USA > Missouri > St Charles County > History of St. Charles, Montgomery, and Warren counties, Missouri, written and comp. from the most authentic official and private sources, including a history of their townships, towns and villages, together with a condensed history of Missouri > Part 66
USA > Missouri > Montgomery County > History of St. Charles, Montgomery, and Warren counties, Missouri, written and comp. from the most authentic official and private sources, including a history of their townships, towns and villages, together with a condensed history of Missouri > Part 66
USA > Missouri > Warren County > History of St. Charles, Montgomery, and Warren counties, Missouri, written and comp. from the most authentic official and private sources, including a history of their townships, towns and villages, together with a condensed history of Missouri > Part 66
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Col. Morgan L. Smith moved his command down from Mexico to Montgomery City. Here he halted, and one night ordered a captain of the zouaves to take his company and go over to Danville and make prisoners of Robert P. Terrill and Granville Nunnelly, and some young men who had been in the Fulton fight. This officer is remem- bered to have been Capt. Dennis T. Kirby, an ex-police officer of St. Louis, who afterwards became lieutenant-colonel of his regiment.
Late at night the company marched on foot, with Esq. David Bruner, of Montgomery City, as guide. The road from Montgomery to Danville then was not the one now in use. The old road went more in a southerly direction and intersected the Boone's Lick road, a mile or so east of Danville. The company reached Danville after a somewhat toilsome tramp, which Capt. Kirby considered an un- necessary long one, and once warned Esq. Bruner that if he was guiding them out of their way he " had better not."
A negro pointed out where Robert P. Terrill lived, and that gentle- man was taken from his bed and hurried into the street. Granville Nunnelly was arrested, and as he was somewhat fleshy and not well able to walk he was allowed to ride in his carriage, and Terrill was permitted to ride with him. Duncan Hughes and two or three other young men were taken along. Hughes had been in the Fulton fight. Capt. Kirby now started back to Montgomery. A mile from town he released one or two of his prisoners.
Just before daylight, July 22, in the edge of the prairie, south of Montgomery City, and a mile and quarter from the town, Capt. Kirby halted the command. Terrill and Nunnelly were made to get out of the buggy, and with Duncan, Hughes and John Winters, another young man who had been "out in the rebellion," were ordered to march eight paces to the front, the party being on the prairie at the side of the road. Some of the soldiers were in the road.
" Take off your coats," demanded Capt. Kirby.
" Captain, can I speak with you a momemt?" asked Mr. Nun- nelly.
" No," surlily answered the captain, " the time for talking has
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passed. You have only a minute to live! Go out there and kneel down."
The four men obeyed. A file of soldiers with their muskets and bayonets were in front of them.
" Ready - aim -fire!" called out the captain. At the word " fire," Terrill and Nunnelly fell back and were dead in a few seconds. At the word " aim," Hughes and his companion sprang away into the murky dawn, determined to escape if it were possible. Fortun- ately they succeeded and both are alive at this day. But they did not escape unscathed. Duncan Hughes received a fearful wound from a minie ball in his shoulder, and fifty shots were fired at the fugitives.
Hughes made his way to the timber and ran south-east a mile or more to the residence of Robert Nelson, where he made his ap- pearance covered with blood and greatly agitated. Nelson refused him shelter, fearing the vengeance of the Federals, and Hughes was compelled to go on to his friends at Danville.
When the sun rose he shone upon two ghastly, bloody corpses lying out upon the green sward there by Montgomery town. The war had begun, and Montgomery county was already feeling its effects. Two of its prominent citizens had been slain in retaliation for another murder with which they had no sort of participation or connection, and which they would doubtless have prevented if they could. Cer- tain Union citizens of Danville came and hauled away the bodies, and they were given careful sepulture.
Robert P. Territl was a lawyer of Danville, and a man of more than ordinary ability. He was a secessionist almost from the beginning, and had made secession speeches in different parts of the county, and it was said had been in the Fulton fight with other Montgomery men. He was of high character and generally respected. His widow is now the accomplished wife of Col. L. A. Thompson, who was a gallant Union officer, and the present editor of The Ray newspaper, the organ of the Republicans of the county. Granville Nunnelly was a man of middle age, and left a considerable family.
