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As a Union
lieutenant in 1862, George W. Nash of the 1st Missouri Cavalry
ordered William Hill Field, a prominent local plantation owner, from his
home in rural mid-Missouri and had him shot because of suspected southern
sympathies. Nash was arrested and tried for murder in mid-July 1862,
but fearing conviction, he escaped in the middle of the trial. The
incident caused quite a stir in the
St. Louis
and
Kansas City
papers, as it seemed a microcosm of all the anxieties and animosities of
Missouri
.
Missouri
was equally split between Northern and Southern sympathizers, and
guerrilla warfare between the pro-slavery bushwhackers and abolitionist
jayhawkers was worse than anywhere in the country. After his escape,
Nash traveled in disguise to
California
. On October 28, 1862, three and a half months after
Nash’s flight from
Missouri
, Nash was one of the first to sign up for the California Hundred at
Assembly Hall in
San Francisco
. He filled out the necessary forms and easily passed the physical
examination. He gave his name as “Charles
W. Hill.”
After
training with the company in
California
,
Massachusetts
and
Virginia
, “Hill” was put up for an officer position in one of the newly formed
Massachusetts Colored Regiments. He wrote to
Missouri
for a pardon (as George W. Nash) to clear his name and ensure his officer
position. Instead of receiving a pardon, word was sent back of
Nash’s deception. Nash was arrested and delivered as
a deserter to Major General Keyes at
Fort Yorktown
,
Virginia
on June 18, 1863. He was discharged from the Massachusetts Cavalry
by authority of the Commanding General, Department of Virginia, on June
27, 1863. On that date he was placed under arrest and forwarded to
the Provost Marshal in
Washington
. He was soon placed on a train back to
Missouri
, where he spent one night
in jail, and was then dishonorably discharged without resumption of the
trial. After a few years in
Indiana
, Nash moved to
Arizona
, where he bounced around various jobs, including lawyer, prospector,
teacher, bailiff, and ranch foreman. He periodically wrote to the
government to clear his name and approve his pension applications for his
service in
Missouri
and with the California Hundred, but all such requests were summarily
denied. He disappeared while traveling to his son-in-law’s ranch
in 1897. His body was never found.
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