Faces of the Civil War: An Album of Union Soldiers and Their Stories

Horse Thief

190 Horse Thief To any passersby, the sight of Pvt. Jack Andrews with a mule and two horses on a road outside Kansas City, Missouri, might not have been out of the ordinary. But there were problems with this picture: Andrews had left his company without authorization, taken the animals without permission from the Eleventh Kansas Cavalry, and was leading them away from his regiment. This was not the first time Andrews had ventured down the wrong path during his volunteer military service. In April 1863, about six months after joining the Eleventh, he had failed to return from his first furlough home, and military authorities declared him a deserter. He had remained at his farm and blacksmith shop in Emporia, Kansas, with his wife and son until July, when a special order was published offering leniency to all deserters who voluntarily returned to the regiment. He turned himself in and was eventually restored to duty. He stayed out of trouble for barely a year. In mid-1864, he had gone absent without leave and been confined at Fort Humboldt, Kansas. In October he disappeared a third time, taking the mule and horses left by the regiment on its march from Kansas City to Coldwater, Kansas. Andrews led the animals to his home county and left them with an acquaintance at an undisclosed location, presumably to collect them at a later date. His plans were foiled after his absence was discovered. Charges were filed against him for stealing and for leaving his company without permission, and his case was referred to the judge advocate at Fort Riley, Kansas, where Andrews was confined until he mustered out in August 1865. After the war, he moved his family from Emporia to nearby Neosho Rapids and continued to work as a blacksmith and farm- 191 er. In later life, he was bothered by stomach problems; he attributed them to his war service and received a disability pension until his death in 1897 at age seventy-one. Pvt. Andrew Jackson Andrews, Company C, Eleventh Kansas Cavalry Carte de visite by unidentified photographer, about 1862–1863 ...