CHAPTER XIV.

JACKSON COUNTY DURING THE WAR.

Sacking of the United States Arsenal, at Liberty-Confederate Camp on Rock Creek-Death of Capt. Halloway-Confederates enter Independence in 1861-Burning of Property-Capt. Fuller takes Independence and Hangs a man on the Public Square-Quantrell comes into Independence-Campaign in 1862-Battle of Lone Jack-Ft. Pennock-Order Number Eleven -Price's March through this Section-Organization of the Home Guards-The Iron-Clad Oath-Etc., etc.

The secession of several of the Southern States in the spring of 1861, precipitated the strife in Jackson county, and especially in and around Independence, and men began to express their opinions openly and boldly, with the cause that had their sympathies, whether it gave offense or not to their neighbors. The first immediate attack it seems between the two sections-the North and Southin these parts had anything to do, was the sacking of the United States Arsenal in Clay county.

Men were in that action from the counties of Clay, Jackson, Platte and Lafayette. They supplied themselves with muskets, holster pistols, sabers, ammunition, etc., and then quietly returned to their several counties and homes and awaited the course of events. It was not long afterward when a similar occurrence took place at Lexington, Missouri; as these things had been done it was evident to any one that there were serious apprehensions of trouble, So, early in the summer of 1861, there was a camp formed of Confederates, on Rock Creek, a few miles west of Independence; as ascertained, many of these were citizens of Independence. A short while after they had struck their camp, perhaps a day or two, there was a reconnoitering party sent out from Kansas City; the two companies met under truce-and it so turned out that the Captains were very nearly dressed alike, and were acquainted with each other, and each one advanced and both were talking upon the circumstance of their thus meeting, when the Confederates fired upon the Federal soldiers, which precipitated a fight, in which Captain Holloway, of the Confederates, was killed. This created no little excitement in Independence; the gravest and most unexcitable men of the town of both parties felt that a portentous crisis was just ahead.

A short time afterward Lowe & Jennison's cavalry from Kansas attacked Independence, placed several citizens under guard care at the grocery store of Porter & Fraser, and the hardware store of Moss & Co. and carried away a great deal of property such as carriages, horses, harness, wagons and cattle, As they were returning, it seems, to Kansas City they burnt Pitcher's mill, as well as his and Reuben Johnson's residence. This was in the fall of 1861; and during the winter Capt. Oliver was sent into the county with five companies of the seventh Missouri-the bloody seventh they called themselves. He and his command were charged by the people of Independence with many oppressive acts and needless cruelties.

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In the spring of 1862, Capt Fuller was sent from Kansas City to Independence, soon after the bridge over the Big Blue had been burned by Quantrell. the neighborhood of the burned bridge he captured a man whom he had reason to believe was a member of Quantrell's band, and he took him to Independence and hanged him publicly on the public square. This same Capt. Fuller also captured the town and gathered many of the citizens on the public square, where they were more or less questioned concerning their political predilections. Fuller did not re

main in Independence very long, before Lieutenant-Colonel Brown, in the spring of 1862, with a detachment of soldiers came down from Kansas City; there were then in town several companies of infantry and cavalry. About this time when the Federal soldiers were making, or beginning to make, Independence a kind of headquarters for these parts, Quantrell, with his desperate scouts, who had been causing the Federals some trouble for some time, was known to be hovering around the neighborhood. They made one of their intrepid dashes upon the town, and before the Federals had time to array themselves, the Confederates were on the public square. Imagine the confusion, Three or four dozen men in the center of perhaps a thousand well armed soldiers. From the actions of Quantrell, it appears that he did not intend to hazard an engagement at this time, that it was not his wish to measure strength with a thousand soldiers; but rather to charge in, capture some important equipments, some five prisoners from whom to receive all the information that could be had, concerning the anticipated movements of the opposing side. Reports of persons who were living in the town at that time, say that there was one of Quantrell's men killed and two of the Federals, besides what were wounded on both sides.

