USA > Missouri > Livingston County > History of Caldwell and Livingston counties, Missouri, written and compiled from the most authentic official and private sources, including a history of their townships, towns and villages, together with a condensed history of Missouri; a reliable and detailed history of Caldwell and Livingston counties--their pioneer record, resources, biographical sketches of prominent citizens; general and local statistics of great value; incidents and reminiscences > Part 19
USA > Missouri > Caldwell County > History of Caldwell and Livingston counties, Missouri, written and compiled from the most authentic official and private sources, including a history of their townships, towns and villages, together with a condensed history of Missouri; a reliable and detailed history of Caldwell and Livingston counties--their pioneer record, resources, biographical sketches of prominent citizens; general and local statistics of great value; incidents and reminiscences > Part 19
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Col. Scott now marched the remainder of his command down to deliver battle to the rebels, hoping that in the meantime Col. Smith would come up. Johnson's company of Caldwell Home Guards was present, led by its captain. The Federals attacked the rebels in am-
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HISTORY OF CALDWELL COUNTY.
bush and concealment, and after a spirited little fight were repulsed with a loss of 10 killed outright 1 and 75 or more wounded. Among the latter were Capt. E. D. Johnson and a member of his company named Whitfield Early. The rebels lost 3 killed and 18 wounded. The odds were greatly in favor of the rebels, as they were well and strongly posted behind a deep ditch, fallen trees, standing trees, and other obstacles, and while they had a good view of their enemies they themselves could not be seen.
The Federals fell back to Liberty where they met Col. Smith, who had just come up. The next day Col. Scott with his command re- turned to Cameron, where the Caldwell Home Guards were a week later mustered out, a number re-entering the service in James' bat- talion of six months' men. The four men killed at Blue Mills Landing were buried at Liberty in the cemetery north of William Jewell College.
MUSTER ROLL OF CAPT. JOHNSON'S COMPANY OF HOME GUARDS.
The date of the enlistment of all the members of this company is June 18, 1861, and the place of enrollment Mirabile.
Captain, E. D. Johnson, disch. Oct. 12 ;
1st Lieut., Wm. Crawford, left serv. Sept. 13;
2d Lieut., Wm. Partin, left serv. Aug. 20;
1st Sergt., Thos. K. Smith, left serv. Sept. 3;
2d Sergt., Dempsey B. Wyatt, disch. Oct. 12 :
3d Sergt., Robt. F. Johnson, disch. Oct. 12 ;
4th Sergt., Whitfield Early, disch. Oct. 12 ;2
1st Corpl., J. Q. A. Kemper, quit service July 18 ;
2d Corpl., Robt. Grant, disch. Oct. 12 ;
3d Corpl., Ashley W. Holland, disch. Oct. 12;
4th Corpl., Win. Clifton, disch. Oct. 12 ;
Musicians, Wm. Shurtz, quit serv. Sept. 12; Noah Frederick, quit serv. Sept. 1;
PRIVATES.
Lee Ballenger, dis. Oct. 12 ; Martin Brooks, dis. Oct. 12; Thos. Brown, dis. Oct. 12; John Brown, quit serv. Sept. 1; James H. Browning, quit serv. Sept. 12;
Wm. H. Cross, quit serv. Sept. 12; David E. Cross, dis. Oct. 12 ; John A. Cross, dis. Oct. 12; James Church, dis. Oct. 12; Albert J. Clampitt, dis. Oct. 12; Alonzo Carr, quit serv. Sept. 1; James A. Cochran, dis. Oct. 12; Wm. B. Cochran, quit serv. Sept. 12 ;
Anderson Creason, serv'd 1 month ; Joshua A. Carver, served 1 month ; Wm. Crouse, served 1 month ; Matthias Crouse, qt. ser. Sept. 12; Theodore Dudley, qt. ser. Sept. 12; Patrick Denneen, serv'd 1 month ; John N. Early, dis. Oct. 12; Wm. M. Early, dis. Oct. 12;
1 Besides the 4 of Capt. James' company killed previously.
2 Wounded at Blue Mills, and finally died from the effect of his wounds.
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HISTORY OF CALDWELL COUNTY.
