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War of the Rebellion - The Civil War
A letter on display at the Lee's Summit Historical Museum is leaving
visitors with haunting questions about the
soldier who wrote it.
The letter was written Aug. 25, 1863, by a Confederate soldier to his mother
and brothers on the eve of his death.
The soldier, Thaddeus Dunn, had been captured by Union troops in Clinton,
Mo., and was to be shot the next day.
Dunn wrote: " I am now seated at the prison door of the jail at Clinton
to be shot tomorrow morning at 10.
I die the death of an honest man reared by honest parents." - - -
" All I regret is that I can't see you all once more before I die.
I hope that God may save us all from this troubled world. Hold your heads up.
I die upright. Don't yearn after me"
For more of the letter
click here. You may enlarge the image, click on it.
On Friday, 21 August, 1863,
Quantrill's forces raided and sacked abolitionists
in Lawrence , Kansas.
On Wednesday, 26 August, 1863, a young Missouri boy of Company I, 5th Regiment, Missouri
Calvary, CSA,
was executed by a firing squad in Clinton, Missouri by Union Troops. Thaddeus
died at age 24 years and two days.
Two other young soldiers traveled with him
and based on his letter, Thaddeus was separated from them.
One may have been his younger brother Tobias L. Dunn and the
other he spelled name as "Cushingberry". Gratiot Prison in
St. Louis does have Tobias L. Dunn and Robert W. "Quesenberry"
as prisoners.. Both from Company I, 5th Regiment "Shelby's"
both captured in Laclede County, MO. "Quesenberry" was
captured August 20, 1863, Tobias was captured August 23, 1863.
Click
here for Gratiot Prison list
Thomas S. Robbins, a neighbor to the
Dunn family was also captured at this time. He will marry Thaddeus’s
sister Anne Dunn after the war.
Anne Dunn Robbins will save her brother's last letter and pass it on to her
daughter-in-law Flora. Flora Robbins’s
copy of the letter will eventually be on display in the Lee's Summit
Historical Society Museum.
In the spring of 1866, T. S. Robbins returned to Johnson County, Missouri.
August 17,
1867, T. S. Robbins and
Anne Dunn were united in marriage. Mrs. Robbins is the daughter of Edmund and
Zilpha A. (Oates) Dunn. |
Kansas City Star, The - January 02, 1992
Kansas City Star, The - January 02, 1992
Civil War letter is a soldier's farewell It spurs interest, questions at new
Lee's Summit museum.
The Kansas City Star - January 2, 1992
Author: VALERIE GIBSON, Special to The Star
A letter on display at the new Lee's Summit Historical Museum is leaving
visitors with haunting questions about the soldier who wrote it.
The letter was written Aug. 25, 1863, by a Confederate soldier to his mother
and brothers on the eve of his death.
The soldier, Thaddeus Dunn, had been captured by Union troops in Clinton,
Mo., and was to be shot the next day.
Dunn wrote: I am now seated at the horizon door of the jail at Clinton to be
shot tomorrow morning at 10.
I die the death of an honest man reared by honest parents.
Christine Robbins, the secretary of the Lee's Summit Historical Society,
loaned a copy
of the letter to the museum, which opened in last November. The museum is in
the south end of the
old railroad depot at 220 S.E. Main St. Museum visitors are fascinated by the
letter.
"They are just astonished," said Robbins, who believes Dunn was a
distant relative of her husband. "They can't believe it.
"Then they start asking questions about why he was in Clinton. "
Unfortunately, those are questions Robbins can't answer.
"There are no relatives left that would know," she said.
Her family obtained the letter 19 years ago after her husband's grandmother,
Flora Robbins, died in California. The Robbins family did not
know that the letter existed.
Dunn apparently got caught in the crossfire between his troops and Union
soldiers while he was
returning home in 1863. Robbins said she did not know where Dunn lived, but
thought it might have been Illinois.
He and his brother, who were traveling together, became separated.
Dunn wrote: All I regret is that I can't see you all once more before I die.
I hope that God may save us all from this troubled world. Hold your heads up.
I die upright. Don't yearn after me.
It's not known what happened to Dunn, but Robbins assumes he was executed.
Although the correspondence is attracting interest in the new museum, there
are several dozen other historical items on display. ------ Part of story from: The Kansas City Star
[Webmaster's note: I visited
the Lee's Summit Historical Society's Museum, and was intrigued
by the Soldier's last letter to his mother and his brothers.
I decided to track down the family, with the clues in the
letter. Then I found the old news article in the Kansas
City Star.
I searched the 1850 and
the 1860 census for Thaddeus and or Thaddeus Dunn.. Found too
many of course. Eliminated some by age, either too young
or too old. At this point I was hoping that the young man
was not executed and this was just a terrible bluff he was being
put though. I decided that I would start in Missouri.
Next step was review all of the Dunn surnames I could find in
Missouri on the Slave Schedule of 1850 and 1860. Edmond
Dunn not only had a young son named Thaddeus, he had 17 slaves
in 1850, and 37 slaves in 1860. He was the prime suspect for
sure. In 1870 I did not find a Thaddeus Dunn of the
correct age. The 1880 Census was the final clincher.. as the
Edmund Dunn Family and the Thomas Robbins were in the same
Household...Hazel Hill Township, Johnson County, Missouri. !!! From the information here, I eventually found
the
Biography of Thomas S. Robbins married to Anna Virgina Dunn..
The "prime " information in genealogy is that information
created closest to the event.. not the often told "stories" passed down over
time. Now about 145 years after the letter was written . .
we help in restoring one families legacy.
I am posting this information
for the history buffs and I hope the relatives of Thaddeus
find this update. You can contact me at the link at the
bottom of the page] |
This is a very good read!!!!!!
Much more about the Dunn andRobbins family Click Here!
University of Missouri Digital Library
Collection: Missouriana Digital Text Collection
Author: Cockrell, Ewing, b. 1874
Title: History of Johnson County, Missouri Publication date: 1918
PAGE 720 HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY HISTORY
August 17, 1867, T. S. Robbins and Anne Dunn were united in
marriage. Mrs. Robbins is the daughter of Edmund and Zilpha A.
(Oates) Dunn.
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