Palmyra massacre

The Palmyra massacre took place in Palmyra, Missouri, on October 18, 1862, during the American Civil War. Ten Confederate prisoners of war were executed by a Union firing squad in reprisal for the abduction and disappearance of Andrew Alsman, a local Union supporter. The execution was ordered by Colonel John McNeil, who was afterward known by opponents as the "Butcher of Palmyra." McNeil later left the army in 1865 after receiving a brevet promotion to Major General of Volunteers in recognition of his service to the Union.

Andrew Alsman was a sixty-year-old carpenter and a Union patriot in a predominantly pro-Confederate area, described by a Union source as a respected man who assisted Union forces in identifying local Confederate sympathizers. He was taken prisoner by Confederate Colonel Joseph C. Porter's forces during a raid on Palmyra on September 12, 1862. After Porter's forces decided Alsman was a liability, he was released and allowed to choose an escort back toward Palmyra or Union lines. He was never seen again, and speculation held that he was taken into nearby woods and killed, though most writers have concluded he was likely the victim of personal enemies among Porter's men rather than of an organized Confederate action.

On October 8, 1862, Provost Marshal William R. Strachan, acting on behalf of Colonel McNeil, published a notice threatening that unless Alsman was returned within ten days, ten of Porter's men held prisoner in Palmyra and Hannibal would be executed. Porter may never have seen the notice and, in any case, had no ability to produce Alsman. On the evening of October 17, ten prisoners were selected — five from the jail in Hannibal and five from the jail in Palmyra — none of whom had any connection with Alsman's disappearance. One selected prisoner, Willis Baker, was held because his sons were reported to be riding with Porter and because he was reported to have killed a Union neighbor the previous year. All ten men were executed on October 18, 1862, by a firing squad of thirty soldiers from the Second Missouri State Militia.

In the aftermath, it was alleged that Strachan spared one intended victim, William Thomas Humphrey of Lewis County, in exchange for $500 paid by Humphrey's wife, and that Strachan also violated Mrs. Humphrey's chastity. In 1864, Strachan was tried for the rape of Mrs. Humphrey and other offenses, including misuse of funds; he was found not guilty of rape but guilty of embezzlement and sentenced to prison, before being released by General William Starke Rosecrans on grounds of persecution and an unfair trial.

A skull believed by some to be Alsman's surfaced along Troublesome Creek in 1877 and passed through several private owners before reportedly being returned to one of Alsman's daughters for burial. A granite monument listing the ten executed men was erected in Palmyra in 1907 and stands outside the Palmyra courthouse. The Marion County Jail and Jailor's House associated with the case was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.