Francis Skaggs is mentioned, without discussion, in a footnote in my book The Autobiography of Samuel S. Hildebrand, the Renowned Missouri Bushwhacker. Hildebrand hunted and then murdered an unidentified member of the fairly prominently Unionist Skaggs family, all of which is touched upon in the book. The book also provides a good bit of information on the 12th Missouri State Militia Cavalry and the 3rd Missouri State Militia Cavalry.

As for the very colorful James C. Steakley--well, he was full of personality. Of the hundreds of thousands of enlisted men who served in the war, the vast majority did so without making an appearance in the historical record other than having their names listed on company rolls. Not Steakley. He made it into newspapers, as well as memoirs. In 1862 he got into a spat with a fellow trooper in his regiment. Both pulled their revolvers and started blasting away. When the smoke cleared, the two walked away unscathed. The Madison County Clerk did not, however, and was killed in the crossfire by a bullet fired from Steakley's gun. The next year, Steakley was on leave in St. Louis. While eating at a restaurant in the company of a lady of the evening he got into a confrontation with local law enforcement, and was subsequently arrested for the attempted murder of two policemen.

Steakley also played a prominent role in skirmishing around Doniphan in the opening engagement of Price's Raid in September 1864, during the course of which the 3rd MSM burned the town. In addition, Steakley is recorded as playing a prominent role in leading small squads and hunting prominent irregulars Sam Hildebrand and Pete Smith. In one engagment between Steakley and Hildebrand, Hildebrand himself, who was prone to downplaying the abilities of his Union adversaries, commented how Steakley attacked him and his men "with a perfect fury." This trait probably explains why Union authorities let Steakley walk after he accidentally killed the senior Madison County official, and was alleged to have tried to kill two St. Louis policemen. Just keep him out in the field where that aggressiveness could be harnessed and directed toward enemies instead of friends....

Steakley is also mentioned in my book on Hildebrand, and his personal memoir is cited multiple times in it. In addition, Steakley is mentioned fairly prominently in the first work I ever had published, in North & South Magazine, in an article entitled "The Burning of Doniphan" (November 2003).