Here are some primary sources I put together on the Wilson matter:

When ten local guerrillas raided Florence, north Morgan County, on 9 July 1863, the Jefferson City "Missouri State Times" of 1 August 1863 listed the raiders as Jack and Mat Smith, Robert Wilson, Tom Jobe, and Young Harrison, but the article writer evidently did not know the names of the others. The guerrillas murdered two men and wounded a third while women screamed, and the guerrillas also robbed stores and individuals. The part about killing the two men is mentioned in the 1889 Morgan County history on page 418, but gives few details.

The St. Louis "Daily Missouri Democrat" of 16 October 1863 details a raid on Versailles by ten local guerrillas led by Tom Jobe and mentioned a Bill Wilson.

The "Official Records" ("O.R." series 1, vol. 41, part II, pp. 311, 376) has a report by the Union commander at Sedalia, Pettis County, that reported Brownlee's and Wilson's guerrillas on the evening of 20 July 1864 nine miles south of Tipton in west Moniteau County killed three men who had witnessed against their comrade Paddy Mullins, before his execution that spring. Either Susan or Mary has referred more details about this triple murder to this forum earlier in this thread. Notice that the distant Union officer referred to the Morgan County area guerrillas as those of "Brownlee and Wilson," meaning that at some time some of these men followed Attorney Charles Brownlee in that area and at some time they followed a Wilson, too.

Mary, my guess is that Bill Wilson and not a "Robert Wilson" was that man, but I am not sure.

I do know that at different times this band had different men as leaders. I have seen a Stephenson mentioned, too, and others.

I wonder if the Chastain men who led local guerrillas on the Osage River in central Benton County had something to do with these guerrillas, too, and there is something about the Smith brothers working with the Chastians. White's 1971 "Bitter Ground" printed in Clinton by The Printery refers to this, but not in great detail.

The matter of the Morgan County guerrillas was not well documented, so it is hard to be sure of who was who in these "doings." After all, it's easy to throw names at it, but that does not make it so.

Bruce Nichols