The December 19, 1910, issue of The National Tribune of Washington, D. C. contained a letter from James A. Lawrence of Tecumseh, Nebraska, concerning an event from the Civil War in Cape Girardeau County in September 1863. Samuel Parker lived just east of Egypt Mills on Bainbridge Road at the beginning of the war, the family having moved to the area in the late 1850s from Macon County, Tennessee. Parker enlisted in Co. G of the 29th Missouri Infantry August 8, 1862. He served through the Vicksburg campaign, then stated the command returned to Cape Girardeau to reinforce troops guarding the town. Col. Daniels of the 1st Wisconsin Cavalry summoned Parker and asked if he knew a “Zep” Carter. Carter served as a Confederate recruiter and was in the area visiting his home. The federals wished to capture him.
Carter, whose name was Howard P. Carter, was a neighbor of the Parkers and had been a lawyer, preacher, and schoolteacher, as well as Parker’s Sunday school teacher. He had moved to Cape Girardeau County from Louisiana and married a widow, Mary (Thompson) Alton, a member of the prominent Thompson family from the Egypt Mills area.
Parker knew the area, and Daniels asked if he would guide a scouting party to Carter’s home. The squad arrived between 10 and 11 p.m., a man placed at each door and window, and Parker, the Lieutenant in command, and another soldier pounded on the door. A commotion inside ensued and Carter attempted to jump from a window. Two shots rang out and he fell on the sill and expired soon after, amidst the screams of his wife and two daughters. Parker remained at the house until 2 the next afternoon.
Parker’s father Ira regretted the occurrence and said it would be the family’s undoing. A number of the neighbors were Southern sympathizers, although the neighborhood was of mixed opinions. Ira Parker cautioned his son not to return, fearing Carter’s friends would shoot him.
Sam Parker claimed to have never returned to Cape Girardeau County, even though his mother died shortly thereafter in childbirth. Ira Parker and his children left shortly thereafter for Nebraska, where the Sam joined them after his discharge.
This basic story is true, but many of the details suffered from Sam Parker’s memory of 50-year-old events. First, the event happened November 18, 1861, as reported in the local press. The same article mentions a “Mr. Thompson” alerted federal authorities to Carter’s movements, suggesting a relative of Mary Carter might have had a grudge against him. Mary Carter initiated probate on Howard Carter’s estate by the end of November.
It is quite likely Parker might have guided soldiers to Carter’s home, but as a civilian since he enlisted after the event occurred. Additionally, once the 29th Missouri Infantry left Cape Girardeau, the regiment never returned but campaigned with the Army of the Tennessee throughout the war. Sam Parker spent the time from December 1862 to his discharge with intermittent fever in field hospitals and was elsewhere in September 1863.
Land records support the Parker family’s move, but not as immediately as the letter implied. Ira Parker granted power of attorney to his brother-in-law Samuel Coker to sell his land in January 1864.
An old cemetery inventory documents there was once a grave marker for Howard Carter in a lonely field near Egypt Mills. The story illustrates yet another case of how divided loyalties resulted in tragedy during the Civil War, but also how memories can dim with time.
