CHAPTER VII
THE last raid into Iowa by Missouri guerrillas was in October, 1864. On the morning of the 12th, twelve young men, dressed in Federal uniforms, and mounted on good horses, entered Davis County in the southeast corner, and, riding along the highway at a rapid gait, began to plunder the farm houses and people they met on the road. They seized such arms as they found, and destroying them, took some of the citizens prisoners. Their leader was Lieutenant James Jackson, who sent out small detachments on intersecting roads to bring in plunder. The point at which they entered the county was about sixteen miles from Bloomfield, and, as they advanced with a large number of prisoners, they presented a formidable appearance that so terrified the inhabitants that it was several hours before the news of the raid reached the county seat. The first man killed was Thomas Hurdy, a farmer, who refused to give up his team. The leader shot him in his wagon and robbed his body of about four hundred dollars. The next man killed was a returned soldier from the Third Iowa Cavalry, Eleazer Small, who was shot by the leader, who dismounted and coolly rifled the pockets of the dying man. At Springville, the marauders went to the residence of Captain Philip Bunce, an officer of the Thirtieth Iowa Infantry, who happened to be at home on a visit. They robbed him of his uniform and were about to shoot him when he walked up to the leader and in a low voice, that he might not be heard by his terrified family, requested that he might not be killed in the presence of his wife. He was accordingly taken several miles from home and brutally murdered.
When the news of the bloody raid reached Bloomfield,
