NEWS OF 150 YEARS AGO
October 1864
From The Missouri Democrat, Monday, October 31, 1864.
BY TELEGRAPH.
REGULAR AFTERNOON DISPATCHES.
FROM WARRENSBURG, MO
The Effect of the Victories.
PRICE “WILD WITH DESPERATION.”
MORE UNION TROOPS AWAITING HIM.
Hanging near Harrisonville.
LIST OF THE REBEL OFFICERS CAPTURED.
Rebels in Federal Uniform to be Shot.
REBEL BARBARITIES
[Special dispatch to the Missouri Democrat.]
WARRENSBURG, October 28, 10 P. M.—The burden has been lifted from all loyal hearts in this region by the continued good news from Kansas. Notwithstanding all the suspense and injury this people have endured, their spirits are buoyant as were those of the Children of Israel on the day of Jubilee. From a thousand hearthstones grateful thanks ascend this night to the Great Giver for the deliverance of the land from its curse—the bandit and outlaw, Sterling Price.
Rosecrans is a name which is mentioned with blessings by this people to-day; for, besides all this victory, glorious as it is in results, there is still a more glorious thing over which loyal men in this part of Missouri rejoice. It is this: That General Rosecrans has decided upon a stern policy for this State henceforth, and is determined that loyal men only shall, from this time on live in Missouri.
These good tidings have passed from lip to lip, as on the wings of the wind, and the rebels are blanching before the coming storm. God bless old Rosey, says every loyal man here. The radicals here have talked freely with the General, and have had their souls cheered by his manly words.
All accounts from the battle of the Maries Des Cygnes [sic-Marais des Cygnes] represent that Pleasanton’s [sic] simultaneous charge upon the rear and flank of Price’s army was like the eagle pouncing upon its prey. There is but one story told by any witness. It was a lightning stroke on the bandit crew. Pleasanton’s charge there, as at Independence, was with sabers drawn, which were brought down on the heads of the rebels with terrible effect. Our artillery was splendidly managed. It was Colonel Phillips brigade of cavalry which captured the first part of a thousand prisoners. Pleasanton was a lion in the fight.
The country between here and the Kansas State line is full of pseudo conscripts, who have deserted from Price’s army, when they found he was not to stay in the State. Those who arrived here say Price was wild with desperation when his train was pressed close by Pleasanton, and swore terribly. The sky was lit up by the light of his burning wagons. Curtis’s Kansas boys are following Price with swift vengeance. Every militia man of Southern Kansas is in his saddle, hunting down the robber.
There is good reason to believe, from the disposition made by General Rosecrans of the forces in the southwestern part of the State, that Pap Price will come to deeper grief soon. General Fisk arrived here to-night from the Lamine bridge, which is completed. The General goes from here into North Missouri. He has had a full conference with Rosecrans, and moves to-morrow with his command to reoccupy and regulate his old district. There will be music over there soon.
Reliable intelligence was brought here to-night that a force of two or three hundred rebels passed Brownsville, in Saline county, twenty-seven miles northeast of this, at three o’clock this afternoon, believed to be recruits for Shelby. They will scarcely reach him.
Two rebel stragglers from Price’s army were hung near Harrisonville yesterday, one of whom acknowledged he was with Anderson at Centralia.
The following rebel officers were captured near Lexington and Independence. The names are from the records of Captain C. S. Hills, Provost Marshal on General Rosecrans’s staff. This list does not include the officers captured at Westport:
Colonel W. D. Baber, 45th Arkansas, Lieutenant F. Curtis, Jeff. Thompson’s staff; Major H. Carrollton, Inspector General, Siemmons’s brigade; Captain Frank Davidson, Tenth Missouri; Lieutenant A. W. Smith, Coffey’s regiment; Lieutenant Colonel M. L. Young, Lowther’s regiment, since dead; Lieutenant J. Kinder, same regiment; Captain H. W. Lennox, Crabtree’s regiment; Lieutenant S. B. Hickough, same regiment; Major Wm. Cook, Freeman’s staff; Lieutenant P. M. Little, Gordon’s regiment; Captain Wm. M. Morrison, same regiment; Lieutenant T. H. Merwin, 1st Arkansas; Captain J. B. Moore, Slayback’s regiment; Lieutenant Joseph S. Plattenberg, Goodwin’s regiment; Lieutenant Wm. A. Redd, Adjutant same regiment; Captain M. L. Shafford, A. Q. M.; Lieutenant W. B. Walker, Elliott’s battalion; Lieutenant M. C. Thornburn, 1st Arkansas; Colonel McGee, Dobbins’s brigade.
Surgeon Schenk, of General Rosecran’s staff, arrived here to-day from the front, and reports our wounded at Kansas City doing well.
Surgeon Brinton, Medical Director in the field, has received intelligence that the wounded on the battlefield of Maries des Cygnes are well supplied. They number very few, as the battle must have been a complete surprise of Price
Every rebel caught in Federal uniform hereafter is to be shot.
The rebels have treated our wounded that have fallen into their hands most shamefully; they have invariably stripped them and left them naked and with their wounds undressed. James Thomas, of company C, 11th Kansas Cavalry, wounded severely at Lexington, was run over by the rebel cavalry, stripped of his clothing, and left like a beast to die, but General Smith found him and took him to a hospital.