On Dec. 16, 1862, Confederate sympathizers, either a group of extremists known as Provo's, possibly another known as guerrillas, or the more common group known as bushwhackers, came onto the property calling out his name. Hiding in the home (no idea where), he would hear the ongoing commotion of the unwelcome visitors and his panicked family.
Many homes at this time used hiding places under the flooring. I had seen a story stating he had been hiding in the attic, but I find that a bit hard to believe. Hiding places under the flooring were very common. As a search for Jesse was being conducted, the visitors started hooking up the family's new wagon and oxen. Others started pillaging the Cornelison family's winter food supply of potatoes. To what extent the plunder escalated to is unknown.
My g-grandfather, John Scott Cornelison, was one month shy of his thirteenth birthday and now the oldest child in the home. The oldest boy, William Elvis Bookout, was not home, a newlywed, married June 25, 1862. The youngest of the six children in the home was the one year old baby with his father's namesake, Jesse Garrett Cornelison being held by his mother.
Hearing all of this affair taking place, Jesse finally had enough and stepped out of the front door just onto the porch holding a weapon while yelling at the Confederates to get off his property. He was immediately shot and fell back into the house dead. One Confederate decided he liked a coat of Jesse's and took it. The bushwhacker's finished their business without any more murder and left.
A posse was formed. What type of posse is unknown. The Union Army had units conducting ongoing patrols looking for these types all across Missouri as did the Confederates on the flipside. The possibility these bushwhackers were a gang of local Confederate sympathizers that knew what their mission was from the beginning, versus a random act, is highly probable; murdering Union sympathizers and pillaging the property of any goods useful to their cause. The very same operation can be seen with Jesse E. Cornelison's (The father of Garrett Cornelison) son, Harrison, in Barry County. This was the modus operandi of the Confederacy all across southwest Missouri.
The formed Union posse found the gang and gunfire was exchanged, but to what degree is unknown. The one confederate wearing Jesse's coat was shot dead and fell into the fire. How many there were in the gang or posse is unknown. No names, no numbers, no nothing. -- Nothing else is known. This is my story on the events of Dec. 16, 1862 from information gathered from several family sources. –rmad
On Dec. 16, 1862, Confederate sympathizers, either a group of extremists known as Provo's, possibly another known as guerrillas, or the more common group known as bushwhackers, came onto the property calling out his name. Hiding in the home (no idea where), he would hear the ongoing commotion of the unwelcome visitors and his panicked family.
Many homes at this time used hiding places under the flooring. I had seen a story stating he had been hiding in the attic, but I find that a bit hard to believe. Hiding places under the flooring were very common. As a search for Jesse was being conducted, the visitors started hooking up the family's new wagon and oxen. Others started pillaging the Cornelison family's winter food supply of potatoes. To what extent the plunder escalated to is unknown.
My g-grandfather, John Scott Cornelison, was one month shy of his thirteenth birthday and now the oldest child in the home. The oldest boy, William Elvis Bookout, was not home, a newlywed, married June 25, 1862. The youngest of the six children in the home was the one year old baby with his father's namesake, Jesse Garrett Cornelison being held by his mother.
Hearing all of this affair taking place, Jesse finally had enough and stepped out of the front door just onto the porch holding a weapon while yelling at the Confederates to get off his property. He was immediately shot and fell back into the house dead. One Confederate decided he liked a coat of Jesse's and took it. The bushwhacker's finished their business without any more murder and left.
A posse was formed. What type of posse is unknown. The Union Army had units conducting ongoing patrols looking for these types all across Missouri as did the Confederates on the flipside. The possibility these bushwhackers were a gang of local Confederate sympathizers that knew what their mission was from the beginning, versus a random act, is highly probable; murdering Union sympathizers and pillaging the property of any goods useful to their cause. The very same operation can be seen with Jesse E. Cornelison's (The father of Garrett Cornelison) son, Harrison, in Barry County. This was the modus operandi of the Confederacy all across southwest Missouri.
The formed Union posse found the gang and gunfire was exchanged, but to what degree is unknown. The one confederate wearing Jesse's coat was shot dead and fell into the fire. How many there were in the gang or posse is unknown. No names, no numbers, no nothing. -- Nothing else is known. This is my story on the events of Dec. 16, 1862 from information gathered from several family sources. –rmad
Inscription
The Turnbo Manuscripts by Silas Claiborne Turnbo (1844-1925) Vol. 3 THE DEATH OF FOUR MEN: Jess Rhodes, an old time resident of southern Missouri whose home is near Dit Post Office in Taney County, has this to say of the killing of men during the great bloody strife of 1861-5. "In 1860 we left Pulaski County, Missouri, and settled near Bay Post Office in Douglas County. I remember," said Mr. Rhodes, "that Jess Cornelison was called out of his house one day and killed. Zack Scribner was also called out and shot down. Joe Lyon was killed in his yard while he was sitting on a stump; his assassin crept up near the house and shot him. John Applegate was taken away by a band of men and never heard of him anymore but his hat was found in the woods two miles from home. Applegate was a union man. The sentiments of Scribner was southern. These men lived on the beautiful stream of Little Beaver Creek except Lyons and he lived at Lyon's Mill on Big Beaver."
STORY: During a visit at my cousins home near Union Chapel church she showed me this footnote in a family notebook. --- 'Jesse Cornelison had received word his family was ill and needed help. The commanding officer allowed him a leave and he went home. While at home, bushwhackers came and were hitching up the Cornelison family oxen to their new wagon when Jesse stepped out the front door with a gun and told them to leave. He was shot.'
[NOTE – The additional information stating Jesse had been home for about ten months (Feb 15 to Dec. 16, 1862) and considered a deserter was not noted]. –Ricker A. Maddy - gg-grandson of Jesse Garrett Cornelison
Gravesite Details
Unmarked grave at Ragsdale. Sunrise Cemetery to old-timers. I was told this when visiting Ivol Wayne Cornelison 1933-2008, the g-grandson of Jesse Garrett Cornelison 1861-1952. This from what his father, Leonard Thomas Cornelison 1896-1984 told him
Family Members
Advertisement
Records on Ancestry
Advertisement
