History of Vernon County, Missouri : past and present, including an account of the cities, towns and villages of the county Vol. I, Part 26

Author: Johnson, J. B
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: Chicago : C.F. Cooper
Number of Pages: 596


USA > Missouri > Vernon County > History of Vernon County, Missouri : past and present, including an account of the cities, towns and villages of the county Vol. I > Part 26


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This attacking party was really organized by Wilson Maddox and Dr. Dade, and the attack was against the wishes of Lieu- tenant Woods, who refused to join in it. There were two par- ties, numbering about twenty-five men all told, composed of Dr. Dade, Bob Bayles, "Irish Dan," "Irish Tom," Clay Simmes, William Clendenin, George Hinch, Wilson Maddox, Bill Maddox and others of like reckless and daring characters. "Irish Dan" (Daniel Henly) was mortally wounded and died next morning. Dr. Dade was badly wounded in the leg, and a few others re- ceived slight scratches. One man was killed by Captain Bryan's party the next day. Wilson Maddox was overtaken on the Lipe branch and was shot in the face, but recovered, and was killed in Newton county in 1863, The following description of the fight by William M. Wilson, who was a corporal of Company D, 1st Iowa cavalry, is interesting :


"Some of the men went to the barn to sleep, and some were in the parlor of the hotel, and others on the kitchen floor. Colonel Moss, Lieutenant Barnes, Corporal Shannon and myself were up- stairs, Moss and Barnes in a bed, Shannon and I on the floor. We knew nothing of the approach of the rebels until they opened fire upon our stable guard. We had no pickets out; the people assured Colonel Moss that there were no rebels or bushwhackers in the country, and he believed them.


"Soon after the firing began the house was surrounded and we supposed there were at least seventy-five rebels, from the noise they made in firing into the windows and calling out, 'Surren- der ! : Surrender!' As soon as we could get ready, Lieutenant


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Barnes, Shannon and I opened fire on the crowd with our re- volvers from the windows in the upper story. This fire was quickly returned and Barnes and Shannon were wounded. We emptied our revolvers and by that time the rebels retreated. We then went downstairs to look after our wounded men.".


Among numerous exciting affairs that occurred in Vernon county following this skirmish in the summer of 1862 was an encounter between a detachment of 115 men of the 3d Wisconsin cavalry under Colonel Barstow and a band of some three to four hundred men commanded by Colonel Coffee. Confederate offi- cers had been busy enlisting new recruits in the region round about Montevallo and Cols. Hunter and Coffee had each raised a regiment, many of the recruits being from Vernon county. Coffee, with his men, was encamped on Horse creek and a small band of Vernon county men were in Montevallo preparing to join him on August 5, when the Wisconsin men, mounted on fine horses, came thither and dispersed them, capturing one of them, named Hardwick. The situation being hastily reported to Colonel Coffee, he at once mounted his entire force and set out for Mon- tevallo, intending to capture the federals and secure their arms and horses for the use of his own recruits. On reaching the top of the hill east of the town his approach was discovered by a federal picket and word carried to Colonel Barstow, who with his men rushed out of the town southward by the Lamar road as Coffee and his men came in from the east. In the pursuit that ensued the federals were completely routed, and in their wild flight many of their wagons, horses, arms and accoutrements were abandoned and scattered along the road, and some of the men were captured. Most of the federals passed over the prairies around the head of Clear creek and that night encamped on Big Drywood. But some hastened across the country, and reaching Fort Scott before morning, reported that the others with Colonel Barstow had fallen into the hands of the rebels.


The following report of the affair was sent to Fort Leaven- worth the next day :


Headquarters, Fort Scott, August 6, 1862.


Captain : I have the honor to report to you that there has been considerable excitement at and about this post since this morning, arising from a report that Colonel Barstow, with a de-


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tachment of 3d Wisconsin cavalry, had been captured at Mon- tevallo.


The report proves to be false as far as the capture of Colonel Barstow is concerned, as he has returned, and reports that on yesterday he drove the rebels from Montevallo and occupied the town and captured some horses and arms, together with the roster and records of Colonel Coffee's regiment, but that the enemy ap- pearing in overwhelming force he was compelled to evacuate the town, and while falling back kept up a running fight, during which Surgeon Reynolds was taken prisoner by the enemy.


