The Crown Rights of Christ

The Real McCoy

Transcript: AI Transcript

Professor: John Weaver

Subject: Dominion and Reconstruction

Genre: Sermon

Dictation Name:

Date: 2013-11-01

Synopsis: Pastor John Weaver uses the life of Confederate soldier and spy Arthur C. McCoy to illustrate the virtues of courage, coolness, confidence, and consecration. He traces the origin of the phrase 'the real McCoy' and recounts numerous daring exploits from McCoy's life, emphasizing his fearlessness and composure under fire. Weaver then applies these lessons to the Christian life, urging believers to cultivate similar courage and dedication for the kingdom of God, especially in the face of increasing danger.

[John Weaver] 2nd Timothy chapter 3 and verse 14. And I want to just use this verse as a beginning. I will not be expounding this verse. And you will see why. Because the message is basically a historical one, certainly with biblical principles. Notice 2nd Timothy chapter 3 and verse 14. The apostle Paul says, But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them. So Paul writes Timothy and he tells him that you've learned a number of things and you've been assured of these truths. But he said you also must know of whom thou hast learned them. So he learned them particularly from the Apostle Paul. You know it's interesting that we can remember certain things that we've learned from certain individuals simply because they've made such a vast impression upon our minds. I can sit here today and tell you many things that I've learned from individuals and when I learned those things because they were indelibly marked upon my brain.

[John Weaver] Well, the point I'm trying to make is this. We can learn from every individual. We can even learn as Christians from non-Christians. Not necessarily theology, but there is common grace that is given to men And just because someone is not necessarily a Christian does not mean the individual does not have talents and gifts and abilities from which you and I may profit.

[John Weaver] Now I said that to show you the title of the message today is The Real McCoy. The Real McCoy is based upon the life of Arthur C. McCoy. All of us have used this phrase the real McCoy. When we say he's the real McCoy or it's the real McCoy, we're indicating that something is genuine, it's authentic and it's true. It's the real thing and it's not a substitute. I don't know if you've ever wondered where we derive our phrases from or why we say what we say. I have a book in my library and the title of the book is why we say what we say. And it has the origination of a lot of words and phrases and how they came into our vocabulary. I searched that book for the real McCoy and I did not find it.

[John Weaver] So I had to do some research on my own. But when you hear the phrase the real McCoy, you can think of other phrases like the whole nine yards or the full money or okay. And the real McCoy is up there with some of the phrases that we use most frequently and most often. So I did a little searching on the internet and I found that the word or the name McCoy is derived from Mackay or Mackay is how it would be pronounced in Scotland from Missouri's Mackay in Edinburgh who made a fine brand of whiskey from 1856 onward and they promoted their whiskey as the real Mackay. and undoubtedly these people were probably from the clan from Rhea Scotland so it could have been Rhea Mackay which then would come as Rheal McCoy. So the Scots National Dictionary said this, the Rheal Mackay, M-A-C-K-A-Y, we would say Mackay but they would pronounce it Mackay, is a Scots phrase that first appeared in print in 1856 as a drapey of or a drop of the real Mackay.

[John Weaver] It's the same phrase that was adopted as a slogan to promote the whiskey. Webster's Dictionary quotes Robert Louis Stevenson in 1883 in a letter saying, he's the real Mackay or the real Mackay. So in Scotland, as I pointed out, Mackay would be pronounced as the word I. But when these people moved to Ireland, it was changed to McCoy. So the Irish families who are named McCoy, McKay, Mackey, McGee, and Magee all came to Ireland in the 13th century. And so we say the real McCoy. Now, there are several originations given of this phrase.

[John Weaver] That was the first one. The second origin of the phrase is said to be derived from the scotch whiskey that was smuggled into the United States by Captain William McCoy during the era of prohibition because only McCoy's whiskey was known as the real stuff.

[John Weaver] Now here's a quote and you will appreciate this quote. To quote Uncle John's bathroom reader plunges into history again, a great nearly 100% accurate source of trivia, page 144 The most infamous rumrunner was Captain Bill McCoy whose liquor was of such high quality that it led to the expression the real McCoy. There's a third possibility and I doubt this one is really real because it happened too much later in time but some say the phrase originated with the boxer Kid McCoy who was actually Norman Selby who fought under that.

[John Weaver] He was born in 1873, died in 1940. He was an American welterweight boxing champion and as the story goes and there's various versions of it, that he was challenged by a drunk to prove that he was the real McCoy and not some lesser boxer fighting under his name. And so it is said that Norman Selmy, the real McCoy, then took his fist and knocked the drunk to the ground. He said the drunk got up and was rubbing his chin and said, oh yes, he's the real McCoy.

[John Weaver] Well, whatever the origination of the phrase or wherever it originated, when you consider the life of Arthur C. McCoy, who was a Confederate soldier, a freedom fighter, and a larger than life spy and smuggler, you will be forced to confess that he was indeed the real McCoy. Now I have not found any reference to the Christianity or the lack of Christianity in the life of Arthur McCoy.

[John Weaver] He was however one of the bravest and most courageous men about whom I've ever read. He has faced death and he did face death on numerous occasions with a smile and with a cheerful attitude. I do not know how anyone who could live as he lived and not know Jesus Christ savingly. Even in the heat of battle, he would uncover his head and kneel and pray fervently over a fallen comrade.

[John Weaver] Now, I understand common grace and I know God can give men lots of common grace so that their lives are decent without giving them special saving grace. But at any rate, I believe as Christians, there are so many things that we can learn from the life of Arthur C. McCoy. Whether he was a genuine Christian or not, I know not. I told you already that he was one of the most courageous men I've ever read about. Do you realize that we have been commanded to be courageous? In Joshua 1 in verse 9, Joshua was told, Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of good courage, be not afraid, neither be dismayed, for the Lord thy God is with thee, whithersoever thou goest. But notice this, Have not I commanded thee? Be of good courage, and be not afraid, and be not dismayed. So God then has commanded us to have courage and not be fearful, and not be dismayed. In 2 Samuel chapter 10 and verse 12 we read this. Be of good courage and let us play the men for our people and for the cities of our God and let the Lord God do that which seemeth Him good.

[John Weaver] And you have the parallel passage in 1 Chronicles chapter 19 and verse 13 where the word of God says be of good courage and let us behave ourselves valiantly for our people For the cities of our God and let the Lord do that, which is right in his own sight. And so over and over in scripture, we've been commanded to be full of courage. The Bible tells us that we are not to be moved with fear at all for God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

[John Weaver] Now Arthur McCoy was a captain under General Joe Shelby. Later on he fought with guerrilla leader George Todd who was associated of course with Quantrell. After the war McCoy did ride some with Jesse and Frank James. Now McCoy was so fierce and so brave and so courageous. I want you to listen to one author. Here is the quote. Federal soldiers, cotton speculators, Yankee agents, itinerant preachers, and psalm singing schoolmasters, these would be Yankees, fled from McCoy's scene of operations in ludicrous haste, spreading the most frightful reports of gorillas, demons, giants, and whatnot. McCoy once suggested to a federal colonel under a flag of truth, under a flag of truth, that as the vocabulary of epitaphs had been exhausted upon his men and upon himself, he would thereafter ask as a special favor that he and all of his men might be called gorillas. Not gorillas, but gorillas. Well, Arthur C. McCoy was known as the wild Irishman. who served under General Joe Shelby.

[John Weaver] He was born in Ireland in 1825 and he came to America where he went to finally the gold fields in California. He was a 49er. In 1850 he was in Centerville, California which was not far from Placerville, California where Drury James had a claim. Drury was the uncle of Jesse and Frank. And you have to remember that Jesse and Frank's father, Robert, also went to California and died in the gold fields.

[John Weaver] He was a Baptist preacher. Now, whether he was preaching or whether he was looking for gold, I don't know, but he died there. So, you have to wonder, since the James family and McCoy were so close together, whether or not their lives ever met in 1850. It would have been a great coincidence if they did, because McCoy's life was closely connected with Jesse and Frank in the 1860s and 1870s.

[John Weaver] Now before the war, Arthur McCoy lived in St. Louis, Missouri, where he worked as a coopersmith in Blackman and McCoy, which was a stove and a tinware business, which he shared with William L. Blackman. Shortly before the outbreak of the war, he changed occupations and he went into business as a painter. But he was not just simply painting houses. He also painted steamboats as well. His knowledge of steamboats gave him a working knowledge so that later on in the war he would be an able burner of steamboats. It may surprise you to learn that during the war years over 60 Union steamboats were sabotaged and burned on the Mississippi River. McCoy also was a member of the Liberty Fire Company, one of the volunteer fire companies in St. Louis, Missouri, until paid fire companies were established in 1858. So being in the fire company business gave him great opportunity to know both sides and to be associated with some of the leading people of St. Louis.

[John Weaver] In fact, the mayor, John M. Wymer, was also a prominent member of the Liberty Fire Company as well. And it may surprise you to learn this, that most of the major secessionists were members of these fire companies. McCoy went into business with Thomas Farmer, and he named his painting business Farmer and McCoy. And it seems as if McCoy also met his wife through the fire company. In December of 1855, he married Louisa Gibson, who was baptized Heloise. who was the youngest daughter of a well-to-do St. Louis family. His brother-in-law, Robert Loudon, who also became a notorious Confederate spy, mail runner, and saboteur, married Mary Gibson, Louise's sister, whom he met through the fire company as well. So, McCoy then had a great connection with the fire companies. He went to Alton, Illinois for a little while but he came back to St. Louis in 1859.

