porter was still encamped at the Spring with his whole force, numbering from six hundred to nine hundred, and that he would certainly give us battle. I found the Spring situated on the south bank of the Auxvasse, in a narrow horseshoe bottom, completely hemmed in by a low bluff, covered with heavy timber and dense undergrowth, being about one mile east of the crossing of the Mexico and Fulton roads. Advancing cautiously, when I had reached a point about one mile south of the camp I ordered Captain Duffield to move with his company along the Mexico road until he reached the north bank of the Auxvasse, to dismount, to hitch his horses back, and post his men in a brush along a by-path leading from the Spring to the Mexico road; when there, to await the retreat of the enemy or to come up in his rear in case he made a stand at the Spring. With the rest of my force, after waiting for Captain Duffield to reach the position assigned him, I moved rapidly in a northeasterly direction, through fields and farms, taking position in a small arm of open prairie, about four hundred yards southeast of the camp and about one hundred and fifty yards from the brush skirting the creek. Here I dismounted my whole force, hitching the horses to the fences in our rear, and, forming upon the right and left of the section, which was brought to bear upon the rebel camp, I now ordered Captain Glaze, with fifty men, composed of detachments from the different companies, to move directly upon the camp, advancing cautiously through the brush and along the bluff until he reached the camp or met the enemy, and, in either event, to engage him, falling back promptly upon our line. While this order was being executed I received intelligence that a small party of the enemy was seen in the brush about half a mile from our right. I immediately sent Captain Cook, with twenty men, to reconnoiter the ground and ascertain what force was there.

On reaching the edge of the timber he discovered a party of ten or fifteen rebels, just emerging from the brush. The captain promptly fired upon them, unhorsing three of the party and scattering the rest in confusion. It was afterwards ascertained that one of the party was mortally, and another seriously, wounded. After waiting some forty minutes I received a message from Captain Glaze that he had reached the camp and that the enemy had fled. I immediately went forward to the camp and found that it had been abandoned in hot haste, the enemy leaving behind them one wagon, a quantity of bacon, meal, several sheep, and their dinner, which was just ready, unserved. I discovered on examining the trail going off, that they had dispersed in squads, going down the creek in a northeasterly direction. I at once called in Captain Duffield and ordered the woods scoured in the vicinity of the camp, which was done, but no enemy found. It being near night, I pitched my camp upon the ground where we first formed, intending, after resting and feeding to pursue and make a night attack upon them. About 8 p. m. I received information that Lieutenant Colonel Shaffer was west of me some ten miles with five hundred men. This information together with the exhausted condition of my men, having been without sleep for forty hours, induced me to defer any further movement until morning. I at once dispatched a messenger to Lieutenant-Colonel Shaffer, advising him of my whereabouts, and asking him to join me as early as practicable next morning. Thus ended our operations at Brown's Spring, notable not for what the men did, but what they dared.  At daylight I ordered Lieutenant Pinhard, Company E,  Ninth Cavalry, Missouri State Militia, with twenty-five men, to cross the creek below the rebel camp, moving down the north side. I at the same time ordered Lieutenant Spencer, Company E, Third Iowa Cavalry, with twenty-five men, to move down the south bank, directing them to proceed cautiously, pursuing the rebel trail as soon as they found it, and advising me promptly  of their presence or movements. After dispatching these parties I ascertained that Porter had encamped during the night on the Auxvasse, about four miles southeast of me, and that his intention was to move down the creek. With the rest of my force I at once moved for his place of encampment. On approaching the old Saint Charles road I discovered a body of troops moving east, and, pressing forward, we soon overtook them.

They proved to be the advance of Lieutenant-Colonel Shaffer's column, eighty men, under Captain Higdon, the column itself being but a short distance behind. I continued moving

along the Saint Charles road until I reached a point about one mile east of the Auxvasse. Here I halted until the column of Lieutenant-Colonel Shaffer came up. It consisted of detachments from Companies A, 0, E, F, G, H, I and K, Merrill's Horse, three hundred and six men; detachments  from Companies F, G and H, Third Iowa Cavalry, under Major Caldwell, eighty-three men; Companies B and D, Tenth Regiment Cavalry, Missouri State Militia, one hundred and twenty men, and an independent company of cavalry, Captain Rice, thirty-eight men. I at once ordered Lieutenant-Colonel Shaffer, with the detachments of Merrill's Horse; Companies Band D, Tenth Regiment of Cavalry, Missouri State Militia, and Captain Rice's Company, Red Rovers, thirty-eight men, to cross the Auxvasse, moving down the east side of the creek, as near to it as practicable, and engage the enemy if he should come up with him, relying on my cooperation as soon as I should hear the report of his guns. My object was to prevent the escape of the enemy and bring him to an engagement at once. With my original column, augmented by the addition of a detachment of Third Iowa Cavalry, eighty-three men, I moved down the west side of the creek. I had already been advised that my advance was on the rebel trail and that his pickets had been seen moving forward to reach the head of my column. I found it detached. Through some misapprehension of orders, and in their eagerness to follow, my original column shot ahead, leaving the reinforcements more than a mile in the rear. Galloping forward to halt the advance and to order out flankers, I arrived within about forty yards of it, when a terrific volley was pored upon it from the woods on the east side of the road. The advance instantly wheeled into line and returned the fire from their

horses. I ordered them to dismount, which they did with as much coolness and composure as if going to walk into a country church; that, too, upon the very spot where they received the first fire. This advance was composed of twenty-five men of Company E, Third Iowa Cavalry, under Lieutenant Spencer.

The advance of my column coming up, composed of the remainder of Company E, Third Iowa Cavalry, Captain Duffield, and detachment of Ninth Cavalry, Missouri State Militia, under Captains Cook and Glaze and Lieutenant Dunn, one hundred and twenty-five men in all, I ordered them to dismount and deploy the men in the woods upon the right and left of the road, instructing them to conceal themselves as best they could and not to fire until they saw an object. During this time the rebels kept up a continual fire, chiefly upon the center of our line. Our fire was by volleys and mostly at random. Major Caldwell coming up, I ordered him to form his men upon the right of our line, the object of the enemy seeming to be to flank us in that direction. To do this he was compelled to advance his line into the woods seventy or eighty yards east of the road. Here he was met by a strong force of the enemy, who greeted him with a shower of shot and ball. Our little column wavered for a moment under the galling fire, but Boon recovered itself and went steadily to work. By this time the men seemed to have got into the merits of the thing, and the brush which they dreaded so much at first, they now sought eagerly as their surest protection. Our fire, which was at first by volleys, was now a succession of shots, swaying back and forth from one end of the line to the other. As soon as I saw our line steady I ordered forward one gun of the section to our center, which rested upon the road, here so narrow that the piece had to be unlimbered and brought forward by hand. I ordered Lieutenant Armington to open with shell and cannister upon the left of the road, which was done in fine style, silencing the rebel force completely for a time. I now discovered a large body of rebels crossing to the west side of the road,' evidently with the view of flanking us on the left. Seeing this, I ordered the other gun of the section to take position in our rear and on the west side of the road and to shell the woods upon our left, at the same time ordering the advance of our left wing. The prompt execution of these orders soon drove the enemy back to the east side of the road. This accomplished, there was a lull in the storm ominous and deep.

Our whole line was now steadily advancing. Captains Duffield and Cook were upon the right. Major Caldwell was upon the extreme left. Captain Glaze and Lieutenant Dunn were immediately upon the left of the center. At this juncture Lieutenant-Colonel Shaffer arrived upon the field with his command. I ordered him to dismount his men; to hold one company in reserve; to Bend one company forward to our extreme right, and to take position with the rest of his force on our extreme left. Company G, Merrill's Horse, under Lieutenant Peckham,

was sent forward to the right. I am not advised of the order in which the other companies were formed on the left. I know, however, that all the companies moved promptly and eagerly to their positions. I here called upon Major Clopper, Merrill's Horse, to act as aide (not having so much as an orderly after the fall of my chief bugler), which he did during the rest of the engagement, rendering me efficient and valuable assistance. During the time occupied in making these dispositions the battle continued with unabated vigor. Some of the companies, in their eagerness to get into position on the left, exposed themselves greatly. Among them Company K, Merrill's Horse, and in consequence Buffered seriously. Lieutenant Myers fell at this point covered with wounds, from which he since died. He bore himself nobly and fell in front of his company. The companies, however, without faltering, reached their positions. Just at this time a circumstance occurred which for a moment occasioned some confusion. The cry was received on the left of the center that they were being fired upon by our own men upon the extreme left. It was kept up so persistently that I ordered the companies upon the left to cease firing. It soon proved, however, to be a mistake, and we went on again with the work. I now ordered an advance along our whole line, which was promptly responded to, and with steady step the enemy were soon driven back. Tired of crawling through the brush, and catching the enthusiasm as they moved, the whole line, raising a wild shout of triumph, rushed upon. the enemy, completely' routing and driving him from the field.

I immediately ordered two companies mounted and sent in pursuit. They soon found the enemy's camp, but he had fled, leaving his only wagon and a few horses. It was now 4 p. In., the action having begun at 12 m., the men not having food or water since morning. The day was one of the very hottest of the season; the battle-field in a dense unbroken forest, and the undergrowth 80 thick as to render it impossible in many places to see a man in the distance of thirty feet. Many of the men were almost famished with thirst and exhausted from fatigue and the extreme heat. These circumstances induced me (much against my will) to defer farther pursuit until morning. Thus terminated the battle of Moore's Mill, brought on and sustained for more than an hour by a force of less than one third that of the enemy, terminating in his utter defeat and rout by a force largely inferior in numbers; that, too, upon a field of his own choosing, as strong and as well selected as nature could afford. The enemy's force numbered over nine hundred. They were posted behind logs and trees, under cover of brush, so perfectly concealed and protected that you were compelled to approach within a few steps of them before they could be seen. The battle occurred about one mile west of the Auxvasse, and about the same distance :from Moore's Mill, :from which it takes its name. Of the conduct of officers and men I can not speak in terms of too high commendation. Where every man discharged his whole duty it would seem invidious to discriminate. It is enough to say that with such officers and men I should never feel doubtful o£ the result upon an equal field.

The following is a summary o:f our loss: Third Iowa Cavalry, killed two, wounded twenty-four; Ninth Cavalry, Missouri State Militia, killed two, wounded ten; Merrill's Horse, killed six, wounded eleven; Third Indiana Battery, killed one, wounded three; Red Rovers, Captain Rice, killed two, wounded seven. Total, thirteen killed and fifty-five wounded. We lost twenty-two horses killed, belonging almost entirely to the Third Iowa Cavalry. The loss of the enemy, as ascertained, was fifty-two killed and from one hundred and twenty-five to one hundred

and fifty wounded. His wounded were scattered :for miles around the battle-field. Many of them were carried on horses back to Boone, Randolph and other counties. On our march next day we found from one to a dozen at almost every house we passed, and many who were badly wounded continued with the enemy on his retreat. We captured one prisoner and a number of guns. There were among the killed and wounded a number of my neighbors and county men. A captain and a private of my regiment had each a brother on the rebel side and a lieutenant had a brother-in-law killed.

Porter had studiously impressed upon the minds o£ his men that if taken alive they would be killed. One rebel was found crawling from the field badly wounded and stripped except his drawers. When approached he said he was a Federal soldier, but finally admitted that he was not, and stated that his object in denuding himself was to conceal his identity, and thus avoid being shot as we passed over the field. Others who had been taken into houses along the route of their retreat, hearing our approach, would drag themselves out into the fields and woods to avoid us, thus showing the deep deception which had been practiced upon them. I encamped for the night near the battle-field, and resumed the pursuit at daylight next morning. Moving down the Auxvasse some four miles, I struck the rebel trail, which I followed over a brushy, rugged and broken country until noon. In many places the trail led over ravines and hollows, which they no doubt supposed were impracticable for the passage of vehicles. I at length reached a point where the trail ran out, and upon examination discovered that the enemy had doubled upon his track. The result was that, after marching until 2 p. m., we found ourselves within two miles of the point where we had come upon the trail in the

morning. In the meantime I had been joined by Companies A and B of my own regiment, and, from information obtained from them, with other circumstances, I became satisfied that

Porter had divided his force, which afterwards proved true. A portion, perhaps numbering three hundred, under Cobb, Frost and Purcell, had gone northwest through Concord. The remainder, led by himself, had gone northeast in the direction of Wellsville. I therefore determined to move directly to Mexico and endeavor to intercept the main body in the vicinity of Paris, being advised that there was a body of some 400 rebels near that place organized and ready to join Porter. • I reached Mexico at 8 a. m. the following morning, and on the same day received a message from Colonel McNeil advising me that he was in Paris with three hundred and fifty men, and that Porter was in the immediate vicinity with a large force, and asking cooperation. I at once telegraphed to Lieutenant-Colonel Morsey at Warrenton to move up with his command, numbering about one hundred and fifty men, and on the following day the column moved for Paris, under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Shaffer. Prostrated by sudden illness, I was here compelled to abandon the expedition, well begun, and afterwards so handsomely consummated.

Respectfully submitted,

O. GUITAR,

Colonel Ninth Missouri Cavalry, Militia.

COL. LEWIS MERRILL.

The History of Shelby County, page 746, says: "Monday, July 28, Porter and Cobb were attacked by Colonel Guitar with portions of his own regiment, the Ninth Missouri State Militia, Shaffer's battalion of Merrill Horse, Duffield's Company of the Third Iowa Cavalry, a company of Pike County militia, and two pieces of Robb's Third Iowa battery. The fight came off at Moore's Mill) seven miles east of Fulton, and, as might have been expected where two such chieftains as Porter and Guitar were engaged, was desperate and bloody. Porter was defeated, although the Federals allowed him to retreat comparatively [entirely] unmolested. The Federal loss was sixteen killed and forty-three wounded. The Confederates reported a loss of eleven killed and twenty-one severely wounded, but the Federals declared this was a large underestimate." The History of Boone County, page 422, says: "The total Federal loss

at Moore's Mill was about sixteen killed and fifty wounded. The Confederate 1008 was about the same. Boone County men participated in this fight on both sides. Among the Confederates killed were D. P. Brown and Henry Pigg, both of this county; wounded, Wm. T. Tolston, John McKenzie, John Bergen and John Jeffries."

The Fulton Telegraph, Extra, July 29, says Guitar left Fulton with two hundred men Sunday, and next morning before he arrived at the State road from Columbia to Danville "he  discovered there were troops on it, which proved  to be parts of Merrill Horse and the Third Iowa Cavalry and apart of Colonel Glover's regiment, in all, five hundred and fifty men.

Taking everything into consideration, it was one of the hardest fought battles that we have had in North Missouri. Our men all fought like veterans and compelled the enemy to leave the ground. Our forces would have followed them up but for the sultry, hot weather, the men being nearly famished for water.

"Colonel Guitar says he is going to follow them, according to his instructions, 'to the jumping-off place, and then, spoil the jumping-off place.'" The same paper, dated August 1, says: "Since issuing our extra of the 29th ult. we have been able to obtain the following list of the loss in the Battle of Moore's ::Mill, seven miles northeast of this city, between Colonel Porter of the Confederate Army and detachments of Federals under Colonel Guitar, his principal officers being Lieutenant-Colonel Shaffer and Major Caldwell of the Third Iowa. Our readers may rely on the following as correct.

"In :Merrill Horse the killed were Sergeant Cameron, Bugler Ludwigstize, Privates McBride, Walters and James Taylor, all of Company K; the wounded were: Lieutenant :Myers, First Sergeant G. Bradshaw, Corporal Bower, Privates Liechte, Hoye, mortally, Van Kamp, J. J. Long, N. H. Trude, B. Toyer and Kidner. In the Third Iowa the killed were: James Cross, B. F. Holland, John Morgan and Robert Parker; the wounded were: T. Johnson, C. Gregory, M. J. Clark, W. F. Craven, M. Worley, J. Worley, H. Morris, G. Cheatham, J. Harber, S. Shane, J. Burton, R. Watts, W. Vandyke, J. A. Dunham, C. W. Gleasen, F. W. Campbell, S. H. Owens and A. C. Parker. In the Louisiana Independent Red Rovers the wounded were: G. W. Selvey, since died; L. B. McCans, since died; A. D. Tipple, W. Ousley, W. Cody, Oscar Gilbert, W. P. McCans, T. R. Doge and George W. Moore. In the Ninth Missouri the killed were: Richard Baker and George Shultz; the wounded were: Bugler Gallatly, H. Schrader, P. Kintzel, L. Snowden, mortally; J. Tudor, J. A. Mason, H. Shultz., Fleming, R. H. Breeze, M. Dalton and E. O. Musick. The above includes the entire list of the killed and wounded on the part of the Federals, except those of the Indiana Battery, of which we learned one was killed and two wounded. Thus, it will be seen that the entire number of the killed and wounded of the Federals loss up to fifty-nine. Several of those who were wounded have died since the day of the battle. The whole number of Federals dead up to this time is fifteen. "The rebel loss in killed and wounded amounts to twenty-seven. Five of the number were killed outright and one has since died. We have not been able to learn the names of all the dead and wounded of the rebels, many of the wounded refusing to give their names. The following is as perfect a list as could be obtained: Captain Penny, of Marion County, killed by grape shot; Private J. Fowler, killed by a minie ball; O. H. Nance, Randolph County, wounded in arm and thigh, very severe; D. P. Brown, Boone County, wounded in head, mortally; William Gibson, Scotland County, wounded in left shoulder, not dangerous; Thomas B. Moore, Lincoln County, wounded in le:£t breast, severe; James Tolson, Boone County, wounded in leg, severe, J. T. Joyner, of Shelbyville, wounded in leg, severe; John McKnight, of Boone County, wounded in shoulder, severe; J. W. Splawn, of Ralls County, wounded in breast, since died, E. B. McGee, of Monroe County, wounded in head, dangerous; George D. Endine, of Marion County; Tole, of

(Captain Penny's home was In Pike County. See Appendix L. This la a mistake' It was E. L. McGee who was wounded. He was a cousin of Ill. B. McGee, who was standing by his side at the time. It may have been a typographical error, or the wounded man may have had a purpose In deceiving the militia.)

Marion County; Hamilton, of Marion County. We did not learn the character of the wounds of the last three, but understand they are badly wounded. The foregoing includes the names of all the rebel dead and wounded that we could obtain. We regret that we cannot give the names of all their killed and wounded; and out of their entire loss (twenty-seven) we can only give the names above. We do not suppose that they took any of their wounded off with them for they had no means of carrying them, having no wagons or ambulances. They travel without

any encumbrances. Porter carries no tents. He and his men sleep on their blankets beneath the trees, and subsist on the supplies they get from friend and foe on their way. We here repeat what we said in our extra of Tuesday last, that the battle of Moore's Mill was one of the hardest fought and most hotly contested battles that has taken place since the rebellion commenced, considering the numbers engaged and the circumstances by which the Union troops were surrounded. Colonel Guitar, with eight hundred and seventy-five men and two pieces of cannon, came upon Port.flr with three hundred and fifty men concealed in the bushes before he was aware of his whereabouts, our troops receiving a shower of balls from

the rebels before they fired a gun. The heroic Union boys soon recovered from the shock and were not slow in returning a deadly fire. The battle raged for two hours, when the rebels were put to flight. They left so precipitately that if they had had any baggage, supplies or, indeed, anything but themselves and horses, it would have fallen in the hands of the Union troops. All the troops are loud in the praise of the heroic bravery of Colonel Guitar. Indeed all officers and men did nobly and bravely "Porter and his men fought with desperation. The Union troops admit that the rebels showed grit and determination- that their courage and bravery were worthy of a better cause. We learned from one of the rebels wounded that

Porter was. deceived in regard to the number of the Union troops. He had been advised by some means of the number that left this place on Sunday night bat to attack him at Brown's Spring, but did not know that Colonel Guitar had received reinforcements. The wounded rebel said that if Porter had known the number of Colonel Guitar's forces he would not have stopped for a fight; that the Union troops had given them mare than they had bargained for. Colonel Guitar left in pursuit of Porter and his rebel band on Tuesday morning. We learned that the rebels divided into squads and took different directions. Porter had better skedaddle, for he has in his pursuit a brave, energetic officer, well fitting the true, tried and heroic troops that are under him; and if Porter don't get beyond kingdom come the boys will 'take him. in.'

