USA > Missouri > Jasper County > Jasper County, Missouri, in the Civil War > Part 7
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"Livingston and his band often passed our house and I knew him well by sight as well as by reputation. He was a big, square shouldered man whose weight might have been in the neighborhood of 175 pounds, and when I knew him he was always clean shaven ex- cept for his moustache. He was an old bachelor, was a good natured and good hearted man but was a great whisky drinker. I had heard of him before the war. He spent most of his time in the mining camps and like in the case of most whisky drinkers his drinking natur- ally led to fighting. I have heard how in saloons in Granby-then a wild camp-or in Minersville he had fought as many as five or six men at a time, knocking them down in rapid succession and whipping the bunch. He never knew fear and his men during the war idolized him. They said that there never was a leader so good to his men as Major Tom Livingston.
War Department Photograph
A UNION CAVALRYMAN
This picture, taken in October 1862, shows a typical union cavalryman of the period. The soldier's revolver, being in the holster at his right hip is not visible in this picture nor is the carbine carried on the right side of the saddle. In this region the revolver was a more important weapon than the sabre and decided most of the cavalry combats of Jasper County.
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"He and his men, on the occasions I saw them pass- ing, were superbly mounted and were dressed in ordi- nary civilian clothes. They were armed with numerous revolvers thrust in the belt and with short rifles or carbines carried strapped on the back. These rifles were of a variety of makes, predominant among them being Sharp's rifles and Colt revolving rifles. The Sharp was by far the better gun and was the favorite. It was a breech loader but of course took a paper car- tridge. The revolvers were generally either the Colts navy-a weapon of .36 calibre-or the Colts dragoon, which was .44 calibre. These were of course cap and ball, the metallic cartridges not yet having come into use. The latter was a beautiful, well balanced arm which was known as a dragoon because it had been de- signed and used by the United States regular cavalry, or dragoons, in the wars with the Indians before the civil war broke out. Livingston's men were expert shots and each man usually carried three or four of these revolvers. I have often seen men with four thrust in the belt and two more carried on their saddle.
"A few days after the fight on Spring river that I witnessed Captain Conkey and his soldiers came to my father's farm and placed me under arrest. I had done nothing to be made prisoner for and told them so. This did not make any difference to them, however, for they seemed to be picking up about all of the younger men in the country. I was first taken to Neosho, then to Fort Scott and was later sent north a distance to Fort Lincoln. No charges were ever placed against me and the next March I was released. These cavalrymen of
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Conkey's were a raw lot of recruits, it impressed me at the time, quite unlike the well trained soldiers of Colo- nel Clayton's regiment that I had seen in Carthage some months before."
Despite the operations of Coleman and Conkey the danger to wagon trains seemed to have been in no wise abated for on November 16 Henning wrote to General Blunt who was then in Benton county, Arkansas, with his army, that the movement of a wagon train from Fort Scott had been held up because a strong force was reported to be gathering on Spring river to intercept it. Between 800 and 1,000 guerrillas were said to be between Carthage and Lamar at this time.
John A. Whitehead has told of some personal ex- periences in Jasper county about this time as follows :
"The fall of 1862 John Seela and I came back to Jasper county to get some articles we had left here, and, while we were back, butchered a hog to take up to Fort Scott with us. About that time two other wagons had come down from Fort Scott to move out Bannister Hickey who lived northeast of Carthage. Hickey had decided meanwhile not to go and he told the men to go down to his orchard near Diamond Grove and load up the wagons with apples to take back, and they did so. Seela and I started back north with these men. John and I were driving a wagon drawn by one yoke of oxen and each of the other two wagons were drawn by two yokes of oxen.
"That evening we crossed Little North Fork some distance beyond Preston but as we pulled up the bank
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on the other side eight or ten bushwhackers stepped out from the brush and halted us.
" 'You can consider yourselves prisoners,' the leader told us, 'Unhitch those cattle from the wagons and chain them in the timber.'
