Killed In Mexico Unrepentant

Confederate Officer Mosby Monroe Parson received his commission to Brigadier General November 5^th 1862.

Mosby Monroe Parson was born May 21^st 1822 in Charlottesville, Virginia, the oldest child of Gustavus Adolphus and Patience Monroe (Bishop) Parson.  His family moved to Cooper County, Missouri when he was thirteen, finally settling in Jefferson City, Missouri.  He worked in his father’s brickyard, to pay tuition at St Charles College.  Parson read for the law with Judge James W Morrow and passed the bar, becoming a lawyer in 1846.  When the Mexican American War started he served with the rank of Captain with the Cole County Dragoons and was cited for gallantry at the Battle of Sacramento.  He returned to Missouri after the war and served as the United States District Attorney for western Missouri as well as in the Missouri State Legislature.

When the Civil War started Parson took an appointment to lead the Sixth Division of the Missouri State Guard.  He led his men in the Battle of Wilson’s Creek.  After this action, Parson went to Richmond, Virginia to try to get an appointment in the Confederate Army.  He received a commission on November 5^th 1862 to Brigadier General, and one month latter was leading men at the Battle of Prairie Grove.  He would see action at Helena, Arkansas, and in putting down Union Major General Nathaniel Bank’s Red River Campaign, the Battle of Pleasant Hill, and the Battle of Jenkins’ Ferry among others.  He finished the war in the Trans Mississippi Department under Confederate General Kirby Smith, as the commander of the District of Arkansas.

After the Civil War was over Parson didn’t return to Missouri, but went to Mexico, planning to join up with Confederate General Joseph O Shelby.  While in Mexico, he along with former Confederate Congressman Aaron H Conrow and Parson’s brother-in-law Confederate Captain Austin M Standish were taken captive by Mexican Juaristas cavalry, and executed on August 15^th 1865 near Chino, Mexico.  Their bodies were thrown into the San Juan River.  There is a marker for Parson in the Maplewood Cemetery in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Kirby's Army

The Confederate Army of Kentucky was designated such August 25th 1862 and led by Edmund Kirby Smith.


The Army of Kentucky was designated and placed under the command of Kirby Smith August 25th 1862. This army was made of troops from the Confederate Department of Eastern Tennessee. It was made up of infantry divisions of Thomas J Churchill, Patrick Cleburne, Henry Heth and Carter L Stevenson. It also included the Confederate cavalry brigades of John Hunt Morgan and John S Scott.

Following the Battle of Perryville Kirby Smith received a promotion and was given the command of the Department of Trans Mississippi.

The End of the Bloody Conflict

The official end of the Civil War was declared on August 20th 1866.

Although many people assume the end of the Civil War occurred when General Robert E Lee and General Ulysses S Grant met in Appomattox in April of 1865, the war continued on for many more months. In April Mosby’s Raiders, and General Joseph E Johnston troops surrendered or disbanded. In May they were followed by Major General Dabney Herndon Maury the commander of Florida and South Georgia, Edmund Kirby Smith, and others. The last battle of the war was fought on May 13th 1865 at the Battle of Palmito Ranch in Texas. The last Confederates to surrender were those on board the CSS Shenandoah, who gave up on November 6th 1865.

President Andrew Johnson made a formal declaration to the end of the war on August 20th 1866. He signed the “Proclamation—Declaring that Peace, Order, Tranquility, and Civil Authority Now Exists in and Throughout the Whole of the United States of America.”

The Last One Was Stand

Brigadier General Stand Watie surrendered on June 23rd 1865, the last Confederate General to do so.

Upon learning that the Confederate government in Richmond had fallen, and that the other Eastern armies had surrendered, the leaders of the Confederate Indians began making plans to lay down their arms. There was a council called on June 15th 1865 and a resolution made to send emissaries to the Union authorities for terms of peace.

The largest of the Indian forces was led by Confederate General Stand Watie, who was a chief with the Cherokee Nation. Watie was committed to the Rebel cause, and being un-willing to admit defeat waited almost a full month after Lieutenant General Edmund Kirby Smith’s surrender to give up. On June 23rd 1865 Watie with the Creek, Seminole, Osage and Cherokee who rode with him, went into Doaksville, near Fort Towson in the Indian Territory and surrendered to Lieutenant Asa C Matthews.