The Colonel Ebenezer Magoffin Story
Escape from the Alton prison - July 24, 1862
Ebenezer
“Ben” Magoffin was born in 1817, in Harrodsburg, Mercer County,
Kentucky. He was the brother of Kentucky Governor Beriah Magoffin,
who was a wealthy southern sympathizer, but advocated strict armed
neutrality at the beginning of the Civil War. The Magoffin brothers
were the sons of Beriah Magoffin Sr., a native of County Down,
Ireland, and Jane McAfee Magoffin, daughter of Samuel McAfee, a
Kentucky pioneer. Governor Magoffin refused to supply four regiments
to the United States when demanded to do so by President Abraham
Lincoln. He also declined a request to furnish a regiment to the
Confederacy. He wanted to preserve the Union through compromise and
conciliation. He forbade either side to set foot on Kentucky soil,
but when they did in September of 1861, he had no power to force
their evacuation. Gradually, a pro-North consensus emerged in
Kentucky, and the pro-Union legislature in Kentucky remained in the
Union. Beriah Magoffin resigned his governorship in the summer of
1862, when his position became “untenable.”
Colonel Magoffin moved from Kentucky to Boone County, Missouri in
1856. On February 19, 1856, he purchased 2,160 acres in north
central Pettis County, Missouri. He moved to the new farm (named
Prairie Lea) with his family and slaves in either 1856 or 1857. Many
of his neighbors were fellow Kentuckians who had immigrated to the
county in the mid-1850s. In May 1861, Ebenezer Magoffin went to
Jefferson City, Missouri to offer his services to his adopted state.
Missouri Governor Claiborne F. Jackson instructed him to return home
and raise a regiment of cavalry to act as scouts in the West Central
Missouri area. He and Major Thomas E. Staples proceeded to organize
the regiment, which was ordered to Boonville to defend it from Union
General Lyon’s troops advancing from Jefferson City. When Ebenezer’s
wife became ill, he remained at home with her while Major Staples
took charge. On June 17, 1861, Governor Jackson’s ill-trained and
under-armed Missouri State Guard, under the command of his nephew
Colonel John S. Marmaduke, was attacked and defeated by General
Lyon. Governor Jackson retreated, and set up a temporary state
government in exile at Neosho, until Confederate General Sterling
Price could recapture control of the western Missouri river valley
and Jefferson City. Magoffin rejoined his regiment shortly after the
Battle of Boonville. On July 5, 1861, at the Battle of Carthage
(Missouri), Magoffin received prisoners and acted as aide to
Governor Jackson. After that battle, Magoffin, still without
official rank, was ordered by the Governor to return to Central
Missouri to recruit troops and procure supplies for General Price’s
army. With this new regiment organized, Magoffin was elected Major,
and later, he claimed, elected Colonel. The new regiment was
quartered on his farm. He was supposed to leave with the regiment to
join the main army, but as before, he was unable to do so. In August
1861, he was summoned to Fort Leavenworth to serve as witness for
John J. Jones. He returned home, and found that all but twelve of
his men had already departed with Colonel Edwin Price (son of
General Price). On about August 29, 1861, Magoffin took the twelve
men to Georgetown to purchase shoes and clothes for them.
Meanwhile, Union Lieutenant Colonel Henry M. Day of the First
Illinois Cavalry, stationed at Jefferson City, was ordered to
Lexington, armed with a list of names of rebels and secessionists
who he was to arrest. Magoffin was not on the list, but only because
he was so well known it was thought unnecessary to include his name.
Colonel Day’s men reported seeing what they thought were Union
soldiers, but when they turned and ran, they were assumed to be
rebels. Colonel Day and his men charged up the hill in pursuit,
firing on the rebels, who were in fact, Magoffin’s men. In the
skirmish, Sergeant Glasgow was shot to death by Colonel Magoffin.
Word reached Colonel Day that the notorious Colonel Magoffin was
believed to be in town. Magoffin was hiding in the Kidd Hotel, armed
with a pistol and shotgun. He was induced to surrender, and was
arrested on the charge of murdering a soldier of the U. S. Army. He
was threatened with execution by the angry Home Guards, many of whom
personally knew him, but he was safely transferred to headquarters
at Sedalia, Missouri and jailed. During an interview that evening,
Colonel Day admonished his prisoner: “Magoffin, I am astounded that
a man possessed of as much intelligence as you appear to be, should
take the course that you have in assassinating Federal troops.”