There are all kinds of reports, and from the best information I can get there are about 1,500 rebels in and about Montevallo, and they will march for this place if they think themselves strong enough. They may or may not come. I am fully prepared and can hold our position against any force they can bring against us if they have no artillery, and will do it anyway. My present force is as follows :


Ohio cavalry, under Major Minor, mounted, 120; dismounted,


532. 652


Lieutenant Schuarte's company, 6th Kansas 62


Captain Van Sickle's company, 6th Kansas. 50


Third regiment Wisconsin cavalry 220


Total 984


This, not including Captain Conkey's company, lately at Car- thage, who have not reported here yet, and are supposed to be doing good work among the rebels in Bourbon county.


I have sent word to Colonel Solomon that it will be impos- sible to forward supply trains to him at present without he sends sufficient escort to protect the trains. They (the Indian fourth) are rationed up full to the 14th of this month.


I am, captain, very respectfully your obedient servant,


B. S. HENNING,


Major Third Wisconsin Cavalry, Commanding Post.


Capt. Thomas Moonlight, A. A. G., Dept. of Kansas, Fort Leavenworth.


The dead body of Hardwick was found down the Lamar road, and it was supposed he was killed by the federals in their flight.


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Dr. Reynolds, being a surgeon, was released; and the other cap- tured federals were paroled. Returning from the pursuit of the Wisconsin men, Colonel Coffee the next morning started north- ward to unite with other confederate, Colonels Hunter, Jackman, Lewis and others, and on the 16th of August occurred the des- perate fight at Lone Jack, in Jackson county, in which Colonel Hunter and his Vernon county troops did valiant service.


With a view of capturing Colonel Coffee, the 3d Wisconsin and a detachment from the 6th Missouri cavalry under command of Maj. Bacon Montgomery, known as the "boy major," being but twenty years old, and some militiamen from Polk and Cedar counties made a sortie into Vernon county the next day after Colonel Barstow's rout. Montgomery and his party were in the country southeast of Montevallo on August 7, when a small band of thirteen men from near Balltown on their way to join Colonel Coffee on Horse creek unexpectedly came upon Montgomery's advance guard. A skirmish ensued in which five of the would- be recruits were killed and the others, except one, named Nelson, who escaped, were made prisoners. The five killed were buried near where they fell, in one grave, over which a monument, suit- ably inscribed, was afterwards placed by their friends. Among the Vernon county prisoners was John McNeil, a son of R. W. McNeil, a stanch Union man. Lieut. Joe Woods, also, was cap- tured just after the skirmish, and with the other prisoners sent to Springfield. Other recruits in Cedar county, also on their way to join Colonel Coffee, unaware that the federals were anywhere near, were killed in skirmishes. Major Montgomery's operations are set out in the following official report :


Headquarters, Camp Schofield, Near Springfield, Mo., August 9, 1862.


General: After addressing my letter of the 5th instant to you I made application to the general to allow me to send out a part of the 6th Missouri cavalry, under Major Montgomery, to cut Coffee off, and it was granted ; also some 150 Missouri state militia was added to the command, and the major instructed to file in all citizens who had guns and engage the rebels if possible.


On the evening of the 8th a dispatch from him informed me that he succeeded in turning the enemy's rear, and on the 7th engaged one of his camps, killing eighteen, wounding four, that


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were found, and capturing seventeen prisoners, and seven un- accounted for, except by general orders No. 18. He says that Coffee's force is divided; that the one engaged was near Monte- vallo, the other near or at Osceola, and that the combined forces . numbered about 900 men. When the messenger left him the major was at Stockton, pressing on to engage the force at Os- ceola. Our loss, none; few slightly wounded. I have sent a full squadron to join him, and feel in hopes we have the old rebel in a tight place. Scouts report the forces south and east about the same, except the citizens who have joined them to escape militia law.


I am, general, with high respect, your obedient servant,


CLARK WRIGHT, Colonel Sixth Missouri Cavalry.


Brigadier-General Schofield, Commanding Forces in Missouri.


