Battlefield Dispatches: 'Exterminated without mercy'

Friday, August 20, 2010

Aug. 25, 1863 was a very busy day at the Headquarters of the Department of the Missouri in Saint Louis, Mo. On that day, the commanding officer of the latter Department Major General John M. Schofield (no relation of the author) approved a number of General Orders. One of these General Orders was the then and now infamous Order No. 11 that still rings with infamy in Jackson, Cass, Bates and Northern Vernon County. It is still remembered and hated today because the implementation of this order, in effect, depopulated these counties and created a "Buffer Zone" or "No Man's Land" to eradicate support for the Confederate guerrillas residing there and to separate the Kansas and Missouri antagonists from each other. This particular Order was approved by General Schofield and was done at the request Brigadier General Thomas Ewing Jr. who issued it from his headquarters of the District of the Border in Kansas City, Mo. General Ewing was hated and despised then, as is his memory today in the previously mentioned counties of western Missouri!

To Read More
Subscribe Sign In
Continue reading with a subscription
Subscription options