USA > Missouri > Scotland County > History of Lewis, Clark, Knox, and Scotland counties, Missouri. From the earliest time to the present, together with sundry personal, business and professional sketches and mumerous family records > Part 63
USA > Missouri > Lewis County > History of Lewis, Clark, Knox, and Scotland counties, Missouri. From the earliest time to the present, together with sundry personal, business and professional sketches and mumerous family records > Part 63
USA > Missouri > Clark County > History of Lewis, Clark, Knox, and Scotland counties, Missouri. From the earliest time to the present, together with sundry personal, business and professional sketches and mumerous family records > Part 63
USA > Missouri > Knox County > History of Lewis, Clark, Knox, and Scotland counties, Missouri. From the earliest time to the present, together with sundry personal, business and professional sketches and mumerous family records > Part 63
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Long shall our noble banner wave, Defended by such soldiers brave;
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HISTORY OF KNOX COUNTY.
And justly can our State be proud Of loyal sons, whose deeds so loud Proclaim that she shall ever be The Champion of Liberty.
Another poem, a tribute to the memory of Orderly Sergt. Hancock, was written by a a Union kinsman, and also published in the Palmyra Courier, then the principal organ of the Radical Unionists of Northeast Missouri. It too was sung to the air of "The Dying Californian," whatever that was. Although not perfect, rhetorically considered, yet this screed possesses consid- erable merit, and the last stanza was quite significant when first published.
THE HERO DEAD.
To the memory of Francis Hancock, who was killed at the battle of Newark, Mo., August 1, 1862.
Noble man! heroic soldier! sweetly slumber where thou fell;
Better bier we cannot fashion, none becomes thee half so well
As that gory field of conflict, as that blood be-crimsoned sod,
Where thy hero soul ascended to the judgment seat of God.
Winding-sheet we would not make thee; fitter, far, to wrap thy form Are the pierced and blood-stained garments worn amid that battle storm; With the gash upon thy bosom, and the smile upon thy brow, It is fit that thou shouldst slumber, where thou bravely met the foe.
Leave the blood upon his forehead, wash not off the sacred stains; Let it stiffen on his raiment, and his wounds unclosed remain, 'Till the day when he shall show them, at the throne of God on high, 'Till the patriot and the traitor meet before the Judge's eye!
Weep not, ye who knew and loved him; weep not, thou, his widowed wife, For, from every patriot martyr, hosts of heroes spring to life.
Weep not, ye, his friends and kinsman; hear him cry from 'neath that sod: "Strike! oh, strike, and ye shall conquer, just as sure as God is God!"
Human weakness shall not shame us; why should we have tears to shed? Could we rain them down like water, oh, our hero, on thy head- Could the cry of lamentation wake thee from thy silent sleep, Could it set thy heart a throbbing-Oh, we could not, could not weep.
I could weep, hadst thou not valued flag and country more than life, If a coward's part thou'dst acted, 'mid the hottest of the strife; But no tear shall dim the lustre that is shed around thy grave. Sweetly sleep, heroic kinsman; thou wert noble, thou wert brave.
Better had the morning never dawned upon our dark despair; Better that amid our households, spectral ruins were not there; For our living lips have sworn it, as they kissed those of the slain, To avenge the wrongs we've suffered, ere the autumn days shall wane.
G. E. J.
699
STATE OF MISSOURI.
CAPTURE OF COL. FRISBY M'CULLOUGH.
After the Kirksville fight, for some days the enrolled militia of the county were actively engaged in catching up the . Confederate stragglers who were making their way to the east- ward. One entire company, commanded by Capt. Valentine, of Marion, passed through the southern part of the county on the way to Whaley's mill, or some other rendezvous, and near Nov- elty captured Capt. T. W. Hotchkiss, of the newly enrolled militia. The Confederates were wrathy, and threatened to shoot their prisoner, but did not, and he was released the same night.
Couples and squads of Franklin and Mccullough's regiment were taken up, but many more passed through unmolested. At last Col. McCullough himself was taken. His capture, as here- tofore stated, was effected on the afternoon of the day succeeding the battle of Kirksville, in a piece of timber or brush patch, about eight miles northwest of Edina. He had made his way from the fatal field to that point alone, and probably had traveled the greater part of the night. Half sick, fatigued and dis- pirited, he had sought the seclusion of the little grove for rest and recuperation. Probably he intended resuming his journey at nightfall toward a rendezvous agreed upon between himself and some of his men, at Whaley's mill, or near by. Had he reached this rendezvous, he would have reorganized his battalion and made an attempt to reach the Confederate lines in Arkansas. A resident of the neighborhood saw him enter the thicket, and conjecturing by his uniform and the gun he carried that he was a fugitive from the Kirksville fight, roused a squad of citizens to effect his capture. The squad surrounded the thicket, and a man named Holmes volunteered to enter. He had not proceeded far until he came upon the fugitive at bay. A parley ensued, and Col. Mccullough said: "I will surrender if you will guar- antee that I shall be treated as a prisoner of war." The militiamen-for such practically they were, although some of them were not enrolled, and they had no leader-replied to the effect that if he would lay down his arms and surrender he should "not be hurt," and soon he was in their hands. His identity was then discovered for the first time, and to the exultant surprise of the captors.
