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A
very special thanks to Civil War historian Bruce Nichols at mapmaker3@aol.com
for researching and creating our event listings!
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Union
Depredations
Location:
Near Hunnewell, in southeast Shelby or northeast Monroe
County
Date:
20 Jul 1862
Sources:
Columbia, Boone County, "Missouri Statesman" of 1
Aug 1862 and Griffin Frost's "Camp and Prison
Journal" originally published in 1867 and recently
reprinted by Camp Pope Bookshop, Iowa City, IA, p. 296
Description:
Some Company C troopers of 11th Cav MSM from Hudson demanded
dinner at a house not far from Salt River then vandalized
the house. Next they took James Lasley, James or Joel
Ridgeway, and James Price about 100 yards from the house and
shot and stabbed them to death. The newspaper version quotes
the militiamen to say they were fired upon from ambush and
shot their captives when they tried to escape during the
excitement. The 1860 MO Census index shows Lasley families
in north-central Monroe County and Ridgways in northwest
Monroe County and other nearby places.
Skirmish
at Florida
Location:
Florida, east Monroe County
Date:
22 Jul 1862
Sources:
"O.R." series 1, vol. 13, pp. 172-3; Dyer's
"Compendium," vol. 2, p. 802; Mudd,
"With Porter in North MO," pp. 118-134; 1884
History of Monroe County, p. 236;
1887
History of Lewis County, p. 119; 1911 History of Adair
County, p. 95; "Chronicles
of Monroe County," 1993; Broadfoot, "Supplement to
the 'O.R.'" part 2, vol. 19, 3rd Iowa Cav, p. 211
Description:
This fight took place when COL Joseph Chrisman Porter made a
move to take his recruits south to Arkansas. With
90 to 95 Porter fought with Major Henry Clay
Caldwell
and 44 troopers of 3rd Iowa Cavalry. At
daylight on 22 July Porter's men entered the village of
Florida and there fought the Federals for about an hour.
During the Union retreat, LT Cravin Hartman shot and killed
a captured, southern youth and later COL Porter had
difficulty dissuading his men from killing two Federals they
had captured. The
southerners later paroled the two and the Iowa cavalry in
return paroled and released two captive Rebels they held. Casualties
from this fight were for the Union 22 or 26 wounded and for
the Rebels two killed (including CPT John Marks) and about
four wounded.
Skirmish
at Botts or Boles Farm
Location:
near Florida and Santa Fe
Dates:
23 or 24 Jul 1862
Sources:
Dyer's "Compendium," vol. 2, p. 802; Brownlee,
"Gray Ghosts of the Confederacy," 1957, p. 86;
Broadfoot, "Supplement to the 'O.R.'" part 2, vol.
19, 3rd Iowa Cav, pp. 195-6; 1887 History of Lewis County,
pp. 117-8; 1911 History of Adair County, p. 95
Description:
In this fight Porter's force pushed through Caldwell's force
of 124 Iowans causing casualties of one dead and nine
wounded (including CPT Benjamin F. Crail) among the Federals
and one or two killed among the Rebels.
Skirmishes
near Santa Fe
Location:
southeast Monroe County
Dates:
24 and 25 Jul 1862
Sources:
Broadfoot, " Supplement to the 'O.R.'" part 2,
vol. 19, 3rd Iowa
Cav,
p. 210; Dyer's "Compendium," vol. 2, p. 802; Mudd,
"With Porter in North MO," pp. 149-158;
"Chronicles of Monroe County," 1993
Description:
Here again, Major Caldwell with about 80 of his 3rd Iowa
Cavalry this time fought against several hundred of COL
Porter's men in thick brush losing two dead and thirteen
wounded compared to unspecified southern losses. In
one of these
engagements COL Porter had his men lie down and hold their
fire until the
Federals were almost upon them and then directed them to
fire practically into
the northern troopers' faces, defeating the Union dismounted
attack. In
Broadfoot an Iowan wrote of the 25 July fight, "after a
short engagement in which we found the enemy too strong to
drive from his position, and night coming on, we retired in
hope he wound follow us to more open ground, which he did
not..." After
this series of skirmishes against the outnumbered 3rd Iowa
Cavalry COL Porter led his men south along the Auxvasse
Creek into north Callaway County where they were joined by
other Rebel Recruiting commands and where
they were defeated by a larger Union force and retreated
back to the north.
