USA > Missouri > Jasper County > Jasper County, Missouri, in the Civil War > Part 4
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One little incident, unimportant in itself but show- ing something of the unsettled conditions in the coun- try at the time, is related by Mrs. Lucy Blakely who resided with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. John A. Bryant, in the south part of the county.
"On acount of my father being a union man we were subjected to more or less annoyance from a law- less element," Mrs. Blakely states, "and several times men visited our home on Jones creek and took some of our property. One day Joe Thompson, a man with whom we were acquainted, drove up to our house, loaded our furniture on a wagon and drove away with
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it in the direction of his home on Shoal creek. My mother said she would not stand that, and hitched up the poorest team of horses that we had to an old wagon, the whole outfit being as unlikely to arouse the cupidity of any bushwhackers she might meet as anything we could get up, and then started for Shoal creek all alone. She was well acquainted with Mr. Shanks, Thompson's father-in-law, and when she arrived at his farm told him her troubles. Mr. Shanks was of course a south- ern sympathizer but he was not the same kind of one as Thompson was and it made him very angry when he heard what his son-in-law had done. He and my mother went over to the Thompson house and there sure enough was our furniture, one of the Thompson children who was sick, lying on the lounge. Mr. Shanks scolded his daughter for letting her husband bring in this stolen stuff, then helped my mother load it on her wagon. She brought it back home and we placed it in the house again."
Typical of experiences of other union families in the latter part of 1861 is that of Mr. and Mrs. Lazarus Spence who, like the Bryants, lived on Jones creek some distance north of the Newton county line and not far east of the Carthage-Neosho road. Mr. Spence had hauled corn, along with other farmers of union sym- pathy, to Sigel's troops when they held Neosho and consequently was something of a marked man. Mrs. Spence's story follows :
"When the confederate army was in Jasper county in the months following the battle of Carthage, con-
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federates frequently were at our house and required my husband who was a blacksmith to shoe horses for them, always treating us courteously but paying for the work in confederate or state of Missouri money which was practically worthless. After the soldiers left we were visited from time to time by bushwhackers who acted polite enough at first and paid in confederate money, like the soldiers, for what they took. As the weeks passed, however, they changed their attitude and took whatever they wanted without paying for it. I felt that my husband's life was no longer safe.
"One day three bushwhackers came riding up, went into our pasture, calmly took possession of three of our horses and led them off. My husband was furiously angry and wanted to go after his hunting rifle which he kept hid outside of the house in the grass but I held him back, pointing out that he would only get himself killed. After this he kept his gun in the house. The inside wall did not quite reach to the ceiling upstairs and he drove a nail here between the inner and outer wall, then suspended his gun in there from a string. Miles Stacy, one of our tenants but a southern man, knew where this rifle was and occasionally used it and put it back. One day we heard that some bushwhackers from Granby were coming to kill my husband and so he hid out in the brush. There were a dozen or more of the men and they roughly pushed open the door when they arrived and entered. They searched the house and soon those who had gone upstairs came down with arm- loads of blankets and my husband's rifle. I seized hold of the gun and tried to twist it from the man car-
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rying it but he jerked it from me and they went on outside where they took three more horses, being all we had except an unbroken two-year-old that was out in the brush. As they rode down by the house occupied by Miles Stacy he came out and argued with them, finally persuading them to return one of the horses. We always felt sure that Stacy previously had told them where the rifle was hid but we appreciated his saving the one horse for us.
"The situation seemed to be getting worse instead of better and on December 23, we decided that we would not stay another minute but leave while Mr. Spence was still alive. He was sick with the measles as were also two orphan children who were staying with us but we hitched up the horse the bushwhackers had left us, together with the unbroken two-year-old, and went to Kansas. With us went Joshua Stacy, a brother of Miles but a union man, and a friend named Waggoner, both of these enlisting in the union army as soon as we reached Fort Scott."
The rapidly increasing lawlessness in Jasper coun- ty during the closing weeks of 1861 caused much worry to good citizens of both factions but there were many who felt that the war would soon be decided and nor- mal conditions restored. The more thoughtful shook their heads, however, and looked to the future with fear and foreboding.