[John Weaver] By 1860, Arthur and Louisa had two sons, Joseph, born in 1856, and Arthur William, born in 1858, and their first daughter, Elizabeth, was born in 1861. Now let me tell you very quickly about another Confederate officer, only to give you a quote from him. Basil Duke was a Confederate officer during the War of Northern Aggression. His most noted service was that he was second in command to John Hunt Morgan. He was also John Hunt Morgan's brother-in-law. And Basil Duke then wrote a popular account of Morgan's famous raid, and it's titled 1863 Morgan's Raid. After Morgan was shot and killed by the Yankees, then Basil Duke took over Morgan's command. Basil Duke happened to also be one of the bodyguards of President Jefferson Davis when he fled from Richmond, Virginia down through the Carolinas. Now I'm telling you about Basil Duke just to give you what he said. He said that Arthur McCoy was one of the founding members of the Minutemen, the secessionist organization formed in response to the Unionist Wide Awakes.

[John Weaver] The thing that gets me is this. Everybody in this room has heard of the Ku Klux Klan. Everybody. I don't care where you go, you hear KKK. But have you ever heard of Washington's Klan? Have you ever heard of the Loyal League? Do you realize that the Northerners had their equivalent? In fact, the Congressional Commission that investigated the original KKK said that had not the Washington clan or the Loyal League been in existence the KKK would have never arisen.

[John Weaver] So here you have the Minutemen who were southern men and they came together in opposition to a group that were already formed the Wide Awakes. It was Arthur McCoy's wife Louisa who sewed the secessionist flag that flew tauntingly over the Berthold Mansion in St. Louis. And Arthur McCoy was also one of the individuals who helped raise the Missouri state flag over the courthouse. Now you say, but the courthouse already had a state flag. You've got to remember the Yankees had already come in and were taking control over St. Louis. In fact, they ran off the governor, they ran off everybody, and they placed in control individuals who were pro-North. Well, let me give you what one author wrote about Arthur McCoy, and you're going to find out there's a little discrepancy between these accounts as to his height, which really doesn't matter. Some say he's six feet or over, some say he's 5'11", But listen to what one author said.

[John Weaver] He said it very plainly. He said, Arthur McCoy was six feet and over, a little stooped about the shoulders, very long in the arms, having a stride like a racehorse, and a nervous energy expending itself even while he slept. All the lower face was massive, the lower jaw especially square cut and huge. The eyes were that cold, glittering, penetrating, blue that might be cruel as a serpent's, and then soft and tender as the eyes of confidence and trust.

[John Weaver] When the battle was dubious, that is doubtful, or desperate, or when the wreck was darkest and thickest, and the dead lay rank and plentiful, his eyes seemed to transform themselves and become absolutely scintillate, that is they flashed or threw off sparks. He sang little snatches of song in battle, He rode out in advance of his own skirmish line and challenged federal skirmishers to single combat. He would get down on his knees under fire, uncover himself, and pray fervently beside some mortally wounded comrade. He seemed never to know the meaning of fear. He begged incessantly to be sent upon forlorn and desperate service.

[John Weaver] He was a spy without peer in either army, He was a scout that seemed to have leagued with the devil and received from his majesty invaluable protection papers. He charged pickets for pastime and rode yelling and shooting through federal outposts at the head of 50 or 60 followers at all hours and in any weather. seven times during the war. Through the federal lines and past scouts, patrols, cantonments and militia and predatory bands, McCoy came into St. Louis with a thousand letters at a time and departed fence with as many more.

[John Weaver] Now the problem is this, it's not a problem but the truth is this, he smuggled more than letters. He also smuggled caps for the Confederate rifles and pistols. After the war McCoy rode with Jesse and Frank James on several occasions. So the question is how in the world did he get in with Jesse and Frank James because McCoy was a city boy from the eastern part and not from the western part of the state.

[John Weaver] Well first of all let me answer it like this. McCoy would have gotten in with Jesse and Frank and Cole and Jim and Bob Younger because he was a captain remember under General Joe Shelby. Well John Jarrett was also a captain under General Joe Shelby and John Jarrett had married Cole Younger's sister Mary Josephine. So there's a connection right there.

[John Weaver] Secondly, he rode and fought some during the war with George Todd who was a captain under Quantrell. So obviously then there was this connection and he could have met these boys at any particular time.

[John Weaver] Now, before I give you what I'm going to call some of the most courageous illustrations I've ever read in my life, I want to give you a newspaper editor's account of Arthur McCoy. Now, what makes this newspaper editor so credible is that He worked with John Newman Edwards and John C. Moore. Now Edwards was adjutant to Joe Shelby and also Moore was a captain or an officer under Joe Shelby. So McCoy and all of Jesse and Frank and all these others, John Jarrett, and even when Quantrell and some of his men would come under, they would still be under General Joe Shelby.

[John Weaver] So there would be a relationship that is formed and orders that are formed. So this editor was in with John Seymour and John Newman Edwards. So you had three editors here at the Kansas Times and here's what he said. Agreeable to your request, I give you some sketches of the notorious band of Missouri highwaymen whose latest exploit, the robbing of the train on Iron Mountain Road, is the sensation of the hour.

[John Weaver] I go of course on the presumption of the telegraphic dispatches that the perpetrators of the robbery were Arthur McCoy, the Younger Brothers, the James Boys, and Will Shepard. Now listen to this. If this presumption is mistaken, I hope these young gentlemen of the highway will pardon me. He doesn't want to get in trouble with them. But it must be said that there is nothing in their records at least that would tend to throw doubt upon the assumption of the telegraphic dispatches to the press.

[John Weaver] My knowledge of the boys dates from the time when I was associated with John Seymour and John Newman Edwards conducting the Kansas City Times. The boys had been Confederate soldiers serving part-time with Shelby and Marmaduke, and Moore and Edwards had been sometime their commanders and had been, before the boys became outlaws, their associates and friends. Thus, I learned much of their personal history whenever their exploits made them the theme of conversation in the Times office which by the way was quite frequently. Arthur McCoy who may be said to be the executive officer of the band is a remarkable man with a somewhat remarkable history.

[John Weaver] Before the war he was a resident of St. Louis where he occupied a respected position in society from some time which he partially lost by his reckless behavior during the two or three years immediately preceding the outbreak of the conflict, which means secessionism. At this time he joined one of the fire companies of St. Louis and his combative propensities soon gave him an unenviable notoriety. He was probably the worst customer to fool with that ran the machine in St. Louis at that time, which is saying as much for his fighting capacity as can be put into a few words.

[John Weaver] Now listen, McCoy is about 5 feet 11 inches high, dark complexion, had dark brown hair, a well-portioned altogether handsome face, and weighs, I suppose, about 175 pounds. He is well-educated. That is, he has a common education and is a man of considerably more than average intelligence. During the war, he did a great deal of service as a spy. And this was the school from which he graduated, the desperado that he is. I have not time or space to record any of his adventures as a Confederate spy.

[John Weaver] But those who know what sort of warfare was waged west of the Mississippi, know that the part he played often involved desperate work. And there are several instances which go to show that none of it was ever too desperate for him.

[John Weaver] Now listen, McCoy has one of those peculiar organisms whose possessors seem to deserve no credit for their courage. His bravery, which is absolute, is a sort of second nature. The result, not of pride or the fear of being called a coward, but of a fierce insensibility to danger and a total recklessness of personal hazard that gives him nerve under all circumstances. His hand goes to his revolver butt or to his knife hilt by an instinct as a tiger.

[John Weaver] Like as the aim of his bullet is infallible and the thrust of his buoy is decisive. I don't suppose McCoy ever shot at a man whom he did not hit. nor that he was ever in a situation where his judgment was not as clear as his impulses were suddenly and deadly. And you'll understand this statement a little bit later. He said, I don't know how he will die, but I suppose as he has lived violently, though I will venture to assert that when he does lie down with his boots on forever, those who brought him down will not soon forget the circumstances unless they should forget it immediately by keeping him company. I don't know how many thousands of dollars in rewards are set on the head of Arthur McCoy, but it amounts to a considerable more than a year's salary of a cabinet officer. Quite a snug little fortune. Though avaricious as I am, I have the remotest idea of attempting to make money by earning those rewards.

[John Weaver] As between the two, I think I would prefer to undertake to earn the same sum by swimming over Niagara Falls. Moreover, most men who know McCoy earn the same fix that I'm in. So, here's a newspaper editor says, that is saying, obviously McCoy is not someone to be harassed or provoked or riled because he did not tolerate exasperation and all who knew him knew absolutely of his courage, his bravery, and his determination. McCoy also happened to be in the Battle of Shiloh.

[John Weaver] He was always eager to fight. In fact, at the first tap of the drum, he espoused the cause of the South and he joined the 1st Missouri Confederate Infantry. And he also joined Bowen's Immortal Regiment. And I say immortal because that regiment was practically decimated at the Battle of Shiloh. Just a few of the 1st Missouri were left alive. As they marched past General Beauregard, General Beauregard took his hat off to the Missourians and he says, I salute 1st Missouri.

