How dangerous was

[archieclement]

it to be a Missouri Guerrilla? Out of a roster of 93 orginal members of Quantrill's company, 27 died during the war, 66 survived the war. Which strikes me for the most part being behind enemy lines, against an enemy who pursued a policy of no quarter, really isn't as dangerous as I would have thought....

It would be a loss of less then one a month.

Edit-added 2 of the 27 were killed in 1865, but after the war ended, so it could be stated 25 died during war and 68 survived

 

[leftyhunter]

it to be a Missouri Guerrilla? Out of a roster of 93 orginal members of Quantrill's company, 27 died during the war, 66 survived the war. Which strikes me for the most part being behind enemy lines, against an enemy who pursued a policy of no quarter, really isn't as dangerous as I would have thought....

It would be a loss of less then one a month.

Edit-added 2 of the 27 were killed in 1865, but after the war ended, so it could be stated 25 died during war and 68 survived

A 29% death rate is roughly equal to the death rate of US sailors on WW2 submersible craft.Off hand it would be more dangerous then being an infantryman on either side of the ACW. Of course the statistical sample above is to small to approximate the mortality rate of Confederate guerrillas in Missouri. There were numerous independent bands of Confederate guerrillas.
Leftyhunter

 

[Rusk County Avengers]

I'd say very dangerous...

They were operating deep in a mostly Union controlled State, outnumbered, and they had to live off either the generosity of the population, or off Union supplies, they were considered to be outlaws and so exempt from being taken POW or surrendering most of the time, (just ask Jesse James and company what happened when they tried to surrender), and finally it wasn't uncommon for the Union troops chasing them to have Missourians who knew the land in their ranks.

Yeah I'd say very dangerous, heck it was even dangerous for them in Confederate territory. (See their stay in NE Texas after Lawrence, it almost ended in Texas State Troops going after them.)

 

[UCVRelics]

Sounds like very good odds to me. I bet that was a great adventure, ah to be young again.

 

[archieclement]

A 29% death rate is roughly equal to the death rate of US sailors on WW2 submersible craft.Off hand it would be more dangerous then being an infantryman on either side of the ACW. Of course the statistical sample above is to small to approximate the mortality rate of Confederate guerrillas in Missouri. There were numerous independent bands of Confederate guerrillas.
Leftyhunter

I agree there other bands and wondered that myself, but think it would be hard to discount this group and it's subgroups were the most notorious and the most hunted......

 

[UCVRelics]

I don't think Ole Champ Fergeson had those kind of odds but he was in a different area with a LOT more troops looking for him.

 

[archieclement]

I'd say very dangerous...

They were operating deep in a mostly Union controlled State, outnumbered, and they had to live off either the generosity of the population, or off Union supplies, they were considered to be outlaws and so exempt from being taken POW or surrendering most of the time, (just ask Jesse James and company what happened when they tried to surrender), and finally it wasn't uncommon for the Union troops chasing them to have Missourians who knew the land in their ranks.

Yeah I'd say very dangerous, heck it was even dangerous for them in Confederate territory. (See their stay in NE Texas after Lawrence, it almost ended in Texas State Troops going after them.)

What originally intrigued me into looking into this, is there were many groups of brothers, the James, the Youngers, the Houxs, Perdees, and the Atchison's where every single brother survived

 

[leftyhunter]

I agree there other bands and wondered that myself, but think it would be hard to discount this group and it's subgroups were the most notorious and the most hunted......

A thirty percent round number estimate of guerrilla mortality is certainly reasonable. Missouri guerrillas often fought to horseback or in thick cover so they were not easy to be shot. On the other hand if wounded medical care would be very rudimentary at best.
Leftyhunter

 

[Lusty Murfax]

it to be a Missouri Guerrilla? Out of a roster of 93 orginal members of Quantrill's company, 27 died during the war, 66 survived the war. Which strikes me for the most part being behind enemy lines, against an enemy who pursued a policy of no quarter, really isn't as dangerous as I would have thought....

It would be a loss of less then one a month.

