Rock Creek Station XP: Where "Bill" Hickok Became "Wild"

McCanles fight according to legend

James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok is another of the Western men whose legend eclipsed the man.  Dime novel hero, crack pistol shot, cold eyed killer, a fine specimen of rugged Western manhood, protector of feminine virtue, gambler, lawman.  Finding the event that gave birth to the legend is not difficult, but wrestling away fiction from fact is another story, altogether.  The birthplace of the "Wild Bill" legend is Rock Creek Station, near Fairbury, Nebraska and his fight with the "notorious McCanles Gang".

Much of Wild Bill's legend stemmed from his physical presence.  A large muscular man with steel gray eyes, flowing auburn locks and mustache, he was attractive to the ladies and intimidating to other men.  From a young age, he trained himself to be a crack shot, and loved to have an audience at target practice.  The more people that knew he could shoot well, the fewer he would likely have to fight.  By all accounts, he was calm under fire, and once he decided to shoot, he would shoot to kill.

One of the players in the Rock Creek incident, Sarah Shull remembered Hickok:  "Hickok has steel-blue eyes that were beautiful and gentle but could change in a second and look dangerous.  You had better watch his eyes; he wasn't one to run from a fight."

Wild Bill and the McCanles Gang - According to Hickok (Abridged)

Reconstructed Rock Creek Station Cabin

When recounting the story of shooting at Rock Creek Station, Bill paints Dave McCanles as the bully leader of a gang of murdering desparadoes, horse-thieving cutthroats who terrorized settlers on the Nebraska-Kansas border.  Hickok states that he was a scout for the US cavalry bringing through soldiers from Camp Floyd when he rode up to the station on 12 July 1861.  He says he found the station superintendent's wife in hysterics, her husband shot dead.  Hickok was in the house when the Gang rode up dragging a minister to the station by the neck with a rope.

Dave McCanles c. 1859

Recognizing Hickok's horse, McCanles comes into the front door of the station cabin with a gun drawn.  Hickock shoots Dave McCanles through the heart, which only enrages the nine men with him.  As the men poured into the cabin, Hickok opens up with his pistol, killing four more men.  The fight becomes a desperate hand to hand struggle during which Hickok shoots one man, knocks another one out before he is shot with shotgun pellets and struck with a rifle butt.  In the confused fight he gains a knife and starts slashing at the rest of the men, eventually subduing them all before walking a way, falling into a faint.  He claims to be shot with 11 buck shot and cut in 13 places, all of the knife wounds being life-threatening.

It is a great story and really entertained Colonel George Ward Nichols, who wrote it up for Harper's Weekly in 1867.  Problem is, it is a story and a greatly inflated one at that.  When Hickok was put on trial for McCanles' murder, there was not a scratch on him.  Furthermore, the dead superintendent, felled by a shot in the head, was present at the trial as a co-defendant.  There were not 11 dead men at the station, rather there were only three; McCanles; his cousin and a hired-hand of McCanles'.  There is also no pay record that would substantiate Hickok's claim that he was serving as a scout for the cavalry.

Getting to Rock Creek - Wild Bill

James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok

Like many other colorful figures of the American West, James Butler Hickok was born in what seems to be a much tamer environment, Homer (now Troy Grove) Illinois on 27 May 1837.  Raised by devout Baptist parents, William and Polly (Butler) Hickok, young James yearned for fame and honed his shooting skills as soon as he could.  His parents became caught up in the abolitionist movement, and the family home reportedly served as a station on the "Underground Railroad".  Once his father died, James provided game for the family to eat, relying on those sharpshooting skills.

In June 1856, James headed out west for the newly opened Kansas Territory.  At this time, settlers were strongly polarized into pro-slavery (Missourians/Border Ruffians) and anti-slavery (Free State/Free Soil/Jayhawkers) factions.  James Butler Hickok joined with James Lane's Free State "army" and became Lane's personal bodyguard.  Hickok was also looking for land to farm and staked a 160 acre claim in modern-day Lenexa, Kansas.  He was elected a constable in Monticello Township, Johnson County, Kansas in 1858.

Setup of the inside of the cabin

It was during this time that James Hickok started using the aliases William Hickok and William Haycock.  He would also be nicknamed Shanghai Bill and Dutch Bill, although it is difficult to see the reasons.  Finding out that his claim had been preempted, Bill struck out to see more of the West.  He was employed first as a teamster for the freighting company of Jones and Cartwright from 1858 - April 1861.  He arrived at Rock Creek Station shortly after Horace Wellman took over as station superintendent for Russell, Majors and Waddell's Pony Express.  Exactly what Bill's role was at the station is unknown, since there is no evidence that he was actually an employee of Russell, Majors and Waddell.  It is possible that Wellman personally hired him as a stockhandler or even as an enforcer.

Getting to Rock Creek - Dave McCanles

Reconstruction of West Ranch building

Not nearly as much is known about the other man that figures in this fight, David Colbert McCanles.  We know he was born in Iredell County, North Carolina on 20 November 1828 and moved with his family to Watauga County, NC.  Records show that he served as deputy sheriff of Watauga County from 1852-1856 and sheriff from 1856-1859.  Descriptions picture him as a large, powerful man.  He married young, listed as a farmer in Watauga County in 1850 with wife Mary (18 years) and son William M. (Monroe), age 1.

Reconstructed toll bridge between West and East Ranches

David later took a mistress, Sarah Shull, abandoning his family by 1859 and heading west with Sarah.  Originally headed to the Colorado gold fields, he was dissuaded from traveling all of the way by returning and disappointed gold-seekers.  He bought the Rock Creek Station property from Newton and S.C. Glenn.  The property was crossed by the Oregon-California Trail and did a business in supplying emigrants and serving as a campground.  He soon built a toll bridge over the creek there, charging 10-50 cents per wagon to cross.  The original ranch was on the west side of the creek, but he was soon able to set up a ranch on the east side, as well.  Apparently having a change of heart about his family, he sent east for his wife and children, but Sarah remained as a "domestic".  What Mary thought of this arrangement I do not know, but it was likely not comfortable.

