USA > Missouri > Greene County > Past and present of Greene County Missouri, early and recent history and genealogical records of many of the representative citizens, Volume I > Part 41
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The Seventh Provisional Regiment became the Fifteenth Missouri Cavalry. It was commanded by Col. John D. Allen and also performed considerable valuable service.
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GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.
NUMBER OF LOCAL MEN IN UNION SERVICE.
It is impossible to give the names of all the soldiers that enlisted for some kind of service during the Civil war from Greene county. Up to January 1, 1864, there had enlisted from the county, in the Missouri volun- teer regiments of the Federal army, eight hundred and forty men. In the Missouri State Militia there had enlisted four hundred and six men. In regiments from other states one hundred and forty-one men, making the total number of men from this county, who had joined the regular Federal service up to that date, one thousand, three hundred and eighty-seven men. These soldiers had joined the regiments named below to the number given.
Volunteer regiments-Second Missouri Infantry, four; Fifteenth Mis- souri Infantry, two; Seventeenth Missouri Infantry, one; Twenty-fourth Missouri Infantry, one hundred and forty-five; Twenty-seventh Missouri Infantry, thirty-six; First Missouri Artillery, three : Second Missouri Artil- lery, one hundred and ninety-nine; First Missouri Cavalry, fifteen; Second Missouri Cavalry, three; Sixth Missouri Cavalry, sixteen; Eighth Missouri Cavalry, three hundred and six; Eleventh Missouri Cavalry, one hundred and ten; Missouri State Militia-Fourth Cavalry, three; Fourteenth Cav- alry, four hundred: Eighth Cavalry, three: Regiments from other states -- In Illinois regiments, thirteen: in Kansas regiments, twenty-six: in Iowa regiments, one ; in Arkansas regiments, one hundred and one.
THE GUERRILLA RAIDERS.
Roving bands of Confederate guerrillas frequently passed through Greene county during the year 1863, but did no serious damage to life or property, but during the year 1864 grievous mischief was done by them. There were several killings, a number of houses were burned and many pillaged. In June two Federal soldiers, belonging to the infantry were killed on the "wire road" not far from the Wilson's Creek battle-ground. They were too worn out by travel and illness to keep up with their command and were sauntering along the road alone. They were with a detail that had guarded a wagon train from Cassville to Springfield. They were taken out into the nearby woods and shot. As some of Col. Sid Jackman's men were known to be in the neighborhood at the time they got the blame for killing these two men.
Perhaps the most desperate and worst feared of all the guerrilla chief- tains was the notorious Bill Anderson, whose operations were mostly along the Missouri river and the Kansas border. He passed through the north- western part of Greene county with his band on his way from Texas, where he and his men had spent the previous winter, and they were on their way
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to the counties along the Missouri river. Although the war produced many bloody villains on both sides, none surpassed Anderson. He asked no quarter and he gave none. To murder an aged, helpless and inoffensive man gave him great pleasure, and he took special delight in making his in- tended victim dig his own grave and when he had finished was forced to stand in such a position that he would fall into the grave when Anderson shot him. He was never known to spare but one Federal soklier who was at the time of capture in the service or who had previously been. Withal he was one of the most fearless and desperate fighters that ever lived. It was he who led the raiders in many massacres. While passing through this county, in the spring of 1864. most of Anderson's men were dressed in blue uniforms and easily imposed themselves on various families as Federal soldiers. They stopped at the home of Joseph Cooper, a young man living three miles from Cave Spring. Cooper was a Union sympathizer but not a soldier ; however, he had served a short time in the Enrolled Missouri Mili- tia, but his services were of an unimportant character. Anderson's men secured his services as guide, and took him up a short distance north just across the line into Polk county and killed him. It was nearly a week before the body was found and was recognized only by his clothes. It had been mutilated in a manner that would have done credit to a band of scalping savages.
