Battlefield Dispatches 206: 'Shot & Killed'

Friday, March 19, 2010

By 1864 the "Union" Command in the Departments of Missouri and Kansas realized that one of the most successful ways to wage war against the Confederate guerrillas in the "Show-Me-State" was to send out small expeditions or patrols of approximately 100 men. This enabled the "Yankees" to move fairly quickly, required less logistical support and no or a very small number of wagons. In fact, most of these expeditions "lived off of the land" and if no forage for the horses or food for the troops could be found, both man and beast went hungry until such sustenance was found, bought or stolen! The following after action report describes such a patrol in southwest Missouri and is located on Pages 642 and 643 in Volume 34, Pat I Reports of the Official Record of the War of the Rebellion.

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