The Indian Territory in the Civil War Message Board

Re: James Preston Beck (cross post from MO)

Just as a starting point, I found this interesting US GenWeb page that seems to match your COL A. Slayback: http://www.usgennet.org/usa/mo/county/stlouis/slayback.htm

It includes information about Slayback's capture and escape from the Federals. References include the book Shelby and His Men or the War in the West by John Newman Edwards.

A matter of honor lead to his death at the hands of former Union officer, an Editor of Pulitzer's St. Louis Post Dispatch. According to the above site, a pistol was planted in the COL Slayback's coat to help the editor gain an acquittal on the assertion of self defense. A google book search disclosed at the following site:

http://books.google.com/books?id=szJDAAAAIAAJ&dq=slayback&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=sOfyTQRFWK&sig=cH8FbnmH2CREb3nGW06ptQQQ7Is&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=10&ct=result

that COL Slayback's poetry and prose were published in a Memorial Volume after his death.

The following US GenWeb site has a transcription of COL Slayback's Memorial Day Speech at the National Cemetery at the Jefferson Barracks in 1873:
http://www.usgennet.org/usa/mo/county/stlouis/slaybackspeech.htm

I hope that this gives you a place to start. Best wishes.

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James Preston Beck (cross post from MO)
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