Colonel Day then expressed the hope that Magoffin would be shot or
hung up by the neck, and that he would like to be the man to do it.
Magoffin was not executed, however, but was taken to Lexington as
prisoner. After the Battle of Lexington, which began September 13,
the tables were turned. Magoffin was released in exchange for former
Missouri Governor Austin A. King and former Missouri Supreme Court
Judge John Ryland, prisoners of Magoffin’s son, Captain Elijah
Magoffin. Ironically, Lieutenant Colonel Day, who was severely
injured in the battle, found himself the prisoner of Colonel
Magoffin. But Day was kindly treated by Magoffin, who was said to be
a perfect gentleman.
Magoffin was officially commissioned Colonel of Infantry by General
Sterling Price, and instructed to recruit yet another regiment. He
campaigned for recruits with the Missouri State Guard throughout the
fall of 1861, but on December 7, 1861, he received word that his
wife was dying. He tried to return home, but was fired upon by
soldiers reported to have been posted in every room of his home
except Mrs. Magoffin’s bedroom, as well as outside the house.
Magoffin fled, but left his horse behind. On December 9, Magoffin
sent word to Colonel Frederick Steele, stationed at Sedalia, that he
wished to see his wife before she died. Through the efforts of some
of Magoffin’s Union friends, who believed and implied to Colonel
Steele that Magoffin might be ready to swear allegiance to the U.
S., Magoffin was granted a pass on December 10 to be with his wife.
Accompanied by Lieutenant Colonel E. B. Brown, an exhausted and
distressed Magoffin returned home just before Mrs. Magoffin’s death.
The pass which Magoffin had received ran from December 10 to
December 20, 1861, and guaranteed the safety of Colonel Magoffin,
his family, and his property. However, his hogs, chickens and
turkeys were shot by passing Union soldiers. After the funeral,
Colonel Steele sent Magoffin a “parole” dated December 14, 1861,
where Magoffin was to promise that he would not “in any manner by
word or deed, aid, assist, or give countenance to the enemies of the
United States Government.” If he accepted these conditions, he was
to be permitted to remain at home “in the quiet, unmolested pursuit
of his usual peaceful occupations.” On December 16, 1861, Colonel
Magoffin wrote to his good friend and family physician, Doctor James
R. Hughes, who had been instrumental in obtaining the first pass for
him and was with him and his wife on the night she died, that he
could not accept the parole received by him on December 15, because
he had word from reliable sources that there was “a conspiracy to
assassinate me in my home.” The army officers at Sedalia, however,
were under the mistaken impression that Colonel Magoffin had
accepted the parole. Magoffin was subsequently captured by a large
Union force on December 19, 1861, at Milford, Johnson County,
Missouri, along with 684 rebel troops under Colonel F. S. Robertson.
Magoffin was camped with the Confederates at the mouth of Clear
Creek on the Blackwater River, approximately 17 miles west of
Prairie Lea. Magoffin was unarmed, and not in command of any of the
rebels, and he was with them solely for his protection from those
whom he believed were going to kill him. His sons, Captain Elijah H.
Magoffin (age 24), and Beriah Magoffin (age 19) were captured at the
same time.
After Magoffin’s capture, he was taken under guard to St. Louis, and
eventually tried on dual charges by a panel of four Union officers.
He was charged with murdering Sergeant Glasgow in Georgetown on or
about August 29, 1861, and of violating his alleged parole not to
resume arms against the U. S. by leaving his home to rejoin a
Confederate force. The trial commenced on February 6, 1862, and
ended February 20, 1862. He was found not guilty of the charge of
murdering Sergeant Glasgow, but was found guilty of the charge of
violating his parole on December 19. According to one source,
Magoffin proved a discipline problem for prison officials at Gratiot
Street in St. Louis. He led insurrections among the inmates, and was
involved in several arsons inside the prison. It was decided then to
send him to the prison at Alton, where he was to be shot to death
“at such time and place as the commanding officer of this department
(Major General Halleck) may direct.” Halleck approved the findings
of the commission. Colonel Magoffin correctly argued that the
so-called commission had no jurisdiction in such cases.