Other raids were made from time to time by small squads of Jackman's, Freeman's. Carter's and other bands, but the operations, so far as Greene county were concerned, were confined chiefly to stealing horses and robbing citizens indiscriminately, without regard to age, sex or political opinions. These raids were always made at night. the raiders secreting themselves in the woods during the day. But the Confederates did not do all the raiding by any means. There was much plundering, burning, killing and terrorizing in this county and over southwestern Missouri done by the Unionists. There were numbers of men in the Federal service who were guilty of atrocities shocking to a people supposed to be civilized. Bands of them rode about through the country, and. suddenly swooping down upon some Confederate household, plundered it, took what they wanted in the way of provisions and valuables, often shooting the owner without mercy. Very often a band of these villains would ride up to a man's gate at night, call him out and slay him on his own threshold with his terror-stricken family clinging about him, and all because he had committed no greater crime than to express his sym- pathies with a certain cause which he honestly believed to be right.
On the night of October 5, 1864. James M. Thompson, a prominent farmer, stockman and citizen living just south of Springfield, was waylaid near his home, shot from ambush, killed and robbed. He had taken the oath of loyalty to the Union, but was believed to be at heart a Southern sym-
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pathizer, but it is not known whether he was killed for his political opinions or for his money. Although Gen. John B. Sanborn, who was at that time in command of the district made every effort, through his subordinates, to run down the assassins and bring them to justice, nothing but circumstantial evidence was ever obtained, and, although this pointed strongly to parties living just south of the James river, no arrests were made. Public sentiment and prejudice ran very high in regard to the matter.
THE UNION LEAGUE.
During the year 1864 a secret political order, known as the Union League, flourished in Greene county. While its avowed objects were the "aiding and abetting by all honorable means of the Federal government in its efforts to put down the rebellion," these purposes were allowed to deter- iorate to the worst uses, and the order was frequently used for the gratifica- tion of private revenges, the wreaking of personal malice, and the per- petration of revolting crimes-all in the name of "loyalty." The basic prin- ciples and prime object of the organization were worthy enough, but all this high sentiment seemed to soon vanish and the fair name of the order was disgraced by some of its unscrupulous members. The Union League had a strong lodge in Springfield. whose character became at times lawless, turbulent, fanatical and disgusting. This was an election year and the league, of course, came out for Lincoln, and some of the members went so far as to say that anyone who voted for his opponent, General Mcclellan, was an enemy to his country, a sympathizer with treason, and it would be only an exercise of great mercy if he were not taken out and shot. Only four years before some of these fanatics wanted to hang any man who voted for Lincoln. At one meeting of the league it was proposed that a number of prominent McClellan men be "removed" for the good of the cause, as they were said to be "obstructionists in the way of putting down the re- bellion and punishing traitors," and it was agreed that all such obstacles ought to be displaced, and that the end would justify the means. According to a former member of the league, among those named as proper subjects for "removal" were Hon. John S. Phelps, Col. F. S. Jones and D. C. Dade. But some of the sensible members of the organization took' a hand and de- nounced in scathing terms all such sanguinary and incendiary schemes and schemers, and nothing serious came of them. General Sanborn was often roundly denounced by some of the intensely loyal members for his con- servatism and care of the rights of all, secession and Union citizens alike, and that able officer often found it difficult to keep in proper subjection some of the members of this league without resorting to the most violent means. Many citizens regarded the Union League as a menace.
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GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.
THE ADMINISTRATION OF GENERAL SANBORN.
During the four years of war between the states there were many Fed- cral commanders at Springfield, but it seems that Gen. John B. Sanborn was the most satisfactory in every respect, one of the ablest and most popular, and the older citizens of Greene county yet cherish his memory. His ad- ministration of affairs here was at a most critical period, a time when it required a man of courage, good judgment, tact and diplomacy, in 1864-65, when the passions of men were the most liable to be inflamed by the war, and they were the most difficult to control. It required a man who had an iron hand and a kind heart, a cool head and a broad sympathy. The long con- tinued strife had in a measure brutalized many, who became pessimists, who did not care what happened, who did what their passions prompted without first pausing to count the cost. The soldiery had become accustomed to scenes of violence and disorder, and both sokliers and citizens were hard to manage. Some loyalists were fanatical, some secessionists were desperate, and San- born was often severely censured for his protection of the persons and property of Southern sympathizers. Again the Confederate partisans would denounce him for his unrelenting pursuit of bushwhackers, who were ren- dering the lives of the citizens all over this locality unsafe and their property insecure. But the general, while listening to what his assailants had to say and dealing courteously with them, nevertheless continued to pursue a steady course which he mapped out in the beginning, repressing and repelling the violent of both factions, protecting the law-abiding and punishing those who broke the laws, and with a wise conservatism so managed affairs that in the end all fair-minded citizens saw the wisdom of his course and praised him for his true worth.
