There was a story about Peter Rine Simpson who was in command of a company of rebels, he was captured by the union 

troops and was ordered shot and made to remove his clothes before the execution.  Peter Rine Simpson in civilian life was a 

doctor and a preacher.  One of the soldiers said to the commander, "this rebel is a preacher, let's have a sermon."  whereupon

 Peter Rine took his text as follows, "Naked I came into this world and naked I goeth out."  At the close of the sermon the

 union commander ordered him to put on his clothes and he died a natural death in the late 1890's.  His marked grave may be

 found in the Irish Wilderness Cemetery.  I have found no record of any citizen of Oregon County serving as an officer in the 

union army during the civil war.  The confederate officers who served from Oregon County with name, rank, and address 

were:  Col. John R. Woodside, Thomasville, MO.:  Major Mathew G. Norman, Alton, MO.:  Major Jacob B. Reaser, 

Thomasville, MO.:  Capt. John J. Sittion, Garield, MO.:  Capt. J. Posey Woodside, Thomasville, MO.:  Capt. James B. Old, 

Thomasville, MO.:  Capt. Samuel W. Greer, Atlton, MO.:  and Capt. Peter Rine Simpson.

  After being paroled, the confederate soldiers were disfranchised.  They could not vote or hold public office and 

woman suffrage was nonexistent:  so the affairs of the county for five years after the war was controlled by union 

officials.  David Bricker was appointed clerk of the county and circuit court of Oregon County.  (Sworn and subscribed

 to before Samuel W. Eager, clerk of St. Louis County Court, 18th day of July, 1865.)  The county records show that on 

the 9th day of December 1865 Allen Van Wormer, Judge of the 18th Judicial  Circuit, appointed W. C. Boyd, Clerk of the 

circuit court of Oregon County to hold his office until the next general election held in the state, this order was made and

 signed in the city of Rolla, County of Phelps, by Judge Wan Wormer.  Thomas Simpson, my grandfather, who was in his

 late 60's during the war and did not serve in the confederate army, was eligible to vote and hold public office.  He was 

elected to 

Presiding Judge of the County Court for a term beginning in 1866.    > 

>Story by Lewis A. Simpson