Census entry for McCanles family in Jones County, Nebraska Territory, 1860

Reconstructed bunkhouse of East Ranch

It is agreed that Dave McCanles was a man who liked to have his way, and he would push other people around to further his desires.  It is thought that the appearance of Hickok in the community upset the balance of power in the neighborhood,  Many historians suggest that Sarah Shull was taken with Hickock and welcomed his advances, inciting McCanles' jealousy, although Sarah later stated that this was not so.  Even if this is true, it was only a contributing factor to the fight.  The most immediate cause was McCanles' impatience with collecting a debt from Russell, Majors and Waddell, whose company was bankrupt following the loss of mail contracts.

Stable and corral

Russell, Majors and Waddell's Central Overland California and Pike's Peak Express Company had leased the east ranch from McCanles in 1861, then arranged to buy it in April 1861 for 1/3 down, with the rest of the payment due in three monthly installments.  At that time the company was not making payroll on time and was behind on the payments.  Having been left holding the bag by a freight company one other time, McCanles was determined to either get his money or get his property back.  He just wasn't entirely sure whether the company was not going to pay up, or if Wellman had already received the money, but was keeping it for himself.

Rock Creek Station Accomodations - Sir Richard Burton

Sir Richard Burton c. 1875 painting by Frederic Leighton

Noted explorer Sir Richard Burton (not the actor, rather the translator of The Arabian Nights), stayed here on 08 August 1860 and wrote in his book City of the Saints, and Across the Rocky Mountains to California:

"A weary drive over a rough and dusty road, through chill night air and clouds of musquetoes, which we were warned would accompany us to the Pacific slope of the Rocky Mountains, placed us about 10 P.M. at Rock, also called Turkey Creek surely a misnomer ; no turkey ever haunted so villainous a spot! Several passengers began to suffer from fever and nausea ; in such travel the second night is usually the crisis, after which a man can endure for an indefinite time. The 'ranch' was a nice place for invalids, especially for those of the softer sex. Upon the bedded floor of the foul "doggery" lay, in a seemingly promiscuous heap, men, women, children, lambs, and puppies, all fast in the arms of Morpheus, and many under the influence of a much jollier god. The employes, when aroused pretty roughly, blinked their eyes in the atmosphere of smoke and musquetoes, and declared that it had been 'merry in hall' that night the effects of which merriment had not passed off. After half an hour's dispute about who should do the work, they produced cold scraps of mutton and a kind of bread which deserves a totally distinct generic name. The strongest stomachs of ,the party made tea, and found some milk which was not more than' one quarter flies. This succulent meal was followed by the usual douceur. On this road, however mean or wretched the fare, the station- keeper, who is established by the proprietor of the line, never derogates by lowering his price." Burton would declare Rock Creek Station "the ne plus ultra of Western discomfort".

The McCanles Murder According to Monroe McCanles (Abridged)

Front door of cabin, Oregon Trail coming from left

Monroe would say that Dave McCanles, James Woods, James Gordon and himself arrived unarmed at the East Ranch.  His father directed him to stay outside and entered the cabin.  A shot rang out and Dave stumbled out, collapsed and died trying to say something to his son, but was unable.  Woods and Gordon had been looking for McCanles stock and harness, but hearing the shot, ran up to the house.  Woods approached from the rear and Gordon approached from the front.  Both were apparently shot by Hickok.  Grabbing a hoe, Mrs. Wellman chased off Monroe, started yelling "Kill them all" and hacked Woods to death with the hoe.  Gordon made a break for the timber, but was followed by his dog, which gave his whereabouts away.  It was unclear who fired the shot that killed Gordon, and he was buried on the spot.  Monroe was able to follow a dry creek bed to safety, and alert his mother to what had happened.  The mother then sent for Dave McCanles' brother James, who alerted authorities in Beatrice, Nebraska.

Rock Creek property after the McCanles affair

What really happened?

Hickok at about the time of the Rock Creek Station incident

Nobody can really know for sure, but by cutting the stories from the two camps down the middle, we can probably come pretty close.  This is likely a fight that is more about McCanles and Wellman than Hickok.  David McCanles had accused Jane Wellman's father of stealing, and had allegedly beaten the older man earlier.  Earlier in the month, McCanles had sent his son Monroe with Wellman to try to collect payment from the section head of the Central Overland Company in Brownville, Nebraska.  While they were away, McCanles tried to push Mrs. Wellman into turning over the ranch property to him.  She had no use for McCanles and let him have an earful.

David McCanles usually carried a shotgun on his saddle and two pistols on his person, which was not unusual in this place at that time.  It is reasonable to assume that he was armed on 12 July 1861.  He likely brought Monroe with him to convince the Wellmans that he did not expect violence.  Both versions of the story say that David approached the ranch house and asked to see Wellman.  He was probably not expecting to see Hickok in the house.  McCanles made it clear that he wanted to see Wellman and expected him to come out or be dragged out.  Seeing some movement in the back of the house (which would have been dark) he asked for a drink of water, which Hickok got him, before Hickok stepped back into the house.  A gunshot rang out, striking McCanles in the chest.  Who fired it is unknown, but it was likely a nervous Wellman.

Subpoena for Monroe McCanles

If Wellman fired the shot, Hickok may not have immediately known which man shot, but he was now committed to the fight. Seeing Woods and Gordon rushing to the house, and having to assume that they were armed, it is likely that Hickok shot both of them with his pistol. Jane Wellman wanted blood and called for all of them to be killed, taking a swipe at Monroe McCanles with the grubbing hoe, before turning it on the badly wounded Woods and hacking him to death. Monroe and Gordon both ran for cover, but Gordon's dog followed him into the brush, and the station hands followed the dog to Gordon. It is not clear who fired the final shotgun blast, although it may have been J.W. "Doc" Brink.

Criminal complaint against Dutch Bill,
Wellman and Brink

Monroe ran home to tell his mother what happened. The following day, James (LeRoy) McCanles swore out a criminal complaint of murder in Beatrice, Gage County, Nebraska against "Dutch Bill, Dock and Wellman (thier other names not known) committed the same". It has been alleged that McCanles made fun of Hickok by calling him "Duck Bill" because his upper lip protruded over his lower lip, but a misspelling in other court documents referring to "Duch Bill" probably gave rise to the notion. Another good story bites the dust.


When the arresting party arrived at Rock Creek Station on 15 July, the station men went along peacefully. The trial was speedy, occurring 15, 16 and 18 July 1861. Although Monroe was subpoenaed, the judge in the case refused to let him testify (perhaps because of his age) and had him removed from the courtroom during testimony. With only the stationmen's testimony to go by, and given the threats apparently issued by McCanles to Wellman, the judge ruled that the men had acted in self-defense.

