Jefferson (Wilhoit) Wilhite (1841 - 1864)

Born 1841 in Missouri

Ancestors

Died 10 Jul 1864 at about age 23 in Warder's Church, Wellington, Jackson County, Missouri

Biography

Jefferson was born in 1841. He is the son of Gipson Wilhoite and Amanda Hardin.

Jefferson and four others were killed 10 July 1864 in Warder's Church churchyard, near present-day Wellington, Jackson County, Missouri. According to "Pennington's Roster", Jefferson was "Killed-In-Action" along with Albert Estes (Estis) while attending Warder's Church.

Report of Brig Gen. Egbert B Brown, , U. S. Army, Commanding District of Central Missouri: " I have the honor to report that a detachment of Major Houts' scouting party, commanded by Captain Henslee, killed 5 guerrillas at a church near Wellington on Sunday last, among them the notorious Wilhite, who been engaged in robbing the mails and people in La Fayette County. Wilhite led the party who attacked Judge Ryland and his son and was repulsed a short time since, and is the man who wounded Captain Ewing, of the citizen guards. The part of guerrillas were attending church and fired upon Captain Henslee's advance guard from the windows, when a general exchange of shorts [took place] in the midst of citizens, women, and children, and yet while Wilhite had twenty-eight balls through him and in him, and another guerrilla eighteen, no person but the guerrillas were hit by our men. We had 1 man wounded and 2 horses killed. The guerrillas, people, and priest seemed to be worshiping together as innocent lambs."

Report of Col. John F. Philips, Seventh Missouri State Militia Cavalry: "Five bushwhackers were killed outright, the sixth mortally wounded, and one or two, despite all vigilance, made their escape amid the furor and confusion. Wilhite and Estes were numbered among the slain. These were noted and desperate fellows, and their crimes are as black and infamous as they are numerous."

From book "Tears and Turmoil; Order # 11 in Missouri", by Joanne Chiles Eakins, in which Jefferson WILHITE is referenced:

"The common grave was dug and the fallen friends were laid side by side, in their bloody clothes. They were buried near where they fell with quilts for caskets and pillows for headrests. Mr. Rice and his son assisted 75 year-old John Hunter in burying his two sons, grandson Andrew Owlsey, his son-in-law John S. Cave, and the other victims. There was not time for the usual burial services, as all feared the soldiers might return and massacre the entire neighborhood. While the men laid the dead to rest, the women and children packed wagons for departure. "The Potters left that day for a month-long journey to Indiana where four of Mr. Potter's married daughters lived. Strangely, the Rice family traveled a short way with them. Mr. Rice wrote letter: 'It was plain I must go as my friends and neighbors did - or not at all. I felt assured that if I abandoned them and sought a place of safety... by taking another road, my life would pay the forfeit' He mentioned that the family had friends among the guerrillas who might be out for vengeance. He failed to state that at their first camp, Marion Potter, my mother's brother, and Jefferson WILHITE, brother-in-law of Benjamin Potter, Jr., invited their relatives to say farewell. Both were mere youths, but members of a guerrilla band, which they joined not only to fight, but for safety, as it was hazardous for young men to remain at home. Their presence alarmed Mary Rice. Her sister, Martha, came to the Potter camp, saying Mary was crying, because she feared the young men might 'kill her Pa'. Even if there had been a wish to add to the atrocities of the day, the Potters would not have deprived Martha, widowed that morning, of the protection that her father could give her and her family.

Sources

Guerrilla Warfare in Civil War Missouri, Volume III, January-August 1864

"Tears and Turmoil; Order # 11 in Missouri", by Joanne Chiles Eakins

Report of Brig. Gen.Egbert B. Brown, U. S. Army, Commanding District of Central Missouri: "WARRENSBURG, July 14, 1864.

Report of Col. John F. Philips, Seventh Missouri State Militia Cavalry. "HDQRS. SEVENTH CAVALRY MISSOURI STATE MILITIA, Camp Grover, near Warrensburg, Mo., July 14, 1864.

1860 Census [1]