From what you have written it appears that Dr. Hunt was serving under Confederate Colonel Joseph Crisman Porter while at Moore's Mill. Colonel Porter was leading his recruiting command south to eventually join with the Confederate army in Arkansas when he was rebuffed by Union Colonel Odon Guitar's force at Moore's Mill/Brown Spring in Callaway County on 28 July 1862. After this, Colonel Porter took his force back north into northeast Missouri for a few more weeks while more recruits poured into his ranks. It just so happened at this time that the Union command in MO was enacting General Orders Number 19 which ordered ALL able-bodied men of military age to enroll in the new Enrolled Missouri Militia (EMM). In effect, Missouri was ordering universal mandatory military service, and the law forced MO men to chose with whom they would serve. In NE MO many southern men joined Porter's command at this time to prevent being forced to enroll in the Union EMM. Colonel Porter remained in NE MO several more weeks training this flood of new recruits and fending off the Federal troops. During September and October 1862 Porter's force separated into chunks in order to infiltrate south through Union patrols and reach the southern army in Arkansas. From what you have written, it appears Dr. Hunt was with a group that rode south though south-central MO and West Plains, Howell County, on the Arkansas line. A large number of Porter's recruits were captured along the way by Federal patrols and ended up in military prisons, mostly in the St. Louis area. I looked for Dr. Hunt in Eakin's landmark "MO POWs" and did not find his name listed among the prisoners, so I guess he made it through without having that experience.

Bruce