USA > Missouri > Platte County > History of Clay and Platte 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 Clay and Platte Counties --their pioneer record, resources, biographical sketches of prominent citizens. > Part 76
USA > Missouri > Clay County > History of Clay and Platte 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 Clay and Platte Counties --their pioneer record, resources, biographical sketches of prominent citizens. > Part 76
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115 | Part 116 | Part 117 | Part 118
Col. Thornton boldly took possession of Platte City. The militia here offered no resistance. They were not strong enough to oppose him even if they had desired to do so. Nevertheless, Capt. Johnston tried in good faith to rally his men to prevent Thornton from taking the place. All but a very few answered that they were organized to put down thieves, incendiaries and murderers, and as long as Thorn- ton and his men committed no offense they were not disposed to inter- fere and bring on trouble and bloodshed.
After spending two or three days in Platte City, Col. Thornton moved his men up to Camden Point and went into camp. He continued there without concealment, although with only a handful of men, un- til he was attacked by a greatly superior force, 15 or 20 to one, and routed, with the loss of several killed and the complete breaking up and disorganization of his force.
RAID OF THE BASHI-BAZOUKS.
Thornton was camped in a pasture in the northern suburbs of Cam- den Point, now a part of the Robt. Hardesty farm. He had only about forty men with him, nearly all boys and young men, raw recruits in the service. Others belonging to his force were in differ- ent parts of the county in squads and alone.
He had been frequently warned of the danger of his situation - that he was within a few hours' ride of Ft. Leavenworth and was not only imperilling the lives of his own men by removing there, but also
722
HISTORY OF PLATTE COUNTY.
the lives and property of the citizens of the community. He would listen at nothing and persisted in asserting that he could " hold the country." The very morning preceding the afternoon that he was attacked he was told that a reconnoitering party of Federals had been seen near the place. He paid no attention to the report, but collect- ing his men around him made a flambeauant speech to reassure them.
Capt. Fletcher Taylor, an officer whose courage and good sense no one doubted, and who was present with a company at Camden Point in the morning, told Thornton that the place would be attacked before night and that for his part he intended to take his men away. Suit- ing his actions to his words he left and thus avoided a disaster. .
Camden Point " Fight."-Thornton's presence at Camden Point and in the county, had, of course, been reported to the authorities at Ft. Leavenworth, and steps were taken to capture him or drive him out of the country. A force of the best fighters and worst men in the service on the other side of the river was directed to make a raid into Platte county. They were the principal parts of two regiments, the Fifteenth Kansas under Col. Jennison, of fragrant memory, and a Colorado regiment under Col. Ford, the only one in the service whose reputation exceeded that of Jennison's men for mur- ders and arsons committed, and horses, household goods and ladies' wearing apparel stolen. A. J. Miller's company and Fitzgerald's men of the Sixteenth Kansas were along to complete the worst body of cut-throats and freebooters that ever tortured a victim or looted a community - the scum and outlaws of society as a rule, the Bashi- Bazouks of the Western border.
On the 13th of July, 1864, having reached Weston, they moved rapidly, but without much ado, on Camden Point, about twelve miles distant, and on reaching the latter place dashed upon it 700 or 1,000 strong, driving in Thornton's pickets as they went, and taking him and his men completely by surprise. The Confederates were of course not prepared for an attack, and they had no force sufficient to resist it even if they had expected it. Their horses were not saddled, their arms were scattered through the camp, and few of them had their guns and pistols loaded.
Thornton himself fled precipitately as soon as the Federals came in sight, notwithstanding his flambeauant speech only a few hours before, leaving his men to be butchered as sheep in a shamble, for all that he did or attempted to do. Major Thrailkill, however, an old Confed- erate veteran who had just escaped from Rock Island prison, and two or three other old Confederate soldiers, happened to be present, in-
723
HISTORY OF PLATTE COUNTY.
cluding Capt. Joe Macy and Lieut. Hardin, and they rallied the men who had their arms and horses in readiness and formed across the lane, thus checking the Federal charge until the others could saddle up and get an equal chance for escape.
If the Federals had surrounded the Southern camp or even stationed a force in each road leading out from Camden Point - for all the roads were in lanes - they would have exterminated the whole Southern force. As it was two of the Southerners were killed outright - Lieut. Hardin and Richard Alvis. Robt. McCormack was wounded and concealed himself in a cluster of undergrowth in a fence corner. But his wound was so severe that he unfortunately made his whereabouts known by an involuntary cry of pain. At once several Federals climbed up on the fence over him and shot him to death. Andrew Smith, Peter Clements and Jesse Wytes were taken prisoners and were shot - murdered without even the form of a court-martial.
