In the spring of 1866 the loyal men had mostly returned to their homes;
among them, Benjamin Alsup, who had been taken prisoner by the rebels
in 1861 and confined in the penitentiary at Little Rock, Ark. He was
released in 1865, when peace was made. There was but one house left in
West Plains, an old school house about one-quarter of a mile east of
the town spring, which was used for a court house. Judge Van Wormer,
who resided at Rolla, was judge of the circuit court and Mr. Perry
was circuit attorney. A short time after the return of Mr. Alsup, a
public meeting of the loyal men was called, signed by several loyal
men. At the date set the writer was present. The meeting was called to
order and Mr. Alsup was elected chairman. He stated the object of the
meeting, and among other things said: "The rebels have hung, murdered,
imprisoned and driven all the Union men from their homes, and _by the
living_, they didn't intend that a single rebel should live inside the
limits of Howell county." He was in favor of giving them ten days'
notice to leave the county, and if they were not gone by that time,
to shoot them down wherever found. Someone introduced a resolution
that the rebels be notified to leave with their families inside of ten
days or they would force them to leave. The resolution was seconded,
I got the floor and spoke as follows: "If that course is pursued, it
will ruin the county; peace has been made and Gen. Grant has ordered
the rebels to return home and become good citizens. Admitting that
everything Mr. Alsup has said is true and we were to turn around and
do the same that they did, we would be just as guilty as they were, and
it would be a question of might and not of right; and I want to say
here now, if any man injures a late rebel, except in self-defense or in
defense of his family or property, I will prosecute him to the bitter
end of the law." Mr. Alsup called another man to the chair and replied
to what I had said, saying: "_By the living_, I am surprised at Captain
Monks, a man who has been treated by the rebels as he has, who now gets
up here and says he will defend the rebels; _by the living_, I want
Capt. Monks to understand right here, now, that if any loyal man kills
a rebel and has to leave the country, and has no horse to ride, I will
furnish him a good horse to ride off on; and _by the living_, let him
prosecute me; he will have a sweet time of it." The next man that took
the floor was a Mr. Hall, who resided about eight miles south of West
Plains. He said: "I am just like Uncle Ben; if any loyal man kills a
rebel and has to leave the country, I will furnish him a good horse to
ride off on, and let Captain Monks prosecute me if he wants to; I don't
think it would be healthy for him to prosecute me for killing a rebel
or helping a man who did kill one." The resolution was put to a vote
and lost by a good majority.
Later in the spring, there was a man by the name of Finley living
seven or eight miles south of West Plains; the family was composed
of husband and wife, both of them about sixty-five years of age, a
daughter of twenty-two years and a son of about eleven. They had been
rebels, but were very quiet and peaceable citizens; they were residing
on government land, had good improvements and a good orchard. There
was a man by the name of Frederick Baker who had homesteaded the land
Mr. Finley was living on. Baker notified Finley to leave in ten days;
if not out in that time, they would be killed. Mr. Finley wanted pay
for his improvements before giving possession. At the expiration of ten
days, very early in the morning Mrs. Finley went into the lot to milk
the cows; Baker slipped up to the lot and with a Colt's revolver shot
the old lady dead. The daughter saw her mother fall, ran to her, and he
shot her; she fell by the side of her mother. The old man ran to the
door, reached up to get his gun out of the rack, when Baker placed his
pistol against his body and shot him dead. The pistol was so close to
Finley when discharged that the powder set his clothes on fire. The boy
was the only one of the family left; he ran to the nearest neighbor for
help and when they got back to the house they found the old man and his
wife dead and the daughter shot through the breast, maimed for life.
The old man's clothes were still on fire when the neighbors arrived.
Hall made his words good for he furnished Baker with a first-class
horse, saddle and bridle, to leave the country on and aided Baker in
making his escape. As soon as the writer learned of the murder he
caused an affidavit to be made and procured a warrant for the arrest
of Baker and had it put into the hands of the sheriff and did all in
his power to cause Baker's arrest, but by the aid given him by Hall
and others he made his escape. The writer reported the murder to the
Governor and the Governor offered a reward of three hundred dollars for
Baker's body, dead or alive. Baker never was arrested.
The writer was appointed assistant prosecuting attorney by Mr. Perry,
who was Circuit Attorney at that time. After I qualified I caused
an affidavit to be made against Mr. Hall charging him with being an
accessory to the murder before the fact and caused his arrest. I was at
once notified that if I attempted to prosecute Hall I would meet the
same fate as the Finley family. Hall was arrested, and the day set for
his preliminary trial at the school-house east of town. On the day
set for trial there were quite a number of persons present; the writer
appeared, armed with a good pistol, laid it by his side during the
progress of the trial; it was proven by the state that he, Hall, was
guilty as charged. The justice held him over to wait the action of the
grand jury and ordered him to enter into a recognizance of two thousand
dollars for his appearance at the next term of the Howell county
circuit court, which he readily filled and was released. Soon after his
release he took the fever and died. Baker never was captured. It was
one among the dirtiest murders that ever was committed in Howell county.
