Thomas Alexander was 63 years old in 1860 and resided in the town of Jackson located in Jasper County, Missouri with his wife Mary and their large family.1 Alexander had filed a law suit against Rice and Hugh Challas for burning and destroying his home and property in October 1863 when they lived near Bowers Mill in Lawrence County, Missouri. Alexander also claimed that the men’s actions directly led to the death of his daughter, who was fatally burned in the fire. Alexander’s deposition to the courted chronicled the events that happened that evening in 1863.

defendants then & there set fire to plaintiffs house & burned it down & burned all plaintiffs house hold furniture…All the possessions of plaintiff then on hand.

Plaintiff states that defendants at the time & place aforesaid greatly alarmed his family by burning his house. He further states that while one of his daughters were carrying out various articles defendants either set her clothes on fire or set fire out in such a place as she did not expect & in carrying out some articles her dress caught fire & burned her to death.
-Alexander, Thomas. Writ of Attachment. 4 Jul. 1865. Thomas Alexander vs. Rice and Hugh Challas.

Alexander did not know the men and believed that they were not residents of Missouri; therefore the judge ordered that the notice of the lawsuit against them be published in the Springfield Journal for four consecutive weeks, allowing the defendants’ time to prepare their case and appear in court.2 One of the attorneys representing the defendants was John S. Phelps, former Union Colonel of the Phelps’s Regiment.

The results of case are unknown, but Jasper County’s location along the Missouri-Kansas border made guerrilla warfare a constant threat to its citizens. Bushwhackers or those who were not officially aligned with either side took advantage of the chaos for their benefit. These bands of men were responsible for huge amounts of violence and destruction in the county.

Contributed by the Jasper County Records Center
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1. 1860 United States Federal Census; Census Place: Jackson, Jasper, Missouri; Roll: M653_624; Page: 866; Image: 326; Family History Library Film: 803624.
2. J.W. Boren, Order of Publication. 30 Aug. 1865. Thomas Alexander vs. Rice and Hugh Challas. Box 23 File 128. Jasper County Records Center, Carthage, Missouri.