The Union troop disposition report for 30 June 1864 says that the 4th Cavalry MSM was headquartered in Sedalia (O.R., series 1, vol. 34, part 4, pp. 623, 625), but does not say where the subordinate parts were stationed. Sadly, there was no such detailed troop disposition report for the end of July 1864, as the Yanks only did this at the end of every other month at this time. I know that Captain Parke and his company of this regiment were garrisoned in Boonville, Cooper County. The 4th was part of the District of Central Missouri at that time and would not officially have any business north of the Missouri River since that was the Union District of North Missouri. Captain Parke freelanced with 44 men of his company to their doom 28 August 1864 by crossing the river to patrol in south Howard County August 28, 1864, and Bill Anderson, Holtzclaw, and Bill Stewart enticed and trapped his 44-man patrol with dire consequences near Rocheport. All this is to say that I don't believe those two dead men on 16 July 1864 on the Fayette Road in south Randolph County were part of the 4th Cavalry MSM.

I agree with you that if the two dead men belonged to either the guerrillas or the Union military, someone from their unit would go back, with heavy escort if necessary, and bury their comrades. Therefore, I conclude the two dead men were civilians. They could be militia of the EMM variety or citizens guards in accordance with General Rosecrans General Orders Number 107 given earlier that summer, but I would guess civilians.

Yes, when guerrillas killed somebody, they did not usually hide the body, but left it out as a warning to everybody not to mess with them. They were into the psychological end of things in their day.

I think there was a Macon weekly newspaper late in the war, but I have never seen evidence of it. The "Howard County Advertiser" was a weekly Fayette newspaper, and I have used a few issues that survive on microfilm. I catalogued any of it I could find for my use, but I may not have seen all there is of it. The Columbia "Missouri Statesman" weekly survives in entirety on microfilm, and I have used it quite a bit. It carries Howard County news, but I have not seen this story in it.

Bruce