"He that spilleth man's blood, by man shall his blood be spilt."(1)
Many people have asked what Callaway preached in his final sermon that so angered the Chitwood gang. His text was Matthew 10:28. "And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." (12) They had warned him to stop preaching or they would kill him. When he failed to heed their warning, they carried out their threat.Callaway sold some cattle and kept his appointment to preach at the school house in Waynesville on Saturday, August 6, then returned home. Dr. James Titterington, who lived near Hazelgreen in neighboring Laclede County, rode to the Manes home, called Callaway to the fence, and warned him that he was in immediate danger of assassination and begged him to leave the country until the war was ended.(1)
Two accounts of the murder follow:
On August 7th "some men rode up in the lane about forty yards from the house, stopped there, and five men came through the gate on to the house. One man knocked at the East door of the house. Pa was already in bed. He had taken some cattle to market at Waynesville, then filled his appointment to preach there. When he got home he took the gold he got from the cattle and buried it in a stone jar. When he heard the men, Pa got up and opened the door. Pa said, 'Come in, gentlemen.' One man asked, "Is this Callaway Manes?" When Pa said, 'I am,' the man pulled his pistol and shot him in the chest. Pa fell back against the stairs and Polly screamed. Pa whispered, 'Hush, hush, hush.' The same party that did the shooting called for a light and Polly got the candle. He made her hold a light so he could shoot Pa through the ear."(1)
"So, on the night of the following day, an unknown number of Chitwood’s Company G – some say 12, and some say 20 or more – rode to the Manes home and aroused him from his bed. As he approached the door he said, “Come in, gentlemen. To which the reply was a question, “Are you Callaway Manes?” He answered, “I am.” A shot followed. Stepping back to the bed, the stricken man let himself gently to the floor. Hush Hush Hush A light was made and one of his daughters was compelled to hold it over her father while the assassin shot him again through the head, although he was already dead. "(1)
Local family members passed down a tale of murder by bushwhackers; descendants on the East Coast told a story of execution by Union militia. Perhaps a descendant of the Chitwood family and a veteran Civil War researcher has the missing piece. He believes that the Chitwoods led a squad of men that dressed up as bushwhackers to execute enemies during the Civil War. Union military records detail the Chitwoods' use of disguises.
Two people were identified by Samuel Jasper Manes (Jap) as being involved: Josh Chitwood and a man named Thornton. Jap didn't say whether any of the Chitwoods were at the house when Callaway was shot, but described the men as "a number of Chitwood's Company G."
"The man that did the shooting, his name was Thornton." Archival research focused on men with a surname of Thornton, serving with Union forces in this area.
Four men named Thornton were members of the 1861 Osage Regiment Home Guards. Three of those men were in Hickory County. Only Milton Thornton served in a local unit, with Company E from Miller County.(3)
Samuel Jasper Manes
Two people were identified by Samuel Jasper Manes (Jap) as being involved: Josh Chitwood and a man named Thornton. Jap didn't say whether any of the Chitwoods were at the house when Callaway was shot, but described the men as "a number of Chitwood's Company G."
"The man that did the shooting, his name was Thornton." Archival research focused on men with a surname of Thornton, serving with Union forces in this area.
Four men named Thornton were members of the 1861 Osage Regiment Home Guards. Three of those men were in Hickory County. Only Milton Thornton served in a local unit, with Company E from Miller County.(3)
Two men with a surname of Thornton were members of the 8th MSM Cavalry - Thomas L. Thornton and Milton O. Thornton. Thomas L. Thornton, who had been with the Hickory County Battalion, enlisted in the 8th MSM Cavalry in Captain Cassairt's Company I in Benton County.(3) He married in 1869 and lived in Benton County until his death on Christmas Day, 1875.
Milton Thornton enlisted in Captain Richard Chitwood's Company G of the 8th MSM Cavalry in October 1862. He served with this unit until November 11, 1864, when he was transferred to Captain Burch's Company M in Springfield.(3)
Research also focused on the deaths of these individuals because Samuel Jasper Manes wrote an account of the death of Thornton. "Just about the close of the war, there was a family moving through the country and camped near the Tavern Creek about three miles from the Callaway Manes' place, and this same man, Thornton, ran onto the mover in the night while in his wagon, asleep, with his family. Robbery, I suppose. was Thornton's motive, and the mover shot him dead, hooked up and moved on and never was molested. The Bible says 'He that spilleth man's blood, by man shall his blood be spilt.'"(1)
One has to wonder how Jap knew what happened if "the mover hooked up moved on and never was molested."
