Howard: Thank you for your response. My gg-grandfather's was in B Co. of the 5th Kansas Cavalry along with other men from Mercer Co. This company was organized in July 1861.

When I asked on the Mercer County rootsweb list why Kansas was recruiting in the county I got the following response: "Due to the volatile political atmosphere in Missouri, some of them joined the Kansas regiment so they could be assured of fighting for the Union. Joining up with Missouri might mean they would end up fighting for the Confederacy."

Now this could be true, but since Mercer County contributed 1000 troops to the Union army and less than 20 to the Confederacy, it would seem sentiment was pretty strong for the Union. However, I don't know how this worked. Did these guys join up with a regiment without knowing what side they would be fighting for? I doubt it. Were they afraid they might be drafted into a southern unit since Mo was supposed to be a southern state?

Co. G of the 2nd Missouri Cavalry was composed mainly of Mercer Co. men and was organized in August 1861 the month following the Kansas recruitment. Were these men that anxious to get in the war? We're talking about middle aged men with families. Was the Missouri State Guard drafting men for the North or South and how would they have come into play here?

As far as Mercer Co being on the way between Leavenworth and Quincy, Il, I don't know. I don't know what the transportation routes would have been. Quincy lies just to the north of St Louis on the Mississippi river and Leavenworth is just north of Kansas City, KS. Mercer County lies on the Iowa border, as far north as you can get in MO. It's pretty much a straight shot from Quincy to Leavenworth across the state, especially if you could go down the Mississippi a ways and up the Missouri river. Seems to me Mercer County would have been quite a bit out of the way.

I couldn't find anything on the 18th Mo Infantry in my history book, but it might make sense to join a Cavalry unit and ride horses to war, rather than join an infantry unit and march everywhere. I don't know much about military units though and could be way off base here.

I'm quite puzzled by this and need help in understanding the circumstances.