Judge-Advocate, John F. Lee, in reviewing Magoffin’s case, wrote
that military commissions are not a tribunal known to our laws, and
had no power to inflict death except by sentence of court martial.
On March 24, 1862, Magoffin’s brother and former Kentucky Governor,
Beriah Magoffin, sent a telegram to Kentucky’s statesman, John J.
Crittenden in Washington, asking his help in obtaining a suspension
of his brother’s sentence. Beriah said he thought he could prove he
was innocent. The telegram was delivered to President Lincoln, and
Lincoln granted the suspension. That same day, March 25, 1862,
Lorenzo Thomas, Adjutant-General, telegrammed General Halleck in St.
Louis that Magoffin’s sentence was suspended pending his review of
the case. President Lincoln, on April 9, 1862, wrote to General
Halleck, that “if the rigor of the confinement of Magoffin at Alton
is endangering his life, or materially impairing his health, I wish
it mitigated so far as it can be consistently with his safe
detention.” Judge-Advocate Lee recommended in April that Magoffin’s
death sentence be lifted, and even suggested that he be released on
parole, however that was not to be the case.
Magoffin was placed in irons and was taken to the Alton prison by
steamboat. He was placed in a small cell on an upper floor, behind a
padlocked door, with a guard stationed in front. Many other
Confederate officers, however, were allowed on parole to roam within
the city limits of Alton during the daytime. Magoffin languished at
the Alton prison. As month after month passed on, executive clemency
failed to remand him to the general population of the prison. His
fellow prisoners felt that some plan of escape must be devised. Two
sons of Colonel Magoffin had been captured at Blackwater and also
housed in the Alton prison. One of them was permitted to visit him
in his cell in order to attend to him during an illness. The son was
free to go back and forth from his father’s bedside to the prison
yard. It was after one of these visits, that the young man was
observed by an intimate friend intently studying a part of the wall
in his father’s cell which formed the partition between the cell
building and the old part of the prison which held the female
prisoner cells. A wardrobe in Ebenezer’s cell was rolled away from
the wall, and a door was found on one side of the wall, but not the
other side, outside of Magoffin’s cell. It was soon discovered that
the door led to an old, unused passageway that led down the stairs
to another door, which had been plastered over.
Adjoining the cell building in which Magoffin was housed, was a
frame structure used as a wash house. That was not the originally
intent of the building, as shown by the large brick oven which stood
in disrepair. The oven had become a harbor for rubbish of all kinds.
A plan was developed to dig a tunnel from the bottom of the oven to
and under the north wall of the prison. The next question was what
should be done with all the dirt from the tunnel? In another part of
the prison, in the corner of the yard, were preparations of erecting
another building. The excavations had been abandoned, however, as
racks were erected in that part of the yard for the drying of the
men’s clothing, since clothes lines were not allowed in the prison.
It would be easy for the men to launder their clothes in the wash
house, while some would work on the tunnel. The dirt would be placed
in the sacks which were provided for clothing. The sacks of dirt
would be taken to the racks (along with sacks filled with clothing
so no suspicion would be aroused), and the dirt placed in the
already excavated area.
The men worked hard on the tunnel, carrying out sacks of dirt which
they emptied near the drying racks. Only a thin crust of dirt was
left over the end of the tunnel, so that no suspicions might be
aroused by broken sod on the outside of the wall. The locks and
hinges of the doors (one in Magoffin’s cell and the other at the end
of the passageway) were well oiled so no sound would be heard, and
keys were filed to fit the keyholes. The plaster was stripped from
the door, and arrangements were made to cover the defaced wall, so
as to conceal their work.
On July 24, 1862, the plans for the escape were complete. Because of
the extreme heat at the time, the door of the cell building was left
open, and the men had the freedom of the prison yard during the
early night, as well as by day. One of the prisoners walked around
the yard that evening, and came to the wash house. As no one was
looking, he entered the wash house and crawled through the old oven
into the tunnel. Inch by inch he crawled fifty feet through the
darkness, until he reached the point where he could feel the earth
above him. He broke the sod and ascended into the open air, six feet
from the end of the sentinel’s beat. He ran up the side of the hill
into the deep shadows that lay upon its slope. At the other end of
the tunnel, another prisoner waited. No news is good news, and when
the other prisoner didn’t return, he entered the tunnel. Crawling
through, he also reached his freedom. It was not until the entire
safety of the effort was well assured, that they allowed the chief
prisoners – Colonel Ebenezer Magoffin and his sons - to attempt
their escape. By some means, friends outside the prison left a skiff
waiting for the Colonel along the river bank. It had been waiting
for him several nights, as the exact date of the escape was unknown.
