My Grandfather Clifford Franklin Shepherd came by his nickname honestly. His friends called him "Babe" because there was no stronger man in the Ozark Hills of Southern Missouri. Babe was also as kind and gentle as he was strong. Once while coming home from a long day in the hay fields he caught his two boys playing with his prize Civil War muzzleloader.
The treasured rifle had been passed down to him from his father-in law, Pillar Daughtery. Pillar had been an orphan and in his younger years had been befriended by General Sterling Price of the Missouri Militia. "Old Pap", as he was known, because of his fatherly nature toward his men had asked the young teenager to ride with them and soon became a father figure to the young man as well. He had given Pillar the Civil War rifle that had been used in such battles as Wilson’s Creek and Pea Ridge.
Forged in the late 1850’s the rifle was a Harper’s Ferry .58-caliber musket with standard front sight of fixed type. It had seven notches carved into the butt in reference to how many "Yanks" it had killed during the "War of Northern Aggression!"
Pillar had given his prized rifle to his new son-in-law on the occasion of his daughter Minerva’s marriage to Babe and he treasured it as much as Pillar did. Now named "Ole General Price" in honor of its original owner the boys had decided they were going to shoot it and were arguing over who would do the honors when Babe walked up.
"Hey boys, what’s all the commotion about?" he said quietly as he snuck up on the boys.
"Well sir, we were just going to shoot Ole General Price," the boys sheepishly responded.
"O.K., so how much powder did you load up in The General?" he inquired thinking this might be a funny story to tell the boys down at the feed store.
"What you had in the pouch," the boys proudly reported, thinking they had done a real good job. Having almost completely filled the barrel with powder Babe shuttered to think what would have happened if he had not came along when he did because his youngest boy John had won the toss and was fixin’ to pull the trigger.
Staring down at his two pre teen boys and thinking one of them or both would not have lived to see the next day he said, "I think we better tie it to the well house, tie a string to the trigger and pull it from behind the shed."
After a few minutes of rigging the rifle to the well house with baling twine the two young boys now argued over who would pull the string and John won again.
The explosion from the muzzleloader could be heard clear over the next ridge by the neighbors in Miller hollow. As they came out from behind the shed coughing from all the black powder smoke hanging in the air they were astonished at the sight. All that could be seen from the well house was a piece of the roof turning end over end as it disappeared down over the hill toward Bear Creek.
Ole General Price was found about twenty yards from the well house with the butt drove into the ground about eight inches and smoking but other wise intact, a real testimony to the craftsmanship put into those old civil war weapons.
"Good Lord, what was that?" Minerva yelled as she came out of the house just in time to see her laying hens hysterically heading for the brush.
"Great, Now my chickens won’t lay for a month!"
