A southern genealogy researcher knows a man of the 1800s with the initials "F. M" was really named "Francis Marion" or "Frank" for short after the "Swamp Fox." At least, this is the case 80 to 90% of the time.

I don't find a F. M. Hill or any such name in the various lists of Quantrill riders, even Rose Mary Lankford's wonderful "The Encyclopedia of Quantrill's Guerrillas." Of course, he may have changed his name. Lots of men did that back then.

I don't mean to take anything away from the gentleman, but this may be another case of "I rode with Quantrill" syndrome that afflicted many southern veterans in MO, OK, TX, and other places in the early 20th century. In truth, some of those veterans with this condition actually had worthy military service records of their own. I'm a veteran, and I don't want somebody trying to take something away from my record, so I walk softly on the topic of the "I rode with Quantrill" syndrome. During one raid or another throughout the war in MO or TX hundreds of guys at one time or another actually did "ride with Quantrill." For many, there simply is no written record that they did that, and for the rest of the war and a few years after the war that was just fine for many of those men.

Bruce Nichols