1863 Quantrill's Two Beard Brothers and Six Others Killed at Howard's Mill - Kingsville by Federals and Jayhawkers

The Beard brothers left Sumner County, Tennessee in 1859 and went to Cass County, Missouri. Samuel married Martha Emmerson and in 1860, Frank was living with them.
They already had relatives in the area. One cousin was a schoolteacher who had the Younger brothers (Cole, Bob, John, Jim) in his class. 

With the Kansas Jayhawkers raiding Cass and Johnson Counties almost daily, it wasn't long before the Beards were involved. Then the Civil War began and, as Tennesseans, they supported the Southern cause. At least two of the brothers, and possibly four, joined Quantrill's Guerrillas.
On 10 April, 1862, John Smith Beard was murdered by Jayhawkers in Cass County. He was the first brother to die for the South.
On 6 September, 1863, Frank and Samuel Beard, Noah Webster, John Webster, William and Perry Hays, and Henry McAninch, were surrounded by eighty Federals and Jayhawkers in a house near Howard's Mill in Kingsville Township, Johnson County. It appeared a hopeless situation, but these desperate Guerrillas resolved to cut through it or die. 

Howard's (Horse) Mill was in Kingsville Township, Johnson County MO.

A pistol in each hand, and firing as they ran, they dashed out of the house at the nearest Federals, shoulder to shoulder. At the first volley, both of the Beard boys fell dead. 

Partisan List - Roster of Quantrill

Then Perry Hays was shot through the heart. McAninch, bored through one arm and one leg, killed a Federal and climbed on his horse with the utmost difficulty. John Webster, as he fled, was literally run over by a Federal Lieutenant and crushed to the earth. He lay on his back under the belly of the horse, it's rider above him reaching down and shooting at him as he was stretched out prostrate, and bruised and bleeding from the iron feet of the stallion, as seemingly ferocious as it's master. Webster rallied, however, almost instantly, and killed the Lieutenant as he sat above him on his horse.  His brother, Noah, seeing the desperate extremity he was in, came back to help him and was shot twice but not crippled in the effort. John Webster had now to go to Noah's assistance, which he did speedily on the Lieutenant's own horse, taking up his brother behind him and escaping without difficulty from all pursuit.
In this savage combat, five Federals were killed, and three Guerrillas, the wounded Federals numbered eight and the wounded Guerrillas two.  Will Hays was not hurt, and as he and McAninch came out from the desperate press together, they ran upon two militiamen hurrying in the direction of the fight. Hays halted them, shot them, and took from the body of the youngest a list of the names of certain citizens whose houses were to be burnt the next day.

     Samuel's Gravesite Pleasant Hill, MO

Samuel H. Beard, Killed by Federals at Howard's Mill Kingsville, MO  and Frank Beard were buried side by side in Pleasant Hill Cemetery. Samuel's wife, Martha, was buried beside themwhen she died in 1884.

Notes: John N. Edwards mistakenly lists Samuel Beard as William. Brother William was also in Cass, but went on to Abingdon, Illinois in 1863. He died there in 1906.

Howard's Mill was located in Kingsville Township. It was a horse mill built by Joe Howard in 1860, for whom it was named. It no longer exists.

Place name: Howard's Mill

Description: In Kingsville Township. A horse mill built by Joe Howard in 1860, for whom it was named. Mr. Howard settled in this county in 1836. He died in 1908. (Ed. King; Ferguson's "Historic and Caravan Trails," WARRENSBURG STAR JOURNAL, April 3, 1931; HIST. JOHNSON 1881, 523)

Source: Johnson, Bernice E. "Place Names in Six of the West Central Counties of Missouri." M.A. thesis. University of Missouri-Columbia, 1933.