"We did so and were then placed in the timber and held under guard. The bushwhackers were apparently lying in wait for someone and had picked us up by chance. They did not tell us who they were after but I have understood since that it was Billy Spencer. Spencer had joined the confederates under compulsion earlier in the war but had deserted them at the first opportunity and I suppose that this was why they wanted to kill him. The day before they captured us they had captured his son, John Spencer, who lived with his mother in Barton county near Nashville and the boy was never heard of again. I might mention, incidentally, that the bushwhackers never did get the father and he came back to Jasper county and lived south of Carthage after the war.
"We stayed in the timber until almost midnight at which time the bushwhackers decided that the man they wanted would not come, so they ordered us to hitch up the oxen again and took us to Sherwood. Sherwood was in the extreme western part of Jasper county and we did not stop there but went on to Tur- key creek and finally halted in a hollow south of the stream.
"The leader of our captors was a friendly and pleasant spoken sort of man who told us that his name
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was William Parkinson and that he was the brother-in- law of Tom Livingston and a lieutenant in his band. I did not see Livingston but from the talk of about twenty men who joined us the night after our capture I gained the impression that the guerrilla chief and most of his men were down on Shoal creek somewhere. The following day about noon Parkinson told us that we could take what bedding we wanted from the wagons and go wherever we pleased but that he would keep the wagons and the oxen. We chose a quilt apiece and the bushwhacker lieutenant wrote out a pass for us and told us that if we were stopped by any of Livingston's men or other southern sympathizers that we should show the pass and we would not be molested. Throwing our quilts over our shoulders we started on foot for Fort Scott, making the long walk without incident."
At the same time Mr. Whitehead and Mr. Seela came back to Jasper county, the former's brother, Jesse Whitehead, also returned. He thought it would be safe to come back to this region and make his home here again but he only returned to his death. Upon arriving here he went to the home of Jacob Crum on Center creek where there was also staying Mr. Crum's daugh- ter, Mrs. Lydia Ann Whitehead, the wife of another Whitehead brother, James. Mrs. Whitehead tells of subsequent events as follows :
"A short time after Jesse returned, a band of bushwhackers numbering several hundred including quite a few Indians came to the house and took him prisoner. They robbed the house of everything they could carry off and although they did not injure my
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father who was over eighty years of age they took practically everything he had, even clothing, and left him in his shirt and drawers.
"They tied Jesse's hands behind him and put him on a horse. I heard him ask the captain of the band what his name was and the man replied that it was Wilson but I do not suppose that he was telling the truth. I did not know any of the men but one of them told me that his name was Jack Webb. They took Jesse out to the west a short distance, not far from where the Carthage-Fidelity road crosses Cen- ter creek and there hung him, keeping people away from the vicinity for several days. I have heard that they hanged him up so his feet would just barely touch the ground and that he lived two days before finally dying. They said that this was in retaliation for the killing of Berry Bedford by northerners but I do not know why they picked on Jesse about it."
All during November the guerrillas were causing great anxiety by their numbers and activity every- where, General Brown writing to General Schofield as follows :
"The time of the enrolled Missouri militia expired on November 20. The country is overrun wth guer- rillas and to disarm the people at present would leave them and their families at the mercy of these hordes of robbers. The commanding officer at Bower Mills re- ports large bands in his vicinity and fears he will be forced to abandon his position. From that and all por- tions of the western portion of the district come reports
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that the robbers have become very bold, shooting our soldiers and union men and driving their families from their homes."
On November 27 in a sharp skirmish near Carthage a detachment of state militia cavalry from Greenfield defeated Jackman's guerrillas. General Francis J. Her- ron reported it and other affairs about the same time as follows:
"Brigadier General Brown reports the results of two expeditions sent from Greenfield. One under Major G. W. Kelley, Fourth Missouri State Militia, into Jasper county, encountered and dispersed Jack- man's band of guerrillas, killing one lieutenant and one private and capturing six prisoners with their horses, arms, etc. Captain Roecker, of Major Kelley's com- mand, had a hand-to-hand encounter with a rebel lieu- tenant, finally killing him. The other expedition under Lieutenant Pritchard met a portion of the same band in Barton county near Lamar, dispersing them and killing two. Quantrill with about 1,000 men came up to within ten miles of Newtonia, intending to surprise Colonel J. F. Philips stationed at that place, but hear- ing of the reinforcements sent there has scattered his command, falling back into McDonald county. Colonel Philips is after him. The southwestern counties are swarming with guerrilla bands."
