CITIZEN GUARDS. Under the title of "Home Guards, 1861," it has been seen that soon after the beginning of hostilities in Missouri numerous bodies of citizens were organized, by authority of the War Department, for home protection and local service, and that those on active duty were paid for their services, through the agency of a commission appointed under authority of Congress. These early organizations of Home Guards were disbanded after a few months' service. Later in the progress of the war it was found expedient to form other companies of citizens for the protection of their homes and for local service in various localities and under divers conditions. A majority of these organizations, designated as "Citizen Guards," were formed for protection against the aggressions of guerrilla bands. In some instances they were recognized as Enrolled Missouri Militia and paid by the State, and in a few cases they have been paid under special legislation by Congress, but in a large number of cases no provision has ever been made for their payment, either by the State or the United States, the service having been rendered without promise or expectation of pay. On August 25, 1863, Major-General Schofield, the commanding general of the Department of the Missouri, and also a major-general of the State of Missouri, commanding, by authority of the governor, all of the militia of the State, issued a general order in which he invoked the active cooperation of citizens in the extermination of guerrillas and directed that, to protect themselves from violence, and to aid the troops when necessary, all loyal and peaceable citizens be permitted to bear arms. Following is a copy of the order: GENERAL ORDERS, } HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE MISSOURI, Large numbers of men are leaving the broken rebel armies in the Mississippi Valley and returning to Missouri. Many of them, doubtless, come back with the purpose of following a career of plunder and murder under the form of guerrilla warfare, while others would gladly return to their homes as peaceable citizens if permitted to do so and protected from violence. The State is in danger of a repetition of the scenes of violence and bloodshed which characterized the months of July and August, 1862. The united efforts of all loyal and peaceably disposed citizens, as well as of the troops of this department, will be required to avert this evil. It is the desire of the commanding general that all those who voluntarily abandon the rebel cause and desire to return to their allegiance to the United States shall be permitted to do so, under such restrictions as the public peace shall require. All such persons may surrender themselves and their arms at the nearest military post, and will be released upon taking the oath of allegiance and giving bond for their future good conduct. They will be required to reside in such portion of Missouri or other State as the provost-marshal who releases them shall direct. All who shall fail to comply with these conditions, and shall remain within our lines without renewing their allegiance, will be treated as criminals according to the laws of war. Those who shall engage in robbery, murder, or other similar crimes will be exterminated without mercy. Humanity demands of every citizen active and earnest cooperation with the military authorities in putting down these common enemies of mankind. The com manding general demands of every citizen the full discharge of his duty in this regard. Those who neglect it will be held responsible in their persons and property for the damage that may result from their neglect, and will be punished at the discretion of a military commission. If milder means shall fail, the commanding general will order the destruction or seizure of all houses, barns, provisions, and other property belonging to disloyal persons in those portions of the State which are made the haunts of guerrillas. To enable them to protect themselves from violence, and to aid the troops when necessary, all loyal and peaceable citizens in Missouri will be permitted to bear arms. As far as practicable arms which have heretofore been taken from such citizens will be returned to them. By command of Major-General Schofield: C. W. MARSH, Assistant Adjutant-General. DISTRICT OF THE BORDER. On the date of the order quoted above, August 25, 1863, Brig. Gen. Thomas Ewing, commanding the District of the Border, issued from his headquarters at Kansas City, Mo., a general order requiring all of the inhabitants of certain counties and districts to remove from their homes within fifteen days from the date of the order. This order reads as follows: GENERAL ORDERS, No. 11. HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT of the Border, Kansas City, Mo., August 25, 1863. I. All persons living in Jackson, Cass, and Bates counties, Mo., and in that part of Vernon included in this district, except those living within one mile of the limits of Independence, Hickman Mills, Pleasant Hill, and Harrisonville, and except those in that part of Kaw Township, Jackson County, north of Brush Creek and west of the Big Blue, are hereby ordered to remove from their present places of residence within fifteen days from the date hereof. Those who, within that time, establish their loyalty to the satisfaction of the commanding officer of the military station nearest their present places of residence will receive from him certificates stating the fact of their loyalty, and the names of