Part of the problem is that the Confederate behind-Yankee-lines recruiting and guerrilla operations advanced to the point in 1864 that a recruiting command in one area may have used some Confederate soldiers from another part of the state working in the recruiting party. Most of the time recruiters and their subordinates operated in their home area for obvious reasons, but it seems there were exceptions.

LTC Thornton's command mostly involved southern men from Platte, Buchanan, Clinton, and Clay Counties, but some men from as far away as Ray, Davies, DeKalb, and Andrew Counties could have joined, too.

The west-central Missouri guerrillas formerly under Quantrill (deposed in late May or early June 1864) provided security for Thornton's new soldiers throughout the summer of 1864, both during the buildup and uprising and even after overwhelming Union force pushed Thornton's command south of the Missouri River to Jackson and Lafayette Counties by August. They were sheltered and protected in Lafayette and Jackson Counties by George Todd and his bushwhackers and various southern sympathizers for several days in August until they were refitted for the long ride south to the Confederate army in Arkansas. Perhaps Palmer could have been part of the guerrilla force, which in 1864 was composed of guys mostly from Jackson, Cass, Lafayette, Johnson, Clay, and Saline Counties, with small numbers from other places.

I don't think the Palmer from the Boone County area could have been involved, because there was already a huge Confederate recruiting command working there at this same time. That would have involved any Rebel who formerly worked with J. Drury Pulliam, John Brown, and especially COL Sidney D. Jackman (who at this time was commanding regular troops in north Arkansas).

The John N. Palmer from Slayback's regiment and with Morgan County connections is a possibility. The Morgan County guerrilla band that operated in Morgan, Cooper, and Moniteau Counties that summer grew quiet in August 1864. They got into a house burning contest with northern sympathizers in northeast Morgan County which attracted the attention of the local Union citizen guard and the local Union provost marshal office. This was a small band not known to number more than about fifteen men, and they were strangely quiet in August. Maybe some of their guys could have ridden west to Lafayette County to assist Thornton, although I have not seen evidence of that yet. Hrf knows a lot about this bunch, and may wish to comment on this.

I give this as background to help narrow the search. The "Palmer" name was common in Missouri during the 1860s, but there were only a few households of them in west Missouri, according to the 1860 census.

It is possible that this officer's real name was not Palmer, so I'm not going to beat myself up over this if an obvious Palmer doesn't pop out at us. If it doesn't fit, you must acquit...hmm, sounds familiar.