Gen. McBride, before the war, resided in Texas county, on a farm, and
was circuit judge of the 18th judicial circuit, which included Howell
county. He enlisted in the Confederate army and was placed in command
of the Confederate troops at West Plains. The Union men well remember
his famous order, given in the spring of 1861, that all Union men join
the Confederate service, and if they didn't join the Confederate army
he would hang them as high as Haman. After his term of service expired,
he moved his family to near Batesville, Ark., where he resided up to
near the close of the war. He was taken sick and died in the spring of
1866. Some of the friends of the widow in Texas county sent after her
and her family to bring them back to her farm. Reaching West Plains on
their return, they were out of money and provisions. They asked the
people to help them and a donation was taken up for her in West Plains;
I donated five dollars to help her back to her home in Texas county.
After the loyal men had returned to their homes and the civil law had
been fully restored I brought suits by attachment against the following
persons, to-wit: William Nicks, N. Barnett, for aiding the parties in
arresting and taking me from my home and abusing me while a prisoner.
I attached their real estate which was well improved and valuable;
procured a judgement of $8,000.00 against said real estate, procured
an execution and ordered the sale of said real estate. Before the time
for the sale Barnett and William Nicks came to me and admitted that
Barnett was 1st Lieutenant and Nicks 2nd Lieutenant of Capt. Forshee's
Confederate company, while I was held prisoner by said company and that
I was shamefully and cruelly treated while a prisoner, but they were
sorry for what they had done and hoped I would forgive them. Nicks
further said to me, that he had saved my life; that while I was a
prisoner, he overheard some of the Confederate soldiers agree that on
the next night while I was asleep they would slip up and shoot me in
the head, and he got his blankets and came and slept with me. I knew
that Nicks brought his blanket and slept with me one night, but did not
know why he did it.
Nicks and Barnett further said, "Captain you have us completely at
your mercy; we believe you are a good man and we were friends before
the war. You have a judgement against our homes and if you sell them
you will turn us and our families out of doors and leave us destitute
without any homes for our wives and children." I said, "I know it is
hard, for my wife and children were driven from their homes because
they were loyal to their government; but children shouldn't be held
responsible for the acts of their parents and I will say to you now
that I won't sell your homes, I will give them to your wives and
children; we are commanded in the best book of all books to do good for
evil; you men can each one pay me a small sum for expenses and I will
satisfy judgement." Barnett paid me $150. Nicks made a deed to some tax
lands and I entered satisfaction on the judgements. They both said to
me that they ever would be grateful for what I had done for them.
The country began to settle up and the people, irrespective of past
associations, formed new ones, especially the sons and daughters of
those who wore the blue and the gray, and seemed to forget that they
had ever been enemies. As time sped on these attachments ripened into
love. I had but two daughters living. Nancy E. Monks, the oldest,
married V. P. Renfrow, the son of a Confederate; they have two
children, a son, Charles, and a daughter, Mattie M., now grown. Mary M.
Monks, who married H. D. Green, whose father, a Confederate colonel,
died in the service. They have five children living and one dead, one
girl and four boys. Their children are Mattie E., now Mattie E. Bugg;
Will H. D., Frank, Russell and Dick. Adeline Turner, whom I had raised,
married Jacob Schoffler, a Union soldier, and has ten children, four
boys and six girls. Abraham Roach, a boy who had made his home with me
since infancy, married Mattie Hunt, a daughter of Jesse Hunt, a Union
soldier, has three children living, two girls and one boy, Maggie,
Frank and Bernice. I don't believe that there is any person that loves
their children better than I do, and I don't see any difference between
my grandchildren and my own children. I love my sons-in-law as well
as my own children; I love the girl and boy that I raised, and their
families feel as near to me as my own. They are flesh of our flesh and
bone of our bone, and our highest duty to God and them is to teach them
patriotism and loyalty to their government and that their first duty is
to God and their second duty to their country.
[Illustration: FRANK GREEN AND CHARLES RENFROW.]
