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Born
June 23, 1840 in Jackson Twp, Monroe County, Missouri, the
son of Christopher Columbus Acuff, Jr. and Mildred L.
Rogers. He married Adaline Rogers of Boone County, Missouri
in October 1859.
Columbus mustered with the Confederate Army on July 31,
1862, by Col. Porter with Company C, 1st
Northeast Missouri Cavalry in Paris, Monroe County as a
Private, and later as a Corporal.
According
to the book “With Porter in North Missouri” , Col.
Joseph Porter was camped about ten or twelve miles East of
Paris at Glenn’s Mill on the Middle Fork of Salt River
with some two thousand men on July 31, 1862. At about two
o’clock, they broke camp and headed in a northerly
direction toward Newark and then Kirksville. Columbus’
Confederate records indicated that he was at the battles of
Newark, Kirksville and Painters Creek.
He was taken prisoner on November 4, 1862. He surrendered to
Cpt. Fields in Paris, Monroe County and was designated a
guerilla because he wouldn’t become a Union soldier.
Columbus was examined at Paris on November 9, 1862, and then
taken to Gratiot Street prison in St. Louis on December 6,
1862. On February 28, 1863 at the age of 22, he asked to be
released on oath and bond. On April 25, 1863, he was
transferred to the military prison at Alton, Ill.
At some point later, Columbus rejoined the Confederate
Service because he is listed as a Sargeant in Co I of
Elliott’s Mo Cavalry. He was also listed as a survivor of
the CSS Kentucky tragedy following the surrender of the
Confederate forces in Shreveport in June 1865.
Columbus returned home to his family and later moved to
Audrain and then to Boone County , where he died in February
1907.
“C.H.
Acuff was a man of rare worth and was best understood by his
friends and those who knew him best. He believed in right
and his life was a constant struggle for right. His honesty
and integrity could not be questioned. His love of wife and
home were ennobling and his cheerfulness worthy of
emulation. He will be missed by his best of friends.”
Source: Files of Kevin Williams at willik_1998@hotmail.com;
transcribed by Lisa Perry. |
