JIM Jackson's fight with the federals in 1864.
In the late fall or early winter of 1864, " Captain " Jim Jackson, a
guerrilla leader or bushwhacker, was operating in this section w^ith a
small band. With seven of his men he was sitting down to supper
m a house about two miles west of Sturgeon, and within three
hundred yards of the county line, when he was attacked by
Lieut. Keebaugh, of Glasgow, with a force of Federals forty-
five in number. Though surprised, the guerrillas were not dis-
concerted. Accustomed to every sort of fighting, they at once sprang
up and made for the door, drawing their revolvers as they rose and
firing them as they ran. The house, a little log cabin with one room,
was completely surrounded by the Federals, but Jackson and his men
cut their way out, and escaped with but the loss of one man badly
wounded, and he afterward recovered, and two horses, which were
brought into Sturgeon. The Federal loss was two men raortaMy
wounded and five slightly injured. The mortally wounded men died
shortly afterward. The wounded men were all left in charge of Dr. J.
S. Lockridge. He dressed their wounds, cared for them and stayed
with them that night, and sent them to Macon City with the two dead
men the next morning.
It was late in the evening when the fight occurred. Jackson and
his men escaped into the " Blackfoot countr}^" and Lieut. Keebaugh
went on to Sturgeon. On their way into town the Federals captured
Bill Woods and brought him in. He was confined in the court-house,
but made an almost miraculous escape. He left behind him his boots
and hat, together with almost unmistakable signs that he had fallen
into the big well, and this was the general opinion among friends as
well as foes. Cold as the weather was. Woods preferred to walk over
the prairies bareheaded and barefooted to staying and taking his
chances with the Federals.
Jim Jackson was originally from Texas. As stated by himself, he
joined the Texas Rangers at the outbreak of the war, went to Tennes-
see, killed a comrade, and then deserted and joined a Tennessee
cavalry regiment. He served under John Morgan and was on the
Ohio raid, in which he was captured. He escaped from Camp Doug-
HISTORY or BOONE COUNTY. 547
las, Chicago, in the early spring of 1864, and made his way into Mis-
souri, joining Holtzclaw's guerriUas in Chariton county. He was
soon made Holtzclaw's lieutenant, but afterward had a band of his
own. He surrendered to Capt, Cook, at Columbia, in the spring of
1865, but was killed by the Audrain militia soon after, while on hi&
way to Illinois.
HANGING or AMOS JUDY.
In 1863 Amos Judy, who lived a few miles southeast of Sturgeon,
was taken from his home one night by a band of bushwhackers, car-
ried away and never again heard of. Judy was a Union man who had
rendered himself especially obnoxious to the Confederates, by acting as
a guide and a spy for the Federals when they visited the township . He
had also been a member of Company B, 9th M. S. M. — Capt. Adams'
company of Guitar's regiment. Whatever became of Judy is not cer-
tainly known. It is believed, however, that he was taken over on
Silver's Fork and hung and his body secreted. His family made dili_
gent search and inquiry for his remains, but with no success.
In 1879, while a party of hunters were on Silver's Fork their atten-
tion was attracted by an old and somewhat peculiar " blaze " upon
the body of a tree, very high up, as though made by a person on
horse-back. A further investigation disclosed a slight depression in
the soil at the foot of the tree, bearing the outline of an old grave.
Strict inquiries of the oldest resident in the locality failed to discover
a clue as to who had been buried in such a strange, out-of-the-way
spot. Prompted by curiosity, the party procured a spade, and after
digging down about two feet they came upon portions of the charred
remains of a human skeleton, lying amidst a bed of ashes and charred
wood. At the head of the grave was found a small rusty hand axe.
The grave was situated due east and west, and its location is in a
direct line from where Judy lived, being but a very short distance
from his residence. But what is more significant, it is in the identi-
cal direction pursued by the party on that memorable night. When
we take into consideration the circumstance that it was rumored at
the time of his disappearance that Judy was first shot and then his
body burned, it seems reasonable to suppose that the secret of his
grave has been discovered. At least such appears to be the general
impression .
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