John T. Green, quit serv. Sept. 1 ; Wm. H. Green, qt. serv. Sept. 13; Van Henry Grove, dis. Oct. 12 ; Wm. L. Grant, quit serv. Sept. 1 ; Geo. W. Grant, dis. Oct. 12; John C. Holland, left ser. Sept. 12 ; A. F. Hutchings, left ser. Aug. 1; Geo. Henderson, left ser. Sept. 13; Wm. S. Henry, left ser. July 18; Jas. Hockenberry, s'rv'd 1 month ; John Lockhart, dis. Oct. 12; Aurelius S. Love, serv'd 1 month ; Geo. W. Latimer, left ser. Aug. 1; John Miller, dis. Oct. 12; Stewart B. McCord, dis. Oct. 12; Joel McLaughlin, serv'd 2 m'ths ; Martin W. Moore, dis. Oct. 12 ; Daniel Martin,
Samuel Montgomery,
Nathan Middaugh,
John P. Platt,
John Pollard,
John Robinson,
Henry H. Robinson, left serv. Sept. 1;
Reuben Rice,
Joseph T. Rice,
Jesse D. Ross, trans. to James' Co .;
John P. Reynolds, John Renfrew,
Wm. Spivey, Jr., Reub. M. Spivey, Geo. F. Sackman, Andrew J. Seeley, Aaron H. Sloan, James G. Sloan, John Smith, Warren A. Smith, Geo. Smith, Jr., Martin Shriver,
Stephen D. Sloan,
Samuel H. Sturgis,
Seymour R. Scovil, Franklin Swigart,
James M. Vaughn, John S. Wyatt,
Greenup B. Wilhoit,
Thos. Ward,
James Ward,
Daniel Strope, dis. Ang. 30;
Henry, Hipple, Sr.,
John C. Spencer,
Henry Swigart, Sr.,
Henry Swigart, Jr., trans. to James' Co .;
Jasper Jones.
1
Quite a number of this company was transferred to Capt. M. L. James' company of mounted men.
MULLIGAN'S MEN.
When word was brought that Gen. Price had the little army of Col. Mulligan surrounded at Lexington, a few Secessionists from this county went down, each man on his own responsibility, and took part in the fight against the cooped-up Federals. Some remained with the army, but the majority returned home and there came with them some who had joined Thompson's company and had become tired of war. After the surrender of Mulligan, a large number of his men passed through this county on their way to take the cars at Hamilton for their homes in Illinois. These men belonged to the 28th Illinois infantry,1 and 1st Illinois cavalry. Quite a number were brought
1 Composed of Irishmen and called the " Irish Brigade."
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HISTORY OF CALDWELL COUNTY.
from Richmond to Hamilton in wagons and carriages. Old David Whitmer, the noted Mormon, who was then running a livery stable in Richmond, furnished free transportation for all his teams were capa- ble of hanling. The prisoners all, or nearly all, passed through Kings- ton and boarded the cars at Hamilton.
JAMES' FIFTHI BATTALION.
In the fall of 1861, immediately after the fall of Lexington, Capt. Moses L. James began the organization of a battalion of Union militia, to serve for six months in this quarter of the State. The organization was perfected and the three companies composing the battalion were mustered into service October 2, 1861. The field offi- cers were W. L. James, major ; Isaac W. Henry, adjutant ; Hiram J. Chapman, commissary; G. G. Hildreth, quartermaster, and G. G. Hildreth, surgeon, all from this county.
Only two companies, A and C, were wholly from this county. Their officers were as follows : -
Co. A - Captain, M. R. Streeter; lieutenants, Samuel E. Turner, Wm. Plumb.
Co. C-Captain, Geo. W. Murphy; lieutenants, Arch. Groom, Samuel J. Finch.
The officers of Co. B, Capt. Joseph H. Clark and Lieuts. H. M. Walker and O. C. Sinclair, were from DeKalb and Clinton.
James' battalion was mustered into service at Cameron, October 2, 1861. Its term of service was taken up with guarding the rail- road, scouting through this county and Clinton, DeKalb, and Daviess, frequently encountering scattering detachments of rebels. It was mustered out at Cameron, March 13, 1862.
THE "CORNSTALK FIGHT."
