One of the prominent men of Oregon county went to Jefferson City to see the governor to procure the removal of the writer and have Col. A. J. Sea appointed in his place. He said to the governor that Capt. Monks was arresting some of the best men in Oregon county and had them prisoners. The governor showed him some of Capt. Alley's letters that he had written to the governor. The letters stated among other things that persons and property were at the mercy of these desperadoes and the county was being terrorized by James Jamison and his men; that they were robbing whom they pleased openly; that a day or two before he, Alley, wrote the letter, that Jamison shot a man's brains out in Thomasville, and dared any man to say he was in favor of the enforcement of the civil law, that he would serve him the same way. The governor asked him if those things were true, and he replied that they were; the governor said to him: "You are a leading man in that county and a citizen of Thomasville and never a word have you written to me that such terror and lawlessness existed in your county." He replied "Governor, I was afraid to." The governor replied to him, "when I send a man down there that is not afraid to handle those men without gloves, then here you come with a howl. Now I expected when I sent Capt. Monks down there, if he did his duty, that there would be a howl raised; I am satisfied that he is doing his duty. I am responsible for his acts and you men want to get rid of him; go home and tell your people to organize companies under Captain Alley and aid Captain Monks and his men in arresting and driving those bushwhackers and bandits out of your country and whenever Captain Monks reports to me that the person and property of your citizens are secure and that the civil law is being enforced, he will be removed, and not before."
They then employed Colonel A. J. Sea as an attorney. Some time during the night, while we were encamped on Fredericks Fork, some of the soldiers took the sheriff out and put a rope around his neck to make him tell where the bones of two soldiers were, who were murdered by Jamison and his men. He admitted that he knew where the bones of the two Federal soldiers were; that after they shot them Jamison gave him the mule and saddle that one man was riding; that he was afraid not to take them and promised as soon as the command reached Thomasville to go and show the bones. On the next morning after our arrival at Thomasville I procured a big box and placed it in a wagon and brought the sheriff from the guard house and set him on a box under a strong guard. About that time Colonel A. J. Sea came up and asked what we were going to do with that man. I told him "That is my business; when you was in the military service did you inform the civilians of your object and aims? You are a civilian now and I will give you five minutes to get outside of the lines or you will go into the guard house." He took me at my word and left at once.
COLLECTING BONES OF TWO FEDERAL SOLDIERS SHOT BY COL. JAMISON AND MEN IN OREGON COUNTY.
The sheriff piloted the scout to the bones of the men that had been murdered, and the sheriff, aided by the scout, picked up the bones and placed them in the box. On examination it was found that three bullets had passed through one of the skulls, and the other skull appeared to have been shot all to pieces. I brought the bones in and caused them to be buried in a cemetery, about one mile west of Thomasville.
Captain Alley had completed the organization of two companies, one commanded by Captain Lasley and the other by Captain Bledsaw. The companies were mostly composed of men who had been late Confederates, as there were very few Union men in the county. They immediately fell in with my soldiers and a vigorous search was at once made for Jamison and his men. Being aided by men who were thoroughly acquainted with the county and knew just where to look for Jamison and his cut-throats, they agreed to keep on Jamison's track and arrest him and his men if possible, in Oregon county. I moved my troops up into Shannon county to prevent Jamison and his men from crossing over into Shannon and scouted that county to keep them from hiding there. The Oregon county companies shot and killed some of them and arrested others. Jameson and the others left the county and never have returned to it since.
But they left some of their sympathizers in the county, and the only weapons left them were their tongues; having no conscience or principle, and instigated by the wicked one, they began lying and preferring all manner of charges against the writer and his men who went into the county and, by the aid of the law-abiding citizens, drove out and arrested one of the worst set of men that ever lived, the savage not excepted, and restored the civil law, so that every citizen was secure in person and property.
The writer informed the governor that a large majority of the citizens, both Confederate and Federal, had nobly responded to his call, had organized two companies of militia to aid the sheriff in the enforcement of the civil law; Jamison and his bushwhackers had either been arrested, killed or driven from the county, and the strong arm of the military law was not needed any longer.