USA > Missouri > Linn County > Compendium of history and biography of Linn County, Missouri > Part 9
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Upon the appearance of the bushwhackers in the place the alarm was given, and there was great excitement and commotion. Several shots were fired; someone shouted "Fire!" others cried "Robbers!" and some made as little noise as possible. The bushwhackers first made a descent upon the store of Messrs. Brownlee, Trumbo & Dillon. They ascertained that Dr. Dillon had the key to the store safe (in which was a considerable sum of money) and so some of them went to the doctor's residence after it. The doctor became suspicious and alarmed when his visitors knocked on the door and slipped out the back way to avoid and escape them. Just as he was climbing the fence at the rear of his premises the bushwhackers discovered him and fired upon him, one revolver ball striking him on the head, glancing off, but knocking him down. Presuming they had killed him, the bushwhackers returned to the square.
Meantime Judge Jacob Smith, then judge of this circuit, had secured a musket belonging to a company of "exempts" of the place, of which he was captain, and was on the lookout for the marauders. He was seated on a woodpile in front of a house that stood about where the residence of Mr. Colgan now stands, near the northeast corner of the square, and a little west of the railroad track. Along came John Lane, mounted on the judge's horse and riding eastward. Smith raised his musket, fired, and mortally wounded Lane, the charge of buckshot striking him in the leg and severing or penetrating the femoral artery; one or two shot also struck the horse, and it galloped away. Smith immediately started for the courthouse, where some of the arms belonging to the "exempts" were stored, shouting "Come on, boys; rally at the courthouse!" As he reached the courthouse fence the bushwhackers fired on him, shooting him through the bowels, and he fell. He made his way unassisted to the residence of Dr. D. I. Stephenson, who lived in the western part of Linneus, and was after- ward removed to his own house on the east side of the square, now occupied by Major Mullins as a law office and by S. D. Sandusky as his office, where he died on the eleventh, two days later.
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About the time Judge Smith was at Dr. Stephenson's, Mr. William D. Pendleton, who lived in the northeast part of town, hearing the disturbance, seized his gun and started for the public square. As he reached a point oposite the M. E. Church, two of Rider's men met him and asked him where he was going. Mr. Pendleton replied that, hearing an uncommon noise in town he had come out to investi- gate. He was taken toward the square, and a few rods south of the church Rider and some others of his followers were met. "Here's a man with a gun who is out after us; what shall we do with him?" said Pendleton's captors to their leader. "Shoot him down!" replied Rider. Pendleton started to run, but the bushwhackers put three balls into his body and he fell dead.
By this time the town was pretty well alarmed. John Lane was bleeding to death, there was no prospect of making a rich haul of plunder, and so Rider prepared to retreat. Going to a livery stable, the bushwhackers secured a horse and buggy and into the latter placed Lane, whose life-blood was ebbing fast, and started out of town, going south. At Ennis Reed's, a mile and a half from town, they stopped and got some water. At Mr. Cox's, near the line of the Hannibal & St. Joe Railroad, they again stopped, and by this time Lane was dead. Carrying his body to the door, they said to Mr. Cox: "Here's a dead bushwhacker. We have been to Linneus and killed about a dozen men. You take this man's body back there and have those fellows bury it decently, or we will come back and kill a dozen more!" Then they passed on and away to their rendezvous, which was shortly after- ward broken up by the Carroll county militia.
The citizens did not pursue Rider. Ammunition was scarce, and what arms there were in the place could not be considered effective. The condition of Judge Smith and the dead body of Pendleton engaged the attention of nearly everybody in the town for a time. Lane's body was decently buried in the Linneus cemetery. A company of the militia the next day made pursuit, but it was ineffectual.
The bushwhackers carried away a few watches (one gold), some goods, a pistol or two, and a few dollars. The loss in property by their raid was but trifling; but the loss of the lives of Judge Smith and Mr. Pendleton was irreparable. Judge Smith was a valuable man to the county and country. His death was greatly deplored throughout north-central Missouri and other parts of the state where he was well known.
It is said that a few days before Rider's raid the town was visited and thoroughly investigated by a well-dressed, handsome young lady,
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who was mounted on "a gallant steed" which she managed with great dexterity. She visited, among other places, Browne, Trumbo & Dillon's store, and took in the situation very completely before leaving. Where- from she came and whereto she went, no one in Linneus seemed to know; but it was charged that she was a spy for the bushwhackers. The same lady was seen in different parts of the country at other times.
