In the waning days of the American Civil War , 12 men on horseback and wearing Union Army uniforms entered Davis County from
Missouri . They were heavily armed . But they were not Union soldiers .
Rather , they were bushwhackers — Missouri guerrillas loyal to the Confederate cause — led by 26-year-old Lt . James “ Bill ” Jackson .
What followed on Oct . 12 , 1864 was a 12-hour spree where the bandits travelled from homestead to homestead , robbing the inhabitants of money and horses , and smashing any guns they might have . They took prisoners and they murdered three men .
The raid was , at least in part , meant as a distraction while Confederate Gen . Sterling Price invaded Missouri to “ retake ” it for the Confederacy , according to historian Matthew C . Hulbert , writing for the “ The Civil War Monitor .” Other Missouri guerilla commanders were also tasked with creating distractions , but Jackson was the only one who took his distraction north of Missouri ’ s border . He also reportedly received help from pro- South Democrats ( or “ Copperheads ”) living in the area .
“ Jackson ’ s task was to raise questions on the security of Iowa and whether the President could protect the nation ,” reads a note as part of a monument commemorating the raid outside of Bloomfield . “ The Copperheads of Davis County and the Knights of the Golden Circle met with the group of soldiers and planned where to go , where to stop and who to kill .”
It was the only known Confederate incursion into Iowa . Most of what happened in that raid is known because the Adjutant- General of Iowa , Gen . N . B . Baker , dispatched
Lt . Col . S . A . Moore to interview the local population and find out what happened . Most of the information for this story comes from his report .
The raid
The first report of the raid came from David Gibson . He was working at a cane mill near one of the houses raiders robbed , saw them , then rode his horse as fast as it would go to Bloomfield . Gibson reported seeing 20 men on horseback , butMoore concluded that Gibson was also counting the prisoners and was too far away to tell the difference . Other reports put the number of bushwhackers closer to 150 , leading people to believe the group Gibson saw was a detachment from a larger , nearby unit of raiders .
It was the first day of the Davis County Fair , and many people were there or on their way there . The attacks started about 16 miles from Bloomfield , though confusion over their numbers and the sheer audacity of the raid caused it to take a while for the news to reach Bloomfield . When it finally did , townspeople expected an attack on their town imminently .
When the bushwhackers happened upon a Union soldier at one of the homesteads they visited , they usually made them strip off their uniforms and — in most cases — killed them .
They killed Thomas Hardy first . They rode up on him while he was driving a wagon . Jackson demanded that Hardy unhitch his horses so he could take them . Hardy was not a soldier , but protested and said Jackson would need to pay for them . Jackson drew his pistol and shot Hardy in the head .
Hardy fell from the wagon , clutched his wound and yelled “ God have mercy ” over and
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