On the 17th of October, 1861, occurred an engagement in the southern part of this county - or, properly speaking, in the northern part of Ray - which came to be known as the cornstalk fight. A force of Confederate recruits had gone into a camp on Goodin Crea- son's land, in the brush, along a small branch of the East fork of Crooked river. From day to day they received re-enforcements, and their friends in the neighborhood fed them.
Word of the existence of this camp was conveyed to Maj. M. L. James, of the 5th battalion, then at Cameron, and he resolved to break it up. Taking with him about 150 men of his battalion, all
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HISTORY OF CALDWELL COUNTY.
mounted, he set out and the same night encamped on the premises of David George, who was considered to be a " Southern sympathizer," and who lived in what is now Lincoln township, near the headwaters of Crab Apple creek. It is said that Mr. George, who was an old gentleman, fled upon the approach of the Federals and did not return until after they had left, and that the exposure he endured in his absence, sleeping in the open air, brought on illness which caused his death.
The next morning Maj. James set out to surround the rebel camp - which was located a few hundred yards south of the southwest corner of Lincoln township, and less than three miles from George's -- and if possible capture its inmates. Sending forward as an advance guard or scouting party about 20 men, under Lieut. Wm. Plumb, of Co. A, Capt. Streeter's company, the major followed a mile in the rear with the main part of his command, ready to dispose it to the best advan- tage when the enemy should be met. It was Maj. James' intention to get to the south of the rebel camp and make the attack from that direction, so as to drive the rebels out on the prairies.
As Lieut. Plumb was marching along a road which had a corn field on one side and a thicket on the other, he was suddenly fired on by a considerable party of rebels in ambush. In the fight that resulted the lieutenant and 3 of his men were severely wounded, and 5 of the Federal horses were killed, and the rebels had 1 man wounded. Lient. Plumb charged through the rebel line and back again, both times under sharp fire. He fought the fight unaided, although Maj. James stood ready to support him and came up as soon as it was evident that he needed support.
The rebels retreated, scattering and breaking up into small parties. It was difficult to pursue them, and after beating up the country for some hours, Maj. James returned with his command to Cameron. The rebels soon passed across the Missouri and went south to the army of Gen. Price.
A REBEL RAID.
About the 20th of November, a band of rebels, 15 or 20 men, under the leadership of John Hurst, of Ray county, made a raid on the premises of Maj. M. L. James, who then resided 4 miles west of Kingston. At this time the major was in command of his 5th bat- talion of Missouri militia, and was in St. Louis on military business. The 5th battalion, or "James' Jayhawkers," as the rebel people
7
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HISTORY OF CALDWELL COUNTY.
called them, were heartily detested in certain parts of Ray, and Hurst and his band determined to capture their commander, or retaliate upon him for certain real or imaginary injuries. The raiders took from Maj. James 5 good horses and about $60 worth of clothing and other articles, and then, without molesting any one else, returned to their Ray county rendezvous.
KILLING OF JUDGE JAMES STEELE.
Late in the fall of 1861, Judge James Steele, a prominent citizen of the county, was killed in Rockford township by a small detach- ment of James' battalion. Judge Steele was a man of middle age and his home was in Kingston. He had been a member of the county court, and was a man of considerable intelligence and information. By nature he was brave even to rashness and determined even to ob- stinacy. At the outbreak of the war he joined the rebel forces, and , in a few months left Gen. Price's army and came back to Caldwell county on recruiting service. He repaired to the residence of his father, John Steele, southwest of Mirabile, and his presence and his mission being learned, a Union man of the neighborhood rode to Cam- eron and gave the information to Maj. James, then in command at that post.
Maj. James at once sent out Lieut. O. C. Sinclair with 4 men to capture Steele. Lieut. Sinclair was a carpenter and had been em- ployed by John Steele. The men under him were residents of the vicinity and knew the locality well. The squad reached the house a little after noon. Riding rapidly up they leaped their horses over the fence and partially surrounded the house. Judge Steele had previ- ously declared he would not be taken prisoner, and now he caught up a double-barreled shot-gun, and running out began to resist his would- be captors. He was soon shot and instantly killed. A companion named Robert Russell made no resistance, and was made prisoner and taken to Cameron and paroled.
1862 -THE 6THI CAVALRY, M. S. M.