The situation for the federals seemed to improve within the next month for on December 31, Major E. B. Eno, a courageous and able officer commanding at Newtonia, reported that although the valleys of Center
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creek, Jones creek and Shoal creek were swarming with guerrillas that he had killed eight of them within two weeks and the rest were not nearly as daring as they had been.
"It will take some little time," he wrote, "but I am determined to root them out, stem and branch, and if horseflesh and ammunition do not fail me, will do it."
The entire strength of the union troops then in Jasper, Newton and McDonald counties was given as 635.
CHAPTER III
1863-Guerrilla Warfare and Shelby's Raid
During 1862 there had been organized in Missouri a force of some 13,000 state militia cavalry whose pur- pose was to relieve volunteer regiments in the policing of Missouri so that these volunteers could be sent to more active fronts. After the union troops had occu- pied Newtonia in October of 1862, detachments of the Seventh and Eighth Militia cavalry regiments were as- signed to keep the peace in Jasper county and vicinity and the beginning of 1863 found them very active in this task. Although state troops, their drill and effi- ciency compared favorably with volunteer regiments of the same arm and they rendered most effective work, both in hunting down guerrillas and in repelling confederate raids into Missouri.
The general tactics pursued in their campaign against the guerrillas were to garrison certain towns, prepare them for defense and hold them with a portion of the force. Using these garrisoned places as bases of operation the remainder of the troops made numer- ous scouts throughout the country, striking hard at the guerrillas wherever they could be found.
In addition to the state militia cavalry the enrolled militia organizations were called into service from time to time whenever emergencies warranted and were re- lieved therefrom when circumstances made it possible. Some of the enrolled militia seems to have been in the
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service all the time and in February 1863 the organi- zation of Provisional Enrolled Militia organizations which were to be continually in active service was be- gun. Company C, 76th Enrolled Militia, Captain Green C. Stotts commanding, now became Company C, Sev- enth Provisional, and included most Jasper county men in the provisional service. This company was stationed most of the time at Cave Springs but seems to have occupied Bower Mills occasionally.
The character of the warfare in Missouri by the beginning of 1863 had become of a very bitter nature, a number of guerrilla bands fighting under the black flag and neither giving nor being given quarter. This had been commenced in 1862 when various union com- manders throughout the state had called attention to the fact that, according to the laws of war, guerrillas operating in civilian clothing or in captured federal uniforms were not entitled to treatment as prisoners of war and would be shot when captured. The guerril- las retaliated by killing federals that fell into their hands. There were plenty of exceptions to this rule however in regard to some of the guerrilla organiza- tions. Prisoners were occasionally captured by them and released and oftentimes when they themselves were captured they were treated as ordinary prisoners of war.
The "summary of events" in the official records mention a skirmish in Carthage, January 13, 1863, and another on Sarcoxie Prairie on February 10, but no par- ticulars are given of either.
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Major Eno of the Eighth Missouri Militia cavalry, reports on one of his scouting trips in Jasper county as follows :
"On February 19 I marched down Center creek, thence up Spring river to Carthage where I encamped that night. Here I learned that the enrolled militia from Bower Mills had overtaken Livingston with about 60 men six miles distant on Dry Fork of Spring river, had fought him a little and then came charging back through Carthage, swearing because they could not catch him.
"My conjecture relative to his rendevous was cor- rect but on hearing of my scout being below on Spring river he ran directly north about Lamar. Knowing that Captain Moore's scouts, (Wisconsin Volunteer Cav- alry) would be in that neighborhood on the 20th, I concluded to march back to Jones and Jenkins creeks. We took the brush and creek until within a quarter of a mile of that misnomer, Fidelity; then charged into that place; came upon a small party of the rascals, wounded one and captured three. The balance escaped, our horses being too tired to overtake them. Thence I divided my command again and beat the brush of Jones and Jenkins creeks upstream. Not finding any- thing, we encamped on Jones creek, sending parties up and down the stream during the night.
