Don, I dug up a few of the accounts I have of Burbridge’s absconding with the Pike County militia’s muskets. I have more, and if I get my hand on them I’ll post them too. I think that I have an account somewhere where Burbridge, with his wagon-full of stolen muskets, was challenged by a sentry and bluffed his way on past.

I will say that after reading about Burbridge’s arms-procurement caper I became quite of fan of his. What makes this episode even more amusing is the surprised outrage exhibited by one of the men who wrote about the affair--in effect, ‘how dare enemy troops come in and take away our guns. Have they no scruples...’ I am also surprised that a man in a wagon loaded with rifles could not be chased down by mounted men.

And it should be noted that as prominent as Burbridge was in Pike County prior to the war, after the war he did not return home--by then, the Radicals had complete control of the region and Burbridge certainly would not have been well-received in the place.

Note mention of the “Louisiana Guards.” Mississippi River-port town, Louisiana, was Pike County’s most prominent community. The Louisiana Guards was the pre-war Pike County militia, and was taking a strongly neutral stance in regard to war. Then there is mention of the Home Guards, which was the local Unionist militia, which answered to Federal officials in Washington D.C. The two military organizations briefly co-existed in Pike County after the opening of hostilities.

Note the timing of events. On 11 June 1861, Union General Nathaniel Lyon was ordered by the U.S. War Dept. to enlist “loyal citizens” into Home Guard units in Missouri. Pike County Home Guard enrollment cards at the Missouri State Archives indicate that the enlistments began at Louisiana on 12 June.

In the newspaper article below, the “Last Friday” entry refers to the date of 14 June.

Then, reading on further below, by 15 June Burbridge and his guns were in Millwood, Lincoln County.

From the Louisiana (Mo.) Journal, 20 June 1861, p. 3

Last Friday a majority of the guns belonging to the Louisiana Guards were brought in from their hiding places and deposited in a hack, which started off in charge of Col. Burbridge, of Camp Jackson notoriety, in the direction of Bowling Green. When he left this place we could find no one who seemed to know anything of their destination, but it was understood that he was taking them over to Claib. At Bowling Green the doughty Colonel said that he was taking them to Jefferson City, and gave as the reason that they were a bone of contention with the Guards, and that they had held a meeting and agreed, as a peace measure, to give up the guns and send them home to the Governor. The Colonel proceeded on his way in the direction of Jefferson, but it seems he changed his mind shortly after leaving Bowling Green, as the next thing we hear of him is at Louisville, drilling a company to go to the relief of the fleeing Governor. After drumming up the Secessionists and drilling all day Sunday, the Colonel gets about forty to join him in his expedition of relief to the Governor. We understand that this company was armed in part with the guns belonging to the Louisiana Guards, which Col. B. was taking away from Louisiana to keep the peace, and that they left Louisville Monday morning to join Claib. Jackson’s army to make war upon the General Government. We are expecting to hear every day of these guns being moved again, in which case their place of deposit will be in the St. Louis Arsenal, along with those who bear them.

Louisiana Journal, 27 June 1861, p. 2

For the Journal.

Mr. Editor:--As strange tales are told concerning the removal of the arms belonging to the Louisiana Guards, I have collated all the essential facts in the case, which are at your served, for the benefit of the public.

