USA > Missouri > Carroll County > History of Carroll County, Missouri : carefully written and compiled from the most authentic official and private sources, including a history of its townships, cities, towns and villages, together with a condensed history of Missouri ; the Constitution of the United States, and State of Missouri ; a military record of its volunteers in either army of the Great Civil War ; general and local statistics ; miscellany ; reminiscences, grave, tragic and humorous ; biographical sketches of prominent men and citizens identified with the interests of the country > Part 41
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When they passed the residence of A. C. Blackwell, on their way east, the guerrillas told him that they found Carrollton not only alert and watching for them, but heard distinctly the cavalry coming out to fight them.
The poor cows frightened not only the guerrillas but the militia as well. The latter heard the fearful rumbling, and many a heart stood still at the sound, "They are coming! They are coming!" was the alarm passed along the line. Not until a reconnoitering squad was sent out and had returned, did the apprehension that the town was destined to attack, "to rapine and slaughter dire " pass away. The reconnoitering force found instead of a band of blood-thirsty, bushwhackers, bristling with weapons and bent on slaughter, the harmless cows calmly and peacefully slumber- ing or ruminating beside the placid little lake or the still waters of the Wakanda.
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HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY.
Todd took his men out of the county and into Chariton, crossing Grand river at the Rock Ford. The next day, or the next thereafter, these same guerrillas captured Keytesville, and sacked the town, and on the 26th were in the fight at Centralia, where, in conjunction with the forces of Bill Anderson and Dave Pool, they met 130 men of the 39th Missouri Infantry, under Maj. A. V. E. Johnson, and killed every man but four. The total force of the guerrillas was about 300.
THE KILLING OF CAPT. PEERY AND LIEUT. WILLIAMS.
In the first week of October, Capt. Peery (or Col. Peery,-his rank is questioned) of the confederate army under Gen. Price, then in Missouri, Lieut. Monroe Williams and another man, left the army on leave of absence to visit their homes, in Livingston county, and empowered to recruit for the confederate service. . They crossed the Missouri at Waverly, and made their way through this county. One morning they appeared at the residence of Mr. R. A. Miller, who then lived in Morris township. They demanded that breakfast be brought out to them where they sat on their horses. Mr. M. states that he furnished them with what he could take from the breakfast table, as they would not wait to have a square meal prepared. As they were dressed in blue clothing, Miller thought they were federal militia, and when they asked him certain ques- tions, especially some relative to the whereabouts and numbers of the militia in the county, he thought they were "Grundy county militia" and were testing his loyalty.
. Being informed that there were no militia in Coloma, Peery and his comrades rode through that place, and about a mile north of the town, in the timber on 'Tater Hill Creek, lay down to rest and sleep. Peery was well acquainted with the country where he then was, and doubtless thought himself safe. It was he who had the first fight with the federals this county, at Perry Todd's, in September, 1861.
Capt. Wm. Beatty, of the militia, at the head of about fifteen men, learn -· ing of the presence of the three confederates, made pursuit and soon got on their trail. He found them in their retreat in the 'Tater Hill timber. His men wanted to fire on them, but, as the captain afterward stated to Maj. Deigel, he restrained them, for he said he saw that they could easily be captured. Suddenly Peery discovered his enemies, and raising, he fired one shot. Then the militia fired, and rushed upon them. Peery and Williams were both killed. It has been stated that Peery was killed by one of the militia after he had been cruelly wounded, and it is also charged that Williams was similarly served. The other man was unhurt and made his escape.
