FYI......... Author focuses on veterans of the Mineral Area - Schmidt puts together another Civil War book - By TERESA RESSEL/Daily Journal Staff Writer/ April 30, 2010. FRENCH VILLAGE — Civil War history buff, Bob Schmidt has put together another book. This one is about local war veterans, militia groups and Union troop organizations. The 400-page book “Civil War Veterans and Union Troop Organizations in Southeast Missouri” is divided into two sections. The first contains essays, letters and information on 90 veterans of the Mineral Area including some citizens, guerrillas and Southern sympathizers. The second part of the book focuses on Union Troop organizations popular in the area. The book is available from the author for $30 by calling him at 573-358-7946. It will soon be available at local libraries and from the Press of the Camp Pope Bookshop website at http://www.camppope.com. The French Village man said inspiration for this book came from cemetery searches for Civil War veterans for another project he was working on. In the research of these people, he found that many were found to be active in the local Enrolled Missouri Militia (E.M.M.) regiments. Searching for archival documentation, he obtained permission from Duke University to use documents from their collections on these militia regiments. He said much data was also gathered from the National Archives in Washington D.C., as well as substantial research at the Missouri State Archives in Jefferson City. He said Archivist Steven E. Mitchell was especially helpful in pulling out documents on local militias. Lindsey Kohm of Ste. Genevieve helped with some of the book’s illustrations. He said nearly as important as the discovery of new information was the interpretation of the same material. Some of the documents he discovered yeas ago are now more fully explained when added to other data. Schmidt has long had an interest in Major John W. Emerson of Iron County. Emerson was associated with the 47th Missouri Infantry at the Battle of Pilot Knob and later the 68th Enrolled Missouri Militia. Emerson was an attorney before the war and became a circuit court judge in the middle of the war. Schmidt also explored information about James Craig, Joseph McGahan and John Firmin McIlvaine and their contacts with guerrilla, Sam Hildebrand. Craig’s short-lived Big River militia group or Vigilance Committee pursued Hildebrand. It was not tied to an authorized military organization. McGahan was the first lieutenant of the group. Members were mostly from St. Francois and Washington counties. “McIlvaine was especially intriguing as he was the second man Hildebrand claimed to have killed,” he said. “Quite a bit of undiscovered documentation is in the book on the McIlvaine killing as well as George Canisius of Madison County.” Hildebrand took a dislike to McIlvaine and stalked him a few days before shooting him. Canisius was supposedly the first man Hildebrand killed. He was a Union man who Hildebrand believed reported his whereabouts to McIlvaine. Schmidt found that Canisius’ brother was an associate of President Abraham Lincoln. “Readers may be astonished when finding that one of their ancestors served with Craig, McGahan, and McIlvaine in the early days of the war,” he said. Many local streets have been named after members or their families. In the roster are last names like Murrill, Norwine, Hill, Fite, and Rongey. When the war entered the second and third years, the local militias were prominent in encounters with the rebel enemy, he said. His work in the book has gone the distance in explaining some of these actions. One of his favorite actions is the Bloomfield Scout of Jan. 27, 1863. The 68th Enrolled Missouri Militia led by Col. Lindsay led a raid from the Iron County area to Bloomfield to retrieve some captured men of his command. Schmidt has been compiling information on Lindsay for the past five or six years. The man was a prominent commander in the area who had no real military service record. Schmidt said in the Bloomfield Scout, Lindsay took more than 100 men with him. His group was able to return with nearly 60 Confederate prisoners. The names of the prisoners and their regiments are listed in his book. Schmidt said a couple of the prisoners were from Ste. Genevieve County, one of whom was later executed in the war. He said this latter account will be a major portion of his next book, tentatively entitled, “Civil War Justice in Southeast Missouri.” He said he has a lot of information on the Potosi Home Guards and their incorporation into the 13th Missouri Infantry. About 300 Missourians served in the 13th and Lt. Col. Joseph F. St. James of Ste. Genevieve County was the second-in-command. He said the 13th seemed doomed from the start. “This regiment also holds a special fascination to (me), more in the unorthodox manner in which it was organized,” he said. “A short-lived Missouri regiment, it was transferred to the state of Ohio within its first year of action.” Teresa Ressel is a reporter for the Daily Journal