A shiny ball that rested atop Missouri courthouse survived Confederate bullets and vandals who messed with it later

(Civil War Picket photos)

I’ve written about a few oddities since I launched this blog in 2009. There’s the tree peppered with artillery canister, a newspaper printed on wallpaper and a cannonball that legend holds was the first lobbed on Fort Sumter.

A visit to northeast Missouri this week brought a new member to the club of unusual items. Tucked inside the courthouse in Marion County is a copper sphere pocked with bullet holes fired by Confederates.

This shiny artifact in Palmyra has quite a history.

Visitors to the town will see a monument just outside the building remembering the Palmyra Massacre. Ten men, a mix of Confederate soldiers and Southern sympathizers, were executed by a Federal firing squad in October 1862 when a missing Northern sympathizer was not returned.

Bloody Missouri was perhaps the most divided state during the Civil War, and Palmyra was known for its sympathy for Southern secession. Federal troops occupied the town and chased Rebel raiders, made up of troops and guerrillas.

Confederate Col. Joseph E. Porter was on a recruiting mission in mid-September 1862 when he rode into Palmyra and freed about 65 prisoners from the old county jail. They seized the presumed Yankee informant; he was ostensibly killed while returning home.

The sphere sits in a corner of the courthouse, which itself is a trip back in time. Tile flooring leads residents and visitors to county offices with their function hand-stenciled onto the door windows.

The sphere was placed atop the second county courthouse in 1855 and witnessed the raid in which Porter and his men of the 1st Northeast Missouri Cavalry also seized weapons and ammunition. 

“As they left town, they decided to have a little fun, so they shot at it,” said the late local historian Corbyn Jacobs. The sphere contains several bullet holes and cracks.

The sphere sat in the basement for years after a new courthouse was erected in 1900. In the 1930s, it was placed on a pedestal on the front lawn. “It was abused and disfigured” over the years and disappeared until it was found by Jacobs in the late 1950s, according to an exhibit in the courthouse.

Years later, the sphere was reshaped and repaired and returned to the pedestal. “It took vandals just one night to destroy the efforts of many to preserve history. The sphere was dented and knocked from its base.”

The decision was made to put the ornament on a walnut base beneath the courthouse rotunda. It has been protected from further damage and ignominy since 1988.

Carol Brentlinger, curator for the old Marion County jail across the street, said she usually tells visitors to go check out the sphere.

“It is an unusual piece,” said the Heritage Seekers Historical Society member.

The jail she manages held five prisoners that Col. John McNeil, who commanded the Union’s 2nd Missouri State Militia, ordered executed for the presumed death of Andrew Allsman. Five more Southern sympathizers were brought from nearby Hannibal to complete the number to be shot.

Old Marion County Jail (Heritage Seeks Historical Society)

When no word came from Porter about Allsman, the 10 men were taken from the jail to the fairgrounds. Only three died instantly; the remainder were finished off with pistol shots.

McNeil was labeled the "Butcher of Palmyra," and despite his explanations, remained the subject of bitter feelings during and after the war. Porter, whom McNeil considered a bushwhacker, died in battle a few months after the Palmyra incident.

Savagery played out in Centralia

By 1864, the guerrilla war in Missouri had reached a level that people at the time and historians since have labeled “savage.” Indeed, it was the Confederate guerrillas whom Confederate Maj. Gen. Sterling Price recruited, not his regular soldiers, who committed the worst atrocities during the invasion, including the infamous massacre of Union troops at Centralia. • Story

Palmyra Massacre: Missouri community once divided by war remembers raid, executions

For residents of a small, agricultural town 125 miles north of St. Louis, Mo., the front line of the Civil War was in their fairgrounds on Oct. 18, 1862.

Ten men, a mix of Confederate soldiers and Southern sympathizers, sat on the foot of their coffins as a firing squad stood 30 feet away.

Union Maj. Isham Dodson called the squad to attention and, according to an article on the Missouri Civil War Sesquicentennial website, gave the orders: “Ready, aim -- thus perish all traitors to their country’s flag -- fire!”

The incident became known as the "Palmyra Massacre." The Union colonel in charge of a militia unit defended his decision to have the men executed when a Union sympathizer taken during a Rebel raid in Palmyra was not safely returned. Outraged Confederates, for their part, used the episode as a recruiting tool.

"Missouri was very conflicted. This was a federally held town even though the majority of the residents were Confederate sympathizers," said Cindy Stuhlman, event coordinator for this Saturday's "Palmyra Civil War Remembrance Day."

These were the days of allegiance oaths. Marion County farmers, some of whom owned slaves, knew where their neighbors stood -- for the Union, or for the South. In some cases, it was brother against brother.

Donations made at Saturday's event, which includes a noon Missouri Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans ceremony at a monument marking the massacre, will go toward maintaining the Old Marion County Jail and the Gardner House Museum, both managed by a local group called the Heritage Seekers Historical Society.

The old jail housed the 10 prisoners selected for execution. This year's event focuses on the Porter Raid, which precipitated the bloody incident.

Confederate Col. Joseph E. Porter was on a recruiting mission in mid-September 1862, when his forces stormed into Palmyra, freed about 50 prisoners and took captive Andrew Allsman, 60, an alleged Union informant.

Col. John McNeil, who commanded the Union’s 2nd Missouri State Militia in Palmyra, demanded the safe return of Allsman. He posted a newspaper notice warning Porter to return Allsman within 10 days or 10 men jailed in Palmyra and Hannibal would be shot. Most of the prisoners had taken part in Porter's campaign.

"What exactly happened to Allsman has never been clearly established, but he was undoubtedly shot and killed by someone," according to the Missouri sesquicentennial website.

When no word came from Porter, the 10 men were taken from the jail to the fairgrounds. Only three died instantly; the remainder were finished off with pistol shots. The bodies were returned to the town square so relatives could retrieve them.

McNeil (left) was labeled the "Butcher of Palmyra," and despite his explanations, remained the subject of bitter feelings during and after the war.

Palmyra moved on after those difficult, dark days. But many residents still don't like to talk about the raid and massacre, Stuhlman told the Picket. She said Palmyra was "polarized" and "conflicted" during the Civil War.

Saturday's remembrance day will cover more than the raid and massacre.

The public can enjoy trolley rides, a Sanitary Commission and quilt display, a ladies' tea and an evening dinner-theater featuring a meal, fiddle music and a living history of Palmyra and the war.

An Underground Railroad quilt presentation is planned at the Gardner House, according to curator Sharon Harrison of Palmyra Heritage Seekers.

"Legend has it quilts were hung out by those who operated safehouses along the way," said Harrison, explaining the quilts contained secret messages that aided escaped slaves.

Visitors can also tour the old jail (right), which is undergoing restoration.

The Palmyra Massacre wasn't the only shocking incident that occured in Missouri. Confederate guerrillas removed two dozen Union soldiers from a train in Centralia in September 1864 and executed them.

Three years ago, the Picket interviewed Dr. William Piston, a professor and historian at Missouri State University in Springfield.

“Missouri was the worst place to be [in the United States] between 1861 and 1865,” Piston said of the border state.

Palmyra photos courtesy of Cindy Stuhlman

• Palmyra Civil War Remembrance Day schedule
• Read more about Porter Raid, Palmyra Massacre