In the early spring of 1862 the organization of the 6th regiment of cavalry, Missouri State Militia, Col. E. C. Catherwood commanding, was begun at Cameron. In this regiment many Caldwell county Unionists enlisted. Maj. M. L. James, on being mustered out of service in the six months militia, became a major in the 6th M. S. M., and eventually Capts. Wmn. Plumb and Geo. W. Murphy held the
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HISTORY OF CALDWELL COUNTY.
same rank. Three companies of the regiment were originally all, or nearly all, from Caldwell, viz. : -
Company B- Captains, Win. Plumb, promoted to major September 25, 1863 ; then Elias Lankford, from December 25, 1863, to expiration of term of service, February 28, 1865. Lieutenants, Isaac Cook and Wm. Logan. The company was mustered in at Cameron, March 1, 1862.
Company C- Mustered in at Mirabile, March 15, 1862. Captains, E. D. Johnson, dismissed August 16, 1862; J. G. Quinn, from Sep- tember 16, 1862, to December 28, 1864, when he became quartermas- ter of the 13th Missouri cavalry volunteers. Lieutenants, Jas. Mylar, resigned August 25, 1862 ; Daniel Campbell, mustered out July 18, 1865 ; Thos. J. Shinn, entered 13th Missouri cavalry September 13, 1864.
Company E - Mustered in at Cameron, March 28, 1862 ; Captains, Geo. W. Murphy, promoted to major, January 13, 1864 ; Calvin S. Moore, December 3, 1864. First Lieutenants, Calvin S. Moore, pro- moted to captain April 15, 1864 ; Lewis B. Clevenger, mustered out in 1865.
There were also a number of Caldwell men , including Lieuts. Jas. N. Stoffel and Timothy Middaugh, in Capt. J. H. Clark's company, A, which was composed chiefly of men from Clinton county.
The total number of men from this county in the 6th M. S. M., up to January 1, 1864, was 268.
Catherwood's 6th M. S. M. took a prominent and active part in the war in Missouri. The 1st battalion, composed of Cos. A, B, C and D, under Maj. James, was stationed at Liberty, Clay county, May 12, 1862. About a month later, with Cos. E and F, they were ordered to Sedalia, where they arrived June 15. Here they did considerable scouting and other active service during the summer.
August 16, detachments of Cos. A, B and E, under Capt. Wmn. Plumb, took part in the desperate little battle of Lone Jack, in Jack- son county, where 800 Union troops, led by Maj. Emory S. Foster, of the 7th Missouri State militia, engaged 3,000 Confederates, under Cols. Cockerell, Coffee, Hays, Thompson, and the guerrilla chieftain, W. C. Quantrell. About 75 men were killed on each side, and the fight was a draw, the Unionists holding the field at the conclusion, but retreat- ing to Lexington an hour later.
At Lone Jack Capt. Plumb's company went into the fight with 56 men, and lost 5 killed and 17 wounded. Capt. Plumb himself was severely wounded in the shoulder, and Lieut. Wm. Lagan lost an eye. In Capt. Murphy's company ( E) Jerry Hatfield and John Stennet were
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HISTORY OF CALDWELL COUNTY.
killed, the latter just as he had shot down a rebel, and immediately after he had called out, "Aha, I got you that time !" Frank McCray lost his leg, and the old pioneer, Charley Ross, had his leg badly shat- tered below the knee. The brave old man refused any assistance, however, until the fight was over, gamely calling out to his comrades, " Keep up the flag, boys ! Let me alone ; I'm all right. Keep up the flag." Mr. Ross is a pensioner to-day, on account of his wound at Lone Jack.
Maj. Foster, in his account of the action, mentions this instance : " A man of Capt. Plumb's company, shot through the head, mortally wounded, was seen half an hour afterwards, trying to load his carbine. He died with it in his hand."
The regiment served in Central and Southwest Missouri, and North- western Arkansas, in the years 1863 and 1864, participated in the campaign against Gen. Price, in the fall of 1864, and was in numerous engagements with the enemy. But to give a minute account of its many spirited skirmishes, its night and day marches and scouting expeditions, and the fatigues and hardships it underwent, would occupy more space than can here be given. At all times and under all circumstances the Caldwell county men bore their full part creditably. In November, 1864, Col. Catherwood was commissioned colonel of the 13th Missouri cavalry volunteers, and a large number of the 6th M. S. M. entered that regiment, and did service in Missouri and on the plains till in the summer of 1866, when they were mustered out.
