The following are selected articles from a Newspaper titled, "The Higbee News" which was issued out of the town of Higbee, in Randolph County, Missouri from the years 1888 through 1953. The editors were W. H. Welch and his son H. Scott Welch. This paper covered the Higbee area and also a great deal of the northeastern part of Howard county. The copyright notice at the end of this transcript is there for the sole purpose of keeping this work free to the public, and to ensure that it is not harvested by a fee-based corporate genealogy site, or published in any format for profit. If you decide to use the information from this transcription, PLEASE LIST ME AS THE SOURCE, rather than the paper. My transcription is another generation removed from the microfilm, and would thus be a third generation copy of the original paper. For proper documentation, a researcher should obtain a photocopy of the microfilm for their own permanent records, and use my transcript as a guide or index. The microfilm is available for interlibrary loan through the State Historical Society of Missouri, and a copy is also on file at the Moberly Public Library, generously donated by the Higbee Historical Society. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday, 11 Nov 1926, Vol 40, No 28, Pg. 5 Col. 1--Jeff McKinney returned to his home in Bell, Mo., yesterday after a visit with his sister, Mrs. Frank Pitney. Thursday, 11 Nov 1926, Vol 40, No 28, Pg. 5 Col. 1--W. T. Sunderland, who was called here from Inola, Okla., last week by the serious illness of his brother, D. M. Sunderland, returned home Tuesday. Thursday, 11 Nov 1926, Vol 40, No 28, Pg. 5 Col. 1--Grant Guerri, who recently announced that he would sell out and move to St. Louis, and who postponed his sale once, has called it off for good and will remain with us until spring, at least, and which his friends will be glad to hear for he is one of our very best citizens. Thursday, 11 Nov 1926, Vol 40, No 28, Pg. 5 Col. 2--Mr. and Mrs. Thos. Pitney, who moved to Colorado several months ago, intending to make it their home, returned Saturday, having had all of the West they want. They report Jerry McKinzie and others, who left here at the same time, as doing well and perfectly satisfied. Thursday, 11 Nov 1926, Vol 40, No 28, Pg. 5 Col. 2--MT PLEASANT ITEMS--The sale at Minter Bailey's Thursday was attended by a good sized crowd and everything sold well. Mr. Bailey and family departed Sunday for their new home in the southern part of the state. Thursday, 11 Nov 1926, Vol 40, No 28, Pg. 5 Col. 2--MT. PLEASANT ITEMS--Mrs. W. F. Lay visited her sisters, Mrs. J. W. Myers, Mrs. I. T. St. Clair, Mrs. Geo. Long and Mrs. Della Lapping at Fayette, last week. Thursday, 11 Nov 1926, Vol 40, No 28, Pg. 5 Col. 3--Born on the 10th, to Mr. and Mrs. John L. Andrews, a son. Thursday, 11 Nov 1926, Vol 40, No 28, Pg. 5 Col. 3--SOUTH OF TOWN ITEMS--Harry Atkins and family of Sharon, Colo, were the guests of Mr. and Mrs. Andy Mead Tuesday night. Thursday, 11 Nov 1926, Vol 40, No 28, Pg. 5 Col. 4&5--SOUTH OF TOWN ITEMS--Tip Mobley happened to a very painful accident last week. While helping move the road grader he fell and broke two ribs and has been confined to his bed since. He is improving slowly. Thursday, 11 Nov 1926, Vol 40, No 28, Pg. 5 Col. 5&6--SOUTH OF TOWN ITEMS--There was no school at Wilson school house Tuesday the 2nd, not because it was general election day, either, but because a brand new voter, weighing ten and a half pounds, was ushered into the world, selecting as his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Raymond O'Brian. Mr. O'Brian has been wearing the broadest smile possible for a schoolmaster ever since. Mrs. O'Brian and babe are doing nicely. Thursday, 11 Nov 1926, Vol 40, No 28, Pg. 8 Col. 3&4--THIS WEEK IN HISTORY--Compiled by The State Historical Society of Missouri. Floyd Shoemaker, Secretary, Columbia, Mo.--(edited)--Seventy-five years ago this week, on November 7th, 1861, one of the most fiercely fought and sanguinary battles of the Civil war took place in Missouri. Yet this battle might also be called, "The Forgotten Battle" of the Civil War, so little is it remembered today. The events leading up to the battle tell the story of Grant's success as a general. General Polk of the Confederate army was situated at Columbus, Kentucky, thus blockading the Mississippi river up to that point. by seizing Paducah, he could blockade the lower Ohio also, and command the mouth of the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers and obtain control of these military highways leading for hundreds of miles through the central portion of the