Palmyra Massacre Traditional Cache
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This cache is located at the site of the Old County Jail.
In 1862, what some called the darkest crime of the Civil War, the “Palmyra Massacre,” was committed in Palmyra. Palmyra had been occupied by the Union Army, and local men who refused to join the Union army or who had actively engaged in seditious acts were jailed in the County Jail, which was used as a federal prison during the Civil War. During a raid led by Col Porter of the Missouri Militia (southern forces) to an attempt to free those prisoners, Porter’s men kidnapped a Union sympathizer, 62-year-old Andrew Allsman. The Union forces demanded that Allsman be returned within ten days or ten prisoners would be shot. It was later believed that Allsman had been killed by some of Porter’s men; in any case, he was not returned, and Col. William McNeil of the Union Army made good his threat and had ten prisoners executed at the old county fair grounds. The grounds were never again used as fairgrounds. Frank Sosey, publisher of the Palmyra Spectator, wrote the book “Robert Devoy” based on the event. A monument was erected in the early years of the 20th century dedicated to the ten men who where shot. The jail where the men had been held was built in 1858; it served as the county jail until 1992. Landmarks of Northeast Missouri, a local preservation society, is restoring it as a Civil War museum.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Orybj gur frpbaq F va frrxref.
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