So we've been talking a bit about Lt. Col. Thaddeus Justis "T.J." Stauber, 42nd Missouri Infantry, and his relationship to the executions of Missouri guerrillas, including 13 men tied to the Centralia Massacre and shipped off to his command at Tullahoma, Tennessee in 1865. Stauber has been on my radar screen for years because of his unusual position as provost marshal in Callaway County in 1863 when he was just a private in the 10th Missouri State Militia Cavalry (redesignated 3rd MSM Cav during his tenure as PM).

A fire-breathing Radical, with a capital R, he had been editor of the "Troy Citizen" newspaper in Lincoln County in the earliest days of the war. When locals destroyed the Citizen circa late 1861 because of its politics, in February 1862 he enlisted in Lincoln County's Conservative Unionist Company G, 10th MSM and in due course was detached to serve as PM at Fulton in Callaway County. While PM there, in adjacent Audrain County, one O.A.A. Gardner/Gardiner/Garner was provost marshal. O believed to stand for Obediah. Like Stauber, Gardner was just a private--except he was in Laclede County's Company E, 62nd Enrolled Missouri Militia.

Both Stauber and Gardner were appointed to their PM posts in February 1863. The following month, while serving as active duty provost marshals, they started a fire-breathing Radical newspaper in Mexico, Audrain County, named the "Missouri Citizen," after Stauber's destroyed former "Troy Citizen."

Their time as provost marshal was marred by controversy, probably for the conflict of interest in running a newspaper, but mostly for freeing slaves of loyal citizens and shipping them off to St. Louis where they were reportedly entering the Underground Railroad. In any event both were relieved of duties on August 8, 1863, with Stauber being discharged from the army completely on August 12 (Gardner didn't need to be discharged-he was in the EMM which didn't require discharges).

Anyway, both disappear off my radar screen for a few months. Gardner completely, but Stauber resurfaces at the late May Radical Unionist Convention, where he just happens to be selected to be one of 18 delegates to the looming Republican National Convention, held in Baltimore June 7-8, 1864 (which nominated Abraham Lincoln for reelection). And who was one of those other 18 GOP National delegates? None other than Edward Augustus Kutzner.

Fast forward three more months. Despite the fact Radicals are still out of power in Missouri, the die is cast, and Radicals are clearly on the ascendance in Missouri. As such, both Kutzner and and Stauber are appointed by sitting Missouri Gov. Willard hall as lieutenant colonels in the newly-formed Missouri Volunteer Infantry regiments--Staubner in the 42nd Missouri Infantry, and Kutzner in the 39th Missouri Infantry. Within days Hall also appoints A.V.E. Johnston as Major in the 39th Missouri Infantry. Johnston's evolution from Conservative Unionist to Radical Unionist can be found in considerable detail under my name elsewhere on this board.

So, once Johnston and his command are wiped out at Centralia just a few more days after the they were all appointed to their positions, Kutzner and Stauber, 2-of-just-18-partner-Radical-Republican-National-Delegates for Abe Lincoln remain alive to deal with it. Once Radical Thomas A. Fletcher wins the election in November and is sworn in in January, that exact same month the 42nd Missouri Infantry is transferred to Tullahoma, Tennessee, which, under Gen. R.H. Milroy, is in the midst of an active extermination campaign, involving executions without trial of guerrillas of all stripes. Stauber/"Stawber" is mentioned prominently in Milroy's papers generated at the time. Two months after the 42nd Mo. Inf. arrives in Tullahoma, its commanding officer, Col. William Forbes, is discharged and Lt. Col. Stauber takes over complete command of the 42nd.

And during that time frame, the 13 Confederates who had been identified as having been at Centralia were executed by Stauber's command. And unraveling the entire apparent series of events here, it cannot go unmentioned that the specific provost company assigned the task of the executions of the 13--Company B--had been recruited at Mexico, Missouri, which was the Stauber/Gardner duo's own prior provost stomping grounds.