J. T. Anderson brought to the Appeal office last Friday the beautifully penned invitation his mother, then Miss Louisa Donaldson, received to a “Cotillion Party” at Florida while the town was occupied by Union soldiers. Miss Donaldson afterwards married Wm. Anderson. The soldiers, all young fellows, and the young Southern sympathizers of Jefferson township mingled freely during the evening and all went merry as the proverbial marriage bell. The invitation read as follows:

“You are respectfully invited to a Cotillion Party to be given corner of Oak and Water Streets, Florida, Mo., Friday evening, December 28, 1861, at 6 p.m. Managers – H. K. Pollard, E. L. Grigsby, James W. Clark, R. McElroy, E. E. Hickok, H. B. Herndon, J. W. Briggs, J. H. Carr, B. N. Anderson, James M. Pollard.”

One of those managers, H. B. Herndon, was among the 10 men who were shot to death by command of Butcher McNeil, a Union officer, at Palmyra later in the war.

Source: Centennial edition of the Monroe County Appeal dated 13 Aug 1931; submitted by MaryBeth Kirtlink