Palmyra Massacre - Disappearance of Allsman

Disappearance of Allsman

Andrew Allsman was a carpenter, sixty years old, and a Union patriot in a largely pro-Confederate area. A Union source describes him as a highly-respected and conscientious man who did his duty by leading Union forces to arrest local Confederate sympathizers. Palmyra City's website describes him as "a Union sympathizer who had the reputation of betraying neighbors sympathetic to the Confederacy".

Allsman was taken prisoner by Colonel Porter's forces when Porter raided Palmyra in September 1862. After several skirmishes, Porter decided that Allsman was a liability and set him free. Allsman was hesitant to leave the camp as there were several men who had family members that Allsman had informed on, so Porter allowed him to choose a detail that would see him safely to the city limits of Palmyra or to the nearest Union lines.

Allsman departed camp and was never seen again. Speculation is that he was taken into the woods in northern Marion County or southern Lewis County and shot.

On October 8, Provost Marshal William R. Strachan, acting for Colonel McNeil, published a notice in the local Union newspaper, the Palmyra Courier (see below) to Confederate Colonel Joseph C. Porter. McNeil threatened that unless Allsman was returned within ten days, ten of Porter's men held as prisoners in Palmyra and Hannibal would be executed.

Porter may never even have seen the notice, and most writers agree that Allsman had already been the victim of personal enemies among Porter's men. The Confederate colonel was therefore powerless to return him. Nevertheless, the presumed murder of Allsman was viewed as part of a pattern of extralegal behavior regarded by Porter's enemies as typical of his command, tolerated if not encouraged by the Rebel leader.