Someone wrote that his/her ancestor had enlisted in the 5th KS Calvary in the Civil War. That person also mentioned that the ancestor joined in Mercer Co., MO. I live in Mercer Co., MO and happen to have all the members of two lettered companies of the 5th KS and yes, there was a unit made up of Mercer Co., Harrison, Co. , both in MO, and Decatur Co., IA men I have one of those in my home and the other company list is at our local library. I'll try to get those on the site this new week. A recruiter came to Mercer Co. as they were having so much problem in KS with Confederate raiders and life was so uncertain, that KS enlisted men from both MO and IA. I don't know exactly why the three counties mentioned were the ones involved other than no Confederate was even allowed to set foot in any of these counties, according to the older histories. I don't know about Iowa, but in Mercer Co., MO, each of the nine townships here had a company of "Home Guards" to protect the citizens from Confederate marauders and to help keep MO in the Union as the governor, at that time, was a Southern sympathizer and tried to get MO out of the Union. One of my great-grandfathers was a Home Guard here and two of the others fought with the Union during the war. One of these great-grandfathers was on Sherman's March to the Sea and the stories he told about that March were enough to "curl your toes." They literally, totally destroyed a mile-wide strip all the way to the Atlantic Ocean. His most harrowing experiences were in the swamps of Georgia. This same great-grandfather served from Iowa, although he lived in Putnam Co., MO, at the time, as Iowa paid their volunteers more than Missouri did. Jennie (Barnett) Vertrees