Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1913-10-02
The Battle of Pilot Knob,
CoFFEYTON. Mo-. Semi

LIB 0aGRAS4 vi NAAAAa IN q
few days following, which are as fresh
to my memory as if it were but 49
days past, instead of 40 years.
The day was beautiful, and father
drove us to church in the family hack
which he had just repaired, and it
looked like new in its shiny coat of
black varnish, behind two fat sleek
horses, clothed for the first time in a
new set of silver plated harness.
1t was our first, as we'll as our last,
ride in that outfit, for during the
sermon the alarm was given that
"The Rebels are Coming" The Rev.
D. A. Wilson was our pastor, and ad-
dressed the congregation from the
pulpit something like this:
"Men, go to the fort and do your
duty, and / advise the wemen to stay
at home and take care of the house
and children" He dismissed the con-
gregation with an earnest prayer and
the benediction. On arriving at home
the team was driven and hid in a
thicket over on the back side of the
farm, during the remainder of the
day. The alarm proved to have been
a false one, and by Monday morning
everybody was in a normal state of
mind, and we youngsters went to
school, as usual, at the old Arcadia
Seminary in charge of "Uncle j. O..
Bergman" and l think the late Thos.
Essex was one of the teachers. About
2:30 that afternoon we heard some of
the real thing-no previous alarm
about it. The Feds, | shall call them
for the sake of abbreviation, had a
small squad of men posted as pickets
on the corner in Russellville where
the Fredericktown road from ~Ironton
is joined by the road from Arcadia.
| am relating this from memory,
and l shall tell you of things as they
come into my mind, and l will prob
ably mention the names of some of
the people who took an active part in
the proceedings. Uncle William was
gathering apples lear the house when
he heard some one hallooing at the |
gate which is quite a distance from
the house. On looking in that direc-
ton he saw a squad of men, the leader
of which called out to him asking him
if he had a "six shooter" in the house,
Being informed in the negative he
then asked him if he had a gun. Uncle
said, eyes," then was ordered to go
in and bring it out, ''and be - quick
about it." He went into the house
and buckled on his "seven shooter"
took his gun, went to the back door,
and scooted for a cane patch which
was 9 He was shot at several
times, but was not hit. Coming on
over he found father getting a load
Of standing corn for his milk cows of
which he had about a dozen fat ones,
Father drove to the barn, and put the
saddle on the horse, took his old squir-
rel rife, and they together started to
the fort, going first to the picket post to
inform them of the "doins" down the
road. 1t was Tim Reeves, so it after
ward was learned, who called at Uncle
Williams, and they must have made
a halt, or reiterated, as they had not
come in sight of the pickets. The
alarm was given, and Major Wilson
with a detachment went to meet the
Confeds, and there was a skirmish
down in the region of the Shut-In.
When we came from school we
found the fences laid in at every other
corner so that they would be less in
the way than if left up.
lUhb UlRuu dbOuU udIh UIOuuOI |
Charles mounted a roam pony of ours
and went to the fort, leaving me to
take care of the family and the stock.
The next morning | was feeding at
the barn when several men came rid
ing up and asked me what had in the
barn. | told them COWS. They sad,
"Got any horses?n and | said, "No-l
yes, there is an old horse in there, but
he has a bad leg and won't do you
any good" / was ordered to bring
him out, but they seemed to be in a
great hurry and could not wait for me,
so they, or one of them, went in and
got him-the last of our horses.
They stopped at the house and went
through every room, taking anything
that struck their fancy. One fellow
had come by some store and had all
his pile of bones could carry. He even
had a woman's hat all decked with
red ribbons and gaudy flowers. They
had hardly gone when a big, grizzly
bearded man came to the kitchen win
dow and ordered Ma to get him some
breakfast, and while he was eating he
made his boast that the buzzards
would have one Yankee to feast on,
but he was not enlightened to the
contrary.
That was "Old Tim Reeves" and
those who were stealing were in his
gang, or followers. Soon after old
Tim had his breakfast a division of
Gen. Fagan's army came along, and a
guard was placed about the premises
and remained on duty until the divi-
sion was ordered to go forward. Sew
eral oficers-four | think-came and
asked Ma to get them some breakfast,
bat before she could prepare it they
we're ordered on, and they said to her,
'Just save 1t for US. We're going ov-
or there to clean out a rat hole, and
we'Il be back soon." Eli, they never
came back.
During the night a drizzling rain
had set in, and about nine O'Clock we
could see a constant stream OF men
dressed in butternut over on the road
about where Sanford Russell's gate
is, and that stream of humanity was
kept up for hours. There are many
incidences which happened to differ
ent people, some amusing as / look
back upon them. Skirmishing began
some time during the forenoon and
wal kepb up unu apoub D T. M, Wnen
a charge was made upon the fort, and
for a time we saw and heard a genuine
battle. The charge was a fierce one,
and was a failure as far as "cleaning
out the rat hole" went. There were
only about 700 soldiers and citizens,
white and colored, but every man did
his duty,
The enemy claimed to have had o.
600 or $4,000 soldiers, and lost ten per
cent. of them in killed, wounded and
missing.
The sky had cleared and It was a beau
tiful afternoon; but in the evening the
clouds appeared, and it became so dark
it could almost be felt. The furnace
and those great sheds, where thous-