Ten Killed For One

The Palmyra Massacre took place in Missouri on October 18^th 1862, when a Union Colonel had ten Confederate prisoners of war shot in retaliation for the killing of Union sympathizer.

Sixty year old Andrew Alsman was a carpenter and more importantly a Union sympathizer living in a Confederate neighborhood.  It was known that he lead Union troops looking for Confederates in the area.  Confederate Colonel Joseph C Porter had taken Alsman prisoner when he raided through Palmyra on September 12^th 1862.  When forced north, Porter picked a detail of men to take Alsman out of the city limits to the nearest Union line.  Alsman was never seen again, and it was believed that he was killed.  Union Colonel John McNeil had his Provost Marshal, William R Strachan publish a notice in the local newspaper on October 8^th 1862; the “Palmyra Courier”, stating that if Alsman wasn’t returned in ten day, ten of Porter’s men being held in Palmyra and Hannibal, Missouri would be executed.

Ten prisoners were chosen on the evening of October 17^th 1862.  They were Willis Baker [who was in jail because his sons were serving with Porter], Morgan Bixler, Herbert Hudson, Thomas Humston [who was only 19], Eleazer Lake, Francis M Lear, John Y McPheeter, Captain Thomas A Sidnor [a recruiting agent working for Porter], Hiram T Smith, and John M Wade.  On the morning of October 18^th 1862, thirty soldiers from the 2^nd Missouri State Militia formed a firing squad on the old fairgrounds just east of Palmyra.  The ten Confederates were moved on wagons from the Marion County Jail, seated on their coffins to the fairgrounds.  The men unloaded their own coffins and stood without blindfolds.  There were around 100 people present to watch, and a Baptist minister to offer a final prayer.  The initial shots; fired just after noon, only killed three of the ten men, with one not being hit at all, a second round finished them off.  The executed men were placed in their coffins and taken back to the town square so relatives could claim the bodies.

There was a monument erected in memory of the men on February 25^th 1907 by the Palmyra Confederate Monument Association.  The monument is located on the grounds of the Palmyra Courthouse.

To Destroy Supplies

The Second Battle of Springfield was fought January 8th 1863 in Springfield, Missouri.

Three Confederate Cavalry columns under the command of Brigadier General John S Marmaduke left Lewisburg, Arkansas on December 31st 1862. Their objective was to destroy the Union Army supply depot in Springfield, Missouri. The three Cavalry columns under Marmaduke, Colonel Emmett MacDonald and Colonel Joseph C Porter were to converge on Springfield from different directions and capture the city’s warehouses.

The Union commander in Springfield, Brigadier General Egbert Brown learned of the approach of the Confederate Cavalry the night of January 7th 1863. Brown was told there were about 5,000 Confederates to his 1,343 soldiers. Brown could destroy the supplies and retreat, or stay and fight. He decided to defend the city of Springfield.

In the early morning hours of January 8th 1863 Marmaduke approached Springfield from the south. While waiting for the other two columns of Confederate Cavalry to arrive Marmaduke’s troops foraged and captured some Missouri Militia about five miles from Springfield. At about 10:30 am the Confederates began to push into Springfield. They found homes on the outskirts of the city burning. Brown had ordered the houses burnt to provide a view for the artillery on Springfield's South Ave. After several assaults from the south failed, Confederate Colonel Joseph Orville Shelby took up an oblique attack from the west. The fighting was hand to hand and house to house with heavy casualties. The Confederates were able to capture a cannon. The Union troops were able to hold on and even push the Confederates back. With the sun about to go down Marmaduke led a final assault against Fort Number 4. The Union troops held saving the supply depot and ending the Battle of Springfield. During the night the Confederates withdrew and in four days were back in Arkansas.

Taking Control of Missouri

Before noon on August 6th 1862 Union Colonel John McNeil’s 2nd Missouri numbering about 1000 attacked the Confederates at Kirksville Missouri. McNeil’s force had been pursuing Colonel Joseph C Porter and his 2,500 men Confederate Missouri Brigade for about a week. Porter’s men hid in the courthouse and among the buildings and crops growing in the fields in and around the town of Kirksville MO. Union troops advanced in two wings, with Lieutenant Colonel William F Shaffer on the right, Major Henry Clay Caldwell and the 3rd Iowa on the left. When they met they drove the Confederates from the courthouse. Porter’s men retreated to a rail fence west of the town square, where they leveled heavy fire into McNeil’s men. The Confederates however where overwhelmed by two that afternoon.

McNeil’s victory at Kirksville pretty much consolidated Federal control in northeastern Missouri.

For more information about this battle, look at these
The Battle of Kirksville