MURDER OF GRANVILLE BISHOP.
But the vengeance of the Federals did not stop with the killing of Terrill and Nunnelly. It sought and found another victim. Gran- ville Bishop, who lived five miles west of Montgomery City, just across Loutre, was a secessionist. He came into Montgomery and got intoxicated, and when in that condition gave utterance to some
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
expressions that offended the Unionists. He and Dominic Byron, a Union man, had a fight and Bishop was badly worsted. He started home, but stopped about three miles from town, and that night some of the zouaves followed him and took him out on the prairie and killed him.
The soldiers laved to catch Alvin Cobb, but he continued to keep out of their way. They were forced to content themselves with burning his house, and with uttering terrible threats against him. In some respects Alvin Cobb was a remarkable character. His relatives were old settlers in the western part of the county, where he lived. He was a man of about middle age when the war began. He had but one arm, the other having been shot off accidentally. Upon the out- break of the war he raised a band of desperate fellows like himself, and from the start pursued a guerrilla warfare. It is not believed that he ever held a commission. He was in many small fights in skir- mishes in this part of the State - Mt. Zion, Fulton, Moore's Mill, and in one or two others in 1862 with Col. Joe Porter. His wife joined him when he was in the Indian Territory, and also abandoned him there and returned home, riding an Indian pony all the way. Cobb himself is now in California.
For a one-armed man Alvin Cobb did the Federal cause considera- ble injury. He roamed about in this and Callaway county, killing now and then a Federal soldier or a Union man, and caused a force of troops to be kept in the two counties for a year or two. He had from six to 100 men at different times.
MILITARY OPERATIONS.
About the 15th of July, 1861, Gen. John C. Fremont was appointed to the command of the Federal forces in Missouri. He was then in New York City. The news of the firing on Morgan L. Smith's troops and of the assaults of the secessionists on the railroad, which had caused a suspension of trains, was borne to him at once, and on the 18th he sent the following dispatch to Washington : -
ASTOR HOUSE, NEW YORK, July 18, 1861.
Col. Townsend, Assistant Adjutant-General : - North Missouri Railroad torn up and obstructed by State forces. Mails can not be transported. Track torn up behind the United States troops. Some fighting between these and State forces. I have ordered Gen. Pope to take command in North Missouri with three regiments from Alton. He moved this morning. Gen. Lyon calls for re-enforcement.
J. C. FREMONT, Major-General, Commanding.
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
Gen. Pope at once repaired to his field and was at St. Louis the evening of the 18th, at St. Charles on the 19th, and on the 20th issued the following proclamation or " notice " to the people along the line of the North Missouri : -
NOTICE.
HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT OF NORTH AMERICA, ST. CHARLES, .
JULY 21, 1861.
An investigation of the circumstances attending the difficulties along the line of the North Missouri Railroad, and the wanton destruc- tion of bridges, culverts, etc., make it manifest that the inhabitants of the villages and stations along the road, if not privy to these out- rages, at least offered no resistance to them, and gave no information by which they could have been prevented, or merited punishment inflicted upon the criminals.
I desire the people of this section of the State to understand distinctly that their safety and the security of their property will depend upon themselves, and are directly and inseparably connected with the secur- ity of the lines of public communication.
It is very certain that the people living along the line of the North Missouri Railroad can very easily protect it from destruction, and it is my purpose to give them strong inducements to do so. I therefore notify the inhabitants of the towns, villages, and stations along the line of this road that they will be held accountable for the destruction of any bridges, culverts or portions of the railroad track within five miles on each side of them. If any outrages of this kind are committed within the distance specified, without conclusive proof of active resistance on the part of the population, and without imme- diate information to the nearest commanding officer, giving names and details, the settlement will be held responsible, and a levy of money or property sufficient to cover the whole damage done, will be at once made and collected.
