Capt. John H. Damron was in command of a Spy Company (Co. C) of Col.Peter Hardeman's 1st Texas Cavalry, formerly of the Arizona Brigade who were organized at Columbus Texas in 1862. No company in the 1st Texas Cavalry was in pursuit of Quantrill and his men when they broke Quantrill out of the Bonham jail.

Col.Leonidas Martin's 5th Texas Partsian Rangers were temporarily assigned to Brig.Gen. Henry E. McCulloch's 14th Brigade of Texas Troops in Hunt and Fannin County to control criminal activities, arrest diserters, renagades, slackers and disloyal civilians that plagued that area during the war. In January 1864, Quantrill was jailed by Brig. Gen. McCulloch in Bonham after he was accused of the robbery and murder of Maj. George Butts, the Confederate conscription officer in Sherman, Texas.

George Todd's and William "Bloody Bill" Anderson's men were also assigned to Brig.Gen. McCulloch's Texas Troops and investigated the murders. Todd and Anderson told McCulloch that Quantrill and some of his men robbed and murdered Maj. Butts near Sherman and a farmer named Alexander near Kentuckytown in Grayson County when it was actually some of George Todd's and Bill Anderson's men that committed the murders. Anderson and Quantrill had a falling out after Anderson wanted to marry Miss Bush Smith in Sherman. Quantrill refused to endorse and permit the marriage until better times.

They found Maj. Butts' horse tied to a tree near the Preston - Sherman Road, about a mile west of Sherman. He had been to a cotton sale in Sherman and was returning to Coffee's Trading House on the Red River, north of Preston,Texas. Maj.Butts was the second husband of Sophia Auginbaugh-Coffee-Butts-Porter, who owned and operated the trading house. They found Butts' half-starved horse tied to a tree and the body of Butts was lying nearby. A detachment of Col. Martin's regiment rode to Quantrill's camp on Little Mineral Creek in NE Grayson County and found Maj.Butts' pocket watch on one of the men.

The day after Quantrill was arrested and placed in custody, he was broken out of jail by about 50 of his loyal followers who were in Bonham with him. Quantrill sent one of his men ahead to the camp on Little Mineral Creek on the fastest horse they had. There he alerted about 150 of Quantrill's men and were instructed to get their arms and rations and meet Quantrill at Colberts Ferry. By the time Qantrill and his 50 men reached Bois d'Arc Creek, ten miles west of Bonham, the detachment of Col. Martin's 5th Cavalry had caught up with the fugitives. A fierce gun battle followed at the bridge over Bois d'Arc Creek and Col. Martin's men were repulsed. Quantrill and his men took up their horses and men rode north to Colbert's Ferry and met Quantrill's other 150 followers and crossed over into Indian Territory. Col. Martin's detachment later reached Colbert's Ferry but by Texas Law, the detachment could not pursue Quantill into Indian Territory since the regiment was temporarily assigned to McCulloch's Texas Militia Troops. Brig.Gen. McCulloch did not authorize the pursuit any further than the Texas border at the Red River and was pleased to get rid of Quantrill and his men.

My great grandfather Pvt.Joshua D. Coffee was among 25 pickets on detached duty under 1st. Lt. Achols C. Kerr who were in Co. C, Capt. John Henry Damron's company, Lt. Col. Peter C. Hardeman's 1st Texas Cavalry Regiment, C.S.A. who were at a tent and lean-to bivouac north of Colbert's Ferry on the Red River. Not knowing of the pursuit, and after a brief parley with Quantrill and his 200 partisans at the ferry landing, the pickets "permitted" Quantrill and his men pass into Indian Territory where they rode hard to a over-night camp at the Rocky Creek crossing on the old Butterfield Stage road to Fort Smith Arkansas.The crossing was located about two miles northeast of present Atoka, Oklahoma. Capt. Damron and the remaining 70 men of his Spy Company (Co. C) were on mounted patrol duty north of the Red River along the old Texas Immigrant Road and Butterfield Stage Road, and east of old Fort Ben McCulloch on the Blue River. Capt. Damron's patrol came upon Quantrill and his men at their camp on Rocky Creek who were dressed in Union uniforms. The uniforms were obtained after a successful raid of a Union supply collum at Baxter Springs Kansas a year earlier. Capt. Damron prepared to engage Quantrill and his 200 partisans before noon but called off the attack when they recognized them as allies dressed in Union regalia.

Quantrill and his men joined Capt.Damron's Spy Company (Co.C) and proceded southeast to Fort Towson where they joined Col. Richard M. Gano's Squadron and the rest of Col. Hardeman's 1st Texas Cavalry regiment, which totalled about 600 effectives, were combined to form a light brigade or squadron under Col. Gano. The brigade then rode northeast towards Fort Smith along the Fort Smith - Fort Towson Military Road, through the Winding Stair Mountains where a detachment under Major Michael Looscan participated in the Battle of Massard's Pararie Arkansas on July 17, 1864. After the Battle of Massard's Prairie, Quantrill and his men rode to Missouri where they made plans to go to Washington and assinate President Lincoln. The plan did not get any further than Kentucky where Quantrill was killed by federal militia troops. George Todd and his men returned to Missouri where Todd was shot and killed by a Union sharpshooter. The saga still goes on about what really happened to Bloody Bill Anderson.

The details of this was handed down from my great grandfather who eventually settled in Coleman County Texas. This is about the only thing he went into detail about during his activities during and after the war.