In a letter written from Jackson County, Missouri to her cousin Mary, Mattie Jane Tate described the devastation her family suffered as a result of Brigadier General Ewing’s notorious General Order No. 11. What she described was nothing short of a massacre, in which “some Soldiers from Kansas” took her father, brother, husband (named Calvin Tate), and at least five others and shot all of them except her father and brother, who were released. According to Tate, none had taken up arms against the Union. She reported that the victims were left to rot, and her father, brother, and 70-year-old uncle had to bury the dead without assistance. Describing the loss of her husband, Tate wrote, “But alas I never shall hear his lovely voice again on Earth for he is gone gone from me forever[,] and I am left with three small children to take care of[.]”