Execution Of Ten Guerrillas

The correspondent of the St. Louis Republican at Macon City Mo., gives the following account of the recent execution of ten guerillas there:

“On the 25th, one hundred and forty-four of the Harris House prisoners were shipped by railroad to St. Louis for imprisonment during the war; and on the day following, Friday, ten of those left – the most depraved and dangerous of the gang – where shot as a punishment for their crimes, and as an example and warning to others of their kind that are still at large.  The ceremonies attending this execution were exceedingly impressive.  On the morning of the 26th, the condemned were separated from their comrades, and confined in a freight car on the Han[n]ibal and St. Jo Railroad, and were at the same time informed of the doom that awaited them.  They knew that they could not in reason hope for pardon, nor for anything in fact short of the punishment due for the triple crime of treason, perjury and murder.  Every man of them had for the third time had been captured while engaged in the business of robbery and assassination among his own neighbors.  All of them had twice, some of them three, and others had four times made solemn oath to bear faithful allegiance to the Federal government, to never take up arms in behalf of the traitors cause, but in all respects to deport themselves as true and loyal citizens of the United States, And every man of these ten traitors had perjured himself as often as he had subscribed to this oath, and at the same time his hands were red with repeated murders.

At 11 o’clock A. M., on Friday the procession was formed, and the silent multitudes civil and military, moved at the signal of the muffled drum toward the field of execution. – The executioners were detailed from the 23rd Missouri Infantry, and numbered sixty-six men.  They marched six abreast, with a prisoner in the rear of each file.  A hollow square, or rather parallelogram, was formed, on a slightly declining prairie, and a half mile south of the village.  The executioners formed the south line of the square, the balance of the Missouri Twenty-third on the east and west lines, and Merrill’s Horse the north.  The executioners were divided off into firing parties of six for each prisoner, leaving a reserve of six that were stationed a few paces in the rear, Gen. Merrill in the northeast angle of the square.  The firing parties formed a complete line, but were detached about two paces from each other.  Each prisoner was marched out ten paces in front, and immediately south of his six executioners.  This order having been completed, the prisoners were severally blinded with bandages of white cloth, and were then required to kneel for the terrible doom that awaited them.  After this time every tongue was silent, and nothing was more audible than the heart throbs of the deeply moved and sympathysing multitude.  Dr. Landis then stepped forward to address the Throne of Grace.  His prayer was the utterance of a pittying heart; brief, eloquent and impressive.  It was an earnest appeal for the pardoning mercy for those about to enter their Maker’s presenc[e].  Then followed the final scene of this imposing drama.  The prisoners remained k[n]eeling, while sixty muskets were pointed at their palpitating hearts.  What a fearful pause! And, O how brief!  The signal is given and the fatal volley is discharged.  Behold the awful change!  A moment since those ten men stood before us in the perfection of life.  Alas! what and where are they now?  Every lip is dumb! – every eye is dim! – every beam of intelligence is faded out forever!  What a swift exit from time to eternity!”

– Published in The Union Sentinel, Osceola, Iowa, Saturday, October 18, 1862, p. 2, there was a large hole in the upper left of the article and the end of the newspaper was torn off from the upper left to the lower right, and therefore the last quarter of the article was missing.  The same article appeared in The Burlington Daily Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, October 11, 1862, p. 2, and I have used that article to reconstruct The Union Sentinel article.