USA > Missouri > Jasper County > Jasper County, Missouri, in the Civil War > Part 8
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"The company bivouacked the night of the 14th three miles above Sherwood. Captain Ballew encamped twelve miles above French Point, near Grove creek.
"On the morning of the 15th his rear was fired on by a squad of bushwhackers, when he retreated back onto Center creek, passed round by Bower Mills, 25 miles out of his way, and arrived at Newtonia at 9 o'clock the same night, having lost two men prisoners, who fell into the hands of the men who fired upon him and who report that the bushwhackers numbered eight.
"On the morning of the 15th I sent Captain Cas- sairt with 30 men to bury the dead and convey the wounded to Newtonia. With the remainder of the com- mand I passed on over to Spring river, following Liv-
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ingston's trail over the prairie, but at the distance of two miles the trail divided and finally diverged in every direction, not more than four men having gone to- gether. I passed down Spring river five miles, thence across again on Center creek, when for the next ten days the command was kept moving slowly through the brush and over by-roads, crossing and recrossing the creek. From the time of the first skirmish on the 14th until leaving the creek on the 18th we were almost continually sighting them, starting up scattered squads of from four to ten, chasing and firing on them, when they invariably dashed into the brush and con- cealed themselves, making it impossible-except in two instances when men were overtaken and shot down- to ascertain whether they were hurt or not.
"Our total loss on the scout is four killed and two wounded. The enemy's loss, reported by parties pres- ent at the burial, is 15 killed, a captain and 15 or 20 others wounded, one mortally, at different points on the creek.
"The following is a correct list of killed and wound- ed of both battalions: Killed-Charles Crude, ser- geant, Company M, Seventh Missouri State Militia Cav- alry, shot and stripped naked after having surrendered ; Winster C. Donely, corporal, Company M, Seventh Mis- souri State Militia Cavalry; Henry C. Maxey sergeant Company L; and Horace Palmer, private, Company F, Eighth Missouri State Militia Cavalry, killed after be- ing taken. Wounded-John T. Anderson, Company L, Seventh Missouri State Militia Cavalry; Samuel Beach,
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private, Company F, Eighth Missouri State Militia Cav- alry.
"In justice to the memory of Private Palmer I can- not forbear mentioning that when the retreat from the first skirmish commenced, he exclaimed, 'I didn't volun- teer to run; right here I'll die;' dismounted, deliber- ately tied his horse to a tree, and fired eighteen shots before he could be taken.
"The guerrillas in that region were scattered in every direction and were completely disheartened.
"The scout was successful but I cannot but express my regret that it was not the complete success that I had planned and hoped for, in the total annihilation of the gang, which must have been the result if my orders had been obeyed. The men behaved with steadiness and bravery with the one exception mentioned. I have to thank the officers with me for the assistance ren- dered by their cool, judicious conduct throughout the scout."
Lieutenant Colonel T. T. Crittenden, commanding at Newtonia, and Colonel W. F. Cloud, commander of the district of Southwest Missouri, both seem to have judged Captain Ballew more charitably than did Major Eno in his disappointment. At least Ballew was retained in command of his company and afterwards given positions of trust, commanding the post at War- saw, Mo., a little later in the year. Crittenden speaks of his failure to cooperate with Eno as a misunder- standing. He also pays tribute to the guerrilla chief by saying in a letter to Cloud, "Kill Livingston and
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there is no one else to mass and congregate these bands. He is a man of much influence." In the same commun- ication Crittenden states that the information regard- ing the guerrilla loss came from women of southern sympathy who were present when Livingston buried fifteen dead in one grave.
Livingston, signing himself as major in the con- federate army, on May 28, 1863, made a report to Gen- eral Sterling Price on the guerrilla operations in Jasper county. The May 15 fight referred to evidently is the same one that Eno says occurred May 14. The report is the only official one made by Livingston of which any record has been preserved. It was written at Dia- mond Grove and is as follows:
"On the 15th of May as I was crossing the timber of Center creek about ten miles southwest of Carthage, I encountered a scout of the enemy consisting of about 125 Newtonia militia. I immediately got my men in position to receive an assault from him which I vigor- ously repulsed.