All of them were regular Confederate soldiers - that is, they had been sworn into the Southern service by Col. Thornton, who was regularly authorized to recruit and swear in Confederate volunteers, by a commission from Gen. Price.
The Federal loss is not probably known, but is said to have been four killed and eleven wounded. Their dead were taken back to Kansas.
After the war the Confederate Association of Platte County, Dr. E. McD. Coffey, president, took up a collection and with the proceeds erected a handsome marble monument in the cemetery at Camden Point to the memory of those killed on the Southern side. On one side of the monument is the following inscription : " Almavine Hardin, July 13, 1864 ; Richard Alvis, July 13, 1864." On the other : " Robert McCormack, July 13, 1864; " on the third side : " Andrew Smith, Peter Clements, Jesse Wytes ; " and on the fourth : " Erected to the Memory of Confederate Soldiers by their Friends."
Burning of Camden Point and Platte City and Murders and Robberies .- After the murder of the prisoners above referred to, Jen- nison and Ford proceeded to burn Camden Point. They destroyed about twenty houses, including Skinner's, Humphrey's and Mrs. Morton's dwellings, Rohan's store-house, Estes' tin-shop, Williams' and Carson's dwelling houses, a blacksmith shop, Hale's store-house, warehouse and a hemp house, Park's dwelling, Dr. Thomas' dwelling west of town and a number of others belonging to parties whose names are not now remembered.
The same day a squad of three men, while passing the residence of
724
HISTORY OF PLATTE COUNTY.
Mr. Geo. M. McCuer, one of the oldest and most highly esteemed citizens in the county, a man who had taken no part whatever in the war, shot him down in his own door. Riding up to the house, they called him to the door and asked him if he had seen any rebels pass- ing there. He assured them he had not seen any. They then fired upon him. He fell back, mortally wounded, and died the next morning.
Another squad passing the residence of Mr. Jack, another old citi- zen of the county, the father of Mr. A. R. Jack, present cashier of the Exchange Bank at Platte City, and treasurer of the county, found him at his front-yard stiles and without any ceremony or excuse began shooting at him. Their purpose evidently was to scare him so that he would run and then shoot him as a flying rebel. But he refused to run and told them if they meant to kill he would as soon die where he was as at any other place. They cursed him and abused him and passed on.
Ford and Jennison, after burning Camden Point, went to Platte City, and burnt that place or the principal part of it left unburnt by their illustrious predecessor in incendiarism and villainy, Col. Mor- gan. Concerning their performance there, we take the following from Mr. W. M. Paxton's Historical Sketch of the county : " About three o'clock that evening(the 14th) Swaney's block of buildings, which stood on the corner now occupied by the Farmer's Saving Association, was burned. The following morning the troops started for Liberty, and left a party to burn the town. The following houses were destroyed : The Methodist Church, the Presbyterian Church and Masonic Hall, the Male Academy and the dwelling houses of Levi Likens, Wm. C. Remington, H. C. Cockrill, Howard Connelly, Mary A. Marsh, the Gaines Hotel, the shop of Philip Lutes, besides the row of buildings upon the present public square, and that facing the same on the south. These edifices composed the best part of the town, and some of the houses destroyed were the best in town."
The Christian Church at Platte City and the one at Platte City were spared by the special order of Col. Jennison. He ordered that they should not be burnt, giving as a reason that his wife was a mem- ber of the Christian denomination. But he was so bad a man that even she, his own wife, had to part company with him. She left him after the war for keeping a house of ill-fame at Fort Leavenworth, ostensibly a restaurant or eating house, with a doggery and gambling dive annex. Another shining light of the loyal patriots set to rule over and murder and plunder decent people !
725
HISTORY OF PLATTE COUNTY.
From Platte City this delectable band of scoundrels started to Liberty on a drunken saturnalian expedition of crime and villainy. Jennison's men went by way of Parkville and Barry, and Ford's di- rectly by Barry. Jennison himself accompanied Ford's command, and the men, while on their Parkville detour, were under one Thompson, famed for his murders of unarmed citizens, and as a terror to women and children.