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HISTORY OF KNOX COUNTY.
Elated at the capture of so important a personage, the militia bore Col. McCullough in something of triumph to Edina, and turned him over to Capt. Lewis Sells, then in command of the post. The cry ran through the town, "Fris. Mccullough is taken! Fris. McCullough is taken!" and the citizens flocked to the courthouse, where he was held, to see him. The prisoner was of large and athletic build. He wore a new and handsome gray uniform, and so arrayed, and bearing himself with his nat- ural dignity and grace of presence, looked every inch the soldier and sir knight. His calm and gentlemanly deportment, added to his apparent modest heroism, called forth many expressions of admiration and actual sympathy. Had his fate been left to the disposition of even the stanchest Unionists of this county, he might have been alive to-day.
Soon there came to Edina McNeil's supply train, under Quar- termaster Hiller, en route for Kirksville. Its small escort was commanded by Capt. James S. Best, of McNeil's regiment, the Second Missouri State Militia. Capt. Sells turned Mccullough over to Capt. Best, who treated him with proper consideration. He rode with him, talked freely with him, and delivered him to the authorities at Kirksville, without a thought of the melan- choly fate which was so shortly to befall him.
Col. Frisby Henderson Mccullough was born in Newcastle County, Del., in March, 1829. In about 1843 his father, James McCullough, removed to the northwestern portion of Marion County, Mo., where his son, Frisby, was reared. Between the years 1849 and 1854 he made two trips to California, going across the plains, and returning by way of the isthmus. In 1856 he married Miss Ella Randolph, a daughter of Thomas and Eliza- beth Randolph, who were among the very first settlers of Knox County, of which Mrs. McCullough is a native. When the Civil War came on, Col. Mccullough was living on a farm in Marion County. Favoring the Southern cause, he enlisted in Gov. Jack- son's "State Guards " very early in the struggle, and on the 26th of July, 1861, he was chosen captain of Company E, First Reg- iment of Cavalry, Second Division (Gen. Harris') of that organ- ization.
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STATE OF MISSOURI.
SIX MEN CHASE SIXTY.
A few days after the Kirksville fight, a party of only six cit- izens of this county accomplished a very remarkable exploit, which certainly deserves a mention in history. The six men were Capt. James Marquess, Jacob Pugh, Price Parker, Russell Smith, James Cody and Bill Birch. Learning that a squad of reb- els had encamped on the Fabius, ten miles or so northwest of Edi- na, these men set out to reconnoiter, and to learn the facts and be governed by the circumstances. Approaching the encampment, they were discovered by a mounted picket, who wheeled his horse, galloped to the camp, and gave the alarm. So thoroughly demoralized had the Confederates become by their defeat at Kirksville that the entire party, some forty or fifty in number at least, stampeded in most unseemly haste, and with ridiculous precipitation, without firing a shot at the insignificant group of militiamen.
When the Unionists reached the camp they were amazed at the sight it presented. The rebels had left in such haste that they had abandoned three wagons, a dozen or more good horses, with their saddles and other equipments, a fine Confederate flag, a drum, and some guns, ammunition, provisions, etc. It was af- terward learned that the rebels were commanded by Capt. W. F. Davis, of Kirksville. They imagined, of course, that the six mili- tiamen were but the advance guard of a much larger force, which it was both desirable and prudent to avoid. The spoil was gath-' ered up, brought to Edina and turned over to Capt. Sells, and the captors were the heroes of the hour.
THE SKIRMISH AT CUNNINGHAM'S.
About the 28th of August, three weeks after the battle of Kirksville, there occurred in the northern part of this county what is known as the Cunningham fight.
The Confederate partisans had recovered somewhat from their crushing defeat at Kirksville, and were reorganizing. Capt. William Ewing had gotten together about thirty men, and was at work in the northern part of this county and the southern por- tion of Scotland. Some horses and guns were taken from Union men in that region, and threats were made to burn out and drive
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HISTORY OF KNOX COUNTY.
out certain members of the militia. "You burned my house," said Ewing, "and I will even up with you before this war is over."
