Frisby McCullough (March 8, 1828 – August 8, 1862) was a Confederate States Army soldier in the American Civil War, executed on the orders of Union Colonel (later General) John McNeil after the Battle of Kirksville. Events 1618 - Johannes Kepler discovers the third law of planetary motion. The year 1828 ( MDCCCXXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Leap Events 1220 - Sweden is defeated by Estonian tribes in the Battle of Lihula. Year 1862 was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting on Monday The War Department was established by the Confederate Congress in an act on February 21, 1861. Causes of the war See also Origins of the American Civil War, Timeline of events leading to the American Civil War The coexistence of a slave-owning South The Union Army was the army that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. John McNeil ( February 14, 1813 &ndash June 8, 1891) was a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The Battle of Kirksville was a battle in the American Civil War, fought near the town of Kirksville Missouri, on August 6, 1862.
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Early years
Born in New Castle County, Delaware, to James and Delia (Pennington) McCullough, he moved with his parents to Marion County, Missouri at the age of 12. New Castle County is the northernmost of the three counties of the U Marion County is a County located in the US state of Missouri. McCullough went to California during the 1849 Gold Rush and remained there for 5 years. California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. On November 26, 1856, he married Eloise Randolph in Marion County. Events 43 BC - The Second Triumvirate alliance of Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus ("Octavian" later "Caesar Augustus" Year 1856 ( MDCCCLVI) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Leap year They became the parents of three children, including a son who went on to practice law in Edina, Missouri. Edina is a city in Knox County, Missouri, United States, between the North and South Forks of the South Fabius River.
Military career
At the outbreak of the war, McCullough joined the Confederate forces under General Thomas Green. Thomas “Tom” Green ( June 8, 1814 &ndash April 12, 1864) was a Texas landowner politician and soldier who served as a Brigadier He took part in the Battle of Lexington, before being sent by General Sterling Price to recruit in northeastern Missouri with Joseph C. Porter in the spring of 1862. The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War. Sterling Price ( September 20, 1809 September 29, 1867) was a lawyer politician and Militia General from the Joseph Chrisman Porter ( September 12, 1819 &ndash February 18, 1863) was a Confederate officer in the American Civil War
During the guerilla campaign in Northeast Missouri in the summer of 1862, McCullough sought unsuccessfully to persuade Colonel Porter to restrict himself to recruiting and not engage the Union forces. Guerrilla warfare is the unconventional warfare and combat with which a small group of combatants use mobile tactics (ambushes raids etc According to one of his men, Joseph Mudd (see references), this was because McCullough feared the retaliation Federal forces would inflict upon civilian Southern sympathizers. The observation may accurately reflect McCullough’s character, which is universally praised, but it is colored by the author’s Confederate perspective. Prior to the engagement at Kirksville, McCullough again urged Porter to decline battle and send his raw recruits to Arkansas for training and equipping behind Confederate lines. Arkansas ( is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Porter refused and McCullough proposed that Porter at least wait in the cornfields outside of town, instead of fighting in the village itself. Again, his advice was ignored.
Capture and execution
After Porter's disastrous defeat at Kirksville, McCullough became ill. Declining Porter’s offer of escort, rode alone towards Edina to recover and continue recruiting. He was discovered by Federal troops and surrendered.
McCullough requested to be sent to Palmyra, rather than to Kirksville, possibly because he had already heard of the executions of prisoners there, but the request was denied. Palmyra is a city in and the County seat of Marion County, Missouri, United States. Although he had been treated well in Edina, according to eyewitnesses he was paraded up and down the streets of Kirksville to jeering crowds. He was accused of lacking a military commission, of fighting on his own authority — that is, of being a bushwhacker— and of persuading parolees to return to Confederate service. Bushwhacking was a form of guerrilla warfare during the American Civil War that was particularly prevalent in rural areas where there were sharp divisions between
A drumhead court-martial was convened on Friday, August 8, by Lt. A court-martial (plural courts-martial) is a Military court. These military courts can determine Punishments for members of the Military subject Events 1220 - Sweden is defeated by Estonian tribes in the Battle of Lihula. Col. W. F. Schaffer of Merrill’s Horse. McCullough stated that he had been elected second in command of the regiment of Colonel Cyrus Franklin, but had not yet received his commission. He had also previously held the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Missouri State Guard, but that commission had long since expired. The Missouri State Guard (MSG was a state Militia organized in the state of Missouri during the early days of the American Civil War. McCullough was found guilty and sentenced to be shot. The officer who read the death sentence did so with tears.
McCullough was given fifteen minutes to write a final letter to his wife. He did so while leaning against a fence. He requested and was granted permission to give the order to fire. His final words were, “What I have done, I have done as a principle of right. Aim at the heart. Fire!” However, the first volley was not fatal. At his request, his executioners straightened out his leg, which was pinned beneath him. It is variously said he was killed by a second volley or a coup de grace with a pistol. Before he died, he said either “I forgive you this barbarous act” or “May God forgive you this barbarous murder. ”
Union Colonel McNeil wrote: “Col. McCullough was tried […] under order No. 2 of General Halleck and Nos. Henry Wager Halleck ( January 16, 1815 &ndash January 9, 1872) was a United States Army officer scholar and lawyer 8 and 18, of General Schofield. John McAllister Schofield (September 29 1831 &ndash March 4 1906 was an American soldier who held major commands during the American Civil War. He had no commission except a printed paper authorizing ‘the bearer’ to recruit for the Confederate Army. He was found guilty of bushwhacking, or of being a guerilla. He was a brave fellow, and a splendid specimen of manhood. I would have gladly spared him had my duty permitted. As it was, he suffered the fate that would have fallen to you or to me if we had been found recruiting inside the Confederate lines. He met a soldier’s death, as became a soldier. ”
The intensely pro-Union Palmyra Courier was restrained in its criticism of McCullough: “We have known him personally since he was a boy. He was ever, as a citizen, a high-toned gentleman – really a noble specimen of a man. Brave as a lion, no danger could intimidate him. We doubt whether the rebel ranks contain a more honorable man than he was. Yet his judgment led him to commit the fatal error of taking up arms against his country. He has been one of the most active and vigilant rebels in the Northeast Missouri [sic]. Honorable as he was, however, as a gentleman, he justly merited the fate he received, as a rebel, in unlawful and barbarous warfare against the authorities of the land. Had he engaged in the service of his country with the zeal he evinced against it, he would doubtless have risen to a high position of honor and renown. ”
Evaluation
While there may have been some technicalities as to McCullough’s commission, he was in fact wearing a Confederate officer's uniform when captured and was acting under orders from General Price. Reaction to his execution was generally negative. It was viewed by many as neither necessary nor just, and may have done more to galvanize pro-Southern sympathies than to discourage activities of the type McCullough was charged with.
References
- This article incorporates text from the public domain Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography. The public domain is a range of abstract materials &ndash commonly referred to as Intellectual property &ndash which are not owned or controlled by anyone Appleton's Cyclopædia of American Biography is a six-volume collection of biographies of famous Americans published between 1887 and 1889 edited by
- Harper’s Weekly, January 1864
- Mudd, Joseph A. Harper's Weekly ( A Journal of Civilization) was an American political Magazine based in New York City. , With Porter in Northeast Missouri (1909)
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