"There was a prisoner-Dr. William M. McFarlane, brother of Captain McFarlane of Colonel Guitar's regiment taken by the Union troops on the battle-field. The rebels took no prisoners. We hope and trust that Porter and his like will keep out of the country. The citizens before he came were quiet-all was quiet, and peace reigned in our midst. As classes were attending to their business. We hope, too, that we may not have to record the history of another battle in our county."

The "wounded rebel" interviewed by the reporter was either mistaken himself or was deceiving "the enemy," most probably the latter. It was our policy to do that whenever possible. I had the opportunity to know that Colonel Porter had pretty correct information as to the strength of the various detachments on our trail and a fairly accurate idea as to their position. Under the circumstances the giving of battle was the proper thing. The new men were eager for battle; the others-the old guard-preferred a fight to a forced run. Our horses were the best in the State, but we had put them almost to the limit of their endurance-over four hundred miles in ten days and on short rations. Battle, to them, meant a rest of at least six hours; refusal

of battle meant a furious run of a hundred miles. More important than all it meant discouragement to enlistments. I know that Colonel Porter would have stopped and given the enemy a few rounds, at least, had they been twice as strong in numbers. The newspaper account is somewhat extravagant in its praise of the behavior of Guitar's men inferentially of his own regiment. They did fight well after they had become steady under the influence of Colonel Guitar's orders and example, but they were not in the same class with the battalions of Major Caldwell and Lieutenant-Colonel Shaffer. These men, notably the latter force, came on the field meaning business and they stuck to it with dogged determination to the end.

The Missouri Democrat of July 30 says: "We learn that Major Clopper, after routing Porter near Memphis, followed him down to Florida, where the guerrillas again took flight and were driven into Callaway County. Here they were reinforced by Cobb's and Poindexter's bands. Colonel Guitar, meantime, had crossed from Jefferson City with part of the 9th Missouri State Militia, and here effected a junction with Lieutenant-Colonel Shaffer and Major Clopper, each commanding a detachment of Merrill Horse, and with Major Caldwell commanding a detachment of the Third Iowa Cavalry-making his force six hundred and fifty strong. Monday, at noon, he was attacked by Porter, nine hundred strong, at Moore's Mill, seven miles east of Fulton, and after fighting until four o'clock in the afternoon the guerrillas were completely routed, with a loss of seventy-five to one hundred killed and wounded and one taken prisoner."

Elijah Hopper, Columbia, Missouri, a member of Company F, Colonel Guitar's regiment, says, October 7, 1908, "Guitar had about three hundred of his own regiment," but this is doubtless an overestimate. He continues: "Porter's men were formed near the road running north and south, and as we came on they attacked us. We fought about four hours. We had three pieces of the Third Indiana battery and the rebels charged it and tried to capture it. We fought about an hour and a half, when we were reinforced by Colonel Shaffer. We fought about four hours

when the rebels retreated. Our command had thirteen killed and fifty-five wounded. We collected the dead-both sides after the fight and buried them near a store on the 29th.

There was a Confederate captain killed there on the east of the road not far from where the battery was formed."

Colonel Guitar's official report was printed in the Columbia Herald, March 19, 1897, and on April 9, Comrade O. O. Turner, of Brown's Station, presiding justice of Boone County Court, had an interview in the same paper. "Yes, I was at Brown's Spring July 27th, and Moore's Mill July 28th, 1862. I think it was on Sunday evening when Colonel Porter, who was camped at Brown's Spring, had a squad of five men, headed by Lieutenant Bowles, to go out and ascertain the movements of General Guitar. They soon came in sight of the General advancing on our camp. Lieutenant Bowlen immediately sent a man to report to Porter. After finding out the position of the General's army they returned to camp without a scratch. "On entering camp they found Colonel Porter, with his men mounted, ready to march. Colonel Porter divided his men into several squads and had them to meet in an agreed place about one-half mile northeast of the spring. We left the camp in the order General Guitar had described it, in order to mislead him.

"When the squads met at the agreed place, Colonel Porter had them dismount and hitch their horses and march back within a few hundred yards of the spring. Raving a good position, he had his men form and lie down in line of battle, to await the General's advance. On finding the General was not advancing on him, he mounted his men and marched a few miles farther on. Had the General have come up on us we would have given him a warm reception. As night was coming on, we again divided up into squads and let the good people of that country satisfy our appetites, for which I still extend my thanks. Early next morning we mounted and took up our line of march.

"On our march we passed through an oat field, where the boys gathered up oats from the shock and fed their horses while riding along, leaving a nice trail, that the General might have no trouble in following us (which he and his men did in grand style, little knowing what was in store {or them). After coming to the point that afterwards proved to be Moore's Mill battle-ground, we left the road, went into the brush some distance and then marched back parallel with the road where the fight took place, dismounted, hitched our horses and marched up within thirty feet of the road. Concealing ourselves until General Guitar's command got within our front; the signal was given, and we poured a volley that proved to be both demoralizing and destructive to the General's army causing them to break ranks and scatter. The General swore a little in those days, and after indulging some little bit he finally got his men formed

again and made another attack, proving about as destructive as the first; but the General being a nervy man had his men keep repeating until he was reinforced, and after desperate fighting for some time we drove the enemy from their artillery. Colonel Porter seeing his ammunition running short, and General Guitar being reinforced until he outnumbered us three to one, we then withdrew from the field in good order; our men being divided again to meet in agreed places.

"No, Colonel Porter did not· have nine hundred men. The General having hot lead poured at him from so many directions saw nine hundred trees and supposed there was a rebel behind each tree. All told, Porter had about two hundred and eighty men, of which about two hundred went into battle, the remainder being on other duty. I don't know just the number the General had. It was reported he went into the fight with seven hundred men and  was finally reinforced with four hundred more. We had several men wounded but very few killed; but I don't think over one-fourth the number our enemy had. "During the fight Porter was continually walking up and down the line urging the boys to take good aim and not expose themselves nor waste ammunition. While I can't praise Porter and his. followers too much, I don't wish to cast any reflection on the General and his men. They did some noble fighting and it is ·few men that would have made the second attack after receiving such a slaughter. Of course I was a mere boy of eighteen, but I think this is a true statement."

Comrade Hance was with us thirty hours but they, covering his solitary battle, were eventful ones to him. He writes: "Early in July, 1862, I was living and doing business at Renick, Missouri, where we were daily harassed by the militia and to such an extent that I found it imperative (although having a widowed mother to protect and provide for) to arrange affairs to join some Confederate

(Prefacing his interesting account he says: "Like yourself, I camp of Revolutionary stock. My Grandfather Hance served under Washington at the Battle of Brandywine and was at the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, he being a rebel and under the greatest rebel leader this country ever produced except, perhaps, our noble Lee. It was bred in the bone for the humble descendant of that grandfather to take up arms in defense of human rights and of the invaded homes. Yes, the name of Colonel Joseph C. Porter deserves esteem and respect as that of a valiant, brave and patriotic Confederate leader and he should rank with Ashby, Morgan, Shelby and others who, under the most adverse circumstances, distinguished  themselves in a struggle which, I might say, almost from the start was only a forlorn hope.")

command in order to reach the army in Arkansas under Shelby or Marmaduke. In a few days I had with me Tuck. Powell, Uriah Williams, William Furnish, Robinson, George Freeman, E. C. Hance (my brother), all--except this brother, who was too young and not strong-as hardy and brave a bunch as ever entered the service. It was reported that Colonel Porter would attack the Federal forces at Mexico, and we much desired to take part in the engagement. With that purpose in view we started at once for Matt Frost's encampment in the Blackfoot country in Boone. We reached the camp shortly after dark and just in time to take up the march. The next morning we stopped on the prairie near Mount Zion and I could see there was what we would call a full company and under command of Frost's lieutenant, Bowles, Frost being left behind for some reason. Late in the afternoon the march was resumed, the object being, as I learned afterwards, to join Colonel Porter at Brown's Springs. If you were in Porter's camp you must surely remember it, for we largely increased his force.

"Here I did my first picket duty and I remember my anxiety, for reports were continually coming indicating the near approach of the enemy. When I was relieved it was only a short time before we were ordered to mount and march, which we did in a brisk trot, notwithstanding we were following a path through heavy timber. Soon we dismounted and formed in line, waiting an hour or two and the enemy not coming, we continued our march. We had not gone very far before we were drawn up to listen to a speech from Colonel Porter, and I never heard a more inspiring- one. We then marched, I think in twos, briskly, until some time in the night. Daybreak saw us again in the saddle. I remember we rode through a field where oats

had been cut and shocked. I reached down and lifted as

(The narrator remembers that Sunday morning and the Incidents of it, as well as If It were yesterday instead of forty-seven years ago.)

many binds as I could for my very hungry horse, a big, fine roan, just built for cavalry service and which I had carefully selected before leaving home. Not far from this field we went into camp and we had issued to us for our breakfast flour only, as I can best remember. I had just taken some of the flour and was mixing it in water obtained from the little branch upon which we had pitched our camp when our pickets came rushing in reporting the enemy near. Eating nothing and almost starved we were immediately double-quicked near a mile before we were formed in line to receive the enemy. My boys were with me, fighting bravely after the action began. It seems to me that our company was directly in front of the artillery and I have always thought it was our fire that disabled the battery and killed nearly all the horses. It was just before our charge that poor Perry Brown fell, on my immediate left, with part of

his skull torn away by a grape shot. The firing by the enemy was, I think, the heaviest in the battle. We charged and drove them two or three hundred yards and into the thick timber. I never understood why our men did not take and use the artillery when it was abandoned by the enemy. I suppose Colonel Porter lacked artillerymen and did not have the force to spare. When the enemy's reinforcements arrived we fell back to a gully. The enemy's fire was continuous and very heavy, the minie balls flying in our faces everywhere and the smoke of their guns seemed to be within twenty or thirty yards. Here out of our six George Freeman, William Furnish, Uriah Williams and myself were wounded. My right arm was fearfully shattered

almost from the shoulder to the elbow. Another bullet, which

(Less than half s mile If the narrator remembers correctly. It was s cannister ball that killed Brown. The battery used only round shot and cannister, mostly the latter. Every missile makes Its peculiar sound In passing through the air and these different sounds can be easily distinguished after some experience by those within hearing. A few weeks ago Sam Minor picked up two cannister balls on this field. He sent me one and I have It on my desk at this writing.)

I still carry, buried itself in my thigh and a third grazed the skin under my left arm, tearing a hole in my clothing and haversack through which you could pass your hand. I stepped back to the gully in our rear and the next thing I remember was a Dutchman peeping around a tree at me with a shout of glee to see the damned secesh hors de combat. Several of the Merrill Horse and Rice's Red Rovers presently came up. One of Merrill's orderlies poured water and brandy down my throat and asked me if I wished til be taken up the road where they had placed their dead and wounded. I asked if there was an officer near would they please call him. They called Captain Rice; when he came I took my pocket book from under the root of a tree where I had hid it and I said 'Captain, I have a request to make. Will you kindly send this book and money to my mother', giving him her address? He promised to send it immediately and said 'now I have a request to make of you'-when I think of it now I can but laugh at the ridiculousness of it--'and it is that if you ever get back to your command you will recover and

return one or two of my company guns captured by your men as they are of a new kind and limited to my company and I cannot get others like them. I was then taken to the roadside and placed among the Federal dead and wounded. I had a spell of unconsciousness and when I came to myself I was all alone and the sun was getting low. I thought it time for me, if able, to seek shelter and relief.

I remembered that while on the march that morning we passed a little log cabin before turning into the timber for encampment and I thought it could not be far. Though weak and nearly blind from loss of blood and suffering an

(I have one of these guns. and value It as a trophy of that memorable day. It Is, I think, a Sharpens rifle; length of barrel twenty-six inches, total length forty-two inches: weight, ten pounds. It is a breech loader, with cut-off for paper cartridge and carried a forged ball of large caliber. It has a sliding hind-sight for up to eight hundred yards, and had a percussion-tape attachment, but this rusted off before the war ended. Before the receipt of Comrade Hance's letter I never knew to which command it belonged, as all Federals then looked alike.)

agony from my wounds I made a supreme effort to reach it. Fortunately the rail fence had been pulled down to the ground. The door was open. I walked in and went down on a couch near the door. The floor was covered with the wounded and dying. Near the couch was my poor Comrade Perry Brown, with his brain oozing out. I think he died that night. The scene now comes back to me as a terrible nightmare. This cabin was occupied by a lone woman whose name I think was Maddox. All night long, with a solitary tallow dip, suggestive of spectral shadows, did she pass and repass, giving water to the feverish and rendering what aid she could. God knows how I felt for her. The next day two young girls came to assist the poor woman. They washed the blood and battle stains from my face and hands and gave me some delicious chicken broth which was my first food for several days. They told me they were Union, but I think such kindness and gentleness could only come from sympathizers and that their statement was made through prudence.

"As near as I can remember Drs. Scott and Howard of Fulton, and Russell of Concord, carried me out of the cabin and placed me on a carpenter's bench for the purpose of amputating my arm, but they laid it over my breast and carried me back to either gain more strength for the operation or to die. Thank God, a dear old Virginia gentleman, Colonel Moses McCue, came with a spring wagon in which was a feather bed, and took me to his home two miles away. The jar of the wagon when backed against the door caused me to faint. :Mrs. McCue caught me in her arms and threw cold water in my face. God bless her!

A few days later the same surgeons came and amputated my right arm. The ninth day after I walked across the room and experienced the saddest moment of my life when I looked in the mirror on the dresser. "Accompanied by my mother and Miss Ada McCue I went to the home of Sam Hudnall, whose wife was my cousin. Ten days later I went to Montgomery City and took the train for Renick. About three weeks afterwards I was walking along the railroad as Paymaster Flynn's car was pulling away from the station. I was much alarmed when several Federal officers rushed to the rear of the car and Mr. Flynn pointed in my direction. I expected the train to back up and that I should be taken prisoner and I was relieved to see it spin ahead.

The next day but one I received a most kind letter from Captain Rice. He said his sympathy for me was particularly aroused because at the battle of Kirksville he had received a painful and severe wound, and that it was by the merest accident he had learned my whereabouts through Mr. Flynn; that he still had my pocket book and money and that he would be delighted if I would come down to Mexico for them. I was afraid of arrest and sent a friend, Ode Gook, a Union man. He brought them and a very kind message from Captain Rice whom I shall always remember as one of God's noblemen. I still have the pocket book. "One of my greatest disappointments resulting from my sad experience is that I was cut out of a service in  which my whole soul and being were enlisted and that I had so little association with that grandest and best of men, Colonel Joseph C. Porter. However, I have always had the good

will of Federals and Confederates and though a life-long Democrat I have always been successful in my campaigns for office, receiving usually as many Republican as Democratic

votes and notwithstanding my party is greatly in the minority here I defeated at the last election a Grand Army man by nearly 7,000 votes. Judge Caldwell, who, as major, commanded a portion of the Federal troops at Moore's Mill is a very near neighbor of mine; a dear, good man whose friendship I prize highly."

I knew Captain Hiram A. Rice. His was a very lovable character, Governor Campbell, of Missouri, writes me: "Captain Rice died in Montana of softening of the brain, some years after the war. He went to Montana to live with a stepdaughter or an adopted daughter. His remains were shipped back and I think he was buried. at Louisiana. He was elected assessor of Pike County after the war and served two or three terms."

Comrade J. R. Wine was in the little detachment that did not receive the first order to retreat. He says "We were almost surrounded. One of our boys, Ike Hamline, who was shot through the body, jumped on my back, but I kept up with the others until we got out of the trap. There were five in our little squad. When we got to where we left our horses we found only two. The other four took them and I was left afoot. I struck the trail and soon picked up a gun somebody had dropped, and presently a sack of buck shot and again a sack half full. The strings

holding these to the, saddle rings had become loosened without being noticed. Ammunition was too precious to lose. With two guns and a heavy wad of shot I trudged on until I met Colonel Porter who was riding a stout chestnut sorrel. He took my load in front and I climbed up behind. When we reached camp I was completely exhausted. A little rest and a big drink of buttermilk from a home nearby put me all right."

Captain George H. Rowell, then first lieutenant, commanding Company H, Merrill Horse, writes : "Moore's Mill fight occurred in a densely wooded country and, while you will remember the position and the stand taken by Porter's forces there, I must admit we were very much in the dark as to his movements and when the Merrill Horse came into the fight, which Guitar had commenced, because he first encountered you, the Merrill Horse being on another road, we were at a loss to know just where you were located; not but there were noise and gun firing enough, but it seemed to us that the woods was full of you, except to the north, which would have been in our rear. The Merrill Horse came into the fight on a' road leading to the dense woods from the north. When we came in and stripped for action, our sabres detached and placed in a pile where each company went in, I distinctly remember that the order

to each company commander was to have his men lie down and only to fire when they saw a man. in front. I remember that Company I, of the Michigan battalion, took position on the right of the road, supporting Our battery of six mountain howitzers, while I took position on the left of the road facing east. You seemed to be all about us only in our rear, and while the firing was incessant for a while, we saw but few of the enemy. The only order 1 gave was for the men to crawl on their bellies and when they saw a head shoot at it. The alignment was well preserved and my men behaved splendidly. Only two were wounded; Company I had one man killed. Captain Higdon's company, from Cincinnati, had over a dozen killed. It was the first time this company had been engaged and they exposed themselves rashly.

Now as to what I know about the bushwhacker Cobb in that fight. He, with his company was on the right of the road and in front of our battery, which had not commenced firing, and I don't think that Cobb knew at first that we had a battery, but as the battery grew hotter, he was heard (not by me) to give orders to charge, and they came on, when our full battery of six pieces let go, reloaded and fired again. Don't know whether all were Cobb's men who were killed and wounded on that part of the field or not, but it was reported after the fight that thirteen or fourteen were killed and wounded in front of our battery. I don't know how we knew that Cobb was in front of our battery, but I think. it must have been from some of the wounded found there. The commanding officer of Company I said he distinctly heard the order' given to charge the battery. Cobb had been a terror through the counties of Boone, Callaway and Howard and was more dreaded by the citizens than by us. The impression was prevalent with those who never saw him that he was crippled, either by the loss of an arm or leg. I never saw him, nor ever heard of him after the Moore's Mill fight; I think he must have disbanded. That evening we buried our dead, took the wounded over to Fulton and the next

morning pushed on after the enemy."

Captain J. E. Mason, of Merrill Horse, says: "¥our forces made a stand on the 28th at Moore's Mill and had nearly captured the artillery from the militia when our command, after a run of about five miles, charged in and saved the guns. If you were in this fight, do you remember some of your men fired a volley at four men who were carrying a wounded officer off the field ? None of our four was hit, but the officer we were carrying off was hit the second time. In this engagement, if I remember right, it was reported that we had less than half as many men as

you had, but we had two pieces of artillery which we came very near losing, as Merrill Horse were about five miles off when the fight began."

Mr. D. G. Harrington, of Merrill Horse, writes: "This engagement was about the last of July, 1862, the 28th 1 think. The enemy's force was about one thousand and fifty and ours somewhere near nine hundred. Our loss was about nineteen killed and forty-six wounded; from the prisoners taken their loss was estimated at about sixty killed and ninety-one wounded. The fight was hot while it lasted and the enemy made a hasty retreat."

'Captain Rowell's familiarity with the counties mentioned la probably due to the fact that Mrs. Rowell, a native of Virginia, was reared In Howard and educated In Boone.

(None of our survivors that I have been able to reach ever heard of the Incident. If It was done knowingly, some of Cobb's men were probably the offenders. 1 do not believe there was In the regiment a man capable of such a thing; I am sure there was not one In Captain Penny's company.)