In view of the fact that six of the men who were engaged either in the pursuit or killing of Peery and Williams were afterward themselves
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killed in retaliation, (an account of which is to be found on a subsequent page of this history), this affair has been much commented upon, and there are two versions thereof, one of which is that the men were mur- dered, and the other that there was warrant for the killing. Capt. Beatty himself stated that Williams and Peery could have been taken prisoners, as after Peery fired, all three threw up their hands in token of surrender, but that his men shot them in spite of his efforts to restrain them. Many think they were wilfully killed, without excuse. Col. Peery's boots were taken from his feet and worn by a militiaman, and other articles of his clothing and that of Williams, it is claimed, were also, taken. On the other hand the militiamen claimed that the fact that the confederates were dressed in federal uniform was a sufficient warrant for their death; that they had every appearance of and behaved themselves as bushwhackers and not as regular confederate soldiers, which they were; that it was believed they belonged to Bill Anderson's or Thrailkill's gang, whose atrocities had filled the people of the county of all parties with horror; and that Peery himself fired the first shot. Of course they deny that they were killed while begging for their lives. What the truth was cannot now be ascertained. If the killing was not a bad business at the start, it proved to be, for six other men, two of whom it is certain were innocent, lost their lives in consequence. It is as hard for one side to excuse the rob- bing of the bodies as it is for the other to justify the wearing of blue uni- form, and the matter will probably never be settled to the entire satisfac- tion of everybody.
PRICE'S RAID-THE CAPTURE OF CARROLLTON BY THE CONFEDERATES.
On the 30th of August, 1864, Gen. Price began his famous raid into Missouri, which was so full of promise, but which terminated so dis- astrously. On the 10th of October, a considerable force of Price's army under Gens. John B. Clark and Jo. O. Shelby, captured Glasgow with its garrison and all its stores. The town was defended by a part of the 43d Missouri, detachments of the 9th M. S. M., two companies of the 17th Illi- nois cavalry, 20 men of the 13th Missouri cavalry from this county, under Capt. John E. Mayo, and 60 Ray and Clay county militia, the whole under command of Col. Chester Harding, of the 43d Missouri. The Carroll county men received honorable mention for their conduct in defending a certain bridge against the assaults of the confederates.
After the surrender of Glasgow, advance couriers from Price's army made their appearance in this county on furlough and recruiting service. Part of Titworth's company of Gordon's regiment, Shelby's division, were from this county, as were many members of John B. Clark's brigade. These men, or nearly all of them, made their way to their old homes. Capt. John L. Mirick was in the bottom, and had recruited a company.
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HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY.
Capt. Cottingham was in the northeastern part of the county with another company. He was just recovering from two severe wounds which he had received but a short time before. The captain and seven of his men made a night raid on the premises of Berry Jones, a union man living near De Witt, for the purpose, as Capt. C. states, of securing some arms which were supposed to be at Jones' (and which were). Jones shot four of the party, all of them badly, and one of them a young boy named Perry Cal- laway, who, according to Cottingham, had belonged at one. time to Bill Anderson, was killed or mortally wounded. The captain was shot twice, once in the head and once in the thigh. The particulars of this incident are to be found on another page of this volume.
As before stated, the country was swarming with confederates, and new recruits, hating federal rule, were taking the opportunity, long sought, to enlist under the stars and bars. Capt. D. A. Williams, of Thompson's old regiment, Shelby's brigade, left Gen. Price at Boonville, with orders to come over into this county and Livingston, and recruit. He wasa brother of the Lieut. Monroe Williams, killed by the militia with Capt. Peery. Capt. Williams had a company of his old soldiers with him, and with these and all of the confederates in the county, old soldiers and new recruits, Holtzclaw's company, 60 men from Cottingham's, etc., making a force estimated from 300 to 800 men, he appeared before Carrollton on the 17th of October, and demanded its surrender. The town was then garrisoned by Maj. George Deigel, with about 150 members of the militia, and at this time probably 50 citizens were under arms. Slight breastworks had been thrown up at the corners of the public square, and south of town.
