Jamie & Keith,

You mentioned some documents and some names you need to know more about. I will give your some information that may help. Could you describe the documents and if you have just a few names, could you list them on this venue?

Terry Justice, a talented Missouri Civil War writer and researcher gave me some of his notes a few years ago, and Robert Paxton is mentioned. This will change some things for you:

Private Robert Paxton was recruited by "Colonel Cockrell" (Colonel Jeremiah Vardaman Cockrell, recruited in the Johnson County area way behind Union lines in a stealth mode several times during the war) on 31 December 1862, and participated in BG John S. Marmaduke's Raid on southwest MO, and possibly the Battle of Springfield on 8 January 1863. Marmaduke's force had large numbers of wounded men, and Private Robert Paxton remained behind at Hartville, Wright County, on 11 January 1863 tending to the wounded, and, of course, was captured by Union forces.

Evidently, Paxton as a POW (not a guerrilla) was transported to St. Louis area Union military prisons later in January, and was placed in the Gratiot Street Military Prison Hospital on 19 February 1863 with some health issue.

He must have recovered his health by the night of 8/9 October 1863, since that night he escaped with three other prisoners. The prison ledger entry kept by the Union military calls your ancestor Sergeant Robert Paxton of Company F of the 1st Missouri Cavalry, which is an error, since he was a member of Company F, 5th Missouri Cavalry. I would guess that the leadership, dedication to the welfare of his fellow soldiers, and bravery Robert showed by staying behind with the wounded after the January 1863 Marmaduke Raid earned his promotion. The other escapees are Civilian Henry C. Harper of Lewis County, arrested there on 8 August 1863 and committed to Gratiot Street Military Prison on 14 August 1863; Civilian Charles Preston of St. Mary's Parish, Louisiana captured at Quincy, Illinois on 13 June 1863 and admitted to Gratiot Prison on 1 July 1863; and Civilian Alexander W. Pitney of Ralls County, MO, but Joanne Chiles Eakin's 1995 landmark "Missouri Prisoners of War" book contains three Union prison ledger entries for Alexander W. Pitney, A. W. Pitney, and Private Alex. W. Pitney of Bovier's Confederate unit, but none of those three match what little we have of the Alex. W. Pitney of Ralls County, MO as given with the other three named men in the 16 October 1863 issue of the "Palmyra Spectator" of Palmyra, Marion County, Missouri. I would guess that the Palmyra newspaper picked up the short article on the prison escape because of the Henry H. Harper escape with them, since Harper's home in Lewis County is the next county north of Palmyra of Marion County. One of the other three Alexander W. Pitney prisoners became a notable behind-Union-lines Confederate recruiter in 1864, but, as I wrote above, that would not be the Alexander W. Pitney that escaped that October night with Sergeant Paxton.

There is something odd about all four ledger entries of the four escapees of that night. Many or most of the ledger entries covering thousands of southern prisoners to the several St. Louis area prisons throughout Eakin's book (as she transcribed them from the microfilm roles of the National Archives and Records Administration files) have some kind of entry in the "Remarks" column of the ledger sheets on the far right. Usually, some entry in that column concerns the later disposition of that prisoner--such as his death if it took place in that prison, his exchange back to southern service in place of the release of some Union soldier as a POW in a southern military prison, the prisoner's release upon oath and giving a money bond, or a date if the prisoner managed to escape the prison. The "Remarks' column on all four escapees is left blank. Since all four managed to escape probably together, and possibly none were recaptured soon after the escape, it really strikes me as odd that a notice of the date of the escape does not appear at least on the ledger sheet of one or two of the four escapees. There was a lot of activity at the time of the escape, and four other prisoners attempted escape that same night, but were caught, according to the Palmyra newspaper article. One of the four or five St. Louis daily newspapers probably picked up the news story, for that would be the only way the Palmyra newspaper several counties away could have obtained it to publish it in their paper. It could be that the Union prison cadre omitted posting the escape on the ledger pages of the four escapees to avoid embarrassment to themselves.

Of course, there is a record of Robert being captured on 3 August 1863 in Henry County, the same day that Charles V. Snelling was captured. I want to point out that we don't know if Robert was actually travelling with Charles Snelling. but I have seen a record that Snelling was actually captured by the 5th Provisional EMM Regiment company stationed at Calhoun in northeast Henry County, from which a detail took him to Clinton, the Henry County seat.

Now, how can I help you?

Bruce