On the evening of the 27th, Ewing encamped in the timber near his old home in the border of Scotland, in the country about Short's well. The next day, at the head of twenty-eight men, he rode to the residence of Robert Cunningham, Sr., who lived on the Middle Fabius, two and a half miles northwest of Millport (northwest corner of Section 9, Town 63, Range 11), within a mile of the Scotland County line. Cunningham was known as a promi- nent radical Unionist, and though well along in years had done considerable service in aid of the Federal cause. He was known as an intense hater of rebels, and between him and them there was little love lost. Ewing meant to take Cunningham's horses, and, it is said, to burn his house, and if he resisted he was to be shot. Arriving at the house, some of the Confederates went to the stables and horse lot to secure the horses, while Ewing, his lieutenant, Dr. Robinson, and perhaps a dozen others, attempted the arrest of Cunningham, with what particular object is not known.
Meanwhile word had reached Edina that Ewing was at large in the country about Millport, and 100 of the enrolled militia at the county seat were at once mounted, and sent out under Maj. Pugh and a Lieut. Easley, of Iowa, temporarily in the place. When this force reached the neighborhood west of Millport word came that the Confederates were at Cunningham's. An advance party led by Maj. Pugh, and having for one of its members Robert Cunningham, Jr., struck by a near route for the Cunningham house. The party reached the house just in time. The Con- federates were taking the horses from the stables, and a squad under Ewing had seized Mr. Cunningham. The old man was fighting like a tiger. He was in his dooryard struggling with two or three of his assailants. He had already been shot through the wrist and fore-arm, but had wrenched the revolver from the rebel who had shot him, and was trying to use the weapon him- self.
The clatter of the horses of Maj. Pugh's party, as they crossed a little bridge approaching the house, distracted the attention of
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STATE OF MISSOURI.
the Confederates from their struggles with the old man, and they prepared to repel the unexpected attack. The militiamen were coming at a swift gallop, young Bob Cunningham three lengths ahead, eager to rescue his father. Quite a spirited little fight resulted, lasting some minutes. Pugh's party was reinforced by the remainder of the militia, and the Confederates were driven away in disorder and with all ease, leaving behind them fifteen of their own horses from which they had dismounted when they entered the stable lot.
Capt. Bill Ewing himself was instantly killed. His lieuten- ant, Dr. Robinson, was mortally wounded, dying not many hours later. On his person was found the muster roll of Ewing's com- pany, containing eighty names. Three or four prisoners were taken unhurt, and brought to Edina and eventually sent to the Confed- erate lines and exchanged. The forces that escaped, their leaders having been killed, were scattered to the four winds; some of them joined other companies, but a majority left the service alto- gether.
On the side of the militia young Bob Cunningham was killed. As he was riding up to the defense of his father he was shot by Dr. Robinson, Ewing's lieutenant, who himself received his death wound a second later. The young man was carried into his own home, and laid out a bloody corpse in the presence of his wounded father, who was well nigh beside himself with grief and rage. Thereafter Mr. Cunningham regarded all rebels with an intense hatred that was never modified to the day of his death. Taken to Edina to have his wound dressed, he manifested his implacable resentment in his characteristic manner. Dr. Barnett was called to give him surgical attention. As he was beginning operations Old Bob said to him: "Hold on a minute! If you have one drop of rebel blood in your veins, you shall not dress my wounds, but if you are thoroughly loyal to your country go ahead!"
MISCELLANEOUS INCIDENTS.
During the Porter raid on one occasion, when his forces were passing through the county, a squad from Edina, under Maj. Pugh, was out scouting the country. East of Edina they came upon Lieut. Ned Freeman, Porter's adjutant. He mistook them
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HISTORY OF KNOX COUNTY.
for some of Porter's men, and by a stupendous yarn, excusable only because nearly everything is fair in war, they led him to believe they were, and informed him that Porter was then in Edina, and had sent them to him with instructions to come in at once. Freeman was completely deceived, and was conveyed to the courthouse before he realized it. He took the situation coolly and philosophically, and a few evenings later turned the tables on his captors by jerking the musket from the hands of his guard, threatening that personage with death if he moved or cried out, and then escaped in safety to the woods. He served through with Porter, and early in the spring of 1865 he came up into Northeast Missouri at the head of a band of robbers, and was killed by one Henry Spaw, in the western part of Marion County, while engaged in raiding the premises.
