I read your entry in GenForum's "Civil War" series. You indicated that President Lincoln issued the order "that one Confederate be killed for each Union soldier killed." The order was issued by the Union Department of the Missouri commander, Major General William S. Rosecrans, not Lincoln. Based on my reading in the "Official Records", the Federals prepared the order about the middle of October based on testimony of other released Union POW's that Major Wilson and several other enlisted men MAY HAVE BEEN executed by the Confederates of Major General Price's great Missouri raid in Franklin County while Price's raid continued. Major Wilson and the six Union POW's were actually given a "drum-head" court martial in the field and shot on the spot on 3 October for war crimes for the burning of Doniphan, Missouri on 19 September, but one or two of the enlisted Yanks and Wilson were not even there that day. The Confederates evidently accused Major Wilsom of ordering the town to be torched. Adding to this whole business, Rebel forces made no effort to leave statements written or otherwise stating why they executed Major Wilson and the six enlisted Union POW's, so Union forces just assumed they were murdered by southern forces when they found the bodies many days later. Because the released Union POW's did not actually witness this killing of POW's and there was a chance they could have misinterpreted what they did see, the execution order was not acted upon until the bodies of the seven executed Federals were discovered on 23 October, after which six southern enlisted POW's of Price's force picked at random were executed on 29 October. By this time of the war Lincoln routinely stayed all Union army executions until he had a chance to review each file, but I am not sure this was done in this case. Maybe he reviewed those six enlisted men's file and maybe he did not.

Rosecrans made the argument to his superiors that the execution of these Confederate POW's was to warn the Confederate command that off-hand, field executions of Union soldiers would not be tolerated. There was already a problem in western Missouri on 22 October as the two armies were battling each other along the Kansas border with some of Confederate BG Shelby's troops killing Union POW's--actually the killers were some of George Todd's guerrillas who attached themselves to Shelby's brigade. When Union troops in that locale discovered this, they immediately killed some Rebel POW's they held in revenge. As a result, the two sides exchanged messages and as a result, Price ejected all the guerrillas from his command on 23 October to prevent further murders.

This was the same day the bodies of the seven dead Union POW's were discovered back in Franklin County. The timing of all this was rather close, considering what communication was in those days.

Add to this, the Confederate Trans-Mississippi command earlier in the war threatened they would bring two brigadier generals of Rosecrans' command to justice for war crimes they committed in 1862 and 1863, and one of those generals barely escaped capture by Price's rebel army during the conduct of this campaign.

Major Wolf was selected later, as, at the time Rosecrans' staff was formulating the revenge executions Union forces had not yet captured a Confederate major. Once Wolf was picked, several events happened that slowed down the procedure for Major Wolf's execution, and this actually saved his life. There was enough delay and publicity in the press that Lincoln stepped in and stopped it. I don't know if he could have also stopped the earlier executions of the six enlisted Confederate POW's, or not, but I don't even know is he was aware of it.

I am not attempting in any way to make excuses for the killing of POW's who were innocent of committing war crimes. To me, that is murder, pure and simple. I am no defender of Lincoln (although I admire his work), but the record is not clear what he actually knew or did in this case--except that he clearly ordered the stopping of any execution plans for Major Wolf. In early December Lincoln, Grant, Sec'y of War Stanton, and General Halleck all agreed that Rosecrans be replaced for a variety of errors he made while commander of the Department of Missouri, and much of their long-distance discussion is recorded in the "Official Records." Although, they discussed many specific problems they had with the general's performance, I did not see that they discussed the execution of the six innocent Confederate POW's, specifically.

By the way, I visited the six executed soldiers' graves at Jefferson Barrack National Cemetery. They are in a column--not a row--along one of the little paved roads in the cemetery close to the bluff overlooking the Mississippi River. Interestingly, just a few feet away from their graves is that of the Union officer who conducted their execution, who died a few years later. It is a beautiful cemetery, well tended and cared for. My parents, one of the soldiers I served with, and my wife's uncle are buried there also in other parts of the large cemetery.

Bruce Nichols