A team of five bushwhackers on 27 May 1865 killed farmer Jacob Good and his teenage son Jeremiah Good at their northeast Cooper County farm and left a note stating:

"Done in revenge for Buck Odeal. For every bushwhacker that is killed, I will kill fifty."

Evidently, the note was unsigned. Does anyone have an idea who this Buck Odeal was? His surname may have been "Odell," "Odle," "Odneal," or some such, too. I tried to find this guy in the 1860 census and in the online Missouri State Archives military records files, with no luck. I figure Buck was a returning Confederate veteran or guerrilla, and the five pals of his had it in for the Goods for something they did earlier in the war, and after Buck's death, they decided to kill somebody. After shooting Jacob Good, the killers left the above note by his body and upon entering the house another son of Jacob's shot one of the five and they immediately left. Don't know if the guerrilla shot was killed or only wounded.

My sources for this account are the 1919 and 1937 Cooper County histories and a short article in the 2 June 1865 issue of the Columbia "Missouri Statesman" which erred by calling the farmer "Jacob Olden," but the few other details given match the Good family killings. This "Missouri Statesman" article is the only source for the note left by Jacob Good's body. I also began to share facts about this with a Larry Good via the Internet in 2001 while he was away in the service from his 1998 query in the Genforum.com "Missouri" forum, but after a brief, pleasant exchange he failed to reply again.

About this same time, according to the 1889 Morgan County history, unknown parties hung to death Joe JOLLY and Humphrey COTTY or CODY at Mt. Carmel Church seven miles south of Syracuse in north Morgan County. I have a theory that the same men who conducted the murder raid on the Good farm killed these guys, too, but can't prove it. Also, I couldn't find a thing to help me identify JOLLY and COTTY or whomever hung them, either.

I have a theory about where and how this Buck Odeal was killed, but it is only a theory. During April and May 1865 several groups of returning Confederate soldiers and guerrillas rode northbound through Laclede, Pulaski, Camden, Morgan, and Miller Counties guided by perhaps several former Morgan County guerrillas, but Union records in the "Official Records" series 1, vol. 48, parts 1 and 2 specifically name Mark Stevenson or Stephenson, who for a while earlier in the war led the Morgan County guerrilla band. These northbound groups hoped that by crossing this rough country where Lake of the Ozarks now lies they could cross the wide Osage River where the Union troops would not expect them, and the key was to use guides who knew the country. Two of these several groups of 25 to 60 riders met disaster while crossing this area. One of those groups met disaster on 22 April at Mining Post in southeast Morgan County and lost at least 10 to 20 men when a Union cavalry patrol caught them before all of their men had crossed the Osage and several drowned trying to get away from the Yanks. A second group met disaster about the middle of May in southwest Miller County when local militia killed at least 16 in one bunch. I think this Buck Odeal was in the 22 April group, because another band that also rode through this area the third week of May took a few days out and deliberately sought out discharged Union soldiers and miitiamen and killed them "in revenge for Confederate soldiers who drowned in the Osage River earlier" as they told residents. These southerners killed at least 10 or more. This group of 46 southerners completed their killing detour through Laclede, Camden, Dallas, Hickory, and Benton Counties about May 21 or 22 and then continued their trip north to wherever they were headed. I think, but cannot prove, that this latter group included the five riders who raided the Good farm and maybe killed others in the Morgan, Cooper, and Moniteau County area during the latter days of May 1865. I suspect these were local men since they knew about the Good family and seemed to know their way around. Perhaps one of them was Mark Stevenson or Stephenson.

If Buck Odeal was one of these traveling southerners, he could have hailed from anywhere in central, NW, or NE Missouri, since these traveling groups of 25 to 60 men were from all over the place and were traveling together for mutual protection. Maybe one of the Morgan County area men befriended Buck on their long trip north, and took it upon himself to avenge his death.

Sadly, these traveling groups had no knowledge of the surrender arrangements being made in early May until they arrived at their destinations. If they had, it would have saved lots of lives. A double tragedy.

What about it? Can anybody help me identify Buck Odeal? or Joe Jolly? or Humphrey Cotty or Cody? Does anyone have any more about their deaths, especially the date of their deaths?

Bruce Nichols