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The campaign of 1862 in Missouri and Arkansas was inaugurated, and with Hindman's army went "Doc" Russell, Avra's younger brother. There were skirmishes at Cross Hollows and
Holcombe Springs, Arkansas, a battle at Old Fort Wayne in the Cherokee Nation, another at Cane Hill, formerly Boonsboro, with Marmaduke. There were continual reconnaissance's and many skirmishes prior to the fatal
battle at Prairie Grove, and in one of these engagements Avra Russell received a slight wound. For him the days were filled with a haunting dread that one day he would meet "Doc" in deadly conflict. He had
a dreadful premonition that he or his brother would be killed when the Second Kansas should engage against Hindman's army.
On December 4, from the camp at Cane Hill, Russell was sent down the Cove Creek road.
After discovering the enemy's pickets he dispatched a messenger back to camp and with his command remained near the enemy's line until the next day. On December 6 came the engagement at Reed's Mountain and this was
immediately followed by the battle of Prairie Grove--the battle with Hindman's army.
To a comrade Avra Russell voiced his dread that he would meet his brother. "I feel, though, that I will be taken and
that "Doc" will be spared," he said. And it was in vain that Captain Crawford tried to dissuade him.
During this time General Hindman had learned that a brother of his aide was commanding one
of the companies in the Federal army. He also knew of a haunting fear in the heart of his aide. And that these brothers might not be aligned against one another, he sent "Doc" Russell far away on detailed
duty.
True to his foreboding, Avra Russell received his death wound in the battle at Prairie Grove. He fell at the first fire receiving a full charge in the breast. This was on December 7, and he did not die
until the 12th, lingering five days in the field hospital near Prairie Grove. Four hours after Captain Russell's death, "Doc" returned to camp, and from General Hindman learned that his brother had been
killed. Under a flag of truce he was taken through the lines and allowed to look upon his dead brother's face for the last time. It was then that he realized to the depths of his broken heart the full tragedy of the
Civil War. There came to him a vision of his frail old mother and father praying for their absent sons, and of the old home in New York which could never be the same again.
Captain Russell's body was placed
in a metallic casket and sent overland to Leavenworth, escorted by 300 cavalry, and from there shipped home to Marion, New York. The flag which had been used as a pall over General Lyon's coffin was wrapped about
the casket and presented to the sorrowing parents.
In Lieutenant Colonel Bassett's General Order No. 98, he pays tribute of respectful admiration and love to Avra P. Russell's memory. Russell's commission as
Major was never used, there being no actual vacancy to justify it.
The girl he was to have married at the close of the war was received by his family as a daughter and sister. She was given his gold watch and
other personal adornments, also the land and property he left in Lockport, Illinois. She never married, and for may years carried on a correspondence with the brother who was with Hindman's army.
After the
death of Avra Russell's parents, the flag which was used to drape Captain Russell's casket, and his sword, were returned to Kansas at the request of the Adjutant Generals office.
The naming of Russell and
Russell County for Avra P. Russell was another honor that Kansas has paid him who died in the service of his country.
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