The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-03-23

when a guerrilla band appeared it was
surprising to note the accuracy of their
knowledge.
On an occasion Of raid it became
known that the raiders wanted the fat
Judge He was sitting in a store and
could not escape, so he ran up stairs and
turned dry goods box upside down and
drew up his short thick legs under the
box, and there he remained concealed,
and the very room he was IN was search
ed, but fortunately he was not found.
Some of the leaders of these bands
were men of more than ordinary daring.
John Morgan, who began his career at
the very outset of the war, made himself
famous for his dashing raids, and the
very name of "Morgan's men" came to
carry holy terror to the people along
the border. Mosby was another leader
of the Morgan stripe, and QuantrelI's
band, west Of the Mississippi, and many
others of less or at least more local
fame, added to the terror of the Union
citizens of the border states. These men
were not organized TO fight, but to ha-
rass, pi!lage and burn; and while they
were not particularly anxious to take
life, yet they never hesitated to do so,
and in the most cruel manner, when it
answered their purposes. Many scenes of
savage barbarity were enacted by them.
There was leader whose band was
known to excel in savagery. They were
known as Jake Benefits Gang" and
were much on the order of the James
gang in later years. This band on one
occasion took dinner at hotel. and when
they were through inquired their bill.
They took from their vest pockets and
rendered in payment number of ne
groes' ears, which they called Lincoln
shinplasters. With the advent Of the
guerrilla came the home guard, which,
as an adjunct of the war, was known
! chiefly in the border states. In Ken
lucky the home guard became one of the
prominent features of the times. They
were armed by the state with old fash
! Toned muzZle loading muskets, and be-
/ yOnd that each man furnished his own
accouterments. They had no armory or
camp, each man carrying his gun home
with him, and they gathered for drill or
a raid upon special summons. The small
boys were utilized in summoning a squad
of home guards on short notice. These
men did some hard fighting at times,
but as a general thing they did some of
the cleanest running on record.
WAR OF RACES"
remember one occasion in particular
where a force of home guards, several
hundred strong, were assembled to inter-
cept a raid of Morgan's men. Word kept
! coming to headquarters of the strength
| of the enemy, and the numbers increased
with each repetition, unit! nothing short
Of humiliation to the whole home guard
! force seemed possible. Already the tramp
/ of horses feet could be heard. Brave
! farmers stood with guns at half cock and
/ looked into each others faces Officers
nervously raised their field glasses to
view the approaching hordes. Then they
! looked across the river to the west and
contemplated the untrodden and secure
recesses of those deep woods. They
| looked toward the foe once more and be-
neld fifteen horsemen riding fearlessly
toward them If the advance guard
]
army itself be? The thought was too
much for these citizen soldiers. They
remembered that they had wives, chill
dren and sweethearts to defend, so they
took to the woods, and to make sure
their retreat, they never stopped until
they had placed several miles of an al
most impenetrable forest and canebrakes
| between them and Morgan's invading
hOrdes.
Imagine the feeling when it became
known that the fifteen men who were
supposed to be the advance guard of le-
gions were in reality Jake Benefits
gang" of just fifteen, and they rode into
one edge of the town as four hundred
home guards fed out at the other edge;
and they looted the place at their leisure,
unmolested. Thus one of the most SAN
culinary battles of the war was unfought
and glorious victory was not achieved.
Not always, however, was this the re-
suit of home guard operations. There
was a young man in the neighborhood
whose two elder brothers were officers i'll
che Federal army, and he and his aged
father were constantly tormented by
guerrillas on that account. Woodward
Vas married. and in a few days after
wards a gang of guerrillas, nearly every
one of whom was known TO him-being
mostly boys from the surrounding coun-
.ry-came and led away his horses just
Al the time for cuitivating a crop.
Woodward gave the alarm and collected
about twenty picked men and pursued
his despoilers. The guerrillas were sur
prised at a farm house during the night
They were unaware that they were
pursued, and consequently were sitting
around smoking and telling stories, not
even having a sentry un duty. The
house was fired upon and the guerriIlas
IAN for the barn where their horses were
:eeding. Then fierce fight ensued, and
soung Woodward was shot dead and
several OF the guerrillas bit the dust.
With the guerrillas was one young
man, not over II years old, who had
coined the band only that day. He was
AID in a fence corner, and might have
remained quiet and escaped discovery,
but he was young in the cause and had
not learned caution. He wanted glory
and he got lead. he was seen drawing
a bead up"n home guard not thirty
feet from him, and two or three, seeing
his desperate purpose. fired upon him,
and literally bespattered the fence rails
beside which he stood with his brains.
After this scrimmage WAS over it was
found to have cost more than it was
worth. Woodward had recovered his
horses. but had lost his own life. And