THE RAWLINGS LANE AMBUSH 
of HOWARD Co. Mo.

 "Your men are no match for Bill Anderson's boys; 
 take warning, don't follow them."

By Bill Lay, MMCWRT

aptain Joseph Parke  arrived in Boonville with Company E of the Fourth Regiment, Missouri State Militia Cavalry of July 15th, 1864 to help protect the city from the attacks that it had been receiving from the local guerrillas. Captain Parke and his men were quartered in Boonville at the Thespian Hall. Boonville's residents were elated to have these men and they noted that the men were the most orderly and well-behaved group of soldiers that had ever been stationed there.

By August 14th, General Rosecrans from St. Louis was concerned that little had been happening in the Boonville area so he wrote to Captain Parke

"Why do you not hunt out and whip (Clifton) Holtzclaw, who is loafing around Boonville? By a night march, going on by-roads, it seems to be you might catch and destroy this villain.
Why should all the cunning and enterprise be on one side, and that the wrong side?"

On August 16th, Parke took the ferry across the Missouri River to Howard County and scouted the lower part of the county for two days. He encountered several small bands of guerrillas and wounded one guerrilla and captured three horses, three double-barreled shotguns and three revolvers.

Following that successful encounter on Sunday, August 28th,  Parke left Thespian Hall with 44 men and again took the ferry to Howard County. They passed through New Franklin and took the road east to Rocheport. When he arrived at the home of Uncle Sammy Pearson, about a couple of miles east of New Franklin he asked:

"Any of Bill Anderson's men around here?"

Pearson told him that Anderson and his men had passed by about an hour before going in the direction of Rocheport. Pearson also warned him:

"Your men are no match for Bill Anderson's boys; take warning, don't follow them."

Captain Parke quickly answered:

"Show me the road. I'll find him."

Anderson and his men had spent the previous day southwest of Columbia, fighting Major Leonard and his men, and had probably spent the night at his camp at Cox's quarry which was about a mile west and three miles north of Sammy Pearson's place.

When Anderson learned that Parke was in Howard County, he sent James Common's to find Captain William Stuart with orders that Stuart and his ten men should report to Anderson.

Anderson then took his men to Rawlings Lane, which was located about four miles east of New Franklin and just east of Salt Creek. Rawlings Lane was a dead end lane that extended east from the curve where the Rocheport road turned south.

The lane had a heavy rail fence on both the north and south sides. Anderson didn't make the right hand turn on the Rocheport road but went straight east through Rawlings Lane so as to make it appear from the horse's tracks that the guerrillas were marching east on the lane.

At the east end of the lane, Anderson turned his column north and marched north through a field to the top to the crest of the hill and then turned west and positioned his men out of sight below the brow of the hill to await Parke's approach.

He then sent twelve men under Archie Clements as a decoy to fire upon the Federals as they came east toward the lane. Clements was instructed to have his men fire on Captain Parke and then to rapidly retreat in confusion back to Rawlings Lane. (According to John Edwards, in Noted Guerrillas, Clements charged Parke's entire force recklessly and Anderson later gave Clements a reprimand "that abode with him to the day of his death" for disobeying the order to fire and then retreat.) Clements may have had one man wounded and lost a couple of horses in this early encounter. Clements and his men decoyed the Federals into Rawlings Lane.

When Parke came to the end of the lane he was unable to easily reverse his troop and, while his men were confused, "Bloody Bill" Anderson and Clifford Holtzclaw attacked from the north.

Hamp B. Watts, a 16 year old member of Anderson's command who may or may not have been in this battle, in his work, The Babe of the Company described the battle as follows:

"Passing through the Rawling's lane in the Fayette and Rocheport road from its west to its east limit (so as to make it appear from the horse's tracks that the guerrillas were still marching east,) he turned his column north through farms, then counter marching west to a point opposite and just north of (the) west entrance to (the) lane. Deploying his men from sight behind the brow of the hill, with eyes to the front and revolvers drawn, he quietly awaited Parks' approach.

"At the end of thirty minutes' waiting, Parks at the head of his Command entered the lane. Anderson waited until the rear of the Federal column had passed, when the command, 'Charge 'em, Boys' rang out. Yelling like Comanches, the onslaught on the rear of the marching column was fierce. The suddenness of the attack threw the Federals into confusion. Having no time or chance to form for battle, they sought escape by flight."

