Sherry (and everybody),

Well, at least now we have the location (east-central Benton County, not far south of the Osage River) for the murders, assuming they took place at the Allison farm.

Maybe somebody will narrow down exactly who was killed and who of the family wasn't killed.

It seems based on what was presented before that the murders took place on or slightly before 3 August 1865.

We still don't know who the murderer(s) was or were and the motive for the murders. I still think this had something to do with guerrilla warfare, or else I would have little interest in it. I could be wrong.

Maybe we can yet put together more of the details.

Like Homer mentioned, it strikes me funny that local accounts failed to mention this murder. One reason may be that this crime was lost among all the other murders that took place over the next several days in Benton County, as I wrote before. Another reason was the absence of working newspapers written in this part of the state. Based on my research, the nearest working papers in 1863 were in Rolla, Springfield, Kansas City, Lexington, California, and Jefferson City. All of those are at least two counties away from Benton County. I don't like to admit this, but this event simply blind-sided me.

Thanks for all who jumped in to help.

Bruce Nichols