1 1 2 3 FRANKLIN COUNTY CIVIL WAR MEETING 4 TAKEN ON BEHALF OF THE 5 FRANKLIN COUNTY VETERANS HALL OF HONOR 6 MAY 4, 2011 7 8 9 (Starting time: 7:05 p.m.) 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 2 1 I N D E X PAGE 2 PAGE 3 BY: 4 Mr. Hardt 3 5 Mr. Roberson 11 6 Mr. Purschke 13 7 Ms. Moore 18 8 Mr. Niermeyer 21 9 Mr. Larson 33 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 3 1 MR. HARDT: First of all, my name's Rich 2 Hardt, H-A-R-D-T, and I'm here to talk about, 3 actually, two great great grandfathers and one 4 great grandfather and you say, well, one great 5 grandfather, my grandmother was the youngest of 12 6 kids. She came on pretty late in life and that's 7 the reason, I guess, he's just a great grandfather. 8 He, by the way, has the most interesting civil war 9 history. I brought with me a lot of his discharge 10 papers, pay records, things, and we'll talk about 11 him first. His name is Gustav Grauer, G-R-A-U-E-R, 12 and he was born March 29th, 1840 in Germany and 13 he lived in the State of Germany of Wherenberg and 14 he came to Missouri in 1852. And in September of 15 1852 his father bought 172 acres along Tavern 16 Creek, which is on the eastern boundaries of 17 Franklin County. And Tavern Creek is a creek that 18 runs basically along the edges of St. Albans 19 Country Club now and goes to -- goes to the river 20 at St. Albans. The farm he bought laid between 21 Bouquet Road and Bassett Road, through there, and a 22 little bit of that property was actually in St. 23 Louis County, but the majority of it was in 24 Franklin County. He entered Captain Idel's Company 25 D, Pacific Battalion, Missouri Home Guards on 4 1 June 9th, 1861 and was discharged on September 2 the 18th, 1861, so he was only in that branch or 3 that home guard thing for a period of three months 4 and ten days. On September the 26th, 1861, he 5 was enrolled in Captain George King's Railroad 6 Guards, which seems to be like a lot of people in 7 the area. That's kind of the way it went. And 8 that was a railroad patrol and he was discharged 9 from that unit on the 23rd of January, 1862, from 10 Benton Barracks, Missouri, which I think -- I'm not 11 sure of this, but I don't know exactly where Benton 12 Barracks is, but I think it might be what's 13 Jefferson Barracks today. I'm not sure. 14 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: I think it was 15 pretty close to the downtown area. 16 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: The old Fairgrounds 17 in North St. Louis. 18 MR. HARDT: It's in Fairgrounds in North 19 St. Louis? Okay. Thank you. Okay. And he was 20 discharged there by Colonel Ketchum. On the 20th 21 of February, 1862, he was enrolled, again, in 22 Benton Barracks in Company C, the fourth regiment, 23 Missouri Calvary Volunteers. According to his pay 24 records, the guy traveled around a lot. He, I 25 guess, being in part of the railroad stuff earlier, 5 1 and I don't know what all he did, but he seemed to 2 get around and on July the 10th, 1863, he was 3 captured and taken prisoner of war at the Battle of 4 Union City, Tennessee. And it was the third 5 battle. Apparently there were four major battles 6 in Union City, Tennessee and Union City, Tennessee, 7 apparently, was a big railroad depot area and it 8 carried a lot of Confederate soldiers going north 9 and the Union soldiers wanted to get a hold of it 10 to be able to use to transport goods going south. 11 He was actually captured in an area right next to 12 Union City and that battle is a battle called El 13 Monro Gap (phonetic) which is real close by. There 14 he was -- he was confined at Richmond, Virginia as 15 a prisoner of war until August the 22nd, 1863. 16 He was paroled at City Point, Virginia, from there, 17 December the 28th, 1863. So he was released at 18 City Point, Virginia. City Point, Virginia, if I 19 got it right, was a big major Union, I guess, 20 headquarters area and that also was a heavy 21 railroad area because they were trying to keep 22 these rail heads open and keep the track straight 23 and if you get into -- back to the -- the Union 24 City, Tennessee stuff, the idea was they wanted to 25 open that up so that Sherman's March to the Sea 6 1 could begin to come through there. That was -- 2 that was an area where supplies could be brought 3 south, men could be brought south, and, like I say, 4 there were four major battles there and I think the 5 rebels won every battle but the last one. I'm not 6 sure. And I think the fourth battle of Union City 7 was a pretty big skirmish, because if you start 8 looking it up, there's times there was much as 9 10,000 Confederate soldiers stationed there. And I 10 don't know how many times these guys rebuilt this 11 depot in Union City, but every time they went 12 through there, they burned the depot. So I guess 13 they'd rebuild and straighten the track out and do 14 whatever they could and get it back in service and 15 then be on their way. Okay. After he left City 16 Point, Virginia, he was -- he reported back to 17 Benton Barracks on January the 18th, 1864. And 18 he left City Point January the 15th, 1864. So 19 that gave him three days to get from Virginia to 20 Benton Barracks and I guess if he left right at 21 midnight on that day and he traveled all night by 22 rail, it's possible at that time you could get to 23 St. Louis from there in three days. The logistics 24 just seem like it would have taken longer but 25 according to his records, that's what happened. 