What path does a man take in a civil war when he is 37 years old, married with five children, having served as an officer in the Mexican War of 1846-47 and had lived in the Cane Hill area for the last ten years? His father-in-law, Tandy Kidd, and neighbors had slaves. Yet he had none and harbored strong feelings against fighting so others could keep theirs. Thus Thomas A. Reynolds elected to be loyal to the Union cause.
According to the Act of Congress of March 3, 1871, those citizens loyal to the Union could apply for compensation for any damage and loss they had suffered during the Civil War. To that end in 1873, Thomas Reynolds began securing depositions describing names, places, events and losses that occurred during the war years. These also attempted to establish the fact that Thomas was and had remained loyal to the Union. It is possible this requirement might have had some influence on the various testimonies. However, the depositions by T.A. Reynolds, his wife, Ophelia Ann, his employee, Elizah Bell, employee's wife, Sarah, employee's daughter, Mary Bell, and David Maberry were not sufficient to establish loyalty. In 1877 he submitted additional depositions from Adam J. Reed, Bryant Wallace, and William G. Aikens.
Thomas testified that before 1862 he had been against the secession of Arkansas and had used his influence when he could. He voted against the secession and refused to join the Confederate Army. This political stand caused him to be arrested by Col. Shelby's men and held under guard for 3-4 days. When Federals appeared in Boonsboro (an early name for the Cane Hill area), the Rebels left and Thomas was freed. He stated that he was abused at other times and was told either join the Rebs, leave the country or be killed.
Bryant Wallace was a 62 year old friend. Although their friendship was casual, he had been in the Reynolds's home often. He reported only one war talk with T.A. That took place in the fall, after the August 1861 Wilson Creek battle. During the discussion, Reynolds said, "He had no niggers to be fighting or fussing over. All he had was his place and stock to save. He reckoned the nigger was what they were fighting over and he had no need to be out fighting to save other people's niggers."
In the Spring of 1862, Thomas moved with his wife and children to their 160 acre farm located 6.5 miles northwest of Boonsboro. The Reynolds's farm had 60-80 acres under cultivation by their employee, Elizah Bell, and some hired help. Numerous references were made to the fine quality and quantity of products produced on the farm.
Besides the two-story house, the farm had a smoke house, stable, a second house and a barn. These structures were mentioned in the various depositions. Mrs. Reynolds managed the farm, with the help of Mr. and Mrs. Bell and their daughter, Mary. The three women and the Reynolds' children -- Jerome, 9; Eugene, 7; Nancy, 4; Thomas, 3; and Johanna, 2 -- remained on the farm for some time. A daughter, Lucella, was born in 1864.
Thomas stayed in Boonsboro to take care of his confectionery establishment and he also clerked in his father-in-law's (Tandy Kidd) store until December 1861. When General Blunt brought his Army of the Frontier to Rhea's Mill in November, 1862, Thomas made many trips to the various camps, often staying several days at a time. It is indicated he helped the Unionist with the geography of the area only.
In his deposition, Thomas reported, "A good deal of confectionery and picture stock was taken and destroyed by the Rebels, some $400-$500 worth. I never got a cent for anything taken from me by the Rebels." He had the reputation of being a fine daguerreian artist.
He indicated he did have a brother-in-law, Mortimer Kidd, in the Confederate army. However, he swore that he never talked to him nor ever helped him in any way.
General Blunt had issued property protection papers for Thomas and for the Kidd Estate. Thomas admitted he made copies of the Kidd papers and distributed them to the persons in charge of the widely scattered pieces of property contained in the Estate. For this, General Blunt had him arrested. Thomas went to the General and explained his motive was to see that all concerned employees would have a copy. The General reproved him and he was freed. This gave some indication that Tandy Kidd, although a slave owner, was a union sympathizer.
Adam J. Reed related an incident when two rebels, Gatewood and Parks, came to the Kidd Store where Reynolds was employed. They wanted to buy a harness with Confederate money. Reynolds told Kidd not to take the Confederate money for "it was not worth a damn." The harness was not sold and a fuss grew out of it. The harness was finally taken by force and Reed believed that Kidd's refusal to take the Confederate money was the cause of Kidd's death later at the hands of Perry Parks.
In his deposition, David Maberry said it was common knowledge that the claimant's father-in-law, Tandy Kidd, was branded as a Union man and threatened with the rope. He added the claimant was but a step behind his father-in-law though there wasn't as much said about him.
Ophelia Reynolds experienced one of the first incidents involving the Union Army's activities. She had been riding her mare, when she returned home, removed the saddle and sent the horse to pasture with their other cold. About, sundown, a group of Indian Scouts of Col Phillip's Cherokees rode into the yard. She and Mrs. Sarah Bell ran out and could only watch as the Indians rounded up the two horses, led them to the barn, fed them and rode off. The Reynolds never saw their horses again. Ophelia reported the Indians were all painted and looked very frightful to her. She could not sleep well after that. She rented the farm to Elizah Bell and moved to Boonsboro to live with her widowed stepmother, Nancy E. Kidd.
Later she went to Rhea's Mill, where the Union army had made camp since November 1862, and lodged a complaint with General Blunt. He gave her a receipt for some hay and corn, but she never cashed it and later cold not recall why not. It and all her other papers were lost when the Kidd hom was burned by Jennison's men in 1864.
Soon after the November arrival of Blunt's army at Rhea's Mill, just 1.5 miles east of Reynolds' farm, foraging parties began stripping all the local farms of their food stocks.
Thomas Reynolds admitted he had never done any farm work. Consequently he could not judge the quantity nor quality of his farm's produce and had to rely on his employee, Elizah Bell, to accurately report their losses.
