Everyone,

I'm interested in any documentation regarding the events that are being discussed. I haven't been able to find anything in the historic documents available that confirm the events as described. When I visited with the gentleman who owns the Cochran's Store location he believed the person buried in the "Cochran Cemetery" on his property (pipe fence) was the nephew of Mr. Cochran who was killed in a horse race on a track that existed on property south of his farm that currently belongs to his son.

Nothing in the OR's or other information on the store's location mention the Union army killing any civilians or burning any civilian structures. Governor Colbert's home could be considered a government structure, but again, we don't have any firm or reliable information that the house was destroyed. In my honest opinion, the Cochran Store location was abandoned early in the war when most southern leaning Indians moved south towards Texas since there would not be any trading business customers. When Phillips' expedition established Camp Kagi at that location the trading post structures were probably long empty and in ruins. Cochran himself would have relocated as well since it would have been dangerous to stay with renegades roaming through the area. I haven't found any information or documentation that states that Cochran was killed during the war, in fact we don't really have any firm information about him.

If I am incorrect I would love to be convinced otherwise based on reliable information and documentation. I know sometimes it is impossible to actually have firm information, but for a historian it is what helps distinguish between fact and fable.

Mike Manning