There would be no obit for a military or civilian prisoner in the Union military prisons of the St. Louis area, at least in one of the four or so St. Louis newspapers of 1863. There may be a notice of someone's passing back home, in this case in the "Kansas City Daily Journal of Commerce," but probably not. Newspapers of that day did not usually print obits, as that helpful practice started after the Civil War. Sometimes they would print a single line telling of someone's death away from home, but usually only if they were someone of note in the community.

I could not find a listing for an Eli Noland (or any similar spelling) in Joanne Eakins' landmark "Missouri Prisoners of War," which is basically a alphabetized listings of the Union military prison master ledgers for the St. Louis area military prisons. Those ledgers and the records of them that survived in the Natitonal Archives and Records Administration microfilm files are hit or miss, so this doesn't mean anything that I failed to find him there.

I would recommend you check with the website for the Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in the St. Louis area, since after the war nearly all the deceased prisoners' remains were moved there. Here again, this did not always include all of the prisoners who died in the St. Louis area, so this may or may not work for you. Also, Eli Noland may be one of the many simply marked "unknown."

Sorry. I wish I had better news for you.

Since there were at least three Nolands with Quantrill I would assume that had something to do with Eli being sent to St. Louis to prison.

Bruce Nichols