CHAPTER XVI

WE LEAVE THE REGIMENT

When we reached the camp the head of the column was riding off to the north in a moderate trot. The men yet unmounted were busy in preparation for the resumption of the march-as we preferred to call it, and which it was, rather than a retreat--deliberate in attention to details, but not wasting a moment of time. The wounded men able to travel were helped into their saddles and there was no hitch, or sign of any demoralization. Our little company was the last to reach the camp and the last to leave it. Like the others we made no unnecessary delay. Joe Haley insisted that while he was unable to mount he was able to ride. Jim Lovelace took charge of Tom Moore's horse, Green Rector of Mart Robey's and I took the Captain's. The latter was the largest in the regiment, full eighteen hands high, light sorrel in color and tough as a pine knot. Ready under the saddle he doggedly kept a snail's pace when led. Tiring of this I changed mounts. It was an effort to get my foot in the stirrup and more of an effort to reach the saddle, the stirrup leathers being three inches too long for me. There was no convenient stump in sight and my judgment was that I didn't have time to shorten the leathers. I had not noticed that the girth was very loose; the saddle turned before I could seat myself. The horse's body was very deep and very narrow, and all efforts to readjust the saddle were futile. Our last man had disappeared in the woods, and fortunately no Federals appeared in sight. :My glances rearward were frequent and I quickly determined my action in case the enemy appeared. I should surrender without negotiation the Captain's horse, saddle and bridle. It seemed an hour before the stiff, rusty buckle of the girth yielded to my strength and parted, letting the fifty pound saddle and heavy under blanket fall to the ground. Too much time had been already wasted to attempt at shortening the stirrups. I climbed into the saddle, gave another look Federalward-it was my last sight of the stately oaks, silent witnesses of our first defeat-fiercely drove the spur and was soon in sight of the regiment. Instead of closing up I drew rein a hundred yards in the rear and kept the same distance behind the column for nearly a mile. Too tired to talk, dispirited over the result of the day, I preferred not to mingle with the men yet awhile.

I wondered why Colonel Guitar had not followed up his advantage and thrown his whole force upon us while retreating to our horses. With his much greater numbers this would have been his proper course. Without doubt Colonel Porter would have drawn us out of the trap with his usual skill, but it would have been a very inopportune maneuver for us in our position, short of ammunition and. the lay of the ground against us. Most likely our loss would have been greater than in the previous four hours of hard fighting. I had wondered, too, why, when our little company and that of Captain Porter had been left on the field, the enemy by a more vigorous movement, had not captured the whole detachment. It could easily have been done. The truth is, we had given them enough for one day. Our first defeat-my first defeat, and I had served longer than any man in the regiment. Too bad that our luck had changed! For some time the gloomy thought bore heavily; but it could not last. We had done something. In fifteen days we had marched five hundred miles, captured a town, paroled a hundred of the enemy; fought four battles, two of them against much superior numbers, stubbornly contested and bloody; chosen the time and place for battle in each instance but one; sent out many  scouting parties; supervised and directed extensive recruiting efforts; kept more than ten times our number of Federals on the qui vive and puzzled, running here and there on fools' errands, killing of horses and men, inflicted casualties many times greater than received, and gathered as trophies one hundred and five muskets and rifles, thirty sabres, twelve

revolvers and eight fine cavalry horses and their accoutrements. All this with a force four-fifths of which were boys in their teens, fresh from their homes, without any advantage of drill without experience, without cohesive impulse save patriotism and unquestioning faith in the leader; without baggage or commissary supplies, with ammunition so scant that it had to be carefully husbanded at every turn; against well drilled men, equipped to embarrassment, led by capable and energetic commanders. Surely with this record we could maintain our own self-respect and perhaps compel the respect of the enemy. A short gallop brought me in the line. The men were apparently little concerned about the issue of the battle. If Colonel Guitar wanted more, he could have it. If he came on now, Colonel Porter would most probably shift what little ammunition we had left to one or two companies and would fight or run and tole on, or do both, while the remainder of the command would make a wild dash for the nearest point where ammunition was stored for us, turn and, win or lose, give our pursuers what we gave them today-the best we had.

(The Federal commander was totally bewildered. Porter's extraordinary celerity and long and hard marches confused him. Asked where Porter was he replied: "How can I tell? He may be at any point within a hundred miles. He runs like a deer and doubles like a fox. I hear that he crossed the North Missouri. going South, today. but I would not be surprised If he fired on our pickets before morning."-History of Lewis, Clark, Knox and Scotland Counties, p. 119. He (Guitar) had two pieces of line artillery, manned by veterans; Porter had none. He had well armed and well mounted cavalrymen, as good as were In the Federal service. Porter had a lot of farmers and farmers' boys. with no drilling or training, and no experience save what they had obtained under him. -History of Lewis, Clark, "Knox and Scotland Counties, p. 121.)

We went on till nearly sunset and camped about three miles from the battle-field. I rode to the farther edge of the camp where our company had dismounted. Hitching the captain's horse and mine I joined the little circle sitting on the ground. "We were just discussing," said Mose Beck, "what is best for us to do. The loss of Captain Penny and Tom Moore puts a damper on the rest of us. Robey will more than likely die of his wound, and Joe Haley, while able to get away, will be disabled for a month, maybe six months. There is nobody to take Captain Penny's place, and if there were, our little remnant would cut a sorry figure by the side of the other companies. We had decided, before you came up, that if Colonel Porter was willing we would leave the command, go back to Lincoln and Pike, get fifty or sixty more men-and we can surely do that well-and strike for Arkansas. We had selected you to speak to the colonel

about it. Of course if he is not willing that settles it, and we will stick to him. You know when we left home it was the intention and wish of everyone of us to join the main army as soon as it was possible to do it. What do you think of it ? "

"You say everybody is agreed? "

"Everybody."

"What you say about the expression of sentiment on this point before we started is correct. No one was more earnest in that expression, than I. Bushwhacking didn't appeal to any of us, and, least of all, to me. I had a honor of a small fight. It was associated with the idea of a street brawl. If I am to die in battle I want it to be a battle that will be mentioned in history.

I must flay that my experience since we have been with Colonel Porter has modified my sentiments. Where can you find a better man than Colonel Porter i Where can you find a better regimental commander? I have seen more service than any of you. I have seen enough to know the value of good officers. If an officer has good judgment, is cool and courageous, knows when and how to run his men into the thickest of it and when not to, is careful of the lives and health of his men, he will accomplish the best possible results with the least loss. He will make a good Dame for his command and he will have the confidence of his men. This confidence in officers is the very greatest help a soldier can have. It will sustain him in battle and in all the hard duties that come to him as nothing else can. I have seen some very poor officers. I have always served under good officers, but I never saw a better one than Colonel Porter. Next in importance to good officers are good men. They are necessary for the service and they are still more necessary for our comfort. Good associates are just as desirable in the army as in the home. Where can you find better men than we have in camp this moment ~ Where can you find better material for soldiers? Taken all in all, notwithstanding the extraordinary work we have done, we've had a pretty good time under Colonel Porter. Our battles were sprightly if they were small, and there was nothing in anyone of them that we need

he ashamed of. We didn't win today, but we evened up pretty well, and we gave Colonel Guitar something to ponder over for a few days at least. Personally, I shall sever my associations here with regret. Colonel Porter has been very kind to me. Not; a single day since we have been with him has he failed to consult or to have a friendly talk with Captain Penny and myself. We knew almost everything that was going on."

"We know the liking Colonel Porter had for you and the captain, and that's the main reason why we selected you to talk to him."

"I'll do it. I think I know enough of the Colonel's plans to assure you that he will willingly agree to the proposition. It is in the line of his policy. I know, further, that he will get rid of Captain Cobb's company at the first opportunity. I know that it was only the then existing situation that made Colonel Porter consent for the temporary junction. He doesn't like Cobb's manner of business. Now, Mose, while I am going to agree with the company in everything, my own choice is to elect you captain, stay with the colonel and we'll give a good account for ourselves

though there are only sixteen of us."

"Why not you?"

"I have no turn for it; and if I had I don't think it is right or prudent for a boy to command men~ I am the youngest except Haley, McAtee, Minor and poor Mart Robey, if he is now alive. I blocked a proposition to make me first lieutenant when I first joined the army last month a year ago, giving as a reason that, excepting one, I was the youngest in the company. More than that, I didn't believe I was competent to manage a company; I don't believe it now. I am not the stuff that heroes are made of. Captain Stacy on one occasion over in Marion County was chased by a dozen militiamen. He ran into a deserted log cabin in the middle of a field. The soldiers surrounded the cabin and ordered him to come out and surrender. He invited them to come in and take him. He repeated his invitation again and again, and jeered at them until they went off. I don't think I could do anything like that. No, my place is in the line. An occasional

scout wouldn't be objectionable if led by a competent officer. This brings up a matter that might be considered. I don't know how you may view it, but it doesn't look inviting to me. When we go back home we may get the recruits; they are there and they are ready to come if we can guide them safely across the Missouri Hiver. Under present conditions it will be tedious to get into communication with the required number. While we are doing it we shall be hunted like wolves by the militia and shall be compromising and endangering our own families and neighbors. Understand me, I don't want to influence a single man. I am only trying to give you an idea how much I should regret to leave this command. I shall go at once to the

colonel."

I found the colonel and Captain Cobb together and I heard enough of the conversation to understand that Cobb was receiving directions to separate his company from the regiment. He did not appear to altogether like the arrangement, but the details were agreed upon in a courteous manner by the two officers. I never learned positively when the separation occurred, but think it was that very night. Captain Alvin Cobb was a large man of magnificent physique; his face broad and the features finely chiseled. His countenance lacked an indefinable something of being pleasant. As I viewed it there was a suspicion of something sinister. He rarely spoke and when he did his voice was pleasant, his words few and well chosen. The History of Lewis County, page 120, calls him "a one-armed bushwhacker captain." This description is not exactly correct. He had both arms, but he had lost his left hand and half of the

forearm. To the stump was attached an iron hook by which the bridle-rein was managed. He carried a short, heavy rifle and two or three large revolvers. We heard it said that he would not fight if it were possible to avoid it; that his plan was to kill Federal soldiers one or twenty--and get away before they fired a gun. Whether this was true or not he fought at Moore's Mill and hig men fought, too, like veterans. He made his men lie flat, but he scorned the slightest protection. Standing before his line, he maintained an unceasing :fire and as fast as a piece could be emptied he passed it to the men behind for reloading. He seemed to begrudge the time wasted in the transfers.

John Flood, a schoolmate of mine, who served in the Federal Cavalry during the war, told me forty years ago that when his regiment heard that Cobb was coming it suddenly had business elsewhere, and the business would be located a hundred miles away. if necessary. "How many men in your regiment?"

"About nine hundred; but we generally had four hundred or six hundred together at one time."

"John, do you know that Cobb never had three hundred at any one time i When he was with us he had only seventy-five and I doubt if he ever had many more."

"I don't .care; he was bad medicine."

Doubtless John was putting the joke on himself by a humorous exaggeration, but for nearly the whole war the name of Cobb carried terror into the hearts of the Federal militia. I have heard it said many times and seen it in print more than once that Cobb had a quarrel with a neighbor and the latter induced a Lieutenant Sharp in command of a detachment of militia at Wellsville to burn Cobb's house; that Cobb, a few days afterwards, met his enemy and Lieutenant  Sharp on the street in a buggy and killed them both; that he took the lieutenant's watch and purse and sent them to the officer's wife with a note telling why he did the deed. How much truth there is in the story I have not been able to learn. The Missouri Democrat of September 1, 1862, tells of L. Rodney Pococke, eighteen years of age, of Montgomery City, being arrested as accessory in the murder by Alvin R. Cobb and others, near Martinsburg, July 18, 1861, of Colonel Benjamin Sharp, a citizen of Danville and Anton Yaeger, the well known proprietor of Yaeger's Garden in St. Louis. The prisoner established his innocence of the

charge.

The Pioneer Families of Missouri gives, page 289, a sketch of the Sharp family but does not tell of the murder of any of them. Major Benjamin Sharp, a Revolutionary soldier, settled in the county in 1816 and died in 1843; his son, Dr. Benjamin F. Sharp, was living in 1876, when the book was published, and he had a nephew of the same name. It is very probable that the newspaper got the names confounded. It is commonly thought that Cobb did the killing. Other murders are attributed to him. He was of a good family. What his reputation was previous to the war, I have failed to learn. During the war it reflected no credit upon our cause. He disappeared at its close. Frank McAtee saw him some years afterwards in Colusa, California.

When Cobb walked away, I disclosed the business on which I had come. Colonel Porter replied that the plan was a good one and he approved it.

"You consent for our company to leave the regiment?"

"Yes; I am sorry to part with your company. Though few in number I could always depend on it. The death of Captain Penny is a loss to the cause and I feel it as a personal loss to me."

He spoke further and feelingly on this line and made an allusion to me for which I thanked him. The details of the separation were arranged; the regiment would break camp in half an hour and go in the direction opposite to the one we should take and we would leave half an hour later. He showed not the slightest sign of fatigue and he was as cheerful and as confident as I had ever seen him. When I got back I found Minor Winn swearing at his luck and the boys poking fun at him. He had been shaken up but not much hurt by a kick from his horse and he was noisily lamenting the fact that he was done for by the kick of an old horse after going through four battles unharmed by Yankee bullets.

I told the company the result of my mission and was repeating the complimentary things the colonel said of when it occurred to me that I had forgotten to get the name of the guide. I hurried back but could not find Colonel Porter. The oversight might place a serious difficulty before us. To travel all night without a guide over country entirely unknown to us would be tedious, uncertain of result and might be hazardous. An attempt to reach our destination by day meant a furious ride for three-fourths of the distance with probable complications which, under the circumstances, we preferred to avoid. While canvassing the situation with Mose Beck I saw a man talking to Ben Vansel whom I had seen when I dismounted, and of whose conversation I had overheard a few words, and knew from them that he lived in the house nearby. I told Mose that I was going to chance it with him. If he were not all right he would not know what I meant and if he were strictly all right he could give us the information we wanted. Walking up to him I asked bluntly: "Who is the guide? "

"There are three. Wiely Smith is the best."

"He is the one we want. Where can we find him? "

"Two miles from here, and I'll send a negro boy to show you where he lives."

"Can he come now? "

"He'll be here in ten minutes," and he went to bring him.

"Ben, you and I are the hacks of the company, and we might as well get our guns and be ready."

We were waiting when the man came with the boy. The

(The guides were T. Wiely Smith, J. M. McCall and Frank Peters. Mr. P. H. Smith, of Auxvasse, Missouri, says his brother was Impressed on this occasion. Mrs. T. J. Oliver, of EI Monte, California. thinks her father, J. M McCall acted on this occasion, and Sam Minor writes that he was informed by' Thomas Pratt and J. P. Harrison that Frank Peters was the man The incidents given by Mr. Smith In support of his belief. that his brother was our guide correspond more nearly with my recollection. If I am wrong in this, Peters must have been my guide. I am reasonably certain that McCall could not have been. Smith was unmarried at the time of the battle and was living at the home of Mr. Samuel Dudley. He died in 1881, at the age of forty-seven.)

latter was a pleasant faced, sprightly negro of about eighteen who politely expressed his willingness to serve us. There must have been some light from the moon in its first quarter, or else the stars were unusually bright. The road through the woods could be plainly seen for fifty yards or more. The boy walked ahead and Ben was on my left. I cautioned him to keep an eye on the negro and to rouse me should I drop into a sleep. Tired and . dull I strapped my musket to my back for fear of losing it if carried across my saddle in front as was habitual. At

half a mile from the camp a noise issued from the bushes on the right of the road and about thirty yards ahead, as of a loud conversation, but the words were indistinguishable. Instantly a man galloped out, bore down upon us  and in a loud, excited tone ordered us to halt. We obeyed. Why I did not bring my musket to a ready is a mystery unsolved to this day. With a quick, unexpected motion the man leveled his piece, a double-barreled shotgun-a weapon terrible in battle---cocked both barrels, jabbed the muzzle within six inches of my breast and roared out. "God damn you, I told you to halt."

"I have halted, but my horse is restless."

"If you move again I'll blow hell out of you. Who are you?"

"We belong to Captain Penny's company. Who are you?"

"None of your damned business," and quick as a flash he wheeled his horse, drove the spur and disappeared in the wood at his point of egress.

Equally as quickly I unslung my musket, but before I brought it to a level the imprudence of a discharge of firearms within the hearing of Federals was realized.

"Ben, I don't think I ever had a closer call in my life. Two cocked barrels almost touching me and in the .hands of a man either drunk or dazed."

"Don't you think he is a Federal scout and that he didn't wish to tackle both of us? "

"No, he was not in uniform."

"Well, are all the militia uniformed?"

"1 think so; at least all that we struck today were. Again, this man had a double-barreled shotgun. No, he must be one of our men; but I cannot account for his behavior, except on the supposition that he is, as I said, either drunk or dazed."

"Mudd, I am not sure that he is not a Federal. Some of the militia may use their own guns until others are issued them by the Government. Anyway, I think we had better not go any farther. It's too dangerous.· The Federals may have changed their position from the battlefield, or they may have thrown out pickets, and we may run into them at any minute."

"It may be 60. Whether it is or not, one thing is absolutely certain; unless we get a guide and get out of this country before morning we will be in danger and a plenty of it. This is a case where it is dangerous to go ahead and still more dangerous to go back. No, we must go on."

"Deed Massa, l'se sorry to hear you say dat, case I can't go anudder step."

Here was another little bit of comedy like that of the midday in the raging of the battle. I described it to Ben, and the telling of it m-ove out all thought of danger. This negro was as thoroughly frightened as the other one. It was cruel to laugh at him and I cut short the scene as gently as I could.

"Oh, yes; you can go on."

" 'Deed I can't, sir; my marster can't 'ford to lose me."

"See this gun 1 I think you can go on. Keep right in the middle of the road and not over ten feet in front of our horses' noses."

The home of the guide was reached without incident. It was a neat frame building one and a half stories high. The lady who met us said Yr. Smith was at home, but having been out late last night he had already retired. When shown to his room we told him that we wished him to put us within three miles of Nineveh (now Olney) in Lincoln County before daylight.

"Why that's at least fifty miles from here."

"Guess you are right."

"I don't know a thing about the road."

"That's bad for us, because you are going to be our guide."

"If I did know the road, I couldn't get back before tomorrow afternoon and if the militia catch me out of this neighborhood they will hang me. They suspect me of all manner of bad things."

"That's bad for you, for you are to be our guide."

He sprang out of bed, drew on his clothes and ran down stairs calling out "Come on."

In less than five minutes he was. ready.

"Let the nigger get back in his own time; we can't wait for him."

A fast trot soon brought us to camp and our men were ready and waiting.

"How do you men want to go!" asked the guide.

"Ten miles through the woods," answered Jim Lovelace, "then strike a road and go like hell."

"Come on."

For full ten miles, it seemed to us, we kept a lively trot over hog paths, no paths at all, up and down hills, along the dry beds of streams, through the turning rows of cornfields and over fresh stubbles before we came to a road. When we did our gait satisfied even Jim Lovelace. Not long after reaching the road I awoke and found myself standing all alone. In my sleep I had drawn my  bridle-rein. Charlie had learned obedience to the slightest indication of my will and he was now standing as still as death. Giving him a: signal for a test of his speed-h('! had speed as well as endurance--I saw before me, after a mile or two, two forks of a road of apparently equal travel. No sound of horses' hoofs could be heard. My ear on the ground

heard nothing. The only thing to do was to make a haphazard selection and if a killing run of three or four miles didn't find the boys, to return and try the other fork. The first guess was right. Later in the night the same luck, in all the details, struck me. In neither instance had my absence been noticed. We were traveling, not talking. Between midnight and one o'clock the guide halted us. For an hour at least we had been traversing an open country- a raw prairie, for all we knew, the starlight revealing no tree, fence or other landmark.