There were various other war incidents in the county during the year, such as daring exploits of the Mayfield brothers and others of like character, and scouting expeditions from the fed- eral headquarters for this region, at Fort Scott. There was the expedition of Colonel Doubleday with the 2d Ohio cavalry and the 3d Wisconsin under Colonel Barstow, who, with the 6th and other Kansas regiments or detachments, ranged throughout the southwestern part of the state. A noted confederate, who made frequent raids into Kansas, and was at times the chief object of the federal movements, was Maj. Tom Livingston, with whom were a number of bushwhackers from Vernon county. If Ver- non had seen perilous times and suffered from the ravages of the war up to this time, the trials and perils endured were hardly to be compared with the horrors that marked the year 1863. With no Sundays, no holidays, no religious meetings, no schools, no courts, women as well as men became depraved and abandoned and reckless. There was security nowhere but under the protec- tion of the military, and few families who tried to maintain their homes were the unhappy victims of the lawless and reckless of both sides, who plundered and robbed them to their hearts' con- tent. Into Kansas ranged the Missouri guerrillas. Into Mis- souri came the Kansas outlaws. Vernon bushwhackers raided


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back and forth into adjoining loyal counties, and in turn the loyal militia rode back and forth through disloyal Vernon, and in the wake of all were trails of murders, robberies, arsons and every manner of fiendish depredations that beggar description.


The burning of Nevada City on May 26, 1863, was led up to by a series of concurrent incidents. At a meeting held in Ne- vada to organize a company of militia, to be armed and equipped, and when on duty to be paid by the state and to be used under the federal military authorities in keeping peace at home, some fifty members were enrolled. In the selection of captain the choice fell on Augustus Baker, a conservative Union man, greatly to the disappointment of John Frizzell, who was defeated largely on account of his unsavory reputation, causing distrust, while Baker was known to be honest and reliable. Enraged at his de- feat and swearing vengeance, Frizzell and John Upton a few days later called at Baker's in the guise of friendliness. On being admitted to the house, after demanding of Mr. Baker his money, Frizzell suddenly drew his revolver and shot Mr. Baker. And as he fell dying in his wife's arms, the cowardly assassins hurriedly mounted their horses and rode away. Frizzell was soon captured by a detachment of troops, sent from Fort Scott by General Blair and taken thither, and after trial and sentence to death by a court martial, was hung at Fort Scott. Upton made his escape at the time of Frizzell's arrest and remained a fugitive thenceforward.


At his trial Frizzell set up an alibi, claiming he was in Cedar county at the time of the murder. In support of this defense Major Pugh, of Marvin's militia, a regiment under whom Friz- zell had served, produced a number of witnesses from Cedar county, with a view to secure a stay of execution, and if possible, a reversal of the sentence. These men passed through Nevada on their way to Fort Scott, where their statements failed to change the sentence, and Major Pugh started with them for their homes. On learning of the approach of Major Pugh and his little party to Nevada, Captain Marchbanks, who, with nineteen men, was in the vicinity south of the Marmaton, planned to attack them. Among Marchbank's men beside "Pony Hill," a noted desperado and guerrilla, were other reckless characters. Failing to intercept their intended victims at the crossing of Drywood, as he planned, Marchbanks and his band pursued them toward


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Nevada, determined to attack them there. Riding as rapidly as they could through the brushwood and timber, the guerrillas, after a brief halt near the southwest corner of the square, with Hill and Marchbanks in the lead, dashed into the town, yelling and firing, and scattering the militiamen, all of whom, except two, made their escape. One of these, an elderly man, named Shuey, unarmed, dismounted and fled in terror to the shelter of a nearby house, and was shot to death in the dooryard, despite his piteous appeals for mercy and the pleading of some ladies who witnessed the deed. The other militiaman, named Whitley, an old settler, was pursued and shot from his horse by March- banks, who later made the following statement :


"The federals scattered ; some got in a brick hotel, and part of them started north. I left part of my men to guard those at the hotel, and I kept on with the remainder, and near where the old jail stood we overhauled them. One took shelter in a house; 'Pony" Hill and Oliver Birch killed him. I ran one in a lane, the north end of which was closed. As soon as he saw he was trapped he commenced using his revolver on me, and shot five times at me. I shot three times at another federal off to my left, when Oliver Birch began firing at him, and I turned on the man in the lane. I shot twice at him; the last shot took effect in his neck and felled him to the ground. During this time the federals in the hotel forced their way out and escaped. Jim Guess killed a horse from under one as they retreated. Our loss was one horse killed."


This raid occurred on May 24, and after it was over the raiders returned to their camp and the next day went into Bates county and camped on the Marais des Cygnes, where Marchbanks a little later was surprised by a detachment of the 1st Missouri state militia under Major Mullins and routed with the loss of most of his horses, arms and accoutrements.


