The writer is referring to events that took place about Saturday, October 8, 1864, while General Sterling Price's great Missouri Raid was sweeping west after their rebuff at Jefferson City. One advanced branch of Price's army under General Jeff Thompson rode into Sedalia in Pettis County, but glancing at Frederick Dyer's timeline of Missouri actions in his "Compendium of the War of the Rebellion," this took place a few days later, about October 15. Back on October 8 guerrilla chief George Todd with 108 men formerly of Quantrill's old band raided along the Pacific Railroad towns of Syracuse and Otterville, stopping to set fire to the railroad bridge between the two towns. John Edwards in his 1877 book "Noted Guerrillas" mentioned that Todd's band dressed in blue uniforms deceived and killed a Union dispatch rider at the bridge while they were there, only about two miles from Otterville. I do not know the dead dispatch rider's name. Next, they raided Otterville itself, but I could find little detail about what happened there. The fire they set on the railroad bridge failed to destroy the structure, so a detail from another Confederate cavalry column a few days later, possibly from Thompson's command, did a more complete job.

What I am saying is that the killings at Otterville took place either on October 8 from Todd's band or a few days later when Confederate cavalry was in the area about October 12 through 16. These latter dates would be about the time of the action at Sedalia you also mentioned.

That's about all the help I can provide, but at least it should give you a time frame to go with what you already have.

Bruce Nichols