''Men, we are now about one hundred yards from the North Missouri railroad. The crossings are patrolled every day. If you don't want to be followed you'd better turn out to the right and cross the track singly, forty or fifty feet apart. You can cross anywhere along there; there is no cut, but a fill of not over a foot. If our tracks are seen the supposition will be that they were made by loose horses on the range. At about this distance on the, other side of the railroad we can come together and return to our road. We followed directions and found the railroad to be as described by the guide.

It must have been three o'clock when the guide halted us. For miles and miles the road had been through a forest and every yard of the way seemed in the dim light a picture of the like preceding space. "Go down this road two miles, as near as you can judge, turn into the woods on either side, tie your horses and go to sleep. When you awake, go to the first house for

grub and horse feed. You will be safe. There'll not be a Union man within five miles of you."

"How far will we be from Nineveh? "

"About three miles. It will take a breakneck gallop for me to cross the North Missouri before sunrise, and I'm not going to break step until I pass it. Good by."

He shot out of sight like a ball out of a twelve-pounder. The ground where we flung ourselves was velvety and cool; the sleep which followed the sweetest that ever came to tired brain and muscle.

Early in the afternoon I roused Ben Vansel with the reminder that it was time to hunt for grub. In two hours we had an abundant supply of substantials and delicacies prepared by gentle and beautiful beings where every breath was a prayer for the success of our cause. The various forms of objurgation which responded to the efforts of Ben and myself to arouse the sleepers turned into blessings on sight of the inviting spread. It fell to Sam Minor and Henry Lovelace to get corn for the horses. Sweet leep again. ,

At sunset a council of war was held and work for each one was mapped out. I and one or two others left the camp shortly after night fall, each in different directions. From Nineveh to Millwood I traveled a very familiar route, but the night was much darker than the preceding and there were several points on the prairie where I had to dismount and from near the ground scan the outline of the woods on the left to make sure I had not wandered far from the road. By that guide I found without much difficulty the spot where the road entered the heavy wood

skirting the two forks of Lead Creek. When I reached the village of Millwood every house was dark and quiet. Passing my home I kept on in the lane for nearly half Ii mile, opened a gate and followed a line of fence northward to a point of woods, a dozen yards inside of which I hitched my faithful Charlie. Fifteen minutes sufficed to reach the house as dark as it was. Entering by the rear I noiselessly ascended the stairway to my oldest brother's room. His first words were the inquiry,

"You are not wounded?"

"No."

"The only safe place for Charlie is in the little tongue of woods on the Uncle Bob place across from our old pond."

"That's where he is now."

A few words for the arrangement of tomorrow and I returned to my rendezvous. To my surprise I could not find my horse. I knew I was on the right spot; I listened intently, walked to and fro with outstretched arms, but heard nothing and came in contact with nothing except the growth of the forest. The saddle would be a good pillow and it would be more comfortable to lie on the blanket, but under the circumstances I could sleep very well without either. When I awoke at sunrise I was lying within five feet of' Charlie. When I approached him his only recognition was a gentle pressure of his muzzle against my shoulder. My father and mother came to see me early in the morning. My father gave me a long and earnest talk about

the situation. The militia were scouring the country vigorously. They were impressing horses, searching every house for guns of every description and were beginning to take supplies from Southern men. These operations were keeping

(James Wilson, who was born and lived the greater part of his life eight miles from where I am writing this narrative, .In Prince George's County, Maryland, and who was then living four miles south of where I was horn, in Lincoln County, Missouri, was standing at his front gate one day when a squad of fifty militiamen rode up and the officer In command Inquired If he had a gun.

"I have; It Is a double-barreled shotgun and a good one."

"Will you please bring It out? We are ordered to take all guns from Southern sympathizers."

"It you are ordered to take my gun, you are not going to obey orders. I paid for my gun and I'm going to keep It."

"We don't make any exceptions."

"I think you can. My gun Is loaded and It is not loaded with bird shot either."

"We had as lief take a loaded gun as an unloaded one."

"You might ordinarily, but not In this case."

"Ob, Mr. Wilson, hurry up we have no time to waste."

"It you are In a hurry go down that road right now. There Is only one way for you to get my gun: Kill me, but while you are doing It I will get two of you-one for each barrel,"

Every msn In the squad knew Mr. Wilson. His oldest son and namesake was the major of their battalion; his next son, John, the Idol of his life, was a Lieutenant In the Confederate army. Be was seventy years old,  five feet two Inches high and weighed ninety pounds. His word on any subject was never doubted. He kept his gun. The militia company was unwilling

to pay the price.)

them continually traversing the country and it was thought that under this pretense they were actively searching for Confederate recruits. He regarded the opportunity for getting out men as next to nothing and the attempt as extra hazardous. He was much opposed to me making any effort or remaining in the vicinity or county an hour longer than was necessary in preparing for a break to the main army. If fate was to be against me in the war he had a thousand times rather I should meet it in the army than by falling into the hands of the militia. My mother was unconcerned about the details, and was indifferent as to what course might be followed. In a very earnest tone she said to me. "Whatever you decide upon, I am only solicitous that you do your duty, and I believe you will."

Had I done half of what that brave, unselfish, consecrated, God-fearing woman believed me capable, what a success my life would have been! My brother came later and we went over the whole situation. I had more confidence in his judgment than in my father's, because I thought my father too fearful of my personal safety to judge correctly. At the call of Governor

Jackson he had given his consent for me to join the army, I thought not very enthusiastically, but my mother was proud that I went. My brother's opinion in the present matter I knew was candid and based entirely upon what he believed to be the fact. I ended the consultation by saying: "Well, I shall strike for Richmond, and I shall be on Long Arm prairie at daylight tomorrow on my way." My brother took the two guns I had with me-the long rifle belonging to my father and the Sharpe's rifle taken from the field at Moore's Mill and hid them where the prying eyes of the militia could never find them. The former was restored to its accustomed place after the war and the latter I have now. The musket captured at Memphis, and which I used in battle, I left with our little company.

CHAPTER XVII

ON TO RICHMOND

I have always been able to awake at any desired hour no matter how fatigued from loss of sleep. At half past two o'clock Thursday morning I saddled Charlie, just in time to reach by easy gait the middle of Long Arm prairie by daybreak. This would put me past, in the darkest hours of the night, the homes of all my acquaintances of Union proclivities, none of whom I was then willing to trust, though all of them were my good friends. I intended to reach Clarksville about dark; if later and the one or two companies of Colonel Smart's regiment garrisoning the town had posted pickets their suspicion might be directed to passers-by, and if earlier it would give some daylight to the time elapsing before the arrival of the boat and add to the chances of meeting an acquaintance. If the garrison included the company of Captain Wilson, Captain Bartlett or Captain McElroy, the :first composed entirely and the others largely of Lincoln County men, nearly all of whom I knew, I would evade all sentries in the darkness and reach the wharf at nine o'clock. In either event, the journey would be tedious because of the killing of so much time. In the lane leading to the Watts homestead, on the oldest and finest farm in that part of Pike County, I met a very black negro, a little past middle age, with a very pleasing face--one of the best specimens of the old time "quality" darkey-the kind of man I knew so well how to handle. He had a bucket of ice-water in his hand for the hands in the field near by, who were sweltering under the hot noon-day sun.

"How do you do, uncle?"

"Sarp'n, massa, tolabul; hope you's well."

"Thank you, very well, indeed. Hard at it I see, in spite of a few gray hairs."

"Old Ferginny never tires, suh."

To start the flow of good fellowship that was welling up in his honest soul, I asked for a drink of ice-water; drank it as greedily as the toper does his dram (which was quite an effort, ice-cold water being anything but agreeable), expatiated on the good it did me and praised his kindness in stopping to serve me when I knew the workers in the field were suffering from thirst and the heat. I then got the information I wished and knew that he knew it was correct. The companies of two other captains-names not now remembered-were stationed in Clarksville.

It had been agreed between my brother and myself that Charlie should be left in the woods, saddle and bridle off and hid at such distance from the road that he would emerge not earlier than dusk. It was thought probable that he would come home later, and if not, his loss, as valuable as he was, would be preferable to the risk of trying to sell him. He never came back; he had learned obedience in the short campaign too well to go anywhere without being directed. When I stripped him I caressed him lovingly and bade him good by. From the way he

pressed his muzzle against my face I was sure that he understood what I said. Had I met a sentry in my walk of two miles I had my story all arranged, but none was encountered. Walking

very leisurely I held up at a store opposite to where the boat would land on the way from Keokuk to St. Louis. Sitting on the front porch, keeping rather in the shade of some piled up goods boxes, and engaging enough in conversation with the merchant and an occasional loiterer to appear natural and unconcerned, notwithstanding the sight, now and then, of a Federal uniform, I passed the time until the arrival of the boat at ten o'clock. The boat was one of the river palaces peculiar to the Mississippi before. the era of railway development. The

giddy throng of twelve hundred passengers filled the grand saloon with music, mirth and the dance, unmindful that horrid war was desolating the land. Remembering the possibility of some acquaintance having taken passage at Louisiana, I kept well in the background. Owing to the heavy freight shipments the Mill to St. Louis consumed twenty-four hours. I left the steamer at the earliest business hour Saturday morning and went direct to the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad office and bought a ticket to Washington via that road and the Baltimore and Ohio. As the first train left at four o'clock I repaired to an inconspicuous hotel in the vicinity and waited until the hour.

Cincinnati was reached at about eight o'clock next morning. The conductor informed us that the train for Washington would leave at eight o'clock in the evening. I required of him the best hotel and was told that it was the Burnett. I registered and asked the clerk if I was in time for breakfast. He must have misunderstood my question, for he answered shortly but pleasantly, "No." I was disappointed, because I wanted a good breakfast and did not know where to find it. Going into the first decent looking restaurant I got a very sorry one and paid a stiff price for it. I attended the Cathedral and was disappointed at not seeing Archbishop Purcell, an eminent and scholarly prelate who administered the affairs of that diocese. and

province, as bishop and archbishop, for fifty years. The Burnett House was filled with Federal generals, colonels, majors and captains, coming and going during my stay. I found that the movements of General Bragg in Kentucky were the cause of much apprehension in the city. I mentally tipped a glass to the artillery officer of Palo Alto and said "Success to you." At train time I asked for my bill. Another clerk was at the desk and he snapped out"

Six dollars."

"For dinner and supper? The other clerk told me I was too late for breakfast."

"What train did you come on? "

"The Ohio and Mississippi."

"Six dollars."

Our train reached Washington at nine o'clock Tuesday morning. From the conductor I learned that a stage carried the mails and passengers to Lower Maryland three times a week, starting from the Kimmel House on C Street north, between Four-and-a-half and Sixth Street west. The stage-coach had gone an hour and I had to wait until Thursday morning. The "lntelligencer" of  next morning announced a "war meeting" at the east front of the Capitol that afternoon would be addressed by President Lincoln and other prominent speakers. Mr. Kimmel was a host of the olden time who wore a swallow-tail coat, mingled freely with his guests and waited on the table. I asked him if he were going to the meeting. "I haven't been that far in thirty years."

I went early and got within thirty feet of the speaker's stand. By the time S. B. Chittenden, the register of the Treasury, arose to make a short introductory speech, the crowd had grown to three hundred feet behind me. Lincoln followed and spoke for forty-five minutes. Notwithstanding his ungainly appearance he had a most pleasant delivery and I could have listened to him for hours. I remember how resentful ] felt to him for making 80 agreeable an impression on me and depriving me of 80 large a share of the hate I had stored up against him. Ex-Governor Boutwell, of Massachusetts, who had a few days before been appointed Commissioner of internal revenue, and was the first incumbent of the office, came next. His speech was a strong one, but it was exceedingly dry and tiresome. The sun was blistering hot, the crowd immovable and I was compelled to listen to what I did not believe a word of for two hours. General Shields made a short address, followed by James S. Rollins. He was the first Missourian I had seen in Washington, but under the circumstances I did not care to renew my acquaintance with him. The other speakers were Leonard Swett, of Illinois, Richard W. Thompson, of Indiana, and Senator Harlan, of Iowa, but before they finished the crowd thinned sufficiently for me to escape.

Some time later I learned that while I was listening to MI'. Lincoln the tragedy of Kirksville was being enacted. The next afternoon at three o'clock the stage coach set me down at the home of my uncle, Dr. George D. Mudd, in the village of Bryantown, Charles County, Maryland. Here for three weeks I slept twenty hours out of the twenty-four and satisfied my hunger in nearly the same proportion. The thrilling experience of running the blockade of the lower Potomac, the dangerous crossing of the Rappahannock at Layton's Ferry in a flat boat laden to the water's edge with cavalry horses and manned by a trio of frightened negroes, the enthusiasm of entering the capital of the Confederacy are not pertinent to this narrative, but there

is one incident I wish to record for whatever historical value it may possess. . Shortly after receiving my degree in medicine, a study I had begun some years before under the tutorship of my father, I was assigned to duty as an assistant-surgeon at Howard's Grove Hospital a mile out of Richmond on the Mechanicsville turnpike. 1 This position carried a salary of one hundred and ten dollars, the pay of a captain of the Infantry Service, a ration and commutations of something  over five hundred dollars a month. To enable the medical staff to live decently on this sum of Confederate money the hospital boarded us for the ration received from the Government. In the course of time an acquaintance made with two members of the medical staff of Libby Prison led to an exchange of visits. I had several opportunities of seeing the rations furnished the prisoners. I asked my friends why it was that the ration of the prisoners ,vas better than that of the Confederate officers and that they were supplied with coffee when we could get none. The reply was that the preference was given them by President Davis's express order.

CHAPTER XVIII

TOM AND STEPHEN

Early one morning, a few days after my visit home as told in the preceding chapter, my oldest brother, who had charge of the farm, in going to a field where two of our negro men, Tom and Stephen, were at work, passed through the same skirt of bushes where I had hitched my horse the previous Tuesday night. While hidden from their view he heard my name mentioned and stopped to listen.

"Tom, you 'member I tole you 'bout seein' Marse 'Loysius tuther night an' we hof 'greed to keep mum, 'feered de word might git to de cussed soldiers?"

"Yes."

"Well, I got into a putty tight fix las' night. After I done lef' you an' coming through Millwood, ole Ned Jones an' a lot of sich trash caught me an' he said kinder 'sinuatin', 'where's 'Loysius Mudd?' I was jes' 'bout to say,  'None of your damn business,' but I caught myse'! an' I said 'spec'ful as I could, 'Mr. Jones, you know as well's I do he's fightin' de damn Yankees.'

He grinned a little at dat an' said, 'when was he home las'?'

 I said, 'not since he Ie£' to jine the army. He said, 'Oh, come now; dere's a lot o' rebel bushwhackers hidin' in dis neighborhood somewhere, an' we know he's 'mong 'em. Didn't you see him?"

(There never was a Ned Jones in Millwood. The man mentioned by Stephen was a distant relative of mine. His devotion to the cause of the Union was the result of honest conviction and patriotic impulse and not influenced by considerations of personal advantage. His ancestry was of the best, but our negroes classed everybody who differed with us in politics as

"white trash." He had many admirable traits of character, chief among them a real charity for all men. But such was the temper of the times that he would gladly have delivered me into the hands of the militia at the expense of my instant execution, notwithstanding the warm friendship that had always existed between us. When I returned home nearly two years after Lee's surrender he greeted me, as did all my political enemies, with sincere good will. A few years before he died at a very advanced age, being in straightened circumstances, he applied to me for the remission of a debt and I cheerfully complied with his request.)

"Dat made me as mad as fire. I never did speak dis'spec'ful to nobody in my life, but when he done slung dem ugly things 'gin Marse 'Loysius, I tell you I hardly could hole myse'f. Tom, 'member how dat boy uster like me an' you~ .An' how he'd ruther play mobbles wid me an' you 'an anybody?  An' how he uster like to come 'round de quarters an when he'dj git too sassy an' Nellie'd git her switch how he'd run to me, look up in my face an' say, 'Stephen, daan let Nellie whip me,' an' when I'd say 'Nellie, let dat boy 'lone,' he'd say to me, 'Stephen, 1 like Nellie sometimes but I like you all de time.' 'Member dat, Tom?' "

"'Deed I does, Stephen, I kin jes' see him now." "Well, Tom; I jes' had a dollar in my pooket, but I'd give dat an' glad if I knowed Marse 'Loysius was safe from dem sneakin' cusses. I'd a tole him sumpin' fur a fac' an' den he'd gone to marster wid my impitence, but I betcher marster'd a laughed to hissef."

He then broke into one of his low musical, prolonged laughs, enjoying the vision of his fancy as if it were real. Tom, without knowing the force o£ the "sumpin" that Stephen would have said could he have had his way, joined in the laugh because nothing gave him more pleasure than a defiance of the element he despised and hated. Stephen resumed in a very serious tone: "Tom, I didn't now how 'twas wid Marse. 'Loysius, and' I'd ruther stuck my right han' in de fire an' let it bum off 'au to hep dem sneakin' cusses to trap him, so 1 said, 'I swear 'fore God I never seed him, an' I know he warn gwineter come home widout seein' me: Ole Ned says to me, ;Will you take an oath on de Bible?' Yes, I will; I said. Den he said, 'If you swear to a lie. doan you know dat I kin put you in de penitenshy?'

I said, 'Yes, 1 know dat, an you kin put me dere if I doan tell de truf.' Den he got de Bible, made me put my lei' han' on it an' hole up my right han' an' say a long rigermarole.' I didn't bat

my eye, kase 1 was 'termined not to let down 'fore dem chaps. Den I said, 'You think you're mighty smart, but I know where Marse 'Loysius is dis minute; I hear Marster and Missis talk!' 'Where is he?' said ole Ned, kinder peart.

'Why,' I tole him, 'he's where you can't git him. If de damn Yankees doan git him, he'll be all right, kase you all will never go where he is, an' dat's sure; he's in Virginny, he is.' Dat satisfied 'em, an' I said to myself 'I done fooled you now.' Tom!"

"What you want, Stephen?"

"Tom, taint no sin to swear to a lie to save Marse 'Loysius, is it? "

"Swearin' to a lie aint as bad as killin' anybody, is it ? "

"Course not."

"Well den, 1 hear Marster and Marse 'Loysius bof say taint no harm to kill Yankees, an' I know dey knows. You aint never hear one 0' dem say what wa'n't so in your life an' you aint gwineter nuther. 1 doan see as how it kin be any harm to swear to a lie to fool de damn Yankees. I doan know what Father Regan'd say 'bout it, but sin or no sin I'd swear to a string 0' lies as long as from here to St. Louis to save dat boy. 1 tell you, Stephen, 1 got no use for de damn Unions, no how."

Tom was very venomous in his political sentiments. Up to the day of his death he never failed to speak of those who opposed the South as "de damn Unions." It was not because he understood the issues involved in the contentions of political parties, for he did not. It was with him a question of loyalty to "our white folks." It was not that he ever heard from them the intemperate language which he so freely used. It was because whatever they said or did was in his limited understanding right, and the contrary was to him incomprehensible. So, what his "white folks" believed in he advocated with all the enthusiasm and vindictiveness of his fiery temper. Stephen was milder in disposition and entirely unresentful, but he was not less decided in his sentiments. The two and their ancestors had been slaves in our family for several generations and were proud of the fact that none of their family had ever been "whipped," except as children and at the hand of parents. The grown negro that had to be "whipped" was not in their caste. :My father knew but little of the farm, being engaged in the practice of medicine and was for several years a partner in a store. Stephen, though younger than Tom, was boss of the farm until my older brother became old enough to manage. He was of a more even temperament and possessed a better judgment and, further, Tom lived with his wife and family who were owned by my uncle on. the adjoining farm. Stephen was a most indulgent boss to me and my brothers. In his absence on business or from illness his wife, Nellie, was boss; she was at all times boss of the quarters, not that my parents cared to have a boss in the quarters, but her forceful character made her a natural boss. I then thought, with some reason, that she was a very tyrannical boss. The only consolation I ever got

from my mother was, "If Neilie whipped you, I know you deserved it." She was, however, much stricter with the black children than with the white. Perhaps this was because she had no children of her own. She had no taste and but little adaptability for house work and only came to the house in case of the illness of one of the house women. She died in March, 1858, during the absence of my father and mother on a visit to their old home in Maryland. When told that her end was near she received the last sacrament of the church with beautiful devotion and resignation. Her only murmur was, "Oh, if I can just live till Marster and Mistis come home I" Looking back now over her life record I think she was one of the best women that ever lived. I am sure that no person ever performed duty more conscientiously, unselfishly and exactly than she.

