Although Bridgewater had dispersed Quantrill’s men, the bushwhackers soon reorganized and resumed terrorizing citizens and Federal troops. On February 27, the bushwhackers raided the town of Hickman. Entering the town at 10 a.m., the guerrillas plundered stores and homes and abused and beat citizens–women and children included–shooting at them, compelling them to give up their money and setting fire to the buildings. According to a Union lieutenant in Hickman, who possibly exaggerated the guerrillas’ depredations to ensure a stronger Union presence there, Quantrill’s men left after “the appearance of
the [U.S. steamer] Hastings coming up the river. They carried with them a large amount of money, supplies, and whisky….I have been informed that whenever the gun-boat is absent there are always from five to thirty-five rebels in the town.” The nervous lieutenant was practically begging his commander to keep gunboats there permanently.

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Two days later, Quantrill relaxed at the home of Jim Dawson, near Taylorsville. As the guerrilla chieftain was visiting, his host’s young daughter asked Quantrill to write in her autograph book. For a moment, the schoolteacher in Quantrill emerged once again. He scribbled four stanzas of a poem, one verse of which read:

“Though the cannon’s roar around me
Yet it shall still bear me on
Though dark clouds are above me” width=”468″ height=”60″ visibility=”hide” onLoad=”moveToAbsolute(layer1.pageX,layer1.pageY);clip.height=60;clip.width=468; visibility=’show’;”>

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