The Missouri in the Civil War Message Board

Re: MO partisan rangers in Illinois

I'm not aware of any "raids" in the area you reference. The area was used more as a sanctuary by irregulars. They would cross over and buy ammunition or lay low. In the spring of 1863, Major A.V.E. Johnston of the 2nd Provisional Enrolled Militia crossed the River from Pike County, Mo., and burned the Hamburg Ferry in Calhoun County, Ill. because the irregulars were using it as a surreptitious conduit back and forth.

On Jan. 11, 2009, I made a post on this board regarding one example of that area of Illinois being used by irregulars. Here is a cut and paste of it-- "[Dudley] McQueen got into trouble by going over to Illinois on the Ferry, and buying a large quantity of caps under an assumed name--probably to supply Drury Pulliam, who was recruiting in Pike and Lincoln counties. Anyway, Johnston caught wind of what had taken place, arrested McQueen, and burned the Ferry (I suppose there must have been some duty of the ferry company to determine whether contraband was being smuggled on their boats). Anyway, McQueen was released to take care of personal matters, and was supposed to turn himself back in within a few days. He didn't. When the 2nd PEMM went to his house, he was nowhere to be found. A neighbor informed upon him, and his hiding place was discovered. McQueen was 'shot while trying to escape.' The local press reported that he had been shot a couple of times in the chest. Nice trick for someone who was supposed to have been running away."
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And in a reverse influx of manpower, in the early days of the war in 1861 Rebel recruiting was underway in Pike County, Mo., and there were rumors that a takeover of the county was imminent. A call was put out and a mass of Unionists from Pike County, Ill., came over to man the barricades, so to speak. A large number of them stayed on to join the Pike County (Mo.) Home Guard and remained with that unit's predecessor organizations for the remainder of the war (Pike County Six Month Militia/10th Missouri State Militia Cavalry/3rd Missouri State Militia Cavalry).

Another example of Illinois being used as irregular sanctuary resulted in the 3rd MSM Cavalry crossing over from Ste. Genevieve, Mo., and raiding the Prairie du Rocher area in the spring of 1864 to clear out irregulars. Note that the irregulars were not raiding there--they were holed up there. It was the Feds who made the raid and there was a bit of controversy that resulted from it.

With the irregulars using the Illinois side as sanctuary, their conducting raids there would have tended to be counterproductive (to be trite, there are just some things you don't do where you eat....). Not to say raids were not conducted. They just were uncommon to the point that I have not run across any in my research.

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MO partisan rangers in Illinois
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