Thirty-six prisoners passed safely through the tunnel to their
new-found freedom, including Colonel Ebenezer Magoffin and his two
sons. At last, Dr. F., a large, stout man, entered the passage, but
returned to the wash house. “They’ve found it out boys” he said in a
whisper to the little group of men waiting anxiously in the wash
house, “the Feds have found it out and are busy stopping up the
tunnel.” Those men returned to their quarters, resolving to keep
their silence. They waited for morning, but discovered the alarm had
been a false one. The Federal officers had no knowledge that
anything was wrong. Later, some of the men asked why the Doctor gave
a false alarm. “Well, you see,” he answered,” some of the boys had
intended to take their baggage with them, but found the tunnel a
tighter fit than they had expected it would be, so they had to leave
their carpet bags behind them. These things blocked the way, so that
some of the others had to leave their boots and hats behind them.
When I got there, the tunnel was pretty full, and as I was pulling
myself through, I just thought that some fellows wouldn’t have any
more sense than to raise a row if they happened to get stuck, and
that would mean a recapture of Magoffin, so I thought I’d stand
Uncle Sam’s boarding house a little while long. But mind you, this
is in confidence – it might make some of the boys mad.”
The extent of the escape was not known until late in the morning.
The prisoners had been divided into squads as usual, and the chief
of each squad was to report to the adjutant every morning the number
of his men who were fit for duty, sick in quarters, or in the
hospital. The chiefs, at least what was left of them, presented
themselves to the adjutant and gave their reports. It wasn’t unusual
for a few men to be missing (they were usually hunted up by the
guards), but the realization of the escape finally came. The ground
outside the prison was examined, and the exit at the tunnel was
found. Alarmed was raised, and the hunt for the men began. A few of
the prisoners were recaptured – one of them was found in a
blackberry patch without shoes or hat. Charles H. Fulcher, one of
the prisoners, returned to the prison and gave himself up. He stated
that after reaching the outside, the prisoners scattered like sheep.
Fulcher, with two others, went about two miles below Alton, and he
decided to return. Another prisoner was found in a tree, just above
the Alton distillery. The soldiers “invited” him down from the tree,
and lodged him in the prison. As for Colonel Magoffin and his sons -
they were long gone.
Below is a list of men who escaped the prison (some were recaptured,
but most got away):
Richard J. Martin
Oscar J. Jones
John O. McClusky (planner of the tunnel)
James R. Robinson
Joseph Watson
Charles Thomas
Charles E. Woodward
Errendis Navo
John Peabody
Francis M. Page
Andrew J. Prewitt
William S. Dyer
Cave Dyer
Avery Dyer
James E. Dogler
Captain H. W. Sweeney
Colonel Ebenezer Magoffin
Beriah Magoffin
Elijah H. Magoffin
Colonel Richard K. Murrell
Charles H. Fulcher
James O’Grady
Amos H. Hood
George W. Berryhill
George C. Miller
Francis J. Zaber
Smith Stevenson
William Stores
John T. Tipton
Adolphus Andrews
Ralph J. Smith
William J. Jackson
William Kelly
William T. Blevins
James T. Newcomb
Edward M. Mubic
Tombstone of Colonel Ebenezer Magoffin
After the escape of Colonel Magoffin from the Alton prison, records
of his life are vague and contradictory. He and his sons rejoined
the Confederate Army, and may have served under General J. O. Shelby
in Arkansas. Another source states he was killed soon after his
escape from Alton. Most agree, however, that he was stabbed to death
in 1865 by a man named Cordle, probably in Arkansas. One of his
friends and Cordle were fighting in a tavern, and when the Colonel
intervened to break it up, Cordle stabbed him. His son, Elijah
Magoffin, pursued his father’s killer 600 miles into Texas, where he
caught up with him and hanged Cordle, thereby avenging his father’s
death. Ebenezer Magoffin is buried in the Woodlawn Cemetery in
Independence, Jackson County, Missouri.