AFTER THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1860

     At the presidential election of 1860 Linn county had given a majority of her votes for Stephen A. Douglas.  All lour of the candidates, Douglas, Bell, Breckinridge, and Lincoln, received votes.  The latter only obtained 17,028 in the entire State, but a considerable number of them were from this county, and in one township he had a plurality of the vote cast.
     As soon as the result of the election was known there was a great deal of “war talk” indulged in by the extreme men on both sides.  Everybody talked war, because everybody predicted it; and perhaps everybody predicted war because everybody talked it.  The majority of the people of the county, while they were pro-slavery men, were willing to accept and abide by the result of the election - at least to watch and wait.  A large number of the citizens, even among those who had voted against Lincoln, and were strenuously opposed to his political sentiments, avowed themselves willing to live under his administration so long as he should execute his duties in accordance with the constitution; and declared themselves unconditional Union men.  The Linneus Bulletin, a Douglas paper, and the only newspaper in the county, announced that “Lincoln has been fairly elected, and, though we don’t like it very well, we propose to submit.”

ELECTION OF DELEGATES TO THE STATE CONVENTION.

     Governor Jackson’s inaugural to the Missouri legislature of 1861, concluded by recommending the immediate call of a State convention, in order that "the will of the people may be ascertained and effectuated.”  In accordance with this recommendation, the legislature, on January seventeenth, passed a bill calling a convention, and appointing February eighteenth as the day on which they were to be elected, and February twenty-eighth the day on which the convention should assemble.

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     Pursuant to the act of the legislature the election for delegates to the State convention was held Monday, Feb. 18, 1861.  The candidates from the Eighth Senatorial District, in which Linn county was then located, were Jacob Smith, Alexander M. Woolfolk, and William Jackson, regarded as “unconditional Union” candidates, and Charles J. Radcliffe, R. F. Canterbury, and C. G. Fields, considered as “conditional Union ”candidates.  In this county the matter had been thoroughly canvassed, discussed, and considered by the people, and the result was that the unconditional Union candidates received a large majority of the votes cast not only in Linn county but in the Eighth District.  The following was the vote in this county except in the townships of Parson Creek and Yellow Creek, the returns from which cannot now be found, but if discovered would make no very material change in the result:

GENERAL ELECTION FEBRUARY 18, 1861, FOR DELEGATES TO STATE CONVENTON.

     The majority in Linn county of about 500 for each well-known straight-out Union men as Judge Smith, Colonel Woolfolk, and William Jackson etsablished this county's status as unalterably opposed to secession, and in favor of the old Union beyond a doubt.

UP TO FORT SUMTER.

     During the months of January, February, and March, 18161, there was great interest manifested in public affairs by the people of this county.

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Several public and many private meetings were held, and the prospect of war was fully and freely discussed, and many prepared for it.  Very many men made up their minds to take a hand when hostilities should begin, upon one side or the other, as their sympathies should dictate.  Very many men also determined to take no part on either side, should war break out.  It afterwards happened that men who declared they would fight, when the time came did not fight, and that men who declared they would not fight did fight, and bravely and well at that.

AFTER FORT SUMTER.

     April 12, 1861, the Confederate forces opened fire on Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, and the next day the fort surrendered.  President Lincoln, on the 15th, issued a proclamation calling for “the militia of the several States, to the aggregate number of 75,000.”  Governor Jackson responded that, in his judgment, the requisition was “illegal, unconstitutional, and revolutionary; its objects inhuman and diabolical, and cannot be complied with.  Not one man will Missouri furnish to carry on such an unholy crusade.”
     The announcement that hostilities had actually begun, while not wholly unexpected, created great excitement in Linn county.  Nothing else seemed to engross public attention but the prospect of civil war.  Up in Jackson township and in Yellow Creek certain persons who sympathized with the Southern cause began cleaning out their rifles and fowling-pieces and filling their powder-horns preparatory to defending themselves against an expected invasion from Federal mercenaries.  In Linneus there was a quantity of powder and lead ready against “the day of battle and of war; to be employed in aid of Southern rights.  The Union men put themselves in correspondence with the Federal authorities, and were told to "watch, report, and wait.”
     Major Watson E. Crandall, of Yellow Creek, and Robert McCollum, of North Salem, took secret but active steps to prepare a company of volunteers for service under the old flag.  The Union men of the county were in the majority and were bold and aggressive.  The secessionists, and the sympathizers with secession, made up in spunk what they lacked in numbers.  Crandall, McCollum, Captains Love, Loring, Worthley, and other Union men, had much to do to note their movements.
     Judge Jacob Smith, when not absent as a member of the State convention, was active in preventing the formation and organization of the would be Confederates, and by common consent regarded as the leader, chief counselor, and adviser of the Unionists of the county.
     Hon. Wesley Halliburton, who had been a Breckenridge elector the previous year, and was then a State Senator from this district, was regarded as the leading or most prominent member of the men favoring the secession

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cause.  On the ninth day of March he had voted aye on the passage of a resolution by the senate demanding that should Congress pass any bills granting supplies of men or money to coerce the seceded States, the senators and representatives from Missouri should retire.
     The spring and summer of 1861 passed without any collisions between the two hostile factions.  Over in Yellow Creek township a company of “home-guards” was formed in May, and met on two or three occasions at Wyandotte and St. Catharine for drill.  It was intended that this company should be formed under the military law passed by the legislature and approved by Governor Jackson, but when a copy of that law was obtained its requirements did not please a majority of the members, and the company disbanded.  This was the only military company ever formed in the county intended to belong to Claiborne Jackson’s Missouri State Guard.  Some of its members afterward entered the Confederate service and others joined the Union army.

FIRST FEDERAL TROOPS IN THE COUNTY.

     The immense importance of preserving and holding the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad was early realized by the Federal authorities.  In May, troops were sent over it from Hannibal to St. Joseph, and garrisons stationed at various points.  When General Lyon assumed command at St. Louis he manifested great concern about the railroad shops at Brookfield, and the bridges in Linn county, and instructed the Union men to be vigilant in guarding them from the threatened attacks of the secessionists of this, Chariton, and other counties.  He had commissioned as captains, and given them authority to raise companies of “home-guards ” for the Union service, Frederick C. Loring, Wesley R. Love, and Watson E. Crandall, all men living along the line of the road in this county.
     In the latter part of June the first Federal troops alighted from the cars in this county.  They composed the Sixteenth Illinois Infantry, and were from Quincy.  Companies got off at Laclede and Brookfield, and detachments guarded those points as well as Locust Creek bridge, Yellow Creek bridge, and Parson Creek bridge, which structures, it was believed, were in danger of being burned or otherwise destroyed by the “rebels.”  Scouting parties were also sent out, one of which visited Linneus and made prisoners of some citizens, and others went into different parts of the county, and down into Chariton.  Soon after came the Third Iowa Infantry, and encamped at Brookfield.  Then Colonel Morgan began the organization of the Eighteenth Missouri Infantry at Laclede, in August.   Isaac V. Pratt, of Laclede, was the first lieutenant-colonel of this regiment, afterward commanded by Madison Miller and Charles S. Sheldon, of St. Louis.
     While the Eighteenth was being made up, Morgan took his regiment, a section of artillery, and Captains Love and Loring’s companies of cavalry,

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and went on a scouting expedition down through Chariton and into Carroll county, Oct. 18, 1861.  At the crossing of Big Hurricane Creek, in Carroll county, Love’s company, having the advance, was bushwhacked and fired upon by a Confederate force numbering about sixty men, under command of Captain Logan Ballew.  Fifteen men were badly wounded and sixteen horses were killed, out of Love’s company.  The Confederates hastily retreated without losing a man.  Morgan marched on to DeWitt and then to Brunswick, where he plundered some stores, and did considerable damage to private property, and then returned to Laclede.
     In August, Colonel Jacob T. Tindall, of Grundy county, received his commission as colonel of the Twenty-third Missouri Infantry, and at once set about recruiting the regiment, with headquarters at Chillicothe.  Hon. Jacob Smith was at first commissioned lieutenant-colonel, but afterward resigned, and was appointed judge of this judicial circuit to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Judge James Clark.  Thornton T. Easley, of Linneus, was commissioned quartermaster of the regiment, his commission bearing even date with Colonel Tindall’s.  August 26, a company of fifty-five men was organized at Linneus, for the Twenty-third Missouri, with Thomas Carter as captain, T. E. Brawner, first lieutenant, N. Judson Camp, second lieutenant, and Rice Morris, orderly-sergeant.  These officers were only temporary; when they came to be commissioned, Rice Morris was made captain, and Brawner and Camp became lieutenants.  Other Linn county men also joined the Twenty-third, in other companies.
     The first company organized in Linn county for the Federal service - claimed, with good reason, to be the first company organized in north Missouri - was Captain Watson E. Crandall’s company of home-guards, or of the United States Reserve Corps as designated by General Lyon.  This company was made up about the middle of June and sworn in at Brookfield, on the twenty-second of that month, by Capt. F. C. Loring.  Immediately thereafter the company went into active service. 
     By the first of September there were several hundred Federal troops in the county, at Brookfield, Laclede, and the railroad bridges.  At Laclede, Colonel Morgan threw up an earthwork for the protection of his men, which was called “Fort Morgan.”  Fort Morgan was built chiefly by the labor of captured “rebels” and impressed negroes and citizens.  It contained two pieces of cannon, one of which Captain Love had cast at the foundry in Quincy, at his own expense.  At Brookfield there were no fortifications.  The Sixteenth Illinois, a German company from St. Joe, and Crandall’s and Boring’s men had given way to the Third Iowa.