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CHAPTER II 1862-In the Pathway of the Armies
During 1862 Jasper county was not permanently under the protection of either army and a state of guer- rilla warfare resulted. The term of the Eleventh Cav- alry, Missouri State Guard, expired in early February and only about half of its members went into the regu- lar confederate army at that time, the remainder re- turning to Jasper county intending to resume civilian life but most of them finding it impracticable to do so under the conditions prevailing. Seeing that Missouri could not be permanently held for the south a consider- able number of men were commissioned by the confed- eracy as partisans and authorized to raise guerrilla companies to act within the union lines or in places such as Jasper county which were sometimes held by the union forces and sometimes were not.
Thomas R. Livingston, an energetic and capable man who has previously been mentioned as engaged in lead mining at French Point, was commissioned to raise such a force in this region and did so, enlisting many of the returned men of the Eleventh cavalry as well as a number of other citizens of the county. Or- ganization for local defense in territory occupied by the federals was also authorized by the south, the men of any district to band together and choose a leader, then act as seemed best to them to oppose the enemy. There seems to have been few of these purely local or "bushwhacker" organizations in Jasper county
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in 1862 though there are evidences of several in the following two years.
Many soldiers of the south opposed the use of these partisan and guerrilla bands because they be- lieved that, free from the restraints of discipline of the army, many of these men would commit deeds that would bring odium upon the cause that they served. Another party of which General Sterling Price was a member believed in utilizing them to the fullest possible extent, which was done. General Price was a kindly man-"Old Pap" Price, his soldiers called him-and it is believed that he did not realize the true character of some commissioned by him such as W. C. Quantrill and Bill Anderson. When word of their crimes came to his ears, as they must have, he probably considered these tales to have been merely wild exaggerations such as are always afloat in wartime and to have held to his opinion that Quantrill and Anderson were sincerely serving the confederacy in the best way they knew how.
The guerrillas really did a very valuable service for the south by causing to be kept in Missouri garri- soning the country, a large number of troops that would otherwise have been adding their weight in the decisive campaigns of the war. Livingston continually sent valuable information to southern generals. The guerrillas frequently served with regular confederate forces, notably during the Shelby raid of 1863 and the Price raid of 1864, and rendered invaluable service as scouts and guides.
In addition to the bands authorized by the confed- eracy there were a number of gangs and small groups
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of mere marauders who acted under no authority and whose sole purpose was to plunder and kill. Some of these operated in Jasper county from time to time.
Mrs. Lucy Blakely, quoted in the previous chap- ter, tells vividly of occurrences in the Jones creek and Moss Springs neighborhood in January 1862. Her story follows :
"One day in January there rode up to the home of my father, John A. Bryant, two men from down on Shoal creek. One was Joe Thompson and the other was Tom Rae. Rae was wearing a union soldier's over- coat and carried a rifle while Thompson was dressed in ordinary civilian garb and was armed with a double- barreled shotgun. My father had been sick in bed and was setting up in a chair that day for the first time. Our visitors wanted him to go outdoors with them but he refused, stating that he was not able. They talked for quite awhile, urging on my father the advantages of declaring himself in favor of the south and tried on various pretexts to get him to come outside. Finally Thompson rose in a rage.
" 'Well if you won't go outside I will kill you any- way right here,' he said with an oath, cocking his shot- gun and aiming it at my father's breast.
"We children set up a scream and my mother sprang in front of my father. The incident naturally impressed me deeply and I remember yet exactly how the caps on Thompson's gun looked as he stood there with the weapon leveled. It was Rae who saved us.
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" 'Come out of here, Joe,' he said, 'or you will scare these children to death,' and Thompson sullenly lowered his gun and complied.