Milton Thornton lived in northwestern Pulaski County near the Miller County line.(4) His property was near a tributary of Tavern Creek. He was murdered in Pulaski County on May 4, 1866. The family history reported that Milton Thornton was hung or shot by ex-Confederate soldiers. His five year old son, Steven A. Douglas Thornton was with him, and Milton convinced the murderers to let his son go home so he wouldn't have to watch his father die.(5) All accounts I've found of these events contain the word "murderers" or "soldiers" indicating more than one person was present.
The focus on Milton Thornton developed because he served with the Chitwoods, lived in the area, and was murdered at the close of the war. None of these facts prove that he shot Callaway Manes. Those men present that night who knew the murderer could correct me or concur, but they are long gone.
Research also focused on the deaths of these individuals because Samuel Jasper Manes wrote an account of the death of Thornton. "Just about the close of the war, there was a family moving through the country and camped near the Tavern Creek about three miles from the Callaway Manes' place, and this same man, Thornton, ran onto the mover in the night while in his wagon, asleep, with his family. Robbery, I suppose. was Thornton's motive, and the mover shot him dead, hooked up and moved on and never was molested. The Bible says 'He that spilleth man's blood, by man shall his blood be spilt.'"(1)
One has to wonder how Jap knew what happened if "the mover hooked up moved on and never was molested."
The focus on Milton Thornton developed because he served with the Chitwoods, lived in the area, and was murdered at the close of the war. None of these facts prove that he shot Callaway Manes. Those men present that night who knew the murderer could correct me or concur, but they are long gone.
Callaway's son, Harrison Elliott Manes "earned the title of 'the Manes Family Avenger." Rumors abounded at all the general stores and other usual meeting places of the near countryside. Harrison's every movement was the subject of quiet speculation. Rumor held that he followed and killed members of the Chitwood gang who so cruelly murdered his father. The "lone-wolf" of the Callaway Manes family rarely divulged his aims or aspirations to anyone. He died in Sherman, Texas at the age of forty- five.(1)
"The people at the house the night of the murder tried to hide their identities, but some of the men were close neighbors. One of the men at Grandfather Callaway's when he was murdered was Bourdoin Remington, a boy of an Ohio family. He was a brother to Mrs. Hood who kept the hotel at Richland for many years." Elisha B. Remington (Ely Bourdoin) was a Private in Captain Chitwood's Company G 8th MSM. (3)
A son of Callaway Manes, Christopher Columbus Manes, encountered Bourdoin "on a day sometime after the end of the war. Uncle C.C. 'Lum' Manes came upon Bourdoin Remington in a store in Richland and, without saying a word, drew his revolver and fired. Remington had sensed the danger, already, however, and was running out the back door. The shot missed, narrowly. Uncle Jasper heard the shot and ran into the store and stopped further trouble, but Remington left the country and never returned."(1) Bourdoin Remington moved to northeastern Missouri.(6)
A son of Callaway Manes, Christopher Columbus Manes, encountered Bourdoin "on a day sometime after the end of the war. Uncle C.C. 'Lum' Manes came upon Bourdoin Remington in a store in Richland and, without saying a word, drew his revolver and fired. Remington had sensed the danger, already, however, and was running out the back door. The shot missed, narrowly. Uncle Jasper heard the shot and ran into the store and stopped further trouble, but Remington left the country and never returned."(1) Bourdoin Remington moved to northeastern Missouri.(6)
"Three or four parties that participated in the murder, as it began to leak out, has left the country for fear of the relatives and friends of the deceased, and I think they used good judgment in leaving."(1) Richard Chitwood was in Kansas in 1866.(7) He died near Boise, Idaho.(8) Joshua and William Chitwood moved to Colorado and both are buried there.(8)(9)
Reuben Newton Maness
This story began in Moore County, North Carolina, so it seems fitting to end there. The day after Callaway's murder, his relative, Reuben Newton Maness, from Moore County, North Carolina, was shot. Reverend Maness, a chaplain in the Confederate Army, was shot through the neck by a Yankee sniper's bullet on August 8, 1864, while he was conducting services during the siege of Petersburg, Virginia.(10)
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Sources:
(1) Manuscript of family history and letters written by Samuel Jasper Manes and Jesse Gustin. These pages are contained in the collection edited by E.V. Brezeale. The collection is available on microfilm at the Springfield, Missouri Public Library or the microfilm may be requested at any LDS Family History Center.
