Also Known As

Confederate Captain Marcellus Jerome Clarke, who was thought to also be known as Sue Mundy, was hung March 15^th 1865.

Marcellus Jerome Clarke was born in Franklin, Kentucky August 25^th 1845.

Clarke was 17 when the Civil War started and he enlisted in the 4^th Kentucky Infantry, a part of the Confederate 1^st Kentucky “Orphan” Brigade.  When Fort Donelson fell Clarke was taken prisoner, but escaped.  He also saw action while with the 4^th Kentucky at the Battle of Chickamauga.  Clarke was promoted to Captain and place under the command of Confederate Brigadier General John Hunt Morgan.

Morgan was killed September 1864, and Clarke returned to Kentucky where he formed a band, raiding, destroying supplies and skirmishing with Union soldiers.  Clarkes’ raids were given credit by the Louisville Journal as the Mundy Gang, and they joined forces with William Quantrill.  On February 2^nd 1865, Clarke and Quantrill burned freight cars and the depot at Lair Station, Kentucky.  A week letter they killed three Union soldiers and took four others prisoner.

On March 12^th 1865 the 30^th Wisconsin Infantry under command of Union Major Cyrus Wilson surrounded Clarke in a tobacco barn south of Brandenburg, Kentucky.  They captured Clarke along with two other men, Henry Medkiff and Henry C Magruder.   The men were taken to Louisville where Clarke was tried in secret as a guerrilla.  Clarke was told on March 15^th 1865 by the Reverend JJ Talbott that he was to be hung that afternoon.  Clarke asked the Reverend to write four letters for him and to see that his body was sent to his family in Franklin, Kentucky for burial in his Confederate uniform.

A Man Of Others

Union Army Officer James Burton Pond was awarded the Medal of Honor on March 30th 1898 for his actions at the Battle of Baxter Springs.

James Burton Pond was born June 11th 1838 in Cuba, Allegany, New York. He moved with his family to Illinois in 1844 and then Wisconsin in 1847. Pond was an abolitionist, and reportedly a station master on the Underground Railroad. He learned the print trade working at several Fond du Lac County newspapers. He worked as a publisher, running “The Journal” in Markesan, Wisconsin 1860-61.

At the beginning of the Civil War, Pond enlisted in the 3rd Wisconsin Volunteer Cavalry as a lieutenant. He fought Confederate William Quantrill and his Raiders at the Battle of Baxter Springs October 6th 1863. It was for his action during this battle that Pond was awarded the Medal of Honor. At the end of the war Pond had reached the rank of Major.

Following the war Pond began a career as a manager. His first client was Ann Eliza Young the 52nd wife of Brigham Young, who Pond set up on a national speaking tour. He bought the Lyceum Theatre Lecture Bureau, and moved his office to New York City. Among the people Pond managed were Mark Twain, PT Barnum, Frederick Douglass and Winston Churchill. He wrote a book about his work called “Eccentricities of Genius” in 1900. Pond died from complications of an amputation June 21st 1903. He is buried in the Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx, New York.

Pond’s Medal of Honor award read, “For extraordinary heroism on 6 October 1863, while serving with Company C, 3d Wisconsin Cavalry, in action at Baxter Springs, Kansas. While in command of two companies of Cavalry, First Lieutenant Pond was surprised and attacked by several times his own number of guerrillas, but gallantly rallied his men, and after a severe struggle drove the enemy outside the fortifications. First Lieutenant Pond then went outside the works and, alone and unaided, fired a howitzer three times, throwing the enemy into confusion and causing him to retire.”

The Death Of Bloody Bill

Confederate guerrilla William T “Bloody Bill” Anderson was killed October 26th 1864.


William T Anderson was born 1838/39 in Kentucky. He grew up in Missouri, before moving to Kansas in 1857. Soon after arriving in Council Grove, settling on a land claim which belonged to his father, Anderson found himself involved in the fight that gave the area its name of “Bleeding Kansas”.

At the outbreak of the Civil War, Anderson joined a group of pro-Union antislavery men known as “Jayhawkers”. Shortly after though he changed sides becoming a Confederate “Bushwhacker”. Anderson’s father was killed in 1862, and he and his brother Jim, found and killed the man responsible. Moving back to Missouri, Anderson began leading a band of about 40 guerillas. They road often with William Quantrill. When the group raided Lawrence Kansas, Anderson was said to have killed 14. Following the raid Anderson went to Texas for the winter. Returning to Missouri in 1864 with a band of about fifty, he embarked on a summer of violence, coming to a head on September 27th 1864 when they and some other gangs sacked the town of Centralia Missouri, massacring Union soldiers. Anderson’s band was caught just outside of Albany Missouri in an Union ambush. He took two bullets to the head on October 26th 1864. His body was taken to Richmond Missouri were it was placed on display and photographed.

Anderson kept track of the men he killed by tying knots in a rope. At the time of his death there were 54 knots in the rope.

The Guerrillas Were Wearing Union Blue

The Battle of Fort Blair also known as the Baxter Springs Massacre, was fought October 6^th 1863 near the town of Baxter Springs Kansas. About 400 of William Quantrill’s Raiders a Confederate guerrilla band captured and killed two Union teamsters from Fort Blair. Quantrill split his force into two columns one under his command, the other under David Poole to attack the Fort. As Poole’s men advanced on the Fort they ran into Union troops; most of whom were African Americans, and chased them back into the Fort, killing some. Quantrill’s men advancing from another direction encountered Union troops under the command of Major General James G Blunt. Not realizing the blue clad guerrilla troops where the enemy, all but Blunt and a few other mounted men where killed while retreating and trying to surrender. Poole’s advance of Confederates attacked Fort Blair, but the soldiers in the Fort where able to fight them off. After destroying the Union forces Quantrill’s men plundered Blunt’s supply wagons, taking food, weapons and liquor. The skirmish was a Confederate victory, with ninety-one Union men killed and eighteen others wounded, the guerrillas lost about thirty.

Massacre At Baxter Springs

The Baxter Springs Massacre or Battle was fought on October 6th 1863 in Kansas.

Heading to Texas for a winter camp, William Quantrill’s Raiders; numbering about 400, were traveling south along the Texas Road in October 1863. The raiders captured two teamsters form the Union Fort Blair near Baxter Springs, and killed them. Quantrill ordered an attack on the Fort. He split his force in half, with part under his command and the other half under David Poole. Poole’s unit came across some Union soldiers, most of whom were African American. The Raiders gave chase and killed a number of them, before the Union men reached the fort.

The garrison in Fort Blair put up fight against Poole’s men. The other column of men under the command of Quantrill came at the fort from the other direction. They ran into the Union detachment of Major General James G Blunt who was moving his headquarters to Fort Smith. Most of Bunt’s detachment was killed, including members of a military band. Blunt and few men who were mounted managed to make it to Fort Blair.

Blunt had his command stripped for a time, for not staying with his men and protecting the column. Although considered a massacre by many, it was really a typical Battle for the warfare that occurred along the Kansas - Missouri border. The Confederates saw only a loss of three men. The Federal side lost 103.