John,

I took your clue about "Find-A-Grave" in Cedar County, and noticed that Hugh W. McWatters died in 1864 and his wife Mary died in 1863. If this hold true, I don't see Mary as a victim of the "blue-clad raiders" group of assassins who rode mostly in the summer of 1863. A direct killing of an elderly woman would have attracted lots more publicity than we have in this case. The only murders of women I recall reading during the war in SW MO were shot trying to shield other family members. Mary McWatters was not one of them. I rest easy satisfied Mary was not a victim of the "blue-uniformed" mounted killers during 1863 in Cedar County. Thanks for the help.

Bruce Nichols