Upon the disappearance of the bushwhackers a young man of Linneus, who had at different times enlisted in the Federal service and as often deserted, and who had been employed in a livery stable,. also disappeared; and it was charged that he, also, was an agent of Rider's raiders. Not long after he was killed in Andrew county.
Previous to this raid, bushwhackers had made occasional inva- sions of the towns, causing a reign of terror wherever they went. Sometimes they merely rode through a place, shouting and firing off their revolvers. At other times they would make the citizens hand over their ready cash and watches. Oftimes the raiders could not be identified as belonging to any particular band, but only seemed to be animated by a spirit of unrest and also by a desire to acquire other people's property without working for it. They figured as nothing in the advancement of either the northern or southern cause.
The draft was run in Missouri in 1864. Linn county had con- tributed its full quota to the Union army and also to the Southern, but affairs had become so critical that the government found it neces- sary to resort to every possible means to increase the military force. In many counties large bounties were offered for volunteers.
LACLEDE RAIDED BY BUSHWHACKERS
One of the most exciting episodes which happened at Laclede was known as the Holtzclaw raid. On Saturday, June 18, 1864, at about 4 in the afternoon, Captain Holtzclaw with between sixteen and thirty men dashed into this place from the west, entering the town between the postoffice and Clarkson's old stand. Although it was broad day- light, such was the carelessness of the citizens that the invaders rode one mile along the big road through the open prairie without being seen until they announced their presence in the town with yells most terrific. Hitching their horses at the racks, they instantly ordered the business men out of their houses and formed them with the male citizens from the country in a line on the public square, manifestly to prevent them from getting their arms or carrying information to the soldiers at Brookfield. This done, the work of plundering com- menced in the postoffice and store occupied by John F. Pershing.
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Crossing to the east portion of the town they found quite a number of citizens in Earl's hall, unarmed, except David Crowder, a dis- charged soldier, who had a revolver. Seeing the situation, one man or more with shotguns cocked and presented, he took deliberate aim from the window and mortally wounded James Nave. A comrade of Nave's instantly shot Mr. Crowder dead. At this a portion of the men came down the stairway, while others rushed out at the east window, jump- ing on top of Mrs. Earl's residence and thence to the ground. Among these was Squire John H. Jones, a good man and a lawyer of this place. He, with the rest, was halted the third time, but he continued to run, trying, as supposed, to get to his drug store, when he was shot dead on the street leading to Linneus. At this Captain Holtzclaw came up and expressed deep regret, stating that it was not his intention to hurt any one, but that his orders must be respected and obeyed. While these things were occurring two men had escaped from town, and making their way to Brookfield gave the alarm, and in the course of two hours or less a train with Federal soldiers from that place came in sight. Captain Holtzclaw, with his men, quietly withdrew south by the Bell house, sending Mr. Nave west in the Linneus hack. The soldiers made pursuit, one squad on the locomotive west after the hack ; running parallel, they fired repeated volleys at it, wounding Nave a second time and mortally wounding one of the men with him, and it was generally supposed the other was mortally wounded also.
The squad going south accomplished nothing. While Captain Holtzclaw's men were plundering the stores, he made a short speech to the citizens, in substance as follows:
He had no ill-feeling towards any Union man simply because he was such, but had visited Laclede in retaliation to outrages committed upon his friends about Keytesville. There are, he said, some Aboli- tionists in this place who ought to be executed, and that if he had to visit the place again he would lay it in ruins and deal less leniently with the people. If he heard that any of his Southern friends were abused, or his men hurt or killed, or if pursued by the citizens, he would deal with them severely, killing two for every one of his men killed.
He added: "I am well posted and know all that is going on here."
He left no list of his Southern friends, and the editor added that they didn't know there were any there if he had not told them.
The value of goods, money and stock taken by the raiders amounted to over $3,000. It is believed that Captain Holtzclaw did not intend
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to kill any one, with the possible exception of two men for whom his men made frequent calls, but neither of them was in town at the time.