7 1 Then he -- he was mustered out on February the 2 25th, 1865 at Vicksburg, Mississippi. He came 3 back and he married a neighboring farmer's daughter 4 by the name of Mary Rosenbaum (phonetic) and right 5 after that he started to purchase some land. He 6 bought 42 acres in 18 -- the next year he did, and 7 then in 1879 he bought another 40 acres and then he 8 bought another 14 and that totaled him up to 9 94 acres and that property is still intact today 10 and the house that he built is still standing and 11 it's part of the natural historic site off of 12 Bouquet Road and I have pictures of him right after 13 the civil war in front of that home that's still 14 standing today. I have other pictures of him with 15 my father who died about a year and a half ago at 16 the age of 97 and a half. Some other pictures. 17 And I have a picture of him at some point in his 18 life with some of his family. Six of his children 19 survived. Six died before he did. And, like I 20 say, my grandmother is one would be on the right of 21 this picture. She is the youngest one that 22 survived. And that's pretty much all I know about 23 him. My dad always said that he walked with a bad 24 limp because he had been injured in the Civil War. 25 But as far as any records go or anything that I 8 1 have, I have no indications that he was wounded in 2 any of the battles, but he was definitely -- from 3 where he traveled around and the records I have, he 4 was definitely in the heat of a lot of battles and 5 I'm sure the guy from -- came over from Germany -- 6 he left to get out of some strife over there and 7 about six years he was in the middle of the Civil 8 War here volunteering, so the guy's -- they had to 9 feel patriotic in some way to be able to do that. 10 I mean, he could probably have just left after he 11 did his 90 days with Captain Idel, but instead he 12 went on and continued on until 1865. 13 The second person I want to talk about is 14 Michael Brukay (phonetic). He's my great great 15 grandfather. He's my great grandmother's dad and he 16 started out and he was in Captain Idel's Company D, 17 Pacific Battalion, Missouri Home Guard, and went in on 18 June 9th, 1861 to September the 18th, 1861. Then 19 he, too, got in Captain King's Railroad Patrol Guard, 20 U.S. Residence Corps, Missouri Infantry, September the 21 26th, 1861 to January 23rd, 1862. He then enrolled 22 on February the 27th, 1862 to Company G, Second 23 Missouri Heavy Artillery, then transferred to Company D, 24 Missouri Light Artillery, as a private and at that time 25 he was promoted to a corporal. And he was honorably 9 1 discharged in Little Rock, Arkansas the 27th of 2 February, 1865 and he was wounded in some skirmish down 3 there at one time. And I have that on his military 4 records here. The third person I want to talk about is 5 my great great grandfather, Julius Hardt, and he was 6 just basically the 90 plus day home guard. He was 7 enrolled June the 16th, 1861 as a private in Captain 8 Christian Idel's Company D, Pacific Battalion Home Guard 9 and he was discharged at Pacific in September the 10 18th, 1861. And he later was a commander and so forth 11 in one of the GAR units and I have a picture here of him 12 on the left, Michael Brukay, the man I just talked about 13 on your right, and they're in their GAR uniforms 14 standing there and there's probably not too many people 15 have a picture of their two great great grandfather's 16 standing together in their GAR uniforms but, anyway, the 17 younger guy is a guy by the name of Fred Berthold, but 18 I'm not real positive, but I'm almost thinking he was 19 Michael Brukay's maybe son-in-law, because I'd have to 20 really search. There's a couple Fred Bertholds. I 21 really don't know that for sure. But I have that. 22 Apparently they were proud of what they did. They would 23 have probably never stuck in it other than for some 24 social aspects of being in the GAR, but he went on and I 25 have some other pictures and it seems like every picture 10 1 I have him he's in his GAR hat, so he must have liked to 2 wear it and must have been proud of it. Michael Brukay, 3 a couple years ago -- he's buried on his home place and 4 I don't know if it's home place, but a place he and his 5 wife had, and the sons of the -- I guess sons of the 6 Union Soldiers wanted to re-dedicate his tombstone with 7 they put on the bronze placards and they were looking 8 for somebody to stand guard over his tombstone while his 9 presentation was and somehow they got a hold of me and I 10 did that and they re-dedicated his tombstone and even 11 like Julius Hardt, my great great grandfather there, 12 even though he was just a volunteer for this 90 days, 13 you go to his monument and it says that he was in 14 Captain Idel's Home Guards right on his tombstone 15 monument and this is not a federally bought lot. This 16 is something that the family had done so, apparently, 17 the guy was pretty proud of the time he served. So 18 basically that's all I have. If anybody needs to know 19 anything about documentation or any of this stuff, I 20 have like Gustav Grauer's stuff. I have all his 21 discharge papers from the different companies that he 22 was in. I think some of that been given to you already 23 and made copies of. There's quite a few papers that 24 show all his different pay records and even though the 25 man was a prisoner of war and everything else, 11 1 apparently at some point in time, I guess records 2 weren't the best, somebody accused him of actually not 3 being in the military during some of this time and I get 4 some records that prove that wrong, that he actually was 5 in, and there's records that come out of like Maryland 6 and up in -- up farther to the east in Vermont. I don't 7 hardly think that he would have traveled that far, but I 8 don't know why these records have that address on them, 9 but that would have been a long way from home. So, 10 anyway, he went on to live a pretty good life, having as 11 many children as he did. He, I guess, thought he was 12 doing the right thing when he joined and he went on and 13 gave it his fullest. So that's basically all I know 14 about it. If anybody needs to know any more about any 15 of these people or anything, see me after everybody 16 presents and I've got pretty much a lot of documentation 17 on everything that I said. So that's basically all I 18 have about those three people. 