I assume my family, from the Benton Co., MO. area, had known southern sympathies. (two female slaves, and two sons lost in Confederate service) The father, according to notes on the back of his Loyalty Oath, had been arrested, in Dec 1862, for “violating his bond and oath of loyalty,” and later paroled, limited to a four county area.

According to family accounts, they were constantly harassed after the war. There are several stories of my grandmother running off soldiers that were stealing chickens, vandalizing property and general bullying. There’s one account where she pulled a butcher knife and chased off two soldiers that she caught in her house jumping on her feather bed with their muddy spurs and boots. Evidently, it got so bad that a third son, too young to have served during the war, shot and killed a soldier who had been constantly terrorizing the family. - He was given the fastest horse they had, and got away to Texas without being caught. – The family left Missouri for Texas soon after and started a new life.

Ed