Bunkhouse with stable and corral behind

Was this a proud moment in the Hickok legend? Certainly not, but as the legend grew in popularity, he was likely caught up in the story as much as he had been in the original events. Some McCanles relatives and allies would like you to believe that Hickok was a complete fraud, a coward and a murderer of a quiet family man. Some Hickok allies would like you to believe that he was a superhero who rid the neighborhood of a wicked bully. Hickok's reputation would not have risen to the level it did if he was without bravery or virtue, and there would be no sympathy for McCanles had he been completely evil. They were humans, and in this case caught up in events that took on a life of their own. Stories without heroes and villains are not comfortable, and this is a very uncomfortable story. You can find reason to sympathize with and also dislike each of the major characters in this story. Nope, not real satisfying, but interesting all the same.

The Dime Novel

Most of the dime novels were complete fabrications or there was nugget of truth in the premise of the story that was greatly exaggerated.  The problem with these stories when they make characters out of live people, is that you lose the boundaries of what is real and what is fantasy.  When you tell tall tales often enough, the story becomes the fact.  My favorite illustration of this process is from the miniseries Wild Times, starring Sam Elliot as Hugh Cardiff, a Buffalo Bill-like character.  The following is a scene in which three shootists including Cardiff are telling tall tales to a dime novel author:

[Hugh, Doc and Caleb are spinning yarns for Bob Halburton, a writer of western dime novels]

Hugh Cardiff: Bob, I recall the time that me and Caleb here was carryin' dispatches for an...

Doc Bogardus: That was, ah, Phil Sheridan, I recall.

Hugh Cardiff: Yeah, General Phil Sheridan. We was crossin' through some hostile Indian country and we got jumped by a band of forty Cheyenne.

Caleb Rice: And thirty Arapaho and two Ute.

Hugh Cardiff: And old Caleb here, he took care of thirteen of them Cheyenne with those two pistols you see hanging right there in that belt. And understand, Bob, he only fired twelve shots - now one of 'em went through two of those Indians and killed 'em both.

Caleb Rice: It had probably gone on and killed another one, except there weren't any more left. We had killed them all by that time.

It is easy enough for me to see Buffalo Bill and Wild Bill Hickok sitting around telling such stories to eastern greenhorns like George Nichols.

Last Laugh?

Rear Admirals Byron (left) and Bruce McCandless with USS McCandless

It is difficult to measure the value of one man in life against another.  Wild Bill Hickok served the US Army as a teamster, scout, and perhaps spy during the Civil War.  He was a lawman in Hays, Kansas and Abilene, Kansas and celebrity figure before he was killed in Deadwood, South Dakota by Jack McCall on 02 August 1876.  He died without children, so the Hickok contribution to American history stops there.  

Dave McCanles' son Julius, changed the name to McCandless, perhaps to escape notoriety, or just to match the actual spelling to the phonetic.  Julius' son Byron became a commodore in the US Navy (later updated to rear admiral), earning the Navy Cross as commander of the destroyer USS Caldwell during WWI.  During WWII, Byron was in charge of the San Diego Repair Base, earning the Legion of Merit for his performance and the ability of his command to return battle-damaged ships to service.  Commodore McCandless also designed the Flag of the President of the United States, as well as the Presidential Seal in 1945.  Byron's son Bruce McCandless attained the rank of rear admiral, earning the Congressional Medal of Honor for his performance on the cruiser USS San Francisco during the Battle of Savo Island (Guadalcanal) during WWII.  Bruce's son, Bruce II, became a naval aviator and an astronaut.  He served as CAPCOM during the Apollo 11 mission.  Bruce McCandless II flew on the Space Shuttle as a mission specialist twice, making the first untethered spacewalk in the history of human spaceflight.  The frigate USS McCandless (FF-1084) was named for Byron and Bruce McCandless.   Regardless of Dave McCanles' history, his family accounts for some of the most storied achievements of the 20th Century, and that legacy continues today.  Certainly any perceived debt owed society by David McCanles has been more than repaid by his offspring.

USS San Francisco Memorial at Land's End.  Note the battle damage on the salvaged section of the ship

Navy Cross Citation for Byron McCandless:

"For distinguished service in the line of his profession as commanding officer of the USS Caldwell, engaged in the important, exacting and hazardous duty of patrolling the waters infested with enemy submarines and mines, in escorting and protecting vitally important convoys of troops and supplies through these waters, and in offensive and defensive action, vigorously and unremittingly prosecuted against all forms of enemy naval activity."

Medal of Honor Citation for Bruce McCandless:

Lt. Commander Bruce McCandless

"For conspicuous gallantry and exceptionally distinguished service above and beyond the call of duty as communication officer of the U.S.S. San Francisco in combat with enemy Japanese forces in the battle off Savo Island, 12–13 November 1942. In the midst of a violent night engagement, the fire of a determined and desperate enemy seriously wounded Lt. Comdr. McCandless and rendered him unconscious, killed or wounded the admiral in command, his staff, the captain of the ship, the navigator, and all other personnel on the navigating and signal bridges. Faced with the lack of superior command upon his recovery, and displaying superb initiative, he promptly assumed command of the ship and ordered her course and gunfire against an overwhelmingly powerful force. With his superiors in other vessels unaware of the loss of their admiral, and challenged by his great responsibility, Lt. Comdr. McCandless boldly continued to engage the enemy and to lead our column of following vessels to a great victory. Largely through his brilliant seamanship and great courage, the San Francisco was brought back to port, saved to fight again in the service of her country."

Bruce McCandless II during first untethered spacewalk

Getting There

From US-77, turn west onto NE-8. From NE-8, turn north onto 573rd Ave, then east onto 710th Rd, then follow the signs to Rock Creek Station State Historical Park. There is an entry fee ($5 daily entry or $25 yearly sticker for all Nebraska State Parks) for the park and admission to the museum on grounds.

Waypoint: Latitude: 40.113760 N; Longitude: 97.060900 W
Street Address: 57426 710th Road, Fairbury, NE 68352

Further Reading

Pro-McCanles Account

Pro-Hickok Account

Grave Matters: Missouri's Swamp Fox

Meriwether Jeff Thompson c. 1857

All Jeff Thompson wanted to be when he grew up was a soldier.  It was a gentlemanly pursuit in his native Virginia.  He would realize that dream, but only after a long delay.  Attending military school in Charleston, Virginia (now West Virginia) from the age of 14, he applied for admission to the Military Academy at West Point, as well as Virginia Military Institute, but was turned down by both institutions.  It seemed that life at a store was in the cards for Jeff, which must have stung for a man coming from a military family.