"I then charged upon him, Captain Estes com- manding the left, Captain Mccullough the center, and Captain Rusk a flanking party on the right. A sharp firing ensued and the enemy was soon flying before us. I pursued him for about three miles toward Carthage. The enemy lost in killed, 13; mortally wounded, 4; pris- oners, 4. My loss : killed, none ; wounded, Captain Estes slightly in the arm and Captain Mccullough slightly stunned from the fall of his horse which was shot un- der him. I then retired to Twin Groves, about three miles distant.
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"The next day the enemy was reinforced to about 400 and I moved on Spring river but was not pursued.
"On the 18th my scouts reported 60 negroes and white men belonging to Colonel J. M. Williams' negro regiment with five six-mule teams foraging on Center creek prairie. I ordered out 67 of my best mounted men and came upon them at Mrs. Rader's, pillaging her premises. I afterwards learned that they were ordered not to take more plunder than they could take with them. I charged them at the house, flanking them on the right, routed them and pursued them about eight miles to the crossing of Spring river.
"The enemy's loss in killed was 23 negroes and 7 white men; wounded unknown, and a number of pris- oners. We also captured thirty mules and five wagons ; a box containing 1,400 cartridges and caps, and a good many guns, pistols, etc. The prisoners I subsequently exchanged for confederate soldiers. I sustained no loss.
"The following day the enemy returned with 300 infantry and two companies of cavalry and burned the town of Sherwood and eleven farm houses in that vi- cinity. They then put ten of their dead negroes that had been left on the battle-ground the day preceding, together with the body of Mr. John Bishop, a citizen prisoner whom they had murdered, into the house of Mrs. Rader and burned the premises. They then re- turned to their camp at Baxter Springs."
At the same time the above support was submitted to General Price, Livingston wrote the general the fol- lowing personal letter urging that he send confederate troops into southwest Missouri to aid the guerrillas.
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"You will see from the enclosed letter (captured from unionists) the deplorable situation of our friends in southwest Missouri. We have but a small force in this portion of the state. Colonel Coffee has joined me with a small force of unorganized troops and will cooperate with me but our combined forces are yet too small to prevent the threatened destruction of our country. Can you, and will you, use your influence in sending a sufficient force to relieve the suffering of the people of your own state who are being subjected to outrages unparalleled in any other war? We make this appeal to you who can appreciate our sufferings and can plead our cause, being one of us."
In reference to the May 18 fight told of by Liv- ingston, Lieut. Edward Smith, Second Kansas Battery, reported to his commander as follows:
"On the 18th of May, 1863, a foraging party from the camp of Col. James M. Williams, First Colored Vol- unteers, Baxter Springs, consisting in part of men be- longing to my battery, were attacked in the vicinity of Sherwood, by a party of rebel guerrillas, and Corporal Van Rennsler Hancock, Private Joseph Endicott and Private Cameron Garrett were killed."
Lieutenant Smith's report of casualties differs widely from that of Livingston but it is probable that the lieutenant speaks only of casualties to his own bat- tery, saying nothing of the negro loss.
Colonel W. F. Cloud, who at that time command- ed the district of southwest Missouri with headquarters at Springfield, reported on May 30 as follows regarding an expedition down into this region :
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"Learning that Coffee and Hunter were at Pine- ville I immediately moved in that direction and taking their trail followed them from Pineville by way of Rutledge; thence west of Neosho to Diamond Grove and west of Carthage about ten miles where I overtook a part of their force under Coffee about 290 strong and attacked them with equal force at daylight of Tuesday, May 26. As they would not stand and fight but took to the woods and brush, I was obliged to be content with scouring the same and dispersing them.
"Hunter had gone north to Cedar county with about 100 men and Livingston was not to be found. After disposing of my command so as to annoy and capture as many of these roving bands as possible I re- turned to my headquarters.
"The enemy here are basing their hopes on Price's coming, which in turn depends on the abandonment of the siege of Vicksburg by our forces."