Quantrell's men took a young man prisoner, unarmed him and were marching him off with them, as they were going out on the east side of the square, the young man was ordered to ride faster but he refused to do so, and he was shot, it is said on good authority, somewhere about the head. But the result of the shooting was not fatal The young man, either on foot or on horseback, broke and ran away, the Confederates after him. It appears, however, that he left his horse, and by dashing through alleys, over fences and through houses, he got away; perhaps, they were being too hotly pursued by the Federal soldiers and had to get out of town to save their lives.

As they were leaving Independence by way of the Spring Branch road, Quantrell's horse was either shot from under him, or stumbled and fell, and he had to take it afoot; such might have been a little unusual to Quantrell at that early day of the war, but at a later date it was quite ordinary for him to have to escape in that and similar ways. This little retreat of Quantrell's was nothing more than he expected, if we receive the best and most authenticated accounts of that transaction. The Federals stationed in the town took a little more precaution and consequently increased their assurances of future safety-but they "should have taken heed least they fall."

In the summer of 1862, Colonel Buell was placed in command of the forces at Independence; though a good soldier and splendid commander, he did not thoroughly understand the kind of men he was expecting to meet. If he had and studied their modes of warfare, it probably would have saved him an inglorious defeat. About fifteen hundred men under Hughs and other commanders, atatcked Independence and after hard fight defeated Colonel Buell and took about 350 prisoners, all of whom they paroled. But the Federal soldiers came into town in such numbers that the Confederates could not hold the place. But as it seems from their general mode of warfare in these parts, they had done mostly what they had desired to do, namely, to show their power, to obtain arms and large stores of ammunition, all of which they got in abundance in that engagement. They also dislodged many offensive persons and restored as well as took off some considerable property. In no State of the Union was the horrors of the war more visible, or more severely felt than in Missouri; especially was Missouri more deeply and severely scourged with the evils and evil consequences of guerrilla warefare than any other. No county of Missouri suffered as much from that species of warfare as did the County of Jackson; and no township, perhaps, in the county had greater reason to complain of those evils than Van Buren. The Sni Hills in this and adjoining townships came to be consid ered but another name for bush-whacking exploits, and barbarities on one side, and

Federal retaliation and revenge on the other. Every southern State had its battlefields, gory with blood and ghastly with the dead; some of them surpassing in ghastliness anything in modern times, but none of them surpassing in stubborn courage, determined resistance, and heroic valor that scene which was witnesssd in the little village christened for the lone tree of the township.

The citizens of that village had been accustomed to alarms and scenes of bloodshed and cruelty. Scarcely a week passed without some exciting occurrence, or some violent death. But it was reserved for the 16th of August, 1862, to witness the grim monsters, war and death, and carnage, in all their horrors. It is the battle then of Lone Jack that the historian of the township will have to record as the bloodiest of all the bloody scenes in the township during all of that long and crual war.

