From the Newark Advocate (Newark, Ohio) October 11, 1861. Reprinted for the Chicago Tribune. "Mr. Mills [J. H. Mills, a member of General Lane's Kansas Brigade] "brings us the details of the late affair at Osceola, in which Lane and Montgomery were engaged. They left West Point, Lane's headquarters, two weeks ago yesterday, and, by a forced march of eighty miles, came in sight of Osceola on Saturday morning. The command was divided, Montgomery leading the first division and 1,500, Lane in command of the reserves. As Montgomery approached the town by a road at the bottom of a ravine, he was fired upon by a squad with two cannon on the high ground, where the road rises to the plain. The line of fire was in the direction of the length of our column, but the grapeshot flew over our boys' heads, without touching a single man. A charge of cavalry was ordered, and in two minutes the guns were in our possession, the rebels fleeing like so many sheep.
Entering the town, the command was fired upon by seceshers concealed in houses along the streets, and on reaching the public square a sharp skirmish ensued to dislodge them, during which two of our men were killed and three wounded, the enemy meanwhile losing seventeen killed and twenty-seven wounded. Resistance at last ceased, and Lane, who had come up, to punish the treachery which had shot down his men after the troops had fled the field, adopted severe measures. He loaded all the wagons he could find with the army material which was stored there by Price for safety and distribution when needed, then securing the public records of the county, set fire to the place and burned it, leaving only three houses standing. With his immense train of supplies, three hundred and fifty horses and mules, four hundred head of Price's cattle, large droves of sheep and swine, with as many 'contrabands' as he could employ, he made his way to West Point [West Port] unpursued.
Among his prisoners was one Marcellus Harris, Price's Commissary, who, being the murderer of Dr. Sharp, in Kansas, in 1856, will have a hard road to travel. - He is the richest man in St. Clair county, and more desperate than wealthy. It was understood that he was to be tried by a court martial for his horrible offenses against peaceable Union men, and that he would be shot."
The following however seems to be a more likely history than previously reported dealings of Mr. Harris, a biography of St Clair County pioneers published in 1940 St Clair Democrat:
"HARRIS, Marcellus James
Marcellus James (Doc) Harris - Second son of Samuel Woods Harris and Sarah Miner Ware was born in Albermarle County, Virginia, February 11, 1826 and died in St. Clair County, Missouri January 16, 1862. He came, with his parents, from Kentucky in 1840 and was one of the most colorful characters of the county. He was high-strung, hot-headed, an excellent shot and quick on the draw. He often drank more than was good for him but his many estimable qualities endeared him to a host of friends. His fiancee broke their engagement early in 1850 some six weeks before their marriage. While brooding over his misfortune it is said that Mr. Harris sought to drown his sorrow in the Sac one misty night but was overtaken and rescued by his father’s slaves. He went west to the gold fields but was back in St. Clair county by 1852 brought home, no doubt by news of his fathers death in February that year.
He was at his parents’ home on the Vista road, which he designated in letters he wrote as Osceola Prairie. This place was left by Samuel Woods Harris to his wife and to their youngest son, Edwin E. Harris. Marcellus was left two tracts of land his father had owned in Hickory County, one fourth of the slaves and a one-third interest in a house and lot in Osceola. In 1856, Marcellus Harris and Dr. Elijah Smith, who lived beyond Roscoe, became involved in a quarrel in the Weidemeyer Store in Osceola. They both drew their pistols and fired. Dr. Smith was shot and killed. Mr. Harris was tried and acquitted. The defense was conducted by Waldo P. Johnson. Marcellus J. Harris was married in 1859 to Olive Johnson (1837-1909), sister of Judge Johnson. They made their home on an estate out the Roscoe road, south of the Shady Grove school house, which is now part of the Kiefer holdings. In May 1861, Marcellus Harris was one of the signers of the appeal to citizens of St. Clair County to remain calm. At the outbreak of hostilities, Mr. Harris joined the Missouri State Guard and was in action at Drywood Creek in Vernon County September 7, 1861 where he was seen to drop any enemy within rifle range at 600 yards. He was back in Osceola at the time of Lane’s raid on Osceola some two weeks later. The day after the town was burned Marcellus Harris had a quarrel with Capt. William L. Vaughn of Osceola over the payment of the latter’s note to his brother, Aurealis Harris. This had been promised in gold and was now offered in paper. The argument became heated and threats were uttered as the two men separated to go home for lunch. Some time later, Mr. Harris returning on horseback, with a shotgun, met Capt. Vaughn coming from one of the stores in town and fired, instantly killing him. Clark Vaughn, son of Capt. Vaughn, is said to have fired four or five times at Mr. Harris but missed him. There was no indictment owing to the unsettled state of affairs. Some two months later, in November or December 1861, Marcellus Harris was shot from ambush as he was accompanying Col. Tutt on horseback out the Roscoe Road to the camp of Price’s army, with which he was serving.
