Obviously, Major John F. Rucker survived what at the time seemed to be a mortal wound. Consider that among the details we are told that he was left with a local doctor. Don't you get it? That could mean that the Union forces there did not have a doctor of their own examine the man to determine the severity of his wound(s). The local doctor merely told them what they wanted to hear (wink, wink) and sent the Yanks off with the smug, false knowledge that the man was a goner. The newspaper merely wanted to crow--prematurely, as it turned out--that Union forces managed to croak another prominent Confederate recruiter. It made the readers (well, the northern ones) feel good and sold newspapers, although it was lousy journalism.

And, as for the ball and chain and "put those men in the penitentiary" treatment; why, Major Rucker was obviously a repeat escaper. Colonel John H. Winston captured in Platte County was an embarrassment to the Union, since they captured him but utterly failed to comprehend the immensity of the uprising that Winston's subordinate, LTC John C. "Coon" Thornton pulled off right under Federal noses in northwest Missouri a few months later. It seems the Feds could not catch Thornton, but they already had his boss Winston, so they decided to make the guy suffer for their own intelligence failure. Incidently, ball and chain were standard treatment for repeat escapers, and penitentiary was reserved for the most dangerous Rebels who the regular military prisons just couldn't seem to hold.

Also, Joanne Chiles Eakin's little pamphlet of Confederates sent to the MO State Penitentiary fails to show any of the Ruckers as inmates. Further, in her book "Missouri POWs" which lists from the Union prison ledgers kept by the NARA shows us that Major John F. Rucker of 1st Missouri Infantry Regt. captured in St. Louis 4 June 1864; sent to prison there; transferred to Alton Il Military Prison, and then PAROLED to Boone County [his home] in July 1865. This means that the Feds kept Major Rucker a bit longer that their other POWs who they let go--I seem to recall from reading--in June 1865. I really don't know why the Union military did not sent Rucker to the MO State Pen. They sent cute, little Annie Fickel from Lafayette County to the state pen, but they did not send Rucker. It really makes no sense.

By the way, there were four Ruckers from Boone and Howard Counties that gave the Union cause a real pain in the neck: John Fleming Rucker, James Harvey Rucker, J. Minor or "Manner" Rucker, and Robert Rucker. I think I got that right. Two or three of them were officers under Confederate Colonel Sidney D. Jackman during his long, long stay in that area during 1863 recruiting for the Confederacy. The Union leadership in Missouri was very frustrated that they could not capture Jackman that year (according to their reports), so they may have taken out their frustration on Major John F. Rucker when they had him in custody. They grew so paranoid about Jackman in 1863 that when other Confederate recruiters returned to the same region in 1864 the Federals thought Jackman was back (again, in their reports), even though he was in north Arkansas leading the regiment he put together the hard way the year before.

Bruce Nichols