For months the guerrilla, Quantrell, and others had been carrying on their system of bush-whacking warfare from their hiding places in the Sni Hills and other parts of the county; while the Union soldiers held and garrisoned the principal towns, and sent out scouting parties to chastise the troublesome bushwhackers; and too often the chastisement fell upon the innocent in place of the guilty. During the first week in August, 1862, a strong effort was made to strengthen the Confederate force in the county, and recruiting officers were busy swelling their ranks. A very large majority of the citizens were in sympathy with the South, and many of them who were opposed to a guerrilla warfare, and had managed to stay at home, by hiding in the woods when ever a Federal scout was in the vicinity, were persuaded then to enter the regular Confederate service, as the surest means of safety; and Col. John T. Hughes, a regular Confederate officer, on recruiting service, was prepared to enlist and swear them into service, as honorable soldiers. While others, who were not at all averse to the bush-whacking mode of warfare, were at the same time swelling the ranks of Quantrell. Hughes, Quantrell and Hays having mustered and united their forces, on the 10th of August made an attack on Independence; garrisoned by a Federal force under Col. Buell; which place and force they captured, with all its stores of arms and ammunition; which circumstance still further aided and stimulated the Confederates in the work of recruiting. Col. Hughes was killed at the taking of Independence, and his command devolved on Col. Gideon Thompson, of Clay county, and Col. Upton Hays. The Confederate officers, with their regiments, battalions and companies, were hurrying up from the South, recruiting and swelling their ranks as they came; and it was given out, that Lexington and other Federal posts would soon fall, as Independence had done. In the forenoon of August 15th, those regiments, battalions and companies began to arrive in Lone Jack, and continued to arrive during the day, under the command of Cols. Cockrell, Tracy, Hunter, Jackman and Lewis. Col. Totten, commanding the Federal post at Lexington, after the battle at Independence, having learned that Thompson and Hays were somewhere between Independence and Lone Jack, in compliance with orders from General Schofield, sent out Major Emory Foster, with eight hundred men to cut them off from the reinforcements coming from the south, before those reinforcements could arrive. At the same time Col. Fitz Henry Warren, 15th Iowa cavalry, was ordered from Clinton to co-operate with Major Foster, having left Lexington early in the morning of Friday, August 15th; sent out two small flanking parties to make inquiries, and hunt up the enemy he was after; posted on with his main force, over seven hundred strong, and arrived at Lone Jack at 8, o'clock in the night. His force consisted mostly of Missouri militia, mustered into the United States, drawn from the 6th, the 7th and 8th, Catherwood's, Phillips' and McClurg's regiments, and Nugent's battalion. also had some Illinois and Indiana soldiers and the 7th Missouri cavalry, with two field pieces of Babb's Indiana battery. Foster had been told before reaching town that Confederates to the number of four thousand were there; but, as he

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said, having been lied to so often, he refused to credit the report, and pushed on thinking it was the force he was in search of. That force, however, was not there; nor was there any immediately in the village. Thompson and Hays with five hundred men or more were encamped on the eastern banks of the Little Blue, some fifteen miles away; Quantrell, still further off, and of the reinforcements just from the South, Cockrell was northwest of the village three or four miles; Tracy and Coffee south of it about a mile, on the farm of David Arnold; Lewis still further south; Jackman was also in the neighborhood. Passing through the village, Foster opened fire on Coffee's and Tracy's company; a skirmish ensued as the Confederates retreated west, in which a few of them were wounded, and two of Foster's men killed by their comrades, in the darkness and confusion.

After the retreat, Foster returned to the village, where he remained unmolested until morning. Foster and some of his officers occupied the large hotel of B. B. Cave; who, with a majority of the male citizens of the place, had left the town in the care of the woman and children. The horses were picketed in the town, and along a lane running south; and the men lay down to sleep as best they could. In the mean time, the word was being carried to Cockrell, Hays, Quantrell and others, of the situation of things in the village. Thompson and Hays united their forces with Cockrell's, and at daylight arrived within one and a half miles of town; there they first heard the Federal bugle, sounding the morning reveille, and then they dismounted and inarched to the attack on foot.

The town was divided into new and old town. The hold, and Federal camp being in the new town, on the prairie ridge, where stood the lone tree, from which the town derived its name. The main street being half a mile in length, from the south side of the new town to the north of the old. On the east of the new town, was a hedge, and full of corn; on the west was a field, uncultivated that year, and overgrown with rank and tall weeds. Through these weeds, the Confederates made their way, stooping and crouching, and arrived in shooting distance undiscovered; and while the Union soldiers were busy in feeding their horses, and getting breakfast, a single gun, and then a volley, announced the battle begun.