There was considerable speculation as to who fired the shot. Some thought it was Capt. Vaughn’s son, George, later killed in the attack on Stockton in Cedar County and some thought it was the soldier who swore vengeance when reprimanded and struck by Marcellus Harris for trespassing on his brother’s place. No one was ever indicted. The wounded man was carried to the Aurealius Harris place nearby on Sac River and there he lingered in great suffering until his death in January, 1862. He was buried in an unmarked grave in the family plot on his father’s old place.The children of Marcellus Harris and Olive Johnson were Katherine Harris (1860-62) and Laura Harris, born after her father’s death August 25, 1862. Mrs. Marcellus Harris was with the Sutherlands that January of 1863 when the home was burned and Mr. Sutherland was killed by federal Militiamen. They took refuge at the home of Aurealius Harris, their nearest kinsman, and soon afterwards Mrs. Harris returned to her father’s home in Harrison County, Virginia. She was so altered in appearance from what she had been through that her family scarcely recognized her. -- St. Clair County Democrat, 30 May 1940"
If one parses the later history it appears that the Dr Smith of the second (killed in 1856 by Harris) is likely the Dr. Sharp of the first account. It appears that Harris was not taken prisoner or if he was, quickly made his escape.
And the story of Sutherland's burning out:
Nine miles west of Collins on Highway 54 is the Sac River Bridge. It was the first bridge built about a block north of the last. The abutments and the old road are still there. The old road running east of the bridge was very steep and rocky. A good team would be needed to maneuver this road. The original El Dorado – Collins road is still used east of the present road. On the west side of the old bridge, a side road ran next to the river. About a half mile down this road would have brought you to the water mill and a small settlement. Old man Ward settled on a piece of land on the west side of the Sac River. Dr. Cox and Avery B. Howard built a mill on Ward’s land in 1841. This was the first water mill in the county and was known as Howard’s Mill or the Ritchey Mill. It was with one exception, the only mill of the kind in the county for several years....The mill was owned just before and at the beginning of the Civil War by William R. Ritchey and his partner, U.L. Sutherland, both natives of Kentucky who arrived in St. Clair County before 1840. They also had a large store in connection with the only mill. William R. Ritchey eventually moved onto land south of Osceola, close to the Harris Plantation. U.L. Sutherland had a large house about ½ mile southwest of the river bridge. He was probably responsible for the starting of a school in the area, Cole-Hampton-Riverview. He had several slaves. Some of the rock foundations are still visible on the north side of the present road, about one block west of the bridge. On the night of Jan. 9, 1863, several riders came to his house looking for his gold and called him out to kill him. He told them they could kill him but not his soul. They let his wife keep a team, then shot him and burned their house. The riders told his wife they would come back and kill whoever buried him. His wife and children went to one of his slave’s cabins and stayed until they took her husband and buried him at the George’s Cemetery (Harris Plantation Cemetery). His father-in-law was Major Edwin Eugene Harris. A number of his young children are buried there along with William R. Ritchey and his family. Mrs. Sutherland later went north and the family doesn’t know what happened to her. U.L. did have a large amount of gold, which Mrs. Sutherland tied around the children’s neck and escaped with it. The family said her hair turned white in one night. A small battle was fought there at the mill on Oct. 13, 1862. A small unit of the Southern Army took over a short time and began to mill their flour. A union force of 50 men under General U.R. Parsons took the mill back and began to mill their flour and meal." St. Clair County Courier, 10 November 2000
John R.