the corn crop is as fine as iever Saw the wheat and oats hungarion [Hungarian wheat] timithy [Timothy grass] all good but no market for nothing no money I surpose with out adout of all the battle that has bin faught in Virginginia and at Springfield
Coleman Bruce Letter to William and Martha Jane Jackson. Aug. 20, 1861

Bruce’s sentence structure and phonetic spelling make his letter difficult to read; yet it provides a valuable insight to the written and verbal speech patterns of the 19th Century. In his letter Bruce calls northerners the pejorative term “dutch,” a corruption of “Deutsche,” meaning German. This term was commonly used in Missouri, as many associated the massive German migration to St. Louis and the city’s urban setting with other iconic northern cities. The use of such language shows that association with the rising immigrant class was viewed by many in Missouri as a detriment to American society.

we dont expect to live under the dutch nor the Yonkeys we pur fiting untell we die in prefance the north
Colman Bruce Letter to William and Martha Jane Jackson. Aug. 20, 1861

Bruce was very vocal with his disdain for Northern troops, which placed him in a precarious position during the war. On July 9, 1863, four witnesses filed affidavits with the Missouri Union Provost Marshal, citing Coleman Bruce with disloyalty to the government. A month prior to the accusations, James W. Sappington, a captain and member of the Missouri legislature and Major William Jackson, Bruce’s son-in-law, both testified that Bruce was a “true and loyal citizen.”2 During this period of hostility, anything a person wrote or said could become subject to scrutiny and could be used as evidence that the individual was disloyal. No evidence exists showing Union officials pursued Bruce any further about his loyalty to the state or the country.

Bruce’s letter mentions significant events and individuals of the War, such as action near Cair, Illinois and Birds point (an island on the Mississippi River opposite of Cairo). He also wrote about the death of Union General Nathaniel Lyon at the Battle of Wilson’s Creek. Bruce mistakenly reported Franz Sigel was also killed at the Battle. Lyon and Sigel surprised Confederate troops camped along Wilson’s Creek on the morning of August 10, 1861. While initially caught off guard, the Confederates were able to rally and repel the Union advance.

After Lyon’s death, Union forces retreated back to Springfield and eventually to Rolla, Missouri. Undoubtedly, Bruce was enthusiastic with the Confederate victory at Wilson’s Creek and their occupation of Southwest Missouri. Confederate control over the region caused difficulties for union civilians. Bruce noted that Sample Orr, an 1860 Missouri gubernatorial candidate, robbed a Springfield bank of $24,000. Allegedly, the bank was robbed to prevent the Confederates from securing the money to fund their army. The money was taken to Rolla to remain in Union hands. Little documentation on this event exists, although, Bruce discusses the matter as it was true fact:

Sample Orr robed the Springfield bank of 24000$ the you have ar will hear all about it
Colman Bruce Letter to William and Martha Jane Jackson. Aug. 20, 1861

Bruce encouraged his children to share this letter with their friends and family, perhaps in an attempt to persuade others to support the Confederacy. This letter draw attentions to the impact the War had on family dynamics as well as the crumbling economic condition in the country.

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1. 1860 United States Federal Census; Census Place: Township 47 Range 14, Moniteau, Missouri; Roll M653_634; Page: 648; Image: 148; Family History Library Film: 803634.
2. “Missouri’s Union Provost Marshal Papers, 1861-1868,” Missouri Digital Heritage, accessed October 20, 2010,http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/provost/results.asp?txtName=&txtKeyword=&radSearch=BEG&selCounty=Moniteau&offset=75.

Ephraim Fauquier, an Iowa settler from Ohio, firmly believed in the sanctity of the Union. Fauquier mustered in service at Camp Benton, St. Louis, Missouri. While in St. Louis, Fauquier and his fellow soldiers participated in basic training, which included 16,000 men and 8 canon drills recreating combat.