the witnesses by whom it can be shown. All who receive such certificates will be permitted to remove to any military station in this district, or to any part of the State of Kansas, except the counties on the eastern border of the State. All others shall remove out of this district. Officers commanding companies and detachments serving in the counties named will see that this paragraph is promptly obeyed. II. All grain and hay in the field or under shelter in the district from which the inhabitants are required to remove within reach of military stations after the 9th day of September next will be taken to such stations and turned over to the proper officers there, and report of the amount so turned over made to district headquarters, specifying the names of all loyal owners and the amount of such produce taken from them. All grain and hay found in such district after the 9th day of September next not convenient to such stations will be destroyed. Acting Assistant Adjutant-General. [Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Vol. XXII, Part II, p. 473.] This order followed a few days after the burning of the town of Lawrence, Kans., and the massacre of its inhabitants by guerrilla bands. from the border counties of Missouri. Concerning the conditions which prompted its issue General Ewing wrote: Col. C. W. MARSH, HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT OF THE BORDER, Assistant Adjutant-General, Department of the Missouri, St. Louis, Mo. SIR: Some commanders of detachments engaged in the pursuit of Quantrill are still out after his scattered forces. In advance of their return I submit a report of the raid, which, in some respects, may be deficient for want of official information from them. Three or four times this summer the guerrillas have assembled to the number of several hundred within twenty or thirty miles of the Kansas border. They have threatened, alternately, Lexington, Independence, Warrensburg, and Harrisonville, and frequent reports have reached me from scouts and spies that they meant to sack and destroy Shawnee, Olathe, Paola, Mound City, and other towns in Kansas near the eastern border. On the 25th instant I issued an order requiring all residents of the counties of Jackson, Cass, Bates, and that part of Vernon included in this district, except those within one mile of the limits of the military stations and the garrisoned towns, and those north of Brush Creek and west of Big Blue, to remove from their present places of residence within fifteen days from that date; those who prove their loyalty to be allowed to move out of the district or to any military station in it, or to any part of Kansas west of the border counties; all others to move out of the district. When the war broke out, the district to which this order applies was peopled by a community three-fourths of whom were intensely disloyal. The avowed loyalists have been driven from their farms long since, and their houses and improvements generally destroyed. They are living in Kansas and at military stations in Missouri, unable to return to their homes. None remain on their farms but rebels and neutral families; and practically the condition of their tenure is that they shall feed, clothe, and shelter the guerrillas, furnish them information, and deceive or withhold information from us. The exceptions are few, perhaps twenty families in those parts of the counties to which the order applies. Two-thirds of those who left their families on the border and went to the rebel armies have returned. They dare not stay at home, and no matter what terms of amnesty may be granted, they can never live in the country except as brigands; and so long as their families and associates remain, they will stay until the last man is killed, to ravage every neighborhood of the border. With your approval, I was about adopting, before this raid, measures for the removal of the families of the guerrillas and of known rebels, under which two-thirds of the families affected by this order would have been compelled to go. That order would have been most difficult of execution, and not half so effectual as this. Though this measure may seem too severe, I believe it will prove not inhuman, but merciful, to the noncombatants affected by it. Those who prove their loyalty will find houses enough at the stations, and will not be allowed to suffer for want of food. Among them there are but few dissatisfied with the order, notwithstanding the present hardship it imposes. Among the Union refugees it is regarded as the best assurance they have ever had of a return to their homes and permanent peace there. To obtain the full military advantages of this removal of the people, I have ordered the destruction of all grain and hay, in shed or in the field, not near enough to military stations for removal there. I have also ordered from the towns occupied as military stations a large number of persons, either openly or secretly disloyal, to prevent the guerrillas getting information of the townspeople which they will no longer be able to get of the farmers. The execution of these orders will possibly lead to a still fiercer and more active struggle, requiring the best use of the additional troops the general commanding has sent me, but will soon result, though with much unmerited loss and suffering, in putting an end to this savage border war. I am, colonel, very respectfully, your obedient servant, THOMAS EWING, Jr., Brigadier-General. [Ibid., Vol. XXII, Part I, pp. 