The Hickory Hill Roughs messages are a bit tangled, so I'm starting this new related post for those interested in "General" Crabtree. Scott Thorn and Bruce Nichols, please comment as needed. I'm new to this effort and glad to accept all corrections or comments.
After Crabtree and men took Hagen prisoner, Hagen wrote a letter about the event that mentioned they "stopped at William Burris' place, the father-in-law of Crabtree." The letter also mentions the men took Hagen twenty-two miles southwest - from southern Cole County to near Tuscumbia in Miller County. This William Burris may be one that traveled from Tennessee to Missouri circa 1860. His daughter, Mariah Ross "Mary" married a Crabtree and had a son named Louis Pinkney Crabtree born in Missouri in 1863.
Undocumented conjecture: Could Hagen's letter have spurred the arrest of William Burris?
A man named William Burris was arrested and taken to Jefferson City in July 1862. William Burris was ordered released upon taking the oath and posting one thousand dollar bond. In his oath William Burris states he is residing at St. Thomas and is in Cole and Miller Counties. St. Thomas is a town near the Osage River in southeastern Cole County, near the Osage and Miller County lines. On August 10 a letter to Jeff City's Provost Marshal Lt. C. W. Patier (spelling?) from Frank White, Central Division Provost Marshal General orders that William Burris be taken into custody and forfeit his bond. I don't know the circumstances of his death, but by the end of 1862 undocumented sources state that William Burris is deceased.
Interesting side note: Herman Scheulen/Scheuler of the stolen wedding coat ran the ferry at St. Thomas.
According to the 1880 Census, Mary Crabtree was living with her son Louis, her mother, Mary Upchurch Burris, and her brother, Craven Burris, in Franklin County, Missouri. The Census states that both women are widowed, and that Louis' father was born in Kentucky. Louis Crabtree was 17 and working for the railroad. No further information about Louis has been located yet. His uncle, Craven Burris, later returned to Miller County, to live with his son, Charles "Curley" Burris, who was a well-known Rock Island Railroad engineer. The Burris family is well-known in Miller County as several descendants worked for the Rock Island, and one ran the Rock Island/Burris Hotel, which was the inspiration for the television show "Petticoat Junction."