Nancy Coffer's boyfriend John McGaugh (sometimes McGough and McGow and maybe McGaw) appears to have been part of a Ray County pro-Unionist clique who were working in the shadows.

Clique members I've identified include (in addition to just-turned-18-year-old McGaugh): Wes Snoddy, John Montgomery, George Baker, Merton Bissell, Calvin Turner, and cousins Ben Brasher and Ben Fortune. McGaugh and Baker were both in Company C, 4 Provisional Enrolled Militia, with McGaugh being confirmed as having been present at the Battle of Albany. Being a Provisional, Baker almost certainly was, and I suspect the others also were -- I mean, why set up the party and then not show up?

You'll recall that once Miss Coffer brought the information out regarding the pinpoint site of Bill Anderson's camp, it was 1Lt. James F. Baker who went into the Lion's Den with his decoy force, fired a few shots, and then got Anderson to chase them back into the ambush. You may also recall that Lt. Baker also belonged to Company C, 4 Provisional Enrolled Militia. I'm thinking this bunch was with him.

Overall command of C/4PEM devolved upon Baker because the unit's somewhat larger than life c.o., Capt. Clayton Tiffin, had recently been at Glasgow with part of the command and was taken prisoner en masse there along with the rest of the Federal force. While in custody Tiffin sought out and obtained a one-on-one with Bill Anderson, the subject of which I have not yet uncovered. Like the bulk of the rest of the Federals, Tiffin was soon released on parole and was back in Richmond when the dramatic events unfolded there a short time later. But instead of joining the Fishing River festivities with everyone else, he sat still at the courthouse, honoring his oath not to engage in fighting until a formal exchange was made (which would be two months later). When Anderson's body was brought in to Richmond that afternoon after the Battle of Albany and put on display on the courthouse's second floor, it was left to Tiffin to positively identify him before the major news was wired out to the senior command and the world.