Took ten men.—Went to Mingo Swamp.—Went to Castor
Creek.—Medicine traffic.—Attacked two companies of Federals
under Capt. Cawhorn and Capt. Rhoder.—Fought them seven
nights.—Dick Cowan.—Went with Capt. Reed‘s men.—Attacked Capt.
Leeper‘s Company.—Killed fourteen and wounded eight.—Captured
forty-four guns, sixty pistols, forty horses and four hundred
dollars.
On the 15th day of December, 1863, I started back to Mingo Swamp with
ten men, and met with no obstacles on our route after swimming the St.
Francis river. When we got into the neighborhood of the unfortunate
tragedy of our previous trip, we ascertained from reliable sources that
the Federals left for Bloomfield on the day following the skirmish at
old Bill Coots‘, and that the men we had been looking after so long had
gone into the regular army.
We visited the house of our newly made widow, Mrs. Coots, for the
purpose of seeing the graves of my two brave boys. She confessed that
Coots had layed plans for my capture; that the Federals were camped
only one mile off at the time, and that after I had consented to come
to his house for breakfast, he went to the Federal camp and notified
them of the fact, and made arrangements to take me in. Finding no one
in that vicinity to fight, we made our way over onto Castor creek to
a well known friend, who had, since the beginning of the war, acted as
an agent for us in receiving and forwarding supplies and medicines.
Hearing of no Federals in that portion of the country, and there being
no persons in that quarter against whom we had enmity sufficient to
induce us to invest any of our capital in bark or grape vines, we
obtained the medicine sent to that place from Farmington, St. Francois
county, Missouri, and started back for Mingo Swamp. On our way the
monotony of our journey was suddenly relieved by seeing a Federal
coming toward us, apparently riding very cautiously. We only got a
glimpse of him as the road took him down into a small ravine out of our
sight. We were very certain that he had not discovered us, so we got
out of the road until he came up; when we halted him he seemed very
much frightened, but surrendered quietly.
He told us that he had been to Cairo, Illinois, to see his family, and
was on his way back to his command at Fredericktown. Upon the whole he
gave such a good account of himself that we only disarmed him and took
his greenbacks, which, however, only amounted to twelve dollars.
On the following night we heard of three more Rebel boys in the country
and sent for them. After they agreed to try a trip with us, we left the
drugs with a friend and went back onto Castor creek to watch for the
Federals who were in the habit of passing there on their road between
Fredericktown and Cape Girardeau. We had been there but one night and
day when we heard of two companies of Federals nearby commanded by
Captains Cawhorn and Rhoder. As soon as it was dark we proceeded to spy
out their exact locality and take a look at the surroundings. We found
from their position and numbers that it would be entirely unsafe to
charge through their camp as was our custom, and concluded to bushwhack
them. During the night we killed twelve and wounded several more, as
we were informed afterwards. When day again made its appearance we
went about two miles into a dense thicket with our horses. We put out
spies watching and waiting impatiently for them to move. Instead of
marching, however, they were charging around the most public places in
the vicinity, threatening Southern sympathizers with annihilation, but
we got no chance to bushwhack them.
During the day a squad of them went to the residence of Dick Cowan,
one of my men, burned his house and other buildings, and attempted an
outrage on one of his sisters who happened to be there. For several
days the people in the neighborhood were compelled to suffer the most
glaring insults and wrongs. Each night we renewed the attack, and
killed one occasionally at all hours of the night. They stood our mode
of warfare six days and nights, but early on the morning of the seventh
day they started on their way to Cape Girardeau. During their march we
stationed ourselves at convenient places, and as they came along poured
a deadly fire into their ranks and then retreated into the woods. We
thought by this means to induce them to follow us, but it only seemed
to hurry up their march. This we repeated three times before they
reached Cape Girardeau.
By this time we were anxious to see our families and started back to
Arkansas. Taking our drugs that had been left with a friend, we soon
met twenty-eight of Capt. Reed‘s men who insisted on our taking a trip
with them to Wayne county, and perhaps as far north as Iron county.
To this I consented, detailing two of my men to take the drugs to
Arkansas, we started on our way, marching in day time. We passed about
twenty miles south of Bloomfield and on to Greenville, in Wayne county,
arriving there about sunset, but did not find any Federal troops in the
place to protect its loyalty. Soon after arriving in town we heard of
a company of Federals on Lost creek under Capt. Leeper, and taking our
informant for a guide we marched at once to give them a fight.
Reaching there about sunrise the next morning we charged their camp,
running their pickets in at full speed, fought them only a few minutes,
when those who had not got into the brush surrendered. In the fight
we lost four men killed and six wounded, the latter, however, all
recovered. Of the enemy we killed fifteen, wounded eight, and took ten
prisoners beside the wounded. Our booty consisted of forty-four guns,
sixty pistols, forty horses, four hundred dollars in greenbacks, and
other articles of value to us and to our families.
The subject of what disposition we would make of the prisoners came up,
and in cases of the kind we were purely democratic, so we took the vote
whether we would kill them or set them loose.
In consideration of the wrongs my family had received at their hands,
and of their well-known cruelty, I made a speech in favor of killing
them and voted accordingly.
When the whole vote was counted I found myself in the minority by just
two votes; but true to my word I released them, unarmed and on foot.
In the evening before we had attacked them they had killed an old man
by the name of Tom McKee and burned his house with other buildings.
This fresh outrage was not known to us until they were gone, or we
undoubtedly would have shot them. On being informed of this fact,
however, we sent a scout after them, but they had left the main road
and secreted themselves in the thick woods. The wounded, however, were
at our disposal, but we did not, during the whole war get mean enough
to imitate our enemies by killing wounded prisoners, but placed them at
the house of a widow woman who promised to take care of them until the
Federals at Pilot Knob could have them removed.
We procured a wagon and loaded it with our booty; took our six wounded
men and started back to Green county, Arkansas, where we arrived
without any difficulty, and found all things right at headquarters.