19 MR. ROBERSON: My name is Gene Roberson and 20 I happen to have one relative that I can point to 21 you. My great great grandfather's name was 22 Frederick Fritz Hain, H-A-I-N, and Frederick is 23 buried up in the Rosebud area. However, he 24 followed his father over from Breslau, Germany. 25 His father was here in United States and emigrated, 12 1 Fritz emigrated, and after -- he -- I don't know 2 exactly how old he was, but I would say he was a 3 young man and he joined the Dolmeyer's -- what is 4 it? Dolmeyer's -- help me, Walt. Six-month -- 5 six-month infantry. He was promoted to a first 6 lieutenant and served that six-month tour. As I 7 understand, he then enlisted in the 31st Infantry 8 Home Guard. And was sent to fought his way towards 9 the Battle of Vicksburg, where he was wounded. His 10 records show -- his military records shows that 11 he's five foot four, of fair complexion, and he 12 took a wound in the top of his head. After he -- 13 he survived the war and afterward, he was so glad 14 that he wasn't five foot five. He -- after he was 15 wounded, as I understand, he was put on a hospital 16 train, sent to Wisconsin, and recuperated in 17 Wisconsin, and then later was transferred to 18 Washington, DC, where he stood guard in the hay 19 field. And the exciting thing, I guess, that 20 happened at that time for him was -- it was right 21 when Lincoln was shot and there were two -- this is 22 the way I got out of a Gasconade Historical Society 23 book and this is a picture of him here, but Hain 24 was on guard and he saw three horsemen coming down 25 the road, and the story goes they believe -- the 13 1 family members believe and he even believed, that 2 it could have been John Wilkes Booth was the middle 3 guy and he was being supported by two riders. Now 4 that's probably questionable, but that's the story 5 that's passed on down through the family. After he 6 survived the war, he married a 50 percent Cherokee 7 woman, half-breed, it says here, and her name was 8 Rebecca Hollinsworth. A lot of Hollinsworth up in 9 that area. And she married him and they got 10 80 acres that they homesteaded. I guess it was 11 passed on from his dad. His dad must of had at 12 least 160. That's about all I got on him. I wish 13 I had some of the other information. That's all I 14 have right now. Thank you. 15 MR. PURSCHKE: My name is a Robert Pete 16 Purschke. I'm from Union. I'd like to talk about 17 my great grandfather. Do I need this? My great 18 grandfather's name was Jacob Gaasch. He was 19 eventually from the Moselle area, that's where he 20 landed after the Civil War. This -- most of this 21 is from the national archives and some of -- and 22 has his military records. I don't have that 23 information here. I couldn't find it, but I did 24 find this, which is quite interesting. It says 25 Jacob Gaasch was born May, question mark, 1832 in 14 1 Altsonger (phonetic) Luxembourg. According to his 2 marriage record, his parents were Matthew Gaasch, 3 G-A-A-S-C-H, this is important because it's going 4 to play into later. There's a lot of confusion on 5 the spelling of his name. He emigrated to America 6 about 1857, supposedly lived somewhere around St. 7 Louis, Missouri. Alvena Bachenhoff (phonetic) was 8 born in Earl Westfalia, Germany on February 27th, 9 1844. Her parents were Joseph Bachenhoff and 10 Elizabeth Bruninghoff (phonetic). She came to 11 America in 1869 with her mother and her stepfather, 12 Gerhardt Shmitts (phonetic). For whatever reason, 13 Jacob enlisted in Colonel Secarts' (phonetic) 14 calvary on January 10th, 1862 in St. Louis. In 15 May, 1862, this unit was absorbed in the Fifth Iowa 16 Calvary. More than likely, he had no command of 17 either oral or written English and he was listed as 18 Jacob Cash, C-A-S-H. As we'll be seeing later, 19 became a stumbling block for him. Per his military 20 records, he was listed as a Teamster. In the 21 spring of 1862, he was injured while driving a 22 wagon over rough roads near Fort Henry, Tennessee. 23 He was thrown from the wagon and wheels of the 24 wagon ran over both legs. The Fifth Iowa was in 25 many skirmishes as Sherman made his March to the 15 1 Sea. In the Battle of the Atlanta, Generals Edward 2 McCook and George Stolman (phonetic) undertook a 3 raid to destroy Confederate railroads with 4 supplies. They were then cleaned up and returned 5 to Union lines together. Stoleman took it upon 6 himself to try and rescue union prisoners at Macon 7 and Andersonville. He failed to do either and 8 missed joining up with McCook who was overwhelmed 9 by Confederates under General Joseph Wheeler. In 10 this fiasco, Jacob was captured on July 31st, 11 1864 and sent to the infamous Andersonville prison. 