The case of Barbara Greenwood of Platte County during March
of 1865 aroused my curiosity as to her final fate. This is her story adapted from
Provost Marshall's records.
Evidently while out scouting for enemy soldiers one day, Sgt. Cyrus M. Reid, M.S.M, stopped at Mrs.Greenwood’s house
with Weston City Marshall Monroe. Sgt. Reid stated Mrs. Greenwood believed he was a rebel and
told him that if a bushwhacker (a man named Kirkpatrick) had taken her advice
he could have avoided the soldiers who killed him. Reid testified that she sent her grandsons to
warn the guerrillas of Federal troops in the area.
A Robert Lampkin testified that in September of 1864 while he
was with scouts posing as Confederates, Mrs. Greenwood had her grandson bring a
man in from the brush that had been in a fight against the Union and wanted to
go with them (the supposed Confederate scouts.) The man was arrested as a
bushwhacker as he had "stolen goods."
During the gathering of statements to determine Mrs. Greenwood's actions, Nathaniel A. Monroe
stated that Mrs. Greenwood "is disloyal." He said the Federals had killed James
Kirkpatrick (a Confederate soldier) near her farm. He stated she had kept
Kirkpatrick hidden and helped him avoid Federal soldiers by sending her
grandsons to see if soldiers nearby at Lampton’s were Federals.
Her response to the charge that she had harbored guerrillas
was that a man came to her house wanting directions to Liberty. She wanted to
get rid of him so gave him directions, but he returned the next morning. She did admit to begging Federal soldiers
not to kill Kirkpatrick on her place but stated she never warned or fed
guerrillas.
Her official story ended on April 5, 1865, with a letter
from the Provost at Weston requesting that the district provost attend to
Greenwood's case as she is “very aged and the confinement is killing her.” Four days later, Lee surrendered to Grant at
Appomattox Courthouse. I can't help but wonder what happened to Mrs. Greenwood.
