Historic marker reveals tragic story of Asa Ladd

Approximately 25 interested citizens met at the old Stoddard County Courthouse in Bloomfield on Sunday, Aug. 30, 2015 to witness the unveiling of the latest historic marker, achieved through the efforts of historians Jim and Sue Mayo.

Dr. Frank Nickell, Director of the Southeast Missouri branch of the Historical Society of Missouri, made the Civil War come to life, as he related the incredibly sad details in the death of Private Asa V. Ladd, a Bloomfield native who enlisted in the Confederate Army in 1862.

Asa Ladd was one of six Confederate prisoners of war, chosen by lottery to be executed for the deaths of six Union soldiers earlier in the war. None of the men had anything to do with the deaths, and none of them knew they had been chosen to die, until the day they were taken from their cell in the Gratiot Prison in St. Louis and executed by firing squad, shortly after 3 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 29, 1864.

The bronze sign on the north side of the courthouse tells the story and includes the poignant letter which Asa Ladd wrote to his wife:

"Dear wife and Children, I take my pen with trembling hand to inform you that I have to be shot between two and four o'clock this evening. I have but a few hours to remain in this unfriendly world. There is six of us sentenced