12 He arrived there after the worst times but they 13 still had very little food and shelter. My cousin 14 has visited Andersonville twice and said all able 15 soldiers were walked out to Savannah, Georgia in 16 October and November of 1864. So he was only there 17 three or four months. Some of them went to as far 18 as South Carolina, at which he was one, and had 19 copies of his military records from the first 20 visit. He is now having listed as having been a 21 prisoner. Let's see. He was discharged in June, 22 1865 and returned to the St. Louis area. Not sure 23 what he did, but when applied for his pension, he 24 stated that he lost his left thumb in a quarry 25 accident. He came to Moselle and bought 93 acres 16 1 from a James Duncan in April, 1870, who if I read 2 the deeds correct, purchased the property on the 3 same day from E.J. Roberts. Only difference was 4 James Duncan paid $736 while Jacob paid $1,500. It 5 then appears that he went to Alton, Illinois and 6 met his wife to be. She was Alvena Bachenhoff, who 7 came to America in 1869. And then they moved to 8 the Robertsville and Moselle area. In 1889 they 9 bought 65 acres from E.J. Roberts. And in 1890 10 Gutterman (phonetic) took a census of Civil War 11 veterans and authorized the pension for them. 12 Jacob applied for this pension in 1891 claiming 13 chronic rheumatism, injury to the left leg from 14 wagon running over it, and disease of the head, 15 whatever that means. His application was rejected. 16 He tried several times adding disease of the heart, 17 varicose veins, dyspepsia, emphysema to his 18 complaints and was accepted in 1900 for a Civil War 19 pension. His mixup as a soldier caused him many 20 problems. He had to obtain affidavits from fellow 21 soldiers to prove he was the same man. When he 22 died in 1982, his will ran into many of the same 23 problems in trying to get the pension. His pension 24 was $18 a month. Her's was $12. And the mixup 25 came because his name was Gaasch, G-A-A-S-C-H. He 17 1 couldn't speak English. He couldn't write. A lot 2 of times it looked like Gash, G-A-S-H, Cash, 3 C-A-S-H, Fish, and in one picture, this one here, 4 it looks like it's G-A-R-S-O-H and there's a 5 picture -- that's the picture of my great 6 grandfather in his uniform. I have no idea when it 7 was taken. I have his obituaries. He was buried 8 in St. Mary's Cemetery down at Mull's Ail. It says 9 Mr. Jake Gash, G-A-S-H, a welcome farmer near here 10 was injured by horse while returning home Friday 11 afternoon. He had gone from the doctor for a sick 12 medical with the family and his horse became 13 frightened at the train and threw him on to the 14 saddle horn and I guess that punctured his stomach, 15 his intestines, and said he died Saturday night. 16 And that was April 26th, 1902. So I have 17 pictures of his birthstone -- or his tombstone and 18 also here's another one. I don't know where this 19 came from. Civil War, January 1862, May, 1865, 20 Iowa Calvary. That might be at the base of his 21 cemetery at the base of his grave. I'm not sure. 22 And that's all I have. 23 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: I just wanted to add 24 since he didn't mention this, that when they got 25 ready to have his funeral at St. Mary's Church, 18 1 they had to take the body across the river in a 2 boat because I guess the river was up, was that the 3 reason they normally forwarded it or -- 4 MR. PURSCHKE: That's in here. I didn't 5 read that. In the obituary, one of the best former 6 citizens living near this place, Jacob Gaasch, 7 G-A-A-S-C-H, met with a violent death last 8 Saturday, he was in Mull's Ail Friday when on his 9 way home, the horse he was riding got frightened at 10 a train, became fractious and threw the old 11 gentleman against the horn and saddle and inflicted 12 much severe injuries and death resulted in about 14 13 hours on Saturday, 26th of May. Funeral occurred 14 Monday at St. Mary's Catholic Church. The funeral 15 cartage had to cross the river by boats. The water 16 had been raised to such an extent by recent rains. 17 The deceased was a Union soldier during the war of 18 the rebellion, was a good farmer, and raised an 19 honorable family. A wife and one son, Jacob, Jr., 20 married, and two daughters, Mrs. Lizzie Henneke and 21 Mrs. Kate Shoehorn survived with true husband and 22 good parent. He was born in Germany and was in his 23 71st year. 24 MS. MOORE: My name is Ellen Moore. My 25 maiden name is Pursely. My family has been in 19 1 Franklin County for as long as I can trace them. 2 My great grandfather was Matthew Bay (phonetic). 3 He was born in Robertsville, Missouri, and he was 4 in born in 1840. 1861, he enlisted in the 11th 5 Missouri Infantry in Company K. And I have the 6 roster here from Company K. After I went through 7 A, B, C, D all the way to find him. So it took me 8 a while to find him. I thought was really 9 interesting, how old he was, he was 21. He was 10 five and a half feet tall, five foot five, I'm 11 sorry, short, but not too short. Light hair and 12 blue eyes, he was single, and a farmer from 13 Franklin County, and I had always been told 14 throughout growing up that he was in the Civil War 15 and that he had died from a wound that he received. 16 Now, I can't find any records of what kind of wound 17 he received, but it does say that he was wounded in 18 Marksville Prairie, Kentucky and that he was 19 mustered at Memphis, Tennessee on August 5th, 20 1864. Now, I don't know, I can't find what kind of 21 wound, but I know he died, I wouldn't say young, 22 but I will say at that time around 57 years old and 23 supposedly it was from this wound, whatever it was. 24 I don't know. He married Elizabeth Wilson and it 25 said here that she was from Pennsylvania. I can't 20 1 find Elizabeth Wilson from Pennsylvania. The 2 family stories were that she was Cherokee Indian. 