Oh, then Major Torrence actually did complete his investigation and submitted his report on April 17. I was not aware of that. As pointed as Torrence's orders were, it stands to reason that the major would carry out that special detail. My best guess as to where to find that April 17 report would be in the NARA, as I indicated before. Perhaps somebody reading this can give more information about how to find that.

I am not sure, but it seems some of the Burgess men from Post Oak Township south of Warrensburg or even from Hazel Hill Township in north Johnson County were involved in Matthias Houx' local southern guerrilla band, which was already conducting raids nearby as early as November 1861. I have never seen a list of men who rode with Houx, but some of the names were evident from later records. When Major Emory Foster and several companies of the locally recruited 7th Cavalry MSM put on intense pressure in March 1862, Houx sent word he wanted to discuss terms of surrender. At this point, John Brinker, the son of a Warrensburg area merchant, took over leadership. Brinker, too, discovered the pressure was too much to bear, especially for the families of his men. About July 1862 Brinker took what remained of his band to Quantrill in Jackson County. Some of these men returned from time to time throughout the war to check on their families, and sometimes they conducted vengeance raids on local Union militia. Various guerrilla bands and Confederate recruiters operated in Johnson County off and on throughout the war, but they all learned that if they remained in any one place for long, various units of Union regular cavalry, militia, or even northern citizen posses would eventually find them out and pounce.

I wish you well in your hunt, and, please, share with me if you find that record that you seek. I have a lasting interest in the Civil War in Johnson County that goes back many years.

Bruce