On his way to Parkville Thompson killed three law-abiding reput- able citizens of the county, shot them down in cold blood on the pub- lic road. John Rogers and Masterson lived near Parkville, and were returning home from town that day when they were met and shot down by Thompson's men. Neither of them had ever been identified with the South in any way, and both were peaceable unof- fending citizens. They were each between 50 and 60 years of age, and both were men of families. Masterson was a one-legged man, and had been constable of the township for a number of years. He was popular with all classes and was elected by both political parties. Rogers was a quiet, plain-going farmer, fairly well-to-do, and without a known enemy in the world.
A few miles further along Thompson met another farmer, David Greeg, who had been to mill at Parkville that day, and was returning home with his grists in an ox wagon. He was ordered to get out of his wagon and was shot by the side of the road and left there a corpse. His ox team stood there, hitched to the wagon, until neighbors found him and his team that afternoon. He was a white-haired old man, verging on 70 years of age, and had nothing whatever to do with the war.
Ford's men under Ford and Jennison were hardly outdone by Thompson. On their way through the county they took a boy by the name of James Redman, a son of Hickman Redman, residing near Barry and shot him. He was at home when taken prisoner and they marched him only a short distance from his father's house. His mother heard the reports of the pistols when he was murdered, and rushing out where he was, reached him just in time for him to die with his head in her lap. He had scarcely ever seen a Southern soldier, much less been in the Southern service.
Further along on their way, beyond Barry, they murdered a Mr. Hall and Abram Estis, two farmers in nowise connected with either army.
Thus Ford's and Jennison's men went on through the country, murdering and plundering. On his way to Parkville, Thompson
726
HISTORY OF PLATTE COUNTY.
burned the residence of Mrs. Hughes, widow of Judge Hughes, for no other reason, so far as is known, than that it was the best house in sight - a handsome brick residence.
Both detachments, Ford's and Thompson's, stole every thing they could carry away on their routes. They took wagons and teams and then took the plunder to load them. Horses, wagons, harness, sad- dles, household goods, wearing apparel, meats, provisions of all kinds - everything that a foraging party of thieves would be expected to lay their hands on was taken and carried away. When the two com- mands left the county they had over 100 head of horses with them, and a regular caravan of plunder. Judge Chives, near Barry, alone lost seven head of horses in this way, and they loaded 450 pounds of bacon into a wagon from Bradley Cox's smoke-house and carried it off to relieve the grasshopper sufferers in Kansas. Others along their route suffered in like manner.
The whole county drew a long, deep sigh of relief when they were known to be out of it.
OTHER TRAGEDIES, FIGHTS AND ROBBERIES.
Though the Kansas and Colorado raiders killed twelve men in the county, six of whom were in nowise connected with either army, and burned Platte City and Camden Point, besides robbing and plunder- ing far and wide as they went, their raid was by no means all that occurred in the county during the year 1864 to unsettle affairs and render it a scene of disorder and of the worst crimes of the Civil War.
Massacre at Mrs. Bradley's. - About the time of the Camden Point affair, or soon afterwards, five young men who had volunteered as re- cruits for the Southern service, but had not yet made their way South, were surprised and surrounded at the residence of Mrs. Bradley, a widow lady residing about two and a half miles from Platte City. They were Wm. Stone, John Thomas and Young Hines, Morehead and Marshfield,1 and were there getting a meal.
The Federals were about fifty in number. They gave the South- erners no opportunity to surrender, but began firing upon them and killed Hines and Morehead in the house. Thomas, Marshfield and Stone attempted to escape and were killed in the orchard near the house. Stone was severely wounded, but succeeded in eluding his pursuers. Bleeding and almost dying, he secreted himself behind a log in a cluster of underbrush, still holding his pistols, which he had reloaded, with the intention of selling his life as dearly as possible if
1 Maj. Edwards' book.
727
HISTORY OF PLATTE COUNTY.
he was discovered. Presently he saw a squad of Federals approach- ing and he nerved himself up for the death duel he felt sure was to follow. But then a great firing was heard in the direction of Mrs. Bradley's. Stone's pursuers, unconscious of his presence so near them, rushed back in the direction of the firing, and thus his life was saved. But his escape was purchased at the cost of the life of a young man by the name of Fielding.
