Civil War in Randolph County, Missouri

Berry Canote

Private
Joined
Jan 10, 2017
Location
Huntsville, Randolph County, Missouri
I am looking for information on incidents in Randolph County, Missouri. The county saw a lot of bushwhacker activity throughout the war, but primarily in 1864. There was one battle, the Battle of Roan's Tan Yard, and a number of smaller incidents.

A bit of background on the county as related to the war. We were the home of a couple of Union units, the 46th EMM, and the 9th Cavalry Missouri Militia, and others were stationed here at various times. A number of bushwhackers were from the county. "Bloody Bill" Anderson and his brother were raised here. As for Confederate regulars, Colonel Poindexter lived here. General Sterling Price's wife was from Randolph County. Many men served in Perkins' Battalion. I am sure I am forgetting something.

I am mainly interested in skirmishes, but I am also interested in incidents such as citizen intimidation by both Union and Confederate forces (and there were a lot of those). I am working on a map of Civil War activity in the county. What I have thus far are Roan's Tan Yard, Anderson's raid on Huntsville, skirmish on Fayette Road in southwest Randolph County, raid on Renick by Anderson, skirmish at Allen, skirmish south of Huntsville on the Fayette Road, raid by Jim Anderson on a church in northwest Randolph County, skirmish on Bagby's farm, skirmish at Roanoke, and the assault of Joel Smith by Anderson. These activities while small are part of a bigger picture of the activity in the region such as the Battle of Fayette, the Centralia Massacre, the Battle of Centralia, and the fight at Mt. Zion. Any help would be appreciated. I can also help folks find information on activity in the region. Living in the town Bloody Bill and his family grew up in I have information many do not have. For example, I have traced Anderson's activities in the days following the Huntsville raid. Similarly, I have traced his activities following the raids on Renick and Allen. And I know the locations of many of the smaller incidents such as the fight at Bagby's farm. So I am basically asking for help, and offering to help anyone else that asks :smile:
 
I am looking for information on incidents in Randolph County, Missouri. The county saw a lot of bushwhacker activity throughout the war, but primarily in 1864. There was one battle, the Battle of Roan's Tan Yard, and a number of smaller incidents.

A bit of background on the county as related to the war. We were the home of a couple of Union units, the 46th EMM, and the 9th Cavalry Missouri Militia, and others were stationed here at various times. A number of bushwhackers were from the county. "Bloody Bill" Anderson and his brother were raised here. As for Confederate regulars, Colonel Poindexter lived here. General Sterling Price's wife was from Randolph County. Many men served in Perkins' Battalion. I am sure I am forgetting something.

I am mainly interested in skirmishes, but I am also interested in incidents such as citizen intimidation by both Union and Confederate forces (and there were a lot of those). I am working on a map of Civil War activity in the county. What I have thus far are Roan's Tan Yard, Anderson's raid on Huntsville, skirmish on Fayette Road in southwest Randolph County, raid on Renick by Anderson, skirmish at Allen, skirmish south of Huntsville on the Fayette Road, raid by Jim Anderson on a church in northwest Randolph County, skirmish on Bagby's farm, skirmish at Roanoke, and the assault of Joel Smith by Anderson. These activities while small are part of a bigger picture of the activity in the region such as the Battle of Fayette, the Centralia Massacre, the Battle of Centralia, and the fight at Mt. Zion. Any help would be appreciated. I can also help folks find information on activity in the region. Living in the town Bloody Bill and his family grew up in I have information many do not have. For example, I have traced Anderson's activities in the days following the Huntsville raid. Similarly, I have traced his activities following the raids on Renick and Allen. And I know the locations of many of the smaller incidents such as the fight at Bagby's farm. So I am basically asking for help, and offering to help anyone else that asks :smile:
Bruce Nikol's series "Guerrilla War in Missouri " would be an excellent place to start.
Leftyhunter
 
Thank you @leftyhunter :smile: that is where I have been getting most of my information. I use that, Rudi Keller's Life During Wartime (which is better than Guerilla War in Missouri I think), and the official reports. I also use stories from later newspaper accounts as they are handy, but must be used with caution. People's memories change over the years.
I like this source as well "The Civil War in Missouri day by day 1861-1865 Carolyn Bartels Two Trails Publication.
Leftyhunter
 
@leftyhunter I haven't seen "The Civil War in Missouri Day by Day...." I will have to check it out. The map is progressing nicely. The one disappointment is some locations are not very precise. Some are easy like, "ten miles from Huntsville on the Fayette to Huntsville Road," or really easy like "the farm of Owen Bagby." Others are stuff like, "somewhere in Randolph County." For those without a precise or reasonably precise location, I am just going to do a list by date. No sense on putting them on the date. I am noticing an interesting pattern though, the most activity took place on the Fayette to Huntsville Road, and the North Missouri Railroad. The Fayette to Huntsville Road makes sense as it was the major thoroughfare through Randolph County, and of course the North Missouri Railroad would be a target.
 
