Richard,

Well, okay. After Colonel Porter evacuated a goodly part of his recruiting command across the Missouri River, various and sundry splintered portions of his command and even stragglers of other recruiting bands attempted to depart NE MO as best they could, and the Federals captured them here and there between middle October and perhaps even into early November.

Joanne Chiles Eakin's landmark book combining all the Missouri southern soldiers' and citizens' military prison records from the microfilm of the National Archives and Records Administration provided two separate St. Louis area prison ledger sheet entries for Thomas Raney.

One entry says Private Thomas C. Raney of Porter's regiment was captured presumably by Union troops at or near Mexico, county seat of Audrain County, on 20 October 1862. Raney's captors eventually sent him to the military prison at Alton, IL. and no further remark.

The second entry says "guerrilla Thos. Raney" of Porter's command was captured presumably by Union troops somewhere in Audrain County on 23 October 1862. Raney's captors eventually sent him, probably with guard, and other prisoners by railroad to St. Louis, first to Gratiot Street Prison. A remark shows prison authorities on 27 November 1862 sent Raney on to the Alton, IL military prison, which had more capacity.

The difference in dates from 20 to 23 October is not significant, and perhaps this was simply a discrepancy between the clerks' ledger entries at St. Louis and Alton, IL. Obviously, Raney went first to Gratiot Street and his captors later transferred him to the larger Alton prison. Calling Raney a guerrilla seems at first glance to be severe, since Missouri Union authority (General Henry W. Halleck) in spring of this year condemned guerrillas to death under the "no quarter" rule. But, with scores of prisoners suddenly crowding the St. Louis area prisons, few wearing Rebel uniforms, the Union command had to assume these southerners had little inclination to murder, burn, and pillage, and were not bushwhackers so much as they were Rebel recruits attempting to enlist in regular Rebel service. Sheer weight of numbers caused Union authorities to face facts that these prisoners were actually legal combatants by the accepted rules of war. They lacked only uniforms, and really had no way to obtain them in Union-occupied Missouri. Besides, granting all these prisoners full status as POWs gave Union authorities that many more Confederate POWs to exchange for Union POWs held in southern prisons.

In other words, I don't think Thomas Raney was captured in a fight. Some kind of Union troops simply captured him either alone, or perhaps as part of a small group trying to go to Arkansas. This was happening all over that region throughout October 1862.

Bruce Nichols