George Walker, who has been mentioned as hav- ing been taken north by union troops in the fall of the preceding year has told of his release from federal hands and his subsequent action as follows:
"In March of 1863 a union man of Jasper county had seen me at Fort Lincoln a prisoner and, knowing that I had taken no part in the war as yet, asked me what I was doing there. When I told him that I had been brought there by Captain Conkey he said he would go to Fort Scott and see what charges had been placed against me. A few days later Major Henning, com- manding at Fort Scott, had me taken there and talked
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to me. He said there were no charges against me and that I was free to go home. I lost no time in starting out and of course came on foot as I had no horse. A short distance south of Fort Scott I met Captain Conkey.
" 'Where are you going now, young man ?' he asked me.
" 'I am going home,' I told him.
" __ 'All right,' he answered, 'I'll be down in that country before long and I want to find you there when I come.'
" 'You want to find me there so you can pick me up again without any charges against me,' I answered.
" 'Weren't there any charges filed against you ?' he laughed. 'Well, I won't pick you up any more if you behave yourself. You go on home and I will look you up when I get there.'
"I proceeded home but naturally after my confine- ment I was in no friendly mood toward the government and was not a bit anxious to see Captain Conkey or any of his like any more.
"I had not been home long before I learned that a company of men was to be gotten up in the county to go and join General Shelby, so on the day appointed I took our best horse and rode to Carthage which was the point of rendezvous. I carried two Colt's navy re- volvers and a Sharp's carbine, each man being required to furnish his own arms. About thirty men reported and we were formed on the square at Carthage and formally sworn into the service of the Confederate
JASPER COUNTY COURT HOUSE 1849-1863
It is said that before the war slaves were sold at this building the first of each year. Following the battle of Carthage it was used as a hospital for the men wounded in the engagement. Union troops at various times during 1862 used the place as headquarters and the state militia cavalry garrisoning the town during the greater part of 1863 was quartered here. The struc- ture was burned by guerrillas in October 1863 when the garrison was absent in pursuit of Shelby.
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states as soldiers, Jim Petty being elected captain. We were unable to join Shelby for a time and operated in various parts of the country for a few months.
"One day during the summer we came from the west and camped on the Oak street road west of Car- thage somewhere near where the Monitor school now stands. By this time there were about forty men in our company. The camping place was only a short distance south of my home and since I had not been there for some time I obtained permission to go over to the house. A little while prior to this Bud Shirley, one of our men who lived in Carthage, had ridden to- ward town to see his family who lived on the north side of the square at the hotel which his father kept. I knew the Shirley's quite well. There was old John Shirley, the father, as pleasant a man as you could find. Then there was Preston Shirley, the older son who was never a soldier as far as I know but went to Texas during the war, and there was Bud who was medium sized, dark complexioned and who weighed probably about 160 pounds. Bud was as good a companion and as brave a man as you could find anywhere. His age was about 22. He had a younger sister, Myra, who was about 16 and although she was small for her age she was rather a pretty girl and everybody liked her.
"I had gone only a short distance toward home when I heard Captain Petty call to me. I turned around and he motioned me to return and I did so. Bud Shir- ley was with him, just having ridden up from Carth- age and I knew that something was up or Bud would never have returned so soon.
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"'I want you to go to Carthage with me,' said Petty. 'Bud has learned that there are six militiamen in a house there and we are going in to get them.'
"'Why don't you take someone else?' I asked, 'I had just started home and I have not been there for a long time.'
"'No, you have a good horse and I want you along,' he replied.
"He chose eight others besides Shirley and myself and the eleven of us rode into town. The house for which we were bound was several hundred feet south- west of the southwest corner of the square and we reached it without seeing any signs of federals. We dashed up to the house with drawn pistols, Petty in the lead with Shirley on one side of him and me on the other.
"A militiaman stepped out of the door as we gal- loped up, snatched a rifle from beside the door and fired. The bullet struck Captain Petty squarely in the head and he slid from his horse, instantly killed. Both Shirley and I snapped our pistols at his slayer and either of us could have gotten him except that the caps failed to explode. We always had difficulty getting good pistol caps and the bunch we now had were wretched ones. G. B.'s they were called and they were not waterproof, thus they sometimes became worthless and failed us when we needed them most.