He could have killed fifty men and burned the town had he been so disposed, for the whole was completely in his power. We feel certain that had Mr. Crowder not shot, and Mr. Jones halted when commanded, they would both be now alive, and this is the impression of the entire community. The raiders did not, it was thought, accom- plish all they intended, and the editor thinks the people would be to blame if they were again caught asleep after the warning they had received. Nave was considered the pilot of the band, his home having been near Meadville, and he was well acquainted in Laclede. He died next day at the house of a man named Stepp.
One instance of another kind that took place in Laclede was that of a Mr. Love, one of the citizens, when ordered out to the square dropped his pocketbook containing a couple of hundred dollars by a log in hopes of saving it. His daughter, Miss Lauretta, came out to see her father while under guard, and he told her what he had done. She was quick-witted, and knowing that she could only get it by startagem, quietly loosened her skirt as she came to the log, and seeing the pocketbook let loose of the skirt as she stepped upon the log and dropped it, of course. She blushed, of course, at such a mishap, but gathered up her skirt; but in doing so that pocketbook was found in it somehow on reaching home. This was $200 saved. She afterwards became Mrs. Cowles, of Ottumwa, Iowa.
Note .- (The above account is taken from a newspaper published in the county at that time .- Editor)
Colonel Sartain, one of Poindexter's men, who fired on the steamer White Cloud on the Missouri river, was captured and brought to Laclede, where he was tried and shot. He received his death standing, saying he knelt to no man. His body was given decent burial.
During the Civil War Laclede was a center of military operations. Just south of the railroad track, where one of the churches now stands, was the site of earthworks thrown up by Union soldiers for the defense of the town in case of attack by Confederates or to repel raids of the bushwhackers, which was known as Fort Morgan.
In the beautiful little park that now occupies the center of town can yet be seen traces of the old stockade, which was erected during the Civil War and is a stern but silent reminder of those dark and terrible days that have long since passed away.
There developed in some parts of the country a species of individ- ual known as the "bounty jumpers." Some of these enterprising char-
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acters carried on a regular business of enlisting in one place under a certain name, hurrying to the front, receiving the bounty, deserting at once upon its receipt, and reappearing in some other place under a different name, there to re-enlist and repeat the performance. Of course the risk of such a business as this was great, but as the bounty was quite large in some cases there were men who were willing to take the chances to secure it.
When the draft was run in Missouri Capt. Moses G. Roush, of Laclede, was appointed enrolling officer. He reported subject to mili- tary duty 646 men of the first class, between eighteen and forty years of age; 300 of the second class, over forty and under forty-five. This made a total of 946.
Following is a copy of a draft issued against a Randolph county man in 1864:
"Provost Marshal's Office, Eighth District of Missouri, November 16, 1864.
"To Augustine Bradshear, Salt Spring township, Randolph county, Missouri.
"Sir: You are hereby notified that you were, on the 16th day of November, 1864, legally drafted in the service of the United States for the period of one year, in accordance with the provision of the act of congress 'for enrolling and calling out the national forces, and for other purposes,' approved March 3, 1863, and the act amendatory thereof, approved February 24, 1864. You will accordingly report on the 30th of November, 1864, at the place of rendezvous in Macon, Mis- souri, or be deemed a deserter, and be subject to the penalty prescribed therefor by the rules and articles of war.
"Henry W. Hollingsworth, captain and provost marshal, Eighth district of Missouri.
"N. B. The name of the drafted man must be written out in full."
With the notification of the draft was an order on the Northern Missouri Railroad directing it to furnish transportation for the drafted man from Allen (now Moberly) to Macon, Missouri, at government rates.
The Linn county court offered a bounty of $100 to each man who would volunteer his services to the national government for a year. Those enlisting for six months were given $50. The amount for which the county became liable under this order was $15,500. A tax of one dollar on the hundred was levied to pay it.
Just before peace came in the spring of 1865, the Linn county court ordered that a sufficient amount of money be borrowed by Linn
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county out of the different county school funds of the county to arm a company of seventy men with one Spencer rifle and two revolvers each; $1,000 to be paid down and the balance in ninety days.
R. G. Waters and T. T. Easley were appointed to carry out the order. Before the company had need for the arms peace was declared and the war was ended.
Following is a synopsis of the historical record of some of the military organizations from Linn county :
The Twenty-Third Missouri. Recruiting began in July, 1861, by Jacob T. Tindall, Grundy county, and Judge Jacob Smith, Linn county. The men enlisted were principally farmers and land owners from the counties of Grundy, Livingston, Linn, Putnam, Mercer, Harrison, Da- viess, and Carroll.
