William Silas Shepherd

Notes from the Fayetteville, Washington County, ARkansas Library about the Rev. William Shepherd follows:

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Although the Shepherd Springs had become an enclave of the Johnny Reb, not all the settlers shared the southern sentiment. Large numbers of men deserted from the southern army and became loyal union men, known as "Mountain Feds" (Goodspeed 468). Among the men who had deserted Captain Wright's company were two of his first cousins, Thomas and Silas Shepherd, sons of Rev. William Shepherd. Also deserting were three sons-in-law of William Shepherd -- Joseph Lawrence, William Lale, and James Mullen -- all of who later joined Union regiments. While John Shepherd and Isham Wright's families in the valley maintained southern sympathies, on the mountain - top, Rev. William Sheperd upheld the Union cause. It was truly a war that pitted brothers against brother.

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William's family suffered greatly during the War years, Fearing for the safety of his eldest daughter, who had married Henderson Clark Rankin, he sent here with his sons Tom and Silas to Clarksville. Henderson Rankin had first fought as a Confederate at Pea Ridge, but later served in Company L, 2nd Regiment Arkansas Union Cavalry. While at Clarksville, Elizabeth's two small daughters died of fever. Fearing occupation by General Steele's Confederate troops, the fleeing Mountain Feds left Clarksville in the winter of 1864. At Alma Elizabeth died in childbirth, and was buried on the banks of Frog Bayou (Kellie 1886).

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Further tragedy soon followed. Thomas and Silas Shepherd had enlisted in September of 1864 in Captain Bracken Lewis Militia Company. (The pension application of Thomas Shepherd give further details of service.) Their brother-in-law, Joseph Lawrence, had also enlisted in the Union Army. The family was plagued by bushwhackers who roamed the countryside. These lawless bandits would ride into ripe corn fields with destruction as their only objective; dishes were broken, and food was often wasted. On on occasion a group of outlaws rode up and made each of the children taste a can of lard. After all had tasted, the bushwhackers threw the remaining food in different places in the yard (Drummond 1984). Gold rings were hidden in the fireplaces or behind pegs, but sometimes these were found. Family would sometimes take and bury it ot prevent thefts Shepherd and her daughters sewn into the hems to elude bushwhackers when searched. Matilda Shepherd Lawrence was beaten by bushwhackers once for hiding salt in this way. The fingertips of gloves were filled with salt or sugar in an effort to conceal the supplies.

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The bushwhackers would often raid the families for gold, torturing even children for any information of hidden monies. On one such occasion, the outlaws hung William's youngest sons, Press and Uriah by their feet from a tree behind the smokehouse. Their sister Nancy became worried about the continued absence of the young bossy, and she and her mother began searching. They arrived just in time, as their faces and limbs had become blue; the women cut them down and revived Press and Uriah.

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It was, however, in January of 1865 that the greatest loss came to the Shepard family. Several sons-in-law, Henderson Rankin, Barnett Conley, and James Mullen, were away fighting in the Union Army, but Joe Lawrence, and Thomas and Silas Shepherd were home on leave from the Union Army. Tom and Silas were hiding in a "bluff cave" about three-fourths of a mile from the house, for fear of bushwhackers who had toured the area earlier. As the evening darkness fell, Rev. Shepherd took food and bedding to his two sons. As he stepped from the last stone of the natural stone stairs down to the floor of the bluff, a shot rang out from across the hollow. Rev. William Shepherd lay in a pool of his own blood, a bullet in his back, shot by bushwhackers who mistook him for his son, Tom. As William's grand-daughter, Edna Shepherd, remembered the tale (told to her by William's daughter Nancy Parker):

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Grandpa Shepherd was only a few yards away from the bluff cave where Uncle Tom and Uncle Sile were hiding. They softly called out, "O Pap, are you hurt?" and he groaned, "I'm afraid badly." He didn't want to put them in danger, so he stayed there in his own blood.

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As the evening darkened, the boys were tense and listened to the noises of the bushwhackers, and the sounds of their father's troubled breathing until soon they heard only the stillness of death. Eventually the four bushwhackers left, and the boys and their mother and sisters, Matilda Lawrence, Susannah Lale, Mary Mullen and Nancy Shepherd (Parker) took two saplings and a homespun sheet to make a stretcher to bring the lifeless body of Bill Shepherd to the mountain-top. Under the cold blackness of night, in a driving rain and sleet storm, a grave was dug in a thick grove of oak timber near the home. William Shepherd's body was placed in a hollow log, a make-shift coffin which was finished out with a foot adz. By dawn, Sarah Shepherd and her daughters returned to the house, grief-stricken, cold, wet, exhausted. Tom, Silas, and Joe Lawrence determined to "bushwhack" it out until the murder was avenged. Three of the four were caught and scalped by Tom, Silas, and Joe (Drummond 1984). The identity of the fourth man was known by the sound of his horse's loose shoe, which the men had previously heard. In later years, Silas had the opportunity to kill the fourth man, but decided against vengeance toward his father's murderer (Shepherd 1987).

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A few days later, Susannah Lale, already weak from being with child, died from pneumonia from the cold she contracted the night of her fathers death. Within the week Susannah's body lay beside her father's. She left two small daughters, and a husband sway fighting in the Union Army.