He wandered the country a bit, starting out from his native Harper's Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia) in 1843, working in stores in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Frederick City, Maryland, before coming to Liberty, Missouri in 1847.  In 1848, he moved to the bustling town of St. Joseph, Missouri.  Having an aptitude for mathematics, surveying and engineering, he soon became the city engineer.  He reportedly was very charismatic and energetic, qualities which helped him achieve advancement.

In 1851, he obtained a position as a surveyor with the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad.  He went to find a position on the crew and wound up in charge of the surveyors for the preliminary survey.  Eventually supervising the building of the western Missouri section of the railroad, he rode on the first train from Hannibal to St. Joseph.  He took over the controls himself outside of town and drove the first locomotive into St. Joseph in 1858.  While working on the railroad, he became a member of the land company that laid out and promoted the town of Hamilton in Caldwell County.  Among the residents of this town were James Cash Penney, founder of the JC Penneys chain.

Thompson's Engineering Protractor

Learning surveying and mapping on the fly, Thompson was a quick study.  Soon he found the instruments required to draw exact road lines and machinery to be inadequate, and invented his own protractor to aid in producing engineering drawings.  The patent model at the left now resides in the Smithsonian Museum of American History's collection.  It is formally a "Rule for Describing Polygonal Forms" US patent 21,784 issued 12 October 1858.  It is a crude looking instrument, because it was made to illustrate the patented concept, not to function as a working tool.  There is no evidence that the tool ever went into production, and although Thompson invented several instruments, this is the only one for which he pursued a patent.

The executive

For all of his struggles in business as a young man, Jeff Thompson became a man on the move.  He became a military leader, named colonel of his Missouri State Militia unit.  He served as the seventh mayor of St. Joseph from 1857-1860.  He was the president of a gas company, Buchanan County Surveyor, real estate broker, agent for the Platte County Railroad, member of the Elwood (KS) town company, president of the St. Joseph and Maryville Railroad, secretary of the St. Joseph and Louisiana Railroad at the same time that he was St. Joseph mayor.  He surveyed land in Kansas and Nebraska Territories, surveyed the first lines for the St. Joseph and Maryville Railroad, as well as some of the route for the St. Joseph and Topeka Railroad.

You can tell that Thompson was a great proponent of railroads.  He placed the first bags of mail on the horse and delivered a speech at the first running of the Pony Express on 03 April 1860, remarking:

"The day will come when at this very town you may board a train which will take you through to the gold fields, and that within a very few years! More than that, I say that the wilderness which lies between us and that El Dorado will soon blossom as the rose."

The Pony Express was in large part possible because the mail from the East had been expedited by the railroad.  Russell, Majors and Waddell had arranged for westbound mail from Chicago to be routed to Quincy then to the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad.  The railroad continued to be important to mail delivery, and the first mail car for a railroad was designed and used on the Hannibal and St. Joe Railroad.

The General

Col. Jeff Thompson, CSA

Thompson did not run for re-election as St. Joseph mayor.  Business and national politics began to weigh on his mind.  Following the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States and the calling of secession conventions in the South, Thompson was not idle.  Although he was not a slave owner, he thought that slavery was protected in the Consitution and any attempt to abolish it was illegal.  He went to the state capital of Jefferson City and lobbied for passage of a military bill and a secession convention.  He endeavored to "use my little influence to bolster up such weak-kneed and timid Southerners as might be frightened from doing right for fear that a war would be forced upon them."  He was unsuccessful, as the military bill failed to pass and the delegates to the secession convention voted to stay in the Union.  The state that contained a mix of Southern, Western and Northern influences was unraveling and in few places was a war that pitted "brother against brother" fought so brutally.

Brig. Gen. Jeff Thompson, MSG

Frustrated by a governor that espoused the Southern cause, but refused to release money to support activities of the militia, Thompson decided to go to offer his services to his home state of Virginia.  When he left, St. Joseph was so divided that Mayor Armstrong Beattie ordered that no flags be flown anywhere in town.  The new postmaster of St. Joseph decided he was going to raise the US flag at the post office on 22 May 1861.  After the flag was raised, Thompson climbed a ladder to the top of the building, cut the flag down and threw it into the crowd, which tore it to pieces.

Jeff Thompson became a colonel in the Confederate States Army and when given command of the First Division of the Missouri State Guard in July 1861, he became a brigadier general in the State Guard.  He carried out several actions against the Union in southern Missouri, a low area that was very swampy.  He became "Missouri's Swamp Fox" or  "The Swamp Fox of the Confederacy" and his troops were known as the "Swamp Rats".

When Union Gen. John C. Frémont  placed Missouri under martial law and proclaimed emancipation for the slaves of rebels, Thompson issued a counter proclamation.  Thompson led a 1500 man cavalry raid on the Iron Mountain Railroad bridge over Big River in Jefferson County, MO on 15 October 1861.  He then withdrew south, joined up with infantry and decided to attack Union forces at Fredericktown on 21 October with a force of 3000.  In this engagement, the Missouri State Guard was outnumbered.  The Union forces were composed of two columns: 1500 under Col. Joseph Plummer and 3000 under Col. William Carlin.  Thompson deployed the Guard on wooded ridges overlooking the main road, and put Col. Aden Lowe's infantry out in the open as bait.  Lowe's unit met the initial Union force and held their own, but waited too long to retire.  Lowe was killed and his unit took heavy casualties (total Missouri Guard casualties: 25 killed, 40 wounded, 80 captured).  As the Union troops moved forward to capture an artillery piece, they came under heavy fire from the Missouri State Guard.  Thompson was able to withdraw, but the engagement was a Union victory, and consolidated Federal control of southeastern Missouri.

Thompson's troops caught the attention of Union Brig. Gen. US Grant, commander of the District of Southeast Missouri, when Frémont sent word that Thompson was at Indian Ford on the St. Francois River.  Grant was to dispatch troops on 03 November to capture Thompson's force near the Arkansas border.  3000 men under Col. Plummer were to leave Cape Girardeau and 4000 under Col. Richard Oglesby from Bird's Point.  These troops were diverted to meet a greater Confederate threat at Belmont, Missouri as Grant considered Thompson's troops to be ineffective as a fighting force after Frederickstown.

