John,

No, I can't get any of those hot links to work on my high security bound computer. I will check them out at work.

However, you discovered two officers who evidently led these 30 west-central Missourians back home from the Confederate Army. Further, you discovered in Lieutenant Welch's (spelled Welsh) military service record that he deserted his regular unit on August 1863. I suppose that if we could narrow down who the rest of the 30 men were we would find a few of them deserted about that time, too. I examined the PDF records (as you call them) at Missouri State Archives for about 20 possible candidates, and all that was there was postwar reunion and such material, so it appears Colonel David Shanks' Jackson County Regiment's records did not survive the war for the men who joined in July and August 1862 in west-central Missouri.

The long and the short of all this is that the evidence is getting stronger in my mind that these 30 men went AWOL from the regular Confederate Army to fight as guerrillas back in their home area. They didn't quit the war; they only changed their mode and place of fighting it. These weren't the only ones. During the winter of 1863-1864 Captain Quantrill was pressured by Confederate command in Texas to place a large number of his men in regular units. I saw some of their records that tell me some of these served in their new units for a while and then deserted to go back home and fight again as guerrillas, too (many also served faithfully in their new regular units). You might say that to these guys this was a private war. Unless I see stronger evidence to the contrary, this is the way I will write about this episode. Thanks.

Bruce