Comments on Willie Scott The letters and newspaper clippings are from the Civil War period or about the Civil War period and period of time known as Reconstruction. They are written by or to persons from or residing in Callaway County, Missouri. Historically, Callaway Co. is made up predominantly of settlers from Virginia, by way of Kentucky, who accompanied or came as a result of Daniel Boone's efforts to settle the area while the region was still a Spanish posession. This region during the Civil war was almost totally Southern sympathizers as was much of the rural portion of Missouri. When the secession question came before the Missouri Legislature and secession was apparent, Federal troops from the St. Louis area marched to Jefferson City, occupied the bluffs across the Missouri River from the Capitol and the high ground in the Eastern part of Jefferson City proper, and forced the Legislature to vote to remain loyal to the North. It is not known whether Missouri would have seceded from the Union or not. Callaway County apparently seceded from the state of Missouri upon failure of Missouri to secede from the Union, an indication of the true nature of the partisan feelings in Callaway County. Willie Scott was a fifteen year old boy at the time at the time both letters were written from Alton Military Prison and at the time of his death. He, like many boys of his time, left home to join the army of his choice. After serving in the army of the Confederacy, was captured and sent to Alton Military Prison at Alton, Illinois. Due to his age, we assume that his Mother either purchased his release or secured release upon the promise not to again fight on the side of the South. The release appears to have included general amnesty and a military pardon. Willie was not released by Christmas as he had begged his Mother in his first letter of December 15, 1864, nor by February as documented by the existance of a copy of a nearly illegible letter to his Mother from Willie, again from Alton Military Prison, dated February 28, 1865. The original of this letter is not in our posession and our copy is nearly illegible. We assume the contents to be nearly the same as the first letter as indicated by the legible portions. The tombstone marking Willie's grave indicates that Willie died on March 31, 1865. The accounts of Willie's death in the newspaper clippings are essentially true; however there are some conflicts with second party accounts by Willie's Sister, Amanda Scott Boyd, to other family members. Much of the support information regarding Willie's military service has never been explored to fill in some of the gaps. Some reports indicated that Willie served with General Sterling Price's army during the battle of Wilson's Creek, near the Springfield, Mo. area. Since this battle occurred in 1861, Willie would have been approximately eleven or twelve years of age at that time. This seems highly unlikely. Comments by: Wayne E. Johnson (son of Edward B. Johnson and Great - Great Nephew of Willie Scott) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Wayne E. Johnson (© 2003 Wayne E. Johnson) http://www.rootsweb.com/~mocallaw/ USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free genealogical information on the Internet, data may be freely used for personal research and by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for profit or any form of presentation, must obtain the written consent of the file submitter, or their legal representative, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. ------------------------------------------------------------------------