Some time about the 1st of October of this year a detach- ment of the Fiftieth Regiment of enrolled militia from this county, under Maj. Pugh and Capt. James Marquess, had a skirmish with Capt. Gabe S. Kendrick's company of Confeder- ates, a mile or so west of the present village of La Belle, in Lewis County. The Confederates were driven off with the loss of one man badly wounded, who was left at a dwelling house by the roadside.
On the 11th of October Capt. Kendrick surrendered what was left of his company, twenty-seven men, to Gen. John NcNeil, at Palmyra. The surrender had been previously partially arranged, and all of the prisoners were treated kindly, sent south, and, in time, duly exchanged. Capt. Kendrick reorganized his company, and served in the Confederate Army in Arkansas and Louisiana until the close of the war. In his report of the surrender of Capt. Kendrick, Gen. McNeil says: " He surrendered twenty-seven men, sixteen horses and saddles, and as many guns and pistols. This man had a company of 120 men at Kirksville, forty-three of whom were killed or wounded, and one-half of the remainder have since been captured or killed by our troops in the field."
In this connection it is perhaps proper to say that, at any time during the progress of the war in Northeast Missouri, the men in arms against the United States and the State, who had not
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STATE OF MISSOURI.
previously violated their paroles, or were not under capital charges, could have surrendered and been treated as the members of Capt. Kendrick's company were. At the time of this surren- der, McNeil's orders were out for the execution of ten rebel prisoners at Palmyra, and in just one week they were shot. Yet Capt. Kendrick and his men did not hesitate to trust themselves to McNeil, and their confidence was not misplaced. It is diffi- cult to understand why others did not follow their example. A large number of the men in the rebel service in this quarter professed an intense desire to go South into the Confederate lines in Arkansas, but no sooner were they taken prisoners by the Federals than they as earnestly demanded to be released on parole and bond, instead of asking to be treated as prisoners of war and sent to the South for exchange. The inference is fair that these men did not want to fight for the stars and bars as bad as they thought they did.
Even those among the rebel forces who had not been duly en- listed and were irregularly in service were allowed to come in and surrender, and receive the treatment usually accorded to prisoners of war. Responding to some inquiries from Col. S. M. Wirt, of this county, on this subject, Gen. Merrill, then in com- mand of this district, sent these instructions:
HEADQUARTERS NORTHEAST DISTRICT OF MISSOURI, MACON CITY, Mo., Oct. 19, 1862. COL. S. M. WIRT, EDINA, Mo. :
Colonel, The General commanding directs me to inform you that you are authorized to permit the surrender of all bushwhackers, except Franklin, Por- ter, Dunn, and Ralph Smith, upon the following conditions: 1. The lives of all who surrender will be spared. 2. All who surrender will be held as prison- ers of war, and as soon as the conduct of their fellows in the brush warrants the belief that bushwhacking will stop, such of them as have not heretofore violated their paroles will be released upon parole and bond, if they desire. You will require such as surrender to bring in their horses and arms, and will prefer their surrendering in companies. I am, Colonel, very respectfully, your obedient servant, GEORGE M. HOUSTON,
Major and Assistant Adjutant General.
After the affair at Cunningham's there was no encounter of importance in Knox County during the Civil War. The country was thoroughly in possession of the regularly constituted State and Federal authorities, to which there was scarcely a semblance of resistance. In the spring of 1863 a company of the enrolled
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HISTORY OF KNOX COUNTY.
militia was detailed for service in the Second Provisional Regi- ment, Col. E. A. Kutzner, of Scotland. This company (K) was commanded by Capt. H. R. Parsons, who had been captain of Company G, Fiftieth Eastern Missouri Militia, and the lieuten- ants were Marion Cowell, of Scotland, and Isaac W. Fox, of Knox. It served in various portions of Northeast Missouri, but was in no important engagement.
From time to time scouting parties of the militia were sent through the country to the infinite annoyance of the Confederate sympathizers, who were often compelled to cook for the men, to furnish forage for their horses, and to submit to the search of their houses and premises. In but few instances were these meas- ures justifiable or warranted. A deplorable feeling of bitterness and hatred between the two parties resulted. The " Southern sym- pathizers," as those of disloyal proclivities were termed, charged the militia with many acts of wanton mischief, as the seizure of horses and other articles of personal property, the unnecessary arrest of inoffensive citizens, etc. On the other hand the militia charged upon the disloyal population all responsibility for the condition of affairs then existing or that had existed since the outbreak of the war. It was alleged that but for the disloyalists a state of war could never have been brought about in this sec- tion; that the disloyalists ought to have considered more care- fully the consequences likely to result when they were so ready, so eager, and so busy in organizing for hostilities against the Government in the spring and summer of 1861, and that now they ought to congratulate themselves that their condition was not much worse than it was.