There seems to be no method of enlisting the active agency of the citizens along the line of this road for the protection of a public work in all respects so beneficial to them, except my making it their very evident personal interest to do so, and I desire them to understand that they will be compelled to pay in full, of property or money, for any damage done in their vicinity. It has been impossible heretofore even to ascertain the names of the criminals engaged in this kind of work, although they were well known to every body in the neighbor- hood. If people who claim to be good citizens choose to indulge their neighbors and acquaintances in committing these wanton acts, and to shield them from punishment, they will hereafter be compelled to pay for it ; or, if they disapprove, their objections must take more tangi- ble form than mere words. It is not to be expected that the General Government will occupy a large force merely to protect from the peo- ple of this part of the State a work built for their own benefit, or to
1
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
defend from outrages and hostility communities which encourage vio- lation of all law by giving no imformation and by offering no sort of resistance. I therefore expect all law-abiding citizens at once to take measures to secure the safety of the North Missouri Railroad in their vicinity, and I notifiy all others that upon the safety of the road depends the security of their own property and person.
To carry out the intentions set forth above, divisions and subdivi- sions of the road will be made as soon as practicable from these headquar- ters, and superintendents and assistant superintendents appointed by name, without regard to political opinions, who will be held responsible for the safety of the railroad track within their specified limits. They will have authority to call on all persons living within these limits to appear in such numbers and at such times and places as they may deem necessary to secure the object in view. I expect all good citizens who value peace and the safety of their families and property to respond cheerfully to this arrangement, and to assume to themselves the care and protection of their own section.
JNO. POPE,
Brig .- Gen. U. S. Army, Commanding North Missouri.
Eight days later Pope issued the following order, appointing the military superintendents of the road, as follows : -
ORDERS HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT OF NORTH MISSOURI,
No. 1. MEXICO, July 29, 1861. 5
I. By virtue of instructions received from Maj .- Gen. Fremont, U. S. Army, the undersigned assumes the command of all the forces in North Missouri.
II. Brig .- Gen. S. A. Hurlbut is assigned to the command of the forces along the line of the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad, from Quincy and Hannibal to St. Joseph. Headquarters at Macon City.
III. Col. U. S. Grant, Twenty-first Illinois volunteers, is assigned to the command at Mexico, Mo.
IV. Col. L. F. Ross, Seventeenth Illinois volunteers, will occupy Warrenton, Mo., with his regiment. * * *
The jurisdiction of the commanding officer at Warrenton, will ex tend as far north as Montgomery City, and as far south as the line of St. Charles county, near Millville ; of the commanding officer at Mex- ico ; from Montgomery City on south to include Centralia on the north.
VI. All illegal assemblages will be promptly broken up by com- manding officers nearest the place where they may be held, and all persons taken in arms against the United States will be immediately sent forward to Mexico, to be disposed of by the general commanding.
VII. Each commanding officer will send out such patrols and scouting parties as may be necessary to keep him informed of all
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
matters pertaining to his jurisdiction, and will be vigilant and prompt in suppressing all combinations against the authority of the United States or the peace of the country.
No arrests will be made for opinion's sake, unless the parties are engaged in open acts of hostility, or are stimulating others to such acts by inflammatory words or publications.
It is the mission of the forces under my command in North Mis- souri to restore peace and safety to a region distracted with civil com- motion, and to bring to punishment the infamous assassins and incen- diaries who have been infesting the country.
All the forces in North Missouri, therefore, are cautioned against excesses of any kind, and especially against any depredations upon the persons or property of any citizen of Missouri.
Discipline and good order are essential to the efficiency and good repute of any military force, and they will be exacted from the forces under my command with all the power vested in me. The honor and reputation of their States depend upon the good conduct of the troops they have sent into the field, and I expect all commanding officers to notice, with the greatest severity possible under the articles of war, all infractions of military discipline and of good order.
JOHN POPE, Brigadier General Commanding.
Two days later Gen. Pope issued the following, which came to be well known as " General Orders No. 3." Copies of this order were printed and scattered up and down the railroad from St. Charles to Macon, and in the county, on both sides : -
POPE'S "GENERAL ORDERS NO. 3."
HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT OF NORTH MISSOURI, MEXICO, July 31, 1861.
