After the school closed everything in our neighborhood that fall and winter was very peaceable, and Mother and I stayed at home by ourselves most of the time. Father was practicing medicine and was away from home generally all day and often a part or all of the night. But we were never molested and passed the time all right as far as I was concerned, but Mother was troubled. My brothers Dolph, Joe and Bud were all in the Federal Army and she was uneasy about them, fearing they might lose their lives. All went well though during the winter and early spring of 1864, and then some Confederate guerillas, or bushwhackers as they were often called, came into that part of the country and committed numerous depredations. These, such as stealing horses, and other property we could hear about, but nothing serious occurred in our neighborhood until one night a barn and a house were burned not far from our home.

There was a dance that night at the residence of Mr. John Gourley, one of our near neighbors, and while the dance, which was attended by several federal soldiers from Warden Station, one of whom was Brother Joe, was in progress. Some person or persons under cover of the darkness of the night set fire to Mr. Gourley's s large frame barn and before the fire was discovered the barn was in flames, and together with its contents, including several horses, was totally destroyed. Mr. Gourley was a Union man, an old and inoffensive citizen, but the soldiers at the dance believed that the barn was set afire by the Orton boys, sons of Mrs John Orton, who were Confederate soldiers believed to be bushwhackers, and who were known to be in the neighborhood at that time. It was thought that some of these soldiers in retaliation for the burning of Mr. Gourley’s barn, immediately went to the Orton home and deliberately set Mrs. Orton’s house on fire. it too was destroyed by the fire together with a part of the contents. We were awakened in the night. Father was not at home, but a neighbor came and told us about the fires, and we saw the reflection of the burning barn and house. In a short tune Father came home accompanied by Mr. Louder, a neighbor, and two other neighbors, William and James Marlin, the latter of whom was with us on our journey from near St. Louis to Webster County, came and they all remained with us until morning. They were all armed and I am sure they feared our house might be burned in revenge for the burning of Mrs. Orton ‘s house as Brother Joe was with the Warden Station soldiers at the dance, but he had nothing to do with the burning of her house as he remained at Mr. Gourley’s until a long time after the Orton house fire and then he and a few of the soldiers who had remained at Gourley’s came by and stopped awhile at our house on their return to Warren Station.

We were terribly scared on account of the fire and were in constant dread lest the same misfortune might befall us and Mother very much wished to leave our home again and remove to a safer location. Father too regarded it as unsafe to remain there, so he had some parties come and take us and our household effects in covered wagons to the home of Grandfather Rountree near Springfield, Missouri. Either shortly before or soon after we arrived at Springfield Father joined the Federal Army and served until near the close of the war, being surgeon in Colonel John S. Phelps regiment, the number of which I do not remember. They were stationed at Springfield all that spring and summer and until the raid of the Confederates, under command of General Sterling Price, through parts at Missouri in the fall of 1864. Phelps regiment and other federal troops at Springfield joined in the chase of the Confederates out of the state, then they returned to Springfield.

At the time that we became inmates of the Grandfather Rountree home his family consisted of only himself and a grandson, William Jones Rountree, whom he had raised. Willie Jones, as we always called him, was the son of Uncle Almus Rountree, who, on account of family troubles, parted from his wife Delilah, Willie’s mother, and went to California. Grandfather took Willie Jones into his home and cared for him as if he was his own son. Willie grew up to be a fine athletic young man, obtained a good education and after he left school he was employed as an assistant to the station agent of the Frisco Railroad at Springfield. He married Miss Etta Massey, a daughter of Mr. Nathaniel Massey who lived on a farm east of Springfield. Later, Willie went west and engaged in mining. I know nothing of his subsequent life.

Grandfather had two Negro servants. Susan, who was generally called "Sooky" whom Grandfather owned before the staves were emancipated, and Stephen Dollison, her husband, who in the days of slavery had been owned by Mr. Grundy Dollison. Some more of Grandfather’s relatives, a nephew Mr. David Rountree and family of Polk County, Missouri had come to make a temporary home with him. Cousin Davy, as we always called him, and family became afraid to remain on their farm in Polk County and sought a safer refuge at Grandfather’s home.

I saw a letter recently written by Mother to Brother Dolph, March 20, 1864 which was soon after we moved to Grandfather’s home. In the letter she referred to "little Ally and Tommy" as though they and their mother were with Dolph in Portland Mills, Indiana, the address on the envelope containing the letter. Mother expressed her gladness that they were all in Portland Mills and not exposed to the war and said she would be glad to live there again This letter is now in the possession of Mrs Isophene (Tenie) Reser, a daughter of Zenas L. and Irene Z. Slavens and widow of Dr. J. Harrison Reser, deceased. Tenie and two of her daughters, Alice and Gladys, live at Conway, Laclede County, Missouri.

During the fall of 1864, I attended a private school taught by Mr. Jesse Wright at his farm home in one room of his dwelling house. The improvised schoolroom was small and as there were quite a number of pupils in attendance, the room was over full and the teacher often permitted some of us to prepare our lessons outdoors. He had a fine apple orchard and, with the teacher's permission, we often had winesap and other good apples to eat while sitting in the shade of the old apple trees. A number of my cousins attended that school, in addition to Willie Jones who went to school with me every day. I remember that Polk, a daughter of Uncle Junius Rountree, and Nannie and Worth, daughter and son of Uncle Zenas (Buck) Rountree were among those who went to the school. Mr. Wright was a very good teacher and his specialties were arithmetic and penmanship. He was a splendid scribe and taught the Spencerian system of penmanship, and I improved some in writing and arithmetic at that school.

That winter, with Mother’s consent, Father being with his regiment encamped near Springfield most of the time, I attended a dance for the first time in my life. The girls and boys danced cotillions and quadrilles. I enjoyed watching the dancers very much; I was only a spectator. The fine dance (now called jazz) music rendered by an old time fiddler, I enjoyed most of all. He played Arkansas Traveler and many other lively tunes, and one of the dancers, who seemed to be in almost every set danced, called off the different figures in a loud voice, the dancers changing in accordance with the calls. The dance was at the home of Mr. Kindred Rose, a neighbor who lived about a mile from Grandfather’ s home.

Chapter ten continued...

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