"From our house they went a quarter of a mile south to the home of Brice Martin, mother's brother, and called him out to the fence. They talked awhile and Mrs. Martin, coming to the door, saw her husband turn away and start back to the house. As he did so, one of the men fired with the double-barreled shotgun, the charge of buckshot striking my uncle in the back beneath the shoulder blade and coming out at the breast, killing him instantly. My aunt always said that the man with the blue overcoat fired the shot but my mother and father had known Tom Rae all their lives and could never believe that he would so murder Brice Martin with whom he was well acquainted. They al- ways felt that it must have been Thompson who was guilty of the deed.
"My aunt ran down to the house to tell what had happened and my father was for going up there but mother and aunt thought that was what the bush- whackers really wanted and that they would be lying in wait. Eliza Parnell spread the word of the murder around the neighborhood and my mother went up and watched by the body which lay until 9 o'clock at night in the yard where it had fallen. We had many good neighbors, some of them of northern sympathy, most of them southern, but not a man on either side dared go after the body until 9 o'clock for fear of being killed. Then two southern sympathizers, George Hammer and
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John Rafody, and one union man, James Landers, slip- ped up to the Martin home under cover of darkness, picked up the body and brought it to our house where it was left that night.
"There was somewhat of a panic among the people of the neighborhood following the killing, especially among those known to favor the cause of the north. My father did not dare to stay at home that night and he and Marsh Parnell went to the home of Mrs. Sally Keith, over close to the Carthage road, and laid there concealed in the attic all night. The Parnells were al- most all southern people but Marsh was known as a union man and his life was in as much danger as any- one's despite his southern kindred. Everyone in the neighborhood was at first afraid to have anything to do with the Martin funeral but finally James Bunch, captain of a southern home guard company, said he would have the grave dug and would furnish protection to those coming to the burial. He and his men dug the grave in the cemetery of the old Freedom Baptist church near Moss Springs and a man in Fidelity made a coffin. My uncle was buried the next day, there being a considerable number of women present, a few men including my father and Marsh Parnell, and a number of members of Captain Bunch's home guard company.
"Immediately after the funeral the union men took to the timber and prepared to leave the country that night. Our wagon was hid out in the woods with the taps taken off the wheels so that it would be useless if someone tried to steal it, and my father had quite a
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time finding the taps, which had been hung up in a tree by means of a cord. These were finally secured and soon after dark they started. There were in the party, besides my father and Marsh Parnell, Dr. D. F. Moss, Riley Moss, William Spencer and several others, perhaps as many as a dozen all told. They made their way safely to Kansas and we stayed alone until two months later when they came back with a detachment of union soldiers and took us to Fort Scott."
In the spring the federal forces in Kansas began expeditions into Jasper and neighboring counties to obtain supplies and break up the bands of southern sympathizers or guerrillas that might have assembled.
In a report dated at Carthage March 22, 1862, Lieut. Col. Powell Clayton tells of an expedition to this city.
"Early on the morning of the 20th I marched on Carthage," the report states. "The day was very stormy and the roads being very heavy I left my trans- portation behind under a strong escort and pushed rap- idly forward, arriving at this place at sundown.
"Captain Creitz had preceded me about two hours. He dashed into town, capturing fifteen or twenty of the most prominent rebels in the community and taking possession of Johnson's mill two miles from here, find- ing in it about 225 bushels of wheat which we are now grinding. There is a large quantity of grain in this country and I have two threshing machines which I will set to work immediately. Johnson's mill will turn out 8,000 to 10,000 pounds of flour per day.
FREEDOM BAPTIST CHURCH
This little church stood just north of Moss Springs southeast of Carthage during the days of the civil war. It was erected by pioneers in 1841 of hewed logs, chinked with mortar, and for a long period of years was the house of wor- ship of the community. Numerous soldiers and civilians killed in the vicinity dur- ing the war were laid to rest in unmarked graves in the burying grounds at the rear of the building. A typical funeral of war days-that of Brice Martin -- is described on page 63 of this book.
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"We have had three men wounded, one of them seriously, out of the advance guard of a scouting party which was fired at from the brush. One of our men was taken prisoner while out with a foraging party.
"I enclose a list of the prisoners taken here, to- gether with a copy of the charges preferred against them by the union men of this community, all of which can be substantiated.
