On Jan. 7 and 8, 1862, a skirmish took place in Columbus Twp. between two groups of guerrilla fighters, the Kansas redlegs (a gang of Union irregulars) and the notorious Confederate marauders, called the bushwhackers. The redlegs set fire to the village, but apparently Uriel Jackson, by then an old man, was able to briefly stall them by playing the fife of his younger days.
"Concerning Cuss Jackson, the following anecdote is related by Mr. Russell: 'It was supposed that Columbus township was a rendezvous of the confederates, being on the line between the southwest to the Miama crossing of the Missouri river. This was an old road. An old negro, Cato [i.e., Cato Francis], played the drum. He had played in the battle of New Orleans with Jackson. Old Cuss Jackson had a peculiar way of calling his hogs, and the same called the confederates from the bushes. The federals went there in hot pursuit of supposed concealed confederates, and the old man met them at the gate with the old fife, with which he played at the battle of New Orleans, in 1814. He played for them and said, 'I am so glad to see you; this is the same fife and tune that I played at the battle of New Orleans.'"
"This is the same Jackson we spoke of elsewhere, of having the first mill in the county."
(Earlier, on p. 666, the following appeared: "The first mill was erected in 1830 by Urial [sic] Jackson. This was a two-horse mill. The old settlers say that one could mash the corn about as fast as it would grind. To improve his mill, he went to the Osage river, where millstones could be cut from the rock, and brought back a pair of burs [i.e., burstones, millstones.")