John F. and Melissa Walker McCrea

Family Bible, Newspaper articles, Family letters, Dent Co., Missouri Historical Society. Civil War Spy for Confederate Army. Melissa Walker McCrea was a tall young woman, 6'2'' in height. She was very slender from the photo that I have of her. Her hair was very dark and she was quite attractive. She was very independent and I have reason to believe she did pretty much as she wanted. She was a spy for the CSA and she rode alone often to deliver messages to soldiers in Little Rock, Arkansas. When she learned a brother of hers Irvin Barton had died in Jefferson Barracks Prison near St. Louis. She drove a buckboard wagon to Rolla from Salem, Missouri. There she boarded a Frisco Train to St. Louis. Irvin had been buried 3 days and she had his body taken up and she brought him back to Salem, by herself, so that he could be buried with his family.
Melissa was captured 3 times by the Federals and the last time was put in prison in St. Louis. She was paroled to her half sister Elizabeth Walker Ross, who lived in Illinois. She was to stay there until the end of the war. It didn't take Melissa long to make her way back to Salem and again she was crossing enemy lines and carrying information.