Thank you for reply, information and suggestions.

01. I did not provide specifics because I was only hoping for generic suggestions of the way in which this group of experts might know that 'penalties were extracted' by the various persons who occupied the Provost Marshal positions in Missouri and St. Louis over the time span of1861-1866. I did not want to ask anyone to perform any specific searches on my behalf.

02. That said, and still mostly asking for general guidance, but most happy to have specific factual document fall into my hands if they might, here's some particulars:

A. Ebenzer Annan Corbet, came to St. Louis from Evansville, Ind., in 1854 where he had been engaged in various 'merchant' enterprises. He established the E.A. Corbet, Harness & Saddlery, company which is traceable via various Kennedy/Edwards directory entries over the next twney years.

B. As his mother-in-law from Louisville, Mary Eliza Tillaye, lived with him until her demise, our usual view is that all the Tillayes [who are found living with Corbets, and vice-versa over the next three available census records [1860-80] came more-or-less together after two significant events at that time: i.) the death of Francis B. Tillaye in Lousiville, and ii.) the death of the Corbet's first child as an infant. Mrs. Corbet was Catherine Tillay.

C. Two of her brothers, Frank W. Tillay and Frank T. Tillay established their own 'merchant' businesses in St. Louis and are similarly visible in the directories and census records. Frank W. is the brother-in-law:

i. found in the list of Disloyal Citizens;

ii. incarcerated at Myrtle and Gratiot prisons for being involved with medicine probably passed to Southern contacts, along with his then business partner W.A. Clendenin [The Clendenins leave their rebel footprints almost everywhere in Missouri and Kentucky, which is not to blame Fank's problems on his partner, but is to provide probably helpful facts relative to the extent of his problems with the Provost Marshal.];

iii. was required to post the $12,000 bond that I suspect he may eventually have forfeited; because

iv. a history of Benton County, AK, awards him the rank of Col. Frank Tillay in a biographical reference that is otherwise accurate, except we have no idea when he showed up 'down there' [I think he had a positive 'reconstruction era' business venture and might have embellished his own credentials over a beer some night.]

D. Frank W. Tillay married Mary Jameson Renick [after she had previously been married to his younger brother William, the daughter of Robert Mary Renick. Robert can be found in many of the primary St. Louis sources and will often be found in family trees as being a descendant of the famous Rencks Virginia and Ohio in the 1750-1810 time frame. Whether that genealogy is correct of just fun mythology need not detain us here, on his own accord, Robert was a very successful gentleman throughout his life:

i. born in Springfield, Ohio, about 1813;

ii. graduated 11th in his 1835 class at West Point;

iii. was an engineer involved in the construction of early railroads in the Southeast;

iv. came to St. Louis about 1845;

v. became a very successful real estate agent and banker;
vi. was a Captain in the Missouri Militia;
vii. seemingly did not go to New Mexico with General Price, but was otherwise closely associated with him both in their military and in their political ventures in Missouri in the 1850s.

E. The assertion that he was a part of the Knights of the Golden Circle comes from Page 296 of the Official Records of the Rebellion [I am sorry I cannot at the moment find the precise citation as I was only able to make JPG images of some pages; I believe it is Series II, Volume 7, just from memory, but it is whichever volume has most of the records concerning "The Prisoners of War".] which shows his arrest as a member of the Order of American Knights.

F. In addition to many other first-class places where Robert M. Renick can be found, the most useful to me is in those Provost Marshal records that I am accessing because of the index that is being created by the Missouri Secy of State. After being told that I could only get one citation per email, with an expected turn-around-time from a volunteer work force of 3-4 weeks, I had to give up since I had over two-dozen key index 'hits' concerning Mssrs Corbet, Tillany and Renick. Someone in the NARA facility nearest me explained that those microfilm reels are mostly just kept in Kansas City as being of presumed, mostly-local interest, but helped me cross-reference five reel numbers to those used by the LDS. It took three months -- since keeping track of 'disloyal citizens' is not high on the list of reasons for good Mormons to be interested in my relatives -- but I finally got one good microfilm reel covering the individual named Robert M. Renick. So, most of what I now know about the gentleman comes from his own handwritten documents, and he was a Copperhead through and through. Indeed, sad to say, his eldest daughter died at Sault Ste. Marie early in August, 1864. Robert's Parole Orders limiting his travel to the St. Louis vicinity, had been modified by Genl Rosecranz to allow his attendance at the 1864 Democratic Convention in Chicago -- with all the "Dark Intrique" that van der Linden writes about. His daughter was probably able to make contacts that he could not make since he was so closely watched.

03. So, that's the precise cast of characters, and I hope it will help anyone who might have some ideas. To recapitulate:

A. I am trying to find out why Ebenezer Corbet was reduced to virtual poverty.

B. Whether or not, directly or indirectly, his own indiscretions, or those of his relatives, might have resulted in his being required to yield title to his land holdings with no compensation.

Thanks for your interest and assistance.