You're in the Army's Navy now

CSS Gen Jeff Thompson in battle line at Plum Point Bend

In 1862, Thompson became involved in the battle to control the Mississippi River, commanding a ram in the Confederate riverine fleet.  It was fairly common to have Army personnel on board ships as gun crews. He commanded enough respect on the field and on the river that a converted sidewheel steamer was outfitted as a "cottonclad ram" and renamed the CSS General Jeff Thompson.  The ship saw its first action at the Battle of Plum Point Bend, about four miles upriver from Ft. Pillow on 10 May 1862. Twelve Federal mortar boats and eight ironclads were tied up there, and the Confederate fleet, with Jeff Thompson on the CSS Gen. Bragg, was going to try to clear them out.  The Union ironclad USS Cincinnati headed out into the shallows where but few of the Confederates could follow.  The CSS Bragg hit the ironclad with a gun volley, but her tiller rope was fouled and she was effectively out of action.  The USS Cincinnati and USS Mound City were rammed and sunk.  The Confederates had to withdraw as their ships needed deeper water to reach the other Union ships.  Their presence did hold off Federal forces long enough to allow Ft. Pillow to be evacuated by 01 June, then the Confederate flotilla headed down to Memphis for refueling and resupply.

CSS Gen Jeff Thompson sinking at Memphis

The CSS Thompson didn't have a long career.  The Union Mississippi River Squadron of ironclads pushed downstream to Memphis.  A lack of fuel meant that the Confederate force could not withdraw, but chose to fight it out on 06 June 1862.  Early in the fight, the Jeff Thompson was hit heavily by Union guns, caught fire and began to sink.  After the crew abandoned ship, she burned to waterline and her magazine caught fire and exploded, sending debris high into the sky.

 Only one of the Confederate ships would escape.  The CSS Gen. Van Dorn was able to head south and find refuge in the Yazoo River.  The rest were destroyed or captured.  Among those that were captured and entered Union service were the Gen. Price and the Gen. Bragg.  This effectively ended Confederate naval presence on the Mississippi River, with the CSS Arkansas later being the only outstanding challenge to the Union.

Explosion of the magazine of the CSS Jeff Thompson

On the road again

St. Charles Hotel in Pocahontas, Arkansas

Jeff Thompson was assigned to duty west of the Mississippi River and was soon in Arkansas.  He joined the second raid into Missouri led by Gen. John Marmaduke.  The raid commenced on 18 April 1863 with 5000 troops, many of which were unarmed and without mounts.  Marmaduke feared the soldiers would desert if he left the unarmed/unmounted behind, and took them along, planning to supply them with captured materiel.  The raid collapsed in defeat following an unplanned and ill-advised attack on Cape Girardeau on 25-26 April.  Given orders to pursue Union troops only if they marched towards Pilot Knob and Fredericktown, Col. George Carter followed General McNeil to heavily fortified Cape Girardeau.  Carter was demoted and Marmaduke had to retreat back to Arkansas.

Brig. Gen. Jeff Thompson at Johnson's Island (front, next to right)

Though this foray into Missouri was a disaster, Thompson proved himself to still be an able commander.  His symbolic value to the Confederate resistance in Missouri was at a high, and he became a prime target for the Union Army.  On 24 August 1863, elements of the Missouri State Militia Cavalry (Union) commanded by Col. Richard G. Woodson of the 3rd Missouri State Militia Cavalry heard that Thompson was in Pochahontas, Arkansas with very little in the way of force.  Woodson ordered Capt. Henry C. Gentry of the 2nd Missouri State Militia Cavalry to ride for town with all haste and arrest the general before he could escape.  Gentry rode into town and arrested Thompson and several officers at the St. Charles Hotel.  Thompson was calmly reviewing maps of southeast Missouri and caught by complete surprise.  The Missouri State Militia Cavalry took their prisoners back to Cape Girardeau, Missouri.  Thompson would be sent to Gratiot Street Prison in St. Louis, Fort Delaware (on Pea Patch Island in the Delaware River) and Johnson's Island (in Lake Erie, near Sandusky, Ohio) prisoner of war camps.  On 03 August 1864 (or 29 July, depending on which history you are reading), he was exchanged for a Union general.

Fort Delaware - Seth Eastman c. 1870

Out of the frying pan, into the fire

Map of Johnson's Island

Soon after his release from Johnson's Island, Thompson returned to the service of the Confederacy.  He joined the Autumn 1864 raid on Missouri with General Sterling Price and 12,000 horsemen.  Thompson took over the command of Gen. J.O. Shelby's "Iron Brigade" as Shelby was now commanded a division.  The whole campaign was fraught with failure. On 27 September 1864, Price attacked Ft. Davidson at Pilot Knob with several uncoordinated attacks from several directions.  The guns of the fort were turned in response to each one.  When the position became defenseless, the Union escaped through a gap in the siege lines, and lit a timed fuse which destroyed the powder magazine and the fort.  The Confederates had the fort, but had suffered 1000 casualties, used up a huge amount of ammunition and had not captured the men or arms of the Union soldiers.  It would now be impossible to capture St. Louis.

Price set his sights on capturing Jefferson City, but found it too heavily defended.  He then turned towards Lexington and Westport (Kansas City).  After victories that provided supplies at Glasgow (15 October), the Little Blue River (east of Independence, MO - 21 October) and Independence (Second Battle - 21-22 October), disease, desertion and casualties caught up with Price.  The dogged fighting by the Union forces under Maj. Gen. James Blunt slowed Price's advance long enough for Gen. Alfred Pleasonton's cavalry force of 10,000 to join the battle.  The Confederate force, which had shrunk to about 8.500,  was decisively defeated by 22,000 Union soldiers at the Battle of Westport (23 October).

Mine Creek looking toward the Union line from the Confederate line.
The Federal line was near the treeline at the horizon.

During the Battle of Westport, the Iron Brigade under Thompson drove the Union troops under Brig. Gen. Thomas Moonlight back into Kansas, and those under Col. Jennison back into Westport.  The Confederates were unable to capitalize on this advantage, running out of ammunition.  In the retreat that followed defeat, Thompson's men would fight a rear guard action to give the Confederates time to escape the field of battle.