…we are goin to have a great sham fight this afternoon with about eight thousand on each side and foure Canon were are having them every day…
Ephraim Fauquier letter to Margaret & Children, “Fryday”

Fauquier and the 3rd Iowa Cavalry eventually marched into Arkansas, and by autumn 1862, they camped near Helena, Arkansas. Scouting, foraging and patrolling for Rebel activity kept the Fauquier busy. It was not uncommon for the men to cover 45 miles without feeding, and the sheer exhaustion of such extensive movement was evident in letters home.

I was put on guard close by to watch some mans sweet potato pach…It was full of good melons so I had a good time thare and when I come off our mess had got all the peaches we wanted and sweet potatoes and a hive of bees we had more honey than we could eat it did not go vary bad with good light bread of our own making and what made it sweeter still it all come off a rich sesesh (a person in sympathy with the south) who had run away and left everything he had, but when two thousand Cavelry had feasted off him until next morning he had not much left
Ephraim Fauquier letter to Margaret & Children, September 15, 1862

Raiding private civilians became a common practice for both Union and Confederate soldiers. Fauquier wrote his wife that “thare is plenty now in the Country to eat if onley we take time to sop and get it and we will take a force with us large enough to take all the rebels that are thare….”1 During scouting missions, men would seek supplies and food from “Rebel Women,” to help sustain their efforts. These activities caused waning support from the civilian population, who already suffered from a lack of food and supplies.

Fauquier’s letters to Margaret and their children are full of humorous anecdotes about scouting missions, colorful notes on the people and the terrain he encountered, and were clearly written to educate his family about his experiences as a soldier. One letter, undated, recounted a story for his children about becoming lost in the woods during winter. Ephraim continually wrote about desires to be back home, and how he longed to see his children again.

The 3rd Iowa Cavalry participated in the Battle of Vicksburg in the summer of 1863. The Union success sent Fauquier’s company back to Helena, where Ephraim last wrote to Margaret on August 30, 1863. Fauquier remained in Arkansas through the year, eventually succumbing to disease in early December, 1863, within a month of his regiment’s return to Iowa.

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1. Ephraim Fauquier letter to Margaret and children, 15 September 15 1862. Ephraim Fauquier Collection, Privately held.

Introduction
The Macks as Refugees
Macks in the War
Macks in Politics

The John A. Mack Collection offers valuable insight into the lives of Union sympathizers in the Ozarks. In many ways, their experiences are typical of Southern Unionists, though their home in Missouri placed them squarely in a border region. The war was bitter and personal for the Mack family. Their experiences as refugees and those who fighting guerrillas in the 1st Arkansas Cavalry (U.S.) hardened their feelings towards Confederate sympathizers. As Radical Republicans, the Macks entered the political arena only to find themselves at odds with fellow Unionists.

Regrettably, the Mack collection contains only half of the correspondence between the family members. The surviving letters were written to those serving in the army. While the soldier’s responses are missing, the existing letters provide researchers with a unique perspective on the civilian experience in southwest Missouri.

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The John H. Utz collection is a series of sixty plus letters compiled by his descendents. The letters were self-published by the family in Biographical Sketches of the Bartlett Marshall Duncan and Henry Utz Families. Very limited copies of the book are available to the public, and the letters in the collection are reproduced as they were printed in the book. This collection depicts Utz experiences as a prisoner of war from 1864 through 1865

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Partheny mentioned several historical events and individuals like Missouri’s pro-Secession Governor, Claiborne Jackson, and the Battle of Wilson Creek in her memoir. For the most part, the atmosphere she described was accurate to what the conditions would have been like for her and her family during that time in Missouri. However, she does not try and conceal her favor towards the Confederacy and her distain for Union troops.

