Tag Archives: Missouri

Special Offers & New Platforms

We’re proud to announce that we have uploaded “Blood in the Ozarks: Expanded Second Edition” to Flip HTML 5 for just $1.50! All payments safely and securely made through Paypal. Click Here to order.

Argument Between Elderly Confederate Veterans Ended in Knife Fight at Higginsville

The two combatants were Mose Scott (age 86) and Jim Cummings (78). Cummings was the last surviving member of Quantrill’s Raiders and was said to have been well acquainted with the James Brothers (Frank & Jesse) as well as the Youngers and the Coles (which the paper refers to as “pioneer outlaws of the Ozarks.”

Black Panthers’ Existence Confirmed in the Press of the Past

Later one bright summer morning I saw the big cat crossing the valley field. He was black, about the size of a young calf but longer and slimmer with shorter legs. He did not run but bounded along with cat-like leaps…”

Great Excitement in Greenville

The February 17, 1927 edition of the Greenville Sun newspaper carried the story of a fiddling contest that attracted more than 600 people to the Wayne County, Missouri community more than 200 people were turned away , failing to gain admission to the event.

Harry B. Hawes: Pioneer of Missouri’s Highway & Flood Control Systems

Hawes authored bills that created the Missouri Highway Department and revised state traffic laws. He also served as chairman of the Good Roads committee and led the effort to pass a $60 million bond issue for creation of the states first highway system. Pertaining to river transportation and its importance to Missouri, Hawes was one of the chief organizers of the “Lakes to the Gulf Waterway Association”

A Northern View on Race

I write and post a lot of historical articles mainly related to the Ozarks and the Civil War. Most of it is well received but every now and then and sometimes someone feels the need to dispute what I say. It’s only natural but most of the time when someone is triggered they make aContinue reading “A Northern View on Race”

Murder in Mississippi County…

Since the Heard family did not all die at the same time I can only speculate what happened. Was it starvation? The flooding? Sickness? Or did a rogue element of militia from one side or the other take them out one by one? I’m not sure but it certainly seems systematic in nature and something I will continue to research.

Bloody Work in Southeast Missouri

The May 24, 1861 edition of the Alexandria Gazette & Virginia Advertiser carried the news of a gang operating in Butler County, Missouri. This is a particularly interesting account for two reasons:

The first is the fact that the Civil War (for the most part) had not yet arrived in Southeast, Missouri.

The second is that the paper states the gang’s leader was from Indiana

Why Gen. M. Jeff Thompson Changed His Mind About Chalk Bluff

“Colonel: Can you inform me whether the officers and men who were surrendered by General Robert E. Lee were permitted to pass within the Confederate lines or not? My reason for making this inquiry is that many of those I am called upon to surrender will prefer to go to Texas and Louisiana to remaining in neighborhoods where private animosities will keep the community in tumult, after the military authorities are withdrawn. Some will desire to take their families. Others think that their families will be safe will be absent themselves after being paroled. This is a very important matter to many on the border of Missouri and Arkansas, and you, will therefore , please let me know your understanding of this case.

M. Jeff Thompson

Brigadier General, Commanding North Sub-District of Arkansas.”