It was the custom in the second and subsequent years of the war for the State militia to make heavy demands upon the farmers who were known to be or suspected of being Southern sympathizers for wheat, corn, oats, hay and live stock, to be delivered at headquarters. This was in the line of "punishing them for their crimes." Many of the victims could not accept this view but maintained that the policy was one of robbery for personal gain. With some exceptions the morale of the State militia was much below that of the Federal soldiery; but it is scarcely probable that what is now denominated graft exceeded the normal rate. In addition to the infliction of these grievous burdens ,the militia were continually riding over the country

in squads or companies, stopping at the homes of "sympathizers" and demanding food for themselves and horses. The :first time they came to our house the house women bolted out; running to the field they gave the alarm and every negro on the place-man, woman and child-ran off. :My mother did not know what it meant. Was it a preconcerted arrangement? She could not believe it, but the  thought that the war was developing many unheard of causes of action would not down. However, there was nothing to do but to accept the situation. 1£ the negroes were gone, they were gone, and that was all. It was about ten o'clock in the forenoon and, telling the sergeant where he would find corn and hay for his horses, she and my

sisters busied themselves cooking for eighty men.

Shortly before sunset one of the girls was seen cautiously approaching by the side of a rail fence that led from the woods half a mile to the north down to the garden in rear of the house; momentarily hiding behind a fence corner and then darting rapidly to the next. Seeing no sign of the soldiers she came to the house so much excited that with great difficulty could she ask, "Is dey gone? " Being assured that they had, she fairly flew across the field and was soon out of sight. In about one and a half hours the whole troop came in. My mother remonstrated with Ann, the head housewoman, for running off and leaving her and my sisters to do the cooking for so many men. "l's sorry for dat, Mias Clare, but dey tells me de soldiers cah's on black people." My mother ridiculed her fears, but Ann persisted, "'Deed, Miss Clare, I can't stay here when dem soldiers come. Stephen and Tom say de soldiers aint notbin' but poor white trash, no how, and you know, Miss, nobody can't put no 'pendence in dat kinder folks for notbin'. We's all done' 'greed dat we aint gwineter trust 'em." And they

never did.

About a year after the war ended a militia captain, a young man of pleasing address, well educated and intelligent, was introduced to my oldest sister at a ball. During the dance he said, ''It seems to me, Miss, that I have met you before, but I cannot recall when or where."

"You have, sir; my mother, my sisters and I had the pleasure on two or three occasions to cook dinner for you and some eighty or ninety of your men."

He changed the subject of conversation. I shall not tell his name, because he and his charming wife are among my best friends. Near the close of the war the Federal recruiting officers

in St. Louis were paying a bounty of $1,500 for enlistments. Unscrupulous men were going about the country enticing negro men from their owners by promises of big pay, fine uniforms, good rations and nothing to do except light garrison duty, rushing them into the army and pocketing all the bounty money. To forestall the action of these schemers my father resolved to test the sentiment of his three men fit for military duty and if they were willing to go into the army to enlist. them himself and get the $4,500 bounty, rather than let it go into the hands of those who had no moral right to it. Stephen and George declared that nothing could induce them to go into the army. Tom said he was willing to g? if he could get to the army where

"Marse 'Loyeius" was, but he wouldn't go into the Yankee army even if they would kill him for not going. My father was satisfied that they could not be tempted, and he dismissed the subject from his mind. My father was, like a great many slaveholders, intensely jealous of his constitutional rights and resentful of outside interference; but for moral and financial reasons he was opposed to slavery. Neither he nor his father ever bought a slave, because such an act might increase financial burdens--it would surely increase the heavily felt burden

of moral responsibility. They never sold a slave because there could be no guaranty of the new owner possessing the same sense of responsibility for the slave's moral and physical welfare. They never manumitted a slave because the struggle of the individual freedman was against hope and generally ended in degeneracy. They accepted the slaves that became theirs by inheritance as a duty not to be conscientiously evaded. They would have gladly seen a movement for the gradual freeing of slaves, deeming that process better for the slave than the immediate, but this must originate from within and not without. I am not excusing or condemning this line of thought and action. I am only stating facts.

There came a time when my grandfather had to meet the consequence of his folly in endorsing other people's paper to the extent of $40,000. If he did not sell some of his slaves the law would. To satisfy his conscience in the matter he took a number of slaves, by families, to Louisiana, because only in that State were there many slaveholders of the same religious faith as himself and negroes. It required three trips and an average stay (If one year each time to place the slaves with owners of the same faith who he felt assured would keep families intact, look to their religious training and treat them as kindly as he had done. To transport a number of negroes from Maryland to Louisiana in that day was a tedious and expensive undertaking. I heard him say that the negroes it took him three years to sell in Louisiana he could have sold to a negro buyer at his own doorstep for $80,000. I am glad that he paid the

price of his conviction of the duty he owed his slaves. When the State of Missouri freed its slaves, my father felt relieved of a great weight of responsibility. He called his late slaves before him, informed them of their altered condition and told them that he would consider what he could do for them. Without exception, they said that freedom made no difference to them; that they wanted to go on 88 before. Eight months afterwards he again called them together. The war, he said, had left him a poor man and he was unable to support them longer. The men with their families must look out for themselves. He would stand security for them for rent of land and a start in farming and that was all he could do for them. The women and children he would keep, but he hoped the majority of these would soon find employment. He admonished them all of the necessity of preserving their reputation for honesty, truth, industry and devotion to church duties. Judging by the manner of their reception of this intelligence, it was the saddest day of their lives.

CHAPTER XIX

WHERE THE OTHERS WENT

After Moore's Mill the experiences of the others of our little company were generally more eventful than mine. Joe Haley, after staying a few days at his home, in the southeastern part of Pike County, to recover in some degree from the effects of his severe wound at Moore's Mill, went through Illinois into Kentucky, where he remained until nearly well. Went to Mississippi, thence to Van Buren, Arkansas, where Porter's Brigade was, and joined Captain Dorsey's company, along with Walter Merriwether and Sam Eastman. He was discharged on account of his health at Fort Smith, but shortly afterwards joined the army under Price before it marched into Missouri.. On a scout into North Missouri he was unable to regain the army and attached himself to Bill Anderson's company and was present when that noted guerrilla was killed. He then went to Quantrell, who would not take him because he was unfit for service. He then went to Jacksonville, Illinois, where he spent the last winter of the war, most of the time sick. After the surrender, being eighteen and a half years old, he returned home. He married, in 1884, Miss Gussie Lee, daughter of Dr. A. D. Shewmak. He lived for many years in Earley County, Georgia. For seven years he has been a justice of the peace.

Arthur W. Clayton was forty-one years old when he joined Captain Penny's company. He was wounded in both hands at Moore's :Mill, and G. W. Jett, of Bowling Green, took him to llinois, where he remained until fit for service. He then went to Virginia and entered the army, in what regiment his widow, Mrs. Sarah A. Clayton, of Foley, Lincoln County, does not remember. Comrade Clayton died about six years ago.

The day after I left the camp near Nineveh, Frank McAtee left for a few days stay at home, but was unable to rejoin the company owing to the activity of the militia, which had effectually closed the route to the southward. He struck: out westward and after many days of suspense fell in with Captain Ely's company, which he joined. It was in retirement, waiting for orders. As did all the other companies in temporary hiding, scouts were from time to time sent out for determining the movements of the militia and for making such demonstration as might draw attention from the :Missouri River. One day while in Ralls County Major Majors directed Jim Ely to take ten men and find out the whereabouts of Colonel Smart's militia.

The boys, intent on combining fun with duty, induced Webb Snead to sneak his banjo out as they went. They forded Salt River at Goodwin's mill and went westwardly. At near noon they were invited by a farmer to stop for dinner. Leaving a picket in the lane in each direction, and at a suitable distance from the house, for two or three hours they enjoyed feasting, music and dancing. At Lick Creek William Phillips got leave to stay at his Uncle Harry Fagan's until the return of the scout. Ely stopped to have his horse shod and told Frank McAtee to take the men to the house of a Mr. Martin and get supper, Frank being well acquainted with the country. On the way a number of fresh horse tracks were noticed and when Martin's was reached

McAtee and Tom Nicholson were discussing the risk of stopping. Dick Underwood insisted there was no danger and that he would go a little further up the creek and get supper at the home of a Mr. Rogers. "Oh, Dick," they said, "there's somebody else there you want to see, besides Mr. Rogers."

Dick replied good-naturedly and went on. In a few minutes the report of firearms was heard, and it was afterwards learned that Underwood had been captured and shot. The scout  dashed toward the blacksmith shop, met Ely and galloped on to warn Phillips, but found that he had been wounded and captured. When the Lick Creek post office was reached, a large detachment  of militia opened fire on them and then the run began in earnest. They were in a lane between two fields of heavy corn. Luckily a good friend, Thomas Fagan, was at home and he held wide open his gate for them to escape into the corn. McAtee held the gate shut and Snead rammed the peg in with the butt of his musket so tightly that the militia could never displace it. Snead's banjo, tied behind his saddle, became loosened and flying up and down in the wild run past the cornstalks made jagged notes of discord until the last string was broken. When they came to four cross lines of fence the boys said that Eli Bobbett's old gray mare's feet didn't touch the ground between them.

Comrade R. K. Phillips, speaking of the incident, says his brother William was wounded by an old friend, who took him to his Uncle Harry Fagan's, declining to make him a prisoner. Frank McAtee says: "A few days afterwards a picket came into camp with the news that thirty-five Federals were across the river at Goodwin's Mill. The Major directed Captain Harry Knight to take thirty-five men, of which I was one, and scout toward the village of Cincinnati, and Lieutenant Clint Burbridge with the same number to go in the opposite direction, and coming together to close in on the enemy. The militia was from New London and was commanded by Captain South. They stopped at the home of James Leake and ordered dinner. They arrested Sam Stevens as a sympathizer, but while Stevens was saddling his horse Burbridge and his men came in sight and opened fire. As they started to leave two bullets struck their flagstaff. The color sergeant dropped it and ran off with the others. I will not tell his name, because he was an old friend and neighbor of mine. Sam Stevens stayed at home and helped to eat the dinner. It was a hot day and two of their horses gave out. One of the men jumped up on a hay stack and was helping a man and boy at work but forgot to take off his uniform, which was a white cloth around his hat, and Burbridge brought him to camp. We heard the firing and Captain Knight urged us on at full speed. We found another horse lying

in the road near Sam Bell's and knowing that Bell belonged to the militia Captain Knight had Mrs. Bell call her husband so that we could go back to the post office before the rebels

got there. She blew the horn and Bell stepped out of the brush right into the muzzles of our guns, and we took him to camp. The two prisoners seemed to enjoy the joke as much as we did. Afterwards, while I was a prisoner in New London, it was told me that on the retreat Captain South, having the best horse, got in ahead of any of his men, and the next day asked them if they did not think they had made a strategic movement."

When Frank was captured he was with another scout. He was sent to New London and then to Hannibal. While at the latter place his name was put in the hat out of which were drawn the names of prisoners to be sent to Palmyra to make the ten shot by McNeil for the abduction of Allsman, the other five having been selected by Strachan from the Palmyra prison. Frank was shortly afterwards sent to St. Louis for a long stay in the old Gratiot Street prison. He gives a vivid account of prison life and of the many attempts to escape, a number of the prisoners preferring death to the tortures of hunger and cold. He saw Captain Ab Grimes put into the dungeon preparatory to his execution as a spy, but the sly captain escaped and is living yet. He saw a Confederate Captain escape by falling in line with the retiring guard after securing suitable clothing by bribery. He has forgotten his name, but it was Judge R. L. Maupin, now a prominent citizen of Mobile, Alabama, a native of Boone County, Missouri, and at that time a gallant captain in the Confederate army. His escape prevented his being shot as a spy. Frank McAtee now lives in Portland, Oregon.

The little remnant of our company, finding reconnoitering next to impossible on account of the vigilance of the militia, made its way cautiously, under the leadership of Moses Beck, back to Monroe County, rejoined Porter and was assigned to Major Snyder's battalion. Beck was an energetic, prosperous farmer about forty years of age. His education was limited; his convictions, political and religious, intense; his integrity spotless. He was unconscious of fear, unsparing !>f self, considerate of others, modest and gentle in demeanor. It was reported that there was a large number of muskets stored at Ashley, Pike County, awaiting distribution to the militia about to be enrolled. Snyder was sent to get them. In the light of the very meager information obtainable about this undertaking, it seems the management was bad.

The Missouri Democrat of August 30 says:

"At daylight on Thursday morning last a party of guerrillas, one hundred and fifty in number, attacked a small detachment of State militia, some thirty in number, encamped at Ashley, Pike County. The fight had lasted about one hour when the rebels sent a :flag of truce (the bearer of which was the notorious Captain Beck) with the following message:

August 28, 1862.

Commanding Officer :

We demand surrender, unconditional, of arms. Your men will be paroled.

Colonels Porter and Burbridge.

Major Snyder,

Commanding Division.

August 28, 1862.

Colonel Porter and others:

Can't comply with your request. Your men should respect your own messenger.

W. H. Purse,

Captain, Commanding.

"The allusion in Captain Purse's note to respecting their own messenger,' referred to the enemy shooting at our men and mortally wounding Beck, who was on his way back to his own lines with Captain P's reply. There were two rebels killed and left on the ground, of whom Beck was one. Several wounded were carried off. One of the State troops was killed-Mr. George Trower-and five wounded. :Mr. Trower was not killed in the fight but was shot after. wards, by being decoyed by some of the secesh citizens to the edge of the town and then deliberately killed. After the receipt of Captain Purse's reply the rebels fled in every direction. Our informant, who was in the fight, states that as he came toward Louisiana he met four hundred or five

hundred troops, under Colonel Anderson and Fagg, going to reinforce Ashley."

The reader of the foregoing account will be puzzled as to how Captain Purse knew before writing his note declining to surrender that the bearer of his note while returning with it was shot by his friends. But everything went that was calculated to throw discredit on the rebels. The report of Captain Purse to Colonel George W. Anderson makes no mention of this incident:

"We were attacked about daylight this morning by the enemy. Our loss, one killed and five wounded. We have found two of the enemy's dead, one of them being Moses Book, captain. Also two of their wounded. We are satisfied the brush around is swarming with them. Will report fully as soon as possible.

W. H. PURSE,

"Captain, Commanding."

If a demand to surrender was sent it was not by the hands of Captain Beck. Beck was not shot by his own men. Sam Minor was standing by him when he was shot. He says that Snyder was managing badly and seemed not to know what to do; that Beck was directing the loading of a wagon with hay for use as a portable fortification. As he stepped from behind the stack he received his death wound. He loosened his money belt, containing gold, and gave it with his revolver to Sam. He lived only a few minutes. Davis Whiteside was mortally wounded about the same time and a little later Henry Lovelace was wounded, but not severely enough to be left on the field. Henry Lovelace was the only member of Penny's company I have

seen since the war. A successful physician, a man of the highest integrity and of most lovable disposition, he was my neighbor in Lincoln County for many years. He and his brother James Lovelace, of Montgomery County, have been dead about twenty years. Sam Minor knows nothing of any demand having been made for a surrender. The other man killed was named Blue and was from Pike County-not a member of our company. The name of the other wounded man left on the field is unknown. I know nothing of the military capacity of Captain Purse. Personally he was greatly respected as a good man and good citizen. Davis Whiteside lived several days after  being wounded and until the end he was tenderly nursed by Mrs. Purse. I have been told that the militia-perhaps by Captain Purse's order-placed Beck's body just as it was in a plain coffin and gave it decent burial, and that several years afterwards when the family exhumed it for interment in the family ground near Truxton, Lincoln County, they found several hundred dollars in greenbacks in his pocket.

.After the Ashley disaster the remainder of our little company scattered and followed Colonel Porter's instructions to get through the lines as best we could. Sam Minor scouted around on Indian Creek and in the early Fall went into Boone County and ran into the Federals at Rockport. He told them he was a poor farmer's boy going to Columbia to try and work his way through the Agricultural College. As he looked 80 innocent they let him go. Sam had joined Colonel Caleb Dorsey's regiment December, 1861, and in the disbandment after the Mt. Zion

battle he hid in a house which was searched that night by the Federals. He escaped by getting into the trundle bed with the children and passing himself off as a ten year old. He, Pal Penn, John Bowles and two others then made for the Missouri River at Arrow Rock, swam their horses across mid the floating ice, ran into Federals and swam back. Early in 1863 he joined Colonel Jackman's force and got to the main army. Several of the boys made Calhoun County, Illinois--a. safe rebel rendezvous during nearly the whole war-the base of preparation for getting through the lines.

CHAPTER XX

CAPTAIN S. B. PENNY

·Sylvester Baesman Penny was born March 28, 1836, in Baltimore County, Maryland, eighteen miles west or northwest of the city of Baltimore, at his Grandfather Baesman's place-land that had been inherited through four generations and now in possession of the sixth generation of the same name---Baesman. His ancestor received a patent for it in 1681, and another in 1741, the two grants making fifteen hundred acres. Captain Penny's great-grandfather opened a large farm, bought a number of slaves, some of them from the trading ships. He was one of the founders of Methodism in this country, and a very devout Christian. Shortly before his death he freed every slave he had and the deed of manumission is on record at Westminster, :Maryland. He was one of the contributors to the building of Stone's chapel at Westminster, the second Methodist church built in America. Mrs. Mary Wright, Eolia, Pike County, one of the three surviving sisters of Captain Penny, writes: "My father was born in Baltimore County, Maryland, in 1800, married in 1828. There were fourteen children born, eight girls and six boys. Three boys died in infancy and two  in young manhood. :My brother, Captain Penny, was our last and for years our only brother. :My father was given a post office under the William Henry Harrison administration, which he kept until he left for the West. It was called Harrisonville, twelve miles from Baltimore on what

(About forty miles north of where this narrative is written. "Shortly after my ancestor came to Maryland.)

was then called the Liberty road. In 1846 my father, mother and ten children, the oldest fifteen years and the youngest one month old, left our home and started overland for Missouri, with two wagons and seven horses. After what we children thought a very eventful journey we reached St. Louis in October. The weather was getting cool and my father considered it  prudent to remain. in St. Louis till Spring before going to Pike County, which was his destination before leaving Maryland. In 1849 he bought a part of the old Huff farm on the Salt River road, three miles west of Prairieville, where my parents lived until 1870, when they made a home in Edgewood.

"My mother was also born in Baltimore County, in 1807. She died in 1892; father in 1884. My brother, Wes, joined Captain Archie Bankhead's company at the first call early in 1862 he raised a company and joined Porter. At Moore's Mill, July 28, 1862, near the close of the battle he was struck in the stomach by a cannister ball. I understand that Colonel Porter sent him word to retreat, but he did not get it for some time after the others had left and his little company was about surrounded. He lived a short time. He had eighty dollars in gold in his belt. He

took this off and gave it to a Federal officer with a request that it be sent to his father. Fayette Turner says this officer was General Guitar, but I have my doubts about that. Wes was taken to a house nearby and a kind woman was about to place a pillow under his head but a Federal officer would not allow it and cursed her for treating the rebels more kindly than the Federals. Wes said to this officer, 'You have killed me, but there are plenty of others to take my place.' Wee was taken up and put in a coffin and buried right there in the same graveyard where they found him. It was right close to a farmhouse owned by a Mr. Strother, but he sold it not long after the war. Mr. H. C. Gibbs brought Wes's horse and all its trappings home, but

the belt with the eighty dollars in gold never came to hand."

