The Missouri in the Civil War Message Board

Jennison & Morgan Co., MO info.

A couple of yrs. ago, I was given a lot of material on Cole Camp, MO, and the battle there where many German Union Soldiers were killed in a barn. A Robert Owens (former college teacher and newspaper man) had written a great deal and since he had it so thoroughly covered, I thought it was logical for him to also do the follow-up for the MO Historical Review Magazine.

One item I noted in the material, Joe Baughman (Stover/Cole Camp area) gave me, told of a couple of men in a timberline waiting for soldiers to come. One of the men told about drawing down on several soldiers on horseback in a field. He was going to shoot the leader, but his companion knocked down his weapon. Later he found the prospective target was Jennison and he wished he had shot him.

This occured somewhere near Cole Camp. Jennison was one of the KS men who came into MO on many occasions. I have no idea where the reference was found (I had all the recent newspaper accounts written by Owens, several Cole Camp History books, and several German area books, so it would be a chore to wade through the material again.

Since the MO-KS border wars have been refought on this message board, thought someone might be interested.

I am from Morgan Co., MO. We have a 50th C.W. Reunion photo taken at Versailles at our Morgan Co. Historical Society Museum.

There are veterans from both sides in the photo. Centered in the picture is Henry Clay Thruston, featured as "The World's Tallest Man" at 7 ft. 7 1/2 inches tall. His 2 nephews were killed one at Pea Ridge, ARK, Joseph at the Battle of Elkhorn Tavern and Josiah Walton Thurston died of wounds in a Vicksburg, LA, hospital. He was 15 at the time of death, buried at Vicksburg. All Confederates.

The two boys' father retrieved the bodies and buried the remains at Versailles, MO, city cemetery, after the war. I personally think the Pea Ridge son KIA may only have a marker, as the burials at Pea Ridge in front of the tavern were of the mass-grave type, according to my information.

At Pea Ridge there were also several other Morgan County young Confederate men death dates listed on the same day: (March 7, 1862) Root, Buel T. KIA at Pea Ridge; West, J. Martin KIA; Willson, Napoleon KIA.

The young men of Morgan County, MO, seemed to go as groups of friends and stayed pretty much together until wounded, discharged, captured, or killed.

We have no Union men listed as killed at Pea Ridge, ARK, for that day, but at other places and other dates.

There were recruitment offices/officials for Union sympathizers. There were no official Confederate recruitment offices in the county. The guys seem to have gone to join Gen. Price's army, journeyed to the S. or to other counties to sign-up.

The ratio of those listed as serving from the county are about 6 to one in favor of the Union. Since Confederates enlisted elsewhere, it is assumed some were not credited to their county of origin. One of our young doctors (19 at the time of conscription into the Confederate Army as a surgeon) furthered his trade by amputating limbs. He went to medical school after the war (Dr. Orsigno Williams)

In the county, there were over 100 incidents of oneriness back and forth. No one side or organized army seems to get credit for all that happened bad during the war years.

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Jennison & Morgan Co., MO info.
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