I am particularly fond of Carolyn Bartels, her sister Mrs. Eakin, and their Two Trails Publishing and all their contributions to Missouri Civil War resources. Their books are of immense value, and they took pity on this poor author a few years back and published one of mine, too.

The September 1, 1864 Tipton raid was by George Todd's band aided by Dave Poole and his smaller band, and they headed down through Cooper County immediately afterwards where they performed more damage.

The September 10 raiding in NE Cooper County you cited from Bartels' "Civil War Day by Day" is what I was referring to as the guerrilla horse stealing raid that brought Lieutenant Kerr and his command of the 4th Cavalry MSM from Sedalia to Cooper County. The "Official Records" quoted someone in Cooper County to say that the guerrillas were commanded by a Captain Taylor. The only Taylor commanding guerrillas this year in this region of Missouri was Charles Fletcher "Fletch" Taylor, but I have a problem with him being in command of those men on 10 September. You see, "Fletch" Taylor, a former Quantrill man, was badly wounded on August 8 returning from the Confederate Council of War held for guerrilla chiefs in north Lafayette County. Taylor's companions had to kidnap a local doctor who amputated Taylor's arm. I know Taylor is tough, but I cannot conceive of him being up to mounted operations by September 10. I could be wrong, and Taylor was back leading mounted operations a few days after that in the same region, but I have my personal doubts he was physically capable of leading combat that soon. Even Bill Anderson required about three weeks of convalescence after his August 14 leg wound in Carroll County, and I assess he was very anxious to get back in command of his men after hearing that his brother Jim got some of them killed by carelessness. Anderson didn't lose his leg in the deal, either, but Taylor lost his arm. It's really a poor comparison, but I still hold to my theory that Taylor was not yet up to combat operations by September 10 after losing his arm on August 8 or 9.

I have my own pet theory about why those guerrilas said they were Taylor's men in Cooper County. They actually were Taylor's men. When "Fletch" Taylor was wounded, he sent word to Anderson to please take over his band waiting for him in Clay and Ray Counties until he was able to lead them and Anderson did just that. From about August 9 through at least September Anderson actually commanded his own men and Taylor's men, as requested. As of September 10, Anderson's amalgamated band was in south Howard County, and I recall from my research that at least some of them were idle about September 10. My theory is when those men crossed the Missouri River (which was extremely low that summer and fall due to drought) and went horse stealing in Cooper County, some citizen asked them whose band they were. I surmise that one of the guerrillas correctly asserted that they were Captain Taylor's men. At least it makes sense to me.

Bruce