God forbid that we ever have any more civil war. War is the enemy of
good society, degrades the morals of the people, causes rapine and
murder, destroys thousands of lives, brings misery and trouble upon the
whole people, creates a government debt that our children will not see
paid, makes friends enemies. God forbid that any more sectional strife
ever may grow up among the people; may there be no North, no South, no
East, no West, but let it be a government of the whole people, for the
people and by the people. May the time speedily come when the civilized
nations of the earth will know war no more; when the civilized nations
meet in an international congress, pass an international law that all
differences between nations shall be settled by arbitration. May this
nation in truth and in deed become a Christian nation and every man
speak the truth to his neighbor and adopt the Golden Rule, "Do unto
others as you would have them do unto you."
I take pleasure in giving the names of some of the loyal men who
resided in Howell county in 1861, at the commencement of the Civil war,
who stood for the Union in the dark hour when patriotism and loyalty to
country were tested: John McDaniel, sr., John McDaniel, jr., Jonathan
Youngblood, George Youngblood, David Nicholass, Thomas Wallace,
Martin Keel, Thomas Nicholass, Newton Bond, William Hardcastle, Siras
Newberry, William Newberry, David Henson, John Black, sr., Daniel
Black, Peter Lamons, John Lamons, Solomon Lamons, Thomas Lamons, Thomas
Brisco, Morton Langston, Stephen Woodward, Seth P. Woodward, Dr. D. D.
Emmons, Alfred Mustion, W. D. Mustion, John Mustion, Wesley Cordell,
Hugh Cordell, William Maroney, Henry Maroney, Collins Coffey, John
Coffey, William Coffey, John Chapin, Silas Chapin, Benjamin Alsup,
Andrew Smith, Andrew V. Tabor, Josiah Carrico, Josephus Carrico, John
Dent, Esau Fox, Thomas O. Brown, Jacob Shoffler, Thomas Rice, sr.,
Thomas Rice, jr., John W. Rice, Nathaniel Briggs, Captain Lyle, ----
Rhodes, Jesse Hunt, Joseph Spears, James West, Jesse West, Dent West,
Thomas Kelley.
I will give the names of a few of the men of Douglas county who
remained loyal to their country in 1861: Joseph Wheat, John Wheat,
Ervin King, John Coats, Locke Alsup, William Alsup, Thomas Alsup, Jack
Alsup, Shelt Alsup, Aaron Collins, William Collins, Toodie Collins, Doc
Huffman, Jariah Huffman, Madison Huffman, William Huffman.
I will give the names of a few of the men who resided in Ozark county,
at the commencement of the war, who remained loyal to their country in
the dark days when it tried men's souls to be loyal: James Kellet, sr.,
Marion Kellett, Washington Hawkins. Jesse James, William James, ----
Brown, R. R. Gilliland, Nace Turley, Washington Webster, Dick Webster,
Macajar Foster, Jacob Foster, Henry Saunders, Stephen Saunders, Allan
Saunders, Alexander Huffman, James Hall, Bennett James.
I would love to have space to tell of the patriotism, heroism and
devotion to their country, besides their good citizenship, of the men
of Howell, Douglas and Ozark counties, but suffice it to say that there
never was the same number of men, at any time, who made more sacrifices
for the preservation of their country than did these men in its darkest
hour. These patriots are growing old and will soon be gone and their
lips closed in death, and there will not be one left to tell of their
sacrifices and the services they rendered to their country in its
extreme need. History only will tell of the hardships, privations and
service that they rendered to the government. Will there be no history
left to tell of the heroism and devotion to their country in its
darkest hour? The answer will come from ten thousand tongues that their
history shall be written and go down to our children's children, that
they may learn of the heroism, privation and sacrifice that was made
by those brave men and women, that their country might live and not a
star be dropped from its banner. While history is being written and
monuments being erected to the Confederate soldiers for heroism, shall
we be so ungrateful to the loyal men and women, after they are dead and
gone, and not tell the rising generation of the heroism and sacrifice
they have made, that their country might live? The answer will come
from every loyal heart: No; a thousand times no; it shall be written
and perpetuated for generations not yet born.
Has Known Col. Monks Thirty Years.
I have known William Monks for thirty years or more. I have been in
court with him and a more kind and obliging man I never knew or had
dealings with. He is very considerate in regard to the feelings of
others, always willing to help those who need help. In later life he
joined the church and preached; since he began the Christian life,
I have never heard of any conduct that was not in conformity to his
profession of Christianity. Had he had the school advantages that
others have had, he would have been a power in the community where he
lived.
The writer of this was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, April
first, 1824. His father immigrated west and landed in Pittsburg in
1837. Then the writer of this migrated southwest and finally landed
in Tennessee. At Springfield he met Catherine Ebbert, or Abbott, as
they now call it, and married her March 20, 1856. She was born in
Reeseville, Kentucky, and is still living, aged 76 years last January.