The Missouri in the Civil War Message Board

Re: Feb. 1864 Gratiot Prison Escape

Jamie,

The 5th Missouri Cavalry Regiment (commanded by Colonel Benjamin F. Gordon and part of Colonel Joseph O. Shelby's "Iron Brigade") between June and August 1863 was engaged in operations in Arkansas. In late September 1863, the 5th was part of Shelby's west Missouri raid.

It is interesting to me that the Snelling family at the beginning of the war lived in Jefferson Township, in the SE corner of Johnson County, but by the 1870 census Benjamin L. Snelling and Mary J. & family as well as Robert A. Paxton & Eliza H. Paxton & family were close neighbors (household numbers #149 and #150) in Post Oak Township in south-central Johnson County, just a few miles south of Warrensburg, the county seat. Both Jefferson TWP and Post Oak TWP were noted for many families of southern sympathy. Further, there were a number of southern men who fought as guerrillas at times during the war from both of those townships.

In Robert Paxton's letter, I am also not certain what Robert means by the phrase "it might be that your were not aware that such a man was here" (referring to himself). It appears likely that Robert Paxton's life was spared from execution in Clinton, when I can name three others who were not spared within a few days of Robert's capture. Therefore, I conclude Robert was captured by the Provisional Enrolled Missouri Militia in Henry County carrying on his person a signed commission to recruit for the regular Confederate Army. It is also possible that Robert Paxton had been promoted to the officer rank from the last rank I have seen on records as holding, that of a sergeant or non-commissioned officer. It is also possible that Robert was still a sergeant, but holding a signed commission to recruit placed him as a captive not as a guerrilla, but as a recruiter for the regular Confederate service. Under normal conditions, carrying such documents would have saved him from execution. I would have thought, based on my reading that Charles V. Snelling had a similar commission to recruit for the regulars, but that Union LTC Brown executed Snelling based on Snelling's earlier war crimes, namely, that of POSSIBLY murdering sick Union soldiers in that wagon train in November 1861. Please notice that I write POSSIBLY referring to Snelling and Houx murdering sick Union soldiers in south Johnson County during November 1861, because I found NO PROOF that any of the sick Union soldiers were murdered. I admit that documentation about Snelling and Houx killing sick Union soldiers is weak--and almost in the realm of folklore--as was much of the documentation of such events in 1861. I suppose the possibility that Snelling, Houx, and band may have killed some of the sick Union soldiers exists, but it exists only in the "fog of war." You must remember that the Provisional Enrolled Missouri Militia (PEMM), although many of them were on active duty, as they were in Henry County, were not well trained and not always well led as were some of the Missouri State Militia (MSM) active Union troops.

Does that clear up things for you?
Bruce

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Feb. 1864 Gratiot Prison Escape
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