On Friday, the 14th inst., the same day that the ever-to-be-remembered Proclamation of Fox Jackson reached here, J.Q. Burbridge, who is a Col. of Jackson’s own making, and who also held the office of 1st Lieut. in the Guards, which he had promised to resign, but never did it, and who, by the by, with his strong secession proclivities, had very much demoralized the company, which at one time was the honor and pride of the city. But when the Proclamation appeared, he became intensely excited for the safety of the guns; he seen in his fertile imagination, nothing but the bristling of Gen. Lyon’s bayonets all around about, he remembered well Camp Jackson, consequently, nothing short of the removal of the arms belonging to the company, would give peace and quiet to his troubles breast. He went from member to member of the company, giving vent to his guilty fears, begging them to bring their muskets &c., to the armory of the company, in order that some steps might be taken for their safety, appealing to the fears of men, that if they did not, that their houses would be searched and they made prisoners for having them in their possession. He waited on the President of the company, related his doleful story, but did not, nor could he prevail on him to sanction this hasty removal, without action being first taken and a majority of the company consenting to such a procedure. He admitted the justice of this, but contended that delay was dangerous. All he desired, he averred, was to put them in a place of safety for the company’s benefit. He was admonished by the President to do nothing hastily that would create distrust and unnecessary alarm. A call of the company together that afternoon was proposed, he sanctioned the call, but before notice could be given to the members, he had procured a hack, and with the assistance of one of the Sergeants of the company, and one or two other emissaries of his, clandestinely carried them off without obtaining the consent of the company. Had he confined himself to the taking of the guns alone his conduct would have been less censurable. The drums, which had been procured principally by private contribution and all the cartridge boxes, belts and bayonet scabbards that was in the armory, which was private property, as none had ever been furnished to the company the the State, were carried off at the same time. It has been currently reported abroad, that this valiant Col. had captured the arms here from Union men, when the truth of the matter is, they were virtually stolen, and not only the guns, but private property with them. And to make the matter worse, there were two different lots of them spirited away--ten or a dozen were moved out of the armory the same evening of the powder movement, in which other persons are implicated, who may at some future time be ventilated. In fact, it would seem that one of the great failings of secessionism, is to create in those who become infected with it, a disposition to take possession of every shooting iron that they can lay their hands on. The General Government has suffered in this respect, and when no more could be obtained from that source then the States must suffer. In short, their propensity becomes so strong, that they steal from one another just to keep their hands up. I have already run out this communication longer than at first anticipated, and by way of excuse must say that it is a profile theme and hard to bring to a close. Sufficient material is at hand concerning the whole of the maneuvering in the matter from which to write a book, and may some day be compiled. There are other parties concerned in the matter who have cause to look wild.

Signed, I.O.U.

From “Battles and Biographies of Missourians,” by William L. Webb, 1900, p. 68

“...Arms were scarce and efficient drill masters were not plentiful. General Pearce, of the Arkansas State troops, loaned Gen. Price 615 muskets. Gov. Jackson, in his march through the State, had acquired two supplies of guns. John Q. Burbridge brought 150 muskets that he had wheedled out of the Home Guards of Pike County. Another supply was secured at Cole Camp....”

From “The Fight For Missouri, From the Election of Lincoln to the Death of Lyon,” by Thomas Lowndes Snead, 1886, pp. 217-218

“...Another notable accession to the Governor’s force at this time was John Q. Burbridge and ten other men from Pike County who came into camp, bringing with them from that remote county about one hundred and fifty muskets, which they had taken by guile from a company of State militia mostly loyal Germans, and had brought by force to the Governor. Within thirty-six hours Burbridge had enlisted and was in command of a well-armed company....”

From “With Porter in North Missouri,” by Joseph A. Mudd, pp. 392-393 (Note that Mudd was a native of Lincoln County)

“APPENDIX F--MY FIRST COMPANY-- ‘...Another notable accession to the Governor’s force at this time was John Q. Burbridge and ten other men from Pike County who came into camp, bringing with them from that remote county about one hundred and fifty muskets, which they had taken by guile from a company of State militia mostly loyal Germans, and had brought by force to the Governor. Within thirty-six hours Burbridge had enlisted and was in command of a well-armed company....’ Colonel Burbridge took in a few more than ten men. When he was at Millwood, Lincoln County, June 15, gathering volunteers under the call of the governor, a number of us enrolled our names. I can only recall William T. Hammond, who returned at Fayette, my cousin, George A. Mudd, wounded at Wilson’s Creek, and myself. The next morning, Sunday, after early service at St. Alphonsus’ Church, we started in a farm wagon for Louisville, the next village, nine miles away, in the northwestern corner of the county, where we were told a supply of arms would meet us.... In a short time the muskets came in from Louisiana, Pike County, guarded by William F. Carter and Frederick Ferdinand Weed, members of the old time military company, of which Colonel Burbridge was one of the lieutenants and the drill master.... I have forgotten the particluars of the process by which the muskets were abstracted from the armory of the military company--taken by guile, Colonel Snead says--but the word that best expresses it is--theft. We felt no scruples on that point, however. There were few, if any Germans in Louisiana at that date, and it is doubtful if one was a member of the company. Be that as it may have been, Burbridge, Carter and Weed were about the only members who were not “loyal,” and the other members were deeply chagrined at the loss of the guns....”