|
Chapter 31: Butler County During the Civil War, Part Six |
 |
 |
 |
Many scouting parties from Union garrisons in Southeast Missouri came into or through Butler County looking for bands of armed men which were harassing the citizens throughout Southeast Missouri and Northeast Arkansas. These bands were mounted, ranged widely, had many opprobrious names as jayhawkers, bushwhackers, guerrillas, brigands, horse-thieves and murderers and usually numbered from four or five to ten or twelve men. Large bands attracted too much attention, lost mobility and would quickly bring in the large force of Union cavalry to run them down. Also it was difficult to obtain forage to sustain a large band. These bands lived off of the country. One report states that horses stolen in Missouri were taken across the Mississippi River to Chester, Illinois, and from there to St. Louis, where they were sold.
At the time of the Civil War much of South Missouri and North Arkansas was unsettled. If union troops came into an area, the bands retreated into the wooded hills and swamps, and it was almost impossible for the armed forces to find them. The Ash Hills area of Butler County was one of the favored regions of these bands. The higher ground of these low-lying hills provided a way in or out at either end of the chain. If Union troops appeared, the men vanished into the adjacent swamps, sometimes by dugout canoes, and could stay almost indefinitely on the higher ridges in the swamps.
We now quote excerpts from the "Official Reports" on a few of the scouts which concerned Butler County. (See explanation at end of chapter for meaning of numbers following each scout).
Jan. 8, 1864. "I have sent a small squad to Reves' house, if possible to find him there this bad weather." (1) (snow 6 inches deep. Reves lived in Butler County).
Jan 18, 1864. "My scouts in this evening from near Doniphan. They could hear of nothing. All quiet in that quarter. I have scouts between Poplar Bluff and Bloomfield." (1)
Jan. 26, 1864. "My scouts returned from Ash Hill; found no force; killed 2 guerrillas as they returned, near Greenville." (1)
Mar. 24, 1864. "All is quiet here. I have 50 men on Black River a good distance below Poplar Bluff….Our expeditions were all doing well the last heard form. They have killed a good many this week." (1) (Apparently "search and kill" was not invented in Vietnam).
Oct. 24, 1864. "I send scout to Ponder's Mill, Cook's settlement and Farmington tomorrow." (2).
Feb. 14, 1865. "The Freer guerrilla band is in Butler County killing and robbing, and I think it best to send twenty men after them." (3).
Mar. 3, 1865. "I have the honor to inform you…of the existence of a hand of guerrillas two miles below Poplar Bluff…under Jennings also that Cache Swamp is the chief resort of guerrillas under Hilderbrand and Neighbors. These bands rob and murder the people scouring the country in small squads, and have even attached the pickers at Ironton." (4)
Mar. 10, 1865. "Numerous reports come in of guerilla bands plundering through Ripley, Butler, and other counties below." (5)
March 11, 1865. "Captain Leeper has returned. He was within twelve miles of Doniphan….They killed two noted guerrillas on Little Black River, viz, Dick Graham and Green Meadows. The captain has twelve men." (3) (This incident may not have been in Butler County.)
Within a few months after the beginning of the Civil War local government ceased in Butler County. The courts did not meet. Taxes were uncollected. Laws were not enforced. Each man had to protect himself and family as best he could. Bands of armed men roved throughout the country stealing, killing, destroying. Many citizens moved to areas having more protection. Some of the citizens who stayed were reduced to the verge of starvation. Crops could not be grown because work animals had been stolen or had strayed away after the fences had been torn down or burned. Even if some crops were grown the armed bandits would steal the harvest if they could find it.
The last war meeting of the county Court was January 23, 1862, the justices being John N. Yarber, John S. Varner and N.W. Hendrickson. The court heard the financial report of Thomas B. Price, Treasurer. Here the record ends, about the center of page 160, Book B. Butler County Court Record, without a motion or order of adjournment and without the signatures of the justices. The record ceases so abruptly we wonder if the justices had received warning of approaching soldiers. The County Court did not meet again until October 8, 1865. The last war meeting of the Butler county Circuit Court was May 9, 1961, Judge Albert Jackson presiding. The next session of the Circuit Court was October 30, 1865, Judge John W. Emerson presiding.
Richard L. Metcalfe in "A View of a Growing Town: records how the Butler County records were protected during the war. Quote. (In 1862) "James S. Ferguson, successor to Blount, as circuit and county clerk delivered to County Judge, J.N. Yarber, the keys to his office with a request that the records be taken charge of and concealed, knowing the demolishment of the records was certain if they fell into the hands of either army. Judge Yarber consulted with John G. Kelly, P.L. Varner and J.G. Baldwin, and it was decided that the records should be secreted the next day. Instead of the intended arrangement, however, Judge Yarber and P.L. Varner met that night, secured all the records of the county, and taking them to Varner's home, which was located on what is now known as Vine Street, near Second, placed them in a coffin and buried the coffin. In this position the records remained until the close of the war, the whereabouts of them being known only by Yarber and Varner." (P.L. Varner was carpenter and builder and made many of the coffins used in that period.)
|
|