I must say the Mo State Malitia espicialy Southwest Mo were the lowest down set of men God ever made when the war first… broke out our best citizens volunteered in the southern army the next best volunteered in the army and later when the federals were in need of recruits they raked and scraped up all the scalewags and thieves who not have the courage or patriotism to join either army and made militia
Partheny Horn Memoir, pg 30

With the onset of war, Partheny’s father, two eldest brothers, and boyfriend together with many others volunteered for service in the Missouri State Guard.3 When the men of Cedar County left for war, families were devastated. Many knew their loved ones would not return home. Parthey Horn’s brother, H. D. McPherson, foreshadowed his own death in a conversation with Parthey. McPherson serving in the Missouri State Guard died at the Battle of Wilson’s Creek on August 10, 1861. While the Confederates forced Union troops to withdraw to Rolla, their army suffered nearly a 12% causality rate. The victory at Wilson’s Creek and Lexington, Missouri were short lived as Union troops forced Sterling Price’s Missouri State Guard into Arkansas, and scored a decisive victory in March 1862 at the Battle of Pea Ridge.

Pea Ridge permanently altered the strategic situation in Missouri and Arkansas. The battle forced Confederate commanders to seriously question their ability to hold the Trans-Mississippi. Eventually Confederate troops were withdrawn from the region, and General Thomas Hindman, lacking soldiers and military resources, authorized the formation of guerrilla bands. These small bands, composed of both legitimate soldiers and those seeking adventure and plunder, conducted raids, “hit and run” type attacks, to weaken the Union forces and their collaborators. Success was not measured in combat, but rather in preventing the Union from gaining further control and forcing them to spend resources in non-combat situations.

In response to increased guerrilla activity, additional Union militia regiments formed to protect civilians and their property. Union soldiers took harsher actions towards anyone considered a guerrilla or civilians suspected of providing support to bushwhackers. In the immediate wake of the William Quantrill’s raid on Lawrence, Kansas, Brigadier General Thomas Ewing, Jr., commanding the District of the Border, issued Order No. 11 on August 25, 1863. The Order, aimed at those who supported the guerrilla fighters, commanded all residents living in the border counties of Bates, Jackson, Cass and the northern half of Vernon to vacate their homes. Those families were required to give oaths of loyalty to the Union, and their evacuation was demanded within two weeks. Ewing hoped depopulating these Missouri border countries would eliminate the safe havens support structure for guerrillas in the region.

Although Cedar County was not affected by Ewing’s Order No. 11, Horn and her family felt pressure to leave the region as hostility towards southern sympathizers increased. Partheny and a group of neighboring women decided to seek refuge in Texas. Partheny’s mother, six sisters and small brother left Cedar County for Texas three months prior. Partheny remained in Missouri to take care of her family’s estate and look after her widowed sister-in-law Lizzie and her baby. The refugee convoy consisted of women and children of ten families with southern ties. The group of women elected the oldest member of the band, Aunt Polly, as their captain; vowing to follow her guidance throughout their voyage to Texas and never leave a family behind.

She commanded the group and made all the decisions in relation to where they would camp and how to proceed
Partheny Horn Memoir, pg 22

The women left Cedar County on September 6, 1863, and the group’s dynamic and fortitude was tested almost immediately. Horn noted her roles and responsibilities pre-war were very gender oriented, yet with the onset of the war those traditional roles needed to be adapted for survival. Women assumed the responsibilities normally associated with men, while still maintaining their responsibilities as wives, mothers, and daughters. While the women set aside their gender’s roles, gender still played a large factor in their successes and failures. From the beginning of the trip it was obvious that these women where inexperienced and had difficulty handling and maintaining their wagons.

for several wagons contained 2 families each, were provided with a log chain as a substitute for the lock, none of us not even our Capt. Seemed to understand just how to manipulate it…consequently when she started her team, the wheel was drawn under the wagon and the result was every spoke in the wheel was broken
Partheny Horn Memoir, pg 26

The broken wheel caused further problems for the women. Just as none of the party members were experienced wagon drivers, they did not know how to replace the wheel. The women went into camp, as several of their team searched the country side for help. Horn noted finding help was a more difficult task than first imagined. They found, “few men at home, and unfortunately for us, they were on the other side politically and had no sympathy for a rebel, as they called us.” 4 The search party eventually found a southerner several miles from their encampment that owned a blacksmith shop. They pleaded their case to the man, and paid him in “legal tender” for his time. Legal tender is undoubtedly Union currency. Confederate currency held little value during the war and few businesses accepted it as a form of payment. Horn’s choice of words describing the currency is interesting given her political affiliation. Within three days the women had a new wheel and returned to camp.