CAPTURE OF SLACK'S CANNON.

     Early in the summer General W. Y. Slack, who had been appointed brigadier-general of the Missouri State Guard by Governor Jackson, for this

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military district, made his headquarters at Chillicothe.  He bargained for and procured to be made at a foundry in Palmyra two pieces of iron cannon for the use of his division of the State Guard against the Federals.  The cannon were made and started toward General Slack in a covered wagon, it not being deemed safe to attempt their transportation over the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad, as that corporation was known to be friendly to the Yankees and hostile to the secessionists.  The wagon in which lay the two terrible four-pounders had every appearance of being an ordinary emigrant wagon and the driver seemed in every particular to be a very innocent, guileless individual.
     Soon after the cannon had been started from Palmyra the fact was discovered by the Federal military authorities, but the direction they had taken was not discovered for some days.  As soon as it was known, however, word was sent along the railroad to look out for them. Captain Loring, of Brookfield, Captain Crandall and others of the home-guards, got the word from Major Hunt at Hannibal, and immediately set about to intercept and capture the "deep-mouthed artillery" so much needed by General Slack.
     At the old Elliott farm, on section fourteen, township fifty-eight, range nineteen, on the main road the innocent looking emigrant wagon was met and captured, together with some ammunition, and the whole affair terminated without the firing of a gun.  The prize was taken in great triumph and turned over to the Federal military authorities.
     Well was it that Worthley’s and Crandall’s men captured those cannon when they did.  An hour or two later and they would have been forced to fight for them, and to fight hard. General Slack had sent out from Chillicothe about twenty well-armed mounted men under Captain Small to escort his cannon into Chillicothe.  Part of this escort passed through Linneus attracting some observation and making known to their secession friends who they were and the nature of their mission.  They arrived at the Elliott farm just in time to be too late to rescue the ill-fated cannon, and were forced to return to Chillicothe and General Slack in much discomfiture.  Small was prepared to fight and would have fought had he encountered the home guards.

THE FIRST CONFEDERATE TROOPS.

     Among the prisoners taken at Linneus and “carried away into captivity” was William Sandusky, a young merchant of that place.  After being held by the Federals for some time he was released and retured to Linneus and immediately set about organizing a company for service under General Price and Governor Jackson, and against the Federals.  He found many kindred spirits but he was forced to proceed very cautiously.  About the first of September enough men to form a good sized company were under promise to go south and join General Price.  Word had been passed from

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one to another of the faithful, and the secret was well kept, that a company for the Southern army was being made up in Linn county.  It was known that another company was being organized in Sullivan county, and it was arranged that both companies should make a common rendezvous and march out together.  Those thought to be tried and true were “sounded,” and invited to join the expedition, or at least give it aid and comfort.  The invitation was uniformly accepted as to one or the other of its conditions.
     All things being ready the time came for the assembling of the clans.  At Mark Arnold’s, in Jackson township, on the twelfth day of September, the company rendezvoused and organized.  George W. Sandusky of Linneus was chosen captain of the company, which numbered about thirty-five men, and was composed of men from all parts of the county, Jackson furnishing more, however, than any other township. The lieutenants were Hon. E. H. Richardson, Taylor Singleton, and Henry Cherry.
     Thomas H. Flood, of Sandusky’s company, was sent up to the Sullivan county men to notify them that their Linn county brethren were ready, and of the rendezvous.  He found them at Field’s mill, ready and willing to go, but without a leader.  They at once chose him their captain, and he led them down to Mark Arnold’s in safety.  Here there was a cordial but brief fraternization, for time was precious.  The two companies, numbering about seventy-five men, were combined, and Dr. P. C. Flournoy, of Linneus, put in charge of the battalion, which at once took up the line of march for Price’s army.  It was after dark when the movement of the companies began from Arnold’s.  They marched silently but swiftly south, crossing the railroad east of Meadville in safety, though Federal troops were on either side of them in considerable numbers, and supposed to be on the alert.  Two wagons loaded with supplies accompanied the battalion.  After a long and fatiguing tramp the companies arrived the next day at Brunswick, where they appropriated some provisions from the stores, whose proprietors were secessionists for the most part, and who willingly gave out supplies to feed the tired and hungry Linn and Sullivan men.  Here they crossed the Missouri, and then passed on up the river to Lexington, where General Price’s army was met, and where the men were sworn into the State Guard, to serve six months from September 12, unless sooner discharged.  The day from which the Linn county company’s service dated was that on which General Price completed the investment of the gallant Colonel Mulligan and his men.  Sandusky’s company took part in the operations which led to the capture of the Federals six days later.  It was known as Company A, Third Regiment, Third Division, Missouri State Guard, Ed Price, colonel; William S. Hyde, lieutenant-colonel; and afterward became Company K, Second Missouri Infantry, Confederate States of America.
     Meantime, in the eastern part of the county, Martin Hamilton had taken out a company of Confederates in which were about fifteen Linn county

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men.  Hamilton had been a lieutenant in Barbee’s company in the Mexican War, and was known as a good fighter.  His company was composed mostly of Macon county men, and was a part of Colonel Bevier’s Fourth Regiment, in the State Guard.  It is stated that a few men, not more than six, left Yellow Creek and Jefferson with Major Hansford.
     After Sandusky's company had reached Price’s army, a number of recruits from this county joined from time to time during the months of September and October.  These men went when they could, and as they could - starting after dark in most cases, and going singly, in couples, by threes, and in squads, as was deemed best and most prudent under the circumstances.

OTHER MILITARY OPERATIONS OF 1861.

     Hot long after its primary organization at Laclede, Morgan’s Eighteenth Missouri went to Brookfield, and there remained in camp for some time, and at length was sent to Weston, in Platte county.
     Capt. W. R. Love was in command of the post at Laclede.  His company and Captain Loring’s, of the Seventh Missouri Volunteer Cavalry, had been mustered into the United States service at the same time the Eighteenth Missouri was mustered in.  One night an attack was made on Love’s pickets by some scouting secessionists, who lost one man - killed.  Love and Humphrey's companies were also at Brookfield a portion of the time.
     Captain Love states that when Sandusky and Flood’s companies of Confederates crossed the railroad on their way south word was sent to him at Brookfield of the fact, and he instantly prepared to intercept them.  Mounting his own and Humphrey’s company, he was about to set out in pursuit, when a violent rain began to fall, which wet the ammunition and the carbines of the men to such an extent that it would have been a piece of foolishness to have undertaken the case with the prospect of a stubborn fight.  So the men dismounted and returned to quarters.
     Love’s company made a visit to Carroll county prior to Morgan’s expedition, and some time in the month of September had the first fight of the civil war in that county.
     Crandall’s company of home-guards was on service in the county until September twenty-first, the men receiving from the government no pay, clothing or other allowances except arms and provisions.
     In December Captain Morris’s company was sent down from Chillicothe to guard the railroad bridge over Locust Creek, and remained at that post for some time.  Morris’s company, as has been stated, was made up of Linn county men, and their service in a locality where they stood on their “native heath” was very acceptable to them.
     The close of the year saw Linn county completely under the Federal authority.  Hone but Federal soldiers were to be found within her borders,

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and a vast majority of the people were sympathizers with the Federal or Union cause.   The sessionists were chiefly confined to those who had relatives in the Southern army, and could not but with them well at least.  There was little to cheer or comfort them here in Linn.  The Union army was strong and growing stronger every day.