Edit-added 2 of the 27 were killed in 1865, but after the war ended, so it could be stated 25 died during war and 68 survived

They had a better survival rate than the soldiers of the Missouri Brigades that were transferred east of the Big River and deployed into service with the Army of Mississippi and later the Army of Tennessee. Few of them ever returned to Missouri. On the other hand, look at the quality of troops the Guerrillas and Partisan Rangers most often faced. Home Guards, MSM and other lightly trained militia units of varying degrees of motivation.

 

[Lost Cause]

They had a better survival rate than the soldiers of the Missouri Brigades that were transferred east of the Big River and deployed into service with the Army of Mississippi and later the Army of Tennessee. Few of them ever returned to Missouri. On the other hand, look at the quality of troops the Guerrillas and Partisan Rangers most often faced. Home Guards, MSM and other lightly trained militia units of varying degrees of motivation.

along with being heavily armed.

 

[Patrick H]

Hindsight is a great tool, but it wasn't available to those teenaged boys who went to the bush in Missouri. I don't know what the odds looked like to them at the time, but only a relatively few hundred of them took the risk. We know some of them wanted to stay close to their families and protect them. Others went to the bush to avoid mandatory service in the Enrolled Militia. Some most likely saw it as an opportunity to do some opportunistic freebooting. We will never know all of their individual motivations for certain, but we know of those who bothered to write their memoirs. Service in the war was a very risky business. Service as a Missouri guerrilla was probably a good bet very early in the war, but became riskier and riskier as the months and the years dragged on.

 

[AUG]

If all 27 were killed in action (as opposed to dying from disease or other causes) then that would actually be a rather high percentage, especially for a mounted unit. I wonder how many men were wounded as well.

In comparison, Co. E of the 4th Texas Infantry in Hood's Texas Brigade had a total strength of 122 men and lost 28 killed in action (23%) and 14 died due to disease (11%), for a total of 42 men dying in service (34%).

43 men were wounded (35%) and 15 of those were discharged due to their wounds (so 71 men, or 58%, killed and wounded in battle). 23 were discharged due to illness or other reasons, only 5 were captured and 11 deserted or were otherwise AWOL. Only 20 men surrendered at Appomattox. Those numbers were typical of the average company within the brigade and altogether make for a high casualty rate. In many battles the company also lost a high percentage of those engaged, like 44% of the 43 engaged at Gaines' Mill or 60% of the 20 at Antietam.
(Source: Harold B. Simpson's history of the company, Gaines' Mill to Appomattox)

 

[archieclement]

If all 27 were killed in action (as opposed to dying from disease or other causes) then that would actually be a rather high percentage, especially for a mounted unit. I wonder how many men were wounded as well.

In comparison, Co. E of the 4th Texas Infantry in Hood's Texas Brigade had a total strength of 122 men and lost 28 killed in action (23%) and 14 died due to disease (11%), for a total of 42 men dying in service (34%).

43 men were wounded (35%) and 15 of those were discharged due to their wounds (so 71 men, or 58%, killed and wounded in battle). 23 were discharged due to illness or other reasons, only 5 were captured and 11 deserted or were otherwise AWOL. Only 20 men surrendered at Appomattox. Those numbers were typical of the average company within the brigade and altogether make for a high casualty rate. In many battles the company also lost a high percentage of those engaged, like 44% of the 43 engaged at Gaines' Mill or 60% of the 20 at Antietam.
(Source: Harold B. Simpson's history of the company, Gaines' Mill to Appomattox)

Thats dieing of all causes, which is combat or shot after capture, off hand not aware of any of the 93 dieing from disease. But would assume that would be an advantage of not sitting around for months in unsanitary camps of thousands.

There was a couple that they know died in say 1863 for example without the exact circumstances known, so reckon of those its possible a couple be to disease, but it seems to have far less then regular troops. Suppose one could also conclude if one was sick/weakened while behind lines and straggled, it could very well result in KIA

Am aware of that being the case with some others not of the 93. Frisbie McCullough comes to mind.

 

[archieclement]

Came across this today, at least one of 27 died from disease, W.F. Judd. He was captured in Benton County on Oct 8th 1863, and died from measles in early 1864 in Gratiot Prison