The Missouri in the Civil War Message Board

Red Legs Info - Comments
In Response To: Re: Question ()

Thanks very much for sending your write-up. It was good reading and contained some very interesting excerpts from source materials. Thought I would share a few comments here.

You say the red legs were "first in line" of the men sought during the Lawrence raid. Based on your references, it is clear they were sought, but I would still maintain Lane was almost certainly first in line.

It is interesting on how much discrepancy there is in the various accounts of the red legs in Lawrence. Before the raid, Mayor Collamore reportedly "talked almost incessantly" against the red legs "and their doings along the Missouri border". A second (Watson) states years after the raid "they still reside here" but "the majority of them acted on the defensive". A third (Simspon) claims that "Lawrence has never been the special haunt of red legs".

I think a big part of the confusion with the red legs is that it was a term that was used for three different (but overlapping) groups of men. I think the article by Matthews and Lindberg(?) is the best thing I have seen in print on what the red legs were.

In assessing Jennison's connection to the red legs, if you leave out Jennison's freighting business in Leavenworth, I think you leave out something significant. (See Starr's analysis of Jennison as a red leg leader.)

You state "its a matter of which side you favor whether Jennison was a criminal or a hero". While that may be close (too close) to the truth, I think it is important to note that the Union Command, by virtue of the court martial and dishonorable discharge of Jennison following the 15ths purusit of Price into Arkansas, came down on the side of criminal.

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Red Legs in Missouri
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Re: MORE RED LEGS
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Question
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Red Legs Info - Comments
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Not a Special Haunt?
Re: Not a Special Haunt?
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Found It
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Better Link
Re: Found It
Re: Not a Special Haunt?
Re: Not a Special Haunt?
Leavenworth Times 11-19-63
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Re: Leavenworth Times 11-19-63
Re: Red Legs in Missouri