Captain Parks had found his man. Eight of the enemy were killed in a lane, six more were killed in a running fight of five miles to the Sulphur Springs. The rout was complete. But at the end of the five-mile chase, about 50 of the enemy took refuge behind the walls of a deserted house, forming for defense.

 John N. Edwards, the Brigade Adjutant of General Joe Shelby's confederate brigade and a newspaper man who co-founded the Kansas City Times, on page 244 of his work entitled Noted Guerrillas described the battle as follows:

"Anderson, above everything else, desired to get the Boonville captain in such a position as to have an uninterrupted chance at him for four or five hundred yards -- such a chance as would keep him from scattering his men all over a hundred acre farm or as many acres of prairie land.

"With such a purpose in view the Guerrilla chief found a long lane in close proximity to the enemy, on either side of which was a heavy rail fence. At the western extremity of this he formed his command in column of fours, sending ahead and through its entire length twelve well-mounted men to fire upon the Federals on the east and retreat rapidly back as if in confusion. When they found the Federals they converted a sham attack into a real one, and charged the entire force headlong and recklessly - twelve against seventy-six.

"The boaster from Boonville (Captain Parks) made scarcely a halt - fired scarcely a single volley. The race, for it certainly could be called nothing else, lasted four miles, the Guerrillas killing twenty-three of the fugitives and capturing forty horses."

Captain Parks left his command at the first assault and headed for Fayette. About four miles north of Rawlings name he met Major Reeves Leonard's men. They had heard the firing in the direction of Rawlings Lane and were riding to investigate the incident. When they arrived at Rawlings Lane they had a brief encounter with the guerrillas and drove them off.

W. H. Schrader, an enlisted member of the 6th Cavalry then stationed in Fayette (The Brunswicker of September 30, 1982) reported :

"...a man on foot who seemed to be in uniform was seen coming toward our advance guard. As soon as he saw us he stopped and made as if to escape, being uncertain whether we were Union troops or guerillas, but the guard closed in on him and were surprised to find that he wore an officer's uniform.

"Being convinced that he had fallen among friends he inquired our commander's name and being told, his joy seemed to know no limit. By this time our main column had come up and Major Leonard recognized him as Capt. Parker (Parks) of another regiment. Expressing his astonishment at seeing him there in such a condition, the Captain's clothes being torn and covered with dust, Major Leonard said, "Captain, where is your command?" Captain Parker (Parks) Replied, "God knows; I am the only man left of it so far as I know," and in as few words as possible Major Leonard had him tell of the fight ...

"The explanation was that his command had been surprised and the men shot down before they could offer any resistance. The ambuscade was in thick woods at the end of a lane with cornfield on both sides. ...

"We gathered up about fifteen dead of the Captain's and those were sent to Boonville, their camp for burial."

After the battle at Rawlings Lane, about 35 of Parke's men were chased by the guerrillas for five miles to a deserted house owned by Dodson near Sulphur Springs in the Missouri River bottom. There they kept Anderson's men at bay by firing through the cracks of the house until Anderson finally drew off his men. They then mounted their horses and fled back to Boonville. Three other men not in the house made it back to Boonville about dark. One procured citizen's clothes and made it back in disguise. Another swam the river with his gun, taking advantage of the bar in the river to cross. One walked in with his arm shattered. A fourth man was picked up on a log by the steamer Cora Kenney. (a 215 ton stern wheel packet built in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1864). He had been in the water for about four hours floating well below Rocheport.

Leonard helped Parks to recover his dead and together they crossed the river to Boonville. There the dead were brought to Thespian Hall. Three bodies were in crude coffins and four coffins were procured for the others. The coffins were taken to the Old City Cemetery on the western side of Boonville where they were laid side by side in one common grave. Later the body of Orderly Sergeant Porter W. Davis was found he was buried in a separate grave in the cemetery.

Parke reported to General Alfred Pleasanton, USA on August 30th that the battle had occurred on the morning of August 28th that he had 44 men and Anderson had about 100 men. They fought for 15 minutes and Anderson lost 6 dead and 2 wounded and that Parke had 7 dead, two wounded and three missing.

Not long after this incident Major General Alfred Pleasanton found that Captain Parke's forces were evidently surprised on the march and did not attempt to do any fighting. As was the General Pleasanton's (not so pleasant) nature, he recommend that Captain Joseph Parke be dismissed from the service for the Rawling's Lane affair.

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