Jerry,
It has been some time since I have been on line. Col. John T. Coffee was at Newtonia, MO. He was with Gen Stan Watie there.
It is said that Gen. Watie and Col. Coffee fought quite alot together and when they joined together they were one of the toughtest groups to go against.
Yes Col. Coffee should have become Gen. but that was given to Jo Shelby over Col. Coffee.
Col. Coffee was a rough man, the way I take it is you either liked him or hated him. None the less he was considered one of the best in military tactics and gurilla tactics by the Federals forces.
Jackman hated Col. Coffee. In fact he was largely responsible for getting charges brought up against Col. Coffee. Coffee liked his liquor and Jackman took exception to that. Had it not been for Col. Coffee Jo Shelby and many others would have been captured or worse at the Battle of Lone Jack, MO. It was because of Col. Coffee that the battle was a Confederate victory.
Had it not been for the war Col. Coffee would have been Governmor of Missouri. He had a great political career here. He had passed the bar to practice law in his home state of Tennessee and then in Missouri and also in Texas. Col Coffee was the President of the Missouri Senate before the war.
It is said that Col. Coffee probably enlisted more Missourians for the Confederacy that any other man.
Take an other look at our website. It has some more information about my Coffee line.
Gary