Yes, this is definitely another one of those "hit team" assassinations from that mysterious bunch of Union soldiers from the Springfield garrison. Only now we have the identity of two of them, the Harshbargers of the 6th Provisional EMM Regiment (at the time of the murders in July and August 1863). Perhaps the rest of their murderous team are from that regiment, too. Maybe not. Good work as usual, John.

Teresa, I am trying to pin down Hugh Franklin Brown in the 1860 census, based on the clues you gave. Since you say he was killed "just south of Ash Grove" that places the death near west-central Greene County near the junction of Dade and Lawrence Counties. There are lots and lots of Brown households in all three counties, but, assuming your Hugh Franklin Brown was the head of household, I narrowed the search to two possibilities.

One possibility is H. H. Brown in Buck Prairie Township in Lawrence County. Farmer H. H. Brown was born in TN, 37-years-old, and had a wife and eight children, all of them apparently were born in TN, too, including the two-year-old baby of the family.

I tend to side with the second of the two Brown households in Polk Township of east-central Dade County: Tennessee-born, 33-year-old, farmer Hugh T. Brown, 25-year-old, Tennessee-born, wife Margaret and three children all born in Missouri. The kids are Thomas K. Brown (3 years old), John Brown (1 year old), and Nancy Brown (2 months old at the time the census taker visited the Browns). Please tell us your great grandfather's name ("...was just an infant when his father was killed out fixing a fence.") and we can clearly establish which of the many Brown families we need to see. I am particularly interested in his state of birth, which can be an important clue in telling us why someone went to the trouble to murder him.

I combed the online Missouri military service records for Hugh Franklin Brown under various combinations and spellings and found nothing. Sometimes one side would kill a guy because he served earlier in the war on the other side, but I could find nothing like that in this instance.

Please tell me which 1860 Missouri census record is your family, and your great grandfather's name to ensure the accuracy.

Bruce

P. S. John, did you realize that Samuel A. Harshbarger was held and threatened on 6 October 1863 at the time that Shelby's great Missouri raid was galloping through this very area? Perhaps some of those men he sued were part of Shelby's command. I didn't take the time to check out their names to see if they had service in any of the Confederate regiments of the famous "Iron Brigade."