@leftyhunter I haven't seen "The Civil War in Missouri Day by Day...." I will have to check it out. The map is progressing nicely. The one disappointment is some locations are not very precise. Some are easy like, "ten miles from Huntsville on the Fayette to Huntsville Road," or really easy like "the farm of Owen Bagby." Others are stuff like, "somewhere in Randolph County." For those without a precise or reasonably precise location, I am just going to do a list by date. No sense on putting them on the date. I am noticing an interesting pattern though, the most activity took place on the Fayette to Huntsville Road, and the North Missouri Railroad. The Fayette to Huntsville Road makes sense as it was the major thoroughfare through Randolph County, and of course the North Missouri Railroad would be a target.
Has a general rule of thumb guerrillas hang out where they get the most support. As Mao Zedong said " a guerrilla is a fish that swims among the sea of people". Of course that's going from Mandrin to English.
Guerrillas generally focus on communications lines. @Borderruffian and @Patrick H and myself have a lot of threads on the COIN war in Missouri. I am compiling a more or less complete list of every Union regiment that fought guerrillas/ insurgents/ freelance bandits in Missouri. It in my thread " compare and contrast Union vs Confederate counter guerrilla operations".
Leftyhunter
 
I've been away for a bit and was pleasantly surprised to come back and read of Berry Canote's research into the war in Randolph County. This is great news! It is very close to home for me but I'm not familiar with all the smaller incidents from the war. My usual driving route from Boonville to Moberly takes me right past Huntsville. I'm going to assume the Huntsville to Fayette Road followed a lot of the current path of Highway 3. My Civil War ancestor is buried at Armstrong, Howard County--just a few miles south of the Randolph County line. One the guerrillas I find particularly interesting is a less well known chieftain named Clifton Holtzclaw (he spelled it Holsclaw). I am sure he was involved in activity in Randolph County. I will look forward to learning a LOT from you!
 
I've been away for a bit and was pleasantly surprised to come back and read of Berry Canote's research into the war in Randolph County. This is great news! It is very close to home for me but I'm not familiar with all the smaller incidents from the war. My usual driving route from Boonville to Moberly takes me right past Huntsville. I'm going to assume the Huntsville to Fayette Road followed a lot of the current path of Highway 3. My Civil War ancestor is buried at Armstrong, Howard County--just a few miles south of the Randolph County line. One the guerrillas I find particularly interesting is a less well known chieftain named Clifton Holtzclaw (he spelled it Holsclaw). I am sure he was involved in activity in Randolph County. I will look forward to learning a LOT from you!

Hi Patrick!

Highway 3 is actually what was once the Glasgow to Huntsville Plank Road. It was one of the ways to get to Fayette. The Fayette to Huntsville Road is now a gravel road that runs from Huntsville to near Higbee. It then becomes HH going on into Howard County. It was also called the Old State Road. Then there was a road to Fayette sometimes called in the old newspapers the Old Fayette Road. It was a county road though, and not a major thoroughfare. It is fantastic to see another person from Central Missouri here. I have read some about Clifton Holtzclaw since his names come up in the reports often. There are quite a few lesser known guerrillas active in the area I want to read up on too.
 
Hey, Berry, thanks for the clarification on the roads. Yes, I know HH and Higbie, too. There are a couple more history enthusiasts here in Boonville who contribute pretty frequently to various discussions. One of them is Boonslick and the other is Booner. Both of them real nice guys.
 
As for Confederate regulars, Colonel Poindexter lived here. General Sterling Price's wife was from Randolph County. Many men served in Perkins' Battalion. I am sure I am forgetting something.
I haven't read enough on the war in Missouri to provide anything concerning events in Randolph County, but I have read quite a bit on Cockrell's 1st Missouri Brigade (probably my second most favorite unit after the Texas Brigade), on which I'm currently working on a thread. A number of men who served in the brigade were from Randolph and quite a few from Little Dixie. According to Guide to Missouri Confederate Units by James E. McGhee, Companies F and K of the 3rd Missouri Infantry both contained men from Randolph. Also many others scattered throughout the brigade.

Captain Thomas G. Lowry commanded Company F.

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Have you read "With Porter In North Missouri" by Joseph A Mudd? It centers around Col. Joseph C Porter's guerrilla activities in NE Missouri. The author served with Porter. Copies have been available from
Camp Pope Bookshop www.camppope.com/porter.html
Hello, Iowa Miss and welcome from a Missourian. Joseph Mudd's recollections of being with Porter are fascinating. The book is still in print, but I believe a scan of the original is now available online in PDF form for free.

Berry, you have GOT to read this memoir. It is fascinating! It details a recruiting officer raising a large force and then operating in guerrilla fashion as he was trying to figure out how to move his force south of the Missouri River. You've seen the river and you know what a formidable obstacle it is, even today. Imagine it in an era of no bridges and few ferry boats with Union forces watching every possible crossing!
 
Hello, Iowa Miss and welcome from a Missourian. Joseph Mudd's recollections of being with Porter are fascinating. The book is still in print, but I believe a scan of the original is now available online in PDF form for free.

Berry, you have GOT to read this memoir. It is fascinating! It details a recruiting officer raising a large force and then operating in guerrilla fashion as he was trying to figure out how to move his force south of the Missouri River. You've seen the river and you know what a formidable obstacle it is, even today. Imagine it in an era of no bridges and few ferry boats with Union forces watching every possible crossing!

I definitely plan to locate a copy and soon. I am somewhat familiar with Porter, esp. the Battle of Kirksville, and always intended to read more about him. I could not imagine trying to cross that bridge with an army esp. in that day and age.
 
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