Guerrilla
Raid
Location:
Paris
Dates:
evening of 30 July 1862
Sources:
1884 History of Monroe County, p. 235; 1887 History of Lewis
County, pp. 121-2; newspaper account in Columbia
"Missouri Stateman," 1 Aug 1862
Description:
COL Joseph C. Porter sent Joe Thompson with a portion of
Porter's command to raid the county seat town of Paris. The
southern irregulars cut down the flag pole, arrested county
officials and some other citizens noted for northern
sympathy, cleaned out a store or two, seized some supplies,
and released a man who had been jailed for murder. Later
that night, Porter himself with his command of about 400
entered town for about an hour and then all the Rebels left
before the Union pursuit could close in.
Mandatory
Enrollment Date in New Enrolled Missouri Militia
Location:
Statewide
Date:
early August 1862
Sources:
newspaper "Daily Missouri Democrat" of 4 August
1862 and Hamilton, "The EMM," "Missouri
Historical Review," July 1975, pp. 417-9
Description:
The mandatory enrollment of all able-bodied MO men age 18 to
45 across the state to begin MO's emergency home guard army
called Enrolled Missouri Militia created uproar across the
state. Hundreds
of new men across northeast MO rushed to join Rebel COL
Joseph C. Porter's Rebel recruiting command and elsewhere
others joined either southern recruiters or guerrilla bands.
Many men left
the state and hundreds hid out in the countryside to escape
having to go to county seats and enroll in the northern
militia. Tens
of thousands of Missouri men did enroll as ordered including
a number of Monroe County men into the 70th Enrolled
Missouri Militia Regiment. Missouri
Union officials, worried by both the presence in the state
of dozens of Rebel recruiters and guerrilla bands and the
removal of many Union troops to hotter war fronts, were able
to field a cheap, untrained army capable of little else than
self-defense. This
amateur army of seventy-some-odd regiments managed to assist
the few remaining regular Yankee troops in defending the
state against Rebel onslaught throughout the rest of the
war.
Skirmish
Location:
near Paris
Date:
about 25 Aug 1862
Sources:
"O.R." series 1, vol. 13, p. 597 and the 1887
History of Lewis County, p. 138
Description:
In this action, 1LT A. A. Piper and sixty troopers of
Merrill’s Horse (2nd MO Cav) attacked and routed 200
irregular fighters led by COL Porter, killing and wounding
several of the Rebels at no Union loss. The
troopers pursued the southerners until they scattered then
returned to the abandoned Rebel camp and ate the dinner the
southern men had prepared before they were surprised. COL
Porter changed his mind about taking his men south with
their defeat in late July in north Callaway County and the
large influx of new recruits who joined his ranks because of
the mandatory enrollment in the EMM in early August. Porter
remained in northeast MO until autumn, bedeviling Union
hopes and avoiding defeat at Union hands time after time.
Patrol
with Skirmishes
Location:
Along the border of Monroe and Ralls Counties
Dates:
about 29 to 30 Aug 1862
Source:
Broadfoot, "Supplement to the 'O.R.'" part 2, vol.
35, 11th Cav MSM (Union), pp. 698-9.
Description:
Major Isham B. Dodson with parts of Company B and C, 11th
Cav MSM from their station at Shelbyville, south Shelby
County, rode to Florida where they joined Brigadier General
John McNeil's Union column and scouted along the
Monroe/Ralls County border killing several Rebel
bushwhackers and taking "some contraband
property." Near
Cincinnati, northwest Ralls County, twelve of the troopers
along the Salt River ran into a camp of Rebel CPT Washington
McDaniel and chased his men about three miles, killing one
and wounding one. Other
parts of 11th Cav MSM on this patrol also chased some
Rebels, wounding a few and capturing horses and firearms.
Capture
of Rebel Recruiter COL Poindexter
Location:
in Randolph Co.
Date:
about 1 Sep 1862
Source:
1886 History of Livingston County, MO, p. 783
Description:
Confederate Colonel J. A. Poindexter, who had earlier this
season recruited hundreds of area southern men into southern
service, was captured about this time by local Enrolled
Missouri Militia troops (probably of 35th or 46th EMM
Regiments). This
source states that Poindexter had been wandering alone in
the woods of Randolph County for several days, and, indeed,
Union troops had broken up his recruiting command in hard
campaigning earlier.
Skirmish
Location:
Somewhere in Monroe County
Date:
16 Sep 1862
Source:
Dyer's "Compendium" vol. 2, p. 804
Description:
In this mysterious battle, elements of Union 3rd Cav MSM
Regiment fought unidentified enemies in a fire fight
somewhere in Monroe County on this date.
Guerrilla
Depredations
Location:
near Hunnewell, in southeast Shelby County
Date:
about 20 Sep 1862
Source:
weekly newspaper of Brunswick, southeast Chariton County,
the "Central City and Brunswicker" of 2 Oct 1862
quoting an earlier issue of the "Palmyra Courier"
of Marion County.
