Bushwhacking in Howell County.
The writer wants to say that there was not a Union man nor a single Union family left at home, from Batesville, Ark. to Rolla, Mo., a distance of two-hundred miles. The writer especially wants to speak for Howell County, Mo. The rebels took quite a number of Union men from their homes and shot them, some of them being old men. I will name a few of them that were shot: Morton R. Langston, the father of T. J. and S. J. Langston, while he was hauling wood; Jeff Langston, one of the firm of Langston Bros, was riding on the wood at the time his father was shot. I asked a leading rebel after the war, why they shot Langston. His reply was: "He talked too much." Shot Mawhinney, Bacon and a number of others. Now I want to say right here, notwithstanding the treatment the Union men received from the rebels, not a single Confederate was ever taken from his home and shot or otherwise injured during the whole Civil War and no truthful Confederate will say to the contrary. There never was but one Confederate hurt after being taken prisoner in Howell County and he wasn't a citizen of Howell County; was said to be a north Missouri bushwhacker, charged with being one of the parties that shot old Mr. Langston, Mawhinney and Bacon. A Federal scout in the year 1864 captured him below West Plains and the next morning they hung him to a smokehouse rafter. Notwithstanding a few of the friends of the bushwackers will tell to strangers that the writer shot a man in this county, by the name of Hawkins, in the lap of his family, which is a positive lie; the facts are these; Hawkins was one of the worst bushwhackers and murderers that ever lived in Howell County and was commanding a company of bushwackers at the time he was shot. A short time before he was shot he had captured one of his cousins, by the name of Washington Hawkins, a Federal soldier, and taken from him a fine mare with his saddle and rig complete.
In the spring of 1864, a battalion of the 11th Missouri Cavalry, commanded by Col. Woods, had been ordered to report to Col. Livingston at Batesville, Ark. The writer had been ordered to report at Rolla, Mo., with his command. Col. Woods had camped near West Plains the previous night, the next morning resumed his march towards Batesville; after he had passed West Plains a few miles, Hawkins and his bushwhackers fired on them from the brush and they continued to fire on them every few miles for sixteen miles. Our force met the force of Col. Woods at the state line where Col. Woods informed me how they had been firing upon his men all morning. He had taken a man prisoner by the name of William Krause, whom he turned over to me. Both forces resumed the march, he in the direction of Batesville, Ark., and I in the direction of Rolla, Mo. The prisoner told the writer that he knew the parties who had been firing on Col. Woods' command; that they had a camp by a pond in a secluded place, and were commanded by Hawkins and Yates; that it was about four miles almost west. I told Krause if he would place me on trail he could then go home. He did so and I then released him. Krause said there were about fifty rebels in the command.
We trailed them about two miles and came in sight of a house that belonged to old Mr. Newberry, a Union man. He and his family had been run off from home. I saw a horse hitched to the side of the door, and supposed there were more inside of the house; there was a skirt of timber that enabled us to get within about sixty yards of the house. I ordered my men, when we reached a given point, to charge upon the house, dismount and reach the wall of the house and demand the surrender of all persons that might be within. We were about fifteen feet from the door when Hawkins came out and attempted to mount his horse. The author demanded his surrender, but he drew his pistol to fire, the author having his pistol already in hand and presented, fired on him; the author was sitting in his saddle when he fired on him.
The men examined the house and found he was the only man in it. The horse he was riding was the one he had taken from his cousin, Washington Hawkins, a short time previous, with a government rig complete. Washington Hawkins resided at Bakersfield, Mo., and got his horse and rig again. We took the trail again, but dark came on us and we lost it. These are the facts surrounding the whole case, the killing of Hawkins, one of the worst bandits and guerrillas that ever roamed through South Missouri and led the worst band of men in the state. I had previously taken him prisoner and he took the oath of allegiance, went right back and joined his command and, if possible, he was worse than before. I must say that there are few men in Howell county that claim to be Confederates, who tell strangers that Monks shot Hawkins down in the lap of his family and that he, Hawkins, was a good man. The writer wants to say that no truthful Confederate will tell any such a thing; they will tell you that Hawkins was a bad man. Ask such Confederates as Capt. Howard, Mark Cooper, Judge Dryer, John Ledsinger, Harvey Kelow, Daniel Galloway, P. N. Gulley and a number of others, if Hawkins was a good man.
The writer wants to say that he don't believe all the Confederates were in favor of killing and driving out the families of Union men, but the most bitter element got in power and being backed by the order of Gen. McBride, to force all the Union men to join the Confederate service, or hang them, those Confederates who were opposed to such treatment were afraid to open their mouths for fear they would receive the same treatment. You don't hear these same men, that talked about Monks shooting Hawkins, say a word about Hawkins and his bushwhackers shooting Union men all over Howell county. There never were but two houses burned in Howell county by the Union men during the Civil war, and houses owned by these men had been previously burned by the Confederates. The town of West Plains was burned by the Confederates to keep the Federals from holding a post at West Plains.
The writer wants to say that on his return after the war, in the spring of 1866, he met the rebels, both those that had been officers and soldiers, and never spoke a harsh word to them, asked them if they thought both parties could now live together; their answer was, that they thought they could. All that they asked was that they be protected. The writer assured them that both Federal and Confederates would be protected by the civil laws and all they would be asked to do would be to aid in a strict enforcement of civil laws, which they readily promised to do. The Union men who had returned to their homes and the late Confederates joined together and went to building and repairing old church houses and school-houses and soon were found worshiping together in the same church and sending their children to the same school-houses and the old ties that had existed before the war were being re-united. The country appeared to be prosperous and the old war spirit appeared to be fast dying out among the people.
I suppose the writer holds more commissions than any other man in the state, both military and civil and there never was a charge preferred against the writer of any failure to discharge his duties by the government or state. While in the military service thousands of dollars passed through the hands of the writer for forage and commissaries and ordinance stores and clothing, every dollar was accounted for and all contraband property was turned over to the government. I never converted, to my own private use, five cents of any man's property or money, before or after the war, in the war, nor since the war.
The writer is now residing within about twenty-five miles of where his father located in the year 1844 and there are several persons yet living that have been intimately acquainted with the writer since his boyhood up to the present time, namely James Kellett, Sr., Marion Kellett, present county treasury of Howell county, Washington Hawkins of Bakersfield, Mo., and quite a number of others that have been acquainted with the writer from forty to fifty years. The writer wants to say right here that he is not ashamed of anything he did before the war, in the war, nor since the war, and on his return home to Howell county on meeting the late rebels; he never spoke a harsh word to one of them, but received them kindly and said to them that the civil laws should be strictly enforced against all alike, Confederate and Federal.
In the year 1861, sometime in the month of September, after the Federals retreated from Springfield, Mo. and the Confederates had taken possession of Springfield, there was one Capt. Brixey who was captain of a company of home guards residing in the edge of Webster County, Mo.; soon after the Confederates took possession of the post, they ordered a captain belonging to a Texas regiment to detail one company and proceed to the residence of Capt. Brixey and arrest him. Capt. Brixey having no notice of the approach of the scouts, he and one of his men were sitting in the house; the first they knew they had a line within thirty yards of his door, hailed them and presented their guns and demanded their surrender. Capt. Brixey said, "The —— you say." Both parties fired on each other about the same time, the man with Brixey fell dead, Brixey shot and killed the Confederate captain and wounded one or two other Confederates; he retreated through his house and into his orchard and made his escape; one of his arms was broken by the shot from the rebels from which he entirely recovered and lived many years afterwards, and has a son residing in this county at the present time.