LEADING EVENTS OF 1862.

     Early in the spring of 1862, the first cavalry regiment was organized in north Missouri, chiefly in the counties of Daviess, DeKalb, Livingston, Linn, Sullivan, Putnam, and Harrison.  Of this regiment the first officers were, James McFerrin, colonel; Alexander M. Woolfolk, lieutenantcolonel; A. W. Mullins, of Linn, major. March 25th, Harvey Wilkinson, of this county, received a commission as captain of Company F, of the First Cavalry Missouri State Militia; John D. Mullins and D. C. Woodruff, on the same date received commissions as first and second lieutenants, respectively.  The company was soon filled up, and went immediately into active service, south of the river.

THE HAND OF WAR IS FELT, AND IT IS HARD AND HEAVY.

     The people of the county now begin to realize, in some degree, the meaning of civil war.  While there were no formidable and bloody engagements between the two armies within their borders, they endured the discomforts, annoyances, and privations incident to war in an unpleasant degree.  The Federal troops had practically undisputed control, and caused the Confederates and Confederate sympathizers to realize that fact.  The right to “forage on the enemy” was recognized and freely exercised.  Many a Confederate sympathizer, or a citizen under that ban, was called upon to furnish corn, hay, and other supplies for the garrisons at Brookfield, Laclede, and at other points where troops were stationed.  Sometimes pay or vouchers were given for these supplies, and sometimes not.  Teams and horses were frequently “pressed.’' Scouting parties made frequent forays into the country, and demanded food and forage of the farmers.  The housewives were frequently called up and labored far into the night, cooking for hungry soldiers.
     Men were also detailed to work upon the block-house at Locust Creek, Parson Creek, and Yellow Creek, and these men were usually supposed to be Confederate or “rebel” sympathizers.  The “loyal” also suffered at times with the disloyal, at the hands of the militia.  The logic of some of the troops when demanding favors of the people was irresistible.  “If you are loyal, you wont grumble; if yon are a d--d secesh, it serves you right.”
     Prisoners were frequently made of the suspected - those who, as it was thought, had given, or were giving aid and comfort to the enemy.  Some-

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times they were carried away and incarcerated for a season, and released upon a heavy bond, and upon taking an oath to support the Federal government as well as the “Gamble government,” or existing government of the State.  Often, however, the prisoners were released on bond without leaving the county.

ORGANIZATION OF THE ENROLLED MISSOURI MILITIA.

     In the summer of 1862 the Enrolled Missouri Militia, or “E. M. M.,” was organized.  The majority (if not all) of the Linn county men belonging to this organization were members of the Sixty-second Regiment.  The Enrolled Millitia were designed to be used in the localities where they were organized, in emergencies and upon extraordinary occasions, and for a species of guard and patrol duty.  When wanted they were summoned to a rendezvous, and when their services were no longer needed they were allowed to return to their homes.  They were armed and uniformed by the United States government, and paid by the State for the time they were actually in service.
     Every able-bodied male citizen between the ages of eighteen and forty-five was expected to become a member of the Enrolled Missouri Militia.  Exemptions could be purchased for thirty dollars at first; afterward the commutation was made larger; finally it ceased altogether.
     The majority of the Linn county Enrolled Militia belonged to the Sixty-second Regiment, as above stated, which was composed mainly of Linn and Macon county men. R. J. Eberman, of Macon, was colonel of the Sixty-second; Hamilton DeGraw, of Linn, lieutenant-colonel; Luther T. Forman and Watson E. Crandall, of Linn, were majors.  The Linn companies were:
     Company A, captain, Robert W. Holland; first lieutenant, John S. Raker; second lieutenant, William B. Brinkley.
     Company C, captain, A. P. Wilkerson; first lieutenant, Elijah Jones; second lieutenant, John Gooch.
     Company D, captain, Moses G. Roush; first lieutenant, Samuel A. Henley; second lieutenant, Silas M. Bennett.
     Company F, first captain, Jesse Buckman; second captain, William R. Thomas; first first lieutenant, John Branson; second first lieutenant, William Robbins, promoted from second lieutenant.
     Company G, captain, Lacy Sipples; first lieutenant, Thomas Ratten; second lieutenant, T. C. Cutter.
     There was also a company G in the Thirty-eighth Regiment, officered as follows: captain, E. J. Crandall; first lieutenant, John R. Worthley; second lieutenants, Charles C. Davis and Robinson Tooey.  This company was known as “The Railroad Brigade.”
     The commissions of all of the first officers of the Sixty-second Regiment

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were dated in July and August, 1862.   The officers of Company G, Thirty-eighth Regiment, were commissioned September 2.

LEADING EVENTS OF 1863

     The militia were called out at intervals during the year, but their service was unimportant.  The militia from Grundy county made forages at different periods into Jackson township, beating up the timber and brush along the streams for bushwhackers, and harrassing the citizens to no small extent.  Many men were made prisoners in all parts of the county from time to time, carried away, kept for some days, and in most instances released on bond. Corn, hay, horses, oxen, and everything else needed by the militia was freely “pressed” from the “secesh” citizens.
     Quite a lengthy account of Poindexter’s raid was written up, but as very little of it related to Linn county, and the version was contradicted by others, it was thought best to leave it out and confine this history to Linn county and to facts which could be verified.

HOLTZCLAW'S GUERRILLAS.

     In May of this year Captain Clifton D. Roltzclaw, of Howard county, came up into Jackson township and recruited fourteen men for a company of “partisan rangers,” which he had been commissioned to raise by Jefferson Davis, and for which he had been recruiting in Chariton and Howard counties.   His commission was in due form and had been recognized even by Federal officers.  Learning that a number of men in Jackson and Clay townships were anxious to join the Confederate service in order to escape and avenge the persecutions of the Grundy and Sullivan militia, he came in to afford them an opportunity.
     As Holtzclaw was an important character in Linn county during the war, a short sketch of him may be of interest, and may with propriety be given.  He was reared in Howard county, and belonged to a respectable family.  At the breaking out of the war he enlisted in the Missouri State Guard, and served at Lexington, Elk Horn, and on other fields.  In 1882 the militia under Lieutenant Street killed his father, in the latter’s barnyard, and left the body for the hogs to devour.  It was recovered by his daughters before it had been much mutilated.  The charge against Holtzclaw was that he had fed and harbored bushwhackers.  Clifton Holtzclaw then set out to avenge his father’s murder, as he said, and operated thereafter, until the Price raid, in this region of Missouri.
     Holtzclaw was brave, shrewd, and crafty.  He came into this county on many occasions, by himself, to reconnoiter and spy out the land.  It is a fact that he spent a portion of the winter of 1863-64 in Linneus, his presence being known to but three citizens of the place and their families.  When last heard from Holtzclaw was living in Linn county, Kansas, an old

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bachelor, quite wealthy, engaged in stock-feeding, and frequently busy at his prayers.
     In Jackson township, as stated, fourteen men stole out and joined Holtzclaw.  Jack Bowyer was one of these.  Not long afterwards he was captured by the Federals, taken to St. Joseph, and hung.  He was charged specifically with shooting at a Mr. Prather.  His bushwhacker companions always asserted, and those living still declare, that Bowyer was innocent of the offense with which he was charged.  Howard Bragg and Joseph Gooch were two other Jackson township men who enlisted under Holtzclaw’s black and dangerous banner.  Bragg afterward became Holtzclaw’s lieutenant, and led the party of four that killed Bruce and Jerome.  He is now a prominent physician in southwestern Iowa.  Gooch rose to be a captain of a band of his own, with the Texas ranger, Jim Jackson, as his lieutenant.  In 1864 Gooch received a commission to recruit a company for the regular Confederate service, which he did, and joined to Col. D. A. William’s regiment at the time of the Price raid.  The other members of Holtzclaw’s company from Linn met various fates.  Some lived through the war; more did not.
     In the summer of the year 1863, two or three persons were murdered in the county by the militia for being Confederates or Confederate sympathizers.   Near St. Catharine, a stranger suspected of being a spy for the bushwhackers was taken into the Yellow Creek timber and hung.  It is said that the body was thrown into Yellow Creek, after being robbed of a watch and some other articles, including a dragoon revolver.  The man’s name, it is thought, was Callaway.
     In November, 1863, Jim Rider made his first raid into Linneus, and robbed Prewitt’s store.  Previous to this, for a few weeks, Rider boarded at the hotel in Linneus.

