Major John F Rucker was a protege of Jackman and appears to have been quite active. He is reported killed in 1863 after being caught drunk on a steamer on the Missouri River. However..... In trying to track down John H Winston while working on Joe Darby's relative Cpl John H Baker Co A 10th Missouri Inf. CSA I stumble across an interesting mess of papers that seemed to confuse the daylights out of the Provost Marshal in St. Louis as well as the index and card copiers in 1908. The file got "red jacketed" and placed in the heap of Miscellaneous Papers of CSA Citizens. Seems that Col. John H Winston, Pvt. Samuel L Winston, and Major John F Rucker were captured in Platte Co Missouri in June 1864. They end up at Gratiot and a Military tribunal is held and they are all sentenced to 10 years hard labor and transfered in "Ball and Chain" to Alton where they are to remain until transfered to Missouri State Peniteniary in June 1865. What struck me is that there appears to be a concerted effort to deny Col Winston the protections of a commisioned CSA officer and finally he is reported at end of war as a "citizen". All 3 appear to have headed to the Mo State Pen at Jeff City and the military document trail goes cold there. All three reported themselves as members of the 1st Regt Missouri Rifles, which I don't think actually ever was, when captured. Rucker is reported as being from Boone County, previously captured at Camden, paroled, captured St.Louis, escaped 1863 which fits what we know of his Jackman time. So did Rucker actually survive the wounds he reportedly received Sept 8 1863 when he was left for dead with a local doctor???

What happened to Rucker and the 2 Winstons at Jeff City? Did they survive the trip? What generated such angst against them that they were in essence thrown in a cell and the key thrown away? It strikes me that these guys got more than the normal punishment for commissioned officers recruiting in the woods of Missouri during the war. I can understand Rucker wanting to be buried because he must have appeared as a ghost to the PM in St. Louis and Union Command, but the other 2?

John R.