HEADQUARTERS, DISTRICT OF SOUTHWEST MISSOURI,
Springfield, Mo., August 13, 1864.

SIR:  I have the honor to transmit herewith for the information of the general commanding official copy of report of Maj. Milton Burch, Eighth Regiment Cavalry Missouri State Militia, commanding Neosho, Mo., of a scout made by him with 175 men of the Eighth Cavalry Missouri State Militia and Seventh Provisional Regiment Enrolled Missouri Militia into McDonald County, Mo., on the 7th instant.  Also copy of his report of a scout made by Lieutenant Hunter, Eighth Missouri State Militia Cavalry into the same section on the 5th instant with a detachment of the Eighth Missouri State Militia Cavalry.  Six of the enlisted men missing from Lieutenant Hunter�s command have come into camp at Neosho.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

JOHN B. SANBORN,
Brigadier-General, Commanding.

Itinerary of the District Southwest Missouri, commanded by Brig. Gen. John B. Sanborn [From monthly return].

August 2. -- Captain Ruark, Eighth Missouri State Militia Cavalry, killed Lieutenant Goode, of the rebel army, in the vicinity of Diamond Grove Prairie, near Carthage, Mo.

August 4. -- Lieutenant Hunter, Eighth Missouri State Militia Cavalry, in command of sixty men, same regiment, on a scout in the direction of McDonald County, Mo., encountered the enemy 300 strong near Rutledge; had a sharp skirmish, in which he lost 3 men killed and 1 man wounded; the enemy�s loss, 3 killed and several wounded.

August 7. -- Major Burch, Eighth Missouri State Militia Cavalry, in command of 175 men, marched from Neosho; came in contact with the enemy near Enterprise; killed 1 of their pickets; were unable to bring the enemy into action.  The rebel force, commanded by Major Piercey composed of portions of Pickler�s and Stand Watie�s commands.

August 10. -- Colonel Gravely, Eighth Missouri State Militia Cavalry, with 100 men, left Springfield, Mo., to operate against the enemy on the western border of the district but the enemy had retreated southward.

August 28. -- Lieut. S. A. M. George, Eighth Missouri State Militia Cavalry, was killed by guerrillas at Osage Springs, Ark.

During the month the district has been very little disturbed by roving bands, but the enemy has been operating on the southern and western borders of the district, keeping our forces on the alert.  The Forty-sixth Missouri Infantry is being organized.

SOURCE: OR, Series I, Volume 41, Part I, Pages 193-194.

NEOSHO, MO., August 5, 1864.

SIR:  For the information of the general commanding I have the honor of reporting to you the operations of a scout sent out from this post on the evening of the 4th instant.

From information I received from sources in which I placed but little reliance I learned there was a rebel force, numbers not known, encamped on Cowskin River, in the neighborhood of Rutledge.  I made application to Captain Lindsay, commanding at Granby, for all the effective force he could spare.  I also made application to Captain Ritchey for all the available force he could spare.  I received a communication from Lieutenant Wear, of Captain Ritchey�s company, that the captain was absent, and they were expecting the mustering officer, and consequently could not furnish any men.  I received thirty men from Granby from Companies L and M, Eighth Cavalry Missouri State Militia.  I had thirty men detailed from Companies H and L, Eighth Cavalry Missouri State Militia, and ordered Lieutenant Hunter, of Company H, Eighth Cavalry Missouri State Militia, with instructions to proceed in the direction of Rutledge, McDonald County, Mo., to ascertain the facts of the enemy being in that portion of the country.  I ordered him to proceed to Rutledge and proceed cautiously to ascertain the whereabouts of the force reported, and if he found a rebel force as large as reported to proceed with caution and reconnoiter their position, and as near as possible their number.  He reached a point near Rutledge, nearer than the place reported.  He found the enemy�s pickets and drove them toward their camp, which he found evacuated; he then started slowly on their trail with William Haycock as guide.  They had not proceeded but a short distance, and the enemy attacked his rear, when the action commenced with the rear, and the enemy then opened on both of his flanks, and he then commenced falling back, and a running fight commenced, which was kept up for four miles, when the enemy fell back, and he then proceeded to fall back to this post, with the loss of 3 killed and 9 missing, 1 man wounded severely; but I think the missing will most of them come in.  The loss of the enemy as far as known was 3 killed; the number of wounded not known.  Their number, as far as my information reaches, is 250 or 300, Pickler, with probably Buck Brown�s men, and their leader, Rector Johnson, formerly a citizen of this place.  Since writing this I have received your communication to Col. John D. Allen ordering me to make a scout in the direction the scout herein reported has made, and complied with the instruction in your communication to Col. John D. Allen, dated August 4, 1864.  I will call out all the available force belonging to the three stations and start back to see them again on the 7th instant, as according to instructions just received from your headquarters.  A compliance of Special Orders, No. 206, for inspection of horse equipments in possession of the troops at this place, will delay me one day and the horses need one day�s rest.  I have also the honor of informing you regarding the death of the notorious guerrilla chief Lieutenant Goode.  He was killed on the 2d instant by Capt. Ozias Ruark, Company L, Eighth Cavalry Missouri State Militia.  I started my forage train out on the 1st instant with twenty mounted men under command of Lieutenant Hunter, Company H, Eighth Cavalry Missouri State Militia, and twenty men on foot, under command of Capt. Ozias Ruark, Company L, Eighth Cavalry Missouri State Militia, on the Diamond Grove Prairie after forage in Goode�s favorite range.  When the train was loaded it proceeded with the twenty mounted men, Lieutenant Hunter in command, for this post, leaving the infantry concealed in the brush unknown to any person.  They then maneuvered around in the vicinity of a spring known as a favorite resort of Goode and his band and concealed themselves.  They had not remained long in ambush before Goode with two others came along; but they mistrusted danger at hand and one remarked, "There is somebody in the thicket," but the word was hardly spoken till the sharp report of a revolver was heard and Goode rolled from his horse dead.  The ball penetrated the left side of the upper lip and ranging upward.  You will find herein inclosed the papers found on the person of Lieutenant Goode, with the list of the desperadoes under his command, and all other papers found on his person.  The individuals whose names you will find on the list are citizens of this country and whose families are yet here.