Setting sights on the supplies at Fort Scott, Kansas, Price started in that direction, but were pursued by Pleasonton through the night and into the next day.  On 25 October, Price was forced into three engagements: the Battle of Marais des Cynges (Trading Post), the Battle of Mine Creek, and the Battle of the Marmiton River.  All three were heavy losses for Price.  All hope of capturing Fort Scott gone and his forces whittled to fewer than 6000 men, Price had to make a run for Indian Territory (Oklahoma).  Price was pressed into one more engagement near Newtonia, Missouri during which Thompson and the Iron Brigade rode to the front, dismounted and engaged the Federals.  The Federal force was forced back into a cornfield by the Ritchey estate.  When the Union surged forwards, Price had escaped.

Mine Creek Crossing - it was full of water on 25 October 1864

Missouri State Guard Brig. Gen. M. Jeff Thompson was appointed commander of the Northern Sub-District of Arkansas in March of 1865.  By May of 1865, Thompson's command  of 7500 men was one of the largest Confederate forces left in the field.  He made arrangements at Chalk Bluff, Arkansas on 09 May 1865 to surrender his troops.  He marched them to Wittsburg and Jacksonport, Arkansas on 11 May 1865 to lay down their arms and obtain their paroles.

Shelby and Price took their men to Mexico and offered their services to Emperor Maximillian, but they were refused.  Ultimately, Maximillian would face a firing squad following a popular revolt against the European government.  While these men would gain fame as the "undefeated" or "unsurrendered", the war was over for Jeff Thompson.  He became one of the first Confederate officials to apply for reinstatement of citizenship and take the loyalty oath.  His talents as a civil engineer and surveyor won him a post-war position as Surveyor General of Louisiana and Chief State Engineer of Louisiana.  He moved to his wife's hometown of New Orleans, and for several years supervised projects that would control flooding and improve swamp land in Louisiana.  Several histories of Louisiana have praised his competence as an engineer and service to the state.

"Home again and home again"

At some point along the line, Jeff Thompson had contracted tuberculosis, a common respiratory disease of the time.  It is likely that this happened during his Civil War service.  His hard work ethic likely exacerbated the disease, and a tired Thompson returned to St. Joseph, Missouri in 1876.  In short order he passed away at the age of 50 years on 05 September 1876.  The man who wanted to be a soldier but was turned down by major military academies had earned his bones as a high ranking officer for the Confederacy in the Civil War, a politician, businessman, surveyor and civil engineer.  His flood control systems protected St. Joseph and Louisiana for years after his death.  Leading the effort to reconcile the South with the North, he was alternately praised as a model citizen and vilified for abandoning the "Southern cause".

Thompson is buried in a fairly easy to find spot in Mt. Mora Cemetery in St. Joseph, Missouri.  His grave is in a small triangle just southeast of Section L and northeast of Section B.

Jeff Thompson, Mark Twain and David Rice Atchison - Talk about pop culture

Jeff Thompson was a large enough personage that his fictionalized self was made part of the book The Guilded Age: A Tale of Today by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner in 1873.  It seems fitting, since the papers for the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad were drawn up in the offices of Sam Clemens' father.  Warner had been a surveyor/engineer on the railroad, so he was acquainted with Thompson.

On laying a straight line:

An early Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad locomotive

"The Colonel hitched up his chair close to Harry, laid his hand on his knee, and, first looking about him, said in a low voice, 'The Salt Lick Pacific Extension is going to run through Stone's Landing! The Almighty never laid out a cleaner piece of level prairie for a city; and it's the natural center of all that region of hemp and tobacco.'

'What makes you think the road will go there? It's twenty miles, on the map, off the straight line of the road?'

'You can't tell what is the straight line till the engineers have been over it. Between us, I have talked with Jeff Thompson, the division engineer. He understands the wants of Stone's Landing, and the claims of the inhabitants—who are to be there. Jeff says that a railroad is for—the accommodation of the people and not for the benefit of gophers; and if, he don't run this to Stone's Landing he'll be damned! You ought to know Jeff; he's one of the most enthusiastic engineers in this western country, and one of the best fellows that ever looked through the bottom of a glass.'

The recommendation was not undeserved. There was nothing that Jeff wouldn't do, to accommodate a friend, from sharing his last dollar with him, to winging him in a duel. When he understood from Col. Sellers. how the land lay at Stone's Landing, he cordially shook hands with that gentleman, asked him to drink, and fairly roared out, 'Why, God bless my soul, Colonel, a word from one Virginia gentleman to another is 'nuff ced.' There's Stone's Landing been waiting for a railroad more than four thousand years, and damme if she shan't have it.'''

Jeff Thompson and Senator Atchison

"The fever at length got tired of tormenting the stout young engineer, who lay sick at the hotel, and left him, very thin, a little sallow but an 'acclimated' man. Everybody said he was 'acclimated' now, and said it cheerfully. What it is to be acclimated to western fevers no two persons exactly agree.

Some say it is a sort of vaccination that renders death by some malignant type of fever less probable. Some regard it as a sort of initiation, like that into the Odd Fellows, which renders one liable to his regular dues thereafter. Others consider it merely the acquisition of a habit of taking every morning before breakfast a dose of bitters, composed of whiskey and assafoetida, out of the acclimation jug.

Jeff Thompson afterwards told Philip that he once asked Senator Atchison, then acting Vice-President of the United States, about the possibility of acclimation; he thought the opinion of the second officer of our great government would be valuable on this point. They were sitting together on a bench before a country tavern, in the free converse permitted by our democratic habits.

'I suppose, Senator, that you have become acclimated to this country?'

'Well,' said the Vice-President, crossing his legs, pulling his wide-awake down over his forehead, causing a passing chicken to hop quickly one side by the accuracy of his aim, and speaking with senatorial deliberation, 'I think I have. I've been here twenty-five years, and dash, dash my dash to dash, if I haven't entertained twenty-five separate and distinct earthquakes, one a year. The niggro is the only person who can stand the fever and ague of this region.'"

This last statement attributed to Atchison was not totally untrue. Malaria caused by Plasmodium vivax was a tremendous problem in the United States since it had been introduced by the Spanish conquistadors. One of the reasons that enslavement of West Africans was needed in the Southern agricultural economy was that the Africans lacked Duffy's antigen (a blood cell protein) and they were immune to vivax malaria. The parasite was denied a portal into their red blood cells. Sickle-cell trait also made black slaves resistant to the most virulent form of malaria caused by P. falciparum.