The confederates had determined on the capture of the place, since they found there was but a weak force and the thing could be accomplished with but little difficulty. The command of the entire force was given to Capt. Williams, who approached the town on the north and west. The night before, the pickets of both sides were within 20 or 30 yards of each other. The next morning Capt. Williams sent in a demand for surrender, saying that he had 1500 men, a battery of artillery, etc., and was abundantly able to take the town, and would do so by bombardment if necessary. Maj. Diegel met Capt. Williams in person on Main street, near where tlie Bap- tist church now stands, and the terms of surrender were agreed upon. By these terms the garrison were all to be surrendered as prisoners of war, but to be immediately released on parole and allowed to return to their homes. The militia formed along the north side of the square and stacked their arms, and the confederates came pouring in.
. Not a great deal of lawlessness was committed by the confederates during the forty-eight hours they held possession of Carrollton. Not a person was killed, not a house was burned. The stores were plundered, it is true, of several thousand dollars' worth of goods, and many citizens
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were robbed of their purses and pocket books; some horses were also "pressed" into service. Some of the troopers broke into the ribbon cases of Painter & Minnis's store and carried off large quantities of ribbon, with which they decorated themselves, their horses, saddles, etc., very gaudily and profusely. The merchants who lost heaviest were Painter & Minnis, Best Bros., R. G. Martin, Baum & David, and another firm or two. Every safe in town, except the county safe, was broken open and robbed of what money it contained. The county court had ordered Treasurer Minnis to take the money of the county, $40,000, to Chil- licothe, and express it from there to the state bank of Missouri, at St. Louis, for safe keeping, which he had done, making the trip to Chillicothe across the country escorted by Capt. Cary and fifteen or twenty of his company of militia.
The prisoners were not released according to promise. They were kept under close guard that night, and many of them were very appre- hensive that they would be murdered, as Holtzclaw's guerrillas were in the place, and some of Jo. Shelby's most desperate men were among the captors. The next morning the officers were paroled and released, but the men were all marched away. Maj. Diegel, by permission, accom- panied them. They were marched to Brunswick, where they crossed the river. From here they marched to the headquarters of Gen. Price, in the Grand Pass, Saline county.
The morning after the arrival of the Carrollton prisoners at the Grand Pass, six of them were called' out of the ranks by name, taken out to a ravine, and all of them shot dead. This was done by order of Cap. Wil- liams in retaliation for the killing of his brother, Lieutenant Monroe Wil- liams, and Capt. Peery, before mentioned; but it is said that he had the approval of his senior officers. The men were all members of Beatty's company, and on the scout that killed Peery and Williams, although two of them were not present when the killing was done. The names of the men were Joel Trotter, Alexander Stanley, John Street, James Street, William Silkey and John F. Addison. Two ladies of Saline county, Mrs. Mary Meadows and Mrs. A. M. Creel, heard the firing when these men were shot, and as the army left in a short time, they went out and found them all dead. Dr. G. W. Hereford and Mr. A. M. Creel, of the neighborhood, had them temporarily buried, but their relatives in this county afterward brought their remains home and re-interred them in this county with military. honors.
Joel Trotter was a member of Beatty's company, but not present when Peery and Williams were killed. He was a man universally esteemed, and his memory is respected to this day. At one time he had been county surveyor and at another county assessor. He was in the prime of life, and left a wife and small family.
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HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY.
Alexander Stanley was aged nineteen. He was a' son of Hon. James Stanley, and a young man of much promise. The fact and manner of his death were greatly deplored. Like Trotter, young Stanley was not pres- ent at the killing of Peery and Williams.
John F. Addison was & native of Kentucky. It is said that he shot Capt. Peery after he had been wounded, and that he had the dead man's boots on when captured. He left a wife.
John and James Street were sons of John M. Street, now a citizen of Leslie township, and both of them were born in this county. They seem to have been regarded as estimable young men, but were present when Peery and Williams were killed. . What part they took in that affair is not known.
Mr. Silkey was a native of Kentucky. He was with the Street boys when Peery and Williams were killed. He left a wife and one child.