The commanding general in North Missouri, being about to as- semble in one camp, away from the railroad lines, all of the forces under his command, has determined to commit to the people of North Mis- souri the peace and quietude of their own section, and with these the safety of their property. Certainly the people of the various counties have to-day the same machinery of government and the same power of self-protection against lawless marauders as they had a year ago, and it only needs the same active agency and the same com- mon interests to bring together for such purposes all those who have anything at stake. It is demonstrated by sufficient testimony, and by experience of the past two weeks, that the disturbances in Northern Missouri have been by small parties of lawless marauders, which at any other time could have been easily suppressed with no more than the usual exertions of the people against breaches of peace in times past.
Certainly quiet and order are of all things desirable in civilized communities, and should form a common bond of union between citi-
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
zens of every shade of political opinion. When these desirable results are secured, there will no longer be a necessity for the pres- ence of armed forces in North Missouri. It is therefore the purpose of the general commanding in this region of the country, before re- moving the military forces under his command from their present stations, to visit with a considerable force every county seat and considerable town in North Missouri, and in each to appoint a com- mittee of public safety, of persons selected from those of all parties who have social, domestic and pecuniary interests at stake. Each committee shall consist of not more than five persons, and wherever it can considerately be done, the proper county officers shall be se- lected as members. No one thus appointed shall be permitted to decline, or shall fail to perform his duties, under such penalties as the commanding general shall affix. These committees shall be charged with the duty of maintaining peace and order in their respective counties, and shall have power to call out all citizens of the county to assemble at such times and places, and in such numbers as may h'e necessary to secure these objects. Any one who shall refuse to obey such call will be turned over to the military authorities.1
If the people of the counties respectively are not willing or able to enforce the peace among themselves, and to prevent the organizing of companies to make war upon the United States, the military force will perform the service, but the expenses must be paid by the county in which such service is necessary. To secure their prompt payment, a levy of a sufficient amount of money will be at once made and collected by the officer in command. Upon the call of a majority of the committee of public safety in each county,. troops will be sent to keep the peace, but as such expeditions are for the benefit of the people concerned, who have in nearly every case the power to discharge the service themselves, the troops thus sent will be quartered upon them, and subsisted and transported by the county in the manner above specified for the whole period it may be neces- sary for them to remain.
If in consequence of disturbance not reported by committee, the general commanding finds it necessary to send a force into the county to restore order, they will be in like manner billeted upon the county, unless the combinations against the peace were too powerful to be resisted, or the parties engaged were organized in other counties, and brought on the disturbances by actual invasion. It is not believed that the first case can arise in any county of North Missouri, and, in
1 In a subsequent order, appendatory to the foregoing, Gen. Pope said to his sub- ordinates, in regard to the appointing of committees: "In selecting members for the committee of public safety you are directed to appoint, be sure to put upon it at least two, or, even better still, three of the most prominent secessionists. It is the service of the secessionists I especially require, and I desire that you will give them plainly to understand that unless peace is preserved, their property will be immediately levied upon, and their contributions collected at once in any kind of property at hand."
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
the second, the forces will be marched into the county or counties where the marauding parties were organized, or whence they made the invasion, and will in like manner be quartered upon them. Where peace and good order are preserved, the troops will not be required ; where they are disturbed they will be restored at the expense of the county. To preserve the peace is the duty of all good citizens, and as all will suffer alike from the breach of it, men of every shade of political opinion can act cordially together in the discharge of a duty as full of interest to one as to another. By performing this simple service as in times past, and which it is certainly as much their inter- est and their duty to discharge to-day, the people of this section of the country will be spared the anxiety, uneasiness and apprehension which necessarily attend the presence of armed forces in their midst, and will again enjoy that security of person and property which has hitherto been their privilege.
All persons who have heretofore been led away to take up arms against the United States are notified that by returning and laying down their arms at the nearest military post, and by performing their duty hereafter as peaceful and law-abiding citizens, they will not be - molested by the military forces, nor, so far as the general command- ing can influence the matter, will they be subjected to punishment unless they have committed murder or some other aggravated of- fense. By order of
SPEED BUTLER,
JOHN POPE, Brigadier-General.
Assistant Adjutant General.
These orders were at first directed against the people along the line of the North Missouri Railroad, running from St. Louis to Hudson or Macon City, but they were subsequently made to apply to the Hanni- bal and St. Joseph district by a supplementary order from Gen. Pope.