579–585.] On the same subject, Major-General Schofield, commanding the Department of the Missouri, stated in a letter to the Adjutant-General of the Army: Col. E. D. TOWNSEND, HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE MISSOURI, Assistant Adjutant-General, Washington, D. C. COLONEL: I have the honor to forward herewith, for the information of the General in Chief, Brigadier-General Ewing's report of the burning of Lawrence, Kans., and massacre of its inhabitants, and of the operations of his troops in the pursuit and punishment of the rebels and assassins who committed the atrocious deed. Immediately after his return from the pursuit of Quantrill, on the 25th of August, General Ewing issued an order depopulating certain counties, and destroying all forage and subsistence therein. The reasons which led him to adopt this severe measure are given in his report. The people of Kansas were, very naturally, intensely excited over the destruction of one of their fairest towns, and the murder of a large number of its unarmed citizens, and many of them called loudly for vengeance, not only upon the perpetrators of the horrible crime, but also upon all the people residing in the western counties of Missouri, and who were assumed to be more or less guilty of aiding the criminals. It would be greatly unjust to the people of Kansas, in general, to say that they shared in this desire for indiscriminate vengeance; but there were not wanting unprincipled leaders to fan the flame of popular excitement and goad the people to madness, in the hope of thereby accomplishing their own selfish ends. On the 26th of August a mass meeting was held in the city of Leavenworth, at which it was resolved that the people should meet at Paola on the 8th of September, armed and supplied for a campaign of fifteen days, for the purpose of entering Missouri to search for their stolen property and retaliate upon the people of Missouri for the outrages committed in Kansas. This meeting was addressed by some of the leading men of Kansas in the most violent and inflammatory manner, and the temper of these leaders and of their followers was such that there seemed to be great danger of an indiscriminate slaughter of the people in western Missouri, or of a collision with the troops, under General Ewing, in their efforts to prevent it. Under these circumstances, I determined to visit Kansas and western Missouri for the purpose of settling the difficulty, if possible, and also for the purpose of gaining more accurate information of the condition of the border counties of Missouri, and thus making myself able to judge of the wisdom and necessity of the severe measures which had been adopted by General Ewing. I arrived at Leavenworth City on the 2d of September and obtained an interview with the governor of the State and other prominent citizens. I found the governor and his supporters opposed to all unauthorized movement on the part of the people of Kansas, and willing to cooperate with me in restoring quiet and in providing for future security. I then sought and obtained an interview with the Hon. J. H. Lane, United States Senator, who was the recognized leader of those engaged in the Paola movement. Mr. Lane explained to me his views of the necessity, as he believed, of making a large portion of western Missouri a desert waste, in order that Kansas might be secure against future invasion. He proposed to tender to the district commander the services of all the armed citizens of Kansas to aid in executing this policy. This, I informed him, was impossible; that whatever measures of this kind it might be necessary to adopt must be executed by United States troops; that irresponsible citizens could not be intrusted with the discharge of such duties. He then insisted that the people who might assemble at Paola should be permitted to enter Missouri "in search of their stolen property," and desired to place them under my command, he (General Lane) pledging himself that they should strictly confine themselves to such search, abstaining entirely from all unlawful acts. General Lane professed entire confidence in his ability to control, absolutely, the enraged citizens who might volunteer in such enterprise. I assured Mr. Lane that nothing would afford me greater pleasure than to do all in my power to assist the outraged and despoiled people to recover their property, as well as to punish their despoilers; but that the search proposed would be fruitless, because all the valuable property which had not already been recovered from those of the robbers who had been slain had been carried by the others far beyond the border counties, and that I had not the slightest faith in his ability to control a mass of people who might choose to assemble under a call which promised the finest possible opportunity for plunder. General Lane desired me to consider the matter fully, and inform him as soon as possible of my decision, saying if I decided not to allow the people the "right" which they claimed, he would appeal to the President. It was not difficult to discover that so absurd a proposition as that of Mr. Lane could not have been made in good faith, nor had I much difficulty in detecting the true object which was proposed to be accomplished, which was to obtain, if possible, my consent to accept the services of all who might meet at Paola and take them into Missouri under my command, when I, of course, would be held responsible for the murder and robbery which must necessarily ensue. I