"The militia, roused by the noise, were now coming out of every door and window. Instead of six of them there seemed at least thirty-five that had been crowded
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in that house eating dinner. There was a lively fusi- lade for a moment, they firing and we firing and snap- ping. The shooting was pretty wild, however, except for the militiaman's first shot, the militia being sur- prised by our sudden attack and we being surprised by their unexpected number. I noticed one soldier by the fence who had just reloaded his rifle and who was try- ing to put a cap on the nipple. I picked him out for mine and pulled the trigger on him at close range. My revolver again snapping instead of exploding. The sol- dier, becoming excited, dropped the cap and picked it up again while in a rage I futilely snapped and re-snap- ped my gun at him. Finally he slid the cap on the nipple and I whirled my horse, becoming aware for the first time that my comrades were already gone. My enemy fired about this time and hit me in the right arm, the ball passing clear through. As I raced down the road a considerable number of the other soldiers blazed away at me but never touched me, and I safely regained camp. Captain Petty was the only man that we had killed and I was the only one wounded. I do not think that the federals had anyone hit at all. One of the lieutenants took command of our company and when Shelby came through on his raid in October we joined him."
Early in 1863 Captain Henry Fisher of Company G, 76th Enrolled Militia, the Jasper county company, was killed about eight miles east of Carthage. He and Private John De Graffenreid were riding along the road after night when they came upon a band of men halted alongside the road. One of the federals demanded to
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know who they were, and the guerrillas-for guerrillas they were-replied with a volley which killed both the soldiers. T. J. Stemmons, son of Dr. J. M. Stemmons who was killed the preceding year, was chosen captain to take Fisher's place. Telling of events in 1863 Cap- tain Stemmons said recently :
"One time during the spring we received word that seven Texans that had been chosen from the confeder- ate army to go through the union lines to north Mis- souri for some purpose I never learned were then riding through eastern Jasper county. Captain Stotts was near Cave Springs when he received the word and im- mediately started on their trail with about a dozen men. I was east of Avilla when I heard it and also took up the chase with thirteen men.
"Stotts was close on their heels and caught up with them near where Dudenville now is. His men were riding hard and had become scattered out during the pursuit. Private Alfred Lawrence was leading the chase for the federals and Lieutenant George Bowers was close behind. Several of the Texans slowed up, shot and killed Lawrence and then wounded Bowers with a sort of ranging shot across the back. They then succeeded in making their escape although they had one man wounded.
"The fight was over by the time I came up and I was in favor of continuing the pursuit. Captain Stotts pointed out however that for all we knew that there might be a thousand rebels in the country to the north- east of us where the trail led and it would be better for us to stay in our own territory."
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In early June Colonel Williams with his negro regiment entered Jasper county and was moving to- ward Diamond Grove with the intention of cooperating with the force at Newtonia in a move against the guer- rillas and with the further intention of impressing a considerable number of wagons from Jasper county farmers. He had been ordered from Baxter Springs to Fort Gibson in Indian Territory and since he did not have as much transportation as he needed to make the trip he looked to Missouri, occupied largely by southern sympathizers, as a logical place to supply his shortage.
Fortunately for Jasper county Colonel Williams had just reached the Rader home on Turkey creek in the western part of the county when he received two messages which stopped his further progress. One was that his camp in Kansas had been attacked by guerril- las and the other was from Col. William A. Phillips down in the Cherokee Nation to the effect that strong confederate forces were moving north toward Baxter Springs. Williams promptly turned his regiment and retraced his steps, regaining his camp after having made a thirty mile march that day.
Williams' organization soon moved on down into the Indian Territory, thence over into Arkansas, and came into this region no more. Another negro regi- ment, the Second Kansas Colored Infantry, took post at Baxter some time later but seem not to have oper- ated any in Jasper county. So far as the records show, the last colored troops to move through here were Wil- liams' men.
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Something of the perilous situations to which civil- ians were exposed during this period is shown by the description given by Mrs. Ann F. Wise, daughter of Robert J. Dale, of an incident that happened about this time:
"The night of June 21, 1863, will ever be fresh in my memory, for just as we were ready to retire in our country home (now Villa Heights a suburb of Joplin) two men came in from the back door and demanded to 'see the man of the house,' one saying, 'Mr. Robert Dale.'