"If the Wisconsin scout does not come across Liv- ingston and cut him up, he will go down to the border and harbor at the mouth of Shoal creek again, provided he does not leave the country altogether. Many of the
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best friends of the guerrilla chief solemnly own to me that they see and fully appreciate the injury he is do- ing to the country, and they talk seriously of present- ing a petition to him to leave."
Livingston did not leave the country, however, and within a few weeks made a raid on Granby. Major Eno reported as follows regarding this affair:
"On the night of the 3rd of March the guerrilla chief, Livingston, with 100 men dashed into Granby where 25 men of my battalion were stationed. The pa- trol guard, two men, were captured, disarmed and prob- ably killed, as nothing has been since heard of them.
"Two other soldiers who were attending a sick family a short distance outside the stockade were cap- tured, and unarmed as they were, begging for their lives, were shot down in their tracks. Livingston passed rapidly out without venturing to attack the squad in the stockade."
Six days after the Granby skirmish Capt. David Mefford of the Sixth Kansas Cavalry had a clash with Livingston near Sherwood. The report of his expedi- tion follows :
"Sunday, March 8, I went to Diamond Grove about five miles from Savilla, and searched the woods thor- oughly but without satisfactory results. I then moved down Turkey creek and went to Sherwood in Jasper county, a distance of eighteen miles. We found a trail but could get no information as to what troops had passed. It being nearly night I remained in town until 3 a. m., Monday.
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"We then followed up the trail a short distance when my advance ran into a picket. Shots were ex- changed in which Sergeant Fountain, non-commissioned staff, was severely though not dangerously wounded in the face. The rebel picket was also wounded but not fatally. We searched the woods and found the camp which had contained 70 or 80 men, judging from ap- pearances, which the noted Tom Livingston had left in great haste, cutting ropes and halters. The brush being so thick, it was impossible to follow them.
"I moved out on the edge of Turkey creek timber and proceeded about two miles. Seeing several men in a little bend of the prairie the advance went in pursuit, and after a chase of about three-fourths of a mile they were suddenly turned upon by Livingston's whole force and obliged to fall back to the main command, still pursued. Seeing them repulsed, I quickly formed my men behind a clump of trees and bushes, dismounted them and sent them in on foot. The enemy coming within 90 or 100 yards, firing commenced, lasting but a few minutes, the enemy retreating precipitately.
"I had one man wounded in the leg. The injury sustained by the rebels is not known but from the ap- pearance of the woods must have been considerable in horses. I sent Company H in the woods as skirmishers and found the trail again, but considering it useless to try to follow them I turned my course to Neosho, which place I reached at sundown."
On March 5 there had been a skirmish at Sher- wood but the only information given in the official
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records about this affair is that it occurred on the date stated. Nothing is said as to who fought it or why. Undoubtedly it was the result of a scouting party meet- ing Livingston's men.
A regiment of colored troops-the First Kansas Colored Infantry-took station at Baxter Springs about this time and began to make occasional trips into Jas- per county. Included in their number were quite a few Jasper county negroes. Reports of federal officers speak of these negro soldiers as forming a well disci- plined and efficient regiment but they were bitterly hated by the southern people and it was scant mercy that was received by any of them when they fell into guerrilla hands.
One action in which the negro soldiers assisted white troops from Kansas is told in a report written by Major Charles W. Blair, commandant at Fort Scott, under date of May 9. The report follows :
"I have the honor to inform you that on Tuesday last, having heard that a rebel camp was established on Center creek near the town of Sherwood about sixty miles from this place, I dispatched Adjutant M. M. Ehle with a detachment of about sixty men to attack and disperse them and to bring back the stolen and contraband stock which I was informed they had gath- ered there in very considerable amount.
"By forced marches he got to the south of them and learning from his scouts that they numbered 200 or 300 he applied to Colonel J. M. Williams, First Kan- sas Colored Volunteers, for assistance who promptly
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reinforced him with two companies and one gun of Blair's battery under Lieut. Daniel C. Knowles.
"With this added force he attacked the enemy at daybreak, carrying the camp in gallant style and dis- persing the rebels in every direction. He subsequently attacked and took another camp nearer the town and dispersed its occupants. Some few prisoners were taken and about fifty head of young horses and mules, part of which, with the prisoners, were turned over to Colonel Williams, and the residue, being the greater part thereof, were turned over to the quartermaster at this post on their arrival here today."