ORGANIZATION OF THE ENROLLED MILITIA.
In the latter part of the month of July, 1862, the enrolled militia of the State, commonly called the E. M. M., were organized. In Caldwell county three companies were organized, which were afterward designated as E, F and G of the 33d regiment, Col. W. S. Brown. The officers of these companies were : --
Of Company E, John Phillips, captain, resigned October 22, 1862 ; then Wm. D. Fortune to March 12, 1865 ; Joshua Orem and R. S. Rob- inson, lieutenants. The latter was removed in August, 1864, and Wm. F. Wheeler was then commissioned second lieutenant, and served till company was dismissed.
Company F-G. W. Noblett, captain; W. T. Filson and E. T. Cox, lieutenants.
Company G - Stephen M. Lankford, captain, killed on Crab Apple creek, in this county, September 11, 1862 ; then John T. Ross, till
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HISTORY OF CALDWELL COUNTY.
August, 1864, when his commission was vacated. Jacob H. Snider and Geo. W. Crousc, lieutenants.
Company E had 81 men, Company F, 97, and Company G, 75.
THE POINDEXTER RAID.
In August, 1862, during the Poindexter raid, there were many alarms in the castern portion of the county. It was reported that Col. Poindexter, and other Confederate leaders, were marching on the county with a very large force. But in a short time came the news of Gen. Guitar's defeat of Poindexter at Compton's Ferry, in Carroll county, and also that Gen. Loan had turned him back at Utica, and driven him out of the country. During the alarm the enrolled militia of the county were especially active, and kept watch that no raiders should steal in unawares.
THE TRAGEDIES ON THE CRAB APPLE - KILLING OF CAPT. LANGFORD, BY THE CONFEDERATES, AND OF FOUR CONFEDERATE SYMPATHIZERS, THREE OF ONE FAMILY, BY THE MILITIA - HOUSE BURNING, ETC.
In the carly fall of 1862, there occurred on Crab Apple creek, in the southern or southeastern portion of the county, a number of painful tragedies connected with the war, which deserve mention here.
In what is now Lincoln township, and on Crab Apple creek about three miles from the Ray county line ( northern part of sections 20 and 21), lived Wm. Baker, Sr., an old citizen of the county, nearly 70 years of age. Mr. Baker was the father of a large family of boys. At the beginning of the Civil War the family sided with the Confed- erate cause, and no less than five of the sons entered the rebel army of Missouri as members of Capt. Thompson's Caldwell county com- pany. The Christian names of these sons were George, who was a teamster ; William, Jr., Joseph, John, James and Henry; the last four were regularly enlisted soldiers. Two other sons, Daniel and Andrew, remained at home. The spectacle of five brothers, all en- listed soldiers of one military company, was one not often witnessed, and the fact was often remarked and commented upon.
In the battle of Pea Ridge (or Elkhorn ) James Baker was badly wounded, and was discharged from the service. His brother George accompanied him home, where they arrived some time in the early fall. For some reason they refused to surrender themselves to the Federal military authorities, and contrived to keep out of the way of the militia for some time. One or two other young men associated with them. Alexander Richey, a brother of the wife of Dan Baker, joined
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HISTORY OF CALDWELL COUNTY.
them, and so did Dan Baker, who had never before taken up arms. All were armed. It is claimed that they did not intend to harm any one, unless in self-defense, but were waiting for a good opportunity to go out on the Plains, or across to California.
In August, Joseph Richey, a brother of " Eck," was killed near Richmond by a man named Ray, and " Eck " claimed that he was carrying weapons for the murderer of his brother.
Whatever purpose the Bakers and Richey had in lying out, with their arms and horses, it is certain that they did no injury to any one. They claimed that on two or three occasions they could have fired into and killed half a dozen of the militia if they had wished to. It is also just as certain that their conduct in lying out was against the express orders of the Federal military authorities. Gen. Schofield's " order No. 18," issued May 29, enjoined the " utmost vigilance in hunting down and destroying " all bushwhackers, who, the orders said, " when caught in arms, engaged in their unlawful warfare," were to be " shot down on the spot."