To carry out the provisions of " General Orders No. 3," Gen. Pope issued the following order at Mexico for the movement of certain de- tachments of his troops into this region : -
ORDERS, No. 3.
HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT OF NORTH MISSOURI, MEXICO, August 2, 1861.
In accordance with special (general) orders, No. 3, of July 31, 1861, the following movements of troops will immediately be made : -
* * *
Captain McNulta, with one company of cavalry, upon Bowling Green and Danville, and Captain Peck, Twenty-first Illinois volun- teers, upon Troy and Warrenton. * * * *
The commanding officers, respectively, will carefully examine the instructions contained in special (general) orders, No. 3, herewith
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
inclosed, which they will distribute at the various settlements along the march.
They will assemble at each county seat here specified the most respectable citizens of the town and neighborhood, and will read and carefully explain to them the provisions and requirements of the special order.
They will then select from the number at least five of the most responsible persons, taken from all political parties, and appoint them a committee of public safety, charged with preserving the peace in their respective counties.
When it can be done consistently with the special order, the existent county officers, or such number of them as may be judicious, will be placed upon these committees. The names of the members of the committee thus selected will be announced to the people by the com- manding officers, both at the court-house and on the return march to this place.
All citizens will be warned that the troops stand ready to enforce promptly and vigorously every provision of general orders, No. 3, and will be expected, for their safety and good name, and for the peace of their counties, to preserve quiet among themselves.
At the termination of these services the troops will rejoin their original posts, except Capt. McNulta, who will repair to this place with his company by the most direct route from Bowling Green.
SPEED BUTLER, Assistant Adjutant General.
Capt. McNulta's company of the First Illinois cavalry came to Montgomery City first, and escorted the remains of Col. Sharp to Danville.1 The men were dressed in red shirts as a part of their uniform, and were seemingly gallant fellows. Less than two months later they were taken prisoners under Mulligan, at Lexington, and paroled not to serve again during the war.
McNulta's company left Montgomery City August 5, as witness the following communication from Gen. Pope : -
HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT NORTH MISSOURI, MEXICO, August 4, 1861.
Capt. John C. Kelton: I have the honor to report, for the informa- tion of the general commanding the department, that by a simultan- eous movement I shall to-night or to-morrow morning occupy in force the county seats of the nineteen counties lying east of the North Missouri Railroad and its proposed continuation north to the Iowa line.
1 If they came August 3, Col. Sharp's body could not have been found for fourteen days after the murder, but it is the general statement that only eleven or twelve days elapsed.
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
Capt. McNulta, with 100 cavalry, upon Bowling Green, the county seat of Pike county, from Montgomery City, on the line of North Missouri road. Capt. Peck, Twenty-first Illinois Volunteers, with 300 infantry, from Warrenton, on this road, marched yesterday, and occupies to-day Troy, the county seat of Lincoln. Five companies of infantry, under Maj. Goddard, occupy Fulton, the county seat of Callaway county.
* *
I am, captain, respectfully your obedient servant,
JNO. POPE,
Brig .- Gen., Commanding North Missouri.
TROOPS FOR GEN. PRICE'S ARMY.
In the latter part of August Gen. Price broke up his camp at Spring- field and moved northward toward Lexington, on the Missouri river, his main object being to secure to himself the large forces of State Guards known to be in North Missouri. When at the Osage river he sent forward a special messenger to Gen. Tom Harris, the commander of the State Guards for this district. Green's command at once pre- pared to set out to join the advancing army, from which so much was expected. Word was sent to all the other commands, companies, bat- talions and platoons in this part of the State to repair at once to the Missouri river, at either Glasgow, Brunswick or Arrow Rock, and cross to the south side.
The secessionists in this county repaired to the Western part of the county and into Callaway to join companies making up there. About 25 Montgomery county men joined Capt. Austin Rogers' com- pany, and about 30 men joined Capt. Law's company, both of Calla- way, and both belonging at first to Maj. Milton's battalion, Gen. Harris' division of the Missouri State Guard. In Capt. Law's com- pany were some Germans from the southern part of the county, although the Germans as a rule were Union men.
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