Good. I'm glad that information is of use to you.

If you have "the first 2" books I assume you already have the 1862 and the 1863 book in the "Guerrilla Warfare in Civil War Missouri" series. The Dr. Benson paragraph is in the 1863 book in Chapter 18 on page 316 with the sources listed in endnote number 61 on page 359. I am now completing the third and final book in this series covering 1864 and the first six months of 1865, which I hope to ship to the publisher soon. The only other book I wrote is the 2002 softback "Johnson County Missouri During the Civil War" published by Two Trails Publishing in Independence, Missouri which does not address Dr. Benson.

I should add that the State of Missouri investigation into the conduct of the militia censured the local Union commander who executed Dr. Benson without first consulting his higher command. That example and a few others during 1863 were cited in the investigation to show that disturbing practice that robbed the American citizens who were executed due process under the law as guaranteed under the Constitution. I recall the Dr. Zimmerman case was also cited, which is similar and happened not too far away from Dr. Benson's case. You may realize that President Lincoln personally intervened in such cases in Missouri throughout the war. Lincoln commonly reviewed cases of men convicted with a death sentence in Missouri and commuted sentences to imprisonment from execution commonly to the disgust of many Missouri Union commanders. I believe in the Dr. Benson case due process was not followed that would have enabled Lincoln to review Benson's case, but it's been a while since I read of this.

Bruce Nichols