John,

I'm having problems matching your information in order to assist you.

I'm really having problems with a June 22, 1863 action in the Jackson County, MO area since the "old" 5th Cav MSM was disbanded in February 1863 and the "new" 5th Cav MSM was stationed in Pulaski County, MO in the northern Ozarks during June 1863. Oh, there were a number of actions in the Jackson County area during June 1863, but neither of the regiments mentioned above were involved. Mostly Kansas units were there then, and these actions seem to have all been documented in some form or other.

I'm glad you mentioned that these four Nebraskans may have been killed possibly on 8 February 1863, because 50 troopers of Company C, D, and F of 5th Cav MSM {old} were involved in a famous, well-documented action in the snow in Jackson County on that date just as the regiment was being disbanded. One of the Quantrill men informed on his comrades and in one last hurrah these men of the old 5th attacked a dugout containing a number of Quantrill men, killing eight and wounding a couple more. Your story fades here, though, as only one Union trooper was killed and a civilian who came along on the expedition as a volunteer was wounded. I haven't dug back into all the various accounts of this fight to get the dead trooper's name, but there was only the one Union death--not four. Is it possible that three or four of your Nebraskans who were members of Companies C and D died of disease or other non-combat deaths this cold winter in Jackson County, Missouri?

Now all things are possible. Perhaps there was an action that wasn't documented involving your Nebraskans. To me it seems unlikely--but possible. Can you be more specific or do you have any other detail that we may use to try to puzzle this out for you?

Have you contacted the State Archives Division or the Nebraska State Historical Society in Lincoln about these four men and their service records? Since the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, D. C. has recently gone wacko on us (as you may have read in this forum in the last few days), perhaps you can avail yourself of the research service into soldiers' military service records offered in the margins of this forum.

I need to know more to figure this Cornhusker problem out for you.

Bruce Nichols