In the early part of May, Livingston who had been resting in the Creek nation in Indian Territory returned to Jasper county. On May 14 Major Eno had another fight with him, this time near the Center Creek mines. Eno's report follows :
"On the morning of the 13th I marched from New- tonia by order of Colonel Thomas T. Crittenden, com- manding post, in command of 74 men of the Seventh Missouri State Militia cavalry, and 100 men of my own battalion. After proceeding nine miles, Captain Squire Ballew, Seventh Cavalry, with 50 men, were detached with orders to proceed down Shoal creek about fifteen miles ; thence pass over on to Turkey creek, avoiding roads as much as possible, and driving the brush thor- oughly, and to encamp that night in vicinity of Turkey Creek mines; thence he was directed to proceed down the creek to a point three miles below Sherwood ; thence to move up Center, while with the remainder I moved
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down from a point above, and to meet me at French Point some time next day, 14th instant, with the ad- ditional caution that I probably would not arrive until late in the afternoon. I moved with the balance of the command through the brush on Jones and Jenkins creek, and divided the scout so as to scour them both. No sign was discovered and the command camped that night on Center creek, 5 miles from Carthage. Cap- tain Ballew camped as directed.
"On the morning of the 14th I again divided the portion of the command with me, sending Captain Cas- sairt of the Eighth cavalry down the south side of the creek; Captain M. C. Henson with 35 men on the north side, while with the remainder I passed down the center. By this disposition I hoped either to engage or surround the guerrillas with the three subdivisions or to drive them to French's Point where Captain Ballew should have been ready to receive them, while I advanced on their rear and either flank, in which event the capture or destruction of the entire gang was inevitable.
"About 3 p. m., Captain Henslee drove in their pickets on the north and Captain Cassairt on the south side of the creek. Captain Henslee followed the trail hotly, crossed the creek and joined Captain Cassairt on the other side; thence both pushed on and found the guerrillas about 100 strong, commanded by Living- ston, strongly posted under cover of a log house and some dense brush. A severe fight ensued of some 15 minutes duration, when our men were obliged to fall back. This I am confident would not have occurred had not Captain Hensley been cut off from his command.
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"At the first fire his horse became unmanageable and dashed through the rebel lines, leaving his men without a commander. Many of the guerrillas were dressed in federal uniform. Captain Cassairt's detach- ment mistook them for our men, and before discovering their mistake, were right among them, had received a galling fire and were fighting hand to hand.
"Captain Henslee, who had been carried far be- yond the ground, as soon as his horse could be checked dashed back and with the greatest coolness and daring approached within pistol shot of the rebels, fired and killed one before wheeling to make his escape.
"Captain Cassairt exerted himself to the utmost to rally his men and finally succeeded in gaining the edge of the prairie; threatened to shoot the first man who dared to move another step to retreat; immediate- ly formed and commenced firing the enemy who in turn retreated, carrying off his dead and wounded. When the firing commenced, the detachment with me was two miles up the creek. I immediately started on a gallop in that direction, but was not able to reach the ground until all was over. This was four and a half miles east of Sherwood and one and a half miles east of French Point.
"I pushed on immediately in pursuit, pressing them so hard as to compel them to leave their prisoners, whom I recaptured, and expecting every moment to hear Captain Ballew's guns attacking the enemy in his front as he approached French Point, which place he was obliged to pass in his retreat. The trail, as I
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anticipated, led directly through French Point, and the bank was still wet with the water carried out in Liv- ingston's crossing, but Captain Ballew was not there. I regret to have to report that he had arrived, was waiting for me, his advance had fired upon Livingston's advance as the latter approached, when an escaped pris- oner, frightened and bewildered, reported to him the fight a short time previous and that the rebels were not far off, and Captain Ballew disobeyed my orders, retreated with his fifty men without waiting to see the enemy or engage him, never halting until night, thus leaving the path open for Livingston's retreat. Had Captain Ballew obeyed orders and stood his ground, there can be no question but that Livingston and his fiendish gang would have been completely an- nihilated.
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