Like you I had long been aware of the basics of the Millsap story--only three Lincoln supporters in the county, and one was killed by "bushwhackers." I had always thought that there must have been a good story behind it. I had also thought that it was probably one of those hundreds of stories a researcher hears a little bit about but will probably never find out. And then I stumbled across "the rest of the story."

Anyway, here are my source cites, as well as additional information--

Regarding reports of horse thieves in northern Lincoln County and Lt. Reeds gathering up a contingent of EMM to go after them, see St. Louis Republican, 6 May 1863, p. 1; Palmyra (Mo.) Spectator, 8 May 1863, p. 2; Louisiana Journal, 9 May 1863, P. 3; St. Joseph Herald, 9 May 1863, p. 2

Regarding Reeds on 30 April leading the fifty-man force to Auburn where a large number of horses had been stolen and from there to the farm of Arch Bankhead; the Drury Pulliam/Charley Wren recruiting party; the Federals being fired upon from the brush; the number of horses hit; the number of Federals hit; Millsap’s being killed instantly, see above sources as well as With Porter in North Missouri, p. 390; Behind Enemy Lines: The Memoirs and Writings of Brigadier General Sidney Drake Jackman, pp. 153, 165

Regarding the Federal reaction and A.V.E. Johnston being sent down from Hannibal with a battalion of 2nd PEMM; the numbers of Confederates involved; and Garver’s comment on the purpose of the retaliatory mission see, Louisiana Journal, 16 May 1863, p. 2; St. Louis Republican, 6 May 1863, p. 1; Palmyra Spectator, 8 May 1863, p. 2; Louisiana Journal, 9 May 1863, p. 3; St. Joseph Herald, 9 May 1863, p. 2; Behind Enemy Lines, p. 165

Goodspeed’s History of Lincoln County was written by Joseph Mudd, who is best known for having written With Porter in North Missouri. Mudd, a native to Lincoln County, was a committed and excellent historian. He was Confederate, through and through, but was not prone to shading events as many veteran-authors were prone to do in their own post-war writings. Much of his work was compiled and preserved by another native of Lincoln County, Clarence Cannon, who served in the United States Congress from 1923 through 1964. At the time of the skirmish at Bankhead’s farm Mudd had escaped Union-occupied northeast Missouri and was in Maryland. His lack of proximity to the events that are the subject of our discussion accounts for the error that crept into his two post-war accounts of the death of Millsap, which were written 25 years after the fact and 46 years after the fact. Other accounts reported contemporaneous to the affair fleshes the matter out in a good bit more detail.

Mudd does accurately tie the killing of Millsap to the retaliatory death of Pleasant J. Davis in Louisville. (With Porter in North Missouri, p. 390). After A.V.E. Johnston arrived in the area on May 2, he surrounded the town of Louisville, detained the populace, and began mass interrogations. He ferreted out Pleasant Davis, who reportedly had incriminating documents on his person. Davis’s personal situation was exacerbated by his recent release from prison in St. Louis for anti-government activity. Johnston tried Davis that same day for being a “rebel-spy” and for being instrumental “in the assassination of Lieut. Reeds’ command.” After finding him guilty, Johnston had Davis shot by a three-man firing squad the next morning. Over the course of the next two weeks there was a lot of back-and-forth between Pulliam and Johnston, with ultimatums being laid out by both sides. Pulliam raided Paynesville, Crow’s Crossroads and New Hope. Johnston burned Wren’s home, executed Dudley McQueen (shot a couple of times in the chest while trying to escape), and burned the Hamburg Ferry. He also rounded up a number of Southern sympathizers, and had them sent to St. Louis. (see the above sources, as well as Louisiana Journal: 5/9/63 p. 3; 5/16/63 pp. 2, 3; 5/23/63 p. 1; 5/30/63 p. 3; 6/27/63 p. 2; St. Joseph Herald, 5/9/63, p. 2; St. Louis Democrat, 5/26/63 p. 4; 6/9/63 p. 2 ; St. Louis Republican, 11/19/63 p. 3; Behind Enemy Lines, p. 154, 165-168; “Civil War,” Cannon Papers B. IV, Lincoln County (Mo.) Historical and Genealogical Society; G.W. Anderson correspondence to Provost Marshal Dick, A.V.E. Johnston Military Service File, National Archives; History of Howard and Chariton Counties, p. 284; O.R., Ser. 1, Vol. 22, Pt. 1, pp. 343, 344.

With matters getting way to hot for them in Lincoln County, Pulliam and Wren pulled up stakes, and went to Boone County with their recruits where they rejoined Jackman. Johnston followed with the 2nd PEMM, and, along with the 9th MSM, scoured the countryside there. The Rebels were found and engaged on June 18. Jackman was severely wounded in that fight, and his command was “scattered to the four winds.” Jackman was not able to reassemble a fighting force until the next year. See Louisiana Journal, 27 June 1863, p. 2; O.R., Ser. 1, Vol. 22, Pt. 1, pp. 373-374; Behind Enemy Lines, pp. 170-176

Johnston served in the 2nd PEMM for several more months before resigning after most of the other officers in that unit were purged for their Radical sympathies. The immediate cause for their dismissal from the service by the Union command was their aggressive horse confiscation policy. Johnston went on to serve as an officer in the Pike County Radical party, and was turned down for command of a Colored regiment. In the summer of ’64 he and his purged 2nd PEMM cohorts were given the 39th Missouri Infantry (and, once in the 39th Missouri, they were ironically given orders from the Union command to pursue the aggressive horse confiscation policy that had gotten them all fired a year earlier).

After just a few weeks in the 39th Missouri, Johnston then went on to keep his appointment with destiny.