"If you think it necessary that we should turn out more flour, we can take other mills in the vicinity and furnish it."
The list of prisoners and charges have been lost from the records of the war department and it is not known now who the prisoners were or what disposition was made of them.
George B. Walker, son of James B. Walker who lived on the west side of Spring river just south of Tucker's ford northwest of Carthage, has told of an experience he had with Colonel Clayton while that of- ficer held Carthage.
"There was a full regiment of union cavalry in the town," said Mr. Walker, "and they gave the impression of being well drilled, efficient troops. I was eighteen years old at the time and had taken no part in the war but was living quietly on my father's farm. One day I had occasion to go to Carthage for something and while I was there the federal cavalrymen arrested me and put me in the court house, this being where they kept their prisoners. I was confined here all night and in the morning was taken downstairs and before Colonel
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Clayton. The colonel was a big, fine looking fellow and he eyed me a moment before speaking.
" 'Well, what have you been doing ?' he asked.
" 'Nothing at all,' I answered.
" 'What are you here for then ?' he queried.
" 'You ought to know,' I replied, 'your men arrested me yesterday and have held me a prisoner ever since.'
"The colonel then asked me my name, age, where I lived, and some similar questions. Finally he ordered me released.
" 'Go on home and be a good boy,' he told me, 'and come in here every other day and report to me.'
" 'What is that for ?' I asked.
"'Just so that I will know that you are behaving yourself,' he answered, and so I did as he said until he left."
It is probable that Walker's case was only one of many and that this was Clayton's way of keeping track of the young men in his vicinity who were coming of an age when it might be expected that they would have an inclination to take up arms against the union troops.
John A. Whitehead tells of a move to organize mi- litia in Jasper county soon after Colonel Clayton came. The state had been authorized by the federal govern- ment to recruit 10,000 men for such a force and the failure of local units to get in was doubtless due to the fact that the alloted number had been exceeded by over 3,000 men by April 1.
"Early in 1862," says Mr. Whitehead, "the federal war governor of Missouri called for state militia and we formed a company in the vicinity of Carthage. Two
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other companies were formed in this region, one down by Neosho and the other one out east of us somewhere. In the company to which I belonged we elected William Bulgin of Carthage captain and Jake Rankin who lived up on North Fork lieutenant. I forget most of the men who belonged but John Galentine who lived in Carthage for many years was one. Union soldiers firmly held this country at the time and no one hin- dered our organization. When we gathered and rode to Springfield for duty, however, all mounted but few of us armed, the state would not accept us for some reason. We came back home and later returned. The state still would not take us, though I don't know why. Norris Hood, a former sheriff of Jasper county, had gone with us to Springfield and he tried hard to get the governor to accept us but to no avail.
"We returned to Jasper county and disbanded. There were a number of union organizations in this county at the time, including the Second Ohio cavalry, the Fifth Kansas cavalry and others. Some of our men went into the Ohio regiment, others joined the Kansas troops and still others enlisted in Captain Con- key's company of the Third Wisconsin cavalry. Others returned home to the farms. Colonel Clayton of the Kansas cavalry regiment was in Carthage at the time and he told us that sooner or later the union troops would be moved out of this country and said that such of us as had been in the militia companies would not be safe here after that time. He advised us to leave the country while the leaving was good and the officers
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of the Ohio and Wisconsin troops told us the same. We decided to follow their advice.
"On May 11, 1862, thirty or forty wagons from our neighborhood started out for Fort Scott. Most of the wagons were drawn by oxen and were piled full of miscellaneous household goods, etc. No one could take more than a portion of what they had but everyone selected what was needed most and abandoned the rest. Everybody took all their horses and cattle and many took their sheep. There was no hope of taking the hogs and they were left. Cattle and wagons together we made quite a caravan as we wound northward. In addition to driving a team of oxen, I was helping look after a flock of forty sheep and had quite a time. I accidentally struck myself in the eye with the lash of my whip while I was doing this and while it did not seem serious at the time it later caused me to lose my eye.
