That's very interesting stuff. A dozen or so years ago--back in the days of the last century before this data was available online--that document was floating around the SEMO historical community. Lou Wehmer forwarded a copy to me way back when. The names listed were useful in using to obtain copies of prisoner's statements that the Ripley County Confederates had to complete after their capture. Back then Bryan Howerton was kind enough to provide me with synopses of the prisoner statements, which are interesting both for what they say, and do not say.

For those who have not accessed the provost marshal documents, the report Bob is referring to was made by the notorious Federal Capt. William T. Leeper. He reported on the prisoners captured in Ripley County on Dec. 25, 1863, who he knew. Those who he did know, he listed by name and made comments such as guerrilla, bushwhacker, thief, violator of oath, bad man, house robber. Demonizes them. Said they shouldn't be treated as soldiers. Leeper also spoke of the personal animosity between the men in his own company and Tim Reeves men and that the prisoners should be dealt with in the same way the prisoners would have dealt with him and the men in his own company if the tables were turned.

The c.o. at Pilot Knob, Col. Richard G. Woodson, forwarded the report on to St. Louis and asked that the prisoners be moved from Pilot Knob to St. Louis--Woodson basically provided 3 reasons for moving them--1)the prisoners knew every foot of ground between Pilot Knob and central Arkansas; 2) His guard house facilities were inadequate to deal with the severe weather that had moved in; and, 3) his observation that Leeper 'carries his personal feelings of animosity towards his enemies a little too far.'

Leeper's admission of personal animosity towards these men, (as well as Col. Woodson's own personal observations on the matter), have been the basis of a number of postings I have made on this board regarding Leeper's propensities towards his enemies.

Anyway, here is The Rest of the Story--The Ripley County prisoners actually were sent up to St. Louis, as per Col. Woodson's request. Their names show up in a series of prison reports in the St. Louis press as being moved to Gratiot Prison in early January. In his book, "Camp and Prison Journal," Confederate Griffin Frost also makes an oblique reference to the prisoners coming into Gratiot in early January. Frost, who mingled with the Ripley County prisoners, also addresses the subsequent execution of Major James Wilson and a handful of his men--says it was in retaliation for Wilson's men executing of a like number of Confederate prisoner (Leeper had executed a similar number of Confederates the previous fall).

Back to the original subject--in regard to Col. Woodson's report to his superiors that his prisoner facilities were inadequate to deal with the severe weather--newspaper reports tell us that a cold front moved in the last week of December 1863 that dropped the temperature around 85 degrees between Dec. 27 1863 and Jan. 1 1864. That's not a misprint. One day it's a balmy Indian Summer 60 degrees...a couple of days later it's 25 below zero. It was reported to be the coldest weather since 1832.