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PROOF OF AUTHENTICITY.


This is to certify that I, the undersigned, am personally acquainted
with Samuel S. Hildebrand (better known as “Sam Hildebrand, the
Missouri Bushwhacker,” etc.,) and have known him from boyhood; that
during the war, and on several occasions since its termination, he
promised to give me a full and complete history of his whole war
record; that on the night of January 28th, 1870, he came to my house
at Big River Mills, in St. Francois county, Missouri, in company with
Charles Burks, and gave his consent that I and Charles Burks, in
conjunction, might have his confession whenever we were prepared to
meet him at a certain place for that purpose; that in the latter part
of March, 1870, in the presence of Sam Hildebrand alone, I did write
out his confession as he gave it to me, then and there, until the same
was completed; and that afterwards James W. Evans and myself, from the
material I thus obtained, compiled and completed the said confession,
which is now presented to the public as his Autobiography.

  A. WENDELL KEITH, M. D.

       *       *       *       *       *

  STATE OF MISSOURI,        }
  COUNTY OF STE. GENEVIEVE. }

On this, 14th day of June, 1870, before me, Henry Herter, a Notary
Public within and for said county, personally appeared W. H. Couzens,
J. N. Burks and G. W. Murphy of the above county and State, and on
being duly sworn they stated that they were well acquainted with
Charles Burks of the aforesaid county, and A. Wendell Keith, M. D., of
St. Francois county, Missouri, and to their certain knowledge the facts
set forth in the foregoing certificate are true and correct, and that
Samuel S. Hildebrand also acknowledged to them afterwards that he had
made to them his complete confession.

  WM. H. COUZENS, MAJOR C. S. A.,
  J. N. BURKS,
  G. W. MURPHY.

Subscribed and sworn to before me, this 14th day of June, 1870.

  HENRY HERTER,
  _Notary Public_.

       *       *       *       *       *

The Statement made by A. Wendell Keith, M. D., is entitled to credit
from the fact of his well-known veracity and standing in society.

  HON. ELLIS G. EVANS,
  Senator, Rolla District.

  HON. E. C. SEBASTIAN,
  Representative, St. Francois county.

  HON. MILTON P. CAYCE,
  Farmington, Missouri.

  FRANKLIN MURPHY,
  Sheriff St. Francois county.

  WILLIAM R. TAYLOR,
  Clerk St. Francois county.

  HON. JOSEPH BOGY,
  Representative Ste. Genevieve county.

  CHARLES ROZIER,
  Clerk Ste. Genevieve county.

       *       *       *       *       *

  EXECUTIVE OFFICE, JEFFERSON CITY, MO.,}
  June 22, 1870.                                 }

I hereby certify that the persons whose official signatures appear
above have been commissioned for the offices indicated; and my personal
acquaintance with Dr. Keith, Honorables Evans, Sebastian, Cayce,
Bogy and Sheriff Murphy is such that I say without hesitation their
statements are entitled to full faith and credit.

  J. W. McCLURG,
  _Governor of Missouri_.

[Illustration: HILDEBRAND DRIVEN FROM HOME.]




  AUTOBIOGRAPHY

  OF

  SAMUEL S. HILDEBRAND,

  THE RENOWNED

  MISSOURI “BUSHWHACKER”

  AND UNCONQUERABLE

  ROB ROY OF AMERICA;

  BEING

  HIS COMPLETE CONFESSION

  RECENTLY MADE TO THE WRITERS, AND CAREFULLY COMPILED

  BY JAMES W. EVANS AND A. WENDELL KEITH, M. D.,

  OF ST. FRANCOIS COUNTY, MO.;

  TOGETHER

  WITH ALL THE FACTS CONNECTED WITH HIS
  EARLY HISTORY.


  JEFFERSON CITY, MO.:
  STATE TIMES BOOK AND JOB PRINTING HOUSE,
  MADISON STREET.

  1870.




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.


  SAM HILDEBRAND DRIVEN FROM HOME       _Frontispiece._

  FRANK HILDEBRAND HUNG BY THE MOB                   45

  SAM HILDEBRAND KILLING MCILVAINE                   61

  THE MURDER OF WASH. HILDEBRAND AND LANDUSKY        69

  STAMPEDE OF FEDERAL SOLDIERS                      139

  SAM HILDEBRAND BETRAYED BY COOTS                  179

  SAM HILDEBRAND‘S LAST BATTLE                      297

  COL. BOWEN CAPTURES HILDEBRAND‘S CAVE             303




Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1870, by JAMES W.
EVANS and A. WENDELL KEITH, M. D., in the Clerk‘s Office
of the District Court of the United States for the Eastern District of
Missouri.




CONTENTS.


    CHAPTER I.

    Introduction.—Yankee fiction.—Reasons for making a full
    confession. 25


    CHAPTER II.

    Early history of the Hildebrand family.—Their settlement in
    St. Francois county, Mo.—Sam Hildebrand born.—Troublesome
    neighbors.—Union sentiments. 29


    CHAPTER III.

