List of Killed from Thirty-ninth Missouri Infantry, at Battle of Centralia, Mo., September 27, 1864.

The following is transcribed directly from The History of Boone County Missouri by W.F. Switzler originally published in 1882, page 462+. The book is available for purchase from the Boone County Historical Society.

LIST OF THE FEDERALS KILLED

The exact number of Federals killed, it is believed, has been correctly ascertained, together with their names. J.A. Waddell, Adjutant General of the State, furnishes from the muster rolls of the companies of the Thirty-ninth Missouri, on file in his office, the name of every man reported killed at Centralia, as follows: --

LIST OF KILLED OF THIRTY-NINTH MISSOURI INFANTRY, AT BATTLE OF CENTRALIA, MO., SEPTEMBER 27, 1864.

Major A.V.E. Johnson

COMPANY A

Capt. J.A. Smith
Sergt. Wm. G. Elliott
Sergt. J.S. Nesbit
Sergt. M.B. Long
Sergt. J.C. Reynolds
Corp. A.W. Walters
Corp. Jasper May
Corp. Canada Keller
Corp. Elijah Eitel

Privates:

Josiah Adams
Geo. W. Bragg
O.C. Byrd
Wm. H. Braden
John N. Braden
Wm. H. Corbin
A.J. Capps
J.L. Canada
Geo. W. Cook
Porter Cunningham
A.J. Denton
David R. Graves
John B.W. Graves
Alfred B. Hayward
Valentine Hine
Benj. Hargrove
John Hanlin
Granville Hanlin
Wm. H. Jeffers
Henry Keller
Daniel Lorton
James Morrow
Joseph Morrow
F. McClanahan
E.T. Miles
Mark S. Musick
Jas. K.P. Mock
Wm. Norton
Eli F. Osborn
A.B. Polly
Alfred S. Parsons
Jacob Reed
John S. Spicer
Issac Slaughter
James C. Stuteville
Emmet H. Selby
Wm. Shoemaker
Daniel A. Simler
Chas. Wilbaum
Jas H.B. Waddell
David Wilbaum
J.R. Williams
Thos. Waugh
Jas. Willis
John R. Wood
C.C. Wise
Alfred Zimmerman

Total [company A]. 56

COMPANY G

Sergt. David N. Dunn
Sergt. Jno. Donahoo
Sergt. Wm. Lair
Sergt Geo. W. Miller
Corp. Leander P. Bart
Corp. Jas. S. Gunby
Corp. Wm. Loar
Corp. David Riggs
Corp. L.D. Sherwood
Corp. Jacob R. Wexler

Privates:

Geo. W. Adams
Charles Bishop
Samuel Bell
Philip Christman
Wm. Christman
Oscar Collier
John J. Cirstein
Homer M. Dunbar
Wm. Drennan
Sylvester H. Deen
James S. Edwards
Eleazer Evans
Robt. R. Elston
Wm. G. Floor
James Forsythe
Robt. Greenfield
Wm. P. Golay
Henry T. Gooch
Joseph S. Glahn
John W. Hardin
Elijah Hall
Chas. M. Jenkins
Wm. Knipper
Anthony Labas
Louis F. Marquette
Chas. Matterson
John Moore
Jno. C. Montgomery
Wm. A. Ross
Robt. E. Spires
J.G. Sellers
Edward Strachan
James Stalcup
Wm. T. Smith
Peter Sunnoner
J.W. Traswell
Geo. W. Van Osdale [maybe VanAusdale? – editor]
J.N. Vaden
A.M. Vandiver
Jonathan Wobdell
Wm. T. Whitelock

Total [Company G]. 51

COMPANY H

Sergt. Henry F. Porter

Privates:

Patrick Ballager
Samuel L. Dingle
Wm. Dingle
Wm. Dexhimer
Wm. A. Denny
James M. Henry
Chas. Kline
Frederic Miller
Robt. E. Montgomery
Conrad Pilgram
Chas. E. Rendlen
Winfield Shuler
Benj. Stephenson
Bennett Ford

Total [Company H]. 15

RECAPITULATION. —
Field officers, 1
Line officers, 1
Company A, non-commissioned officers and privates, 55
Company G , 51
Company H, 15.
Total, 123.

The following are the names of some of Capt. Theiss's company (H.), who escaped:
Capt. Adam Theiss
Lieut. John E. Stafford
Corp. John R. Sublett
Isaac (?) Howard, color-bearer
Louis Taylor
John Cummings
Ephriam J. Folen
Jack Calvert
Enoch Hunt
Frank Barns, wounded
Wm. Parker

The seventy-nine bodies buried at Centralia were disinterred December 17, 1873, under direction of Capt. Nelson, and forwarded to Jefferson City, and reinterred in the national cemetery at that place. James A. Harris had the contract for taking them up, for which he received $150. A monument which had been placed over the grave was removed by C.A. Brown for $30. About fifty-six bodies were taken up the first day. The bones, clothing, cartridge boxes, belts, etc., were well preserved. The skeletons were small, indicating they were of young men. Those who buried them say they were young men, in most cases, with smooth faces and without even mustaches. Seventy-nine skulls were taken out of this grave, each with a bullet hole in it.

The prisoner, Sergt. Goodman, taken from the cars at Centralia and spared by Anderson, was in the charge of Anderson’s company on Johnson’s men in the field, and witnessed the fight (as did Mr. Yates, a citizen, who happened to be near the field with his team), and accompanied the command when it left. He was with the guerillas ten days, and escaped as they were crossing the Missouri River. After his return to his home, in page County, Iowas, he published a pamphlet giving an account of his experiences. From this pamphlet much information has been derived for this article. Mr. Goodman now lives at Santa Rosa, California.

Commentary:
Jan Irwin (jcirwin@pacbell.net) made a comment on rootsweb.ancestry.com on 6 August 2000 pertaining to this battle:

“One of my ancestors was a survivor of the Centralia Massacre from Company H. His name was Edward Knox Irwin. I have confirmed that he was in Company H and according to the "Green City, MO Centennial History", he survived the massacre because he was left to watch some of the horses in Centralia due to his young age (though this story lists him as 16 while subsequent census records would put him at 19 years of age at the time). The story continues that the horses whinnied and gave away his hiding location but because the bushwackers were more interested in taking the horses, Edward was able to escape and ran to Sturgeon where he hid out with some other soldiers who had escaped. I have written for his service records from NARA but nothing has arrived yet. But, I do know he was in Co. H Missouri 39th and he did survive the war.”