That’s really cool, did he happen to past any stories onto you?
Yes. My father told me a story his own father passed down to him. During the Civil War, my paternal grandfather, who might have been about six or seven years old at the time, remembered mounted men coming onto the farm. The officer in charge handed the reins of his horse to my grandfather and then went up to the house to speak to my great grandfather. I believe he was asking permission to bivouak in a pasture. I am not sure where I got that last bit of the story, but that's what sticks in my mind.
Now, I can't tell you who these soldiers were, because I don't know the year. It was Howard County, Missouri. It is about five miles east of the town of Fayette.
The soldiers might have been 9th MSM, but that is doubtful, because those guys had a garrison in Fayette and they would have just ridden on into town. Early in the war, they might have been Col. Joseph Porter's southern recruits. It seems like asking permission would be a polite, gentlemanly, southern sort of thing to do.
But, do you see that young man in my avatar? He was regular Union cavalry--enlisted in Merrill's Horse in August of '62. He was my grandfather's much older brother. His big cavalry unit was chasing Porter all over north central Missouri in late '62 and I think into '63. I can envision a scenario where he might have said to his Captain: "Sir, my father's farm is just over here. I'm sure he'll let us camp there." That seems most likely to me.
The last possible scenario is that it was a guerrilla band under Holtzclaw or Jackman, or one of the other central Missouri boys. Very doubtful. Would a guerrilla have asked permission? Maybe, but no guarantees. Least likely of all was that it might have been the summer of '64, and the "officer" might have been Bill Anderson. I don't think so. If Anderson had known my great uncle joined the Yankee cavalry, he'd have just shot my great grandfather on sight!