Good work. Five of these men are buried in the Hopewell Cemetery. I researched all the Civil War veterans graves in this cemetery last year and added about two dozen to the known list. The Cemetery is in findagrave.com with Hopewell being in Washington Co., Mo. Henry C. Beckett is buried there with a death date of 8/22/1864. He served in Co. C 31st Missouri Infantry, this Co. being heavily recruited in that area from DeSoto, Mo. Also the John Forshee was also in Co. C 31st Missouri. Will, Elbert Thompson and W. H. Evans round out the group buried there. Quite a few of the other names are familiar to me as well. A curiosity is that John Highley's first wife was a Jamison. Wonder if John Jamison was a relative? The Washington Co. Battalion and the 32nd EMM were active in this area and most of the rest served in those organizations.

I spoke with a Highley descendant this past week who theorized that John Highley had his own gang separate from Hildebrand and I am trying to find evidence to support that. It makes sense. bob