Mrs. Wright may well doubt the statement that General Guitar got Captain Penny's belt of gold. Guitar never got it. There was an effort made a few year!\ after the war by a number of Confederates in Callaway County to trace this matter, and Guitar must have known of it. If, however, General Guitar had received the belt and forgotten the name and address of Captain Penny's father he would, at first opportunity, have made proper inquiry, and this remark applies to every Federal officer of any note that fought us that day. Not one of them would have violated the promise made a dying prisoner. Captain Penny must have given his belt to some dishonest subaltern, or else to some officer who forgot the address and who was killed before he had a chance to learn it.

Mrs. Annie G. Edwards, of Dameron, Lincoln County, writes: ''My father, H. C. Gibbs, went with Mr. Penny to bury his son. The body was but slightly covered with, earth, which they removed. As they gazed on the manly form, with tears the aged father said, 'My name died when he died..' Mr. S. F. Jett, of Edgewood, Pike County, a rebel soldier and an excellent man, married :Miss Sue Penny, who died about two years ago. The old people lived with them until they died. :Mr. Jett has an enlarged picture of Captain Penny hanging in his family room."

The following lines on the death of Captain Penny were written by Mrs. Laura Lewis Carr, one of Pike County's most charming women. For her active sympathy for the cause of the Confederacy she was banished from Missouri by the Federal authorities and escorted into the Confederate lines by way of Kentucky. The hardships of her imprisonment and banishment aggravated a disease of the heart and she died before the end of the war :

Mother! raise thy drooping head

Bowed beneath the heavy blow,

Which has crushed thy bleedine heart

As It laid thy nobled low;

Look beyond death's gloomy wave,

Mother, raise thy head In pride!

,For his name Is hallowed now,

'Twas for liberty he died.

Father! though thy son was loat

In the summer of his days,

Listen to the thronging voice

Of a Nation's grateful praise;

Thine the sacrifice and tears

Sadly laid on Freedom's shrine,

But his Immortally,

And his glory, too, are thine!

Sisters! though thy loving tones

Cannot wake him from his sleep,

Cannot thrill his pulse again,

Gentle sisters, do not weep;

For the land for which he died

Claims her loved ones as her own,

Leads them to the patrlot's grave

Where a Natlon'a heart shall mourn.

Gallant Soldier! rest In peace!

With the green sod on thy grave,

Till the marble shaft upreared

Points us to the True and Brave!

Little need! for every heart

Cherishes his noble name

Linked with proud Immortal words

Graven there by Love and Fame.

CHAPTER XXI

FROM NEWARK TO KIRKSVILLE

The history of the transactions of Colonel Porter in North Missouri, after the battle of Moore's Mill, is told mainly from the recollections of comrades who followed him to the end. The defeats he sustained and the changes in plans frequently made necessary by circumstances, affected neither his zeal, his vigilance, his buoyant faith, nor the efficiency and loyalty of his men. According to reports he was many "times exterminated, scattered, deserted and betrayed, but he lost not a recruit except by the fortune of war. Checkmated here in a few hours he

struck a luckless detachment in another county. Routed at one point, the next day he captured a garrisoned town fifty miles away. In the midst of it all he was directing Southward an endless stream of men. The rigid enrollment order of Governor Gamble overwhelmed him with unarmed men at an unfortunate moment, but his resourceful intellect and his marvelous vigor robbed disaster of its meaning.

Comrade A. J. Austin, of Goss, Monroe County, writes:

"1 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 had rather I would go with the rebs. That settled it. 1 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 Federal¥ 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."

The Paris Mercury, of August 8, 1862, says: "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 here 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

(This must be a mistake. Colonel Porter left camp near Moore's Mill two hours after dark Monday evening, four or five hours after the battle, and traveled at least twenty miles In doubling on his tracks westward and eastward. It was not possible for him to go northward forty miles in time to camp for the night, It must have been Tuesday night that the junction was made.)

he made 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 gone 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, were 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 I ability to take them and his desire to save any unnecessary 1088 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. The History of Shelby County says:

''Many of Porter's men exposed themselves needlessly and paid dearly for it. At last Porter had prepared two wagons loaded heavily  with hay, which he proposed running up against the buildings- Presbyterian church, Bragg's store, and the Masonic hall-setting on fire and smoking out his game. A flag of truce was sent first, demanding a surrender. Captain Lair himself came out, saw Porter, and the two talked the matter over. The militiamen surrendered. The terms were very liberal. The Federals were to be paroled and released, their private property was not to be taken from them, but they were to lose their tents, arms, etc. The prisoners were well treated. Captain Bob Hager, of Monroe, cursed Lieutenant Warmsley for being a d-n

nigger thief; but nobody was hurt, and there was no hint at retaliation upon Captain Lair or any of his men for the killing of Major Owen, a former fellow soldier of Porter's, major of the regiment in which he had been lieutenant-colonel.

Porter and his men camped in Newark that night, and it was not until next morning that the prisoners were paroled and released. The Federal loss in the Newark fight was four killed, six wounded and seventy-two prisoners; of the latter forty were of Company K, and thirty-two of Company L. The killed were Lieutenant Valentine Lair, a son of Captain Lair, and acting adjutant of the battalion, and Orderly Sergeant Francis Hancock, of Palmyra, both of Company E, and John Downing and James Berry of Company L. The Confederate loss was reported at from ten to twenty killed and thirty severely wounded. Eight are known to have been buried. In the Newark fight the men from Shelby bore a conspicuous part. Among the Cnfederates killed was Captain J. Q. A. Clements, who fell dead at the head of his company, shot through the brain, and Lieutenant Tom West of the same company, who had his leg crushed by a minie ball and amputated, and who died in a day or two. Captain Clements was an intelligent, well-informed gentleman who was something of a lawyer. After his death Captain Samuel S. Patton took command of the Company. In Head's Company two Shelby County men were killed; Anderson Tobin, who lived in the Southwestern part of the county, was shot through the head and died instantly, and Kesterson, of Walkersville, was killed by a ball through the body."

These half-unwilling tributes to the personal worth of so many men who gave everything and braved everything for the Confederate cause are testimony of the line upon which Missouri sentiment divided. There were a number of high-class men in the Missouri Federal militia, but of the vast majority the less said of them the better. The cream of the State espoused the cause of the South. Ben Loan, rude but forceful, knew there was such a thing as "good society" and hated it, as he hated Southern sentiment, because in Missouri where one was found there also

(Only two or three days before Captain Clements had raised a company of eighty men In twenty-tour boors In the western part of Shelby County.)

was the other. While in command of the Central District of Missouri he bewailed the situation in a communication to General Curtis, War of the Rebellion, series I, Volume 13, page 806: "The inhabitants are generally disloyal, and a large majority of them are actively so. They are fierce, overbearing, defiant and insulting; whilst the Union spirit is cowed and disposed to be submissive . Another reason that has induced me to have these disloyal persons arrested is to break up the social relations here. Good society here, as it is termed, is exclusively rebel.

Another motive is that the traders, merchants and bankers who transact the business of the country are all traitors.

It requires a high and noble patriotism that can bear the comparison . It is much easier to catch a rat with your hands in a warehouse filled with a thousand flour barrels than it is to catch a band of guerrillas where every or almost every man, woman and child are their spies, pickets, or couriers."

 With the exception of the Sixteenth Illinois Regiment, Colonel Robert F. Smith, and the unspeakable Kansas troops, fit successors to the Sharp's rifle evangelists, all the Federal troops

coming into Missouri from other States, either as regiments or parts of Missouri regiments, generally conducted war in an honorable way and were good soldiers. A comparison of their record with that of the Missourians who went into the Federal militia does violence to my State pride.

The movements of Colonel Porter from the evening of July 28 -to the morning of August 6, kept McNeil in a ferment of unrest and perplexity. Separate detachments of his force captured the garrison towns of Newark and Canton, with valuable military property, and occupied the town of Kirksville; other towns were threatened, mystifying feints were made here and there; junctions and detachments; marches and countermarches. His trusted agents, undeterred by the galloping, vulturous militia, I kept him informed at every' point, and his own scouts and

couriers kept the bridle path ablaze. Colonel Porter left Newark at nine o'clock Saturday morning, going northward, a short time before McNeil and Benjamin came in on the Shelbyville road. A mile from town the Confederate rear guard and the Federal advance guard had a sharp skirmish with trifling loss. McNeil awaited reinforcement at Newark and Porter on the western line of Lewis County was joined by the force returning from the capture of Canton, under Colonel Cyrus Franklin. With this battalion was Lieutenant- Colonel Frisby H. McCullough, who had been very successful in procuring enlistments. He was known to be in favor (If pushing on to the main army in Arkansas at the first opportunity. At a conference of officers it was decided that a very early day was opportune. The combined force numbered about two thousand, one-fourth well armed, something over another fourth fairly to poorly

armed, and the remainder unarmed. With Captain Tice Cain's Schuyler County men already in the field-well officered and almost veterans they were-and other organized companies and unorganized squads ready to go into service, and principally in the Missouri River counties, an army of three thousand or four thousand men-magnificent material for war, much of it smarting under the outrages of the murderous militia-could be carried south. The passage of the Missouri River was a problem. General Schofield, speaking of the situation at this juncture, says in his official reports "Determined to destroy this force, and not in any event allow it to join the enemy south of the

(The History of Shelby County, page 752, gleefully tells of McNeil "following Porter and camping that night on Troublesome Creek, on the farm of a 'secesh' gentleman named Kendrick, whom they 'ate out of house and barn.")

(Colonel Franklin was a citizen of Iowa, but a native of Virginia. 'War of the Rebellion, Series I, Volume 13, page 13.)

river, I caused all boats and other means of crossing the Missouri River and not under guard of my troops to be destroyed or securely guarded, and stopped all navigation of the river except by strongly guarded boats, and for a short time under convoy of a gunboat extemporized for the purpose of patrolling the river." Nevertheless, inside of a week or ten days arrangement could be made for a host to happen along. To conceal this purpose and to draw troops from the river counties a feint in force would be made, involving perhaps a bloody battle. Memphis was agreed upon, but presently Captain Cain's courier came in with the news of his occupancy of Kirksville, and the forces headed for that point.

Comrade J. T. Wallace, of Oakland, California, writes:

"1 was sworn into the Confederate service July 31, 1862, by Colonel Frisby H. McCullough, in a camp on Troublesome creek, near Rev. P. N. Haycraft's, about two miles from Steffenville, Lewis County. The next day we moved to 'Sugar Camp,' two or three miles north of Monticello, where we joined Colonel Franklin's regiment. Even before we were fully organized we had to move on, for a strong State militia force under McNeil and Rogers was close after us. Before we left this camp Colonel Joe Porter joined us. We had double-barreled shotguns and squirrel rifles. In Porter's command there were, I think, three hundred or four hundred muskets, the rest, shotguns and rifles. I belonged to Captain John Hicks's company, of Marion County. The first lieutenant was James Bowles of the same county. I was nineteen years old, with but little experience with the world, fresh from the farm from where I had been preparing

to enter La Grange College, the goal of my youthful ambition. We left Sugar Camp on August 3 and marched westward with all convenient haste to Kirksville, which we reached on the forenoon of the 6th. Here Colonel Porter determined to make a stand. I think it was unfortunate that he chose to fight in a town where, on the high open ground, the enemy with their artillery and their long range guns had all the. advantage. 1£ he had gone on to the breaks of the Chariton we, with our inferior arms, would have had nearly an equal chance. The Federals were wise enough to keep out of our reach, and they swept the streets and soon knocked to pieces the wooden buildings. I fired twenty-four shots with my deer rifle but I have no idea that I was near enough to hurt anyone. After about three hours fighting Colonels Porter and Franklin had a consultation and decided to put the Chariton River between us and the enemy. The retreat was at first in pretty good order, but it increased in disorder as the crowd thickened on the narrow road as we approached the river. We had little difficulty in fording it, though the smaller horses had to swim."

Comrade Austin says: "By this time we were stirring up trouble among the Federals and a large force with cannon were 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 at 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."

Comrade R. K. Phillips, of Perry, Ralls County, writes: "A month or two before I joined Colonel Porter I was arrested by Captain Henry O. Gentry's company of New London, and on account of sickness in my family I was ordered to report to Major Hunt, at Hannibal, as soon as my family were well enough for me to leave them. In the meantime, one Colonel Thompson, of Audrain County,  had collected a lot of men and torn up quite a stretch of the North Missouri Railroad. The grand jury being in session at the time supposed that I had some connection with it and sent the sheriff after me to appear before them.. After they got through with me I reported at Hannibal, took the oath and gave my individual bond for $1,000, and was allowed to go home. The order was issued for every male over eighteen years to report at the nearest headquarters and enroll in the State militia by the 26th of July. I tried to get off. They would not let me off, but told me I would be treated as a bushwhacker. There were about one hundred and thirty of us who concluded to take our chances as bushwhackers. William Martin, who had been out with Price and had come home on a furlough, had been riding around encouraging the boys. A part of them came from around Frankford, Pike County, others from Madisonville, Cincinnati, and Lick Creek, Ralls County, so that we had a fine company. I had some good friends in business in Hannibal, so I took a large pair of old-fashioned saddlebags, bought two twenty-five-pound sacks of No. 1 buckshot, ten pounds of bar lead, sixty pounds of powder and six thousand water-proof percussion caps, put them in the

bottom of the saddle-bags and over them a lot of tea, coffee, soda, etc., in small packages. On the top of each bag I put a quart bottle of the best old whiskey that Buck Brown had in his establishment, and then l' was ready for the pickets. I got through all right, and when I reached the pickets at New London, I pulled out my bottles and told them the countersign was pasted on the inside of the bottom and they verified it by drinking the last drop. They said the countersign was correct, that I could always pass when I had it and that they would always love me. I said I hoped that the more they saw of me, the more cause they would have to remember me. They wished me good luck and I got home without further incident.

"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; a Dutchman from Frankford, second lieutenant, and myself third lieutenant; Stephen D. Ely, orderly sergeant; David Ely and T. J. Pettitt, corporals. I was twenty-seven years old, reared in Oldham County, Kentucky, twenty-five miles above Louisville. I never enlisted before. We joined Colonel Porter on Salt River near Florida. With him were Captain

Jim Porter; Captain Valentine of our county, a Vermonter, and a good fighter; Hawkeye Captain Livingston, of Marion County; the Chain Gang from Pike County-the name of its captain I have forgotten-and others. We started north to draw the militia from the Missouri River so that we might make a dash and get across. Captain Porter was sent down North River to get Borne ammunition stored there, and I was sent with fifty picked men to Houstonville

(The captain's name was William C. HllIeary, of Marlon County. He was elected after the death of Captain Stacy. The name Chain Gang was given the company In a spirit of fun and  adopted by It In the same spirit. The men were from Shelby and Marlon Counties, principally the former; no member of It was from Pike County, It I remember correctly.)

to cover his rear from a possible attack by the militia from La Grange. Owing to the time lost by our guide in the pitchy darkness we were too late to participate in the attack on Newark. There besides the militia under Captain Lair we captured about two hundred recruits. We got a large number of tents, blankets and other property and about five hundred old fuse muskets only good for drilling purposes, and as we had no time to drill we made a bonfire of them. Our army was now becoming very cumbersome by so many joining us without arms. It had a demoralizing effect. I do not think that out of two thousand or twenty-five hundred we had more than five hundred or six hundred armed men. The militia were crowding u's on every side.

On Sunday afternoon, August 3, on the North Fabius, we formed two or three companies in line of battle in a little creek at the foot of a long hill. We had a strong position. Our pursuers would have to come up in the open and we were completely hid ,in a place where they could not flank us. They stopped on top of the hill, took in the situation, backed out and went into camp. We stayed in line for some time and just got started when a fearful storm came up and we had to take what shelter we could. Several horses were killed by falling timber but no men were injured.  We moved on. The next morning dawned bright and clear, and at seven o'clock we camped long enough to get breakfast. We reached Kirksville Wednesday forenoon. I

am not certain, but I think we went in from the north. There was a square section of land on the side we came in on. The town was built on the south, east and west of this section. We were formed along the front row of houses with reinforced lines a few blocks back. The Federals came in on the northeast corner of this square, and formed along. the north side with artillery on the right. Merrill's men formed in front and charged, but double barreled shotguns are an ugly thing to charge on. They made three charges but were forced to fall back. Then

they moved their artillery to the front.

"Our company held the right center. Captain Ely and First Lieutenant Martin with thirty men behind a frame house, the second lieutenant on the right, behind a barn with twenty men and I behind a hen house with seventeen men. There was a thick patch of corn between Captain Ely and me 80 that I could not see him or the second lieutenant; behind me on the left, was a log stable. The artillery made our men very nervous, they never before having heard anything of the kind, but they stood their ground remarkably well for new men just from their homes. Captain Ely ordered his men back but did not let me know of it. We could see nothing in front except Federals and they were getting uncomfortably near. I went out to see Ely but he was gone. I looked for the second lieutenant and he was shaking the dust from his feet as fast as he could. I went back to my men, told them to follow me, and we dashed through that corn in somewhat of a hurry until the stable was reached, where we gave the advancing enemy four or five rounds. We then went through a large frame house, through the court-house and behindi a picket fence we came up to our company. We fired a round or two and dropped back to another company, but the Federals were flanking us and we broke ranks and took to the brush. Here we were safe, as the enemy came no farther. Our company lost six killed and seventeen wounded. My understanding was that there were twenty-two prisoners killed, but they were all strangers to me. We got all our wounded out, so there were none of them killed."

Comrade Wine, of Townsend, Montana, a member of Franklin's regiment, says our forces amounted to about two thousand men, that Colonels Franklin and McCullough favored offering battle in the timber west of town and that Colonel Porter chose the town, that Porter's men held the town until driven out, that Franklin's men were held in reserve, that the cannonading was furious for three hours, and that his services were offered to Colonel McCullough in his illness and declined.

Sergeant D. G. Harrington, of Merrill Horse, now of Bennett, Colorado, says: "On August 6, we came upon the pickets about 3 p. m., and came into Kirksville with them. Our force was twelve hundred, composed of eight hundred of the Second Missouri Cavalry, Merrill Horse, and four hundred State militia and two small guns. Lieutenant Cowdrey, of company A, charged through the town with ten men to locate the enemy and strange to say, with all the firing, had only two men wounded. Our loss was twenty-eight killed and eighty wounded. We took about forty prisoners and they reported their loss was about ninety killed and one hundred and ten wounded."

Captain J. E. Mason, commanding a company of :Merrill Horse, writes: "We came up with your command at Kirksville, August 6. You were reported to have four thousand or five thousand men. We had seven hundred or eight hundred. I expect you have the account of Lieutenant Cowdrey's charge with ten men into the village. He came out with one man wounded. I would like to know how many of your men were hit in that charge. I was told by one of your men that he was behind a fence With others; that one on each side of him was shot and that he was struck but was saved by the bullet striking the clasp of his pocket book."

