Confederate Captain Moses McCoy was outraged when he heard the news. His wife, Lorena,

had been arrested by Union troops and taken to jail in St. Joseph, Missouri. He needed

help, and he knew just the man to ask. He met with the leader of a notorious band of

guerrilla fighters, named William Quantrill. It was May of 1863, and Quantrill's men had

established themselves as terrors to the Union. McCoy couldn't break his wife out of jail,

but he won adventures, and Quantrill happily complied. Quantrill put Lieutenant Fernando

Scott on the case. Scott raised a force of between 12 and 18 men and lit out for Rich

Field, Missouri, which is called Missouri City today. They surprised a friend at his

home, and he quickly understood the play. He said with a wink and a nod,

, boys, I shall have to report you, which meant he was going to have to turn the Confederates

into the local Union commander, which was exactly what the Confederates wanted. The

friend lived just two miles from town, and the report quickly reached the ears of Union

captain Darius Sessions, the man who had arrested LaRena McCoy. Sessions recruited four men

and headed to the farm to investigate the report. As the five federal officers neared

the property, they crossed a small wooden bridge. At that moment, the Confederates sprang

out of the brush on both sides and fired at the soldiers. Captain Sessions and a private

went down immediately. Then Sessions Lieutenant went down. The bushwackers charged at the two

remaining soldiers, and the men beat a hasty retreat back to town. The Confederates robbed

the wounded private and left him for dead. The Lieutenant tried to surrender, but they

shot him twice in the head. Then they shot Sessions two or three times more in the head, just for

good measure. LaRena McCoy was supposedly released after a prisoner exchange, but one

of the crimes she had been arrested for was suspicion of helping some men escape from

...