After the six men named had been killed, the rest of the Carrollton prisoners, accompanied by Maj. Diegel, were sent to Waverly, where it was expected a steam ferry would be in waiting, to cross them to the Car- roll county side, but when they arrived there was no boat. The men stayed in Waverly that night. Maj. Diegel procured them some pro- visions, and the citizens of Waverly, nearly all of whom were ardent con- federate sympathizers, showed them many favors and assisted in making them as comfortable as possible. The next morning they made rafts and crossed over and were soon at their homes, glad that they had escaped with their own lives, but sad at the thought of the fate of their six com- rades. The commissioned officers had all been left in Carrollton, with the exception of Maj. Diegel, and in a day or two 'they went to Chillicothe for safety.
BILL ANDERSON'S LAST RAID.
About the 25th of October, Bill Anderson made his last raid through Carroll county. This time he passed up the bottom from east to west, from Glasgow on his way up into Ray county. In Miami township he killed a union man named Etter, and took an old man named Isenhour (or Eisenhour), prisoner and forced him to accompany him as a guide. Anderson . told Isenhour that he (Anderson) belonged to Jim Lane's Kansas jayhawkers. Isenhour fell into the trap and said that he himself was a strong federal sympathizer.
Near Col. Austin's residence Anderson detailed three of his men, one of whom was Arch Clements, "to take the guide to the rear and parole him." The three men took Isenhour into a patch of brush near the road, threw him on the ground, and cut off his head. They then folded the arms of the corpse across the breast, in such a manner as to embrace the bleeding head, rifled the dead man's pockets, and rode away. Meantime,
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another guide, Mr. Wm. Penn, had been impressed by the guerrillas, but a mile or two above, was released. Penn returned to Austin's and informed the Col. and Mr. L. K. Kinsey that he believed the guerrillas had killed the other guide. Austin and Kinsey started out to investigate, and an old negro woman told them that there was a dead man out in the brush, for she had heard him strugling when he was killed. The body was found, as heretofore described, and conveyed to Austin's by Kinsey and the Colonel who made a coffin and placed it therein, and then sent word of the affair down into " the Gourd," where it was believed Isenhour had lived. In'a day or two a preacher was engaged to take the body to the eastern part of the county, and this was done.
Anderson at this time had about 150 men. The next day he was joined by about the same number of confederate recruits under Col. Thornton and Capt. Asbury, and this force was attacked near Albany, Ray county, on the 27th of October, by a force of militia under Maj. John Grimes and Maj. Samuel P. Cox, and Anderson was killed. He had two gold watches, a considerble sum of money in gold and greenbacks and six revolvers on hls person, and dangling from his horse's bridle were several human scalps .* The body was taken to Richmond and photographed, after which it was buried in the Richmond cemetery, where it now lies. There was also found on the noted guerrilla's body the following order:
· HEAKQUARTERS ARMY OF MISSOURI, BOONVILLE, Oct. 11, 1864.
Capt. Anderson, with his command, will at once proceed to the north side of the Missouri river, and permanently destroy the North Missouri railroad, going as far east as practicable. He will report his operations at least every two days.
By order of Maj. Gen. Price.
MACLEAN, Lt. Col. and A. A. G.
ARCH CLEMENTS' RAID -KILLING OF CAPT. BEATY AND CALEB W. SHIRLEY.
After Bill Anderson was killed in Ray county, October 27, his first lieutenant, Arch Clements, assumed command of the entire force of some 300 confederates and guerrillas, and pledged himself to cross the Missouri in 48 hours. He refused to consider the rank of Col. Thornton or recog- nize the authority of any of the other confederate officers as superior to his. "This is bushwhacking, gentlemen," said he; "you men may be my superiors in the regular service, but, by G-d, no man is my superior as a bushwhacker. Fall in!" Clements at this time was only about twenty years of age. Enforcing explicit obedience to his every command, Clem- ents swung his entire force north of Richmond, safely away from Cox's militia, and then started east for Brunswick. Reaching the western part
*Switzler's History of Missouri, p. 440.