On the night of September 9, Daniel, George and James Baker, and Alex. Richey and Samuel Richey were lying out, near the resi- dence of Wm. Baker. They had their guns and horses with them, and slept under some crab apple trees. Just before day on the morn- ing of the 10th, a rain came up, and George Baker and Alex. Richey went to a stable loft for shelter. The others remained in the crab apple grove. About dawn Lieut. John T. Ross, with a detachment of Capt. Langford's company of militia (Co. E, 33d E. M. M. ), came down from Kingston, and chanced to surround the stable where Baker and Richey were and made then prisoners.
Short work was made in disposing of the prisoners - and bloody work, too. The militia took five head of horses belonging to the Bakers, and made their prisoners mount two of them. The wife of Dan Baker, - Richey's sister, -ran out and begged for their lives, but the militia took them a few hundred yards away and shot them. Hearing the firing Mrs. Baker ran to the spot and found her brother and George Baker, both dead. George Baker left a wife and three children. Dan and Jim Baker and Sam Richey were roused up by Mrs. Dan Baker, who heard the militia approaching, and they escaped.
The next day, September 11, Capt. S. M. Langford, at the head of his company, went down into the Crab Apple neighborhood to arrest Dan and Jim Baker if possible. While beating up the brush and timber along the creek in the southern portion of New York town- ship (sw. 1/4 section 27-56-27), Capt. Langford came upon the hiding
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HISTORY OF CALDWELL COUNTY.
place of James Baker, who was watching the movements of his ene- mies. Baker waited until Langford approached within a few yards of where he lay concealed, when he fired and killed him almost instantly. Baker afterward declared that he did this regretfully, but that Capt. Langford was riding, pistol in hand, directly toward his place of hid- ing, and in a few seconds would have discovered him and shot him.
The killing of Capt. Langford created a storm of indignation among the militia, and out of the storm there darted the fierce lightnings of vengeance. In a few days the Baker neighborhood had been visited with fire and sword, and all the " rebel. sympathizers " burned out and driven out, and one of them killed. The three militia companies of the county - Capt. Philips', Capt. Noblett's and Langford's com- pany, lead by Lieut. John Ross - repaired at once to where the Bakers lived. George Baker's house, or the house where his widow and children lived, was first burned, on the 11th. The wife of Daniel Baker writes : " They burned everything in it ; they even took a little sun bonnet from one of the little girls and threw it into the flames."
The next day there was a good deal of burning among the " rebel houses." Clouds of black smoke rolled up in the sky all over what was called the " rebel nest," along Crab Apple. The house of Will- iam Gibson was burned. William Baker, Jr., who went through the war as a Confederate soldier, married Mrs. Gibson's daughter - per- haps that was why Capt. G. W. Withers' house was burned, but he was in the Southern army at the time, his wife was in Clay county, and the house was occupied by James Thomas, a Union man. Will- iam Kesterson's and Mrs. Michael's houses were purified of their rebel uncleanness by militia fire. Then, near sun down, old William Baker's house was burned, and the militia roasted chickens over the coals for their supper. A Union man named Cheshire, who lived on Mr. Bak- er's land, was allowed to save a few articles from the flames, but not many. The women and the other inmates were told to " hustle them- selves." Capt. G. W. Noblett has stated to the writer that he gave the orders to apply the torch to all these houses. Somebody reported him to Gen. Loan, then at St. Joseph, in command of this district, and Loan sent an order back to Noblett : "Do not burn any more houses, if you can get along without it."
While old William Baker's house was burning something else was going on. The old man was accosted by some of the militia 1 and
1 Mrs. Dan Baker, who was present, says they were Capt. Noblett and his men; but Capt. Noblett says they were John Ross and his men.
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HISTORY OF CALDWELL COUNTY.
ordered to tell where his sons Dan and Jim were, but he declared if they were to be his last words that he had not seen them since the morn- ing George and " Eck." Richey were killed, and did not know where they were. They then accused him of being a bushwhacker, but he said : " As true as I live, I have not had a gun on my shoulder for eight years." But at last they said, "Come along with us," and they started away with him. His daughters-in-law begged for his life, and Mrs. Dan Baker followed after the party, but she says they drove her back. The old man was taken just across the ravine from his burning house and shot. It was in the dusk of the evening when this was done. Two balls passed through his body, killing him instantly. At the time of his death Mr. Baker was 68 years of age.
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