LEADING EVENTS OF 1864.

     In June, 1864, occurred the raid on Laclede, on St. Catharine, and Bucklin, and into Clay and Jackson townships by the guerrillas.  In August, William Calhoon was killed in Jackson township by Sterling’s Sullivan county militia.  In October Bruce and Jerome were shot by Holtzclaw’s guerrillas, under Lieutenant Howard Bragg.  There was more of real terror felt during this year by the people of Linn county than in any other of the war.
     No man felt that his life was perfectly safe from violence at any time.  If he lay down to sleep at night, he was not certain that he would not be called up before morning and hurried away to prison or foully murdered.  Reports were daily coming into the county of the most horrible outrages committed in other counties adjoining by the unprincipled partizans of both sides, and the people were in dread that the dreadful deeds of which they had heard would find counterparts in their own neighborhoods.  In Carroll,

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Chariton, Randolph, and Howard Bill Anderson, George Todd, John Thrailkill, Clifton Holtzclaw, and other Confederate guerrillas were riding rough and lighting free.  Also  in the same localities, the Federal militia were scouting after the bushwhackers, hanging citizens, burning, and plundering houses.
     In Linn county the citizens, like their neighbors of the river counties, were between hawk and buzzard, and suffered accordingly.  Many of them left the county for Iowa, Illinois, and Nebraska; many others, to escape the malevolence of the militia, joined the militia!  Still others remained at home and took their chances.  They hauled corn and other forage to the militia, fed them when on their scouts, and deported themselves as good citizens generally.
     In the winter and spring of this year a respectable number of men were recruited for the Twelfth Missouri Cavalry by Lieutenant Powers and Captain Smith.  Later in the year, three companies were raised for the Forty-second Missouri Infantry, mostly from this county, which companies were officered as follows:
     Company A, captain, William H. Lewis, of St. Catharine; first lieutenants, Charles C. Clitton and Herman Kemper, the latter of Fort Leavenworth; second lieutenants, Fielding Lewis, of St. Catharine, and T. F. Cutler.
     Company F, captain, Henry Shook, of Brookfield; first lieutenant, Charles W. Watts, of Fayette; second lieutenant, Elijah Jones, of Brookfield.
     Company I, captain, Dr. John F. Powers; first lieutenant, Edward Cox; second lieutenant, T. B. L. Hardin, all of Bucklin.
     The draft was run in Missouri this year, by the Federal authority, whenever that authority was in full force, and Linn county prepared for the ordeal, notwithstanding her quota was about full on both sides!  Captain Moses G. Roush, of Laclade, was appointed enrolling officer.  He reported the number of men in the county liable to military duty to be as follows: Of the first class, (those over eighteen and under forty years of age,) six hundred and forty-six; of the second class (those over forty and under forty-five years), three hundred.  Total, nine hundred and forty-six.
     In the latter part of this year and the early part of 1865, a company of negroes was organized at Laclede, called Company N, Twenty-ninth Missouri Militia.  The company numbered sixty-eight men, and was commanded by Captain Moses G. Roush.  It was never employed in active service.
     In the early part of the year a number of Federal soldiers belonging to the Eighteenth Missouri Infantry, who lived in Putnam, Sullivan, and Grundy counties, reenlisted, and were given a furlough for thirty days to go to their homes.  On their return to take the cars at Laclede, they passed through this county and committed serious depredations on the people, Unionists and Confederates.

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A BOUNTY OFFERED.

     It was in the fall of 1864 and the great civil war was drawing to a close; the Southern Confederacy was giving unmistakable signs of weakness, of a want of the sinews of war, both in men and money: it was then thought necessary to make a strong effort to bring the war to an early close.  The government at Washington, to carry out this view, made a levy upon the States for more troops, and the State in turn upon each county for its quota.  To get this force together as quickly as possible the County Courts of the several counties of the State made an offer of a bonus to all who volunteered.  In some counties $100 was given for all volunteers, which in Linn county the court gave according to time enlisted.  To those already enlisted during the year 1864, and those who would join the Union forces for twelve months, $100 were given, and those enlisting for six months $50, and in case of death the bonus, if not already paid to him, should go to his widow, or to his family having the right to receive the same, as his legal heirs.  The amount under which the county became liable under this order was $15,500, and a tax was levied of one dollar on the hundred to pay the same.
     The bounty warrants having been drawn and distributed among the volunteers at the time of their enlistment, and a tax levied to pay the same, the County Court ordered the funds collected to be paid on the warrants, pro rata, in December, 1865, there not being enough to pay the warrants in full.
     Jan. 1, 1866, each member of Captain Morris’s, company, which had been raised as the home company, were given one of the pistols purchased by the county on their giving a receipt to the county agent for the same.

SKIRMISHES IN JACKSON TOWNSHIP.

     At the time of the raid on Lindley, Grundy county, ____ 1864, there was considerable excitement in the western part of the county.  The raiders were Holtzclaw’s men, from Chariton county.  Joe Gooch, Jim Jackson, and Howard Bragg were along.  On the retreat from Lindley a large force of militia swarmed in the rear of the bushwhackers and gave them no little trouble.  Holtzclaw stopped at a farmer’s house in Jackson township and ordered dinner for himself and men.  Before the meal could be cooked and eaten the militia were upon the bushwhackers and drove them away.
     Over in the Muddy Creek timber Holtzclaw dismounted his men to rest themselves and their jaded horses awhile and contrive to thwart his angry pursuers who were growing stronger and pressing closer every minute.  Holtzclaw stationed Joe Gooch and Jim Jackson on the road, with instructions to draw the militia into a trap or ambush.  The bushwhackers num-

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bered less than twenty-five men; the militia probably one hundred and fifty.  Holtzclaw placed his men in a line behind trees, with the design of drawing the Federals into the woods and subjecting them to a fire from his pistols, the most unerring and deadly.  Jim Jackson stood up on his horse’s back, like a circus rider, and peered over a hill into a valley below.  Turning to Gooch he said: “There they come, d--n them; a thousand of them.”  The two men then took position, and when the advance of the militia cleared the brow of the hill, opened fire from their dragoon revolvers.  Two or three militiamen tumbled from their saddles, and their comrades halted, and forming across the road, opened fire with their muskets upon the brace of daring riders, around whose ears the minie balls buzzed like a swarm of angry hornets.  Away galloped Jackson and Gooch into the timber where the remainder of the bushwhackers were lying, hoping and expecting the militia would follow.  But on reaching the timber the wily Federals divided their forces.  One column started around the timber in one direction, and the other took the opposite direction, intending to include the bushwhackers within the two jaws of a trap, which should soon be sprung.  There was nothing left then for Holtzclaw but to ride rapidly away from his danger, and when the trap came together a few minutes later there was nothing in it.
     Holtzclaw rode on down into Clay township, and having been deprived of his dinner, determined to have a supper even it he had to resort to a ruse.  Joe Gooch was selected to open negotiations for a square meal, of which the whole party stood so much in need.  Biding up to the house of a prominent and well-to-do Union man, the graceless scamp accosted him, and asked if he and his men could get supper and their horses fed.  “We are after bushwhackers,” explained Joe; “I suppose you know they are in the country!”  The farmer said he had not heard of their presence, “Oh, yes!” returned Joe, “they made a raid on Bindley this morning, robbed the town of several thousand dollars, and have made their way down into Jackson township.  We are fixing up a trap to catch them in the Parson Creek timber to-night.  I and my men have ridden tar and hard to-day and have much work yet to do before we sleep.”
     The loyal old farmer answered that under the circumstances the best he had was at the service of the brave militiamen, and straightway set his family at work to prepare a bountiful repast tor the men, and opened his cribs and barns to feed their horses.  After faring sumptuously, and wasting an hour or so in riotous living, the bushwhackers rode away to their lair in Chariton county, leaving their host as unsuspicious of their true character at the last as at the first.  The loyal old citizen of Clay was not the only man who entertained bushwhackers unawares during the civil war.
     The raid on Lindley, the surviving participants on the side of the bush-

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whackers say, was made in retaliation for the harrassing and raiding on Jackson township by a Grundy county militia company, the members of which lived in and around Bindley.  After the war a citizen of Lindley obtained judgment in the courts against Howard Bragg and Joe Gooch, two of Holtzclaw’s men, for $1,800, the amount which he alleged was taken from him during the raid.

THE BEGINNING OF THE END.