On drinking corn liquor properly

"Mr. Jeff Thompson, for it was the camp of this redoubtable engineer, gave the travelers a hearty welcome, offered them ground room in his own tent, ordered supper, and set out a small jug, a drop from which he declared necessary on account of the chill of the evening.

'I never saw an Eastern man,' said Jeff, 'who knew how to drink from a jug with one hand. It's as easy as lying. So.' He grasped the handle with the right hand, threw the jug back upon his arm, and applied his lips to the nozzle. It was an act as graceful as it was simple. 'Besides,' said Mr. Thompson, setting it down, 'it puts every man on his honor as to quantity.'"

Sing, sing a song, sing out loud, sing out strong

"Early to turn in was the rule of the camp, and by nine o'clock everybody was under his blanket, except Jeff himself, who worked awhile at his table over his field-book, and then arose, stepped outside the tent door and sang, in a strong and not unmelodious tenor, the Star Spangled Banner from beginning to end. It proved to be his nightly practice to let off the unexpended steam of his conversational powers, in the words of this stirring song.

It was a long time before Philip got to sleep. He saw the fire light, he saw the clear stars through the tree-tops, he heard the gurgle of the stream, the stamp of the horses, the occasional barking of the dog which followed the cook's wagon, the hooting of an owl; and when these failed he saw Jeff, standing on a battlement, mid the rocket's red glare, and heard him sing, 'Oh, say, can you see?' It was the first time he had ever slept on the ground."

Although a Star Spangled Banner singing Thompson may seem at odds with his Civil War career as a Confederate, he felt himself a loyal American.  Of his flag-lowering at the Post Office he remarked, "I had cut down the flag that I had once loved.  I had as yet drawn no blood from its defenders, but I was now determined to strike it down wherever I found it."

Getting There

From Frederick Avenue in St. Joseph, turn north onto Mt. Mora Rd, which is between 14th Street and 17th Street.  Once in the cemetery gates, take the first right and follow it up the hill to the triangle between Section B and Section L.

Every time that I have passed this gravesite, it is decorated with US flags.  Not sure why, unless they consider his antebellum career in the Missouri State Militia to be US service.  More and more I see the graves of staunch Confederates decorated with the US flag.  All I can say is that I don't like it, especially if their only military service was to the CSA.  The battle flag of the Army of Northern Virginia has been appropriated by hate groups and has been banished from most public places.  Most Confederate soldiers never fought under that flag.  Most of them fought under their own state's flag, specially designed unit flag or the first national flag of the Confederacy.  The flags of 1864 and 1865 did incorporate the battle flag blue cross and white stars on a red background with a white or white and red field.   I have been known to plunk the CSA's first national flag down on a Confederate's grave when I can find them.  I guess that is my act of rebellion.

First National Flag of the Confederate States of America

Waypoint:  Latitude 39.775503 N; Longitude 94.841077 W

XP: Julesburg and Slade

Pony Express rider - rest area

When I travel for leisure, I do so without an agenda.  I have a rough endpoint in mind and a time when we have to be back, but other than that we kind of take the road in a general thataway direction and see where we go.  A zig instead of a zag took Ben and I down towards Julesburg, Colorado, and lacking a concrete plan for the day, we went with it.  We knew there was a Pony Express Station there, and knew that the infamous Jack Slade had been stationed there, but we found out enough for three or four blog entries.

The trading post that gave rise to Julesburg was established by Jules Beni.  Now old Jules wasn't exactly the very model of a stand-up citizen, in fact he was reputed to be quite the outlaw.   He worked as a station manager for the Central Overland California and Pikes Peak Express, which was the parent company of the Pony Express, both being owned by Russell, Majors, and Waddell.  Soon, the stagecoaches were being robbed and horses were going missing.  Company Inspector Benjamin Ficklin noted the discrepancies and brought in Jack Slade for a general clean-up, including firing Jules.

When Slade tried to discharge his duty, Jules shot him with a pistol and shotgun, severely wounding Slade, who vowed to wear one of Jules' ears on his watch chain.  Either the townspeople or a stage superintendent ran Jules out of town, either with or without trying to hang him.  Who knows?  In studying the American West, you find out that people didn't necessarily worry about facts getting in the way of a good story. To the amazement of everyone in town (including Jules Beni, who had left instructions for Slade's burial), Slade recovered and resumed his company duties.  Jules, apparently not heeding a good warning, stayed in the area buying, selling (and likely stealing) cattle.  In August of 1861, some of Slade's men caught up with Jules:

Earie prairie kitsch

"In the fulness of time Slade's myrmidons captured his ancient enemy Jules, whom they found in a well-chosen hiding-place in the remote fastnesses of the mountains, gaining a precarious livelihood with his rifle. They brought him to Rocky Ridge, bound hand and foot, and deposited him in the middle of the cattle-yard with his back against a post. It is said that the pleasure that lit Slade's face when he heard of it was something fearful to contemplate. He examined his enemy to see that he was securely tied, and then went to bed, content to wait till morning before enjoying the luxury of killing him. Jules spent the night in the cattle-yard, and it is a region where warm nights are never known. In the morning Slade practised on him with his revolver, nipping the flesh here and there, and occasionally clipping off a finger, while Jules begged him to kill him outright and put him out of his misery. Finally Slade reloaded, and walking up close to his victim, made some characteristic remarks and then dispatched him. The body lay there half a day, nobody venturing to touch it without orders, and then Slade detailed a party and assisted at the burial himself. But he first cut off the dead man's ears and put them in his vest pocket, where he carried them for some time with great satisfaction. That is the story as I have frequently heard it told and seen it in print in California newspapers. It is doubtless correct in all essential particulars" - Mark Twain in Roughing It

Earlier Pony Express Trail marker

In different accounts of the event, details vary wildly.  The locals say that one of Jules' ears was nailed to a fencepost, Twain says the he carried them in his vest pocket, others say that one ear went on Slade's watch fob and another he showed to buy drinks.  As with other legends, that of Joseph Alfred "Jack" Slade is likely exaggerated.  He is known to have killed a handful of men, mostly doing his job.  One thing is sure:  he was a mean drunk.  Slade met his end during a long drop to the end of a short rope, lynched by vigilantes on 09 (or 11) March 1864 in Virginia City, Montana for "disturbing the peace".