3 And I've been trying to research her and I keep 4 coming up blank. I don't know anything about her 5 at all. They had six children and he was a farmer 6 at the time and then he became a justice of the 7 peace, master mason, he was a member of the GAR, 8 and a Republic in politics and that's about all I 9 really know about him. I don't have any pictures. 10 Nothing whatsoever about him. I've just found a 11 little bit, I was excited when I found his roster. 12 It seems very silly but it was exciting to me. And 13 I know this is for Franklin County but something 14 was mentioned about the pensions and I've got 15 another great great grandfather that was in 16 Illinois and he was mustered in but he was like, I 17 don't know what they call it, boot camp or not at 18 that time, he hadn't been assigned to anything in a 19 unit yet. Anyway, he developed typhoid in the boot 20 camp and they sent him home on furlough. And 21 within a month's time he was dead. Well, his widow 22 had three children at the time and she had tried 23 from 1863 until she died in 1895 to get a pension 24 and she was denied on every aspect and I have 25 stacks of papers like this of all the forms that 21 1 they required her to fill out to prove he was and 2 never got anything. So I don't know if pension -- 3 any pensions -- how they worked. I know it doesn't 4 have anything to do with Franklin County, but I 5 thought that was interesting. 6 MR. NIERMEYER: Douglas Reed Niermeyer. 7 N-I-E-R-M-E-Y-E-R. Okay. I'd had a number of 8 things that I pulled out of my history box about 9 the area and unfortunately I didn't bring the file 10 that I planned on, but I do have a few other 11 things. Well, within the history organizations, I 12 belong to a number of different organizations, both 13 Union, Confederate, I'm a member of the Sons of 14 Union Confederacy War Camp. I'm a member of the 15 Military Sergeant of Arms. I am a member of 16 Revolutionary War Groups, Colonial War Groups, and 17 if there's any group or time period that you might 18 be interested in, and I either have some 19 information or I can usually give you some input to 20 find somebody that does, but I'm also the great 21 great grandson of Captain Andrew Fink from Union. 22 Andrew Fink was a very normal character here. He 23 was involved in the Barnes affair. He was also 24 involved in Price's Raid that came through here. I 25 wish I had a diary or some type of writing from him 22 1 that would have given a wonderful account from the 2 time period because he was here during the whole 3 Civil War in a military role as captain of several 4 different men and provisional companies and 5 artillery men as well but so far I have not been 6 able to find that. But I wanted to share with you 7 tonight here, there's actually an excerpt from 8 Missouri Democrat from 1864. And this is from 9 October 4th, 1864, Page 1, Column 2, reports from 10 Price's Army. From Franklin County, the capture of 11 Union, evacuation of Washington, Colonel Gayle's 12 command across the Missouri, withdrawal of 13 ferryboats with passengers and stories. Boats 14 fired upon at South Point, burning of depots, et 15 cetera, intelligence of the rebels. Judge James W. 16 Owens of the 9th Judicial Circuit of the State 17 arrived at three p.m. yesterday morning from 18 Washington, Franklin County via St. Charles, coming 19 events over Missouri, the North Missouri Railroad 20 and furnishes to us with the following 21 intelligence: The Rebels came into Union about one 22 p.m. on Saturday, some 5 or 600 strong, and they 23 were kept and there captured the company of about 24 100 men, commanded by Captain Fink. Muster Order 25 No. 107. The company drew up to receive the 23 1 rebels, who, it is said, opened on them with five 2 pieces of artillery, bringing about a very hasty 3 capitulation. One of the canon balls is reported 4 to have knocked off Captain Fink's hat, but without 5 doing any further damage. News of the capture of 6 Union soon reached Washington, where it was also 7 learned that rebel forces from Franklin was 8 approaching on the Pacific road via South Point, 9 which is about two miles from Washington. They 10 entered South Point Saturday night. Colonel Gayle, 11 commanding at Washington, evacuated that place at 12 eleven o'clock Saturday night, transferred -- 13 transferring his troops 600 across the Missouri on 14 the ferryboats Wide Awake and Bright Star. The 15 government munitions stores and et cetera, and the 16 post office, were then placed in the boats to be 17 taken to St. Charles. Judge Owens was put in 18 charge of the boats on the Wide Awake and bartered 19 about 20 citizens of Washington, some having within 20 their families. Colonel Gayle's command having 21 crossed the river is reported to have taken up a 22 line of March for St. Charles. The boats left the 23 shore opposite Washington at day break Sunday 24 morning. As they passed South Point, rebel calvary 25 appeared on the south bank and opened a brisk fire 24 1 of musketry on the Wide Awake, which was within 2 30 yards of them. The Bright Star fortunately 3 steamed by and was some 300 yards, protected from 4 the fire. Judge Owens was on the Bright Star, who 5 about -- about 100 shots struck her. But no one 6 was hurt except for Mr. Haus Carter, a railroad 7 bridge builder, and received a flush wound in the 8 head. The ball dropped from his hat and he removed 9 it from his own head. The vessel was very much 10 perforated and the cabin and the pilot house. Some 11 ladies were on the deck when the fighting began but 12 retired to the cabin, where they all dropped to the 13 floor until the crashing shower of bullets was 14 over. The ladies displayed great steadiness and 15 intrepidity and then they list a number of ladies 16 that were there. But there were also seven 17 children in the party and it's extraordinary that 18 no one further had casualties occur. The piloting 19 of the Wide Awake was Captain Murphy, not Captain 20 Murphy of local time, but Captain Murphy of 21 Missouri River Steam run Evening Star. With no 22 one -- no other protection than the window glass 23 and thin boards of the pilot house, Captain Murphy 24 steered the vessel in a difficult channel and amid 25 rebel fire. With perfect composure and 25 1 deliberateness, the pilot house was thoroughly 2 riddled, but the helms men almost miraculously 3 escaped unharmed. When about a half mile below the 4 Bright Star grounded and suffered a short delay. 