     In January, 1865, it was plain that the days of the Southern Confederacy were numbered, and that the end of the civil war was at hand.  The bushwhackers were still in the field and January ninth raided Linneus, killing Judge Smith and Mr. Pendleton.  By a foolish order of General Loan the people had been stripped of their arms and were at the mercy of any band of freebooters that might choose to come upon them.
     After the Linneus raid the Seventeenth Illinois Cavalry was sent into Linn county to protect (?) the people.  The men of this regiment were a most precious lot of scoundrels that did little else during their term of service but steal, rob, and plunder.  They were great cowards and would not fight.  During the Price raid when Major Mullins, of Linn, with the gallant First Missouri State Militia, was holding back the Confederate advance at the Osage River, the Seventeenth Illinois Cavalry was within reach and in a position to do some good, but the men could not be induced to make anything like a creditable fight, and allowed their comrades to be beaten back.  The colonel of the Seventeenth Illinois, Beveridge, was afterward governor of his State.
     No wonder the people of Linn prayed to be delivered from their “friends” if the Seventeenth were considered their friends.  The soldiers robbed and stole and marauded generally until the entire population heartily detested them, and they were at last moved away.
     In the early spring the soldiers began to arrive at their home in Linn, and kept on coming until in the next year.  The Confederates dropped in from time to time, the bushwhackers remaining away for some time, some of them indefinitely.  There was some bad blood between the partisans of each faction for a time.  Each side imagined they had wrongs that ought to be redressed, injuries that ought to be avenged, and there were many threats and considerable fear.

JUST BEFORE THE COLLAPSE.

     It was Apr. 3, 1865, just before the collapse of the Southern Confederacy, that the following order of the County Court was placed on record; to-wit,
     "It is ordered by the court that a sufficient amount of money be borrowed by Linn county out of the different county school funds of the county

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to arm a company of seventy men with one Spencer rifle and two revolvers each, one thousand dollars to be paid down and the balance in ninety days.  R. G. Waters and T. T. Easley are hereby appointed agents to procure such arms and do hereby ratify whatever they shall do concerning the premises.” 
     Having secured these arms, as is supposed, the next thing was to take care of them.  This disposition of the school funds was not teaching the young ideas “how to shoot” but was giving a few adults a glorious chance to have some fun in hunting game while defending the portals of Linn county from its foes, real or imaginary.  As the company wasn’t formed the court decided in placing these arms in the care of an agent, to hold fast thereto until said company was formed, and to carry out this programme issued the following: 
     “It is ordered by the court that the arms purchased by the county for its defense be brought to the county seat and delivered to Capt. R. G. Waters as ordnance officer for the county, who shall take charge of said arms, and issue them and take a recept of the commanding officer of a company to be raised and recruited, when said company shall have eighty-three men and are duly mustered into the State service and the commanding officer duly commissioned and mustered, and that Capt. R. G. Waters be notified of this order.”  As the Confederacy of the South about a week after gave up the ghost at Appomattox, Captain Waters probably failed to issue said arms.

THE END COMES.

     At last Lee surrendered at Appomattox; Joe Johnson to Sherman, near Raleigh; Hood and Dick Taylor to Canby; Kirby Smith to Pope.  Then it was not long until every man who had worn the gray had lain down his arms, and was at home, save the outlawed guerrillas, and the men who went off to Mexico with Shelby and Price.  The great black and bloody war between citizens of a common country, waged to please unscrupulous politicians, was over, with all its horrors and calamities, with all of its blights and curses.

PEACE.

     The war cloud had passed, but it had left a trail red with the blood of the sons of feedom; yet had peace come, and the land so lately rended by strife and raging hosts of armed men, now lay quiet, bathing in the soft sunlight of a spring day, and hope, the white-winged messenger of despairing hearts, came in silent gladness to the people once more.  The Blue and the Gray had met in mortal strife; they now meet as brothers.  Let us hope that the future of our country may never again be in the throes of a fratricidal strife, and that peace and brotherly love may be upon the banner of those

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who shall now and in all future time guide the destinies of this great republic.  Strong, solid, and as enduring as the rook of ages, its principles founded upon the rights of the people for self-government, holding out its hands in welcome to the oppressed of all nations, the “Blue and Gray” unite once more in bonds of fraternal union, and standing side by side will ever guard the portals of liberty from all foes.

LINN COUNTY'S SOLDIERS IN THE CIVIL WAR.

     The publishers of this volume have made great effort to obtain the name of every soldier who fought on either side during the civil war, but in a measure have failed.  Advertisements were inserted in all the county papers, requesting copies of muster-rolls, names of soldiers, etc., but there was no general response.  The companies from this county in the Forty-second Missouri Infantry, were not reported, as were not some militia companies on the Federal side.  On the Confederate side there were not returned, Martin Hamilton’s squad, John Walkup’s recruits, and George Barnes’s.  The publishers would have gladly given the name of every man who wore either the blue or the gray, but were unable to get the desired information.
     The soldiers of Linn county who served faithfully in the civil war against each other are now living amicably and harmoniously together.  The politicians may rant and cave, but these men are brothers once more, and nothing can induce them to rekindle the fires of animosity and the flames of hate.
     On the thirtieth of May, 1866, the women of Columbus, Mississippi, decorated the graves in the military cemetery at that place.  No distinction was made in the graves of Federals or Confederates, but all were alike strewn with flowers by the gentle-hearted women who, wiser than many of their brethren, allowed their prejudices to die at the tomb.  The beautiful incident came to the knowledge of an officer of the Federal service, Lieut. F. M. Finch, who composed the following beautiful poem:

THE BLUE AND THE GRAY.

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COMPANY "F," FIRST CAVALRY MISSOURI STATE MILITIA.

     H. Wilkinson, captain; date of commission, Mar. 25, 1862; rank from Mar. 12, 1862, post-office, Linneus, Missouri; resigned, Feb. 14,1863.
     James B. Moore, captain; date of commission, Feb. 27, 1863; rank from Feb. 24, 1863; post-office, Linneus, Missouri; mustered out at expiration of term, March, 1865.
     John D. Mullins, first lieutenant; date of commission, Mar. 25, 1862; rank from Mar. 21, 1862; post-office, Linneus, Missouri; killed on Price’s raid, Oct. 23, 1864.
     D. C. Woodruff, second lieutenant; date of commission, Mar. 25,1862; rank from Mar. 12, 1862; post-office, Linneus, Missouri; mustered out at expiration of term, Mar. 11, 1865.

PRIVATES AND NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

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     The following members of this company were killed in action: John Couch, killed by cannon ball near Westport, Missouri, Oct. 23, 1864, time of Price’s raid.  The same shot killed another, whose name has been forgotten.  Lieutenant John D. Mullins was killed in the same engagement.  Samuel Stokes, Arthur Robinson, and Samuel Powell were killed south of the Missouri River in bushwhacker skirmishes. 
     George W. Murrain died of disease soon after enlistment, and Lot Lantz, the old pioneer of Benton township was wounded at Panther Creek, Macon county, in a fight with Joe Porter’s men, Aug. 8, 1862.  This company made a clean record and did some very effective service in the State during hostilities, especially against bushwhackers and the raids made by Price and Shelby.  Among many other adventures experienced by the company the following is narrated. 
     In the summer of 1864 a detachment of this company under Lieut. D. C. Woodruff, numbering twenty-five men in all, were stationed at Arrow Rock, in Saline county, for the purpose of protecting Union citizens of that section from abuses by Confederate guerillas.  The isolation of the town, and the fewness in numbers of the force under Woodruff, were two considerations that made the bait too tempting for the bushwhackers to resist.  Accordingly, one pleasant evening, when all was serene in nature, the guerrilla chieftains, George Todd, and Dick Yeager, with others of their well-known followers, accompanied by about a hundred men, paid their compliments to Lieutenant Woodruff.  They were piloted into the town by a lad named Thomas M. Horne, who was out cow-hunting, and whom the rebels captured one-half mile from Arrow Rock.  The raid occurred just at dusk of evening, and had the “Rebs” not mistaken the building in which the “Feds” were quartered, it would have been “bad for the boys.”  As it was, they set fire to the wrong building - or rather to the right one to allow the escape of the militia, and the latter, after darkness had set in, took the old ferry road, and escaped on foot to Glasgow, to which they safely crossed at daylight next mornig.  Yeager was wounded in the fight, and before recovery was found and killed.  Woodruff and his men lost only their horses and part of their accouterments.
     No pretense is made that the foregoing is anything like a full and correct list of the men or a perfect record of the services of the company; but the compiler has done the best he could with the information at his command, which information was obtained only after the remainder of the Linn county war history had gone to press,

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FEDERAL OR UNION SOLDIERS RECORD

COMPANY F, TWENTY-THIRD MISSOURI INFANTRY (REORGANIZATION)

     The above all enlisted at Linneus, Aug. 26, 1861.

