The guerrilla warfare in Missouri was more bitter and merciless than in any other State; but as far as Southern men who took part in it were concerned, it was strictly a war of retaliation. 

In September, 1861, Jim Lane with a body of Kansas jayhawkers took and wantonly burned the town of Osceola in St. Clair county. Later in the fall of that year the butcher, McNeil, had ten prisoners, many of them non-combatants, shot because one Andrew Allsman, of whom they knew nothing, had disappeared from his home and could not be found. 

Colonel John McNeil, was later known as the "Butcher of Palmyra" and shortly after this incident he was promoted by Lincoln. He left the army in 1865, after receiving the customary promotion to brevet rank of Major General of Volunteers in recognition of his faithful service to the Union.

In November, 1861, Col. C. B. Jennison, of the First Kansas cavalry, issued a proclamation to the people of the border counties of Missouri, in which he said: "All who shall disregard these propositions (to surrender their arms and sign deeds of forfeiture of their property) shall be treated as traitors and slain wherever found. Their property shall be confiscated and their houses burned; and in no case will any one be spared, either in person or property, who refuses to accept these propositions." 

Indeed, the Federals boasted of their barbarity. On December 27th, 1861, the St. Louis Democart stated that "Lieutenant Mack, sent out to Vienna with twenty Kansas rangers, returned yesterday. He brought no prisoners, that being a useless operation about played out." The Rolla Express of the same date said: "A scouting party of rangers, which left this place last week for Maries county, has returned. The boys bring no prisoners--it isn't their style."

Photo: Quantrill’s Raider George Maddox- Main Scout Survived the War