Rick, John, Gay, Steve, and Gloria (for accidentally borrowing her name),

Well, thanks to everybody who pitched in on this one I found enough to fix the killing of young James P. Kimsey to a specific who, what, when, and where.

Specifically, Broadfoot Publishing Company's multi-volume "Supplement to the 'Official Records', part 2, Record of Events, in volume 35 containing the itineraries of the companies of the 5th Cavalry Regiment Missouri State Militia [old organization] on page 131 from Company H, stationed then in Harrisonville, county seat of Cass County, says:

"Received orders to march. Captain [Daniel H. of Company B] in command, found Rebels. Routed them twice. Killed two."

Backing up a bit, in August and September 1862 numerous Confederate recruiters swarmed over a large portion of west-central Missouri in order to bring back recruits from Johnson, Cass, Bates, St. Clair, Henry, and a few other counties to the Confederate army in Arkansas. The Union command in Missouri was already organizing the new Enrolled Missouri Militia (ordering in July 1862 all able-bodied, military age men to report to enrollment stations mostly in county seats to form this "grassroots" local militia for self-defense against Confederate recruiting command and southern guerrillas), but the EMM was still forming through August and early September, so the burden of countering this onslaught of southern recruiters fell to a few active duty cavalry units commanders sent to this region. These Union cavalry units had been serving on active duty fighting guerrillas in Missouri since the previous winter, and in this region they included the 1st Iowa Cavalry and the 5th Cavalry MSM, at least. Therefore, for a few weeks this Yankee cavalry patrolled this region seeking out and often finding recruiting commands trying to organize the new men. Remember, that these new southern recruits were not well armed or trained, but they had to face Federal cavalry that by September had experience and skill finding and fighting guerrillas and even Confederate recruiters who were often trying very hard not to be found. There were casualties on both sides, and often the cavalry patrols captured the recruits and sent them on to military prisons in the St. Louis area, and sometimes the recruits and their cadre refused to surrender and died. Sometimes the troopers did not call upon the recruits to surrender and simply shot some of them.

Sad to say, back in the spring of 1862 the Federal commander of Missouri, falling back on his West Point training from Napoleon's killing of partisans as bandits and worse some years before in Europe, ordered Union field commanders that they had to conduct a field or "drumhead" tribunal of any "guerrillas" they found not in uniform and bearing arms against US forces, and if their on-the-spot investigation resulted in their finding that the southern prisoners so found were indeed "guerrillas" they HAD to execute them on the spot. Many Union officers serving in Missouri refused, and sent all prisoners captured in the field back to the military prisons in the St. Louis area with details about their capture with circumstances for a later tribunal in St. Louis to conduct and make their own findings after the captives had a chance to make a defense. Quite often, the results were the same. Remember, Missouri fell under Federal martial law in 1862 and only returned to civil law in 1865.

I would guess that one of the two Rebels Captain David's patrol killed in Cass, Jackson, Henry, or Johnson County was teenager James P. Kimsey. I would also conclude that James' family claimed his body and buried him at Carrsville Cemetery not far from his northwest Henry County home. I couldn't nail down the actual location for the two actions of the 5th cavalry's patrol that day, because documentation for that period is rather sparse, and neither side was very good at recording this information, although documentation improved as the war continued.

I hope this helps. Sorry about the mix-up with the other Kimsey men.

Bruce Nichols