COMPANY F, TWENTY-THIRD MISSOURI INFANTRY (REORGANIZATION).

     This company left St. Louis on the first of April, 1862, and arrived at Pittsburg, Tennessee, on the fourth of April (passage made by steamer Planet).  They were ordered on shore on the evening of the fifth, and on the morning of the sixth ordered out to the sixth division, commanded by General Prentiss.  Before arriving at their position on the outposts,

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they were called into action, in which they held their position from 10 a. m. till 4 p. m.  At that hour the regiment was cut off, and most of them captured. Company F lost in this engagement nearly all their equipments. The following was the roster of the company at the beginning of the battle:

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CASUALTIES IN THE COMPANY AT THE BATTLE OF PITTSBURG LANDING, OR SHILOH.

COMPANY I, TWENTY-THIRD MISSOURI INFANTRY.

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SPENCER A. WILLBARGER

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PRIVATES AND NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

HISTORICAL MEMORANDA OF THE TWENTY-THIRD MISSOURI.
(From the Adjutant-general's Report for 1865.)

          Recruiting for this regiment commenced as early as July, 1861, under the direction of Jacob T. Tindall, of Grundy county, (then a member of the convention,) and Judge Smith, of Linn.  At the time these gentlemen commenced recruiting, they had but little prospect of success; they had no large bounties to offer, no assurance of pay to their men, no clothing, and their commissary department was supplied with little besides corn meal and bacon, gathered, in many cases, from the farmers.  Indeed the rebellion, at that time, had overshadowed Missouri, and no cheering ray of light from the general government gave promise to the people of this section that they should have assistance in their efforts to overcome the almost boundless power acquired by the rebels.  The men who enlisted in the Twenty-third were principally farmers, and many of them owners of land, in the counties of Grundy, Livingston, Linn, Putnam, Mercer, Harrison, Daviess, and Carroll.
     In August, 1861, Jacob T. Tindall succeeded in getting authority from Major-General Fremont, then commanding the Department of the "West, to raise a regiment of Missouri volunteers, to serve for three years or during the war, unless sooner discharged.  Soon after he had received the desired authority he did, with the utmost dispatch, rendezvous all the men who had been recruited for his regiment, and had men enough to form seven companies by the first of September, 1861, at which time he was ordered to Benton Barracks, with his command, where the men were mustered into the service of the United States, clothed, armed, and equipped, and put on duty in the city of St. Louis, where they remained until the fifteenth of October, 1861.
     Although there was no battle or glory won by the Twenty-third, during the winter of 1861, there was much good service rendered in preserving the peace and quietness of the surrounding counties, and protecting the lives and property of Union men.  During the months of December, 1861, and January, 1862, large numbers of men who had served six months in

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the rebel army returned by the way of Lexington; many of these men claimed to have returned under General Pope’s proclamation, and demanded protection, although the time mentioned in that proclamation had long before expired. Some of these men were heartily sick of the rebel army, and were anxious to return to their allegiance, but the majority of them banded together, in small squads, for the purpose of recruiting for the rebel army.
     On the twenty-fifth of January, 1862, Lieutenant Colonel Jacob Smith resigned his position, for the purpose of accepting a judgeship, tendered him by His Excellency, the Governor of the State of Missouri, and the vacancy was filled by the appointment of Quin Morton, a man who had distinguished himself in the memorable defense of Lexington, Missouri, and rendered good services to Colonel Mulligan as a volunteer aid.    
     In March, 1862, Colonel Jacob T. Tindall received an order from the commanding general of this department, to proceed with his regiment to St. Louis, Missouri, and report to the commanding officer at Benton Barracks, Missouri.  On the arrival of the regiment at Benton barracks, Colonel Tindall set to work to reclothe the men, and exchange the Austrial rifle, with which the entire regiment was then armed, for the Springfield musket, caliber sixty-nine.  By the end of March, 1862, the regiment was in fine order, well clothed, well armed, and anxious to see active service.
     On the first of April, 1862, the entire regiment started for Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee, arriving at that place on the fourth instant.  Upon reporting to Maj. Gen. U. S. Grant, then commanding the Army of the Tennessee, Colonel Tindall was ordered to report with his regiment to Brig.-Gen. B. M. Prentiss, commanding the Sixth Division, and in pursuance of said order, he proceeded to disembark, which consumed the greater portion of the next day.  On the morning of the sixth, the regient, under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Quin Morton, left Pittsburg Landing to join the Sixth Division, then supposed to be about three miles distant from the Landing.  After marching about two miles, a large number of stragglers from the Eighteenth and Twenty-fifth Missouri Volunteers, were met coming towards the Landing in great disorder, and on being questioned as to the cause, stated that their regiments had been cut to pieces.
     About this time, an officer of Brigadier General Prentiss's staff rode up to the commanding officer of the regiment and ordered him to prepare his regiment for action, upon which the regiment was brought to a halt and the men ordered to unsling their knapsacks.  Here they disencumbered themselves of everything, except their guns and accouterments, placing their property in a pile, and with a cheerfulness and alacrity seldom seen, prepared to fight their first battle; this was about nine o’clock on the morning of the sixth of April, 1862, a report of which, by Lieutenant-Colonel Quin Morton, will be found at the close of these remarks.

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     In June, 1862, the regiment was ordered to Benton Barracks, and continued on duty there and in the city of St. Louis, until they were ordered southward to reinforce the Army of the Cumberland.

     LEXINGTON, MISSOURI, Dec. 1, 1862.

     Governor:  I deem it my duty to make a report of the action of the Twenty-third Regiment Missouri Volunteers, at Pittsburg Landing, on Apr. 6th, 1862.  At seven o’clock a. m., by order of Col. J. T. Tindall, I marched the regiment in the direction of General Prentiss’s camp.  After marching about two miles, an officer of General Prentiss’s staff ordered us to halt and prepare for action, which was promptly done.  As soon as the regiment was placed in position, the enemy opened fire on us from a battery, at about four hundred yards distance, which was continued without intermission for two hours.
     We were then ordered to change our position and to engage a large force of the enemy who were pressing upon the center, which was done.  After a severe engagement at the distance of twenty-five or thirty yards, we drove the enemy back, not, however, without serious loss.  We held the position assigned us until four o’clock p. m., fighting almost without intermission, at which time we were ordered to change our front to meet the enemy, who had outflanked us.  Here we fought until five o’clock, driving the enemy back, although they charged us frequently during the time.  Again we were compelled to change our position, and soon after this change we were surrounded and fired upon, from front and rear, by two batteries and infantry.  Here there was a most terrible shower of shot and shell.  We repulsed the enemy in our rear and determined to try and reach the main body of the army, which had fallen back to the river; and in the effort to lead our now. broken forces back, the gallant and much lamented Colonel Tindall fell, shot through the body, after having done his duty most nobly during the day.
     After retiring about two hundred yards, were met by a large force of the enemy, and compelled to surrender at about six o’clock p. m., after ten hours almost incessant fighting.  Officers and men behaved nobly.  I feel it my duty to mention the gallant conduct of Major John McCullough, who displayed great coolness and bravery throughout the day.  Captains Dunlap, Robinson, and Brown, and Adjutant Martin, and Lieutenants Munn and Sims were wounded.  Thirty privates were killed, about one hundred and seventy wounded, and three hundred and seventy-five were taken prisoners.  This report would have been made earlier, but being a prisoner until very recently, I have not been in a situation to make it. 
                    Most respectfully, your obedient servant,
                                                                           Quin Morton,
       Lieutenant-Colonel Twenty-third Regiment Missouri Volunteers.
     To His Excellency, H. R. Gamble, Governor of Missouri

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     The subsequent history of the Twenty-third Missouri is mainly identified with that of the Fourteenth Army Corps.  It participated in Sherman's campaign against Johnston, and Lieutenant Camp of Company F, was killed in one of the battles in front of Atlanta.

COMPANY I, THIRTY-THIRD MISSOURI INFANTRY VOLUNTEERS.