"Father had lain down weary from harvesting. They wanted to see him privately, saying they wanted him to come out into the yard as they had a secret to tell him. And this was the secret: 'We hear you have $800 in confederate money. If you don't produce it in two minutes we are going to kill you.'
"After father had satisfied them he did not have the $800 and gave up $15 in greenbacks, all that he had, they still were restless because father had recognized one of the two men. After walking back and forth from the gate, where, it was afterwards made clear, they were consulting others of their party, one said: 'Old man, you had just as well step out and die like a man and stop troubling your family. All the devils in hell can't save you.' Mother, and older sister and myself surrounded father. The tall, red haired young man who had been recognized by father, held a revolver over my head to shoot. We whirled around with the other two between to shield him. I said to the man,
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'What do you think will become of you when you die, trying to kill an innocent man?' With an oath he re- plied, 'I am not thinking of that now.'
"After much maneuvering we succeeded in getting into the house with father and barring the doors by putting bedsteads against them. The men began break- ing window lights with their revolvers, while one on an opposite side punched out the daubing, it being a log house, and threw in lighted brands. I tried to hold quilts and shawls over the windows so father could run out the back door, but the men jerked them away. Father took a sack of wool that was ready to send to the carder and placed it to his back to catch any shots and sprang from the back door for his life. Simul- taneously we heard four shots. I reached the door in time to see the red flash of one shot and a mournful call of 'Oh Lord.'
"We ran to the sound and found a man we thought was father, lying on his face, blood gushing from his mouth. While mother was holding his head we dis- covered the man wore spurs and quickly retreated to- ward the house, but ran into two other men.
" 'Is your pap dead, sis ?' one asked.
" 'That man had on spurs,' I answered.
"'Good God, boys, we've killed one of our own men,' was the startled exclamation that followed.
"The dead man proved the same one who had taken the $15. Soon after we got into the house a hand reached in behind the door, which had been pried off its hinges when the guerrillas were trying to get in,
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and pulled two quilts off the bed. Next morning we saw blood on the fence just east of the brick spring house, which still stands today on the Clara place at Villa Heights, where they carried away the dead man.
"Needless to say my father escaped uninjured."
Skirmishes at Carthage on June 27 and 28 are list- ed in the records but no details of the affairs have been preserved.
In early July Livingston and J. T. Coffee moved northward out of Jasper county and Livingston who had eluded so many of the attempts of the federals to run him down was finally killed on July 11 in an attack on the militia at Stockton in Cedar county. With Liv- ingston at the time were many residents of Jasper county who were members of his band. The official report of the skirmish in which he lost his life was written by Charles Sheppard, assistant adjutant gen- eral of the Missouri enrolled militia, and is as follows:
"Livingston, the chief of bushwhackers in this dis- trict, with 100 men surprised and attacked the militia at Stockton at 1 p. m., July 11. Lieut. W. A. McMinn, commanding detachment of 76th Enrolled Militia, gar- risoning the town, had his headquarters and arms at the court house and immediately commenced fighting.
"The fight was short, resulting in the killing of Livingston and three others (left dead on the field) and 15 wounded and left by the enemy at Whitehair, ten miles southwest of Stockton. How many other men were killed and wounded is not known. Our loss is as follows: Lieut. McMinn and three others mortally wounded and two slightly."
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W. R. Willett, one of the federals participating in the fight, gave a more graphic account of the affair which was published in the Carthage Press in 1911.
"There were just thirteen in our party," said Mr. Willett, "and when the guerrillas dashed into town we were in the court house listening to a speech being made by R. P. Welch, one of our number who was run- ning for state representative. At the first alarm we sprang to arms and hastened to defend ourselves.
"Livingston rode at top speed up to the court house, reined in his horse and fired into the building just as we swung the heavy door into place. At the same time one of his men killed a civilian right at the step. Livingston was as brave a man as I saw on either side during the war. In this fight he was armed with a heavy, breech-loading pistol to which he had attached a rifle stock and which he used as a carbine. A few moments after the fight opened he was shot from his horse close to the building as he urged his men on to the attack. At the time we thought the guerrillas numbered about 200.
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