General Sanborn came here from St. Paul, Minnesota. He was one of the most active generals in driving Price from Missouri when on his last raid. When he was given the reins at Springfield he was about forty years of age, a man of handsome and imposing presence, gallant in manners and pleasant in his intercourse with his fellow-men. He inspired the good will, · confidence and admiration of his subordinate officers and the troops in the ranks and the civilians also. He brought order out of chaos in Greene · county, and deserved the praise that he eventually received by the people here of all parties and former shades of opinion and conviction.
Sanborn was in command at Springfield when Price invaded Missouri the latter part of September, 1864, which caused great excitement in Greene county. General Sanborn was at once ordered to the front, and he took with him the Second Arkansas Infantry, the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Mis- . souri Cavalry, and some other troops and set out for Jefferson City, which
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place he successfully defended from the attacks of General Price, and after- wards, when the Southern army went to the western part of the state, San- born followed and was engaged in all of the important battles of this memor- able raid which resulted so disastrously for the Confederates. Until Sanborn returned here there was great uneasiness at Springfield, the people fearing that Price would recapture the town, and pickets were kept all over the locality and outposts were stationed on all the roads leading into Springfield until the Confederates were again out of the state.
Greene county was under military occupation by the Federal troops dur- ing the entire year of 1864. They were to be found in every section of the county at all times. They passed up and down the "wire road" to and from Rolla and Cassville, from time to time, as they were wanted in northwestern Arkansas or in the Army of the Tennessee. Every few days a military train of some sort passed through the county. Some times a train would consist of artillery and ammunition therefor, from small field pieces to huge thirty- two pound siege guns; sometimes it would contain provisions and forage; sometimes ammunition for the smaller arms ; sometimes sick and wounded ; sometimes nothing but empty wagons. And troops were constantly arriving at Springfield and departing, infantry, cavalry and artillery. The "wire road" was as familiar to the tramp of the soldiery as was the Appian Way at Rome in Caesar's day. There was not a road or sheep path in the county that was not traversed by scouting parties of cavalry that roamed about un- heralded to keep the country clear of bushwhackers and marauders, but some- times themselves turned bushwhackers and marauders. Everybody carried arms. It was war times for a certainty.
In the fall of 1864 the Federal administration decided upon ordering a universal draft. It is worthy of note here that while in many states, supposed to be loyal to the Union, there was a great controversy and ado over the draft, and in many districts, supposed to be very patriotic, there were great deficiencies, and substitutes and exemptions were in most extraordinary de- mand. Greene county, then a mere frontier locality in the wilds of western civilization in the little known Ozarks, up to December 19, 1864, had fur- nished to the Union army all the men demanded of her and a surplus of three hundred and ninety-two besides. The fourth Congressional district, com- prising twenty-one counties of southwestern Missouri, had a surplus of two thousand four hundred and fifty-five men over its quota. And Greene county was also well represented in the Confederate army, and by right its quota was full on that side, notwithstanding the fact that the Confederate authori- ties had ordered a universal draft through all the Confederate states, of which, it was claimed, Missouri was one, under the Neosho ordinance of secession. But the state was in reality Union.
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GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.
MUCH INTEREST IN GENERAL ELECTION.
