Two Citizens of Boone Killed.
From the Missouri Statesman, April 4th.
Learning there was a large rebel camp near the mouth of the Little Saline, in Moniteau county, and not far from Mount Vernon on the Missouri river, an expedition was projected against it from Jefferson city under Lieut. Col. Blood. The column consisted of two companies of the Sixth Missouri Volunteers, Captains Rice’s and Ward’s companies of militia, and a section of the Third Indiana Battery under Lieut. Thomas. In the afternoon of the 25th of March the column arrived within five miles of Mount Vernon; the location of the camp was learned and a report heard that it was over 300 strong.
Moving cautiously but rapidly forward, Lieut. Col. Blood soon was near a school-house understood to be the rendezvous of the rebels, when suddenly his command met a squad of nine, armed with double barreled shot guns, pistols and knives. No sooner were they seen than the advance of the national troops charged upon them, whereupon the rebels ran for the brush and fired.
In the melee which ensued five of the rebels were killed, two mortally wounded (dying the same night,) and two taken prisoners, one whom was wounded in the hip. Among the killed were Joseph Willis of this county, son of Rev. John M. Willis, three miles south of town on the Providence road, and Joseph Hall, a young man living near Rockbridge Mills, and a Mr. Fisher, of Callaway. The remains of the former were buried at Bethany meeting house on Wednesday last.
After the skirmish Col. Blood ordered the command rapidly forward, intending to surround the school-house, but, (as the prisoners reported) there was no camp there. Capt. Watson’s gang had left some days previous for Arkansas, by unfrequented roads, and though the woods. The companies of Johnson, of Shelby, and Capt. Dick Spencer, of Boone, had also left for the same destination.
The school-house, and two others which had been used as a rebel rendezvous were burned.
– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Friday Morning, April 11, 1862, p. 1
No comments:
Post a Comment