Nearly all of Sibley is burned, a great many of the citizens have been banished or left of their own accord (excerpt from letter to George A. Steele from his mother Emily H. Steele, July 24, 1863).
Sibley as a Partisan Refuge
Prior to the Civil War, the vast majority of settlers to the Sibley and Six Mile area came from the upland south from states like Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Kentucky. Thus it was a very pro-Southern area in feeling and culture. Also, this area had among the largest slave owners in the county. When war came, this area largely sided with the Confederacy, and Sibley became known as a refuge for Confederate partisans.
Mrs. Hudspeth has been burnt out twice – first her dwelling was burnt out last spring and a few days ago her cabin, corncrib and meat house was burnt with their contents – all because Frank Sheppard would stay around there. He is a bushwhacker. Old Aunt Rach and little Rachael are dodging about over the River to keep from being put in prison (excerpt from letter to George A. Steele from his mother Emily H. Steele, July 24, 1863).
The Burning of Sibley
On June 22, 1863, less than three months after the hijacking of the Sam Gaty, Captain Samuel A. Flagg (1834-1878) of the 4th Regiment of Cavalry, Missouri State Militia, led a detachment of 125 men (both cavalry and infantry) to rid the Sibley and Napoleon Bottoms area of partisan guerrillas. A few days prior, Captain Flagg stated that he had seen “many bands of guerrillas” in the Sibley and Napoleon area while on patrol from Lexington to Kansas City.
Shortly after dawn on June 23, Flagg ordered some of his cavalry to advance into Sibley where they were briefly engaged by partisans. A short fire-fight ensued, and Flagg reported two partisans killed and four wounded. He made no mention of any federal casualties. Captain Flagg then reported:
It being a general place of resort for the bushwhackers, and where they concentrated to fire into all the boats that pass for the purpose of plundering them, and as they used the houses for shelter to fire on my men, the town was burned, except one or two houses that were left, reported as Union property (Report of Capt. Samuel A. Flagg, Fourth Missouri State Militia Cavalry, 28 June 1863).
A nearby resident, Mrs. Emily Steele, in a letter to her son on July 24, 1863, corroborated Flagg’s account by simply stating, “Nearly all of Sibley is burned…”
In a follow-up report, General Thomas Ewing, Jr., made the following comments regarding the burning of Sibley:
I think it probable that it was for the good of the service that the town was burned, for the reasons named by Captain Flagg; but, not feeling entirely satisfied, I will take care to ascertain the character of the people, and their conduct, as also the circumstances under which the town was burned (Report of Brig. Gen. Thomas Ewing, jr., U.S. Army, commanding District of the Border, June 30, 1863).
Sibley after the War
Sibley, like the neighboring town of Wellington, suffered greatly during the war and in some respects never recovered. Sibley, however, did see resurgence in the late 1880s when the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad chose Sibley as its location to cross the Missouri River. Much of Sibley relocated near the railroad depot to what is commonly called “New Sibley.” Buckner, however, quickly overshadowed Sibley as the local business center.