I am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

MILTON BURCH
Major, Comdg. Battalion Eighth Cav. Missouri State Militia.

J. R. Goode, Richard Hall, Calaway Johnson, J. W. Scaggs, L. H. Scaggs, T. H. Hawkins, T. V. Parnell, E. M. Martin, James Ramsey, W. F. Ray, John Harmon, Taylor Buskirk, Hiram Mayeld, Monroe Hewit.

This paper was taken from Lieut. J. R. Goode, and contains a list of his company, most of whom live in the southern part of Jasper and northern part of Newton Counties.

OZIAS RUARK,
Captain Company L, Eighth Missouri State Militia Cavalry.

SPECIAL ORDERS No. 23

HEADQUARTERS PRICE�S DIVISION,
Camp Bragg, Jannary 28, 1864.

I. Leaves of absence are granted to the following-named officers for the length of time set opposite their names, at the expiration of which they will return to duty with their command and report their arrival to this office:  Lieut. J. R. Goode, Company H, Eleventh Missouri Regiment, thirty days.

By command of Brigadier-General Drayton:

L. A. MACLEAN,
Major and Assistant Adjutant-General,

[TO] Lieut. J. R. GOODE.
(Through Colonel Burns, commanding brigade.)

Relieved from duty January 28, 1864.

JAMES PHILLIPS,
Major, Commanding.

Pass the bearer.

By order of Brigadier-General Cabell.

JOHN KING,
Assistant Adjutant-General.

HEADQUARTERS ELEVENTH MISSOURI
Camp Bragg, January 21, 1864

Pass Lieut. J. H. Goode to Camden and back against the evening of January 22, 1864.

JAS. PHILLIPS,
Major, Commanding.

Approved.

W. M. MOORE,
Major, Commanding Brigade.

SOURCE: OR, Series I, Volume 41, Part I, Pages 194-196.

NEOSHO, MO., August 9, 1864.

SIR:  I have the honor of reporting, for the information of the general commanding, of a scout taken down in McDonald County, Mo., in search of the force that engaged Lieutenant Hunter, Company H, Eighth Cavalry Missouri State Militia, on the 5th instant.

I started on the 7th instant with all the available force in my reach -- a portion of Captain Ritchey�s company from Newtonia, a portion of Captain Ray�s company from Newtonia, a portion of the command from Granby, and about thirty men from Carthage, Jasper County, Mo., and all the available force stationed at this post, making in all about 175 men.  We left this post about 7 o�clock morning of the 7th instant and proceeded in the direction of Enterprise, McDonald County, Mo.  After marching eight miles in that direction I received intimation of the enemy having moved his camp eight miles from the place where Lieutenant Hunter found him, having moved in a northern direction and nearer this post.  We arrived at Enterprise about 1 p. m., and our advance drove in the enemy�s pickets, killing 2 and pursuing the remainder of pickets and stragglers, about twenty in number, into their camp, and then fell back, reporting what they had discovered.  I then moved up my men, concealed from the enemy, and then proceeded with a few men to reconnoiter his position, which I found to be strong and immediately at the mouth of Patterson�s Creek.  I then ordered Capt. John B. Kelso, with a few men, to proceed in the direction of the enemy�s camp and try and draw him out, which he did not succeed in doing, although he skirmished with the enemy for nearly two hours, but could not induce him to leave his position in the woods.

