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From: "jane mason" <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, December 19, 2002 12:47 PM
Subject: Edward Milburn Pace /Centralia Massacre Hi Betty,
Are you still interested in Pace sibling material? Recently I made contact with a lady who is a descendent of Sarah Scarlett
Pace Reed. Sarah was the wife of Edward Milburn. She married Wm. Reed
after Edward's death in the Civil War. Casey sent me material that her
family had collected and there was mention of a book by Wm. Switzler which
talked about the Centralia Massacre. I got the book through interlibrary
loan and found it a fascinating account of the incident. It is the only
published material I have found that mentions a Pace soldier. Although the
name given is Edmund Pace I feel comfortable this is actually "our"
Edward
Milburn [Pace]. The book says the names were taken from notes of the spared Sgt.
Goodwin who was a Sgt in the 1 MO Engineers. This is the unit Edward was
in.
Wishing you a Merry Christmas and all the best in the New Year...
Jane Sanderman Mason
*****
History of Boone County Missouri
William F. Switzler
Western Historical Co. St. Louis 1882
[account of the Centralia Massacre, Centralia MO, 27Sept1864]
Page 446
Robing the Train.
As soon as the train stopped it was boarded by the guerillas. The
passengers were thoroughly frightened. "Those men are guerillas!" shouted
a
soldier of the First Iowa Cavalry, when the train first slackened its
speed.
The news rapidly spread through the cars that the bushwackers were in
possession of Centralia and would soon have the life of every passenger at
their mercy. A number of the guerillas, Anderson's lieutenant, Arch.
Clements, at their head, sprang on the train, crying out to the soldiers,
"Surrender! surender! you are prisoners of war." The soldiers did this,
some of them saying, "We can't help ourselves, for we are unarmed." Very
soon after this the demeanor of the guerillas changed. They began to curse
and maltreat the soldiers, and to rob everybody on the train, men, women
and
even children. Every guerilla had a pistol in his hand, and occassionally
a
shot was fired. Pocket books, watches, knives, rings, bracelets,
ear-rings,
trinkets, clothing, and various other articles, were taken from the
passengers. Many of the soldiers were stripped of their uniforms to their
underwear, and the blue clothing donned by those of the guerillas who were
wearing apparel of other hues. The express car was entered by a squad led
by Anderson himself. The express messenger delivered up his keys, the safe
was opened, and about $3,000 taken therefrom. A much larger sum was left
unnoticed, for just as it was about to be discovered a cry came from Long,
Frank James, and others, in the baggage-car: "Good God! Here's thousands
of greenbacks! Whoopee! Run here, quick!" A valise had been broken open
containing, it is said, $10,000, but doubtless this amount was largely
exaggerated. At any rate, the men in the express car left it and entered
the baggage car. Every valise and trunk was broken open and the contents
tumbled out. The train men, conductor, engineer, brakemen, and all, were
robbed of their watches and pocket books, and some of them of their rings
and breastpins.
The scene, as described by the citizens who witnessed it, and by the
passengers and the guerillas, was terrible and horrible. The guerillas
were
shouting and cursing; bandishing pistols and threatening everybody; the
women and children were crying, sobbing and moaning. The men amoung the
passengers spoke but few words or not at all.
Page 447
The stripped and unarmed Federal soldiers bore themselves well. Although
jostled and kicked about by their captors, insulted and struck in the face
with pistols, they uttered not a word.
Soldiers Marched In Line To Be Shot.
At last Anderson gave the command to have the soldiers taken to the south
side of the railroad and formed in line. The passengers were ordered to
leave the train, and they huddled in groups about the grounds adjoining,
clinging to each other, and not daring to leave without permission. A few,
seemingly stupefied or paralyzed with horror, remained in the cars, some
of
them croucheing beneath the seats.
The Massacre Of The Soldiers.
There were twenty-four men on the train who "wore the blue," but only
twenty-three of them were or had been soldiers. One man, a German from St.
Louis, wore a blue blouse and a soldier's cap, both rather old and dingy,
which he had probably picked up about the camps near the city. As stated,
he was a German, and was thought to be a Jew. He spoke English so
imperfectly that he could with difficulty make himself understood. He was
not a soldier and never had been one, but he was believed to be a soldier,
and was therefore, marched across the railroad track and made to take a
place in the line with the others.