(2) "Coon Thornton in the Newspapers"
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~jrbakerjr/quantrill/thornton/coonthornton.htm
(3) Missouri State Archives online soldiers' database at http://s1.sos.mo.gov/records/archives/archivesdb/soldiers/
(4) General Land Office Records, Bureau of Land Managemenrt, U.S. Dept. of the Interior. Online database of Early Land Patents at http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/details/patent/default.aspx?accession=MO2080__.322&docClass=STA&sid=vhwa15ak.c40
(5) History of the Thornton, Ash, Floyd, Luttrell Families. by Marcine Lohman. Marcine is a veteran researcher of several area families. This book can be reviewed at the Miller County Museum Reference Section in Tuscumbia, Missouri. Several parts of her research are also available online. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~celticlady/thornton/Thornton_Family_History_of_Schuyler_Co_IL.pdf
(6) 1870 Missouri Census
(7) Kansas State Census Collection, 1855-1925
(8) Findagrave is an online database of burials. http://www.findagrave.com/
(9) 1885 Colorado State Census,
_________________________________________________________________
Sources:
(1) Manuscript of family history and letters written by Samuel Jasper Manes and Jesse Gustin. These pages are contained in the collection edited by E.V. Brezeale. The collection is available on microfilm at the Springfield, Missouri Public Library or the microfilm may be requested at any LDS Family History Center.
(2) "Coon Thornton in the Newspapers"
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~jrbakerjr/quantrill/thornton/coonthornton.htm
(3) Missouri State Archives online soldiers' database at http://s1.sos.mo.gov/records/archives/archivesdb/soldiers/
(4) General Land Office Records, Bureau of Land Managemenrt, U.S. Dept. of the Interior. Online database of Early Land Patents at http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/details/patent/default.aspx?accession=MO2080__.322&docClass=STA&sid=vhwa15ak.c40
(5) History of the Thornton, Ash, Floyd, Luttrell Families. by Marcine Lohman. Marcine is a veteran researcher of several area families. This book can be reviewed at the Miller County Museum Reference Section in Tuscumbia, Missouri. Several parts of her research are also available online. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~celticlady/thornton/Thornton_Family_History_of_Schuyler_Co_IL.pdf
(6) 1870 Missouri Census
(7) Kansas State Census Collection, 1855-1925
(8) Findagrave is an online database of burials. http://www.findagrave.com/
(9) 1885 Colorado State Census,
(10) U.S., Civil War Pension Files, 1861-1934
(11) "The Wallace Family of Moore County, North Carolina." http://moorecountywallaces.com/getperson.php?personID=I07236&tree=Wallace
(12) Memoirs of Herman Manes, property of Marcia Turner
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***For my family members, there are as many of our ancestors on one side of this story - in the local Union regiments and companies - as there are on the other - in the Missouri State Guard and southern sympathizers.
***A month after Callaway Manes' murder, Wilson Tilley was also murdered in Pulaski County. There are several similarities to Callaway's murder.
1) Some say Tilley was murdered by bushwhackers and others say by Federal militia.
2) Tilley and his son had a history of conflict with local Union authorities.
3) He had sold cattle that day.
4)He was purported to have buried gold. Unlike the search for Callaway's gold, Tilley's gold was actually found during the construction of Fort Leonard Wood.
On September 5, 1864, Francis Marion Manes was appointed as a Union officer at Rolla, where Captain Chitwood's Company G was stationed. Son and nephew of wealthy local pioneers, Francis Marion Manes had served in the Missouri State Guard, paid a Commutation Tax and worked as a teamster to avoid service in Union forces. Five days later Wilson Tilley was murdered.
***A month after Callaway Manes' murder, Wilson Tilley was also murdered in Pulaski County. There are several similarities to Callaway's murder.
1) Some say Tilley was murdered by bushwhackers and others say by Federal militia.
2) Tilley and his son had a history of conflict with local Union authorities.
3) He had sold cattle that day.
4)He was purported to have buried gold. Unlike the search for Callaway's gold, Tilley's gold was actually found during the construction of Fort Leonard Wood.
On September 5, 1864, Francis Marion Manes was appointed as a Union officer at Rolla, where Captain Chitwood's Company G was stationed. Son and nephew of wealthy local pioneers, Francis Marion Manes had served in the Missouri State Guard, paid a Commutation Tax and worked as a teamster to avoid service in Union forces. Five days later Wilson Tilley was murdered.
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