5 The rebs appeared to be one -- about 100 in number, 6 they move rapidly up to Washington and immediately 7 commenced burning the depot and other railroad 8 property. The party in the boats saw the 9 conflagration. Judge Owens confirmed the reports 10 of the burning of the railroad property at South 11 Point and the rebels came over the main Pacific 12 Road from Franklin and burned the railroad bridges 13 at Gray Summit and then came to South Point 14 Saturday night. The evacuation of Washington was 15 caused by the intelligence of the approaching rebel 16 force from Union. The report was also brought to 17 Washington then on Friday night, about 1,500 rebel 18 calvary started from Leasburg from Crawford County 19 and moved toward Franklin over the branch railroad, 20 burning everything consumable on the river, 21 including Sullivan, St. Clair station buildings, 22 and both the bridges across the Meramec. Probably 23 this is the force that visited Franklin early 24 Saturday morning and was then driven a few hours 25 later. With Price's Raid through Franklin County, 26 1 the capture of Major Murphy or Major Wilson and his 2 men, I have put together an account from various 3 firsthand sources on some of the activities that 4 have gone on during the execution shortly after of 5 Major Wilson. And they are here. 6 2nd October, 1864, the prisoners are marched 7 beyond Union and are put in a chain guard camp in on 8 upper St. John's Creek near General Price's headquarters 9 tent. 3rd, October, 1864, the 450 prisoners, soldiers, 10 and captured private citizens are assembled and given an 11 oath of parole. Soldiers Kitchens and Colonel Tim 12 Reeves then go through the ranks looking for men from 13 Captain Hummel's, Montgomery's, Price's and Cochran's 14 units. They also want men who were in the fight. The 15 men lie as best as they can, although beaten when the 16 answers don't please. Before Major Wilson was 17 identified, he slips Captain Fritz Inger (phonetic) his 18 pocket book, and Peter Rinneman's (phonetic) address. 19 He know's what coming. He was previously -- he is 20 previously stated, quote, If I am captured, count me as 21 gone, because I have broken up Reeves' recruiting 22 operations three times, end quote. And he says, quote, 23 Captain, I have fallen into bad hands and do not think I 24 will see you again. If I do not, give this pocket book 25 to the address I give to you via Peter Ringman -- 27 1 Rinneman, Millwood, Franklin County, Missouri, Captain 2 Inger shakes hands with him and returns to his place. 3 Six privates supposedly from the command are picked out 4 of the group. One private, thinking that the parole 5 process was starting, lies and say he's one of Wilson's 6 men. Major Wilson asks the Inspector General, who is 7 conducting this operation, quote, Sir, what are the 8 charges against us? Unquote. He receives no answer. 9 The field officer of the day turns the seven men over to 10 Colonel Tim Reeves. Between nine and ten a.m., Major 11 James Wilson and six privates are marched away under 12 cover guard. Five of the privates were Company I, Third 13 Missouri State Militia. Reports of the execution vary. 14 One say three members are assigned to march each 15 prisoner off and execute him. Two of the men are said 16 to escape their executioners, though one is wounded in 17 the shoulder. Major Wilson and four privates are 18 executed. Major Wilson is the first of the prisoners to 19 be shot by the order of Tim Reeves of the 15th 20 Missouri Calvary, CSA, on the Peterson Farm, near Union, 21 Franklin County, Missouri. Other sources say that it is 22 on the Jeffries Farm. One account -- one of the account 23 of the execution reports that all prisoners were killed 24 by a single volley. Colonel TJ Halton (phonetic), a 25 rebel, claims to have witnessed the execution. He says 28 1 Colonel Reeves stopped the prisoners and told Major 2 Wilson, quote, that he had been ordered by General Price 3 to take them out and shoot them. Major Wilson's last 4 words, looking Reeves straight in the eye, were: You 5 don't mean to say you're going to shoot us without a 6 trial? Reeves replied, You have been tried as such and 7 such are my orders. The prisoners are moved a little 8 farther, then surrounded. The volley kills all but a 9 16-year-old boy. A second volley is ordered to kill 10 him. Halton's reports seem to be most credible. Since 11 entering Missouri on the 19th of September of 1864, 12 the rebels had executed 35 prisoners. Almost all from 13 the Third Missouri State Militia. The executions will 14 continue each day that they are in Missouri. The 15 execution site is near present day junction of St. 16 John's Creek and Baltiford (phonetic) Road. 5, October, 17 1864, the first reports come into the soldiers that 18 Major Wilson has been executed but Lieutenant Colonel 19 Maupin (phonetic), 47th Missouri Volunteers, conducts 20 two searches of the area where the executions occurred. 21 The bodies are not found. 