Captain George H. Rowell, of Merrill Horse, writes: "I think it was just ten days after the Moore's Mill :fight that we again overhauled Porter, barricaded in the village of Kirksville. Colonel Lewis Merrill had then joined the campaign and assumed command of his regiment. General McNeil had also joined us, but whether he brought any troops with him or not I do not know, but being the ranking officer on the field took command. We had with us our own battery of six mountain howitzers, a section of an Indiana battery, twelve-pound Parrott guns, and some

smaller guns-two-pounders. The enemy put up a pretty stiff fight, and were entirely concealed in the buildings, comprising the then small village, the brick court-house seeming to be the general rendezvous. We took position on the east and south of the village; could see no enemy, only what seemed to be a few men in a grove back of the town, sharpshooters as they afterwards proved. We unlimbered our cannon and commenced shelling the town from the east and could see the enemy pouring from the houses and trying to get to a place of greater safety. With my company, I was that day guard to the two guns of the Indiana battery. We were too far away from the enemy then in sight to do execution with our carbines, so I ordered my men to lie down in line in rear of the cannon. This is where I was wounded. I was walking about in front of the line when I was wounded in the right breast by a minie ball, fired, as was supposed; by one of the enemy's sharpshooters. The fight lasted about three hours. Before the enemy had disclosed themselves General McNeil called upon Second Lieutenant John N. Cowdrey, of company A, to take six men of his company, ride to the third street of the village and draw the enemy's fire. Cowdrey and I were personal friends, and knowing him I regretted to see him called out to execute this perilous order. He made no comment, but in

(The generally very accurate recollection of Captain Rowell, except in a few minor details, fails him here. Colonel Merrill was not with his regiment on this occasion. It was commander! by Lieutenant-Colonel William F. Shaffer. At this date Merrill was colonel Second Regiment, Missouri Cavalry, three years' volunteers, also known as Merrill Horse, date of commission,

August 23, 1861. McNeil was commissioned colonel of the Third Missouri Infantry, May 8, 1861, but he was mustered out August 17. He was commissioned colonel of Second Missouri State Militia Cavalry June 30, 1862. Merrill was, therefore, the ranking officer.)

five minutes was ready to start. AU was still, not a shot was fired until the little squad arrived at the second street, when from each side the fusillade commenced and it is safe to say there were at least a hundred shots fired at this little band; but they came out with slight damage. Cowdrey's horse was shot but he brought him out, still riding him. One enlisted man was shot, but not seriously. Cowdrey died in St. Louis, several years ago. His son, Harry, is representing one of the St. Louie districts in Congress."

In the official report of Lieutenant-Colonel Shaffer this incident is described: "Not being able at first to discover the whereabouts of the enemy, Colonel McNeil ordered a cavalry charge to be made. I detailed Lieutenant Cowdrey, with part of Company A, Merrill Horse, who charged through the town, receiving a severe :fire from the enemy from the houses and behind the fences and trees. This was a most gallant charge and reflects great credit upon Lieutenant Cowdrey and his brave men. Two of them were mortally wounded and three slightly, and five

horses were killed."

The History of Shelby County says: "After receiving the fire of a thousand shotguns, rifles and revolvers, losing only one man killed, a soldier named A. H. Waggoner, one mortally wounded, William Ferguson, and having but two others struck the dauntless Cowdrey rode back and reported. As to loss; six Federals fell dead on the field, Captain Mayne of the Third Iowa; A. H. Waggoner, Mathias Olstein, and Sylvester Witham, privates of Company C, Merrill Horse; Sergeant William Bush, Company B, Ninth Missouri, State Militia; H. H. Moore, private,

Company E, First Missouri, State Militia. The wounded number thirty-three; of these at least two afterwards died. The Federals claim they buried fifty-eight of Porter's men who were killed outright; that eighty-four were left severely woun.ded, and that they captured two hundred and fifty prisoners. The Confederate loss was never exactly known by that side, and the Federal statements could not be disputed. The Federal loss was and is a matter of official record. Among the Shelby County Confederates killed were Timothy Hayes, of Patton's company, formerly Clement's; John Richardson, of the same company, was mortally wounded and died a day or two later. A number were wounded. The fight began at 11 a. m., and lasted about five hours. During the engagement a lady resident of Kirksville, a Mrs. Cutts, was shot by a stray bullet and mortally wounded. She was just coming up from the cellar when she was struck."

There is a difference of opinion among the survivors of Porter's and Franklin's men as to which was responsible for the selection of the town as the battle-field. The weight of the testimony submitted places it upon Colonel Porter. There is a doubt as to any recollection being based upon positive knowledge. Colonel Porter was the most audacious of men, but he was likewise exceedingly prudent and cautious, and at all times careful about the safety of his men. The History of Lewis County says that "in reaching a determination to march westward-" Colonel Porter was aided greatly by the counsel of Colonel Franklin. But for the latter it is quite probable that the battle would have been fought either a~ Short's well, in the Fabius bottom, or somewhere in the woods of Knox or Adair." It goes on to say that "Porter did not wish to fight. Not that he lacked bravery or personal courage, but because he possessed that discretion which was the better part of valor. He knew that his own force largely outnumbered the pursuing Federals, but the greater number of his men were raw recruits, and many of them were unarmed. He had not a single piece of cannon, while McNeil had five. He had only about five hundred men whom he :could depend upon, while

every man of McNeil's was a disciplined soldier."

Colonel Porter did not have any such number that he could depend upon in the sense of the writer above quoted.. He had less than a hundred and fifty of the "old guard." These were mostly boys below the age of normal physical strength, but they slept in the saddle, laughed at hunger and thirst, and laughed at the scorching sun and drenching rain and laughed at raging torrent and thorny bramble and, more than all, laughed at battle. With a very few exceptions, who had seen previous service, these knew nothing of the drillmaster's secrets, because every moment must be given to matters of more importance, but they had the brightness of the pearl absorbed from the wearer, and their interpretation of the mind of their leader supplied, in large degree, their want of knowledge of the tactics. There were others--perhaps enough to make the aggregate five hundred- just as well armed and mounted, just as brave and just as pliant to the demands of the hour, but they lacked the experience. No quality of the soldier can equal the discipline of the drill. What Colonel Porter accomplished

with his opportunities places him among the most capable commanders of the war. Following is the official report of Colonel McNeil:

HEADQUARTERS McNEIL'S COLUMN,

PALMYRA, September, 17, 1862.

MAJOR:

I have the honor to send you herewith report of lieutenant-Colonel Shaffer, commanding Merrill's Horse, and of Major Caldwell, commanding detachment of Third Iowa Cavalry, and of Major Benjamin, commanding detachment of the Eleventh Cavalry, Missouri State Militia, of their operations in the action of August 6, 1862, between the force under my command and the army under the guerrilla chief, Joseph C. Porter. I also append as brief a narrative of the events of the march and engagement as I deem their importance to allow, with such mention of the conduct of individuals as their merits justly entitle them to.

My command was composed of a detachment of the Merrill Horse, under Lieutenant-Colonel Shaffer, of fourteen officers and three hundred and twenty men; detachment of Second Cavalry, Missouri State Militia, under command of Captains McClanahan and Edwards, five officers and one hundred and seventeen men; detachment of Eleventh Cavalry, Missouri State Militia, Major Benjamin, three hundred and twenty men; the command of Major Caldwell, Third Iowa Volunteers, composed of detachments of his own regiment, the Ninth Cavalry, Missouri State Militia, and Red Rovers, Missouri State Militia; detachment of the First Cavalry, Missouri State Militia, under Major Cox, five officers and one hundred and thirty-two men; section of Third Indiana Battery, Lieutenant Armington; section of steel two-pounder battery, Lieutenant McLaren; Sergeant West, with a twelve-pounder howitzer, Second Missouri

State Militia; making an aggregate of officers and ---men.

The train guard and those required to hold and guard horses while combatants dismounted for action, the support of the artillery and reserve deducted, left us about five hundred men with which to engage the enemy. The pursuit which had preceded and led to this action had been long and arduous, and most of the troops engaged had been constantly on the march since the middle of July. I had hung on the trail of the enemy from the time I struck it on the 29th of July. Beginning the chase with one hundred and twenty men and a twelve-pounder howitzer, with which I marched from Palmyra on July 29, augmented at Clinton, in Monroe County, by Major Cox with one hundred and sixty men and two small steel guns, I marched

to Paris at night, expecting to find Porter in that place, as he had sacked it that evening. Finding that he had moved to the Elk Fork of the Salt River, we prepared to attack him. there, when suddenly he made a feint of an attack on us in Paris. This kept my men on the qui vive all day, our skirmishers driving the attacking party in every direction. But finding that this feint was only to cover his retreat across the railroad, and that he had broken up his camp at noon, we marched in pursuit all the next night, arriving at Hunnewell at 5 o'clock next morning. We

moved as soon as possible after resting our men and horses, worn-out with forty-eight hours' constant pursuit, camping that night at 10 o'clock at a farm four miles east of Shelbyville.

Hearing during the night that Porter had taken Newark the evening before, we marched next morning far Bethel, where we were joined by Major Benjamin, of the Eleventh Missouri, State Militia, with eighty men, making our entire force three hundred and sixty men. With this small force we pushed on to Newark, expecting to find it occupied by Porter with his· entire force of two thousand men. Our advance guard entered one side of the town while the retreating enemy's rear was still in sight from the other. Such pursuit was made as the worn-out  condition of our men and horses and the character of the country made prudent against so numerous an enemy.

We marched at 12 m. next day and continued pursuit of the enemy over a most difficult country, following his devious and eccentric windings through brake and bottom and across fields, often where no wheel had ever turned before. He had destroyed bridges and obstructed fords by felling trees. Notwithstanding this, we kept well up with him, driving in his pickets, beating up his camps, and left many of his men prone upon the track. We came up with him at Kirksville about 10 o'clock Wednesday morning, August 6, and learning that he had expelled the people from the town, concluded that he would occupy the houses and defend the place. Kirksville is situated on a prairie ridge, surrounded completely by timber and corn fields, with open ground on the northeast, from which direction we approached. The advance guard, comprising detachments of the Second and Eleventh Missouri, state Militia, under Major Benjamin, had been gallantly pushed forward, and held the northeastern approach of the town long in advance of the arrival of the main column and artillery.

Upon information that the enemy held the town everything was hurried up without regard for horse-flesh, leaving the train to take care of the rear guard. I deployed columns on the northern and eastern faces of the town, the ground on the northeast being highly favorable for attack. Lieutenant-Colonel Shaffer was put in command of the right wing, composed of the Merrill Horse, under Major Clopper; detachments of Second and Eleventh Cavalry, Missouri State :Militia, under Major Benjamin, and the section of the battery of the Third Indiana Artillery, under Lieutenant Armington. The left wing was put in charge of Major Caldwell, of the Third Iowa Volunteers, and was composed of his own command, as stated above, and the detachment of the First Cavalry, Missouri Volunteers, under Major Cox. A section of a steel battery of two-pounder howitzer, in charge of Sergeant West and ten men of company C,

Second Missouri, State Militia, acted, as did the Indiana artillery, by my order, under the direction of Captain Barr, of the Merrill Horse.

These dispositions having been rapidly made I concluded to ascertain the position ()f the enemy, as nothing could be seen or heard of him, except one man in the cupola of the court-house who retired at the bidding of a Sharp's rifle; and 81 rifle-shot from a house at an officer who appeared too curious about what was going on in town. For this reason I called for an officer and squad. who should charge into the town. Lieutenant Cowdrey, of the Merrill Horse, with eight men, did the business most gallantly-dashing at the northeast corner of the town where he drew a most terrible fire from houses and gardens on all sides. He dashed around the square, coming out at the other corner, with small loss, considering the nature of the perilous errand. The enemy discovered, the attack commenced.

The artillery opened, throwing shot and shell into the corn fields, gardens and houses where the enemy were ensconced. The dismounted men were thrown forward to sei.re the outer line of sheds and houses on the northern and eastern sides of the town. This was gallantly done by the commands of Major Benjamin and Lieutenant Piper, of Merrill's Horse; the detachment of Ninth Missouri, State Militia, under Captain Leonard; the Red Rovers, under Captain Rice, and the detachment of the Third Iowa. Major Cox, with his detachment, occupied and skirmished through a corn field on the southeast of the town, driving a large body of the enemy out and pursuing them with effect. The advance was steadily made, house after house being taken, the occupants killed or surrendering.

In this work we lost the most of our men that were killed or wounded-including Captain Mayne, of the Third Iowa, who fell at the head of his command, leading them up as only a brave soldier can. A simultaneous charge of both wings now carried the town and court-house; but still the western line of houses and corn fields were defended with energy, our lines receiving a galling fire; but the right wing, gallantly led by Lieutenant-Colonel Shaffer and Major Benjamin, made short work of this part of the field, while the left wing took full possession of the southern line of the town.

The pursuit was continued through woods to the west of the town, where large quantities of horses, arms, clothing and camp equipage were found, and the entire. brush skirmished. :Major Clopper was ordered, with a body of the Merrill Horse, to pursue the flying foe, which he did until he was convinced that they had crossed the Chariton, when he returned to camp. Further pursuit for the day, however desirable, was almost impossible in our condition. The men had for the most part nothing to eat for two days and the horses were almost entirely used up. The enemy had been numerous, and we were still unadvised whether he had crossed the river in mass or whether part of his force had not fallen back to the northwest, from which point they might fall on our rear.

We went into camp, taking measures for the collection of forage and subsistence and putting our men and horses in condition for pursuit. I had several days previously detached Lieutenant-Colonel :Morsey, with four hundred and twenty men of the Tenth Cavalry, Missouri State Militia, and Major Rogers, with the Second Battalion, Eleventh Regiment Cavalry, Missouri State Militia, to move north, outflank the enemy and prevent his getting into Scotland or Schuyler Counties; and have the best reason to believe it was the proximity of this force, of which Porter was well advised, that obliged him to make a stand at Kirksville. This command came into camp next day, swelling our force to nearly seventeen hundred men, without any but the precarious means of subsistence left in a country that had been desolated by the passage of an army of nearly three thousand men.

Happily, on the morning of the 8th, Lieutenant Hiller arrived from Palmyra, by the way of Edina, with eight thousand rations and a timely supply of horseshoes. The address and boldness of Lieutenant Hiller in moving with a guard of but forty men, and four days, is worthy of the highest commendation. It is an instance of devotion to duty that I would respectfully call to the attention of the commanding general as worthy of reward.

On the morning of the 9th we moved, on information from headquarters, toward Stockton, hoping to cut the enemy off from the road; but hearing at Bloomington that Colonel McFerran's forces had met and dispersed the remainder of Porter's army, we marched to the railroad. I here directed such disposition of the different commands as I considered efficient to prevent their crossing the road: to rally again in Monroe County.

Our loss in the engagement at Kirksville will be found by the surgeon's report to be five killed and thirty-two wounded. That of the enemy may be stated without any' exaggeration at one hundred and fifty killed and between thr.ee hundred and four hundred wounded and forty-seven prisoners. Finding that fifteen of the persons captured had been prisoners before, and, upon their own admission, had been discharged on their solemn oath and parole of honor not again to take arms against their country under penalty of death, I enforced the penalty of the bond by ordering them shot. Most of these guerrillas have certificates of parole from some provost-marshal or post commandant with them, for use at any time they may be out of camp. These paltering tokens of pocket loyalty were found on the persons of nearly all the men so executed. Disposed that an evidence of clemency and mercy of the country toward the

erring and misguided should go hand in hand with unrelenting justice, I discharged on parole all the prisoners who had not violated parole and who were in arms for the first time against their country and Government. I cannot close this report without commending the conduct of the officers and men under my command. Each corps seemed to vie with the other in the noble competition of duty. Brave men fell, and we mourn their loss. But as brave men live to receive the' thanks of their country for gallantry and good conduct in the face of a vastly outnumbering enemy, I would beg leave to mention my immediate attendants~ Lieut. Alexander McFarlane, acting assistant adjutant-general, and Capt. H. Clay Gentry, Eleventh Regiment. The first was wounded early in the action and .carried to the rear, but not until he had given evidence of coolness and courage that promise well for him wherever he shall meet the enemy. Captain Gentry continued throughout the action to carry my orders to all parts of the field and through heavy lines of fire without apparently losing a moment to think of himself. His bravery is worthy the name he bears.

Lieutenant-Colonel Shaffer and Majors Clopper, Benjamin, Caldwell, and Cox, each did their duty like brave officers, and especially would I mention Lieutenant-Colonel Shaffer and Major Benjamin as having shown distinguished gallantry and a faithful discharge of duty while under a galling fire of the enemy in entering the town. To Captain Barr, of the Merrill Horse, I am indebted for directing the fITe of the section of the Third Indiana Battery. His services were truly valuable, and I found him. there, as I have found him everywhere, the best of soldiers and the most modest of gentlemen. The noncommissioned officers and men of this battery behaved in a way which even' Indiana, who has so much to be proud of in this war, may applaud.

Captain Rice, commanding that gallant little company, the Red Rovers, demeaned himself like a true soldier, remaining on the field during the entire action after having received a severe wound in the face. Lieutenant McLaren, of the Election of steel battery, gave them "grape" in good style; and Sergeant West did good execution with the howitzer until the axle broke, rendering it useless for the rest of the day. Captains Leonard and Garth, of the Ninth Missouri, and Captains McClanahan and Edwards of the Second, and Lieutenant Donahoo, of the

Eleventh Regiment, came under my immediate notice as acting with soldierly bearing and gallantry, as did lieutenant Piper, of the Merrill Horse, who led the first attack to seize the houses, under a deadly fire, and did the work like a true soldier.

I might be deemed partial or extravagant if I were to attempt the expression of the admiration I feel for my young friend Lieutenant Cowdrey, of the Merrill Horse, for his gallant dash into the town to discover the enemy. It well entitles him to official notice, and when promotion comes to him it will fall on a capable officer-one proud of the service and devoted to duty. There were other instances of individual bravery that came under my notice which I would be glad to mention, but the limits of this report deprive me of the privilege.

The full effect and importance of our action in this pursuit and engagement will be better estimated by those who shall hereafter chronicle the events of the time than by the actors. But I think events will prove that it will have broken up recruiting for the rebel Government in Northern Missouri under the guerrilla flag, and if vigorously followed up by a prompt application of force, with unrelenting and prompt execution of military justice, Northeast Missouri will hereafter refer to that day as a point in her history. Justice to those who did their whole duty would not be done should I omit to mention Dr. Lyon, surgeon of the Second Regiment, and Dr. Trader, assistant surgeon of the First Missouri. I inclose herewith Surgeon Lyon's report of killed and wounded. This report has long been delayed, in consequence of my continued occupation in the field since the date of the action, rendering it impossible for me to attend to any

clerical duty. I have the honor to be, your obedient servant,

John McNeil,

Colonel, Commanding Expedition.

George M. Houston,

Major and Assistant Adjutant-General.

CHAPTER XXII

"MAY GOD FORGIVE YOU THIS COLDBLOODED MURDER"

In the first years of his mature manhood and with these words addressed to his executioners one of the bravest, purest, gentlest, most conscientious men that ever lived surrendered his life for his convictions of duty. The manner in which Lieutenant-Colonel Frisby Henderson McCullough met death in the afternoon of Friday, August 8, 1862, was worthy of his record and worthy of the cause he had espoused.

Almost immediately after the battle of Kirksville Colonel McCullough became so ill that he could not keep up with the command. Colonel Porter detailed two men to go with him to a place of safety where after recovering he could continue the work of recruiting in which he had been so successful. He declined this escort saying that in his present condition, which he thought would soon improve, it would be difficult to evade the vigilance of the Federals j that the presence of the escort would increase the risk, and that he could not consent to endanger the life of anyone for himself. He must have traveled the greater part of the night notwithstanding being alone and sick. By next day he had gone some eighteen miles eastward to a point eight miles northwest of Edina, and here in a little grove he lay down for rest and sleep. A man seeing him lying on the ground in a Confederate uniform reported to the militia. It is given in other authorities that a squad of militia searching for stragglers saw him enter the bush and one of them, a man named Holmes, volunteered to go in the wood and found him at bay.

The account here given is that obtained from his sister, Mrs. J. W. Moore, of La Belle, Lewis County, and it differs slightly from that of the History of Knox County and of the Palmyra Courier of that date. The militia rushed in and demanded his surrender. He, seeing resistance was useless against such odds, answered that he would surrender on the condition that he should be treated as a prisoner of war. The promise was given and in consequence he surrendered.

The History of Knox County, page 699, says: "Elated at the capture of so important a personage, the militia bore McCullough in! something of triumph to Edina and turned him over to Captain Lewis Sells, then in command of the post. The cry ran through the town, "Fris McCullough is taken! Fris McCullough is taken!' and the citizens flocked to the court-house where he was held to see him. The prisoner was of large and athletic build. He wore a new and handsome gray uniform, and so arrayed, and bearing himself with his natural dignity, looked every inch the soldier and sir knight. His calm and gentlemanly deportment, added to his apparent modest heroism, called forth many expressions of admiration and actual sympathy. Had his fate been left to the disposition of even the stanchest Unionist of this county, he might have been alive today. Soon there  came to Edina, McNeil's supply train, under  Quartermaster Hiller, en route for Kirksville. Its small escort was commanded by Captain. James S. Best, who treated him with proper consideration. He rode with him, talked freely with

him and delivered him without a thought of the melancholy fate which was so shortly to befall him."