The bodies of Shuey and Whitley were laid out in the old courthouse, and their friends failing to look after them, they were placed in a single box the next day and given decent burial in the old burying ground, Mr. Thomas H. Austin and Mr. James H. Moore taking an active part in these rites.


The report of the raid and the ruthless murder of Shuey and Whitley created much excitement, and the militia of Cedar and St. Clair counties demanded vengeance. Accordingly, a company


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HISTORY OF VERNON COUNTY


of about a hundred militiamen was formed, and under command of Capt. Anderson Morton, of St. Clair county, an experienced fighter and able leader, planned to move against Marchbanks' camp and capture or kill his band of guerrillas and then burn Nevada City, which was called the "bushwhackers' capital." Concluding from information received that Marchbanks and his men were encamped on Moore's branch, Morton with his militia- men proceeded thither. Finding no bushwhackers after scouring the timber and brush and concluding they had fled, the militia- men turned their attention to the town. After strict orders to harm no peaceable citizen, to insult no women, and take no spoil, but to kill on sight every bushwhacker found and burn every building big enough for one to sleep in, sparing the household goods, the company, riding briskly from the south, soon took possession of the place. No bushwhackers being found after a thorough search, the men gathered on the square about 9 o'clock and shortly, in bands of three and four, quietly dispersed about the town.


Beginning at the houses about the square, the occupants were emphatically told that the house was to be burned; to get their goods out in twenty minutes, help in the removal being proffered if wanted. Despite the pleadings and protests or maledictions of helpless women, the torch was applied, and all over the town. houses soon burst into flame, and in a little time all that re- mained to mark their site were smoldering heaps of charred tim- bers and ashes, while scattered over vacant lots and in dooryards were the rescued goods, surrounded by their weeping and discon- solate owners.


The owners of many of the houses and their families had gone into the South, and many vacated houses were occupied by ten- ants or refugees and numerous families of confederate soldiers were in the places. There were less than a score of male resi- dents, mostly confederates, but a few professed Union men. But little discrimination was shown. Some seventy-five houses with their outbuildings, together with the stores, the county building and courthouse were burned, and only about a dozen houses were spared, among them being those of Austin and Moore, who had cared for the bodies of the murdered Shuey and Whitley. Not a life was lost, no blood shed, but the work of desolation was com- plete, and in one short hour the thrifty village, the pride of the


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prairie, under the ruthless hand of war, had been laid waste and doomed to sit in loneliness and gloom till the terrible scourge should pass.


In fulfillment of a promise, Austin and Moore, the day after the burning, disinterred the bodies of Shuey and Whitley, which had now been dead three days, and the weather was warm, and accompanied by their wives, started on their unpleasant journey to Cedar county. They reached Shuey's home early only to find the house in ashes and his family cowering in the brush by the roadside, and traveled six miles further before they could dispose of the bodies for burial.


In ignorance of the destruction of Nevada City, a company of some twenty-five guerrillas, among them being William Bridg- man, of Jackson; Dave Majors, of Cass; John Evarts, of Carroll, and Sam Pringle, of Johnson county, William Gabbert, Jeff Gab- bert, Tom Swofford, William and John Campbell, William and John Crockett and Frank Mashaney and others, of Vernon county, was organized chiefly by old man Gabbert, and under command of Bridgman, on the 25th of May, raided some Union settlements in Cedar county, whose men were away with the militia. Pillag- ing at will, they burned nine houses, one of them being the home of the dead Shuey, whose wife and children were driven out, and loading themselves with their plunder, and with all the good horses they could find, they cautiously made their way back to old Gabbert's house, which stood on an eminence about a mile north of the site of the present town of Bellamy. Here the bush- whackers disbanded, some scattering about the neighborhood, while others, worn out with their night's adventure, dozed about Gabbert's place awaiting dinner, which the women folks prepared. Just at this time Morton and his militia were on their way home- ward after the destruction of Nevada, and coming on the guer- rillas' trail near old Montevallo, at once divined what the bush- whackers had been doing and their location. While some of the militia went to cut off any possible retreat to the westward, Mor- ton and the others proceeded toward Gabbert's house, and with- out warning rushed upon the unsuspecting and half-stupefied guerrillas and shot them down in their tracks or as they ran hither and thither in terror, trying to escape. Some got away by running into the brush, and old man Gabbert, mounting a fleet- footed horse, without saddle or bridle, outstripped his pursuers