Description:
Unidentified guerrillas abducted a northern sympathizer
named Perkins near the Salt River railroad bridge near
Hunnewell by passing themselves as Enrolled Missouri
Militia. They
took Perkins away and no trace of the man was ever found,
although one area southerner later told another that the
guerrillas hung Perkins and buried his body in the Salt
River bottom. Union
troops searched the bottom but could never find any clue.
Blatant
Prosouthern Activities of Two Local Ladies
Location:
Monroe County
Date:
mid to late September 1862
Sources:
"O.R." series 2, vol. 5, p. 78; Farthing,
"Chronicles of Monroe County," 1904 as reprinted
in 1997, pp. 29-30; Missouri Chapter of United Daughters of
the Confederacy,
"Reminiscences,"
about 1913, pp. 149-183
Description:
Misses Mildred Elizabeth "Lizzie" Powell and
Margaret "Maggie" Creath of Monroe County used a
rented carriage to travel from Monroe County to Hannibal,
Marion County, and purchased 50,000 percussion caps for
guerrillas or Rebel recruits of the area. These
young women also traveled bedecked in "rebel
colors" and wearing pistols traveled in the company of
guerrilla or Rebel recruiter CPT Clay Price giving speeches
in support of the Confederacy around Monroe County. Union
authorities in the area had no choice but to arrest the
attractive but spirited pair in late September and placed
them in a form of house arrest at Elder Creath's home. They
were permitted this form of parole provided they
"abstain from writing and talking treason" and no
guards were placed over them provided they follow those
directions. Later,
Miss Powell was permitted to remain at liberty provided she
remain in the town of Hannibal. Eventually,
the pair was banished from the state probably in 1863 when
that became a favorite method of handling troublesome
southern citizens in Missouri.
Skirmish
Location:
somewhere in Monroe County
Date:
27 or 28 Sep 1862
Sources:
"O.R." vol. 13, p. 682; and both the St. Louis
daily newspapers, "Daily Missouri Democrat" and
"Daily Missouri Republican"
both of 30 Sep 1862
Description:
At this time somewhere in Monroe County, Major Richard G.
Woodson led part of his 10th Cav MSM to attack and disperse
two Rebel recruiting companies led in part by Elliott D.
Major. The
Union cavalry evidently had no casualties but they captured
Major and thirteen other southerners along with horses,
weapons, and camp equipment.
Movement
of Large Body of Rebels
Location:
in southwest
Shelby County
Date:
29 Sep 1862
Source:
"O.R." series 1, vol. 13, p. 689
Description:
Source quotes a Union military report in this area to say
that about 250 Rebel recruits or guerrillas were seen riding
south in the vicinity of Otter Creek south of
Clarence
in southwest Shelby County heading toward Monroe County. What
particularly concerned area Union leaders was the part of
the report that said the southerners were wearing white hat
bands, which was the standard recognition symbol of the
newly formed Union Enrolled Missouri Militia who were
beginning their service in civilian clothes and lacked
uniforms. Obviously,
somebody informed area southerners of this fact, and this
body of Rebels was using this recognition symbol to pass
through unsuspecting northern patrols.
Skirmish
Location:
somewhere in Monroe County
Date:
4 Oct 1862
Source:
Dyer's "Compendium"
Description:
Cryptic reference which tells us only that elements of 3rd
Cav MSM fought somebody somewhere in Monroe County this date
and no casualties were indicated.
Guerrilla
Depredations and Skirmish
Location:
east of Paris, east Monroe County
Date:
about 8 or 9 October 1862
Source:
St. Louis "Daily Missouri Republican" of 17 Oct
1862
Description:
This newspaper article narrates how four or five guerrillas
or Rebel recruits robbed W. K. Nugent at his home four miles
east of Paris of a horse and clothing probably because they
had no other way of procuring these items. Later
that same night, a very indignant Mr. Nugent walked to Paris
and returned with twenty militiamen of CPT W. E. Fowkes'
Company C of the local 70th EMM who tracked the raiders to
the home of noted southern sympathizer Worden P. Wills,
where they recovered Nugent's stolen property and arrested
two of the raiders, James W. Greening and a Wallace.
The following night CPT H. H. Fields with part of his
local Company B of 70th EMM captured eight more of the
southern irregulars nearby. These
men had evidently been recruits in COL Joseph C. Porter's
large southern recruiting command that signed up so many
southern men in this region.
Guerillas
Surrender
Location:
at Paris in Monroe County and Mexico in Audrain County
Dates:
mid-October through 17 October 1862
Sources:
"O.R." series 1, vol. 13, p. 754; and Mudd,
"With Porter in North Missouri," 1909, pp. 312-2.