[John Weaver] I uncovered a courage that has never been surpassed. Arthur McCoy was in that regiment. He was one of the few who came out alive. Courage, coolness is exemplified in every area of his life. Here's a man who knew how to fight and he knew how to fight without fear. On one occasion, When a Yankee officer, Clayton, was in the area, McCoy hovered around him closely for three days. In three days, he cut off two picket posts, captured seven wagons, killed a notorious Union bushwhacker living near Pine Bluff, and returned loaded with arms and accoutrements. Just in three days. Now, I'm going to tell you the one time McCoy was captured. This to me is just absolutely unbelievable. The only reason McCoy was captured was because his horse was killed.

[John Weaver] McCoy and five other Confederate soldiers had a running battle with 78 Yankees for 11 miles. So you've got to talk about 6 Confederates fighting off 78 Yankees and it finally took them 11 miles just to even kill his horse. Well, interestingly, the Yankee officer who received McCoy was Clayton whom he had been fighting against previously. But Clayton took him and treated him very kindly. Here's what happened.

[John Weaver] One day a man showed up at Shelby's camp. The man was unrecognizable. His hair was matted and wet had all kind of trash in his hair, in his beard. There was mud and sand and sediment all over him. And he approached the sentry and said that he needed to see General Shelby. And the man was allowed into Shelby's camp and they washed the dirt off of him and combed out his hair. It was Arthur McCoy. What had happened was this, they had taken Arthur McCoy first to Pine Bluff and then they took him to Little Rock where they thought the penitentiary there was too good for him and they put him on a boat and they were going to take him to Alton, Illinois and put him in the penitentiary there. Now Alton, Illinois was a notorious Yankee prison and if you got sent to that prison You pretty well died a miserable death. It's kind of like Marion, Illinois today. There's a federal prison in Marion, Illinois.

[John Weaver] The water is so poor and everything is so bad. If you get sentenced to Marion, Illinois, you're either going to come out dead or broken in your health. And it was the same thing there. So they had him on the ship and they were taking him to Alton, Illinois. Well, General Shelby had launched an attack. By the way, he's been captured at least a month or so. He's been going from place to place.

[John Weaver] And so they have him on this boat. And Shelby is attacking a certain town. And he's attacking a boat, the Queen City. And McCoy hears the guns. and he knows Shelby's guns and he knows there's a fight going on and he can tell by the sound of the guns it sounds like the Confederates are winning. So what McCoy does is he gets the engineer of the boat or the captain of the boat and McCoy dresses in a workman suit as he was a workman on the boat and he goes up with the captain or the engineer to the top deck.

[John Weaver] And here the soldiers are walking their guard, Yankee soldiers, supposed to be, you know, keeping him there. He determined to escape and the engineer was helping him.

[John Weaver] Now you've got to remember, McCoy painted steamboats. So he knew a lot of these engineers. Robert Loudon, his brother-in-law, also painted steamboats. Loudon also had a friend, Ab Grimes, Absalom was his name, Absalom Grimes, Ab Grimes, who happened to be a pilot. And so any friends of Loudon would necessarily become friends of McCoy. And the Yankees noted that all riverboat men were notoriously southern leaning.

[John Weaver] And so here the captain is up on the deck with McCoy and he's the engineer and the captain looks at McCoy and he says, I tell you, we can't move from the wharf until this thing is fixed. Motioning to some part of machinery. And McCoy says, I tell you, That dang thing can't be fixed until you sent it to the Little Rock Foundry. The captain and the engineer said, I know better.

[John Weaver] You come with me and I'll show you. And so here the guard is hearing every word, not even receiving that Arthur McCoy is a confederate officer. He seems to think that there are two boatmen arguing over a piece of machinery and the engineer, the captain of the boat, and McCoy go down to the wheelhouse where McCoy just simply slips into the water, noiselessly, and then begins to float right down the river, right past all of the guards, past all of the other ships, and he floats down that river for several miles.

[John Weaver] Finally, he's tired, and he pulls over to a little sandbar to rest, and lo and behold, As he looks down the river, within 300 yards is a Union gunboat. Well, he can't cut through the woods because at this point the White River is about 10 miles wide and it's nothing but swamps and mud. And so what he does, he gathers some canes and some reeds and he kind of bundles them up.

[John Weaver] And he pushes them out in the water and he gets on the other side of them. And he floats right past the gunboats, right past all the Union sentries, and he goes another eight miles down the river until he gets to the place where he knows Shelby's camp is located. And that's when he gets out and goes to the camp with all the mud and sediment covering him.

[John Weaver] Here was a man that was so cool, it was unbelievable. He required, after several months of captivity, he required three days of rest. After three days, he heard about a Yankee steamboat, the Mariner, that was in the Mississippi River, that had struck a sandbar. He knew that area. So he took a group of men, cut through the woods, surprised the sentries who were guarding the steamboat. He took his men and waded about 200 yards out in the river, waist deep. And the steamboat, by the way, was loaded with coal. He got the officers of the boat, all the men of the boat, he captured them. He got all the rifles and pistols off the boat. Then he set fire to the boat and burned it. while it was sitting in the river.

[John Weaver] I mean, here's a man that just simply would not stop and could not stop. It seemed like he never ever ran out of energy. Not only did he not run out of energy, here's a man that begged to be sent on desperate missions. In fact, General Marmaduke, who was resting at Springfield and planning another attack at Camp Girardeau, needed musket caps and caps for the pistol. So he sent to General Shelby and he said send me 10 men that I can send to St. Louis. And remember St. Louis now is controlled by the Yankees. He said send me 10 men that I can send to St. Louis to get us some caps. General Joe Shelby just sent him off to McCoy. Just one man. When McCoy got to Marmaduke, General Marmaduke said, where are the others? McCoy said, we don't need any more. He said, all I need is one man. The two of us can get in and get through a whole lot easier than ten. So, and by the way, he begged to go on this mission as well.

[John Weaver] Now you've got to remember, all of this area in Missouri is controlled by the Yankees. McCoy chose Captain John W. Howard to accompany him. They left on January the 13th. You've got to remember January 13th, snow and ice in Missouri. They had no passport. They had no diplomatic documents. They had nothing but their courage and their determination along with several hundred letters that were to be mailed from Confederate soldiers to their families.

[John Weaver] Slowly and painfully they had to work their way to St. Louis because General Davidson's cavalry was everywhere. They were doing everything they could to avoid General Davidson's cavalry. When they got to Pilot Knob, they found an old man there, and you've got to remember now that Howard was dressed with a blue overcoat except for his gray pants. McCoy was dressed in a federal uniform, had a blue overcoat as well. When they got to Pilot Knob, the old man was very glad to see the boys in blue. And so the old man asked McCoy if he would take some letters to his sons. He had sons in the militia who were in St. Louis. And Captain Howard said, any money in them? No, said the old man, just business. Good, said McCoy.

[John Weaver] If there's money in them, the dang Seychelles might try to rob us for the valuables. And so they took this. They got all the information they could from him and kept going. And another interesting thing on this same trip, they keep stopping in houses, because remember there are no inns, there are no motels, and you have to be fed. So they stopped at one house, Mrs. Smith, who had southern leanings, but she had two sons who were in the Yankee militia. And so they stopped at her house, and she fed them, and they asked if they could rest a while, And about that time, her two Yankee militia sons came and said, why yes, you can rest. I'll post my boys out to keep you from danger. And so two Yankee militia stood sentry while McCoy and Howard, two Confederates, took a three-hour nap. After they took a three-hour nap, they went on down the road.

[John Weaver] They met a Mr. Stovall. And McCoy asked him, he said, are you a good Union man? Mr. Stovall said, as good as the best. Then he said, have you seen a pass here red-headed man riding a little shaved tail mule? And he had heard about this man down the road. And yes, he said, I saw him just recently. Well, said McCoy, he's a deserter from General Davidson's cavalry.

[John Weaver] And he said, and I'm on his trail. And I must have a guide to get me through this territory so I can get to St. Louis, because that's where he's going. And the man said, I can't go myself. But he said, I've got a neighbor who knows this territory well, and he's also in the militia. So McCoy said, go get him. And when the neighbor came back, Mr. Stovall said, Captain, he said, Here he is, and McCoy looked upon this man, and he was a vicious militiaman, mounted on a fine horse, well armed. McCoy says, I hear you're a good guide.

[John Weaver] I desire you to accompany me. And the militiaman said, I'm sorry, I cannot accompany you. McCoy reached in his saddlebag, pulled out an official looking letter and said this, General Davidson has given me this document for my authority. It empowers me to impress or to kill and I am willing to do either one or the other or my name is not Captain McKeever. And the militiaman said, very well, I will accompany And so here's a Yankee now leading two Confederate soldiers through this territory.

[John Weaver] The interesting thing is they come up upon a cavalry encampment. By this time it's raining, it's cold, it's wet. And the Yankee militiaman says, and the cavalry by the way had gone about 30 yards, 40 yards off the road because of the rain, they weren't going to just stand out in the rain. And the Yankee that was leading them said, well we'll have to stop or they'll shoot. McCoy said, I'm not stopping for anybody in this rain.

[John Weaver] And he said, Howard, close up. And Howard took his reins and hit the Yankees horse and all three of them rode straight through, no shots at all.

[John Weaver] Finally, they got to where they were supposed to be right outside of St. Louis. When they got right outside of St. Louis, they pulled up, dismounted, got them a room, took them a bath, leisurely shaved, and then went soldering into a public bar room. When they get into the saloon, there's about 20 Federals that are in there drinking. McCoy shouted, hello infantry, come and take a drink with some of the crack fellows from Davidson's cavalry.