The latter, brother to George Fielding, who was killed in the Ridgely fight, was near Mrs. Bradley's when her house was attacked. Divining the true cause of the firing he heard when the attack was made, he dashed forward bravely to the relief of his friends, and rushed upon the Federals like a fury, shooting as he came. A squad of them turned upon him and a sharp, quick pistol rencontre oc- curred. Young Fielding was riddled with bullets and died a martyr to his fidelity to his friends. Maj. Edwards in his book says that sev- eral Federals were killed.
Taylor's Capture of Parkville. - During the summer of 1864 oc- curred the fight at Parkville. Capt. Noland held that place with a company of militia between 70 and 100 strong. They used and had fortified the old stone building on the river belonging to Mr. Geo. Park, as a fort. Suddenly and unexpectedly Capt. Fletcher Taylor, with a force of about 40 men, appeared before it and demanded their surrender. Some of the militia fled at the first approach of the Con- federates, but Capt. Noland, with, the main body of his force, held the building and refused to surrender. A spirited firing was begun, but Taylor rushed upon the house, manned a battering ram and bursted down one of its doors. His men then poured into it, and the militia took refuge upstairs. Below, at the foot of the stairway, Taylor com- manded Noland to surrender, saying that he would immediately set fire to the building if his order was not obeyed. Noland, seeing that further resistance could avail nothing, capitulated. He and his men were paroled as prisoners of war, and Taylor moved on northward.
Fight at Ridgely - Murder of Geo. Fielding. - Not far from the time of Taylor's descent upon Parkville occurred the fight at Ridgely. A company, or detachment of militia, was stationed there under Capt. Poe, from Plattsburg, in Clinton county. While they were there a squad of Confederate recruits, under a Capt. Hoverson, or Hoverton, were endeavoring to make their way South. In order the better to pass through the Federal lines unsuspected they had provided them- selves with Union uniforms. Coming on to pass through Ridgely they unexpectedly found Poe's command there.
41
728
HISTORY OF PLATTE COUNTY.
At a glance they took in the situation and determined to make the best of it. It was now too late to retreat. To attempt it would reveal their identity and cause them to be pursued by all the Federals in the country. They therefore resolved to carry out the deception and pass through as Union troops, or, if discovered, to fight. Ac- cordingly, they rode boldly up and gave the Federals a friendly salute. The latter formed in the street to receive them in military fashion, but demanded to know what command they were. Just then one of the militiamen recognized one of the Confederates, and cried out, " Bushwhackers !" With this the firing commenced on both sides.
Mr. - Stone who was present as a looker on and witnessed the whole fight (a son of John Stone, an old citizen, residing near Ridge- ly ), says that the Confederates' horses, being raw to military service, took fright at the firing and could not be controlled. They scattered in every direction, and their riders in endeavoring to manage them were compelled to take both hands, so that they could do little or no shooting after the first volley. The few, however, who could hold their horses to the fight, stood their ground bravely and fought with des- peration.
Capt. Hoverson, a Southern recruiting officer, was shot dead in the street. Capt. Robert McMillan, of Smithville, in Clay county, killed him. Geo. Fielding, also on the Southern side, a brother to Thos. Fielding, who was killed at Mrs. Bradley's, was mortally wounded - shot through the neck and shoulder - but temporarily escaped. Several other Confederates were wounded, but not seriously. All but Hoverson and Fielding escaped.
One militiaman, according to our informant, Mr. Stone, was killed dead, and several were wounded.
Young Fielding, as he was escaping on his horse, and fatally wounded, met a Miss Berry in the road on her way to town. She was not aware that the fight had occurred and innocently told when she reached town that she had met a man on the way bleeding pro- fusely and apparently very sick.
A squad of Federals at once started after him. He, however, rode off into the roads and eluded them. He then turned his horse loose and dragged himself as far as he could go - until he fainted. Recov- ering consciousness again, his suffering was so intense that Richard Marsh, who happened to be chopping wood near by, heard him groan- ing and went to him. He asked Marsh to let him lay his head in his lap, but Marsh told him it would be death to both of them if they were caught there together. Marsh cut some brush to shade him
729
HISTORY OF PLATTE COUNTY.
and then fled, leaving the poor wounded man to die alone, and with- out even a cup of water. It would have been better for him, and much better for the cowardly assassins who afterwards murdered him, if he had died in the woods and alone.