soon became satisfied that, notwithstanding Mr. Lane's assertion to the contrary, he had no thought of trying to carry out his scheme in opposition to my orders, and that the vast majority of the people of Kansas were entirely opposed to any such movement. On the 4th of September I published an order, a copy of which is inclosed, prohibiting armed men, not in the military service, from passing from one State into the other, and sent a sufficient force along the State line to enforce the order against any who might be disposed to disobey it. The people quietly acquiesced. The Paola meeting, which had promised to be of gigantic proportions, dwindled down to a few hundred people, who spent a rainy day in listening to speeches and passing resolutions relative to the Senator from Kansas and the commander of the Department of the Missouri. * * * * * Not the least of the objects of my visit to the border was to see for myself the condition of the border counties, and determine what modification, if any, ought to be made in the policy which General Ewing had adopted. I spent several days in visiting various points in the counties affected by General Ewing's order; and in conversing with the people of all shades of politics who are most deeply affected by the measures adopted, I became fully satisfied that the order depopulating certain counties, with the exception of specified districts, was wise and necessary. That portion of the order which directed the destruction of property I did not approve, and it was modified accordingly. The evil which exists upon the border of Kansas and Missouri is somewhat different in kind and far greater in degree than in other parts of Missouri. It is the old border hatred intensified by the rebellion and by the murders, robberies, and arson which have characterized the irregular warfare carried on during the early periods of the rebellion, not only by the rebels, but by our own troops and people. The effect of this has been to render it impossible for any man who openly avowed and maintained his loyalty to the Government to live in the border counties of Missouri outside of military posts. A large majority of the people remaining were open rebels, while the remainder were compelled to abstain from any word or acts in opposition to the rebellion at the peril of their lives. All were practically enemies of the Government and friends of the rebel guerrillas. The latter found no difficulty in supplying their commissariat wherever they went, and, what was of vastly greater importance to them, they obtained prompt and accurate information of every movement of our troops, while no citizen was so bold as to give us information in regard to the guerrillas. In a country remarkably well adapted by nature for guerrilla warfare, with all the inhabitants practically the friends of the guerrillas, it has been found impossible to rid the country of such enemies. At no time during the war have these counties been free from them. No remedy short of destroying the source of their great advantage over our troops could cure the evil. I did not approve of the destruction of property, at first contemplated by General Ewing, for two reasons, viz, I believe the end can be accomplished without it, and it can not be done in a reasonable time so effectually as to very much embarrass the guerrillas. The country is full of hogs and cattle, running in the woods, and of potatoes in the ground and corn in the field, which can not be destroyed or moved in a reasonable time. I hope the time is not far distant when the loyal people can return in safety to their homes, and when those vacated by rebels will be purchased and settled by people who are willing to live in peace with their neighbors on both sides of the line. The measure which has been adopted seems a very harsh one; but, after the fullest examination and consideration of which I am capable, I am satisfied it is wise and humane. It was not adopted hastily, as a consequence of the Lawrence massacre. The subject had long been discussed between General Ewing and myself, and its necessity recognized as at least probable. I had determined to adopt the milder policy of removing all families known to be connected with or in sympathy with the guerrillas, and had commenced its execution before the raid upon Lawrence. The utter impossibility of deciding who were guilty and who innocent, and the great danger of retaliation by the guerrillas upon those who should remain, were the chief reasons for adopting the present policy. In executing it a liberal test of loyalty is adopted. Persons who come to the military posts and claim protection as loyal citizens are not turned away without perfectly satisfactory evidence of disloyalty. It is the first opportunity which those people have had since the war began of openly proclaiming their attachment to the Union without fear of rebel vengeance. I am, colonel, very respectfully, your obedient servant, [Ibid., pp. 572-575.] J. M. SCHOFIELD, Major-General. On November 18, 1863, General Ewing, having in contemplation the return to their homes of the loyal residents of the border counties, telegraphed Major-General Schofield as follows: Maj. Gen. J. M. SCHOFIELD, St. Louis: KANSAS [CITY], November 18, 1863. I shall endeavor to get the settlements in neighborhoods where men can maintain military organizations. It is important to provide my [by] order for the organization of small companies to whom issues should be made of guns and pistols and cloth |