While I with Captain Kelso was reconnoitering my horse was shot from under me by one of the enemy's sharpshooters.  I then called off Captain Kelso, after ascertaining that the enemy would not leave his position.  I then sent Captain Kelso, with Companies H and L, Eighth Cavalry Missouri State Militia, to penetrate to the enemy�s left, while a portion of the cavalry moved on his right unobserved, the remainder being held as reserve and holding horses.  The infantry moved cautiously down the bed of a dry stream and reached the enemy�s camp, and found they had evacuated their camp and fell back farther in the brush, which was almost impassable.  Then throwing out ten men from Company L, Eighth Cavalry Missouri State Militia, as advance guard, with instructions to move slowly and cautiously, we then started on the enemy�s trail, which led through a heavy timbered bottom in the direction of Buffalo Creek.  We had not proceeded more than one mile before the advance discovered an ambuscade of the enemy, but the thicket in which the enemy lay concealed was so dense that the advance did not discover them till they opened on them.  I immediately dismounted my men and deployed my force as skirmishers and moved cautiously forward in hopes of finding the whole force of the enemy in that vicinity, but after reconnoitering I ascertained that he had moved on slowly and cautiously on the trail till the advance reached Buffalo Creek.  They moved cautiously and slowly and saw no enemy till they had rode into the stream to water their horses.  Then the enemy opened a very heavy fire on the advance guard, wounding four men severely, one of whom died immediately, and disabling four horses.  Having no ambulance with me, we constructed litters and slowly retraced our steps after reconnoitering the position the enemy had occupied, and found him gone again.  It was then near sundown, and our horses being greatly fatigued, and so was the men, as the scarcity of water rendered it almost insupportable, I could not ascertain the actual force of the enemy.  From the best information I could gather from the number of fires, from the number of beeves killed, &c., I will say that there cannot be less than 225 or 300, but there may be more.  As the country is an everlasting jungle of brush and weeds, I was not able to ascertain his numbers, as he did not seem willing to venture an engagement.

The officers and men under my command behaved nobly, obeying every order issued with a promptness which deserves the highest respect.  I reached Neosho early in the morning of the 8th instant with my wounded men, and they soon received that attention from the hands of Doctor Wills which every wounded soldier requires.  They are doing well and I hope for their recovery, that they may mete out punishment to all rebels and traitors in arms.

I am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

MILTON BURCH,
Major, Comdg. Battalion Eighth Cav. Missouri State Militia.

P. S. -- I have to inform you that the enemy is commanded by a Major Piercey, of late date.  It is Pickler�s command, with a portion of Stand Watie�s, and a portion of notorious bushwhackers with Rusk�s company.  I think they will stay there, as I do not think I have force sufficient to drive them, owing to the duty required for foraging and a guard to guard the haymakers, as in the country they occupy it will, in my judgment, require a larger force to drive them than I have at my command.  If I had 300 more men I could drive or annihilate him, as it will require that additional number to effect his overthrow in his forest fastness.

I am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

MILTON BURCH,
Major, Comdg. Battalion Eighth Cav., Missouri State Militia.

SOURCE: OR, Series I, Volume 41, Part I, Pages 196-197.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo., August 18, 18G4.

GENERAL:  I have the honor to inform you that having complied with Special Orders, No. 213, headquarters District of Southwest Missouri, I have returned to this post and make the following report:

I assumed command of the different detachments of troops ordered by you to Neosho on the morning of the 13th instant and marched to Cowskin Creek.  The advance guard saw six men in the evening and killed 1 of them.  On the morning of the 14th Captain Kelso killed Lieutenant Baxter, a noted bushwhacker, whom we learned from the ladies at the house at which he was killed had brought dispatches from General Stand Watie to the companies in that vicinity to join Stand Watie near Fort Smith.  On the 14th I marched near Maysvilie, Ark., but did not discover any enemy, but learned from reliable sources that the forces which had been in the vicinity of Cowskin Prairie had gone south, and that there was no rebel force left in that section except a few bushwhackers, who hide in the bluff and caves when any Federal soldiers are near.  Having become satisfied from the trails of the rebels and rebel horses that the information received to the effect that Captains Rusk, Roberts, and Robinson, rebel officers, who attacked Major Burch about the 6th [7th] instant, had left for Stand Watie near Fort Smith, and that there was no probability of overtaking them, I returned to Neosho and ordered the different detachments of troops to return to their respective posts.  On our return to Neosho the advance guard severely wounded 2 bushwhackers.  They returned the fire and slightly wounded 1 man of the Sixth Provisional Regiment Enrolled Missouri Militia.

I have the honor, general, to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

JOSEPH J. GRAVELY,
Colonel Eighth Cavalry Missouri State Militia.

SOURCE: OR, Series I, Volume 41, Part I, Page 198.

Back: Timeline of the Civil War in Newton County, Missouri

Home: Historical Items from Barry & Newton Counties, Missouri

© 2003 Robert O. Banks, Jr. All Rights Reserved