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HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY.
of this county he sent out a scouting party in the direction of Carrollton. This party came to the residence of Capt. Wm. Beaty, west of town. Beaty was eating dinner. At his house was a member of his company, Caleb W. Shirley. Both Beaty and Shirley had -been taken prisoners at the surrender of Carrollton, had been paroled and their paroles were in their pockets. But no sooner did they see the guerrillas than they knew their lives were in danger, and springing from their seats they sought to make their escape. The guerrillas shot Shirley in the hip as he left the door, bringing him to the ground. . Then they pursued Beaty, and just as he was climbing a fence shot and killed him. Returning to the house where Shirley lay, the wounded man begged for his life, saying, "I am a paroled prisoner, aud have my parole in my pocket if you wish to see it." " What do you suppose we care for your d-d parole?" was the reply. Two or three pistol shots rang out, and Shirley lay a corpse. Then to the distracted wife of Beaty one of the guerrillas said: "That man of yours that ran out the back way fell off the fence out vonder and broke his neck; you had better go and see about him." The guerrillas then left.
Beaty had just returned from Chillicothe, whither he and his brother militia officers had gone for safety after being paroled. He intended going back after he had arranged some business. It was he who com- manded the scout that caught and killed Peery and Williams, but by all who knew him he was accounted guiltless. of their blood. Both he and Shirley were men of good character, and their death was greatly deplored -and, it may be said, caused other men, some of them perhaps innocent, to be killed "in retaliation."
Clements passed rapidly through the county, crossed Grand river at the Rock Ford, and went on to Brunswick, where he seized a boat and crossed his entire command in safety. No sooner was his force safely in Saline county than Thornton and his confederates withdrew their forces from him, saying they did not want to be in the company of bushwhack- ers .*.
The months of November and December were full of tragic episodes and distressing events to the people of Carroll county. The confederate sympathizers were greatly harrassed and many of them left the county. It was painfully evident that a great mistake had been made in engaging in civil war. The people were convinced that the war could have been avoided, and should have been, and this conviction remains to this day. Animosities had been engendered that required years of time and the calm of peace to remove.
At Carrollton and DeWitt, forces of militia were constantly present and
*Clements was killed in the streets of Lexington, in December, 1867, by a man named Turley, an ex-federal and then a member of Bacon Montgomery's "Tom Fletcher" militia.
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HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY.
the federal authority was ever after maintained. The guerrilla bands had left the country or been broken up. Anderson had been killed; Todd had been killed at the battle of Independence; Dave Pool, Arch. Clements, Thrailkill, Si. Gordon. and Holtzclaw had gone to Texas; Fletcher Tay- lor had his arm shot off in Platte county. No regular confederates were nearer than Arkansas.
One thing remarkable in the history of the county during the civil war is to be noted. Public business was never entirely suspended. The county court met, the other county officers transacted their business, the circuit courts were held, taxes were collected, and the revenues honestly applied, and the county records preserved intact. These things were done with some difficulty at times, but they were done.
UNION SOLDIERS' RECORD. COMPANY M, 7TH CAVALRY, M. S. M.
Oscar B. Queen, Capt .; Ruben J. Berry, 1st Lieut .; M. A. McElhaney, 2nd Lieut .; Wm. Cride, 1st Sergt .; T. C. S. Kendrick, H. Bryant, Wm. McMurtry and W. T. Holman, Sergeants; Crosby Fry, John James, Bery Riggs, C. C. Mattox, P. D. Houston, Corporals.
ENLISTED MEN.