The general election in the autumn of 1864 created great interest in Greene county, notwithstanding the turmoil of war. The contest for Con- gress in this district was especially spirited, there being four candidates, namely : Col. S. 11. Boyd, the then incumbent; Capt. John R. Kelso, of the Eighth Cavalry, Missouri State Militia; Martin J. Hubble, of Greene county, and Dr. P. B. Larimore, of Bolivar, Polk county. But the main fight in the exciting contest for Congressman was between Colonel Boyd and Captain Kelso, both of whom were well known over this part of the state as Federal officers. Kelso was an eccentric and unusual character. He was a Missouri school teacher in pioneer days, having educated himself, and was a scholar of rare attainments. Besides being master of the exact sciences, he spoke five languages with extraordinary fluency. Before the war he lived in Polk county. When the conflict began lie at once cast his lot with the Union and in the summer of 1861 helped raise a regiment of Dallas county Home Guards, of which he was made major. Later he was first lieutenant in Rich- ardson's Fourteenth Missouri State Militia, and was transferred eventually to the Eighth Missouri State Militia, in which he became captain of Company M. and, turning his attention exclusively to military affairs, he proved to be a capable officer. Ile did a great deal of scouting service for the Federal army throughout southern and southwestern Missouri and northern Ar- kansas, and experienced numerous exciting and perilous adventures. His courage was unquestioned and he was undoubtedly a desperate man, and would have been a fit companion for Bill Anderson, the notorious Confed- crate chieftain. It is said of him that he killed many a man without cause. Hle would have been classed with the "bad men" of the Alkali like and Wild Bill type in any western mining camp in the early days when each man was a law unto himself and the six-shooter was the arbiter of all disputes, in the days of the "survival of the fittest." Kelso held human life in very cheap esti- mation, and many denominated him as a human monster. He was fanatical in his loyalty to the Union, and believed all Confederates to be traitors, guilty of treason and deserving of death. It may be said of him, in the language of Shakespeare, that much learning had made him mad. He was a transcenden- talist and was well versed in all the dogmas of the school of modern thought. He always carried some kind of a book with him in his saddle pockets, and frequently engaged in the study of mental philosophy and the subtilities of metaphysics while lying in ambush, patiently awaiting his opportunity to assassinate an enemy, which was any man who called himself a Confederate. But he was a man of force and tact and had many loyal followers and close friends, especially among the soldiers, and in the election in November, 1864,
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was sent to Congress from this district by a large majority. He found time to make a short canvass of the districts, and although it was freely charged that questionable means were used to elect him, and although Colonel Boyd contested his seat, he served out his term in Congress to the satisfaction of many of his constituents. The results of the election indicated that a great change had come over the political complexion of Greene county during the four years of war, during which it was transformed from a pronounced Democratic stronghold to a strong Republican locality. It is believed that the Gamble oath had a great deal to do in bringing about the change.
So far as Greene county was concerned the Civil war was practically over before the dawn of the year 1865, although it was several months before the soldiers she had sent out returned to the plow and the army of occupation marched away.
Thomas C. Fletcher was now governor of Missouri, and on January 14th, of that year, he appointed Hosea G. Mullings brigadier-general of militia to succeed General Holland, whose commission was revoked two days previously. On January 20th Capt. J. T. Hubbard was appointed provost marshal of Springfield, succeeding Col. J. M. Richardson, resigned. There was a force of Federal troops in and about the town, and a strong provost guard was necessary for the preservation of good order. January 2Ist a meeting was held in Springfield by a certain political element, the Radicals, to celebrate the passing of the emancipation ordinance by the state conven- tion. At the beginning of the war there were one thousand six hundred and seventy-seven slaves in Greene county. During the war the negroes went away with the armies and in other ways until there was left remaining at the time of the celebration only about five hundred.
The troops at Springfield made numerous scouting expeditions through- out this section of the state during the winter of 1864-5, but with no im- portant results ; however, they routed a number of bushwhackers, killing several, but only two were killed in Greene county. During these raids no quarter was shown on either side. Sometimes the scouts went as far north as Marion and Boone counties, Arkansas.
During the spring of 1865 the few farmers left in the county were slow about beginning their planting, partly because they did not know but that their crops would be appropriated by other hands than theirs, as had hap- pened during the past four years, and partly because it was a backward spring. But indications were that the war would soon be over, but the farmers argued that such indications had appeared before only to vanish and leave the stern realities of horrid war.
