In 2015 my book Blood in the Ozarks, was published. It was ten years worth of research and accumulating information to prove that Union militia members massacred Confederate soldiers and their families at a Christmas gathering held at one of Colonel Timothy Reeves camps in the Southeast Missouri Ozarks near the Arkansas- Missouri border.
It was known locally and passed on through generations in the Doniphan, Missouri area. Local writers past and present have wrote about the event. There were, of course , some skeptics in the early 2000's that conducted a campaign to rewrite history, with some success. They literally rewrote the history of Ripley County, Missouri.
One of their arguments was that the Christmas season was too cold for a Confederate officer to hold a gathering for his men and their families in such an isolated location.
To the historian, information comes in months and years, rather than weeks. An invaluable tool form me has been archive.gov. It is at this internet location that I found information that I had never stumbled upon , a dispatch to Union General Fisk from Union militia officer William Leeper.
The dispatch is dated January 26, 1864 and in it, Leeper states that Reeves and about 11 men are located about 8 miles North of Pocahontas, Arkansas and that they have built huts for winter quarters. The dated dispatch was sent exactly one month and one day after the Christmas Massacre.
The point is this, if Reeves was able to build winter quarters one month after the massacre, then they were certainly capable of building winter quarters before the massacre had taken place. Keep in mind of the fact that before the massacre Reeves and his command were at 100%. One might say they were probably able to build decent winter quarters, and still another might say they were able to build winter quarters well enough to protect their families.
It was known locally and passed on through generations in the Doniphan, Missouri area. Local writers past and present have wrote about the event. There were, of course , some skeptics in the early 2000's that conducted a campaign to rewrite history, with some success. They literally rewrote the history of Ripley County, Missouri.
One of their arguments was that the Christmas season was too cold for a Confederate officer to hold a gathering for his men and their families in such an isolated location.
To the historian, information comes in months and years, rather than weeks. An invaluable tool form me has been archive.gov. It is at this internet location that I found information that I had never stumbled upon , a dispatch to Union General Fisk from Union militia officer William Leeper.
The dispatch is dated January 26, 1864 and in it, Leeper states that Reeves and about 11 men are located about 8 miles North of Pocahontas, Arkansas and that they have built huts for winter quarters. The dated dispatch was sent exactly one month and one day after the Christmas Massacre.
The point is this, if Reeves was able to build winter quarters one month after the massacre, then they were certainly capable of building winter quarters before the massacre had taken place. Keep in mind of the fact that before the massacre Reeves and his command were at 100%. One might say they were probably able to build decent winter quarters, and still another might say they were able to build winter quarters well enough to protect their families.
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