"That night we camped between Dry Fork and Coon creek, some of the cattle being herded not far from the wagons and most of the riding horses tied to or near the vehicles. Sometime during the night a band of about thirty armed men approached our camp and some of them entered it. I was asleep in the wagon when I heard voices and looked out. Three men were nearby looking at John Seela's horse-the best in the whole camp-which was tied to a wagon wheel.
" 'There's a good horse,' remarked one.
" 'Cut his halter and bring him along then,' an- swered another.
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" 'That's my horse,' spoke up John Seela, but the men made no reply, cut loose the halter and led the animal away.
"There were a few guns in our party but it would have been suicidal for us to have offered resistance to such a band as this. The next morning the horse be- longing to my brother, William Whitehead, was also missing. Outside of taking the horses the band did not bother us. We moved on toward Lamar the next morning, having quite a time, I remember, getting those sheep across Coon creek. I pulled and dragged sheep across the stream until all were on the other side and as a result of being wet so long took a cold in my injured eye and that was what caused me to lose it. We went on to Fort Scott and settled down in that vicinity."
It is not known just when Colonel Clayton and the other troops moved out of Jasper county but it was probably not long after the exodus participated in by Mr. Whitehead. In July the federals seem to have been sent back again, Major Henning, commander at Fort Scott, writing to General Blunt on the tenth of the month as follows:
"At the suggestion and approval of the command- ing general I have sent a force to Jasper county, Mis- souri, to protect the union citizens there."
During the early summer of 1862 General T. C. Hindman commanding the confederate Trans-Missis- sipi district, had sent numerous officers secretly through the union lines and all over Missouri to recruit
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men for the south, to carry on guerrilla warfare, to gain control of the state if possible and, if not, then to harass the federals as much as practicable and event- ually make their way south with the recruits enlisted.
The result of this was a fierce flare-up of guerrilla operations all over the state. The bands raised ranged from small groups that cut railways and attacked iso- lated detachments of federals to considerable forces sometimes amounting to as many as 3,000 men. One or two fair sized victories were won by them, the most notable being at Lone Jack near Kansas City August 16.
In the latter part of July the government replied to this guerrilla warfare by ordering all loyal men of the state that were of military age to be enrolled as militia under the official name of Enrolled Militia. This work of organization was somewhat slow in Jas- per county owing to the strength of the southern sym- pathizers but soon after the call Captain Stotts organ- ized Company C of the 76th Regiment, Enrolled Militia. This company was formed partly by men from Jasper and partly by men from Lawrence county. A little later Capt. Henry Fisher organized Company G of the same regiment, this company being made up entirely of Jasper county men. Captain Stotts took position at Cave Springs and Captain Fisher at Bower Mills.
On August 11, Major J. M. Hubbard of the First Missouri Cavalry, a union organization then stationed at Newtonia, reported that he had had a skirmish with a force of confederates whose strength he estimated at 1,200 and that they had moved on north toward Carth-
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age in Jasper county. This was Colonel Cockrell's reg- iment moving north toward the Missouri river and with him was Colonel Jo Shelby with his company, bound in the same direction on a recuiting mission. Carthage was apparently not garrisoned and these confederates passed on through the county and into Barton county without hindrance.
On August 26 Gen. James G. Blunt of the Karsas troops reported that his soldiers had followed confed- erate forces under Coffee, Cockrell, Hunter, Tracy and Jackman as far south as Carthage. These troops were recruits for the southern army which were being taken to the south. They had been closely pursued as far as the town mentioned and their route was marked by the bodies of horses that had died from exhaustion and by hats and caps that had been dropped from the heads of riders sleeping in the saddle.
Colonel Clark Wright with 1,400 Missouri cavalry took up the pursuit at Carthage and followed the con- federates down into Newton county.
Just prior to this time Archibald McCoy, men- tioned heretofore as county treasurer and a strong union man, decided to leave Carthage on account of the danger a union man incurred here and started to Fort Scott. He never arrived at his destination and it was thought that he had been captured by Cockrell's troops as they made their way south.
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