My impression is that Edwards must always be taken with the whole salt shaker. He wrote Noted Guerrillas to romanticize them, whitewash their actions, and often demonized their opponents, like Goss. That's not to say his work can't be useful if you know these limitations. If Goss was a Unionist farmer in Jackson County, he likely was driven out by the guerrillas and into the post of Kansas City where he joined Captain Jacob Axline's company of the Second Battalion. He was in Independence when Quantrill and others attacked in August 1862. His unit, the second battalion of the Missouri State Militia, was mustered out in early 1863 and I guess he joined the 15th Kansas in the excitement after the Lawrence Massacre. I would not be surprised if he had no love for the guerrillas or their civilian aiders and abettors and may have committed atrocities just as we know the guerrillas did. By the way, in his book The Last Hurrah, Kyle Sinise recounts the depredations committed by the 15th Kansas near Cane Hill in 1864 where Goss was killed. Undoubtedly, Goss had a long history of fighting the guerrillas and, as their enemy, they formed very negative opinions about him. There were few heroes in guerrilla warfare.

Tom Jones