[John Weaver] And all of a sudden all these Yankees swallowed around them just so they could get free whiskey and of course they begin to ask about Price and Marmaduke and the rebels and the bushwhackers and all of this. Finally, one of those men who was a very brawny man, came up to Captain Howard struggling to identify him. Finally he said, who are you? I know you. I've seen you before in St. Louis.

[John Weaver] Howard's composure was absolutely wonderful. Howard said, well of course you've seen me in St. Louis. Very likely, I've been there often. I'm Captain Beard of Hubbard's 1st Missouri Cavalry Battalion. And since all of these Yankees were infantry, and most of them had not been to the front lines yet, they had no earthly idea that they are now being overawed by these two fine cavalry officers in the Yankee Army, and yet they had no idea that they were literally Confederate soldiers. Once they got into St. Louis, the first thing that they did was to have two fine confederate uniforms made for themselves by the seamstresses in St. Louis. They not only had the uniforms made, they had all the lace, all the gaudiness, everyone on them.

[John Weaver] Finally, they were within, they passed within two feet of the sentries at the armory. McCoy said, I'll get the caps. He went in and got over 40,000 caps. Put them in his saddlebags. And he looked at Howard and he said, I'm not leaving this city till I have a little fun. So McCoy and Howard then went into One of the places where there were ladies there that played the piano, you know, entertain people, that kind of thing. I mean, real ladies. And so, as they were there, two Yankee majors came in. They'd been sitting around talking, the ladies playing the piano. All of a sudden, McCoy got up, went into a coat room. took off that blue Yankee overcoat.

[John Weaver] And there he stood in full Confederate uniform. He came out and he said, in all of his golden lace, he said, this farce of being a Yankee has played out. Miss, give us Dixie. And the woman jumped up to the piano and started playing Dixie. And as she did, the two Yankee majors turned and started going for the door. In time, they did. The pistols were out.

[John Weaver] McCoy and Howard said, gentlemen, you might as well stay and enjoy the night. He said, we're not about to get hanged over having a little bit of fun. And so what they did was make the Yankees drink. And while Dixie was being played, by the way, there's two endings of this story. One of them is the Yankees finally got drunk and were put to bed. But there's another ending too. And I have read it on several different places that before the night was over, McCoy made one of the Yankee soldiers put on a Confederate uniform and dance to Dixie while the other one sat there and applauded the whole time. But anyhow, whether he danced or whether he didn't dance, they were solidly, totally drunk. And of course, they went to bed and by early the next morning, McCoy and Howard were on their way out. McCoy had the 40,000 camps. At this point, Howard separated from McCoy and went southward in order to organize a company to take to Arkansas. But it's not over.

[John Weaver] I mean, McCoy's not even back. This is just one mission. As he rode out of St. Louis in the cold, gray, early morning, he passed Benton Barracks. And as he passed Benton Barracks, there was a Yankee Sentinel standing by the road with his rifle at right shoulder shift. McCoy rode up to him and he said, listen to this, he looks at the Yankee with a rifle on his shoulder and he says, I'm a Confederate officer. I represent the Confederate president.

[John Weaver] If you should present arms to me, I should consider that you had presented them to Mr. Jefferson Davis himself. Present arms! The Sentinel thought the man was mad or drunk. It was still early mornings. No other soldiers were up yet. And McCoy's revolver was out in a flash on the young Yankees breast. And he said, you will not present arms to me not to save your life.

[John Weaver] But you see, I have the drop on you. Do you want me to kill you? Still thinking that McCoy was one of his own or drunk and just being mischievous. trying to play a prank on him, the young sentinel replied, shoot and be damned. McCoy's face darkened instantly as he cocked his pistol and he said, I will not shoot you unless I give you a chance for your life.

[John Weaver] Listen, he said, I shall ride back 50 paces. Turn my horse and charge you. He said, you have one shot in your rifle. I have 18 in my pistols." But he said, I too will only use one shot. So he says, you have one chance to save your life. And when the Yankee soldier saw him march back 50 paces with his horse, turn and start the charge, he began to see this is serious. So he took his rifle off his shoulder, cocked it, and waited. McCoy charged within 10 paces of him and the young soldier fired at 10 paces, 10 steps, and missed. And as he did, McCoy came by, pulled out his pistol, one shot, shot the Yankee down. Thankfully, the Yankee did recover. And McCoy then turned and just sawed it off. All the Yankees then began to file out of the barracks. Calvary was mounted.

[John Weaver] None of them ever really went after him. He marched away literally unmolested. On this same trip, some 20 miles out of St. Louis, he met trouble. Because he had to cross a bridge. And the Yankees had control of the bridge. And McCoy was on the bridge and right on top of a Yankee century before he saw him. Halt was the challenge. Well, says Captain McCoy, what do you want? I want you to get down and show your pass, said the boy in blue. What, sir?" says McCoy in a voice of thunder.

[John Weaver] Do you dare to insult an officer of the day with a saber by his side with such a piece of insolence as this? Can't you see my rank, sir? Well, says the bashed federal in a sorrowful tone, I was only trying to obey the order of my captain. Your captain, eh? Where is your captain, sir? Had he done his duty, this thing would not have happened to you.

[John Weaver] He should have taught you to say, halt! Who comes there? and let me answer the challenge in that shape. Instead, you halt me improperly and show at once you have not been well instructed. Where is your captain, sir?" Well, he's just passed over the bridge with the rest of the company to put them on picket. Very well, says McCoy, somewhat mollified, I can excuse you, but I cannot overlook the negligence in your captain.

[John Weaver] I will go over and straighten him out right now. With that, he just punches first to his horse and took off. left the young sentry and when McCoy got to the other side of the bridge where the woods were he turned to the woods and left the captain without straightening him out. So he avoided the entire company of Yankees just with his coolness, just with his calmness and brazenness. This man is just absolutely astounding. Later in 1864 there was a deed that was done by McCoy that brought forth cheers from both southern troops and northern troops as well. General John B. Clark was attacking Glasgow from one side of the river and General Shelby was attacking it from the other side of the river.

[John Weaver] Between the two lines were the federal forts and garrison that were commanded by General Chester Harding. A large steamboat lay at the wharf and General Shelby desired to know if that steamboat was serviceable. If it was, he wanted someone to get it and bring it to him where he could put his troops in it and move them to the north side as well. But he did not want to sacrifice any of his soldiers just to see if that boat was serviceable.

[John Weaver] So he called for volunteers. 50 men volunteered. One of them was Arthur McCoy. McCoy begged and pleaded to let him be the man. And he said, you've got to remember, I've painted steamboats, I've been on steamboats, I know steamboats. And so finally, General Shelby permitted McCoy to go. So McCoy then had just a little skiff, just a little wooden boat. And he had an oar on each side.

[John Weaver] And he had to pull with the oars like this. And the way he had to pull, he had his back to the enemy. And just as he began to pull those oars, the Yankees began to fire on him.

[John Weaver] Now, they were up on a hill. And they were firing down. Collins, who was with Shelby, took his cannon and tried to fire at the Yankees, giving McCoy as much cover as he possibly could. As they continued to fire, this is unbelievable, as they continued to fire, he continued to row the boat. There were, listen to this, There were at least a thousand rounds fired at McCoy. Two hundred Yankee soldiers fired five rounds each.

[John Weaver] One of the oar locks was cut. The boat had four holes in it. A lock of his hair was shot off. His hat was shot off and fell into the river. At which point, McCoy stopped rowing, reached out and got his hat, stood up in the boat and bowed to the Yankee that shot his hat off and kept going. He got the boat. to the boat, he got the information, and then he had to row back through the same field of fire. Not one drop of his blood was shed. Unbelievable. Miraculously, he went through all of that fire, and then rowed back through all of that fire, and was never hit. On one occasion, McCoy fought a duel to the death. It was not one of his own making, but he did fight it.

[John Weaver] And the Western Army, you have to remember that there were many Confederate Indians. One of these regiments was a Choctaw regiment. And the young half-breed captain had a pony that was very, very sensible. The pony would do all kinds of tricks. the dance, bow, whatever. I mean, could have been a circus pony, he was so well trained. McCoy owned a very savage stallion, big, but fleet of foot, fast. And somehow that Indian put his pony in with McCoy's stallion. When they awoke the next morning, the Indian had no pony. because a stallion just killed him. The Indian was absolutely incensed and he demanded satisfaction and so he was going to kill McCoy's horse. McCoy stood in his path with a drone saber and said to the Chalk Doll, arm yourself.

[John Weaver] Shall it be with a sword or pistol? You want satisfaction? You may have it. My horses hide is more precious than my own, therefore not one hair upon it shall be ruffled." The Indian chose the saber. A ring was formed and they began to fight. McCoy was cut on the shoulder and in the right temple. The Indian had been slashed several times, once even across his saber arm. Both were getting weak. They had been fighting. Both were losing blood. Finally, McCoy did a feint and when he did the feint, the Indian moved and he just ran him through with his saber. The Indian did die that night.

[John Weaver] I could go on and on. Here's a man that did not know fear. Even in the most fearful circumstances, he was calm. McCoy fought fearlessly. He fought frequently. He fought ferociously. When the Southern generals had to withdraw from Missouri, it was McCoy and a few men, 50 or 60 men, who kept the pressure upon the Yankees. It was McCoy who sent word back to the Southern generals of what was going on and what was happening. After the war, the two James brothers, Cole and John Younger, and author McCoy was known as the Terrible Quintet. In fact, John Newman wrote a book, The Terrible Quintet, naming these five. John Newman Edwards wrote the book. After just a few months, when the book came out, John Younger was killed in a gunfight with the Pinkertons.

