Bushwhackers and Broken Hearts

Thanks to Mr. Sullivan for publishing the Civil War letters of his ancestor, John M. Barton.

Our families were brought together during the Civil War when both Barton and Moore served in the Co. K of the 33rd MO regiment. Barton died in May 1863, and as Sullivan states, "his letters were taken by a fellow soldier, Thomas Anderson Moore, to return to his people. But Moore was wounded and left for dead in the Confederate attack on Helena, Arkansas on 4 July 1863. In hospital in Memphis, he slowly recovered, but the letters remained in his locked cash box until his death in 1915. After his death, his daughter, Mabel Moore Jones, attempted to find Barton descendants. She was unsuccessful, so in 1951, gave the letters to the Missouri Historical Society at St. Louis, where they can be found in the Thomas Anderson Moore papers."

In January of 2010 I received an email from J.P. Sullivan regarding his intentions to publish the letters, and so it seems nearly 150 years later our families were briefly brought together yet again for the publication of the letters.

You can purchase Sullivan's book, "Bushwhackers and Broken Hearts" on-line at Amazon or Google the title for more information.

J.P. Sullivan is a native of Missouri who studied history at the Saint Louis University and in more than a dozen countries including Spain, Europe and North Africa. A columnist and cartoonist for progressive causes in the early 1970s, he is the author of three other history-related books including "Mostly Rapscallions: Salient Sillies about the Rich and Infamous in History."

My thanks again to John, and for advancing me a copy of "Bushwhackers and Broken Hearts" in which he also includes me in his acknowledgments. Our ancestors would be pleased.