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GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.
WIIEN THE WAR WAS OVER.
But finally, in the language of Tennyson, "the war drums throbbed no longer," a most welcome time to the people of Greene county. It was about the first of April that news reached Springfield that General Lee's army in Virginia was in a bad way, then Richmond, the Confederate capital, was occupied by the Union army and on April gth Lee surrendered his forces at Appomattox. Finis was written at the close of the bloody, terrible and dis- graceful chapter in the history of the great western republic, a chapter that should never have been written, for it was a political war, pure and simple, entirely unnecessary, and so awful in its results that the nation will never recover from it, from a physical standpoint at least. It was at last over, but the ruin, wreck, woe, poverty, depravity, suffering, hatred, animosity, vin- dictiveness, malevolence and a thousand other regrettable things that always follow in the train of the martial god Mars, were to remain and to no little extent still remain after the lapse of a half century, the unsightly scars still visible, for time cannot wholly erase the marks of that which once has been. If the leaders on both sides could have foreseen these horrible results some way would have been found to avoid war.
Although Springfield had no railroad at that time, it will be remembered that the telegraph had been extended through southwestern Missouri, and the wires brought the news of the surrender the day it occurred, and on the night of April 10th the Union people of Greene county held a great celebra- tion in Springfield. citizens and soldiers alike participating. Bonfires were built which could be seen for many miles in every direction, a salute of two hundred guns were fired from the forts. Liquor flowed freely, and orders were issued that any sober man who was found on the streets after nine o'clock should be fined and forced to drink a liberal portion of his fine. On the other hand, there was sadness in the homes of the Confederate sympathizers, but they had for some time foreseen the inevitable end of their cherished dreams and had resigned themselves to their fate with admirable stoicism.
Some of the Missouri Confederates were among the very last to give up their arms, including a portion of Shelby's brigade, at that time a part of Gen. Kirby Smith's Trans-Mississippi army. Gen. Sterling Price, Gen. Joe Shelby and about five hundred other Missouri soldiers went to Mexico for awhile, but finally those who had followed the ill fortunes of the stars and bars began drifting back to their families and desolated farms in Missouri, many passing through Greene county, and others to their homes here. The vanquished wearers of the gray were, in most instances, allowed to return in peace to their own hearth-stones, but some brutes who wore the blue abused and inistreated them, and occasionally some were not permitted to
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remain, and others had to fight for the opportunity to be again with their families. But there were not many occurrences of this nature reported in Greene county, and in no instance was anyone murdered here simply because he had served in the Confederate army.
During the Civil war a number of revolting crimes were committed in Greene county; in fact, there was scarcely a settlement in which one or more atrocious murders were not perpetrated. A few of these have been men- tioned in this chapter, others will be found in the other chapters in this vol- ume. They cannot be ignored by the historian, who must be impartial and set forth facts faithfully, sparing no one or favoring anyone, although these events form an ugly stain on the history of the county.
From time to time during this polemic strife military executions took place at Springfield, all the subjects being Federal soldiers who had been found guilty of murder, robbery, desertion and other crimes. In 1863 two soldiers were shot near the Fulbright spring for desertion and going over to the Confederates. In 1864 a soldier belonging to the regular army murdered a half-witted citizen out on the Fayetteville road for his money. He was tried by court-martial, sentenced to be shot, and executed south of town, near the Owen home. He was exceptionally cool in the presence of death and seemed utterly indifferent to his fate. When he was removed from the jail he assisted in placing his coffin in the wagon, on which he rode to the place of execution as if he had been going out for a holiday in the country. When the moment arrived for his execution he took the position of a soldier in front of a post, head erect. heels on a line, little fingers extended along the seams of his trousers, and gazed steadily into the faces of his executioners. When the officer gave the command to the firing party to make ready the pris- oner raised his hand and pointed to his heart significantly. The next moment when the command to fire was given six musket balls riddled his heart, but he did not drop suddenly, sinking slowly down by his post.
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