[John Weaver] Jesse and Frank James, of course, had became famous, but within 16 years they were out of business. Some say Jesse was dead, some say he was not dead. In fact, there's evidence that His death may have been faked anyhow. But as to Arthur McCoy, it's a puzzle as to what happened. Because John Newman Edwards, who knew all of these men personally, said that he was one of the most five prominent men in November of 1873. There is no confirmed death date for Arthur McCoy.

[John Weaver] The family believes that he died in Texas in the early 1880s. There are some sources that place his death as early as 1874, several weeks before the Gads Hill train robbery, which he is often named in. But a reliable source places his death as having been in 1880, for Louisa McCoy also lists herself as a widow in 1880. After Arthur's death, she remarried. She moved to Oklahoma Territory, where her second husband died, And then she and her children moved to Oregon and into Idaho where she remained a widow and alive until her death at age 81.

[John Weaver] Now I want you to stop and think with me. Here's my question. What can we learn from the life of Arthur McCoy? I can list a number of things. Courage. Coolness. Confidence. Consecration for a cause. And those are just starters. Have you ever stopped to think that courage is absolutely necessary in our personal life? And it's absolutely necessary especially in dangerous situations. And I've got news for you folks.

[John Weaver] If the Lord lets us live another year, I believe our situation in this country is going to get far more dangerous than it is right now. We need courage. We need coolness. We need to have a calm mind and to think calmly in situations. Do you realize in a desperate situation, most people go to pieces? I never will forget one incident that happened to me and I couldn't have been over four or five years old, probably three or four.

[John Weaver] But my mother had gone fishing with my father and I was a little boy and I was behind her and she had one of those bass lures with a treble hook on the end of it And she took her reel like this to throw it. It went behind her. She's left-handed. It went behind her like that. And that thing came back and caught me in the jaw. And when she did like that, it just sunk that hook in my jaw. When my mother saw what had happened, you know what she did?

[John Weaver] She picked me up and ran screaming to the house. Now, I want you to understand something. That was still attached to that reel. And that means that she drugged me, she drugged the line, and she drugged the reel, which was pulling on my jaw. Thankfully, my father was there. He chased her down, stopped her, took me away from her, broke the hook off, pulled it back out, and took me to the house of doctrine.

[John Weaver] Dad was calm, mother was not. All I'm trying to say is this folks, when times get desperate, it's not any time to lose your cool. We need confidence. We need confidence in our abilities. We need to know what we can do and what we cannot do. We need confidence in our God. We need confidence in His Word. We need confidence in His gracious providence in our lives. We need to understand what Robert E. Lee said when he said, Duty is ours, the consequences belong to God. We also need consecration. Consecration for a cause. You know those men who fought in that war, they were consecrated. They were dedicated. They fought. Can we do any less for the cause and the kingdom of Jesus Christ? What did He say in Matthew 6 and verse 33? But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these other things shall be added unto you. In order to fight fearlessly, with courage, with confidence and coolness, we must have consecration. And we must have consecration to Jesus Christ.

[John Weaver] and to His Word. We must consecrate ourselves afresh and anew and to learn to say like Martin Luther when he stood before Charles V and all the hosts of the Roman Catholic Empire, here I stand, God help me, I can do no other. We need to learn from the life of Arthur McCoy and ask God to give us some of what He had. May God give us men.

[John Weaver] Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow before Thee. We thank You for Your love, for Your truth, for Your grace, for Your mercy. Lord, help us to learn and learn from those, Lord, whom You have used in time past. Give us grace. Give us courage. Give us coolness, confidence, Lord, consecration unto thee in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, we ask and pray. Amen.

The Real McCoy

John Weaver | YouTube

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	YouTube
Media ID	hFfILKYbqm8
Subject	Dominion and Reconstruction
Course	The Crown Rights of Christ
Genre	Sermon
Date	2013-11-01
Dictation Name
Book	Book 063: The Crown Rights of Christ — Chapter 1
Source Timed Segments	89

Formatted Transcript

Introduction and Biblical Foundation

Weaver introduces 2 Timothy 3:14, emphasizing that we can learn from individuals who have made an impression on us, including non-Christians through common grace.

2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 14. And I want to just use this verse as a beginning. I will not be expounding this verse, and you will see why, because the message is basically a historical one, certainly with biblical principles. Notice 2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 14. The apostle Paul says,

Scripture Reading — 2 Timothy 3:14

"But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them."

So Paul writes Timothy and he tells him that you've learned a number of things and you've been assured of these truths. But he said you also must know of whom thou hast learned them. So he learned them particularly from the Apostle Paul. You know it's interesting that we can remember certain things that we've learned from certain individuals simply because they've made such a vast impression upon our minds. I can sit here today and tell you many things that I've learned from individuals and when I learned those things because they were indelibly marked upon my brain.

Well, the point I'm trying to make is this. We can learn from every individual. We can even learn as Christians from non-Christians. Not necessarily theology, but there is common grace that is given to men. And just because someone is not necessarily a Christian does not mean the individual does not have talents and gifts and abilities from which you and I may profit.

Origin of the Phrase 'The Real McCoy'

Weaver explores several possible origins of the phrase, including a Scottish whiskey brand, a Prohibition-era rumrunner, and a boxer, before settling on Arthur C. McCoy as the true embodiment.

Now I said that to show you the title of the message today is "The Real McCoy." The Real McCoy is based upon the life of Arthur C. McCoy. All of us have used this phrase "the real McCoy." When we say he's the real McCoy or it's the real McCoy, we're indicating that something is genuine, it's authentic and it's true. It's the real thing and it's not a substitute. I don't know if you've ever wondered where we derive our phrases from or why we say what we say. I have a book in my library and the title of the book is "Why We Say What We Say." And it has the origination of a lot of words and phrases and how they came into our vocabulary. I searched that book for "the real McCoy" and I did not find it.

So I had to do some research on my own. But when you hear the phrase "the real McCoy," you can think of other phrases like "the whole nine yards" or "the full money" or "okay." And "the real McCoy" is up there with some of the phrases that we use most frequently and most often. So I did a little searching on the internet and I found that the word or the name McCoy is derived from Mackay or Mackay is how it would be pronounced in Scotland from Missouri's Mackay in Edinburgh who made a fine brand of whiskey from 1856 onward and they promoted their whiskey as "the real Mackay." And undoubtedly these people were probably from the clan from Rhea Scotland so it could have been "Rhea Mackay" which then would come as "Real McCoy." So the Scots National Dictionary said this, "the Real Mackay," M-A-C-K-A-Y, we would say Mackay but they would pronounce it Mackay, is a Scots phrase that first appeared in print in 1856 as "a drappie o' the real Mackay" or "a drop of the real Mackay."

It's the same phrase that was adopted as a slogan to promote the whiskey. Webster's Dictionary quotes Robert Louis Stevenson in 1883 in a letter saying, "he's the real Mackay" or "the real Mackay." So in Scotland, as I pointed out, Mackay would be pronounced as the word "I." But when these people moved to Ireland, it was changed to McCoy. So the Irish families who are named McCoy, McKay, Mackey, McGee, and Magee all came to Ireland in the 13th century. And so we say "the real McCoy." Now, there are several originations given of this phrase. That was the first one. The second origin of the phrase is said to be derived from the Scotch whiskey that was smuggled into the United States by Captain William McCoy during the era of prohibition because only McCoy's whiskey was known as the real stuff.

Now here's a quote and you will appreciate this quote. To quote "Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Plunges into History Again," a great nearly 100% accurate source of trivia, page 144: "The most infamous rumrunner was Captain Bill McCoy whose liquor was of such high quality that it led to the expression 'the real McCoy.'" There's a third possibility and I doubt this one is really real because it happened too much later in time but some say the phrase originated with the boxer Kid McCoy who was actually Norman Selby who fought under that name. He was born in 1873, died in 1940. He was an American welterweight boxing champion and as the story goes and there's various versions of it, that he was challenged by a drunk to prove that he was the real McCoy and not some lesser boxer fighting under his name. And so it is said that Norman Selby, the real McCoy, then took his fist and knocked the drunk to the ground. He said the drunk got up and was rubbing his chin and said, "Oh yes, he's the real McCoy."

Well, whatever the origination of the phrase or wherever it originated, when you consider the life of Arthur C. McCoy, who was a Confederate soldier, a freedom fighter, and a larger than life spy and smuggler, you will be forced to confess that he was indeed the real McCoy. Now I have not found any reference to the Christianity or the lack of Christianity in the life of Arthur McCoy.

Arthur C. McCoy's Early Life and Character

Weaver describes McCoy's background, his physical description, and his reputation for absolute fearlessness and ferocity in battle, quoting contemporary accounts.

He was however one of the bravest and most courageous men about whom I've ever read. He has faced death and he did face death on numerous occasions with a smile and with a cheerful attitude. I do not know how anyone who could live as he lived and not know Jesus Christ savingly. Even in the heat of battle, he would uncover his head and kneel and pray fervently over a fallen comrade.

