The Missouri in the Civil War Message Board

The Great Columbia Jailbreak

As I'm working on this Purcell Rangers memoir, a major section of it deals with previously unknown details--movements, tactics, strategy, motivations--of the Aug. 12, 1862 raid on Columbia to break Confederate prisoners out of the county jail.

The History of Boone County states the jailbreak involved prisoners William Rowland/Boone County, William R. Jackson/Audrain County, and Amos Marney/Boone County.

On the other hand, the memoir, written by someone who directly participated in the raid, says the prisoners broken out of jail were Confederates captured home on leave, Marion Rowland/Boone County, and Amos Marney/Boone County, as well as a couple of stragglers who claimed to be Confederates but turned out to be Federal deserters.

The memoir states Marion Rowland was ambushed and wounded by slaves, who then turned him in to Federals. The memoir states Marion had a brother, Samuel, who was too young to serve in the war, and that after the war Samuel married "Miss Hall, sister of J.C. Hall of Rocheport."

I'm trying to get a handle on who the correct Rowland was who was sitting in the jail--William Rowland or Marion Rowland. And what Confederate unit both served with. Also, interestingly, I'm finding a Samuel Rowland from that same area (southwest of Sturgeon, Boone County) who rode with notorious guerrilla Jim Jackson and wonder if he connects to William and/or Marion and maybe is the young brother.

In addition, the History of Boone County throws into the mix this third Columbia Jail prisoner who was subject of the jail break, William R. Jackson of Audrain County. There's that Jackson name again. Anybody know William R. Jackson's unit and whether he has a connection to Jim Jackson?

This memoir is turning out to be a treasure trove of new unknown detailed small unit information on Boone County and Callaway County during summer and fall of 1862 written by a Confederate who was running deep deep in the brush the entire time. Talks about how they moved, how they communicated with other squads, how they coordinated gatherings for larger actions, how the were supplied, how they evaded massive manhunts, intimate details on heretofore sketchy accounts of a massacre etc etc etc.

I'm doing for this memoir what I did for the Hildebrand memoir, which means very in-depth footnoting, which means I have to sort out who all the players are who appear in it. A rough estimate is it should run around 300-350 pages in length, plus or minus.

Messages In This Thread

The Great Columbia Jailbreak
Re: Samuel Thomas Rowland
Re: Marion Rowland
Re: William H Rowland
Re: Amos Marney
And here's a Rowland curveball...
Re: And here's a Rowland curveball...
Re: The Great Columbia Jailbreak