John Adkins, Geo. Arnold, S. F. Ball, Wm. Berry, Wm. Brotherton, Newton Campbell, Robt. Carpenter, Josephus Godwin, Wm. Glenden- ing, Thos. Holman, A. W. Harden, G. B. Lannan, W. T. Lannan, F. G. Laugh, Wm. O'Connell, F. A. Owen, Sam'l Payne, James Payne, Wm. Ransom, Jno. E. Rains, Burnhardt Rodner, Jackson Rumbly, Nathan Rice, Mich'l Sullivan, Wm. Smith, B. F. Turner, E. V. Titus, J. D. Wil- son, Jas. McMurtry, Lafayette Mattox, Edward Wilson, Jno. Wollgamott.
Capt. Queen enlisted as a private, was promoted to corporal, orderly sergeant, lieutenant and acting adjutant of the regiment, and in 1864 was elected captain of the company, serving as captain until the company's discharge in the spring of 1865.
The regiment followed Shelby and Price on their raids, was at Lone Jack, Big Blue, Newtonia and several other points of skirmishing.
COMPANY K, 23D MISSOURI INFANTRY VOLUNTEERS, U. S. A.
All the company, except the captains, were from Carroll county.
Richard Brown, Richard Waters, Captains; W. S. Shirley, 1st Lieut., promoted from the ranks after the battles around Atlanta; Warfield Wal- ker, Sergeant.
K
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HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY.
PRIVATES.
J. W. Anderson, F. Albright, H. Anderson, F. M. Appleby, Sid. Ben- nett, P. S. Bowman, Jacob Ballew, John Barrett, Thos. Barrett, Bennett Brock, J. H. Bradley, Jas. Brown, Lamel Baugh, John Carlisle, J. M. Cox, Francis Cox, Thos. Cox, S. C. Caskey, H. 'Calvert, John C. Dorsey, F. W. Davis, Rich'd Escue, P. T. Fields, Benj. Grigsby, Jas. Godsey, J. H. Grigsby, R. A. Harrison, Wm. Harrison, W. Harrison, P. Hudson, H. H. Holloway, G. F. Holloway, P. Harper, Lewis Heske, Fred. Heil, Fred. Heisinger, Rich'd Harris, Rich'd Johnson, Elisha Johnson, Wm. Johnson, Geo. Lozier, L. R. Lane, Jas. Lewis, Dan. Lewis, Jacob Lath- am, Hardy Medlin, J. M. Mossbarger, L. W. McCain, Frank May, Geo. Misener, John Mounts, Thos. McFerren, Jas. Murray, Amos Odell, Leon- ard Oster, Wm. Pence, Henry Piles, John Piles, John T. Powers, W. J. Powers, Jr., W. J. Powers, Sr., J. D. Parsley, John Phillips, Richard Phillips, Geo. Reed, Jacob Shirley, J. W. M. Smart, Robt. Stewart, Lewis Scott, J. M. Standley, John Shelton, Wm. Vinson, John Vinson, Joseph Webber, Dick Whirton, Levi Whirton, Isaac Young.
Benj. Grigsby and P. Hudson were killed, Leonard Oster and J. W. Anderson wounded and F. Albright and Jas. Murray taken prisoners at Shiloh. John C. Dorsey, died in prison. H. Calvert was discharged at Alton. Dock and Levi Wharton died at Chillicothe. B. Brock and J. W. Standley died. S. C. Caskey died in prison. Hugh Anderson deserted at Festerville, Tennessee.
MISCELLANEOUS-UNION.
C. C. Mattox, enlisted 1862, 7th Mo. M. S. M. Vol., Col. Philips. Taken prisoner at Sedalia, and discharged 1865.
John Zimmerman and Dakin Dickerson, enlisted in 1863, Cary's Co., discharged 1865.
N. C. Finch, enlisted M. S. M. Beaty's company 1864 and paroled 1865.
W. P. Dusnell, enlisted Aug. 25, 1861, company L., 7th Missouri Cav- alry, Corporal, captured in Arkansas and exchanged at Galveston, Texas, discharged January 12, 1865.
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