    Determination to take no part in the war.—Mr. Ringer killed
    by Rebels.—The cunning device of Allen Roan.—Vigilance
    Committee organized.—The baseness of Mobocracy.—Attacked by the
    mob.—Escape to Flat Woods. 35


    CHAPTER IV.

    McIlvaine‘s Vigilance mob.—Treachery of Castleman.—Frank
    Hildebrand hung by the mob.—Organization of the mob into a
    Militia company. 42


    CHAPTER V.

    His house at Flat Woods attacked by eighty soldiers.—Miraculous
    escape.—Capt. Bolin.—Flight to Green county, Arkansas. 48


    CHAPTER VI.

    Interview with Gen. Jeff Thompson.—Receives a Major‘s
    Commission.—Interview with Capt. Bolin.—Joins the Bushwhacking
    Department. 54


    CHAPTER VII.

    First trip to Missouri.—Killed George Cornecious for reporting
    him.—Killed Firman McIlvaine, captain of the mob.—Attempt to
    kill McGahan and House.—Return to Arkansas. 58


    CHAPTER VIII.

    Vigilance mob drives his mother from home.—Three companies of
    troops sent to Big river.—Capt. Flanche murders Washington
    Hildebrand and Landusky.—Capt. Esroger murders John Roan.—Capt.
    Adolph burns the Hildebrand homestead and murders Henry
    Hildebrand. 66


    CHAPTER IX.

    Trip with Burlap and Cato.—Killed a spy near Bloomfield.—Visits
    his mother on Dry Creek.—Interview with his uncle.—Sees the
    burning of the homestead at a distance. 75


    CHAPTER X.

    Trip with two men.—Killed Stokes for informing on him.—Secreted
    in a cave on Big river.—Vows of vengeance.—Watched for
    McGahan.—Tom Haile pleads for Franklin Murphy.—Tongue-lashed
    and whipped out by a woman. 84


    CHAPTER XI.

    Trip to Missouri with three men.—Fight near
    Fredericktown.—Killed four soldiers.—Went to their camp and
    stole four horses.—Flight toward the South.—Robbed “Old
    Crusty”. 91


    CHAPTER XII.

    Trip with three men.—Captured a spy and shot him.—Shot Mr.
    Scaggs.—Charged a Federal camp at night and killed nine
    men.—Came near shooting James Craig.—Robbed Bean‘s store and
    returned to Arkansas. 96


    CHAPTER XIII.

    The Militia mob robs the Hildebrand estate.—Trip to Missouri
    with ten men.—Attacks a government train with an escort of
    twenty men.—Killed two and put the others to flight. 102


    CHAPTER XIV.

    Federal cruelty.—A defense of Bushwhacking.—Trip with Capt.
    Bolin and nine men.—Fight at West Prairie.—Started with two
    men to St. Francois county.—Killed a Federal soldier.—Killed
    Addison Cunningham.—Capt. Walker kills Capt. Barnes, and
    Hildebrand kills Capt. Walker. 106


    CHAPTER XV.

    Started alone to Missouri.—Rode off a bluff and killed
    his horse.—Fell in with twenty-five Rebels under Lieut.
    Childs.—Went with them.—Attacked 150 Federals at Bollinger‘s
    Mill.— Henry Resinger killed.—William Cato.—Went back to
    Fredericktown.—Killed one man.—Robbed Abright‘s store. 114


    CHAPTER XVI.

    Started to Bloomfield with three men.—Fight at St. Francis
    river.—Goes from there alone.—Meets his wife and family, who
    had been ordered off from Bloomfield.—Capture and release of
    Mrs. Hildebrand.—Fight in Stoddard county.—Arrival in Arkansas.
    121


    CHAPTER XVII.

    Put in a crop.—Took another trip to Missouri with six
    men.—Surrounded in a tobacco barn.—Killed two men in making
    his escape.—Killed Wammack for informing on him.—Captured some
    Federals and released them on certain conditions.—Went to Big
    River Mills.—Robbed Highley‘s and Bean‘s stores. 128


    CHAPTER XVIII.

    Selected seven men and went to <DW64> Wool Swamp.—Attacked
    fifteen Federals—A running fight.—Killed three men.—Killed
    Mr. Crane.—Betrayed by a Dutchman, and surrounded in a house
    by Federals.—Escaped, killed eight Federals, recaptured the
    horses, and hung the Dutchman. 136

    CHAPTER XIX.

    Went with eight men.—Attacked a Federal camp near Bollinger‘s
    Mill.—Got defeated.—Men returned to Arkansas.—Went alone to St.
    Francois county.—Watched for R. M. Cole.—Killed Capt. Hicks. 147


    CHAPTER XX.

    Trip to Hamburg with fifteen men.—Hung a Dutchman and shot
    another.—Attacked some Federals in Hamburg but got gloriously
    whipped.—Retreated to <DW53> Island.—Killed Oller at Flat
    Woods.—Robbed Bean‘s store at Irondale.