Now, I understand common grace and I know God can give men lots of common grace so that their lives are decent without giving them special saving grace. But at any rate, I believe as Christians, there are so many things that we can learn from the life of Arthur C. McCoy. Whether he was a genuine Christian or not, I know not. I told you already that he was one of the most courageous men I've ever read about. Do you realize that we have been commanded to be courageous? In Joshua 1:9, Joshua was told,

Scripture Reading — Joshua 1:9

"Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest."

But notice this,

Scripture Reading — Joshua 1:9

"Have not I commanded thee? Be of good courage, and be not afraid, and be not dismayed."

So God then has commanded us to have courage and not be fearful, and not be dismayed. In 2 Samuel chapter 10 and verse 12 we read this: "Be of good courage, and let us play the men for our people, and for the cities of our God: and the Lord do that which seemeth him good."

And you have the parallel passage in 1 Chronicles chapter 19 and verse 13 where the word of God says, "Be of good courage, and let us behave ourselves valiantly for our people, and for the cities of our God: and let the Lord do that which is right in his own sight." And so over and over in scripture, we've been commanded to be full of courage. The Bible tells us that we are not to be moved with fear at all for God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Now Arthur McCoy was a captain under General Joe Shelby. Later on he fought with guerrilla leader George Todd who was associated of course with Quantrill. After the war McCoy did ride some with Jesse and Frank James. Now McCoy was so fierce and so brave and so courageous. I want you to listen to one author. Here is the quote: "Federal soldiers, cotton speculators, Yankee agents, itinerant preachers, and psalm singing schoolmasters, these would be Yankees, fled from McCoy's scene of operations in ludicrous haste, spreading the most frightful reports of guerrillas, demons, giants, and whatnot. McCoy once suggested to a federal colonel under a flag of truce that as the vocabulary of epitaphs had been exhausted upon his men and upon himself, he would thereafter ask as a special favor that he and all of his men might be called guerrillas." Not gorillas, but guerrillas. Well, Arthur C. McCoy was known as the wild Irishman who served under General Joe Shelby.

He was born in Ireland in 1825 and he came to America where he went to finally the gold fields in California. He was a 49er. In 1850 he was in Centerville, California which was not far from Placerville, California where Drury James had a claim. Drury was the uncle of Jesse and Frank. And you have to remember that Jesse and Frank's father, Robert, also went to California and died in the gold fields. He was a Baptist preacher. Now, whether he was preaching or whether he was looking for gold, I don't know, but he died there. So, you have to wonder, since the James family and McCoy were so close together, whether or not their lives ever met in 1850. It would have been a great coincidence if they did, because McCoy's life was closely connected with Jesse and Frank in the 1860s and 1870s.

Now before the war, Arthur McCoy lived in St. Louis, Missouri, where he worked as a coppersmith in Blackman and McCoy, which was a stove and a tinware business, which he shared with William L. Blackman. Shortly before the outbreak of the war, he changed occupations and he went into business as a painter. But he was not just simply painting houses. He also painted steamboats as well. His knowledge of steamboats gave him a working knowledge so that later on in the war he would be an able burner of steamboats. It may surprise you to learn that during the war years over 60 Union steamboats were sabotaged and burned on the Mississippi River. McCoy also was a member of the Liberty Fire Company, one of the volunteer fire companies in St. Louis, Missouri, until paid fire companies were established in 1858. So being in the fire company business gave him great opportunity to know both sides and to be associated with some of the leading people of St. Louis.

In fact, the mayor, John M. Wymer, was also a prominent member of the Liberty Fire Company as well. And it may surprise you to learn this, that most of the major secessionists were members of these fire companies. McCoy went into business with Thomas Farmer, and he named his painting business Farmer and McCoy. And it seems as if McCoy also met his wife through the fire company. In December of 1855, he married Louisa Gibson, who was baptized Heloise, who was the youngest daughter of a well-to-do St. Louis family. His brother-in-law, Robert Loudon, who also became a notorious Confederate spy, mail runner, and saboteur, married Mary Gibson, Louise's sister, whom he met through the fire company as well. So, McCoy then had a great connection with the fire companies. He went to Alton, Illinois for a little while but he came back to St. Louis in 1859.

By 1860, Arthur and Louisa had two sons, Joseph, born in 1856, and Arthur William, born in 1858, and their first daughter, Elizabeth, was born in 1861. Now let me tell you very quickly about another Confederate officer, only to give you a quote from him. Basil Duke was a Confederate officer during the War of Northern Aggression. His most noted service was that he was second in command to John Hunt Morgan. He was also John Hunt Morgan's brother-in-law. And Basil Duke then wrote a popular account of Morgan's famous raid, and it's titled "1863 Morgan's Raid." After Morgan was shot and killed by the Yankees, then Basil Duke took over Morgan's command. Basil Duke happened to also be one of the bodyguards of President Jefferson Davis when he fled from Richmond, Virginia down through the Carolinas. Now I'm telling you about Basil Duke just to give you what he said. He said that Arthur McCoy was one of the founding members of the Minutemen, the secessionist organization formed in response to the Unionist Wide Awakes.

The thing that gets me is this. Everybody in this room has heard of the Ku Klux Klan. Everybody. I don't care where you go, you hear KKK. But have you ever heard of Washington's Klan? Have you ever heard of the Loyal League? Do you realize that the Northerners had their equivalent? In fact, the Congressional Commission that investigated the original KKK said that had not the Washington Klan or the Loyal League been in existence the KKK would have never arisen.

So here you have the Minutemen who were southern men and they came together in opposition to a group that were already formed the Wide Awakes. It was Arthur McCoy's wife Louisa who sewed the secessionist flag that flew tauntingly over the Berthold Mansion in St. Louis. And Arthur McCoy was also one of the individuals who helped raise the Missouri state flag over the courthouse. Now you say, but the courthouse already had a state flag. You've got to remember the Yankees had already come in and were taking control over St. Louis. In fact, they ran off the governor, they ran off everybody, and they placed in control individuals who were pro-North. Well, let me give you what one author wrote about Arthur McCoy, and you're going to find out there's a little discrepancy between these accounts as to his height, which really doesn't matter. Some say he's six feet or over, some say he's 5'11", but listen to what one author said.

He said it very plainly. He said, "Arthur McCoy was six feet and over, a little stooped about the shoulders, very long in the arms, having a stride like a racehorse, and a nervous energy expending itself even while he slept. All the lower face was massive, the lower jaw especially square cut and huge. The eyes were that cold, glittering, penetrating, blue that might be cruel as a serpent's, and then soft and tender as the eyes of confidence and trust." "When the battle was dubious, that is doubtful, or desperate, or when the wreck was darkest and thickest, and the dead lay rank and plentiful, his eyes seemed to transform themselves and become absolutely scintillate, that is they flashed or threw off sparks. He sang little snatches of song in battle. He rode out in advance of his own skirmish line and challenged federal skirmishers to single combat. He would get down on his knees under fire, uncover himself, and pray fervently beside some mortally wounded comrade. He seemed never to know the meaning of fear. He begged incessantly to be sent upon forlorn and desperate service."

"He was a spy without peer in either army. He was a scout that seemed to have leagued with the devil and received from his majesty invaluable protection papers. He charged pickets for pastime and rode yelling and shooting through federal outposts at the head of 50 or 60 followers at all hours and in any weather. Seven times during the war, through the federal lines and past scouts, patrols, cantonments and militia and predatory bands, McCoy came into St. Louis with a thousand letters at a time and departed fence with as many more."

McCoy's Wartime Exploits and Espionage

Weaver recounts McCoy's service under General Joe Shelby, his capture and daring escape, and his mission to St. Louis to obtain musket caps, highlighting his coolness under pressure.

Now the problem is this, it's not a problem but the truth is this, he smuggled more than letters. He also smuggled caps for the Confederate rifles and pistols. After the war McCoy rode with Jesse and Frank James on several occasions. So the question is how in the world did he get in with Jesse and Frank James because McCoy was a city boy from the eastern part and not from the western part of the state. Well first of all let me answer it like this. McCoy would have gotten in with Jesse and Frank and Cole and Jim and Bob Younger because he was a captain remember under General Joe Shelby. Well John Jarrett was also a captain under General Joe Shelby and John Jarrett had married Cole Younger's sister Mary Josephine. So there's a connection right there.

Secondly, he rode and fought some during the war with George Todd who was a captain under Quantrill. So obviously then there was this connection and he could have met these boys at any particular time. Now, before I give you what I'm going to call some of the most courageous illustrations I've ever read in my life, I want to give you a newspaper editor's account of Arthur McCoy. Now, what makes this newspaper editor so credible is that he worked with John Newman Edwards and John C. Moore. Now Edwards was adjutant to Joe Shelby and also Moore was a captain or an officer under Joe Shelby. So McCoy and all of Jesse and Frank and all these others, John Jarrett, and even when Quantrill and some of his men would come under, they would still be under General Joe Shelby.

So there would be a relationship that is formed and orders that are formed. So this editor was in with John Seymour and John Newman Edwards. So you had three editors here at the Kansas Times and here's what he said: "Agreeable to your request, I give you some sketches of the notorious band of Missouri highwaymen whose latest exploit, the robbing of the train on Iron Mountain Road, is the sensation of the hour." "I go of course on the presumption of the telegraphic dispatches that the perpetrators of the robbery were Arthur McCoy, the Younger Brothers, the James Boys, and Will Shepard." Now listen to this: "If this presumption is mistaken, I hope these young gentlemen of the highway will pardon me." He doesn't want to get in trouble with them. "But it must be said that there is nothing in their records at least that would tend to throw doubt upon the assumption of the telegraphic dispatches to the press."

