My great great grandfather was Charles W. Purcell, 2nd Lt. in Leeper's Co. 'B'. He was wounded in the Greenville skirmish and may was probably a factor in the instigation of the six reports in the Union records about this skirmish. My grandfather apparently tried to get Leeper to post pickets, after hearing about Ponder and Reeves being in the vicinity. Leeper refused and apparently sent him to his tent, under arrest. From what I know about my grandfather, he was probably quite relentless. And this wasn't the first time he had problems with Leeper, who had wrote him up on charges in June. After the skirmish, Charles collared Leeper and accused him of all sorts of things. My great great grandmother tells the story this way in a letter to General Rosecrans in March of 1864:

"One Saturday one of the company's wives came in and told the Capt. that Reeves and Ponder were coming. My husband went to him and asked him to give him ten men and let him go out and see. But he would not do it. He went back again in the evening and begged him to put out pickets as he had none out, only sentinels round the area to keep the men from going to town. He ordered him to his tent under arrest and what happened just at daylight on Sunday morning were they came yelling and hollering like so many demons with our soldiers yet in bed. The Captain was the first man to leave with his horse and all he had. Five of his men were killed. They took my husband prisoner and Ponder told him he was all the black republican officer in the company. So they should shoot him. [illegible] he shot him three times through the right foot and leg. He then told the men to take him to a tree and shoot him. Mr. Purcell then asked Reeves to let him go to his tent and get some papers for him to leave [illegible] for me. He granted the privilege. When he got to the tent, he ran and jumped in the river and swam across, his men on the other side firing at the rebels to keep them from crossing after him. He was shot five time in the hands. His hands to this day are sore and he is also a little lame. When he again met Capt. Leeper, he of course done wrong as he was his superior officer. He collared him and called him a rebel and numerous other hard names. But how could he help it wounded almost unto death."

It's impossible to know how much of the above was embellished. The wounds were real, at least in his foot, as they were mentioned by Captain Bangs in Report #2. However, hers is the only account I have so far found of 2nd Lt. Charles W. Purcell being captured by Reeves. His wounds and an illness developed while accompanying Black Jack Davidson's forces in late 1862 were the reasons given for his resignation on 19 Feb 1863. There were also the charges from June that were still hanging over his head. After his resignation, he opened a saloon in either Pilot Knob or Ironton, with more run-ins with Leeper yet to come. Charles was one of the witnesses to the horse thief charges that led to Leeper's dismissal.

Charles W. Purcell was drafted into the Unassigned Missouri Volunteers on 26 Sep 1864 and was killed while commanding a 32lb cannon inside the fort on 27 September, shortly after the attack began. He was eventually given a brevet promotion to Captain after his wife applied for pension benefits.

The letter from Sarah Purcell to General Rosecrans is in the Missouri archives, as well as letters she wrote to General Ewing and to President Lincoln. The latter appears to have had some affect on the charges filed against William T. Leeper that led to his dismissal for incompetence.