Scott,

I haven't spent much time recently reading the summer 1861 newspaper reports of southern and northern adventures in Missouri. Your mention of newspaper clippings that describe Colonel Mulligan's Irish Brigade activities in Cole and Miller Counties around 28 July 1861 caught me unawares. Could you please tell me which newspapers of that time published those reports? I would like to plug a gap in my database. The "Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies" were not much help on Mulligan's efforts in central Missouri during late July 1861, either.

I think Captain Miller and Eli Crisp commanded pro-northern bands in their respective neighborhoods near Mount Pleasant and Hickory Hill, but I could be mistaken. I'm not sure about Captain Miller, because there were several Millers active in that area. Do you know Miller's first name? I couldn't find military mentions of Eli Crisp, so I wonder if Crisp stepped out as an older leader of his clan to rally other locals to his side. Since I don't have anything on Mr. Eli Crisp, I wonder if Crisp later backed off, perhaps because of age or other physical restrictions. I found brief military records from the old Missouri Adjutant General files for Joseph N. Crisp, James L. Crisp, and William R. Crisp involved in Miller County Union home guard units, so that is why I think the Crisps supported the northern side.

I get the impression from reading Missouri newspaper articles in the summer of 1861 that "Show Me" men of conviction that confused summer were declaring themselves in order to influence others of their favored side to step forward. "General Crabtree" asserted himself recruiting for the southern side across Miller and Cole Counties, so that may have motivated Miller and Crisp northern sympathizers to step out to counter Crabtree's efforts.

So why did Colonel Mulligan arrest Captain Miller and Eli Crisp if they were on the same side as Mulligan? Maybe I am mistaken that Miller and Crisp were northerners. Maybe Mulligan was unsure to which side these men belonged. You did say "about 300 secessionists at Hickory Hill," so that shouldn't have been much of a mystery. That's why I want to read some of those newspaper accounts you mentioned.

Until later, Bruce Nichols