"My knowledge of the boys dates from the time when I was associated with John Seymour and John Newman Edwards conducting the Kansas City Times. The boys had been Confederate soldiers serving part-time with Shelby and Marmaduke, and Moore and Edwards had been sometime their commanders and had been, before the boys became outlaws, their associates and friends. Thus, I learned much of their personal history whenever their exploits made them the theme of conversation in the Times office which by the way was quite frequently. Arthur McCoy who may be said to be the executive officer of the band is a remarkable man with a somewhat remarkable history." "Before the war he was a resident of St. Louis where he occupied a respected position in society from some time which he partially lost by his reckless behavior during the two or three years immediately preceding the outbreak of the conflict, which means secessionism. At this time he joined one of the fire companies of St. Louis and his combative propensities soon gave him an unenviable notoriety. He was probably the worst customer to fool with that ran the machine in St. Louis at that time, which is saying as much for his fighting capacity as can be put into a few words."

Now listen, "McCoy is about 5 feet 11 inches high, dark complexion, had dark brown hair, a well-portioned altogether handsome face, and weighs, I suppose, about 175 pounds. He is well-educated. That is, he has a common education and is a man of considerably more than average intelligence. During the war, he did a great deal of service as a spy. And this was the school from which he graduated, the desperado that he is. I have not time or space to record any of his adventures as a Confederate spy." "But those who know what sort of warfare was waged west of the Mississippi, know that the part he played often involved desperate work. And there are several instances which go to show that none of it was ever too desperate for him."

Now listen, "McCoy has one of those peculiar organisms whose possessors seem to deserve no credit for their courage. His bravery, which is absolute, is a sort of second nature. The result, not of pride or the fear of being called a coward, but of a fierce insensibility to danger and a total recklessness of personal hazard that gives him nerve under all circumstances. His hand goes to his revolver butt or to his knife hilt by an instinct as a tiger." "Like as the aim of his bullet is infallible and the thrust of his bowie is decisive. I don't suppose McCoy ever shot at a man whom he did not hit, nor that he was ever in a situation where his judgment was not as clear as his impulses were suddenly and deadly." And you'll understand this statement a little bit later. He said, "I don't know how he will die, but I suppose as he has lived violently, though I will venture to assert that when he does lie down with his boots on forever, those who brought him down will not soon forget the circumstances unless they should forget it immediately by keeping him company. I don't know how many thousands of dollars in rewards are set on the head of Arthur McCoy, but it amounts to a considerable more than a year's salary of a cabinet officer. Quite a snug little fortune. Though avaricious as I am, I have the remotest idea of attempting to make money by earning those rewards."

"As between the two, I think I would prefer to undertake to earn the same sum by swimming over Niagara Falls. Moreover, most men who know McCoy earn the same fix that I'm in." So, here's a newspaper editor says, that is saying, obviously McCoy is not someone to be harassed or provoked or riled because he did not tolerate exasperation and all who knew him knew absolutely of his courage, his bravery, and his determination. McCoy also happened to be in the Battle of Shiloh. He was always eager to fight. In fact, at the first tap of the drum, he espoused the cause of the South and he joined the 1st Missouri Confederate Infantry. And he also joined Bowen's Immortal Regiment. And I say immortal because that regiment was practically decimated at the Battle of Shiloh. Just a few of the 1st Missouri were left alive. As they marched past General Beauregard, General Beauregard took his hat off to the Missourians and he says, "I salute 1st Missouri."

"I uncovered a courage that has never been surpassed." Arthur McCoy was in that regiment. He was one of the few who came out alive. Courage, coolness is exemplified in every area of his life. Here's a man who knew how to fight and he knew how to fight without fear. On one occasion, when a Yankee officer, Clayton, was in the area, McCoy hovered around him closely for three days. In three days, he cut off two picket posts, captured seven wagons, killed a notorious Union bushwhacker living near Pine Bluff, and returned loaded with arms and accoutrements. Just in three days. Now, I'm going to tell you the one time McCoy was captured. This to me is just absolutely unbelievable. The only reason McCoy was captured was because his horse was killed.

McCoy and five other Confederate soldiers had a running battle with 78 Yankees for 11 miles. So you've got to talk about 6 Confederates fighting off 78 Yankees and it finally took them 11 miles just to even kill his horse. Well, interestingly, the Yankee officer who received McCoy was Clayton whom he had been fighting against previously. But Clayton took him and treated him very kindly. Here's what happened. One day a man showed up at Shelby's camp. The man was unrecognizable. His hair was matted and wet had all kind of trash in his hair, in his beard. There was mud and sand and sediment all over him. And he approached the sentry and said that he needed to see General Shelby. And the man was allowed into Shelby's camp and they washed the dirt off of him and combed out his hair. It was Arthur McCoy. What had happened was this, they had taken Arthur McCoy first to Pine Bluff and then they took him to Little Rock where they thought the penitentiary there was too good for him and they put him on a boat and they were going to take him to Alton, Illinois and put him in the penitentiary there. Now Alton, Illinois was a notorious Yankee prison and if you got sent to that prison you pretty well died a miserable death. It's kind of like Marion, Illinois today. There's a federal prison in Marion, Illinois.

The water is so poor and everything is so bad. If you get sentenced to Marion, Illinois, you're either going to come out dead or broken in your health. And it was the same thing there. So they had him on the ship and they were taking him to Alton, Illinois. Well, General Shelby had launched an attack. By the way, he's been captured at least a month or so. He's been going from place to place.

And so they have him on this boat. And Shelby is attacking a certain town. And he's attacking a boat, the Queen City. And McCoy hears the guns. And he knows Shelby's guns and he knows there's a fight going on and he can tell by the sound of the guns it sounds like the Confederates are winning. So what McCoy does is he gets the engineer of the boat or the captain of the boat and McCoy dresses in a workman suit as he was a workman on the boat and he goes up with the captain or the engineer to the top deck. And here the soldiers are walking their guard, Yankee soldiers, supposed to be, you know, keeping him there. He determined to escape and the engineer was helping him.

Now you've got to remember, McCoy painted steamboats. So he knew a lot of these engineers. Robert Loudon, his brother-in-law, also painted steamboats. Loudon also had a friend, Ab Grimes, Absalom was his name, Absalom Grimes, Ab Grimes, who happened to be a pilot. And so any friends of Loudon would necessarily become friends of McCoy. And the Yankees noted that all riverboat men were notoriously southern leaning. And so here the captain is up on the deck with McCoy and he's the engineer and the captain looks at McCoy and he says, "I tell you, we can't move from the wharf until this thing is fixed," motioning to some part of machinery. And McCoy says, "I tell you, that dang thing can't be fixed until you sent it to the Little Rock Foundry." The captain and the engineer said, "I know better."

"You come with me and I'll show you." And so here the guard is hearing every word, not even receiving that Arthur McCoy is a Confederate officer. He seems to think that there are two boatmen arguing over a piece of machinery and the engineer, the captain of the boat, and McCoy go down to the wheelhouse where McCoy just simply slips into the water, noiselessly, and then begins to float right down the river, right past all of the guards, past all of the other ships, and he floats down that river for several miles. Finally, he's tired, and he pulls over to a little sandbar to rest, and lo and behold, as he looks down the river, within 300 yards is a Union gunboat. Well, he can't cut through the woods because at this point the White River is about 10 miles wide and it's nothing but swamps and mud. And so what he does, he gathers some canes and some reeds and he kind of bundles them up.

And he pushes them out in the water and he gets on the other side of them. And he floats right past the gunboats, right past all the Union sentries, and he goes another eight miles down the river until he gets to the place where he knows Shelby's camp is located. And that's when he gets out and goes to the camp with all the mud and sediment covering him. Here was a man that was so cool, it was unbelievable. He required, after several months of captivity, he required three days of rest. After three days, he heard about a Yankee steamboat, the Mariner, that was in the Mississippi River, that had struck a sandbar. He knew that area. So he took a group of men, cut through the woods, surprised the sentries who were guarding the steamboat. He took his men and waded about 200 yards out in the river, waist deep. And the steamboat, by the way, was loaded with coal. He got the officers of the boat, all the men of the boat, he captured them. He got all the rifles and pistols off the boat. Then he set fire to the boat and burned it while it was sitting in the river.

I mean, here's a man that just simply would not stop and could not stop. It seemed like he never ever ran out of energy. Not only did he not run out of energy, here's a man that begged to be sent on desperate missions. In fact, General Marmaduke, who was resting at Springfield and planning another attack at Cape Girardeau, needed musket caps and caps for the pistol. So he sent to General Shelby and he said send me 10 men that I can send to St. Louis. And remember St. Louis now is controlled by the Yankees. He said send me 10 men that I can send to St. Louis to get us some caps. General Joe Shelby just sent him off to McCoy. Just one man. When McCoy got to Marmaduke, General Marmaduke said, "Where are the others?" McCoy said, "We don't need any more." He said, "All I need is one man. The two of us can get in and get through a whole lot easier than ten." So, and by the way, he begged to go on this mission as well.

Now you've got to remember, all of this area in Missouri is controlled by the Yankees. McCoy chose Captain John W. Howard to accompany him. They left on January the 13th. You've got to remember January 13th, snow and ice in Missouri. They had no passport. They had no diplomatic documents. They had nothing but their courage and their determination along with several hundred letters that were to be mailed from Confederate soldiers to their families.