6, October, the commanding 22 general in St. Louis orders the provost marshal to send 23 a rebel major and six privates to Irons to military 24 prison in Alton, Illinois to be held in solitary 25 confinement until the fate of Major Wilson and his men 29 1 are known. These men are to receive the same treatment 2 Major Wilson and his men received. Seven days later, 3 13th, October, 1864, Joseph Rinneman, James, his 4 nephew, knowing -- James, knowing that his uncle is 5 missing in action and is probably dead, volunteered for 6 the U.S. Army. 14, October, soon to be governor Thomas 7 Fletcher makes the following statement about Major 8 Wilson. They took him prisoner and I am informed turned 9 him over to Tim Reeves to do with as he pleased. 10 Reeves' command has been decimated many times by Major 11 Wilson. And that was printed in St. Louis Democrat on 12 the 14th of October. 20th of October, 1864, Brigadier 13 Thomas Ewing writes his official report of the Battle of 14 Pilot Knob and retreats to Raleigh. Includes the 15 following: Quote, I owe to the cherished memory of 16 Major Wilson and in inclusion and honorable mention of 17 his name, not only because of the relevant skill with 18 which for two days preceding he fought the embarrassed 19 and belatedly overwhelming forces of the enemy, but he 20 also, because of his long and useful service in the 21 district, unblemished by a fault. 22nd, October, a 22 false report is given that Major Wilson is a prisoner. 23 23, October, the bodies of Major Wilson and five 24 privates are found in a hollow on the Peterson Farm 25 15 miles southwest of Washington, Missouri. The site is 30 1 on the Old State Road near Jeffries Farm. The hogs have 2 been at them and identification is difficult. An 3 inquest is held by the local Justice of the Peace. 4 Major Wilson's body had officially -- had official and 5 private papers on it. Major Wilson by General Ewing. 6 One of the envelopes was written in the last order given 7 to Major Wilson by General Ewing. It said that the 8 infantry at the furnace are under your command, take 9 them with -- take them off when necessary. Major Wilson 10 had been shot three times. The bodies were laid on 11 floor and hauled to the scene and fenced with walnut 12 logs to keep the hogs away. 24th, October, Captain 13 Elliot of the Seventh Missouri Calvary writes letters to 14 James's sister, Sophia, and to his father, James S. 15 Wilson, informing them of James's death. An escort of 16 men from the 3rd Missouri State Militia are sent from 17 St. Louis to recover the bodies. 25th of October, 18 General Rosegrants (phonetic) orders the execution of 19 six rebel privates and one major in retaliation. The 20 provost lies his orders that the first rebel major 21 captured is to be sent to him. He plans, under the 22 order, to shoot him instantly an equivalent number of 23 rebels. And if they can't capture one in Missouri, he 24 will take some out as prisoners that belong to the rebel 25 forces in Missouri. Since rebel majors are in short 31 1 supply, the major general recommends shooting eight 2 privates of Price's command in retaliation for Wilson's 3 murder. The bodies of Major Wilson and others are 4 examined by Lieutenant Colonel Maupin and recovered in 5 their temporary graves. 6 Lastly, I wanted to share with you a letter 7 that was actually written by one of the six Confederate 8 privates that was executed in retaliation for Wilson's 9 death. He writes his wife. From St. Louis, Missouri, 10 October 29th, 1864, Dear wife and children, I take my 11 pen in hand to inform you that I'm about to be shot 12 between 2 and 4:00 this evening. I have but four hours 13 to remain in this unfriendly world. Six of us are 14 sentenced to die in place of 60 new solders who were 15 shot by Reeves' men. My dear wife, don't grieve for me 16 in heaven. I will meet you in heaven. I want you to 17 teach the children so that they may meet me at the right 18 hand of God. I can't express my feelings, but you have 19 some idea for them. You are left to care for my dear 20 children. Tell them to remember their father. I want 21 you to be going back to the old place and try to 22 support -- and try to make it support for you and the 23 children. Tell my friends that I have gone to rest. If 24 I don't get this -- if you don't get this letter before 25 the St. Francis River gets up, you had better stay there 32 1 until you can make a trip and go in the dry season. It 2 is now 4:30 in the evening and I must bring my letter to 3 close and leave you in the hands of God. I send you my 4 best love and my respect in this hour of death. Kiss 5 all the children for me. You need to have no fear and 6 uneasiness as is my future state, for my faith is well 7 founded. I fear no evil. God is my refuge and hiding 8 place. Good-bye Amy. And that was written by A.C. 9 Ladd. In my family I have several relatives and several 10 grandfathers that fought here in Oakley. Henry Motter 11 was a private. John Stallman -- but I also have many 12 uncles, especially in the Gordon family that fought 13 here. And on my mother's side I have several relatives 14 and grandfathers who fought in other counties here of 15 Missouri as well as other states, but also had one set 16 of family that came from North Carolina after the war 17 and found that they had served the Confederacy there. 18 And Lieutenant Levy Branson Lewis, who is buried at 19 Brush Creek Cemetery along with his brother-in-law, John 20 Windsor, both served in the Confederate Army in North 21 Carolina. 