Twain tells a good story and the episode of Slade provides one of my favorite literary lines "And the next instant...he was one of the deadest men that ever lived":

"On one occasion a man who kept a little whisky-shelf at the station did something which angered Slade—and went and made his will. A day or two afterward Slade came in and called for some brandy. The man reached under the counter (ostensibly to get a bottle—possibly to get something else), but Slade smiled upon him that peculiarly bland and satisfied smile of his which the neighbors had long ago learned to recognize as a death-warrant in disguise, and told him to 'none of that!—pass out the high-priced article.' So the poor bar-keeper had to turn his back and get the high-priced brandy from the shelf; and when he faced around again he was looking into the muzzle of Slade's pistol. 'And the next instant,' added my informant, impressively, 'he was one of the deadest men that ever lived.'" - Mark Twain in Roughing It

Mark Twain Meets Slade - Roughing It

Slade pours Sam Clemens the last of the coffee

"In due time we rattled up to a stage-station, and sat down to breakfast with a half-savage, half-civilized company of armed and bearded mountaineers, ranchmen and station employees. The most gentlemanly- appearing, quiet and affable officer we had yet found along the road in the Overland Company's service was the person who sat at the head of the table, at my elbow. Never youth stared and shivered as I did when I heard them call him SLADE!"

"Here was romance, and I sitting face to face with it!—looking upon it—touching it—hobnobbing with it, as it were! Here, right by my side, was the actual ogre who, in fights and brawls and various ways, had taken the lives of twenty-six human beings, or all men lied about him! I suppose I was the proudest stripling that ever traveled to see strange lands and wonderful people."

Pony Express  station marker

"He was so friendly and so gentle-spoken that I warmed to him in spite of his awful history. It was hardly possible to realize that this pleasant person was the pitiless scourge of the outlaws, the raw-head-and-bloody- bones the nursing mothers of the mountains terrified their children with. And to this day I can remember nothing remarkable about Slade except that his face was rather broad across the cheek bones, and that the cheek bones were low and the lips peculiarly thin and straight. But that was enough to leave something of an effect upon me, for since then I seldom see a face possessing those characteristics without fancying that the owner of it is a dangerous man."

"The coffee ran out. At least it was reduced to one tin-cupful, and Slade was about to take it when he saw that my cup was empty."

Monuments and first townsite

"He politely offered to fill it, but although I wanted it, I politely declined. I was afraid he had not killed anybody that morning, and might be needing diversion. But still with firm politeness he insisted on filling my cup, and said I had traveled all night and better deserved it than he—and while he talked he placidly poured the fluid, to the last drop. I thanked him and drank it, but it gave me no comfort, for I could not feel sure that he would not be sorry, presently, that he had given it away, and proceed to kill me to distract his thoughts from the loss. But nothing of the kind occurred. We left him with only twenty-six dead people to account for, and I felt a tranquil satisfaction in the thought that in so judiciously taking care of No. 1 at that breakfast-table I had pleasantly escaped being No. 27. Slade came out to the coach and saw us off, first ordering certain rearrangements of the mail-bags for our comfort, and then we took leave of him, satisfied that we should hear of him again, some day, and wondering in what connection."

Slade's gun cabinet

Ned Beatty does a wonderful job playing Slade in the movie Mark Twain's Roughing It.  If you aren't into reading, this show does a good job at bringing this book about Sam Clemens' westward journey with his brother Orion to life.   In parts, they have actually managed to turn a phrase a bit tighter than Twain did originally.   During the Lincoln administration, Orion was appointed to be the secretary of Nevada Territory.  Filling the role of Mark Twain is James Garner, with Robin Dunne as the young Sam Clemens.  This movie will set you back $5-$10 on DVD.  Bought it, watched it, worth it.  If you've never read the book and would like to, it is available for free at Project Gutenberg.

Ned Beatty as Slade

Overland City - First Julesburg

Julesburg as a town has been as stubborn as old Jules and Slade.  The current town site is the fourth Julesburg.  This first Julesburg was established as a trading post by Jules Beni in 1859ish to capture the emigrant trail trade.  Soon a substantial town developed, including a station for Russell, Majors and Wadell's mail transport business - both stagecoach and Pony Express.  Homesteaders cabins, store, blacksmith shop, warehouses, stables and later a telegraph office were all located in Julesburg.  There were brothels and a billiards parlor where one could buy "the vilest of liquor at two bits a glass".  Fort Rankin/Sedgwick was located nearby.  Even the US Army couldn't uphold the law in this wild territory.

When Russell, Majors and Wadell lost the overland mail contract in 1862, they were bought out by Ben Holladay, who tried to rename the town "Overland City" to increase its respectability. The town flourished until 1865, its fate decided by forces out of its control.  On 29 November 1864, Colorado Territory militia under Col. John Chivington attacked Black Kettle's band of Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho on the Sand Creek Reservation, massacring 28 men and 109 women and children.  Ironically, among the dead were eight chiefs of the council of 44 - many of whom had been peace advocates.  Many of the surviving Cheyenne and Arapaho threw in with the Dog Soldier band of Cheyenne and Lakota and started raiding white settlements.  On 07 January 1865, the allied Indians defeated a garrison of 60 soldiers from Fort Sedgwick and 50 armed townspeople.   Raids commenced along the South Platte Valley, and the Indians returned to Julesburg on 02 February.  Finding the townspeople holed up in the fort, the Indians put the entire town to the torch, burning every building.

The town would rise from the ashes, moving to the northwest, anticipating that the Union Pacific Transcontinental railroad would come down the south side of the South Platte River.  Boy howdy, were they disappointed.  That is a story for another day, however.

Getting There

The Pony Express statue is located in a rest area/welcome center close to the intersection of I-76 and US-385 (Exit 180) on Co. Rd. 28 just north of I-76.  Follow the signs, the way is well marked.  Many local auto tour brochures can be found here, should you feel the urge to look around.  I don't usually rate rest areas, but this one has some interesting displays of local history.  The auto tour follows Co. Rd. 28 to Co. Rd. 29, crossing over into Ovid.  Taking US-138 and US-385 northwest back into Julesburg will take you past a suite of signs and all four townsites.

Waypoint: Latitude 40.938871 N; Longitude 102.361721 W
Street Address: 14999 Co. Rd. 28, Julesburg, CO 80737