I explored Hickok's questionable activities with the Union army while he was at Springfield, MO with another researcher, but we felt we failed to come up with enough pertinent detail to write anything but conjecture. If you think you have it, by all means, you should write and publish this to add to the body of knowledge. I recall from my reading that later in life Hickok referred to something like regrettable activities in which he participated while stationed there. I assume this is in line with what you are seeking.

Please look at the chapters on SW MO in "Guerrilla Warfare in Civil War Missouri, vol. II, 1863" to see the hard-to-document activities of a Union army assassin team that operated out of the Springfield at least during July and August 1863 (pages 162-3, 168, and perhaps other places). The provost marshal office there had to have a hand in this, so I believe you are on the right track. I'm still working on my 1864 volume, so I haven't put that kind of activity together yet for that year. The 1863 book has only episodic material from descendants about Union cavalry riding into barnyards or crop fields and gunning down southern sympathizers for several counties around Springfield. From the actions of this hit team they seemed to be operating from a kill list. The descendants of these killed southerners had only dates and places of death and eyewitness accounts about the blue-clad horsemen, but all of them put together seem to indicate a pattern. Feel free to cite the 1863 book. There is contact information in the notes for present-day descendant researchers of the murdered men for verification.

A likely officer for such work was 1LT John R. Kelso of the 8th Cavalry MSM, known as a ruthless but cool-headed hunter of bushwhackers in that region (see pages 169-170).

This is a fascinating project just waiting for a serious historian ready to find the documentation.

Bruce Nichols