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across the prairie. The affair was of short duration, and when the terrifying din and confusion ceased, seven bushwhackers lay dead, five of them, William and John Campbell, William and John Crockett and Frank Mashaney, being Vernon county men, the other being Bill Bridgman, the leader, and John Evarts. Some who escaped received slight wounds, and one of the militia was wounded. But most of the horses and loot taken in the Cedar county raid were recovered. After burning Gabbert's house the militia went to their homes, some of them to find that their houses had been burned and their premises pillaged by the bushwhackers during their absence. Among the first to come to Gabbert's place after the fight were the Mayfield girls, Ella, Jennie and Leonora, who, with Mary Bradley and Eliza Gabbert, helped Dave Majors, Elias Riley and others in the burial of the mutilated bodies of. Bridgman, Evarts and other dead guerrillas at Dunnigan's graveyard.


Another skirmish between Marchbanks' men and some of the 1st Missouri state militia, under Maj. A. W. Mullins, occurred on August 2 on the Blue Mounds. There was an attack, a re- treat by Marchbanks and a running fight across the prairies into the Clear creek timber, in which the militia had three men wounded, one of whom died after the company's return to camp at Germantown, and a few of Marchbanks' men received slight wounds.


For the purpose of preserving order, as far as possible, and protecting the people, about the 1st of July, 1863, four companies of the 3d Wisconsin cavalry were sent into Vernon county from Fort Scott by General Blair and stationed as follows: Company A, under Capt. Robert Carpenter, at Little Osage; Company C, Capt. Homer Pond, on west fork of Big Drywood, on the state line south of old Appleton, or Memphis ; Company D, Capt. Lean- der Shaw, at Lambert ford across Big Drywood, south of Deer- field, and Company F, Capt. D. C. Vittum, at the old Douglas farm on the north bank of the Marmaton. Except a short time during the Price raid in the fall of 1864, the soldiers remained here till April, 1865, when they were sent with other companies of their respective regiments to fight Indians out on the plains. Aside from a few minor conflicts with bushwhackers, their stay was uneventful, but their presence undoubtedly repressed law-


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lessness and to a considerable extent accomplished the purpose for which they were sent.


Under an enabling act passed by the legislature in aid of the war-stricken counties, an election to choose a member to that body was held in the county on November 4, 1862, which resulted in the choice of Abram Redfield, of Deerfield, who received seven- teen out of a total of twenty-six votes cast, but who died on No- vember 8 before taking his seat.


CHAPTER XXIII. CLOSING YEARS OF THE WAR.


(1864-1865)


Save the incidents common to guerrilla warfare, such as occa- sional murders, home burnings, pillagings and the like. What was known as Taylor's raid, in May, 1864, was perhaps the most important war episode in the county, till General Price's in- vasion in the fall of that year. Taylor, leading some fifty bush- whackers, came up from Texas into the southwestern part of the county, whence they passed over into Kansas. There lived near the state line a stanch Union man, Lewis L. Ury, who had a son, Josiah C. Ury, known as Jo Ury, and famed as a federal scout and spy. At daybreak on the morning of May 20 Taylor and his men surrounded Ury's house and made prisoners of the father and son and another man named Cartmill. Young Ury had just returned from delivering some prisoners at Spring- field. He was reputed to have killed seven confederates, though but twenty-one years old, and his capture was thought to be important. While the guerrillas were guarding their prisoners and awaiting breakfast, which they had ordered the women of the household to prepare, three Union soldiers (George F. Pond. Edwin Weber and O. H. Carpenter, of Company C, 3d Wisconsin, which was stationed on West Drywood) on their way to Fort Scott, rode up, and taking in the situation, opened fire. Where- upon, thinking the three soldiers were but the advance guard of a larger force, the bushwhackers mounted their horses and made their way with all possible speed toward their old haunts and strongholds in the Cedar creek brush and timber near Monte- vallo. In the confusion the elder Ury, while attempting to get away, received a shot in the hip from the effects of which he died a few days later, but the younger man, Jo Ury, escaped. The guerrillas crossed Big Drywood at the Adamson ford just at sunrise, with about a hundred federals, from different sta-


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