Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/400

 340 HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI destroyed aud burned and even whole vil- lages were practically wiped out of existence by the torch, fields were destroyed, in many eases all the fencing disappeared. Either it rotted away from neglect or else was burned for wood and fields left uncultivated grew up in briars and brush. The stock that ex- isted at the time of the war was either killed or driven away by the soldiers and robber bands or else it became half wild in the woods and some died of starvation and of neglect. These material lo.sses were very great and it took many years for the country to recover from them. In many parts of Southeast Mis- souri a new conquest of nature had to be made. Fields were once more to be reclaimed, houses, fences and towns had to be rebuilt. But great as were these losses they were no greater than the damage brought to other in- terests not material in themselves. It is im- possible to measure the ruin wrought by war viewed from the moral standpoint. It of- fered an opportunity for vicious men to reveal what was in them and live unrestrained lives. It took away in many cases the chance for making an honest living and substituted for it theft and robbery. Many men were demor- alized by these conditions and it required years for the country to recover from the damage done to the country in this way. Civil authority had been to a very great extent done away with during the war. It was subordi- nated to the military power. Martial law pre- vailed and it was not for a long time that the courts could transact their business in the reg- ular and usual way, and until the authority of the law came to be once more felt and recog- nized as it had been before. It was certainly a most trying situation which the returned soldier from North or South was compelled to face as he came home from the war. He, in all probability, found his house in ashes, his horses and cattle dead or driven away, his fences in ruins, and his fields overgrown. He himself came home in most cases, practically penniless and must make a new start in life. Added to this was the fact that there was for sometime no se- cure protection for himself or property against these bands that were unwilling to give up their marauding and plundering even when the war closed. But terrible and disheartening as these cir- cumstances were the people of Southeast Mis- souri set themselves to rebuild their country, to develop its resources, and to make it once more a habitation fit for civilized men. In comparatively a short while the towns were rebuilt and houses once more arose from the ashes. The fields were reduced again to the purpose of agriculture, churches and schools were opened, and life resumed its ordinary condition. Out of the ruin which the war brought and out of its very demoralization there came vigor and splendor of enthusiasm that enabled men to make of this section of the state one of the richest and best parts of Missouri.