In August, 1861, Mr. Tindall was given authority by Major-General Fremont, then commanding the department of the West, who raised a regiment of Missouri Volunteers to serve three years, or during the war, unless sooner discharged.
Mr. Tindall proceeded on the commission with the utmost dispatch.
By the first of September he had recruited enough men to form seven companies. He was ordered to Benton Barracks with his com- mand. There his men were mustered into the service of the United States, clothed, armed and equipped, and put on duty in the city of St. Louis, where they remained until October 15, 1861.
The principal service of the Twenty-Third during the winter of 1861 was preserving the peace in neighboring counties and in protect- ing the life and property of the Union men.
Lieut .- Col. Jacob Smith resigned his military position January 25, 1862, for the purpose of accepting a position on the bench which was tendered him by the governor of Missouri. The vacancy in the regi- ment occasioned by Colonel Smith's retirement was filled by an officer named Quin Morton. Morton had distinguished himself in the defense of Lexington.
In March Colonel Tindall was ordered to proceed with his regi- ment to St. Louis and report to the commanding officer at Benton Bar- racks, Missouri. There his men were given new suits of uniform and ex- changed their Austrian rifles for Springfield muskets, calibre 69. By the end of the month the Twenty-third was in splendid condition and anxious for active service.
The regiment started for Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee, April 1, 1862. It arrived on the 4th. Upon reporting to Maj .- Gen. U. S. Grant, then commanding the army of Tennessee. Colonel Tindall was ordered to
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report with his regiment to General Prentiss, commanding the sixth division. On the morning of the 6th the Twenty-Third, under com- mand of Colonel Morton, left Pittsburg Landing to join the sixth divi- sion, then supposed to be about three miles away. After marching two miles a large number of stragglers were met hurrying towards the Landing. They stated that their regiment had been cut to pieces.
An officer of General Prentiss's staff rode up to the commanding officer of the regiment and ordered him to get ready for action. The men stripped themselves of everything except what they would need in the fight and with an alacrity unusual for volunteers entering upon their first battle, went into the fray.
Following is the report of the lieutenant-colonel concerning the action of the Twenty-Third at Pittsburg Landing, the report being made to Gov. H. R. Gamble :
LEXINGTON, MISSOURI, December, 1, 1862.
Governor: I deem it my duty to make a report of the action of the Twenty-Third Regiment, Missouri Volunteers, at Pittsburg Landing on April 6, 1862. At 7 o'clock a. m., by order of Col. J. T. Tindall, I marched the regiment in the direction of General Prentiss's camp. After marching about two miles an officer of General Prentiss's staff ordered us to halt and prepare for action, which was promptly done. As soon as the regiment was placed in position the enemy opened fire on us by a battery at about 400 yards distance, which was continued without intermission for two hours.
We were then ordered to change our position and to engage a large force of the enemy who were pressing upon the center, which was done. After a severe engagement at the distance of twenty-five or thirty yards, we drove the enemy back, not, however, without serious loss. We held the position assigned us until 4 o'clock p. m., fighting almost without intermission, at which time we were ordered to change our front to meet the enemy, who had outflanked us. Here we fought until 5 o'clock, driving the enemy back, although they charged us frequently during the time. Again we were compelled to change our position, and soon after this change we were surrounded and fired upon, from front and rear, by two batteries and infantry. Here there was a most terrible shower of shot and shell. We repulsed the enemy in our rear and determined to try and reach the main body of the army, which had fallen back to the river; and in the effort to lead our now broken forces back, the gallant and much lamented Colonel Tindall fell, shot through the body, after having done his duty most nobly during the day.
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After retiring about two hundred yards, we were met by a large force of the enemy, and compelled to surrender at about 6 o'clock p. m., after ten hours almost incessant fighting. Officers and men behaved nobly. I feel it my duty to mention the gallant conduct of Maj. John McCullough, who displayed great coolness and bravery throughout the day. Captains Dunlap, Robison and Brown, and Adjutant Martin, and Lieutenants Munn and Sims were wounded. Thirty privates were killed, about 170 wounded, and 375 were taken prisoners.
This report would have been made much earlier, but being a pris- oner until very recently I have not been in a situation to make it.
