The governor at once appointed and commissioned the author Major of state troops and ordered him to at once proceed and organize a company of militia, and at the same time sent one hundred Springfield rifles and one hundred rounds of amunition for each gun. And soon as it was organized, he was to proceed to Oregon county, for the purpose of aiding and supporting Captain Alley who had been appointed enrolling officer of Oregon county, to enroll and form companies for the purpose of aiding the sheriff in enforcing the civil law. He was to pursue, arrest and drive out those roving bands of murderers from the counties of Oregon, Shannon and Dent. The author at once organized a company in Howell county, composed of men who had been in the Confederate and Federal service. On Jamison and others in Oregon county learning that the author had been appointed Major and that he was organizing, and the state was arming the men with orders to enter the counties of Oregon, Shannon and Dent to drive out the murdering bands and aid Captain Alley in organizing a posse comitatus to aid the sheriff in enforcing the civil law, they publicly declared that "old Monks might get into Oregon county but that he would never get out alive."
At that time there was a secret order in the counties of Oregon and Shannon known as the Sons of Liberty. The author was informed that on a certain night they would hold a meeting on Warm fork of Spring river. The author made a forced march and, on reaching the place where they had assembled, surrounded the house and took all the inmates prisoners, among them being the sheriff of the county and a few other prominent men. The next morning Capt. Alley met the author, put up his notices ordering every man to come in and enroll his name. The author remained over the next day near the place, got in possession of their papers, with a secret oath placed upon them, and the aims and objects, binding themselves together to prevent the enforcement of the civil law, and further binding themselves to capture or take property from any man who had been in the Federal army, and, when it became necessary to enforce it, to shoot men down. They claimed to have lawyers connected with it, so that if they should be arrested they were to make a pretense of a trial and allow no man to go onto the jury except those who belonged to the order.
Capt. Greer, who had been a Captain in the Confederate service all through the war, and afterwards was elected to the state legislature, remarked that, "I can soon tell whether those grips, obligations and oaths were in the organization known as the Sons of Liberty;" said that "Old Uncle Dickey" Boles, a short time previous, came to him and informed him that the Sons of Liberty were going to hold a meeting in a big sink on the mountain and they wanted him to come and join it; that he was looked upon as a business man and he didn't know anything about what was going on right at his door; that if he would come and join it, in a few years he would be a rich man. Capt. Greer said he replied to him, "Uncle Dickey, I have always been an honest man and have worked hard, and if a man can get rich in two or three years by joining that order, there must be something dishonest in it." Old Uncle Dickey replied: "You won't be in a bit of danger in joining it, for we are so organized that the civil law can't reach us." Capt. Greer said he had a son-in-law who was requested, at the same time he was, to attend the meeting, and that after the meeting he saw him and asked him what kind of an organization it was. He said his brother-in-law told him, "I dare not tell you; I took the bitterest oath that I have ever taken in my life not to reveal the workings of the order on penalty of death. But I will tell you enough; Captain, I know that you are an honest man and that that organization is a damn jay-hawking institution, and you want nothing to do with it." Captain Greer at once sent for his brother-in law; he came, and the signs, grips and by-laws that were captured at the place of the meeting were submitted to him and he said he believed they were word for word the same, and contained the very same oath that they swore him to on the night that he went to their meeting.
The author was informed that Jamison was then lying in wait on the road that led from Warm Fork to Frederick Fork township, the next place where Alley had notified them to meet, waiting for the author to pass with his men, so that he might fire on them from the brush. Then the hardest task confronted the author that he ever had had to meet, to study out a plan to prevent Jamison firing on his men from the brush as he marched by. He held four men as prisoners, whom he knew were Jamison's right-hand bowers; he had just been informed that Jamison had a spy then on the ground to learn the time the author would break camp and move in the direction of Fredericks Fork. He ordered a wagon brought up with three spring seats, took the four prisoners and set them in the two front seats, tied a small rope around their bodies and around each seat, with two guards in the back seat; then arrested Jamison's spy, informed him what his business was, which he admitted and said that Jamison was lying in wait to learn what time I would move out, and that he intended to fire on me as soon as I came within reach. I took him to the wagon and asked him if he was acquainted with the prisoners. He said that he was. "Well," said I, "I am going to release you and I want you to go and tell Jamison that, just as certain as he fires from the brush and kills one of my men, I will retaliate by killing these four men, whom I know are his right-hand bowers." The author also wrote a letter containing the same statement, and sent another man, who was a Confederate, with Jamison's spy, to see that the message was delivered.
On reaching Jamison, they delivered the message and informed him of what I had said, and told him that there was no possible chance for these men to escape, for there was a rope tied around each man's body and fastened to the spring seat, and they were also under a strong guard. The man who went to carry the dispatch said that after Jamison read it, he appeared to be in trouble and remarked: "Well, we will have to desist and not fire, for just as certain as we fire on him and kill some of his men, he is sure to kill our men." One of the prisoners, after he was placed in the wagon and heard the message sent to Jamison, remarked to the other prisoners: "We are dead men, for Jamison is sure to fire on them." We soon broke camp, and on reaching the place where Jamison had been waiting, saw the camp fire and where their horses had been tied and fed, but there was not a man to be seen, neither was there a gun fired.
COL. AND MRS. MONKS AT CLOSE OF WAR.
On reaching Fredericks Fork township, Capt. Alley made a speech to the people and said, among other things, that the counties of Oregon and Shannon had been controlled by one of the most desperate class of men that ever lived. That they had ridden through the country on horseback, heavily armed, defying the enforcement of the civil law, intimidating the people, both Federal and Confederate alike, and committing all manner of crimes, robbing and murdering the people and boasting openly that the damn Confederacy was whipped, but that they were not and intended to live off the damn "Feds." Now the war is over and all good citizens, be they Federal or Confederate, should be in favor of the enforcement of the civil law. "I am ordered by the governor of the state to enroll all able-bodied men in the county to form a posse to aid the sheriff in enforcing the law in Oregon county; I am to organize companies to enforce the civil law. These bushwhackers and thieves have terrorized this county long enough. The governor has sent Capt. Monks, a man who is not afraid of bushwhackers and thieves, into this county to arrest these bushwhackers, thieves and murderers and bring them to justice. If the people of this county want the civil law enforced, they should aid Capt. Monks and his men to hunt these fellows down and either arrest them or drive them from the county. Our people have been present and saw these men commit all manner of crimes, from murder down to the smallest crime known to the criminal code. They have done this openly and the people were afraid to open their mouths or say a word against it, on penalty of death. I wrote the governor, stating the condition of affairs in this county, that neither person nor property were safe, and to send Capt. Monks to this county. And he has sent him and we have got the right man in the right place."