Captain William Leeper – Foothills Media LLC

Defiant Ozark Women

Pauline White was arrested on May 28, 1864 at Greenville, for breaking her oath of allegiance. It is clear that the Union army used Pauline White as an example. The Union forces issued a Confederate “watch list” of Wayne County families that were believed to be unloyalists and spies. Several women were listed and the documents are quoted as saying; “these women are doing more mischief then they could if they were men”. Pauline White was quickly tried, convicted of treason and sentenced to hard labor.

More On “Jayhawkers” & “Bushwhackers”

Captain Leeper seems to have done more harm locally than good. Bitterness abounded for many generations thereafter toward him. He became known locally as the chief “Jayhawker.”