Most respectfully, your obedient servant,
QUIN MORTON, Lieutenant -Colonel. Twenty-Third Regiment, Missouri Volunteers.
The following soldiers of Company F of the Twenty-Third were killed at Pittsburg Landing:
William Hooker, first sergeant; James Pollard, fifth sergeant; James Parish, first corporal; James W. Hays and John McCanon, pri- vates.
Officers Company F, Twenty-Third Missouri Infantry (original organization) : Captain, Thomas Carter; first lieutenant, Thomas E. Brawner; second lieutenant, N. Judson Camp; first sergeant, Rice Morris; second sergeant, William F. Reynolds; fourth sergeant, Will- iam J. Furbee; fifth sergeant, Francis M. Jones ; first corporal, Robert F. Oxley; second, George Nichols; third, William Hooker; fourth, Thomas B. Reid; fifth, James W. Gooch; sixth, William Hawkins; seventh, Robert B. Smith; eighth, David C. Pierce.
Under the reorganization of Company F, as it went into the battle described, it was officered as follows:
Captain, Rice Morris; first lieutenant, Thomas E. Brawner; second lieutenant, N. Judson Camp; first sergeant, William Hooker; second, William F. Reynolds; third, William J. Furbee; fourth, Francis M. Jones ; fifth, James G. Pollard; first corporal, Robert F. Oxley; second, William Hawkins; third, Richard M. Ogle; fourth, Elisha Jones; fifth, John Carter; sixth, John W. Chapman; seventh, Grandison W. Burt; eighth, James Parish ; musicians, Hiram A. Sisson and Joseph O. Hurl- but; wagoner, Levi Cook.
The adjutant-general's report for 1865 gives this description of the operations of the Thirty-Third, under date of Nashville, Tennessee, December 9, 1864:
General: I have the honor to submit herewith the memoranda of
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operations of this regiment since organization, as requested in your note of September.
The Thirty-third Missouri Infantry was recruited under the pat- ronage of the Union Merchants' Exchange of St. Louis and was there- fore styled the "Merchants' Regiment." Its original field officers were: Colonel, Clinton B. Fisk, secretary of the Merchants' Exchange; lieutenant-colonel, William A. Pyle, captain in First Missouri Artil- lery ; major, W. H. Heath, adjutant of the Eighteenth Illinois Infantry.
It was ordered to the field September 22, 1862, under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Pyle, and made several severe marches through Phelps, Dent, Texas and Wright counties, Missouri. December 19, re- turned to St. Louis. December 23, Colonel Fisk was appointed briga- dier-general, Lieutenant-Colonel Pyle was made colonel, and Major Heath lieutenant-colonel. Same day the regiment moved by steamer to Columbus, Kentucky, that place being threatened. January 5, 1863, moved to Helena, Arkansas, and took part in General Gorman's expedi- tion to Duvall's Bluff, Arkansas, returning to Helena January 20, at which place more than 100 men died from exposure within one month. February 24, formed part of Gen. L. F. Ross's expedition to Fort Pem- berton, Mississippi, know as the "Yazoo Pass expedition." Regiment was under fire here for the first time, doing efficient service in con- structing field works, mounting siege guns, reconnoitering the enemy's position and capturing his pickets. April 8 returned to Helena, and May 5 the regiment was placed in charge of the fortifications and artillery of that garrison, numbering 18 pieces of heavy and light caliber. Same date, four siege guns were taken from the fortifications and replaced by light artillery. July 14, 1863, the regiment, supported by detachments of the Forty-Third Indiana, Thirty-Third Iowa and Thirty-Fifth Missouri, held their works against the combined forces of Price, Holmes and Marmaduke, repelling numerous heavy assaults and sustaining a continuous musketry fire for six hours. Total loss of the regiment in this fight was forty-nine. Although this was the first battle in which the regiment had borne part, their intrepidity is sufficiently attested by the terrible punishment inflicted upon the enemy as compared with the small loss sustained by the regiment. January 28, 1864, left Helena with troops of General Sherman to join the expedi- tion to Meridian, Mississippi. Regiment temporarily assigned to Gen- eral Veatch's division, and marched with it to Clinton, Mississippi. Ordered back and assigned to General Tuttle's division. March 10, Gen. Joseph A. Mower assumed command of the division and the regi- ment moved from Vicksburg with the expedition to Red River, Louisi-
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