The women though were not always so fortunate in finding friendly aid. As Partheny recorded in her memoir the small band of wagons was ambushed and raided by the Missouri Militia, who stole the majority of their horses.

We were camped 4 miles west of Greenfield which was a federal post ocupied by the militia… the news of our presence in the community must have reached them the day we came, carried perhaps by the thieves who stoled the mares and mules at any by 10 oclock the folowing day a scout of 35 militia came swooping down on that Old hill side where we were camped charging and yeeling like we had been so many Commanches or Apache indians instead of a lot defenceless woman and Children whom they had driven home. Their first act was to take possession of all our horses which tied off way from our wagons tied to trees. the next thing order was to search our wagons for contrabands goods of which they knew we had none tearing the wagons sheets off 2 or 3 men would mount the wagons and pich trunks boxes and everything else they contained to the grouned bursting trunks breaking everything breakable and scattering things promiscousiley other were engaged in ransacking through everything taking such things as Coffee sugar soda salt and [carton] cards of the last article every woman had prvided herself with one or more pairs knowing it would be difficult to obtain in the south at any price it was very essential that each lady supliy herself with this most needed article we southern people had to manufacture all our wearing appear

These blue coated soldiers took possession of all the above mentioned artickles calling them contraband goods who ever heard of such tings being contraband
Partheny Horn Memoir, pg 31

Throughout their journey the women experienced multiple similarly hardships. Several wheels and axels were broken. Oxen and horses were stolen and killed. Wagons became stuck in mud and overwhelmed while fording rivers. Yet despite their difficulties the women persevered and reached Texas.

us having so many trials and difficulties it is only natural to supose We would be discouraged and depressed but so many laughable and rdiclous things happened most of us realy found enjoyment for we were young and full of romance always looking on the bright side of everthing”
Patheny Horn Memoir, pg 47

The women worked together and supported each other along their journey. They did not let gender prevent them from reaching their families in Texas and escaping the hardships in Missouri. Partheny Horn dedicated her memoir to the women of the South who suffered and fought for the cause they believed in.

I want to leave as a legacy to my children and grand-children a record of a few of the many sacrifices I was permitted to lay upon the altar of the south during the awful conflict.

The womanhood of the south… shouldred the burdens meet the responsibilities and endured the pribation hoping and praying for the loved ones at the battle front many of whom never returned and … when necessity demands there aid they willing laid hold with untrained hands and met every emergency with that indomitable courage and determination of purpose born of true southren patriotism
Partheny Horn Memoir, pg 2

Contributed by a Private Collector

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1. Partheny Horn, 1860 United States Federal Census; Census Place: Linn, Cedar, Missouri; Roll: M653_613; Page: 73; Image: 77; Family History Library Film: 803613.
2. Partheny Horn Memoir, pg 6.
3. National Park Service. U.S. Civil War Soldiers, 1861-1865 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007.
4. Partheny Horn Memoir, pg 27.

Introduction
Peter Van Winkle

Peter Van Winkle developed several lumber mills across Northwest Arkansas. During the war the Van Winkle family fled their home for refuge in Texas. In 1866, they returned to Arkansas to rebuild their lives and the surrounding community. Peter supplied much of the goods to reconstruct homes and businesses. This digitial collection contains a variety of documents, including family correspondences, bills of sale for slaves, and a contract Van Winkle had with the Confederate Army for the construction of their winter encampments at Cross Hallows.

