A Wilson Family Tree
Notes for Odon Guitar
"Boyle Genealogy. John Boyle of Virginia and Kentucky", by John Boyle, Perrin & Smith Printing Co., St. Louis, MO, 1909, pp. 122-124 (obtained from http://www.archive.org/details/boylegenealogyjo00boyl):
Odon Guitar, son of Emily Gordon [and John Guitar], was educated in Columbia, and entering the State University at its opening session — in 1842 — was graduated in 1846. War against Mexico being declared, without awaiting the college commencement, and leaving his graduating thesis to be read by a classmate, he enlisted in Doniphan's First Missouri Volunteers, participating in its entire unexampled triumphant march. His love of adventure had previously led him to the plains for buffalo and other large game, where he also acquired some knowledge of Indian warfare.
When Doniphan personally selected a detail of experienced hunters to supply the column with fresh meat, Guitar was one of the chosen ten, and they performed their special service with such hardihood and success from the immense numbers of buffalo found from time to time along the route, as secured the high praise of their distinguished leader.
Serving throughout the war, he read law with his uncle, John Boyle Gordon, and was admitted to the bar in 1848. The gold excitement in California allured him temporarily, but he soon returned to Columbia, where his character, attainments and manner gave him secure standing in a community famous for eloquence and learning. As a Whig, Boone county sent him to the legislature in 1853, and again in 1857, where he served his constituency to its entire satisfaction, and with great personal credit. In 1856 he was the Whig candidate for Attorney General. In 1864 he was elected to Congress, but by the chicanery of his opponents was defrauded of the seat. His open advocacy of the Union, and his intense nature rendered him conspicuous in 1861.
One of the largest meetings ever held in Boone county was convened at the court house in Columbia, pursuant to notice, May 6, 1861, to consider the pending crisis. Among the resolutions offered, was one calling on the Federal administration to recognize the southern confederacy, as a government de facto; and another pledging the meeting, in case of war, to stand by, and cooperate with the south. General Guitar spoke at length against these resolutions, and cast the sole negative vote in opposition to their adoption. He denounced secession as the most damnable political heresy ever invented by the brain of the vilest political demagogue, and in concluding, said: He cared nothing for the fate of the resolution, but hoped the friends of the Union would dare to do, and say, what they thought was right. For himself, he had not, and would not, occupy any equivocal position, when the liberties and destiny of his country were at stake. He was for his country, and should remain so. He prided himself in her glory, and was willing, if need be, to participate in her shame. "If," he said, "the glorious old ship of state shall be dismantled by the storm, deserted by her crew, and left to flounder and sink amid the waves of anarchy which will engulf her, it will be glory enough for me to go down with the wreck."
When the civil war began his determined stand was immediately recognized. Governor Gamble commissioned him to raise a regiment of volunteers. He commanded the Ninth Cavalry, Missouri State Milita, until the battle of Moore's Mills, August 11, 1862, when he was appointed a brigadier general for gallant conduct on the field. His chief service was in North Missouri, where the most daring and desperate guerilla forces were operating, and no one did more to expel them from that field than General Guitar.
After the war he resumed his profession, attaining distinction both as a civil and criminal lawyer. For more than a third of a century he continued in active practice, and made an unusually brilliant record. He defended more than one hundred and forty homicides, only one of whom suffered capitally.
A distinguished judge who filled the circuit bench for many years thus wrote of him:
"Hon. O. Guitar has a clear, analytical mind, that grasped at once the strong points of the case, in which he was employed. He was not what may be termed a case lawyer, while he had a proper regard for adjudged cases; he thought for himself, and acted upon his convictions. Being a just man himself, he was governed in his practice by the general principles of justice and right, that apply to all the transactions of men, more than by adjudged cases. In his practice he was earnest and unyielding if he believed he was right. As a cross-examiner of witnesses, he had few if any equals, and in his arguments before the court or jury he was logical and convincing; he was one of the ablest practitioners in Missouri."
And another writer said of him: "For years, Gen. Guitar was one of the most powerful criminal lawyers in Missouri. He has lived a singularly intense and tempestuous life; he loves his friends, but with a candor that is delightful, shows no quarter to an enemy. He is one of those grim, determined men of blood and iron, who are fast passing away in this age of commercialism. Vigorous, with every faculty alert and unimpaired, he is one of the most interesting of men, not only in Missouri, but in the nation."
He married in Howard county, Missouri, December 26, 1865, Kate Leonard, born March 12, 1844, daughter of Abiel Leonard, one of the most eminent Judges of the Supreme Court of Missouri. They lived in Columbia.
According to an article on the Guitar brothers from the Mid-Missouri Civil War Round Table (http://www.mmcwrt.org/2002/BkgrndGuitar.htm), Odon's brother, David Guitar, was a captain in the Confederate army, and supposedly once said "A Confederate Captain always outranks a Union General."
Several sources give his birthday as August 31; Boyle Genealogy has August 30.
Note: Some of the information in these pages is uncertain. Please let me know of errors or omissions using the email link above. ...Mike Wilson
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