Editing Avilla, Missouri (section)

===1861–1865===

====Confederate guerrillas attack====
Dr. Jaquillian M. Stemmons, an early settler, town leader and staunch Union man, organized a company of local men and neighbors in Avilla for the protection of their own homes from roaming bands of [[bushwhacker]]s. In 1861 this town [[militia]], also known as the "Avilla Home Guard", was one of the first in the area and consisted predominantly of the oldest citizens, as most of the younger men were leaving to join regular military forces. This action was strongly opposed by local secessionists, and it was even rumored that a price had been placed on the doctor's head. By March 1862, the town militia had been tipped off about an impending assault and General James G. Blunt at [[Fort Scott, Kansas]], had pledged reinforcements, but they had not yet arrived. After nightfall on March 8, 1862, a group of over a hundred pro-[[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] guerrillas believed to have been led by [[William T. Anderson]] attacked northeast of Avilla, routed perimeter sentries and engaged defenders at Dr. Stemmon’s home. Defending were about twenty five town militiamen and some men from Carthage who were there attending a meeting about the organization of a county-wide patrol. A [[US Cavalry]] officer named Captain Tanner was also there recruiting men for the Union Army. The rebels surrounded the two-story log home and were met with heavy gunfire, but the doctor and three of his sons, Bud, Pole and Jimmie were trapped inside with many of the men. After numerous attempts to penetrate the defense, amidst flying buckshot and bullets, the attackers managed to ignite the cabin and it eventually burned to the ground. Dr. Stemmons and Lathan Duncan, an Avilla militiaman, were killed, several others shot and burned, and two were taken prisoner (the number of guerrilla casualties was not recorded). After the house was lost to flames, the heavily out-numbered militia withdrew and scattered in the darkness. They re-formed near the north edge of Avilla and braced for another onslaught, but it did not occur. The guerrilla force instead ended the attack and rode east toward [[Springfield, Missouri|Springfield]], where the two elderly prisoners were later "given stern warnings to leave the state" and released.

Dr. J.M. Stemmons had been considered an "influential area figure against secession", and this was thought to be a chief motive for the attack and his murder. Nevertheless, the "defiant and  heroic actions" of Dr. Stemmons, Mr. Duncan and the town militia's "bold resistance" undoubtedly repelled further violence and probably prevented the burning of Avilla on that or ensuing dates. Names that are known of the courageous militiamen and allies defending on that night also included: Miles Overton, George Moose, Jap Moody, Ben Key, Cavalry Chapman, Robert Seymour, Orange Clark, Humphrey Robinson, Tom Driver, James S. Carter, Reuben Fishburn, William Club (seriously wounded), Nelson Knight (taken prisoner), Rabe Paul and Coleman Paul, Isaac Schooler, "Dutch" Brown (taken prisoner), Nip Walker, Peter Baker, Renard Napper and Cpt. Tanner from [[Fort Scott, Kansas|Fort Scott]] (The Captain was a Union Army Recruiting Officer and reportedly continued to fight after taking a shotgun blast to the face).<ref name="ReferenceC" />

Humphrey Robinson (1812–1864) was later abducted by bushwackers from his Lawrence County, Missouri, farm, in 1864, and never seen again.  Many, at the time, believed he was recognized by his captors as one who stood against them in the defense of Avilla and killed in retaliation. A marker to his memory was laid beside his widow at Gray's Point Cemetery, near Miller, Missouri.

[[File:Gunshot skull civil war.jpg|thumb|upright|Human skull with gunshot trauma from the [[American Civil War]]. It is not hard to imagine the powerful message displayed to [[bushwhacker]]s from the ghastly Death Tree on the path leading to Avilla, Missouri.]]

====A Gruesome Warning to Bushwhackers====

The rebel attack on the Stemmons home was intended to terrorize and diffuse but essentially had the opposite effect, infuriating the townsmen and altering the defensive efforts to offensive as everyone in Avilla took up arms.  The Union Army gained possession of Missouri in 1862, but the terrain encompassing Avilla remained plagued with bushwhackers and occasionally small bands of [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] regulars or guerrilla raiders on horseback.  The town militia inherently became the earliest county militia for a period, headquartered in Avilla (this was before the formation of the Missouri County Militias in 1864).  The patrol areas were then extended within eastern Jasper and western Lawrence Counties. Patrols of mounted militiamen were augmented by a few Union soldiers of the US Cavalry and continued to protect the town and countryside in several local skirmishes. Many bushwackers were tracked down and shot,  and within a short time the rest of them grew to fear the deadly Avilla "pioneer marksmen". In one account a rebel’s skeleton was found just south of town with a bullet hole in the skull and his name was never identified. He had apparently been killed during a previous skirmish with militiamen, but his remains were not found until they were in an advanced state of [[decomposition]]. The skull was then hung from the "Death Tree" in Avilla, suspended from a tree limb for over a year near the road at the Dunlap apple orchard "as a warning to all other bushwhackers".<ref name="ReferenceC" />

====Union Army Garrison at Avilla====

By 1863, the [[Enrolled Missouri Militia]] was stationed at the Union Army garrison in Avilla; these new soldiers were under the command of Major Morgan. Tents were erected and storehouses, barns and homes were converted to temporary Army barracks & headquarters which housed hundreds of soldiers at various times, and a number of refugees.  The town became known to the Missouri Militiamen informally as "Camp Avilla'", and by 1864 many of the original town militiamen continued to assist the new Missouri Militia functioning as patrol leaders in the newly organized Jasper County Militia.  Avilla supported anti-guerrilla operations in the region while under Lieutenant-Colonel [[Thomas Theodore Crittenden|T.T. Crittenden]] of the [[Missouri State Militia (Union)|Missouri State Militia's 7th Cavalry]], and facilitated as a way station when needed in the transportation of Confederate Prisoners of War.  Being situated in open grassland Avilla was able to maintain a formidable and effective defense and became a sanctuary for refugees of nearby burned-out towns such as Carthage, but the county remained dangerous until the end and even for some time after the war.<ref name="ReferenceC" /><ref>The War of Rebellion: A compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series 2 Volume 5, Government Printing Office 1899.</ref>