22 MR. WILSON: That's the stuff you're 23 e-mailing to me? 24 MR. NIERMEYER: Some of it. It is my plan 25 to be able to get them military headstones, but it 33 1 wasn't until I did the research on that part of the 2 family that my family even knew about that they had 3 served in North Carolina and served in the 4 Confederacy family at that time, coming here in 5 1870, didn't really want to bring up the past, and 6 I'm sure there was a lot of people here in the 7 local area that didn't want to bring up the past 8 either, that they just wanted to rebuild and go on, 9 but I tried to study the reasons of why people 10 fought on both sides. A lot of the general 11 information that I was taught in school wasn't 12 100 percent accurate in my opinion today, at least 13 of why people fought and I embrace my family 14 history from both sides. 15 MR. LARSON: In connection with Wilson, one 16 of the reasons that Reeves said that he was mad at 17 Wilson, there are stories that, well, some of 18 Wilson's troops were captured by the Confederates. 19 This is before Christmas. And they were being held 20 in a camp and Wilson had took a number of troopers 21 and they went down to retrieve the men that had 22 been captured. And there's several different 23 stories along the lines of what really happened, 24 but the Confederates always said that when Reeves' 25 men found the Confederate camp, they were enjoying 34 1 Christmas dinner and there are wives and children 2 there and Wilson came in charging with all those 3 men, firing and shooting. And one story says the 4 Confederates did not get off a single shot and the 5 Confederates in that area say there are about 30 6 civilians who were killed and that's why Reeves 7 always said Wilson massacred a number of people. 8 The other interesting part was that six 9 Confederates that were executed for -- in the 10 retaliation of the six Union soldiers, then they 11 looked for the Major. Well, they captured two 12 majors; Confederate Andrews over around Kansas City 13 and the two of them drew lots to see which one was 14 going to get executed and a major by the name of 15 E.O. Wolf from Arkansas was the unfortunate one to 16 draw the lot. They shipped him from St. Louis, put 17 him in jail there, and when some Union officers 18 went to talk to him to check on his condition, 19 apparently Wolf was a mason and made some sort of a 20 sign that the Union officers picked up. They were 21 able to delay his execution for several days in 22 time for a reprieve to come from Lincoln to shoot 23 no more prisoners. So Wolf was not executed and 24 was not executed in retaliation. Wolf, then, he 25 was a prisoner, headed back to Arkansas and he 35 1 became sheriff of his town and lived until just 2 after the turn of the century. The other thing I 3 wanted to mention was in connection with the 4 Price's Raid, you know that the Confederates came 5 into Washington and they were there one day and 6 then they went on west to New Haven, Hermann and 7 whatever. In New Haven, they captured a train and 8 on that train was 400 sharp rifles and clothing and 9 they captured that train and, of course, very happy 10 to get all this. I came across some articles just 11 today out of a Hermann newspaper talking about they 12 were afraid of the Confederates coming and about 60 13 men got together and they were going to defend a 14 town because they thought there was only 100 or so 15 Confederates that would be coming that direction 16 and the railroad master, station master in Hermann, 17 sent a telegram or a messenger to New Haven to get 18 the train out of New Haven and get it back. The 60 19 men were up on the bluffs there and a few 20 Confederates came up and they weren't sure if they 21 were Confederates or Federal troops and so they 22 raised -- the people in Hermann raised the American 23 flag and when they raised the American flag the 24 Confederates fired on them, two men were wounded, 25 one in the arm, one in the thigh, which definitely 36 1 told them that those were Confederates and not 2 Union troops. But around the same time, they got a 3 telegram from New Haven saying that Union troops 4 were on the train and headed their direction. And 5 so they heard the train coming and they thought 6 they had reinforcements coming to help them. The 7 train stopped just outside of town and turned out 8 to be full of rebel troops and it turns out that 9 Marmaduke, Joe Marmaduke, had sent the telegram to 10 fake them out and make them think that they had 11 more troops on there. So, anyway, I found that it 12 was interesting that 60 men were there suddenly 13 windled down to 29 men. And the 29 men hauled that 14 six-pound canon all over the hills there in 15 Hermann, and with fire, got to the Confederates, 16 and the Confederates then got their canons and 17 start firing back and in the process of firing 18 back, the guys in Hermann would move their canon to 19 another spot and they finally ran out of 20 ammunition, they all took off and the Confederates 21 were very happy when they found out that 29 men 22 kept several thousand men and Marmaduke, and kept 23 them and delayed them by hours of taking over 24 Hermann. 25 (Ending time: 8:40 p.m.) 37 1 STATE OF MISSOURI) )SS 2 CITY OF ST. LOUIS) 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 I, Rebecca Brewer, Registered Professional 10 Reporter, Certified Real-time Reporter, and 11 Notary Public in and for the State of Missouri 12 do hereby certify that the foregoing hearing 13 was duly sworn by me; that the testimony was 14 taken by me to the best of my ability and 15 thereafter reduced to typewriting under my 16 direction. 17 ______________________ RPR, MO-CCR, 18 Notary Public within and for the State of Missouri 19 20 21 My Commission expires April 7, 2013. 22 23 24 25