Description:
About 75 southerners surrendered in both towns with
"arms and contraband property." The
"contraband" was probably horses and other items
taken by force by these Rebels from rural families of all
sympathies. The
prisoners told their captors that many other men were still
in the brush showing interest in surrendering, too. Eakins'
book "Missouri Prisoners of War," published from
the National Archives records in 1995 shows that among these
surrendering on this occasion was CPT Benjamin J. White and
CPT James S. Wilson both of COL Joseph Porter's command.
White showed up at Paris and Wilson surrendered at Mexico. Mudd
in his memoir wrote that it was COL Porter's idea to have
some of his men surrender as a feint to draw attention of
the area Union troops away from his main body so the
remainder could slip away on their long trek to join the
Rebel army in Arkansas. COL
Porter did eventually reach Confederate lines with some of
his troops so if this deliberate surrender of 75 was his
plan, it seemed to work.
Commutation
of Death Sentence of Elliott D. Major
Location:
Monroe County
Date:
27 Oct 1862
Source:
"O.R." series 2, vol. 4, p. 657.
Description:
“At the earnest request of many Union men in Monroe
County and vicinity Monroe County's Elliot D. Major's recent
death sentence by a military tribunal at St. Louis was
commuted to imprisonment in the Alton military prison for
the duration of the war.
Skirmish
Location:
at Isaac
Coppage home in central Monroe County
Date:
31 Oct 1862
Sources:
"O.R." series 1, vol. 13, p. 781; newspaper,
"Daily Missouri Republican," 8 Nov 1862; Dyer,
"Compendium," vol. 2, p. 805; Eakins, "MO
POW's," 1995, Williams entry; Peterson, McGee, and
others, "Price's Lieutenants," 1995, p. 182.
Description:
2LT H. W. Gleason with fourteen members of Monroe County
members of 70th EMM Regiment surrounded CPT John S. Williams
and nine or ten of his Rebels in the Isaac Coppage home in
central Monroe County without the southerners being aware
the militiamen were there. Before
Williams' men discovered it, one of the most daring of the
EMM crept into an entrance of the house and ran back out
carrying most of the Rebel firearms they had carelessly
stacked inside the door. This
ruined any hopes the Rebels may have had to resist and after
a brief show of resistance they quickly surrendered without
bloodshed. The
EMM had previously captured two other Rebels.
Union
Troops Disposition
Location:
in the Monroe County area
Date:
20 Nov 1862
Source:
"O.R." series 1, vol. 13, pp. 810-1.
Description:
This Union troop disposition report stated that: at Paris
were stationed COL Edwin Smart and nine companies of his
10th Cav MSM Regiment (who would be redesignated in February
1863 as the "New" 3rd Cav MSM to replace the
"Old" 3rd Cav MSM which was broken up and its men
redistributed to the 6th and 7th Cav MSM Regiments); at
Hudson, southeast Shelby County, were stationed COL W. P.
Robinson and nine companies of his 23rd MO Infantry
Regiment.
Terrorism
by Southern Sympathizers
Location:
in Monroe County
Date:
about 13 Dec 1862
Source:
"O.R." series 1, vol. 22, part 1, p. 831.
Description:
Several southerners in Monroe County (John Forsyth, John
Vaughn, David Wooldridge, a Gilmore, a Gonell, a Beauchamp,
Hiram Powell, Jacob Cox, William Bridgeford, and Charles
Browning were suspected) left a threatening letter for their
northern sympathizer neighbor John H. Holdsworth about 13
December 1862. The
letter signed by "Monroe County Avengers" told
Holdsworth to leave the county by January 1 or his property
would be burned. Holdsworth
took the letter to the Northeast District Headquarters of
the Union army at Warrenton, Warren County, where the Union
authorities stated that if anything happened to Holdsworth
or his property they would hold the men listed above as
personally responsible. It
is not known what came of this threat.
Union
Troops Disposition
Location:
in Monroe County area
Date:
31 Dec 1862
Source:
"O.R." series 1, vol. 22, part 1, pp. 893-4.
Description:
Evidently with the departure of most of the Confederate
recruiters in autumn 1862 and the capture or surrender of
many of their recruits at that time, the Union army cut back
its troops in the Monroe County area. The
Union army troop disposition report of this date lists only
Company I of 2nd Cav MSM
under Captain Albert G. Priest at Shelbyville, in
south Shelby County on active duty at that time. Of
course, the Monroe County portion of the 70th EMM Regiment
was still available at their civilian pursuits around the
county and could theoretically be mobilized on short notice
in case some threat materialized in the area.
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