The Missouri in the Civil War Message Board

Re: Consistent with M.O.
In Response To: Re: Consistent with M.O. ()

Bruce,

Thanks very much for the reply; you and others on this message board have been very helpful in answering questions about the Cowan Cemetery monument that I've had since I first saw it nearly 50 years ago. All in all, the inscription on the monument is correct in what it says.

I agree now that Dennis and the others were not, in all probability, guerrillas. If they were, leaving a place that was relatively safe to get a parole (which wouldn't have meant much to them) doesn't make much sense.

Tying the Free Masons into the story also is a little thin, regardless of what M. Jeff Thompson wrote in his memoirs. It's an interesting theory, but to prove it you have to assume a conspiracy, and there isn't much out there to indicate that was the case. How or why the Free Masons would have helped Thompson is also difficult to support. Speaking of the Free Masons, there is an interesting feature on the Cowan Cemetery monument itself. On the bas-relief of the monument , just over the furled flags is what appears to be a branch of laurel or olive. In fact, its a branch of Acacia, an evergreen that was used by the Hebrews to mark a grave, and symbolizes innocence and immortality; this is one of the symbols the Free Masons use on their gravestones. An indication that perhaps Joe Dennis had a hand in it's design.

Is there a source on the internet or elsewhere where I could read Joe Dennis' version of this incident ? I'd like to have a copy to include with the other material I have gathered in the course of my research.

A parting observation; The Seventh Kansas Volunteer Cavalry was evidently on a roll about the time of the murder of the Wayne County 7. I found another report in the OR (Volume 48, page 937) that states "Major Utt reports that a scout of ten men from Seventh Kansas Cavalry, under command of a sergeant, went to Eleven Points River and killed the notorious Dick Bowles, captured five bushwhackers in arms ...........".

Thanks, again, Bruce to you and all on the message board that have helped clear up this mystery.

Ed Conner

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Why the surrender over several days?
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Consistent with M.O.
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7th Kansas Peach Orchard Ark May 28, 1865
Re: 7th Kansas Peach Orchard Ark May 28, 1865