At Edina Colonel McCullough requested that he be sent to Palmyra instead of Kirksville. It is not known why his request was not granted. The most charitable supposition is that it was more convenient to send him to Kirksville.

The History of Knox County, which is not very fair to the Confederate side, says that Captain Best treated his prisoner kindly and delivered him without a thought of the fate in store for him. This is probably true. b can only be inferred why Colonel McCullough preferred Palmyra to Kirksville. He may not have known of the executions at Kirksville the previous day, but he well knew the bloodthirstiness which continually cried out "Give them no quarter," "Shoot them down," "Exterminate them," and it is probable that he foresaw his doom and thought that

at Palmyra he might have an opportunity to look once more upon the faces of his wife and babes.

The Palmyra Courier in! its issue of August 15, following the execution, says "The news of the capture of this famous guerrilla excited the utmost enthusiasm among our troops." How this enthusiasm was manifested is told by Colonel McCullough's sister: "The army was drunk and mad after their bloody deed of killing those prisoners. There was a friend of our family in Kirksville at the time, Mr. Thomas Welch, who told us how they treated him. They led him on his horse up and down the streets and, he said, if all the demons in hell had been turned loose there would not have been a greater uproar."

(*To the common cruelty to the prisoners of the militia was frequently added the buffoonery of savagism when the victim possessed refinement or prominence. A detachment of Krekel's regiment arrested Major Harrison Anderson, a prominent and prosperous farmer and merchant of Chain of Rocks, Lincoln County, and took him to O'Fallon. He was a peaceable, quiet and very charitable man, but his brother-in-law, a lieutenant in the Confederate army, was killed in the battle of Corinth. Everything to humiliate the major that they could think of was done, and finally they ordered him to mount a large packing-box and cry out: "Hurrah for Lincoln." He objected that if he did so he would act the hypocrite. They told him to take his choice, that or death. He was still reluctant, but they lifted him on the box and, prodding him with bayonets, ordered him to halloo loudly and quickly. The major's voice was naturally husky and low, and the situation was not calculated to make it any clearer. With a great effort he got out the first word loud enough to be heard three feet away, but the other two were inaudible. Imprecations and oaths and the cocking of muskets made the second attempt not different from the first. The major stopped a moment then and with the composure that expected instant death said: "I cannot say it." He was finally bonded to give no aid to the Confederate Government and allowed to return home.)

The History of Lewis County says: "Here he was charged with being a guerrilla and an outlaw. It was said he had no commission as an officer, but was fighting on his own responsibility and without authority, and was therefore a guerrilla, purely and simply. It was charged further that he was engaged in recruiting for the Confederate service inside the Union lines, and had 'duped men into entering the rebel army in violation of their paroles.' A few of the paroled prisoners asserted that they were persuaded by McCullough to join Porter. A drum-head court-martial, presided over by Lieutenant-Colonel W. F. Shaffer, of Merrill's Horse, tried and, convicted him of these charges, and sentenced him to be shot, and his trial, conviction, sentence and execution all happened the same day of his arrival at Kirksville, Friday, August 8, 1862.

To the court-martial he had claimed that he was a Confederate officer with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel; but admitted that the latter title had been given him only a few days previously at Short's Well, where he was elected second in command of a regimental organization of which Cyrus Franklin was chosen colonel. He had been a lieutenant-colonel in the Missouri State Guard, but his term of service in that army had long before expired. The fate of the young Confederate leader excited considerable sympathy among the Federals present. The officer who brought the sentence to him was moved to tears. McCullough himself was cool and collected. Leaning against a fence he wrote a few lines to his wife, and these, with

his watch and one or two other articles, he delivered to an officer to be given her, with assurance of his devoted affection in the hour of death. Upon the way to the place

(The histories of Lewis, Knox and Scotland Counties and of many other counties in Missouri were written by Mr. R. J. Holcombe. He was employed by a Chicago publishing company. About thirty years ago I gave him my recollections of a certain point in controversy about the battle of Wilson's Creek, for his history of Greene County. He was a conscientious historian, but his sympathies against our side will crop out here and there.)

of his execution he requested the privilege of giving the order to fire, which was granted to him. All being ready, he stood bravely up, and without a tremor in his manly frame or a quiver in his clarion voice, he called out, 'What I have done, I have done as a principle of right. Aim at the heart. Fire!"

His body was given to friends in Kirksville, who buried it there, but it was afterwards removed to and reinterred at Asbury Chapel, Lewis County. Colonel McCullough had long been a resident of Marion County. He was a good citizen, a high-minded gentleman, of fine presence, brave as a, lion, gentle as a woman. Even in his death the strongest Unionists who knew him respected and admired his virtues and entertained the most bitter regrets that what they considered his misconceptions of duty had led him to his fearful fate. At the time of his death

he was thirty-three years of age." In a foot note on the same page is this: "In a communication to the writer, General McNeil says: 'Colonel McCullough was tried by a commission of which Lieutenant-Colonel Shaffer was president, under Order No. 2, of General Halleck, and Nos. 8 and 18, of General Schofield. He had no commission except a printed paper authorizing "the bearer" to recruit for the Confederate army. He was found guilty of bushwhacking, or of being a guerrilla. He was a brave fellow, and a splendid specimen of manhood. I would have gladly spared him had duty permitted. As it was, he suffered the fate that would have fallen to you or me if we had been found recruiting inside the Confederate lines. He met a soldier's death. as became a soldier.' " After protesting against his execution Colonel McCullough asked to be allowed to write to his wife. He was told that his death would be delayed fifteen minutes for that purpose. Leaning against the fence, with paper resting on his knee, he wrote with a steady hand, "My darling Eloise, may God be with you 'till we meet in a better world." He was then taken a short distance west of town and shot.

Out of the volley he received one wound-in the breast and fell limp to the ground. Asking his executioners to straighten his leg from under him he made for them the prayer quoted at the beginning of this chapter. The printed accounts, all written to mitigate as much as possible the horror of the deed, quote him as saying: "I forgive you for this barbarous act."

Colonel McCullough was an unselfish man and a devout Christian. It was conformable to his character that his last words should be a prayer for mercy for those who were taking his life and which included his own forgiveness. His friends say the soldiers dispatched him with their revolvers; the other accounts say they reloaded and emptied their muskets. The difference is immaterial.

The then editor of the Palmyra Courier, whose thirst for rebel blood may be appeased at this late day and in a habitation remote from these scenes (but it never was during the war), has this to say of him: "Colonel McCullough was a resident of Marion County. We have known him personally since he was a boy. He was ever, as a Citizen, a high-toned gentleman-really a noble specimen of a man. Brave as a lion, no danger could intimidate him. We doubt whether the rebel ranks contain a more honorable man than he was. Yet his judgment led him to

commit the fatal error of taking up arms against his country. He has been one of the most active and vigilant rebels in the Northeast Missouri. Honorable as he was, however, as a gentleman, he justly merited the fate he received, as a rebel, in unlawful and barbarous warfare against the authorities of the land. Had he engaged in the service of his country with the zeal he evinced against it, he would

('J. Rice Winchell holds, or did hold a few months ago, the position of treasurer In the office of Collector of Customs, port of New Haven, Connecticut.)

doubtless have arisen to a high position of honor and renown he was capable of great attainments, but unfortunately threw his opportunities away. Even in his death we respect and admire his virtues, and entertain a bitter regret that his misconception of duty led him to a fearful fate."

Of his personal history his sister writes, under date of October 12, 1908: "My brother was born on a farm in New Castle County, Delaware, March 8, 1828. :My father's name was James McCullough. My mother's name was Delia Pennington; she died in 1849, a short time before my brothers started to California. There were seven children in our family, four boys and three girls; brother Frisby was the fifth child. My father settled in the northern part of :Marion County in 1840. When he came to Missouri he was a slaveholder, of which I am not ashamed, for he was a kind master. His slaves loved him and never left him until he told them they would have to go as he could not take care of them any longer. He inherited his slaves.

My brother was also a farmer. In 1849, with two older brothers, he went to California with teams of oxen. He stayed there five years and coming back bought a drove of horses and took them across the plains to that country, returning home to stay. He was married a few years before the war to Eloise Randolph, of a Maryland family, who died about two years ago. When the war came on, his sympathies being with the South, he left his farm and enlisted on that side. He went South as a captain with General Green and was in the battle of Lexington, where

he proved himself a brave soldier. I do not remember how far he went South with the army, but he was sent back by General Price to recruit for the army. I cannot remember the month he returned to North Missouri, but he came back with Captain Jim Porter in the Spring of 1862, the

(The Idea of a man of Colonel McCullough's character touching elbows with John McNeil, John F. Benjamin and Ben Loan!)

same year he was killed. I saw his commission, though they said when they murdered him that they did it because he was a bushwhacker, when bushwhacking was something he never allowed his men to do. He was always opposed to fighting in North Missouri, as he said it only caused trouble (which proved to be true) and accomplished nothing; but he was overruled by Colonel Porter, who insisted on fighting in this State. I remember my brother had made all arrangements to go- into Palmyra, take the prisoners out of the jail, which was :filled at that time with Confederate soldiers, and go South with them. Colonel Porter opposed the undertaking and, being the superior officer, his view obtained. My brother was much respected by everybody, friends and enemies, who knew him. His son bears his name and is a prominent attorney of Edina, Knox County. I am sorry the picture I send you is such a poor one, but it

is the beat we have. I wish it looked like him when last I saw him. When Frisby was elected captain in Colonel Green's regiment, William was elected first lieutenant; he was my youngest brother, Frisby being next older. William was killed at the battle of Corinth, :Mississippi, October 4, 1862."

Colonel McCullough came to our command only once while we were with Porter, and remained in camp about one hour. I was introduced to him by Colonel Porter. He was a man of striking and most pleasing appearance. His face, his bearing, his conversation, mirrored the qualities of mind and heart described in the generous tributes of his enemies. It was generally understood that he was to be our lieutenant-colonel, although he was not in active service with us, because his services in the recruiting field were too valuable. If the statement that he was elected lieutenant-colonel of Franklin's regiment is correct, it does not conflict with the understanding that he was to have the same office in our regiment. It only meant that after both regiments, or either of them, became fully organized Colonel McCullough could take his choice of positions. The fact was that at the time of his execution he was an officer of the Missouri State Guard. This was a six months' service, but the terms of commissioned officers did not expire, nor had the organization itself been merged into the regular Confederate

army. Governor Jackson on September 14, 1862, says the report of Colonel Waldo P. Johnson to General Price, War of the Rebellion, Series I, Volume 13, page 880, "made .an order turning over all the State Guards now in Missouri to the Confederate States, requiring them to report to me; withdrawing from all persons all power to recruit in future for the Missouri State Guard. I have not seen General Parsons, but arrangements are on foot to turn his entire command over to the Confederate States service, and I think it will be successful, as Governor Jackson, General Hindman, and General Parsons are all trying to effect it in a manner satisfactory to the men."

The news of the execution reaching General Thomas A. Harris, then a member of the Confederate Congress and, the year previous, the commander of the brigade to which Colonel McCullough belonged, he sent the following communication to Hon. G. W. Randolph, Secretary of War, which was also signed by Hons. G. G. Vest, A. H. Conrow, and T. W. Freeman, members of the Confederate Congress from Missouri: "SIR: Inclosed herewith please find an elaborate account extracted from the local papers in Missouri and the Northern press of the the execution of Colonel Frisby H. McCullough, of the Second Division, Missouri State Guard, and sixteen privates near the town of Kirksville, in Adair County, Missouri, by the United States authorities under the command of Colonel John McNeil. The frequent recurrence

(War of the Rebellion. Series II. Volume 4. page 886.)

of the flagrant outrages upon the people of Missouri, and especially upon the officers of this Government assigned to duty in that State, is becoming exceedingly disheartening to our people and calls aloud for retaliation. The papers herewith inclosed fully establish the high moral, social and official standing of Colonel McCullough, and I have to urge that you bring the subject to the; attention of the Executive in order that by summary retaliation a stop may be .put to these outrages upon humanity and civilization."

WAR DEPARTMENT,

RICHMOND, October 8, 1862.

ROBERT OULD, ESQ., Agent, etc.

SIR : Your attention is asked to the inclosed copy of a letter from Colonel J. O. Porter, and you are respectfully requested to inform the agent of the United States Government in the strongest language that if this warfare be continued we shall set apart prisoners by lot for retaliation. Such atrocities cannot and will not be endorsed.

Your obedient servant,

GEO. W. RANDOLPH,

Secretary of War.

The copy of Colonel Porter's letter is not recorded. Colonel Vest wrote to General Price, concerning the matter and received this reply.

HEADQUARTERS SECOND CORPS,

GRENADA, January 4, 1863.

RON. G. G. VEST, Member of Congress.

SIR: General Price directs me to acknowledge the reception of your communication of the 30th ultimo in relation to the murder of Colonel Frisby H. McCullough by the Federal authorities in Northern Missouri, and to state

'War of the Rebellion, Series II. Volume 4, page 912.

"War of the Rebellion, Series II, Volume 5, page 804.

in reply that the general is under the impression that Colonel McCullough obtained recruiting authority from him at Springfield, last winter. 'He does not know whether Colonel McCullough organized troops under his authority or not. Your communication has been referred to Adjutant General Hough, to whom all the books, etc., pertaining to the Missouri State Guard were delivered with the request that he will furnish to you a cop~ of the recruiting authority given to Colonel McCullough. The general further directs me to say that he will cordially cooperate with you in any endeavor that you make to prevent the murder of citizens and soldiers of Missouri.

JAMES M. LOUGHBOROUGH.

These official communications settle the military status of Colonel McCullough. General McNeil says (1887) that ''he was found guilty of bushwhacking or of being a guerrilla," and he adds, "as it was, he suffered the fate that would have fallen to you or me if we had been found recruiting inside the Confederate lines."

No record of the military commission can be found. The History of Lewis County says he was tried by a court martial. Colonel McCullough was not triable by a court martial but by a military commission. There is the word of General McNeil that a commission was held, and he distinctly states that the victim was found guilty of bushwhacking or of being a guerrilla-no other charge, or if any other charge was laid it did not appear in the finding. The charge was false; the records say so, the facts say so. Colonel McCullough was in no battle and took part in no offensive movement against the enemy in North Missouri except at Kirksville, and there was nothing in that engagement to warrant the charge of bushwhacking against any participant.

There remains only the intimation that recruiting inside the Federal lines merited death without a trial. I know nothing of military: law and cannot have an opinion as to the correctness of that contention, but there are some facts that seem to me to have a bearing upon it. The State of Missouri was a member of the Confederacy. Its area was Confederate territory, and Confederate recruiting officers and the recruiting officers of the State organization rendering allegiance to the Confederate Government had a right there. Under an act of the General Assembly of the State of Missouri, approved October 31, 1861, "declaring the political ties heretofore existing between the State of Missouri and the United States of America dissolved," and certified to by B. F. Massey, Secretary of State, the Congress of the Confederate States of America enacted "That the State of Missouri be and is hereby admitted as a member

of the Confederate States of America, upon an equal footing with the other states of the Confederacy, under the Constitution of the Provisional Government of the same," approved November 28, 1861.1 The United States Government recognized the Confederate Government as de facto and accorded to it all the rights of belligerents, and this recognition applied to Missouri as well as the other Confederate states. There were a number of Federal regiments and independent companies recruited in Confederate states and practically inside of Confederate lines. A number of these were captured at various times. The Confederate Government never executed one on account of recruiting inside their lines.

I can find no mention of the court which sentenced Colonel McCullough to death in the published Government records. The Federal troops at Kirksville were Missouri State Militia, and the proceedings of courts-martial and of military commissions should be on file in the office of the

(War of the Rebellion, Series I, Volume 53, page 758.)

adjutant-general at Jefferson City. My inquiry there brought this reply, dated June 20, 1908: "DEAR Sir: I am in receipt of your letter asking information of certain events of Missouri history that occurred during the Civil War. I cannot find among the records of Colonel McNeil's regiment any answer to the questions by you. I would suggest that you refer to Switzler's History of Missouri, and examine the records of the Rebellion covering that period. Rebellion Record is a government publication, and you doubtless have access to it.

"Very respectfully,

U JAMES A. DEARMOND,

"Adjutant-General."

If there was really a court-martial its character and the amount and value of the testimony brought before it may be judged by the time between the arrival of Colonel McCullough at Kirksville and his execution, and the fact that the greater part of it was consumed in parading him in the streets as a show. Colonel Shaffer is dead and cannot defend himself, but I do not believe he would have presided over such a court and have approved its finding. With some personal knowledge of McNeil, before and after the war, I would not believe his word in anything. In his official report of the battle of Kirksville he says: "Finding that fifteen of the persons captured had been prisoners before and, upon their own admission, had been discharged on their solemn oath and parole of honor not again to take up arms against their country under penalty of death, I enforced the penalty of the bond by ordering them to be

shot." Note that in this report there is no mention of Colonel McCullough's execution and no mention of any court-martial. Note the words "I enforced the penalty of the bond."

If there was a military commission it was not conducted according to the "Rules and Articles of War." General Halleck to General Pope, December 31, 1861, says: "I send herewith the proceedings of a military commission ordered by Colonel Deitzler, First Kansas Regiment, for the trial of certain prisoners at Tipton, Mo., within the limits of your command.

"In the first place, a: military commission can be ordered only by the General-in-Chief of the Army or by a General commanding a department, consequently all the proceedings of the commission ordered by Colonel Deitzler are null and void. The prisoners are therefore in precisely the same position as if no trial had taken place.

"In. the second place, military commissions should, as a general rule, be resorted to only for cases which cannot be tried by a court-martial or by a proper civil tribunal.

They are in other words, tribunals of necessity, organized for the investigation and punishment of offenses which would otherwise go unpunished. Their proceedings should be regulated by the rules governing courts-martial, so far as they may be applicable, and the evidence should in all cases be fully recorded."

(War of the Rebellion, Series I, Volume 8, page 822.)

On the following day General Halleck issued General Orders No. 1, setting forth in detail what offenses, relating to war, should be tried by court-martial, what by military commission and what by civil tribunal and describing how courts-martial and military commissions should be conducted. Trial or no trial, these executions were the result of the bloodthirstiness of that day created by the rabid press of the State for political purposes and stimulated by frequent orders of which this from Major-General Samuel R. Curtis, at St. Louis, to Brigadier-General Ben Loan, at Jefferson City, is a sample. Speaking of the rebels he says:

"So far as they are concerned a reign of terror is the proper check to them, and it would be well to make them understand they will have no sympathy at your hands."

Speaking of Porter's men, "they deserve no quarter; no terms of civilized warfare. Pursue, strike and destroy the reptiles and report to these headquarters as often as possible."

(War of the Rebellion, Series I, Volume 13, page 688.)

The Missouri Democrat, June 14, 1862, under the heading, "The Right Way and the Safe Way," said editorially,

"Eight bushwhackers were shot about three miles from Lexington, on Sunday last, under the orders of Colonel Huston, of the M. S. M. There were ten of the party, and eight of them found their rights on the spot. Two escaped. "Colonel Huston, we are informed, has given the general order that all guerrillas taken lurking or ambushing with arms in their hands be shot by the capturing party. Under this very proper order the eight were shot."

Six days later it said: "We learn that the well-known secession sheet, the "Leavenworth Inquirer," has been suppressed, and all parties concerned in the publication are secure in the calaboose. Toleration to treasonable sheets of the kind in the North has been carried quite too far. There is another Inquirer of wider circulation and influence that should be shut up/'

On the 27th of the same month it said: "Let those who contemplate guerrilla resistance to its (the Federal Government's power look for guerrilla hangings and shootings with short shrift."

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