     Col. C. B. Fisk, commanding at first;
     William A. Pyle second colonel;
     William H. Heath, third colonel;
     Fisk and Pyle were both made brigadiers.
     Company I was enlisted in July and August, 1862.  The following were the Linn county men:

HISTORICAL MEMORANDA OF THE THIRTY-THIRD MISSOURI INFANTRY.
(From Adjutant-general's Report for 1865)

HEADQUARTERS THIRTY-THIRD MISSOURI VOLUNTEERS,
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE, DECEMBER 9, 1864}

     GENERAL:  I have the honor to submit herewith the memoranda of operations of this regiment since organization, as requested in your note of September.

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     The Thirty-third Missouri Infantry was recruited under the patronage of the Union Merchants’ Exchange, of St. Louis, and was therefore styled the “Merchants’ Regiment.”  Its original field officers were: colonel, Clinton B. Fisk, secretary of the Merchants’ Exchange; lieutenant-colonel, William A. Pyle, captain in First Missouri Artillery; major, W. H. Heath, adjutant of the Eighteenth Illinois Infantry.
     It was ordered to the field Sept. 22, 1862, under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Pyle, and made several severe marches through Phelps, Dent, Texas, and Wright counties, Missouri.  December 19, returned to St. Louis. December 23 Colonel Fisk was appointed brigadier-general, Lieutenant-Colonel Pyle was made colonel, and Major Heath lieutenant colonel.  Same day the regiment moved by steamer to Columbus, Kentucky, that place being threatened. Jan. 5, 1863, moved to Helena, Arkansas, and took part in General Gorman's expedition to Duvall’s Bluff, Arkansas, returning to Helena January 20, at which place more than one hundred men died from exposure within one month.  February 21, formed part of Gen. L. F. Ross’ expedition to Fort Pemberton, Mississippi, known as the “Yazoo Pass expedition.”  Regiment was under fire here for the first time, doing efficient service in constructing field works, mounting siege guns, reconnoitering the enemy’s position, and capturing his pickets.  April 8 returned to Helena, and May 5 the regiment was placed in charge of the fortifications and artillery of that garrison, numbering eighteen pieces of heavy and light caliber.  Same date, four siege guns were taken from the fortifications and replaced by light artillery.  July 14, 1863, the regiment, supported by detachments of the Forty-third Indiana, Thirty-third Iowa, and Thirty-fifth Missouri, held their works against the combined forces of Price, Holmes, and Marmaduke, repelling numerous heavy assaults, and sustaining a continuous musketry fire for six hours.  Total loss of the regiment in this fight was forty-nine. Although this was the first battle in which the regiment had borne part, their intrepidity is sufficiently attested by the terrible punishment inflicted upon the enemy as compared with the small loss sustained by the regiment.  Jan. 28, 1864, left Helena with troops of General Sherman to join the expedition to Meridian, Mississippi. Regiment temporarily assigned to General Veatch’s division, and marched with it to Clinton, Mississippi.  Ordered back and assigned to General Tuttle’s division.  March 10 General Joseph A. Mower assumed command of the division, and the regiment moved from Vicksburg, with the expedition to Red River, Louisiana.  March 14 regiment was present, in reserve, at the capture of Fort DeRussey.  March 21 the regiment, in conjunction with the Thirty-fifth Iowa, captured Henderson Hill, Louisiana, by a midnight surprise and assault, securing the Second Louisiana Tigers (cavalry) and Edgar’s Texas battery, with horses, arms, ammunition, and colors complete.  April 9 regiment took part in the gallant and over-

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whelming defeat of the enemy at Pleasant Hill, Louisiana, capturing a five-gun battery in the final charge.
     In this battle Lieutenant-Colonel Heath received a wound in the head, and the command of the regiment fell to Major Van Beck.  May 16 the regiment took part in the battle of Marksville, Louisiana; losses small.  May 18 took part in the battle of Bayou de Glaize.  May 24 the troops of the Sixteenth Army Corps returned to Vicksburg. June 6, the regiment took part in the attack upon Marmaduke’s forces at Old River Lake, Arkansas, Major Van Beck, by seniority, commanding third brigade, Mower’s division, and Capt. A. J. Campbell, company C, commanding the regiment.  This brigade, composed of the Thirty-third Missouri and Thirty-fifth Iowa, was ordered to charge the enemy, who were strongly posted on the opposite side of a bayou, and made the charge in gallant style, passing over the skirmishers of another brigade, which had failed to advance, and moving unflinchingly forward to the bank of the bayou, which was then found to be unfordable.  Notwithstanding this obstacle they stood up bravely, and at forty paces distance poured in such a galling fire that the rebels broke and ran in contusion.  The regiment lost here in a few minutes forty-one men; rebel loss not great, but the fight compelled the withdrawal of a battery from Columbia, Arkansas, which had seriously interrupted the navigation of the Mississippi River.  June 10 the regiment arrived at Memphis, Tennessee, and immediately joined an expedition against Lee and Forrest, in Mississippi, Lieutenant-Colonel Heath having returned and assumed command.  July 13 guarding train during an attack upon it by Lee’s cavalry.  July 14 took part in the battle at Tupelo, Mississippi, joining in the charge and driving the rebel lines, capturing one cavalry squadron.  July 15 took part in second battle at Tupelo, joining in a second charge and routing the enemy.  Total losses in the three days’ fighting, thirty-six men.  July 22 arrived in Memphis.  July 31 moved from Memphis with expedition to Oxford, returning to Memphis August 30.  September 3 moved from Memphis with General Mower’s column to reinforce General Steele.  September 17 moved from Brownsville, Arkansas, to Cape Girardeau, Missouri.  Moved by steamer to St. Louis, arriving October 9, and remaining but one day to draw clothing, pushed on immediately up the Missouri River to join the column against Price.  October 18, the regiment being too much reduced in numbers and officers to be effective in the field, was ordered to garrison California and Tipton, Missouri.  November 17 the regiment returned to St. Louis. November 24 moved by water from St. Louis to Nashville, Tennessee, to aid in the defense of that city against Hood.
     Since its organization the regiment has marched nearly one thousand five hundred miles besides many thousand miles travel by water and rail, and has lost in killed and wounded a total of one hundred and seventy men; has captured two flags, six pieces of artillery, and many prisoners. It has

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been very fortunate in having young and energetic line officers, and in all its service has had but two officers killed and two seriously wounded.  The regiment had originally nearly one thousand men and has received about sixty recruits.  It numbers now four hundred and ninety men, aggregate, but three hundred and seventeen of these being fit for active duty.

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HISTORICAL MEMORANDA OF FORTY-SECOND MISSOURI INFANTRY.

     As has been stated three companies of this regiment were from Linn county, but no muster-rolls have been received. The following were the officers:

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organization was incomplete - the field and several of the line officers not having been commissioned.  We were ordered to Benton Barracks; remained there until the twenty-ninth.  The commissions were received, musters made and the regiment paid during the interim.
     On the twenty-ninth, in pursuance of original order, we started on transports, and reported on the second of December to General Meredith at Paducah, Kentucky.  We were ordered by him to proceed at once to Nashville and there report to General Thomas.  We arrived at Clarksville, Tennessee, on the fifth of December, where, by order of Colonel Smith, Eighty-third Illinois Infantry, through instructions from General Thomas, we returned to Fort Donelson, Tennessee.  We arrived at Fort Donelson on the sixth, and remained at Fort Donelson until the thirtieth.  During the time death held high carnival in our camp, one hundred and fifty men being buried there.  On the thirtieth we started for Nashville, and arrived there on the thirty-first; remained there awaiting transportation until the second of January.  Started on the second for Tullahoma, Tennessee; arrived at Tullahoma on the third.  Colonel Forbes was given command of the post, and retained it until mustered out.  About the twelfth of January Lieutenant-Colonel Stauber, with a detachment of the regiment, was sent by General Milroy to intercept Lyon, who was returning from his Kentucky raid.  The enterprise failed, but chase was given and several of Lyon’s men captured.  About the same time Captain Lewis, in command of Company A, and a detachment of Company K, were sent to McMinnville, Tennessee, and remained there until ordered to be mustered out.
     Detachments from this time forward were constantly on the scout.  On the twenty-second of March Colonel Forbes, one assistant surgeon, and the chaplain, were mustered out by order of Major-General Thomas.
     The time of three six months companies, H, I and K, having expired, thereby reducing the number of the regiment below the minimum, about the same time the remainder of the regiment was ordered to Shelbyville, Tennessee, where it remained as a garrison, doing occasional scouting service, until the twenty-third of June, when, under orders of the department commander, we proceeded to Nashville, where we were mustered out on the twenty-eighth of June, 1865.  Thence we proceeded to St. Louis, arriving there on the second of July, and were finally discharged and paid on the eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh and twelfth, at St. Louis, Missouri.