"What are you going to do with them fellows?" Arch. Clements asked
Anderson,
alluding to the soldiers, who stood tremblingly in line. "Parole them, of
course," returned Anderson, with an ironical and sardonical emphasis on
the
word "Parole." With a laugh, Clements rejoined: "I thought so. You might
pick out two or three, though," he added, "and exchange them for Cave, if
you can." (He referred to Cave Wyatt, a sergeant of Anderson's company,
who
had been wounded in a fight in Carroll County, and was reported to be a
prisoner in the hands of the Federals at Columbia.) "Oh, one will be
enough
for that," Anderson replied. "Arch., you take charge of the firing party,
and, when I give the word, pour hell into them." Then Anderson rode to the
line, which was drawn up across the street and near the store, a few yards
from the railroad, where Anthony's livery stable now stands, on the corner
west of Roberts' Hotel. When within a few feet of the Federal prisoners,
he
addressed them almost pleasantly: "Boys, is there a sergeant among you?"
There were three or four men of that rank in the line, but
Page 448
no man spoke. "I say, is there a sergeant in this line?" he repeated: "If
there is, let him step out." Whereupon Sergeant Thos. M. Goodman, of
Col.
Flad's First Regiment, Missouri Engineers, five days from his regiment,
then
at Atlanta, Ga., stepped to the front, looking the guerilla chieftain
squarely in the eye. The prisoners, Goodman included, believed that the
sergeants were to be taken out and shot, and the remainder of them
released;
but to one who knew Tom Goodman, it would be no marvel that he should defy
death. Moreover, he had been robbed of his coat by a guerrilla who stood
near with the garment on, bearing the chevron of a sergeant of engineers,
and this man moved towards Anderson, as if to point out Goodman. Anderson
then directed two of his men, Hime (or Hiram) Litton and Richard
Ellington,
to take charge of the prisoner and remove him to a place of safety, and to
protect him. Accordingly, he was taken to the rear, behind a small stable.
The Bloody Work Begins.
And now Arch. Clements began to carry out Anderson's orders, and to "pour
hell" into the prisoners. Probably twenty-five men opened on the doomed
line with revolvers at twenty paces. Expert pistol shots as they were,
many
of the guerillas missed their aim. A dozen of the prisoners, shot through
the brain or the heart, fell dead at the first volley. Others screamed and
staggered about with a hand pressed to their wounds until, shot again and
again, they tumbled lifeless to the ground. One man, Sergeant Peters, of
the Missouri Engineers, Goodman's regiment, a man of herculean stature,
stripped to his shirt and drawers, was shot five times through the body,
and
yet knocked the guerillas right and left, broke through the line, and with
the blood spouting from his wounds, succeeded in reaching the depot and
crawling under the platform, which was raised some feet above the ground.
Others wandered about, stunned and bleeding, and in their agony staggered
against the very muzzles of the revolvers of the guerillas. One or two
started for the railroad, and fell dead within a few feet of it. Some
cried, "O, God, have mercy!" but the most of them merely groaned and
moaned
in the most agonizing manner. The poor German whined pitifully as he
expired.
Sergeant Peters was dragged from under the depot platform and given the
finishing touch, as it were, with a bullet through the brain. He sank back
seemingly a corpse, but in a short time raised up, rested
Page 449
himself on his left elbow, extended his right arm, with the fist clenched,
towards heaven, held it in that position a moment, then muttered, "My
Lord,"
sank down and died with his head on his arm, as a little child goes to
sleep. One man lay flat on his back, with his hands clinched tightly in
the
short grass. Another lay with one bullet-hole over the eye, another in his
face, a third in his breast. He was unconscious, his eyes were closed, he
did not moan, but with a sort of spasmodic motion, he dragged his right
heel
on the ground, back and forth, back and forth. "He's marking time," said
Arch. Clements, jocosely. ..........................
Page 451
Names, Etc., Of Some Of The Murdered Soldiers.
As before stated, there were twenty-three soldiers on the train, but only
twenty-two of them were killed. One, Sergt. Goodman, was saved.
Twenty-three dead bodies lay on the ground, however, but the twenty-third
was not the body of a soldier. The names, regiments and residences of some
of the murdered soldiers have been obtained from Sergt. Goodman, and are
here appended:
1st Missouri Engineers -
- Edmund Pace Taylor County, Iowa
- James Mobley Page County, Iowa
- Cass Rose Page County, Iowa
- Josiah Comer Nodaway County, Mo.
- Chas. Hilterbridle Nodaway County, Mo.
- Sergeant Peters Holt County, Mo.
- James Thomas Buchanan County, Mo.
- Co. F, 23d Iowa Infantry -
- William H. Barnum Clarinda, Iowa
As every man was robbed, no papers or other articles were found on the
soldiers by which they could be identified. Not much effort was made,
however, at identification, the bodies, in most instances, being allowed
to
lie where they had fallen until the next morning.
*****
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