The Federals were taken by surprise, but they soon rallied, each man to his post. The artillery drew up on the public square, and joined its roar to the roar of musketry already going on. The hotel, the hedge row, the fences, the shops and the houses, were converted into fortifications and breast works. The Confederates advanced on and on; and it was soon a hand to hand conflict. The artillery supports, the artillery horses, and the artillery men were shot down, and the guns were taken by the Confederates. In a short time they were re-taken by the Federals. Taken by the Confederates a second time; and again re-taken. A large blacksmith shop, which stood near, was a blockhouse and fortification, for each party in turn. The hotel, was at the commencement a fortification for the Federal forces; from the windows of which they fought and did great action: but the Confederates worked their way nearer and nearer, and at length set fire to it, and it was soon in flames; and the occupants forced to retire; and two or three dead bodies were consumed in the burning building. The hours passed, and the contest was kept up, it was Missourian against Missourian, and neighbor against neighbor. Boys who had played together, gone to school together, and grown up together; were opposed to each other in a deadly strife. Four hours passed, and the conflict of arms was still going on. Both parties, however, were nearly exhausted; faint with hunger, thirst, heat and fatigue and shortly after ten o'clock, the Federals spiked the cannon, drew them off a short distance, collected their horses and retired, unmolested from the field, and made good their retreat to Lexington. This was a hard fought contest; and for the numbers engaged, the hardest fought in the State-perhaps in any State-during the whole war; and it is often asked who had the best of it?

Many accounts have been given of it, more or less partial to one side or the other; but as this is intended as a part of the history of the county, that will live when all the actors in that bloody drama shall have passed away; and the hand that writes it will be cold in death; and there will be none left to correct its errors, or false statements; let it for once be impartial, and true; and the impartial reader, whoever he may be, will say of a truth, neither party had much to boast of, in the way of victory. The Confederates could, with truth, and did claim the victory, as the field was left in their possession; they buried their own dead, and cared for their wounded, and could show as trophies, the two abandoned field pieces, which they carried off with them the next day; when they themselves had to retreat before superior numbers. On the other hand, the Unionists claim that when the fight ended, and the firing ceased, they were in possession of the ground, and that the Confederates had drawn off to the northern part of the village, and were there being re-inforced by fresh troops; and thus it was only when they saw, or heard of the re-inforcements of Coffee, Tracy, and Quantrell, that the field was abandoned; and that the artillery was left for the want of horses to draw it off. The Federal Commander, Major Foster, was left on the field severely wounded, and his brother mortally wounded; the command devolving on Capt. M. H. Browner. In retreating to Lexington, the Federals. made a detour southward, hoping to meet or fall in with Fitz Henry Warren, from Clinton; but were disappointed, and following the Warrensburg road, to the cross-road from Holden to Lexington, they turned north and arrived at Lexington before night. The battle over the little town presented a ghastly spectacle. The wounded were gathered up, and almost every house became a hospital. The Confederate dead were gathered together and buried that evening; a few feet away from the lone tree, which though dead, was still standing at that time. Some, however, of the dead, on each side, were carried away by friends, and buried in the county cemeteries. Some prisoners, from twenty to fifty had been taken, and to them and a few citizens was assigned the task of burying the Federal dead. At the request of W. H. H. Cundiff, the Federal surgeon, Ambers Graham, and A. L. Snow two of the citizens, harnessed a team and gathered up and carried the killed to the place of burial, and the wounded to the hospital or seminary. On account of the scarcity of help, none of the Federal dead were buried that day. Next morning (Sunday), while engaged in burying the Union dead, and in hauling off the dead horses; the advance of Warren's and Blunt's army came in sight; marching up from the south; and the Confederate forces retreated, making a detour to the east, a few miles, and then turning south, closely pursued for several days; but finally making good their retreat into Arkansas. This retreat of the Confederate forces, left to the citizens of the county, with the surgeons and nurses that remained, the task of finishing the burial of the dead, and taking care of the many wounded; and it was not till Wednesday, the 20th, that the dead horses, numbering about sixty, were all removed from the There have been many, and conflicting statements, as to the number of killed and wounded on each side; also, as to the numbers engaged in the conflict, and perhaps the exact truth will never be known. As has already been said 800 Union soldiers were dispatched from Lexington: of these, two small flanking parties were not in action.

town.

Of the Confederates, they claimed, the day before when they came in, to number over 4,000. A writer has since said that Cockrell, Tracy, Hays, Hunter, Jackman and Quantrell had between them but goo men, and that of these 200 were not in the action. It is well to make allowance for both of these statements. When we recollect that an object of this expedition north was for the purpose of recruiting their numbers, and when we recollect that recruiting officers generally picture things to the eye of the recruit in a color different from the reality, we may readily suppose that the number would be represented as