Civil ceremony, and Civil War

Liz and I just returned from a trip to Virginia, attending the wedding of Kaitie Rogers. You may remember the Rogers family while they resided at Lake Viking. Kaitie’s mom, Karen, worked the front desk for us when Gallatin Publishing was housed off the square in buildings across from BTC Bank on North Main. Kaitie’s dad, Tom, was an occasional companion riding shotgun on business trips for supplies and always a good friend.

Kaitie spent lots of time in our home growing up. I’ve got her time-locked in my mind …the little blonde, timid batter in uniform courageously facing a developing (but unpredictably wild) pitcher with nothing but bruises to show for it.

So, we used the wedding as a means to reconnect. The Rogers hosted a breakfast gathering for us Gallatin folks, including Marsha and Carl McBee of Gallatin. That time alone together was certainly worth the trip.

Besides celebrating with the Rogers, we squeezed some tourist time into the long weekend’s schedule. Whenever I’m close to Pennsylvania, I scheme to revisit Gettysburg in order to step back in time to the pinnacle event of the Civil War. This trip was no different. Actually, the War Between the States has been on my mind for quite some time.

During the past several months I’ve renewed a friendship with Rod Green of Albany. He shares my interest in all things Civil War. Perhaps his passion, compared to mine, is even worse. Let me explain.

Rod has retired from employment with the Missouri Department of Conservation. We first met years ago when he penned a weekly newspaper column, which I frequently edited to fit the space available to be published in the Grant City Times-Tribune. I know how editing sometimes leads writers to take offense.

But Rod, gregarious and generous with his patience towards me, reached out after completing a mountain of research involving 41 books, 32 newspaper and magazine articles, and over 50 interviews and correspondence entries — plus internet research and  primary source scrapbooks of historical merit. Whew!

He needed an editor, and he graciously allowed me not only access but license to review, reorganize, and revise. To these “3Rs” I’ve added a fourth, fifth, sixth and counting: Repeat. And I’ve enlisted helpers for proofreading.

I’ve threatened to hit him. This effort has taken waaaaaaaay too much of my spare time …and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it.

Rod, with deep roots in Northwest Missouri, focuses on what the Civil War meant to people living in the “upper counties” of this region. You may have read his piece, “The Man Who Killed Quantrill” published in Missouri Life Magazine in May, 2017.

Rod offers specific incidents that explain such terms as “Bleeding Kansas” or “Border War” or “Bushwhackers.” Yes, obviously, I’m biased. But I believe his work will interest many living throughout Northwest Missouri who may look upon the Civil War with only casual interest. Rod writes about people involved in these general topics:

• Lurching Into the War
• Sabotage of the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad
• Targeting Capt. Comstock
• Copperheads, Knights and Provosts
• “A Damned Sight Worse Than Quantrill”
• The Ambush of Bloody Bill
• After the War, More Death
• Purely Speculation
• Militia in Northwest Missouri
• Small Arms Common to the Upper Counties

Gallatin local historian David Stark has already related much about the 1st Regiment Missouri State Militia Calvary in pieces previously published in this newspaper. This regiment is of local interest since five of the 12 companies were recruited predominantly from Daviess County. This regiment is listed among the more than 400 that fought for the Union on battlefields located throughout the nation during the war.

Like David, Rod writes to clarify the confusing and over-lapping chaos of Federal militia working to assert order on the home front in Northwest Missouri during the war. At least seven Federal militias in Missouri are identified and discussed in Rod’s work:

• Home Guard 1861
• Six-Month Militia
• Missouri State Militia (MSM)
• Enrolled Missouri Militia (EMM)
• Provisional Enrolled Missouri Militia (PEMM)
• Provisional Enrolled Militia (PEM)
• Missouri Militia G.O. #3

On the Confederate side, things were more simply explained. The tag “guerrilla” or “Bushwhacker” applied to all bands roving against the Union, those riding independent of legal constraint and those liberally described as Confederate.

Rod recites specific incidents to reveal what the “Border War” really meant to people living here at the time. And it’s interesting.

For instance, 18-year-old Joe Hart and his guerilla band became known as one of the most uncompromising foes of Union men. For four years he built his notorious reputation. Then, plundering in Andrew County, he made this boast to taunt the Federal troops of the provisional regiments who chased him: “They say I am a damned sight worse than Quantrill.”

The militia troops, stationed at Savannah in Andrew County, never did catch him. But a few days later, Hart, at age 22, was shot to death near Chillicothe.

As a gun enthusiast, Rod Green also writes about the weapons used during Civil War times. Rather than just another textbook presentation, you can read about the weapons Capt. Charles Comstock of Albany personally chose to carry while his life was publicly threatened by Southern guerillas in newspapers circulated at that time.

It’s premature to call Rod Green’s body of work a published book. But perhaps that is what it’s destined to become, in some form or in some combination of print and online. I find Rod’s historical writing a good read, rereading now on my fifth and soon-to-be sixth time.

There’s so much about Daviess County in Rod’s work that it certainly should be displayed on the historical society’s public website. Someday. And if I have any say about the decision, someday soon!