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When he was twenty-five he responded to the lure of Kansas and went to Leavenworth. He was in a new world. What could people in New York know of Kansas in those days! He established an
express line from Leavenworth to Pike's Peak in Colorado. Here was adventure indeed! There was another more extensive line over the same route, also run by a Russell, but not of the same family.
While he was
exulting in his business the Civil War broke out and with his characteristic enthusiasm he raised a company for the Second Kansas infantry. He was elected first lieutenant of this company by the Union Guards of
Leavenworth on the 3rd of May, 1861 and Governor Robinson commissioned him on the 10th of May, 1861. This regiment was mustered into the United States service at Kansas City, Missouri on June 10th and mustered out
on October 31, 1861. During this period they engaged in various skirmishes and battles in Missouri, Forsythe, Dug Springs, Wilson Creek, Shelbina and Iatan. The most important of all was the battle of Wilson Creek
on August 10th, 1861. In this battle General Lyon was killed. Avra Russell was very near him as he fell from his horse. The death of this gallant commander was a great personal loss to the young officer, as well as
a national calamity.
The following episode was one of the many on that field and a remarkable one:
"Sigel had been defeated on the left, but on the right it was not known. General Lyon was killed;
Bob Mitchell, the Colonel of the Second Kansas infantry, had been wounded at the same time. Lieutenant-Colonel Charles W. Blair had command of the regiment. All at once, on a hill, nearly in front of the regiment,
the Stars and Stripes were displayed. The men of the Second Kansas thought it was Sigel coming; they believed it the more readily because the advancing troops did not fire. The Second Kansas dressed up line and gave
three cheers. Just then Russell rushed from his place in line to Colonel Blair to warn him it was a trick, a ruse.
"I tell you Colonel, it is a Manassas again" he exclaimed with great emphasis. The
words were hardly uttered before the fiercest fire of the day opened on the Second Kansas line, from beneath the old flag, and the battle was renewed with greater fury than ever, until Blair received orders to
retire."
That was the closing scene of the battle.
In the fall of 1861 Governor Robinson delegated Avra Russell and James H. Lane to go to Washington to have his regiment transferred to cavalry.
This regiment was formed out of several skeleton organizations. Russell spent thirteen weeks in Washington before the transfer was accomplished. Before returning to Kansas he went to New York to visit his parents,
who were saddened and anxious in the old home, alone. Their oldest son had died and several of their boys had enlisted in the army in the east. One, Oscar, or "Doc" the seventh son, having gone south when
a youth of eighteen, had enlisted in the Confederate army and was serving as an aide to General Hindman, and also as General Pike's private secretary. This was a source of much sorrow to the Russell family, their
viewpoint being wholly northern and their home ties of the strongest and tenderest. Brother against brother--brothers, too, who were bound by the closest bonds of love. Such conditions made the Civil War doubly
tragic. Avra Russell was five years older than his brother Oscar, and had been a "little father" to him when they were children in the old home in New York.
On his visit home that fall in 1861, Avra
was his merriest self. All the tenderest of his nature was called into expression. He told stories of his war experiences, talked freely of the work he had done and of his plans for the future. Spoke of his
comrades, their bravery, their oddities and their lovable attributes, so that they became known to the home folks. He was happy in the personnel of his company, as most of his employees of the past years had joined
under the promise that he would stay with them, even though promotion were offered him. He declined more than one promotion because of this promise made to his boys, whom he so loved, but he was called to fill other
positions so often that, because he could be with them all the time, his men finally released him.
January 29, 1862, he received a Captain's commission signed by Abraham Lincoln and Edwin M. Stanton, and was
appointed and additional aide-de-camp on the staff of Major General McClellan, and detailed for service under Brigadier General James H. Lane.
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