COMPANY M, TWELFTH MISSOURI VOLUNTEER CAVALRY.

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     The company was recruited from Linn, Sullivan, Putnam, Mercer, and Grundy counties, the names above given all being from Linn county.  It was mustered into the United States service at Benton Barracks, St. Louis, Missouri, Mar. 16, 1864.  In the early spring of that year, it accompanied the regiment from St. Louis to Memphis, Tennessee, "where it entered the field under the command of General Hatch, and continued in active service from that time until the close of the war.  The regiment was under the command of General Hatch, of Iowa, until after the clcse of the fighting with Confederates under General Hood, in their retreat from Nashville, Tennessee, in December, 1864.
     In March, 1865, Company M, including all of the Third Battalion of the Twelfth Regiment, was detailed to go with General James H. Wilson, on his rapid march through Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia.  The company started on that campaign, on the twenty-fifth of March, 1865, from Eastport, Mississippi, and was on the entire march made by General Wilson, ending at Macon, Georgia, Apr. 22,1865.  They afterwards returned to this State by way of Atlanta, Georgia, Chattanooga, Nashville, through Kentucky, reaching St. Louis, Missouri, June 29, 1865.  The battalion (companies I, K, L, and M) was afterwards ordered to join the regiment, which had been sent to Omaha, Nebraska, and then to Fort Kearney, Nebraska, where Captain Smith’s resignation was accepted, Sept. 13, 1865.  The regiment’s term of service was concluded on the plains.  Captain Smith left the command at Fort Kearney, Sept. 14, 1865, and returned to his home in Linneus in the latter part of the same month.

MISCELLANEOUS.

     Company L, Twelfth Missouri Cavalry - F. W. Powers, second lieutenant; R. S. Cline, sergeant.  Privates, A. Robinson, B. M. Mitchell, T. P. Cristy, R. M. Cotter, John P. Watson (died at Memphis).
     Company B, Twelfth Missouri Cavalry - George M. Carter, C. J. Lane, Stephen Cotter.
     Company F., Twelfth Missouri Cavalry - Pinckney Banning (killed at Nashville), J. G. Banning.
     Company L., Seventh Missouri Cavalry - captain, Wesley R. Love; sergeant, William B. Vermilya; corporal, Charles W. Benton.  Private, James D. Hunt.  Of this company there were fifteen men wounded and sixteen horses killed at the "Hurricane fight" in Carroll count, Missouri, in the fall of 1861.  The cmpany was composed almost exclusively of men from Carroll county.

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CAPT. W. E. CRANDALL'S COMPANY OF HOME GUARDS - "LINN COUNTY RANGERS."

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and munitions.  On the evening of the organization Captain Crandall got a dispatch from Major Josiah H. Hunt, of the Marion Battalion, to march at once to the Chariton River bridge of Macon county, distant eighteen miles, and protect it from threatened burning by the rebels.  In obedience to this order, Lieut. H. S. Hamlin was detailed with twenty-five men, and proceeded to the bridge.  An attempt was made to burn the bridge, but the rebels were repulsed with the loss of two men killed, no loss being sustained by the latter, and but little damage being done to the bridge.  Crandall’s detachment was then relieved by the Second Iowa, commanded by S. B. Curtis.
     The squad marched back to Brookfield, and received orders June twenty-fourth from Major Hunt to remain and protect the railroad buildings and other property. Crandall was relieved on the twenty-eighth of June by Company I, of the Third Iowa Volunteers, commanded by Captain Trumbull, and his (Crandall’s) company, ordered to St. Catharine, in Linn county, to protect citizens and guard Yellow Creek bridge, remaining in camp at that place till the tenth of August following.  They were then ordered back to Brookfield, in the camp of the Third Iowa Volunteers, commanded by Colonel Williams, where they remained until Sept. 8, 1861.  The company was then ordered to St. Louis by Brigadier-General Pope, as an escort to the unarmed regiment of Twenty-third Missouri volunteers, commanded by Col. S. J. Tindall, and arrived at Benton Barracks September ninth, remaining until the ninteenth, when they were permitted by General Curtis to return to Brookfield and disband.  Orders, however, had been received from General Fremont not to muster the company out of service, nor to pay them for their services, the refusal to pay being based on the technicalities of their being home-guards, and having guarded their homes had gotten value received in that way; and also, that they were not properly mustered into the United States service.  The company reached Brookfield on the night of the twenty-first of September, 1861, and were disbanded, receiving no clothing, tents, camp utensils, equipments, nor any pay for the valuable service they had rendered in holding the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad for the government instead of allowing it to fall into the hands of the Confederates.
     Sometime afterwards, however, they were paid by the government, when the valuable nature of their services had been ascertained, and the legality of their claim established.

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COMPANY G, THIRTY-EIGHTH ENROLLED MISSOURI MILITIA - ENLISTED AUG. 8, 1862.

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COMPANY "D" SIXTY-SECOND ENROLLED MISSOURI MILITIA.

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     Charles W. Brittle of this company was killed in a fight with Jim Jackson's bushwhackers in Chariton county, Nov. 21, 1864.

CONFEDERATE SOLDIERS' RECORD.

     Linn county furnished from first to last probably one hundred and twenty-five men for the various branches of the Confederate States' service.  Not all of the names of these men have been or can be obtained.

COMPANY A, THIRD REGIMENT, THIRD DIVISION, MISSOURI STATE GUARDS.

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COMPANY K, SECOND MISSOURI INFANTRY, CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA.

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PRIVATES AND NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

     This company was mustered into the Confederate service at Springfield, Missouri, Jan. 16, 1862.  Apr. 9, 1865, it surrendered, with its regiment and division, to the Federals, in Alabama; was disbanded, and sent home.  During its term of service it participated in some of the hardest fought battles of the war; viz., Elk Horn (or Pea Ridge), Arkansas; seige of Corinth, Mississippi, May, 1862; Iuka, second battle at Corinth, Grand Gulf, Bakers Creek (Champion's Hill), Big Black, siege of Vicksburg, where the entire regiment was captured; Resaca, Georgia; New Hope Church, Dallas, Kenesaw Mountain, battles in front of Atlanta, Altoona Pass, Franklin, Nashville, Fort Blakely, and defense of Mobile, (Alabama.)  At Elk Horn the company went into action with forty-nine men, and lost four killed and fifteen wounded.  At Franklin, Tennessee, the Second Missouri Regiment lost 150 men, out of 192 engaged.  Only four were left in Company K.
     This regiment made a record second to none from this State, in the cause of the Sunny South.  Its first colonel was J. Q. Burbridge; subsequently, F. M. Cockerill, and lastly, Col. P. C. Flournoy.  When the long and bloody struggle was over, and the cause of the Confederacy became a ‘‘Lost Cause,” the brave survivors of the Second Missouri returned to their homes; and since the war, having surrendered and taken the oath of allegiance in good faith, have made as good citizens as they had been soldiers.

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MISCELLANEOUS CONFEDERATE RECORD.

     A majority of Captain Thomas H. Flood’s company of the Missouri State Guards were from Sullivan county, but Captain Flood himself was from Linn, and the following members of his company are believed to have been from this county: Josiah Fain, Robert Baker, John J. Slack, Moses Cleaton, John Christ, and William Browning.
     William Wallace Reece enlisted July 17, 1861, in Captain Dorsey’s company of Chariton county.  He was in the battles of Wilson’s Creek, Dry Wood, Lexington, and Prairie Grove.  He was wounded at Lexington.  Died at Little Bock, Arkansas, in the spring of 1863.
     Irvin Reece enlisted July 26, 1862, first joining Col. J. Poindexter.  He was not captured with the rest of Poindexter’s men, but made his way to the army south of the Missouri River, and was in General John B. Clark’s division; was in the battle of Prairie Grove; and died at Little Rock, Arkansas, in the spring of 1863.
     Jesse Reece enlisted Aug. 10, 1862, He served in General John B. Clark’s division; was in the battle of Prairie Grove; and died when his two brothers did at Little Rock, in the spring of 1863.  The three Reeces were brothers.

END OF CHAPTER XVI -  -
 

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