Contributed by the Roger’s Historical Museum, Shiloh Museum of Ozark History, and a private collector

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During his imprisonment, William wrote his wife Martha Louise seeking assistance in obtaining his freedom. William informed his Union captors that Rebel soldiers threatened his life if he refused to join the Confederate Army, and that his true loyalties lie with the Union. William proclaimed to have served in the Enrolled Missouri Militia. The War split many families over political differences, so William’s testimony of allegiance to the Union within a pro-southern family was not uncommon. Military records, however, do not list a William T. Dameron in service with the Enrolled Missouri Militia, but they do list a William Dameron, who served in 8th Missouri Infantry, CSA. Researchers may never know William’s true allegiance, as his claims of loyalty could very well have been a ruse to escape prison life. This collection does show that his Union captors obviously questioned the validity of William’s story. Despite his alleged service in the EMM, claims of forced conscription and pleas of several Randolph County citizens petitioning for his freedom, William remained imprisoned for the duration of the War.

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1. Jones, Helen Dameron. “John Jones Dameron of Randolph Co., Missouri.” http://ddfa.org/johnjonesd.html, last visited 29 July 2009.

James B. Young was member of a large family back in Ray, Morgan County, Indiana. Young had four brothers and four sisters, who all lived on their family farm helping their parents, Scott and Mary, harvest the land.2 James received a common, school education and also attended Depew University at Greencastle, Indiana. In 1857, he came to Humboldt, which was just being
established.

The 9th Kansas Cavalry was organized at Fort Leavenworth through the consolidation of independent battalions, squadrons and detachments on March 27th, 1862.3 Isaac and Edward Corman and John B. Young joined the 9th Kansas Cavalry, and served in Company G. The regiment’s location on the western frontier offered a unique military career that was distinctive to the region. In July 1862, the Cormans and Yong received orders to Fort Lyon, Colorado to serve on escort duty and patrol Indian Territory. The Corman brothers wrote home describing their activities. In one letter Edward wrote, “Isaac going out on escort duty to Pueblo [Colorado Territory] about a hundred and thirty miles west on the Arkansas River & within a day’s march of Pikes Peak. A detail of ten commanded by Lieut. [Henry B.] Hall, went to escort some Mexican Prisoners who were arrested here for violating the military Law they were selling whiskey to the Indians.”4

Rowdiness and excessive alcohol consumption led to many problems in the Army. As a result, a strong temperance movement grew to rid all military regiments of alcohol. “We play Cards, get drunk and play smash generally so we dare not go home you would be A shamed of us,” wrote Edward Corman to his sister.5 Corman was likely joking with his sister about these activities, as they were seen as stereotypical soldier behavior, yet social unacceptable. The frequency of alcohol related accidents was commonly documented in letters home. James Young noted in a letter to Alice, that the hospital was one of the last places men wanted to be, “it certainly is a place to be feared and avoided… there are about 2000 patients there now in every manner & stage of disease and death. I for one shall try to Keep away from there as a Patient.”6

The 9th Kansas Cavalry returned to the Kansas in April 1863. They then were stationed at Harrisonville, Missouri scouting across Cass and Bates Counties. In April 1864, the regiment marched south and served in southern Arkansas until July 1865 when they were mustered out of the service. The Cormans and Young served in the Army for three year and although they were not engaged in heavy combat with Confederate soldiers, they did encounter substantial guerrilla warfare.

John B. Young and Isaac Corman wrote frequently to Alice about their lives in the military and their efforts to rid Missouri and Kansas of Bushwhackers. The roots of guerrilla warfare in the Ozarks can be traced to the 1850s. The passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854 opened the territory of Kansas to settlement, and a popular vote on allowing slavery in the territory. Many Missouri residents believed they could influence the territorial elections in Kansas by crossing the border and casting pro-slavery votes. Hatred grew along the Missouri/Kansas line as Free-Staters arrived from the North to battle the Missourians. Both sides crossed the border, often committing depredations on the civilian population, in the bloody struggle over the entry of Kansas into the Union. Kansas ultimately became a free state, and the “Bleeding Kansas” era laid the foundation for an even more brutal and vicious guerrilla war in the 1860s.