Confederacy. General Grant of the Union army was at this time located in Cairo, Illinois, which he had succeeded in occupying before Polk's men could reach it. Foreseeing Polk's plan to seize Paducah and realizing the need of immediate action to forestall him, Grant took Paducah without awaiting the permission of his superior officer, Fremont. He then sought permission to attack Polk at Columbus before that stronghold could be further reinforced, but the request was unheeded. Meanwhile the Confederates strengthened the bluff at Columbus with earthworks and by mounting 142 heavy guns. On November 1, while Fremont was advancing against Price, Grant was directed to make demonstrations on both banks of the Mississippi to prevent Polk from sending troops into Missouri. Grant also sent about 3,000 men under Oglesby to aid in the pursuit of the Confederate "Swamp Fox," Thompson. With an equal number of men he sailed down the Mississippi and landed, at daybreak of November 7, about thee miles south of Columbus on the Missouri shore, where he was protected by a screen of dense woods. Just opposite Columbus and completely commanded by its guns were three wooden shanties built on a low flat. The place was named Belmont and was located in Mississippi county, Missouri. To this point Polk sent 2,500 men under General Pillow, intending to cut off Oglesby's detachment. Perceiving the intent of the movement, Grant decided to frustrate it by an immediate attack. The fight continued for nearly four hours, when Pillow retreated in confusion and the Union men took possession of the camp. With their purpose accomplished, the Federals should, of course, have left Belmont at once for under the hostile guns of Columbus the place was untenable. But the raw Union soldiers, elated with victory, probably their first, gave way to undisciplined pillage. Finding commands unavailing to restore order, Grant set fire to the camp, and at the same time the guns at Columbus opened fire on the spot. The men, being thus brought forcibly to their senses, fell in line and retreated to the boats. Pillow, however, having likewise rallied his scattered forces and being strengthened by fresh recruits, took up a position between the Union men and their boat. For a moment confusion threatened the Federal ranks until Grant calmly remarked: "Victorious soldiers who have cut their way in can cut their way out again." A spirited charge put the Confederates to flight for the second time. By this time Polk was landing reinforcements from the other side but they arrived just too late to cut off the Union men from their boats. With the true spirit of a military leader Grant was the last to leave the field and narrowly escaped capture or death. Fiske describes Grant's escape in these words: "As he sat on his horse, covered with a cloak which disguised his rank, Polk saw him and exclaimed: "There's a Yankee, my boys, if you want to try your aim!" The last Federal steamer was just unmooring, but Grant's horse slid down the bank on his haunches, a plank was thrown out, and the general trotted aboard amid a hail of musket balls." The silent general had accomplished his main purpose in occupying Polk's attention and diverting reinforcements from the Confederate army in Missouri. His military objects in the movement were sound. Both sides claimed the victory, however--the Confederates on the ground that theirs was the final victory; the Federals on the grounds that their purpose was accomplished and their loss less, being 485 killed and wounded to 641 killed and wounded Confederates. Paradoxical as it seems, public opinion in the North adopted the Confederate view and Grant received only censure. No more incisive comment has been made on the event that that of Grant himself in his Memoirs: "If it had not been fought, Colonel Oglesby would probably have been captured or destroyed with his 3,000 men. Then I should have been culpable indeed." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright notice: All transcriptions in this email are copyrighted by their creator. They may not be reproduced on another site or on any printed or recorded media, CD, etc. without specific written permission from Kathy Bowlin. Although public information is not in and of itself copyrightable, the format in which it is presented, transcriptions, notes & comments, etc. is. It is however, quite permissible to print or save the files to a personal computer for personal use only. Permission is granted to public libraries, and genealogical and historical societies to print and bind for the use of their patrons. Kathy Bowlin Additions, corrections, comments welcome.