Daniel,

Charles W. Purcell's account of his escape during the early morning skirmish at Greenville July 20, 1862 is supported by the account of Henry Y. Mabrey -who was Capt. Leeper's orderly sergeant at the time.

Mabrey's account as told to H. C. Wilkinson is related in Part 4 of H. C. Wilkinson's Memoir (H. C. Wilkinson's Memoir - in 16 parts - has been reproduced by Bryce A. Suderow elsewhere on The Missouri in the Civil War Message Board - http://history-sites.com/cgi-bin/bbs62x/mocwmb/webbbs_config.pl?md=read;id=17089

'Along in the summer of 1862, the “Knights of the Golden Circle” was organized and in the southern part of Madison County, it was pretty strong. As the summer of 1862 wore along, the Union Army had left Southeast Missouri mostly in care of the M. S. M. There were no troops at Patterson by the middle of July and only two companies of the M. S. M. in Greenville. Then at Fredericktown, one or two companies. The forces at Pilot Knob was then very low in numbers. This was a favorable time for the “K. G. C.” to organize and operate, which they did in earnest. It was Capt. W. T. Leeper’s company
B and Capt. A. Dill’s Company G, 12th M.S. M. doing scout and outpost duty at Greenville in July, 1862, Col. Miles Ponder and Tim Reeves and a lot of “bat men” concluded to make a raid on Greenville here in Wayne County.

My neighbor, John C. Kerr, then a young lad, told the writer that he then lived with Miles Ponder on Current River, at Ponder’s Mill, and Ponder said to the men living around him, “Boys, all of you that choose to go along, can have all you can get.” So quite a number of “bat men” volunteered to go along,- to take, - not steal, of course. We learned that, on Saturday, July 19th, 1862, one Russell K. Sweazea discovered something not right away over southwest of Greenville, in the neighborhood of Reeves’ Station on Black River, in Butler County, and he came in and reported to Capt. Leeper that Tim Reeves was
coming. Also we heard that Capt. Leeper’s brother came in from Black River and reported the same. So two women did the same, so we heard. Capt. Leeper was in

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command at Greenville, but he treated their stories as “grapevine telegraph news”, as they had halloed “The wofe! The wofe!” so often and no wolf there, that he took no precautionary measures, only to draw in his pickets closer. One was called in to the court house in Greenville, as Capt. Leeper’s camp was above town and nearly a quarter of a mile north of the court house. All retired to their quarters as usual, as night drew on and the men undressed and went to “blankets” and slept like soldiers until morning, and now we will listen while old Comrade Henry Y. Mabrey, then orderly sergeant of Capt. Leeper’s company tells of what happened. He says:

“About our little ‘spat’ at Greenville, July 20th, 1862, there were two companies
of us. Company B, 12th M. S. M. Cav., under Capt. W. T. Leeper and Company G, 12th
M. S. M. Cav., under Capt. A. Dill, Capt. Dill was not present, I think. Maj. Ponder with
four companies of Tim Reeves; men came in on us at daylight, having surrounded our
pickets. (the enemy crossed the river below the pickets and came around and charged
from the east. H.C.W.) They had quite a number of citizens (“bat men” H.C.W.) joined
in with them, with shot guns, squirrel rifles and such arms as they could gather up.

Of course, it was a surprise to us. They were within about 100 yards of us when I
discovered them and I called ‘Company B! Fall in!’ Our camp guard fired one shot and
we that could, ran for life. Some of the boys were not up yet. Two of them, Dick
Faggerty and Tho. Armstrong, were killed outright in their tents. Joseph M. Stephenson
and Jas. A. Proffit were badly wounded and afterwards died of their wounds. Josiah C.
Wilson was shot through the leg below the knee, rendering him a cripple for life. Samuel
R. Kelley (afterwards a 1st Lieutenant, got a shot in the shoulder, taking the lead with him
to his grave.

"There was a general ‘skedaddle’ of both of our companies, but Lieut. Purcell was shot
through the toe and captured. Hamlet Clark slipped and fell as he started to run,
just at that juncture about a dozen shots were fired at him, -none of them touched him,
but in his wisdom he lay still and they came and took off his belt, arms, etc., boasting
what a fine Yankee they had slain. Old Hamlet lay still, until 17 of us, including Capt. Leeper
and Lieut. Francis got together and putting on a bold front, we raised the “rebel yell”,
dashing back toward them, firing as we went. That gave old Hamlet an opportunity to
rise and get away.

While we had the attention of the enemy engaged, Lieut. Purcell
managed a little strategy and made his escape out of their hands in a shower of lead.
He said that Col. Ponder was talking to him and told him that “Right here under this apple tree, you die!’
The lieutenant said, ‘Well, I suppose that in a hundred years from now, it will be all the same,’
Then he told Ponder he had a request to make of him before being shot. Ponder told him to
‘Out with it then!’ He then told Ponder that “I have some valuable papers here in my tent
that I want to hand to you to give to Mrs. Bedford, down in town so my wife can get them.’
Ponder told him to ‘Hurry up, and be quick and get them!’ To accommodate the colonel,
the Lieutenant went on the run for his tent, so as not to keep Ponder pondering, but
bad luck for Ponder, Lieut. Purcell just missed the door of his tent and shot like an arrow
behind his tent then down the steep bank into the crooked drain, then stooping as he ran,
till he came to the St. Francois River which ran close by, and then he ran across the river
into the heavy timber on the island. Not another shot touched him. "

Although the extent and number of Purcell's wounds may have been exaggerated by his widow, the two accounts of his escape seem to be consistent.
Purcell was wounded in the foot/toe and apparently used a ruse - appealing to Col. Willis M. Ponder's sense of honor regarding 'important papers' that would be needed by Purcell's wife/widow - to effect his escape.

I would like to see the letters written by Purcell's widow that you mention.

I am also interested in using the photograph of Lt. Purcell posted in your find-a-grave biography of him in the interpretive wayside I'm working on - would that be OK?

Rusty Weisman

Russell.Weisman@modot.mo.gov