A squad of Federals found him there-Capt. Fitzgerald (his name always appears in the war history of Platte county when a mur- der is to be committed or a house burned, but never when any hon- est, manly fighting is to be done ), Benj. Smithers, Cal. Mattox and others. They took him back to Ridgely. There his wound was examined by a physician and it was pronounced fatal -that he must die within twenty-four or thirty-six hours at the extreme limit.
But his assassins, already steeped in crime, could not wait for him to die of his wound. A drum-head court-martial was organized under Capt. Fitzgerald, and young Fielding was sentenced ( ? ) to be shot, wounded, helpless and dying though he already was.
But whilst he was lying flat of his back, almost motionless from loss of blood, a soldier ( ? ) by the name of Baldwin stole the boots off his feet, jerked them off as easily as he would rifle the pockets of a passer-by on the public way. They were fine cavalry boots and the scoundrel was afraid that if he waited till their owner was dead some one else would get them. This, however, was not considered fair and it was agreed that if Baldwin would shoot Fielding, under the sentence of Capt. Fitzgerald, he, Baldwin, might have the boots. He performed that service and was given the boots.
The Fielding brothers resided in Buchanan county, and were the sons of one of the most reputable farmers and highly esteemed citi- zens of that county.
Capt. Fitzgerald was not in the fight at Ridgely, according to the statement of our informant, Mr. Stone. He was there when it began, in a saloon, drinking with two other boon companions, but both of them fled. The two companions met Mr. Stone (Sr. ) in his field some distance from Ridgely, and they told him of the fight, that the bushwhackers were killing everybody and that they and Fitzgerald had escaped. Fitzgerald returned to Ridgely, however, and headed the murder hunt for young Fielding.
Killing of Phineas Wood and Young Throckmorton. - Of the murder in the fall of 1864 near the residence of Mrs. Skinner, who then lived in the northern part of the county, of two Confed- erate soldiers, at the time on furlough from Price's army, the follow- ing account has been received by the writer in the form of a letter
730
HISTORY OF PLATTE COUNTY.
from Mr. W. A. M. Vaughan, of Kansas City, under date of May 1, 1885 : -
OFFICE OF VAUGHAN & Co., GRAIN COMMISSION MERCHANTS, ROOM 21, MERCHANTS' EXCHANGE. KANSAS CITY, MO., May 1, 1885. W. W. Gatewood, Esq., St. Louis, Mo .:
DEAR SIR -Your letter of the 24th ult., addressed to Mrs. Skin- ner, Camden Point, Mo., has been forwarded to her daughter, Mar- garet P., now my wife, for reply.
Mrs. Vaughan was a girl at home with her mother during the war, and is as conversant with the facts relative to the death of the parties as any one not connected with the murderers. Mrs. Skinner is dead, also two other members of her family then residing with her.
The facts concerning this tragedy, as my wife states them to me, are substantially as follows : -
At the beginning of the Civil War, Phineas Woods, then a boy, with many others of his age, joined the forces under Gen. Sterling Price at Lexington, Mo., and remained in the army under him until the time of his death. During the month of November, 1864, whilst on Price's last campaign in this State, and when the army had reached this county, at Independence, Phineas Woods, young Throgmorton and others obtained furloughs from their respective officers and commanders and permission to cross the Missouri river and go into Platte county to visit home and relatives. Knowing the country was full of lawless militia, they took every precaution to avoid a collision, seeking only to visit their friends and homes, designing to molest no one, and to return quietly to their commands before they left the country. Young Woods, with his friend Throgmorton,1 arrived at his grand- mother's, Mrs. S. After a hearty greeting they were warned of their danger ; but they expressed entire confidence in the virtue of their furloughs and passes, as against any violence, even if captured. Taking a hearty lunch with them they left to join their commands. When one mile from the home just left, and while seated near the roadside eating their lunch, they were surprised by a company of Federal militia, commanded by one Pace, said to be a Methodist preacher, to whom they surrendered and delivered their papers, etc.
That afternoon Mrs S.'s family was notified by the soldiers that " two men had been killed down in the pasture." There being no men on the place, the females went in search and found the two boys dead, shot in their backs. They were removed and buried with diffi- culty, as men were afraid to be known as giving this much comfort even to the dead of the South. The murderers had robbed the dead of their valuables and part of their clothing, and boastingly told how they had accomplished their murderous work, saying that whilst the officer in command (and it has been always understood, that his name was Pace, and a Methodist preacher) was pretending to be reading
1 Doubtless the same as Throckmorton.
731
HISTORY OF PLATTE COUNTY.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.