As soon as the courts were fairly in operation indictments were found against scores of men who had served under Martin E. Green, in 1861, and Joe Porter in 1862, for "robbery," in taking horses and other property from Union men, for " assault with intent to kill," for assault and battery," and "assault with intent to do great bodily harm," wherein the accused par- ties had fired at, or taken prisoners, certain Union citizens. In the end these indictments were all nolle prosequied upon the return of peace. The proceedings resulted in nothing but the stimulation and augmenting of the bad feeling already existing.
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707
STATE OF MISSOURI.
RAIDS AND ROBBERIES IN 1864.
In 1864 a number of cases of robbery and outrages occurred, . participated in by both parties. In September a band of rebel guerrillas, only thirteen in number, from Chariton and Howard Counties, led by Jim Jackson, a noted desperado and cut-throat, entered the southern portion of the county near the southwest corner, robbed the then little hamlet of Novelty, took a few horses in the country, and passed on to the northeast, leaving the county near the northeast corner. West of Luray, in Clark County, this band killed a citizen, and passed straightway into Iowa. Along the southern border of that State they killed, in one day, seven citizens, and robbed a number of others, realizing in all, several thousands of dollars. They returned to Missouri, through Put- nam and Adair, and the next spring Jim Jackson was killed by the militia near Santa Fe, Monroe County.
Later in the year 1864 another band of robbers depredated upon the people in the southern part of the county. They made an attack upon the house of Thomas M. Poor, one night, but were driven away by Mr. Poor, who bravely defended his home with his revolver. One of the robbers was mortally wounded, and died in Marion County a few days later. The same band visited the house of Capt. Thomas Hotchkiss, of the enrolled militia, and robbed him of a considerable sum. This band, it is believed, was composed of men who had lived in Macon and Shelby Counties, and one of them had been a school teacher in this county, and knew the country well.
Another bold robbery and outrage was the plundering and burning of McMurry's store, at Colony. A party visited the store after nightfall, seized Mr. McMurry, held him a close prisoner while they took such goods as they wanted, and loaded them into a wagon and hauled them away. Then, on leaving, the robbers set the building on fire and left it in flames. Mr. Mc- Murry was a Southern sympathizer, and it was generally be- lieved that this robbery was perpetrated by ex-members of the militia. Subsequently the remains of a human body were found northwest of Edina, which were identified as those of a man named Cody. Ugly stories were told that Cody had been put out of the way by certain parties in Edina, because he knew the
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HISTORY OF KNOX COUNTY.
parties who had participated in the robbery of McMurry's store, and was threatening them with exposure, and that he was mur- dered because dead men tell no tales.
In April, 1864, the house of Rice McFadden, in Colony Township, was burned by some drunken soldiers of the Twenty- first Missouri, home on a furlough, instigated by certain citizens of the neighborhood. Mr. McFadden had served in the Con- federate Army but had returned home, taken the oath, and was leading a quiet, reputable life. The burning of his house was a wanton and inexcusable outrage.
The only tragedy of this year was the murder of Bailey (or Baylor) Bledsoe, who lived about seven miles southwest of Edi- na, on the Goodland road. Bledsoe was a Southern sympathizer, and it was charged that he had on more than one occasion en- gaged in bushwhacking. A short time before his death four Federals had been fired upon near his residence, and he was sus- pected of the act. One night six militiamen rode up to his house, called him out and shot him dead in his own dooryard.
ENLISTMENTS IN THE FEDERAL SERVICE.
By the close of the year 1863 Knox County had sent 496 men into the Federal service, all of whom had enlisted for the term of three years. The enlistments had been as follows: In Missouri regiments-Twenty-first Infantry, 197; Twenty-third Infantry, 1; Twenty-seventh Infantry, 33; Thirty-first Infantry, 1; Third Cavalry, 133; Tenth Cavalry, 6. Miscellaneous-Second Mis- souri State Militia, 37; Eleventh Missouri State Militia, 85; Illi- nois regiments, 3. Besides these 39 negroes had enlisted in the " First Iowa, African Descent." In addition, fully 600 men from this county were members of the Fiftieth Regiment En- rolled Missouri Militia.
After March 12, 1864, according to the county records, 132 men enlisted, and were each paid by the county $100 bounty, in addition to the amount received from the Government. It is claimed that, from first to last, about 25 men enlisted in various commands, who were never credited to this county as they should have been. The total number of men, therefore, who were reg- ularly enlisted in the Federal Army proper, during the Civil War,
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