The Bee Creek Massacre occurred in December 1861, when

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union (American Civil War), Union of the collective U.S. st ...

troops of the 18th Missouri Infantry Regiment summarily executed two Confederate prisoners of war. Southern bushwhacker

Silas M. Gordon Silas M. Gordon (1835–1888) was an anti-United States Federal government guerrilla who indirectly caused Platte City, Missouri, to be burned twice by forces during the American Civil War. The town of Gordonville, Texas, is named for him. Confe ...

had been operating out of Platte County, Missouri for several months before regional Federal military authorities attempted to capture him and his followers. In November 1861, two Federal soldiers were killed near the Bee Creek Bridge, a few miles north of Weston, Missouri. By mid-December, elements of the 18th Missouri Infantry had seized neighboring Platte City and captured three Confederate soldiers: Black Triplett, Gabriel Close, and William Kuykendall. The captives were either on furlough or had returned home after their enlistment ended. In his history of Platte County, W. M. Paxton, a resident, related that he spoke to the 18th Missouri's colonel,

W. James Morgan W. James Morgan (died 1866) was a Union Army recruiter and officer in the American Civil War. Born in New York, Morgan had experience as a member of militia units in both Ohio and Indiana. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Morgan was living as a ...

, asking on behalf of Triplett's father that he be allowed to speak with his son. Morgan's reply was, "Yes, God damn him! Let him say now what he pleases, for he will never see him alive again." Morgan took Triplett and Close near Bee Creek Bridge. Triplett stood and was shot. Close, with his arms bound, fled to the nearby creek bed, where he quickly became mired in the mud. A Federal soldier descended upon him and bayoneted him to death. The letters "U.S." were scrawled in Triplett's blood on the bridge. The third prisoner, William Kuykendall, was spared.

Sources

*Anders, Leslie, ''The Eighteenth Missouri'', 1968 *Paxton, W.M., ''Annals of Platte County, Missouri'', 1897

References

{{coord, 39.382, -94.867, display=title Platte County, Missouri 1861 in Missouri Military operations of the American Civil War in Missouri December 1861 events Union war crimes Confederates executed by the United States military People executed by the United States military by firing squad Extrajudicial killings by the United States military