Mr. Bell supported the Union cause and therefore had some threatening enemies. After a year of farming for Thomas, he made the decision to go to Texas for his own safety. His depositions were very descriptive about the foraging activities of the Federal army. Four government wagons arrived at the Reynolds' farm soon after the Union army made camp and were loaded with shucked corn. The next time they came with six or eight wagons each time they took shucked corn. He estimated over three hundred bushels were taken, suing his own wagon capacity as a measure. The hay was stored in a house and it was taken along with some of the first loads of corn. He said the hay filled a six-mule wagon.
Elizah was positive the soldiers took one thousand bundles of fodder. "An Ohio regiment got that. They came to me like gentlemen. I went and helped them load it. There were two stacks of five hundred bundles each." Their officer asked Elizah to save the corn for him, that he would be back with a receipt for both the fodder and the corn. When Bell got back to the house, there was a train of four wagons from a Kansas regiment. They insisted on having the promised corn. When Elizah objected, the officer drew his sword and threatened to kill him if he didn't open the gate. After the four wagons were loaded, Elizah got up on a wagon, trying to see the officer and get a receipt. He was hauled off and the officer said they didn't give receipts to his sort. After that he never tried to stop any soldiers. They just take what they wanted.
Many of the events were described as before or after "the Battle" meaning the December 7, 1862 Battle of Prairie Grove. It was before the battle that a Federal train arrived to take all the hogs on the farm. Nineteen head of pork hogs, being fed in a pen for Mr. Reynolds, were killed. They were at least two years old and ran from two to three hundred pounds when dressed. The soldiers also took or killed nineteen stock hogs that weighed between sixty and eighty pounds each. They killed the sow, leaving her to waste and took all her two-month old piglets. Mrs. Reynolds, Sarah, and Elizabeth had to stand by and watch the slaughter as live and dead hogs were hauled off in the forage wagons.
A few days after the battle, Col. Richardson's Missouri regiment camped sixty to seventy yards from the Reynolds' house for almost a week. The soldiers discovered a barrel and a half of molasses in the smoke house. They ate most of the nineteen young hogs and gorged themselves on the half barrel of molasses. They made themselves very sick. The full barrel and what was left of the other were loaded on the forage wagon and taken to Gen. Blunt's camp.
At the same time, they came for wheat and took it to Rhea's Mill to be ground. Elizah's estimate was four sugar hogsheads full (each held twenty bushels). They poured the wheat loose into the wagons.
"The potatoes were taken by the 6th Kansas Calvary before the Battle. The men carried the potatoes off in their blankets, probably twenty bushels. The potatoes were hilled up in the garden and they took all of them."
When Mr. Bell left the farm in the fall of 1863, he left a crop of twenty acres of #1 wheat, estimating a yield of twenty bushels an acre. He also left ten acres of corn, an exceptional stand, yielding about twenty-five bushels an acre. The Federals drove one of their wagons into the field and took all the corn. Mrs. Bell had taken one bushel upstairs. That was all that was saved.
Wagon trains also came from Fayetteville, for Rhea's Mill was on the road to that town and some came from Fort Gibson, Oklahoma.
Adam Reed had been a close friend of Thomas for over twenty-four years. He had joined Co. Be, 1st Arkansas Calvary and was stationed in Fayetteville. Early in 1862, because of his Union support, he had to "take to the mountains and went up to my mother's, twelve miles from here, where I remained until I went into the Federal Army in October, 1862."
Many of the men in Reed's post were old friends of Thomas Reynolds having been neighbors in Cane Hill. Reed suggested that if Reynolds needed additional verification of his loyalty, he was sure Samuel K. Reed, John R. Reed, several of the Larrimores and Kings would be only too happy to testify.
Fearing for his life, foe he had received such threats, Reynolds visited Reed one day in the Spring of 1863. His old friend and neighbor, Wesley King, Joined Adam Reed in advising him not to go home, but to try to get employment on the post in Fayetteville. When he was not successful in that plan, he decided to go to Van Buren.
Some of Thomas' problems were solved when he obtained a clerking job with the Dixon-Callahan Store in Van Buren. This store was located across the street from the Federal Military Post. He made friends with William G. Aikens, a soldier in Co. G., 1st Arkansas Cavalry. In his deposition, Aikens vouched for Reynolds' loyalty to the Union. He said he saw him often at his job and as a civilian at the Military Post.
In May, 1864, Thomas was able to get a Federal train to move his family to Van Buren and they stayed with him there until they felt it safe to return to Washington County.
The depositions obtained from former soldiers in 1877 were sufficient to satisfy the Commission of Claims that Thomas Reynolds had remained a loyal citizen of the Union and could submit his claims. his itemized losses were: 75 bushels of what $75.00, 300 bushels of corn $150.00, 500 binds of fodder $10.00, 1000 pounds hay $10.00, 30 gallons molasses $30.00, 4845 pounds of pork $290.70, 1 bay mare eight years old $100.00, one young horse $50.00, ten bushels Irish potatoes $10.00, 425 bushels of wheat $425.00, 250 bushels corn $250.00 and 400 pounds of pork $2400. Reynolds submitted a claim of losses amounting to $1,424.70. The Commission ruled some articles were over charged and that others were placed on the list on account of pillage and depreciation. After these deductions, Thomas Reynolds was awarded $560.00 by A.A. Aides, J.B.B. Howell and O. Ferries, Commission of Claims on December 5, 1877.
*Taken from Volume 44, Number 2 of the Washington County Historical Society's publication Flashback. May 1994.
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