The soldiers, while trying to stop guerrilla warfare, were not above using civilian resources for their own benefit. On a scout in Pleasant Hill, Missouri looking for William Quantrill the men ran out of rations so they stopped at an old man’s house and fed themselves and their horses.

he said he dident want to hurt anybody but was a friend to bushwhackers and soldiers to, so he had just killed his hogs the day before & had his spare ribs cut out very nice & was salting down his meat but we relieved of the trouble of salting The ribs the made fine saus in the camp fire. I took a nice ham for my share & two nice large fast chicken, & all the honey that was palatable to my tast both in the comb & canded, & then cleaned out the apple hole clean. The old woman, that we must leave her some to eat on but I guess she had to dig deep in the bottom of the pit if she found any for we worked on the apple hole like a lot of ants on an ant hill till they was all gone.
Edward Corman Letter to Corman Family, Feb 12, 1864

James B. Young wrote in one of his last letters to Alice about the impending Union victory of the Civil War and the failure of General Sterling Price’s Expedition to Missouri stating,

troops may have been sent here to catch Old Price as he returns from mo. – We have just learned that our forces have captured old Price and a large number of his demoralized army at Dardinell Ark. but it lacks confirmation yet, and I fear it is to good to be all true, though our forces are out watching for him. there was a large force went up in that region about 10 days ago, some 10 or 15000 men from here and Little Rock. Col. [Charles S.] Clark went along with a portion of the 9th Kas. & we also hear that he has “won renown” but we wait for confirmation, but I think there is no hopes for Old Price any more this winter.7
James B Young letter to Alice Corman, Nov. 13, 1864

Price had returned to the Trans-Mississippi in hopes of regaining control of Missouri for the Confederacy. Authorization for the raid came on August 4, 1864. Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith’s orders made it clear St. Louis was the ultimate goal, but Price was also reminded about objectives more easily achieved. Above all else the Confederacy needed men. Even if he had to retreat from Missouri, the expedition would be successful if a sizable number of recruits were brought into the army. In many ways the outcome of the war was decided in the fall of 1864. Not only did the Confederates fail to capture Missouri, for all practical purposes, they lost the war. Sherman’s army captured Atlanta in early September. This victory strengthened Union morale, and combined with more victories later that fall in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, assured Lincoln’s reelection, and with it, Union victory.

Isaac, Edward, and James all survived the war and returned to Allen, Kansas once they were mustered out of service. This collection of letters is the culmination of the marriage of James B. Young and Alice Corman. The couple married in early 1865 and lived on a farm with their two sons, John and Charles, in Humboldt, Kansas for the rest of their lives. James passed away on February 18, 1918 at the age of 84.8 Alice was 85 years old when she died in 1925 and was buried next to her husband in the Highland Cemetery in Wichita, Kansas.9

The Coleman-Young Family Papers display a rare relationship that has rarely been documented. In this collection there are three individuals primarily writing to one person, sharing their different encounters of war, even though all the men were enlisted in the same regiment. The correspondents reveal how Alice’s brothers experienced the war, compared to her future husband James B. Young.

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1. Year: 1860; Census Place:, Allen, Kansas Territory; Roll: M653_346; Page: 48; Image: 48; Family History Library Film: 803346.
2. Year: 1860; Census Place: Ray, Morgan, Indiana; Roll: M653_284; Page: 933; Image: 388; Family History Library Film: 803284.
3. Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Kansas, 1861-’65. Topeka, Kansas: 1896, Museum of Kansas National Guards, http://www.kansasguardmuseum.org/dispunit.php?id=19.
4. Edward Corman Letter to G. Corman. 18 Sep. 1862, Bender Collection
5. Edward. Corman Letter to John Corman, Jr. 04 Feb. 1863, Bender Collection.
6. James B. Young Letter to Alice Corman. 04 Oct. 1864, Bender Collection.
7. James B Young Letter to Alice Corman. 13 Nov. 1864, Bender Collection.
8. Jack S. Bender III, YOUNG, James Barnett, Humboldt Union, Thursday. March 14, 1918, Page 4, http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ks/county/allen/Obits/ObitYoungJ.html
9. HIGHLAND CEMETERY, Wichita, Sedgwick County, Kansas, http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/sedgwick/cems/highwxyz.txt