Slowly and painfully they had to work their way to St. Louis because General Davidson's cavalry was everywhere. They were doing everything they could to avoid General Davidson's cavalry. When they got to Pilot Knob, they found an old man there, and you've got to remember now that Howard was dressed with a blue overcoat except for his gray pants. McCoy was dressed in a federal uniform, had a blue overcoat as well. When they got to Pilot Knob, the old man was very glad to see the boys in blue. And so the old man asked McCoy if he would take some letters to his sons. He had sons in the militia who were in St. Louis. And Captain Howard said, "Any money in them?" "No," said the old man, "just business." "Good," said McCoy.

"If there's money in them, the dang Secesh might try to rob us for the valuables." And so they took this. They got all the information they could from him and kept going. And another interesting thing on this same trip, they keep stopping in houses, because remember there are no inns, there are no motels, and you have to be fed. So they stopped at one house, Mrs. Smith, who had southern leanings, but she had two sons who were in the Yankee militia. And so they stopped at her house, and she fed them, and they asked if they could rest a while. And about that time, her two Yankee militia sons came and said, "Why yes, you can rest. I'll post my boys out to keep you from danger." And so two Yankee militia stood sentry while McCoy and Howard, two Confederates, took a three-hour nap. After they took a three-hour nap, they went on down the road.

They met a Mr. Stovall. And McCoy asked him, he said, "Are you a good Union man?" Mr. Stovall said, "As good as the best." Then he said, "Have you seen a passel here red-headed man riding a little shaved tail mule?" And he had heard about this man down the road. And yes, he said, "I saw him just recently." "Well," said McCoy, "he's a deserter from General Davidson's cavalry." And he said, "And I'm on his trail. And I must have a guide to get me through this territory so I can get to St. Louis, because that's where he's going." And the man said, "I can't go myself." But he said, "I've got a neighbor who knows this territory well, and he's also in the militia." So McCoy said, "Go get him." And when the neighbor came back, Mr. Stovall said, "Captain, here he is," and McCoy looked upon this man, and he was a vicious militiaman, mounted on a fine horse, well armed. McCoy says, "I hear you're a good guide."

"I desire you to accompany me." And the militiaman said, "I'm sorry, I cannot accompany you." McCoy reached in his saddlebag, pulled out an official looking letter and said this, "General Davidson has given me this document for my authority. It empowers me to impress or to kill and I am willing to do either one or the other or my name is not Captain McKeever." And the militiaman said, "Very well, I will accompany you." And so here's a Yankee now leading two Confederate soldiers through this territory. The interesting thing is they come up upon a cavalry encampment. By this time it's raining, it's cold, it's wet. And the Yankee militiaman says, and the cavalry by the way had gone about 30 yards, 40 yards off the road because of the rain, they weren't going to just stand out in the rain. And the Yankee that was leading them said, "Well we'll have to stop or they'll shoot." McCoy said, "I'm not stopping for anybody in this rain."

And he said, "Howard, close up." And Howard took his reins and hit the Yankees horse and all three of them rode straight through, no shots at all. Finally, they got to where they were supposed to be right outside of St. Louis. When they got right outside of St. Louis, they pulled up, dismounted, got them a room, took them a bath, leisurely shaved, and then went soldering into a public bar room. When they get into the saloon, there's about 20 Federals that are in there drinking. McCoy shouted, "Hello infantry, come and take a drink with some of the crack fellows from Davidson's cavalry."

And all of a sudden all these Yankees swallowed around them just so they could get free whiskey and of course they begin to ask about Price and Marmaduke and the rebels and the bushwhackers and all of this. Finally, one of those men who was a very brawny man, came up to Captain Howard struggling to identify him. Finally he said, "Who are you? I know you. I've seen you before in St. Louis." Howard's composure was absolutely wonderful. Howard said, "Well of course you've seen me in St. Louis. Very likely, I've been there often. I'm Captain Beard of Hubbard's 1st Missouri Cavalry Battalion." And since all of these Yankees were infantry, and most of them had not been to the front lines yet, they had no earthly idea that they are now being overawed by these two fine cavalry officers in the Yankee Army, and yet they had no idea that they were literally Confederate soldiers. Once they got into St. Louis, the first thing that they did was to have two fine Confederate uniforms made for themselves by the seamstresses in St. Louis. They not only had the uniforms made, they had all the lace, all the gaudiness, everyone on them.

McCoy's Brazen Acts and Narrow Escapes

Weaver details McCoy's audacious behavior in St. Louis, his confrontation with a Yankee sentinel, and his evasion of capture at a bridge, showcasing his calmness and brazenness.

Finally, they were within, they passed within two feet of the sentries at the armory. McCoy said, "I'll get the caps." He went in and got over 40,000 caps. Put them in his saddlebags. And he looked at Howard and he said, "I'm not leaving this city till I have a little fun." So McCoy and Howard then went into one of the places where there were ladies there that played the piano, you know, entertain people, that kind of thing. I mean, real ladies. And so, as they were there, two Yankee majors came in. They'd been sitting around talking, the ladies playing the piano. All of a sudden, McCoy got up, went into a coat room, took off that blue Yankee overcoat.

And there he stood in full Confederate uniform. He came out and he said, in all of his golden lace, he said, "This farce of being a Yankee has played out. Miss, give us Dixie." And the woman jumped up to the piano and started playing Dixie. And as she did, the two Yankee majors turned and started going for the door. In time, they did. The pistols were out. McCoy and Howard said, "Gentlemen, you might as well stay and enjoy the night." He said, "We're not about to get hanged over having a little bit of fun." And so what they did was make the Yankees drink. And while Dixie was being played, by the way, there's two endings of this story. One of them is the Yankees finally got drunk and were put to bed. But there's another ending too. And I have read it on several different places that before the night was over, McCoy made one of the Yankee soldiers put on a Confederate uniform and dance to Dixie while the other one sat there and applauded the whole time. But anyhow, whether he danced or whether he didn't dance, they were solidly, totally drunk. And of course, they went to bed and by early the next morning, McCoy and Howard were on their way out. McCoy had the 40,000 caps. At this point, Howard separated from McCoy and went southward in order to organize a company to take to Arkansas. But it's not over.

I mean, McCoy's not even back. This is just one mission. As he rode out of St. Louis in the cold, gray, early morning, he passed Benton Barracks. And as he passed Benton Barracks, there was a Yankee sentinel standing by the road with his rifle at right shoulder shift. McCoy rode up to him and he said, listen to this, he looks at the Yankee with a rifle on his shoulder and he says, "I'm a Confederate officer. I represent the Confederate president."

"If you should present arms to me, I should consider that you had presented them to Mr. Jefferson Davis himself. Present arms!" The sentinel thought the man was mad or drunk. It was still early mornings. No other soldiers were up yet. And McCoy's revolver was out in a flash on the young Yankee's breast. And he said, "You will not present arms to me not to save your life."

"But you see, I have the drop on you. Do you want me to kill you?" Still thinking that McCoy was one of his own or drunk and just being mischievous, trying to play a prank on him, the young sentinel replied, "Shoot and be damned." McCoy's face darkened instantly as he cocked his pistol and he said, "I will not shoot you unless I give you a chance for your life." Listen, he said, "I shall ride back 50 paces. Turn my horse and charge you." He said, "You have one shot in your rifle. I have 18 in my pistols." But he said, "I too will only use one shot." So he says, "You have one chance to save your life." And when the Yankee soldier saw him march back 50 paces with his horse, turn and start the charge, he began to see this is serious. So he took his rifle off his shoulder, cocked it, and waited. McCoy charged within 10 paces of him and the young soldier fired at 10 paces, 10 steps, and missed. And as he did, McCoy came by, pulled out his pistol, one shot, shot the Yankee down. Thankfully, the Yankee did recover. And McCoy then turned and just sawed it off. All the Yankees then began to file out of the barracks. Cavalry was mounted.

None of them ever really went after him. He marched away literally unmolested. On this same trip, some 20 miles out of St. Louis, he met trouble. Because he had to cross a bridge. And the Yankees had control of the bridge. And McCoy was on the bridge and right on top of a Yankee sentry before he saw him. "Halt" was the challenge. "Well," says Captain McCoy, "what do you want?" "I want you to get down and show your pass," said the boy in blue. "What, sir?" says McCoy in a voice of thunder.

"Do you dare to insult an officer of the day with a saber by his side with such a piece of insolence as this? Can't you see my rank, sir?" "Well," says the bashed federal in a sorrowful tone, "I was only trying to obey the order of my captain." "Your captain, eh? Where is your captain, sir? Had he done his duty, this thing would not have happened to you." "He should have taught you to say, 'Halt! Who comes there?' and let me answer the challenge in that shape. Instead, you halt me improperly and show at once you have not been well instructed. Where is your captain, sir?" "Well, he's just passed over the bridge with the rest of the company to put them on picket." "Very well," says McCoy, somewhat mollified, "I can excuse you, but I cannot overlook the negligence in your captain."

"I will go over and straighten him out right now." With that, he just punches first to his horse and took off, left the young sentry and when McCoy got to the other side of the bridge where the woods were he turned to the woods and left the captain without straightening him out. So he avoided the entire company of Yankees just with his coolness, just with his calmness and brazenness. This man is just absolutely astounding. Later in 1864 there was a deed that was done by McCoy that brought forth cheers from both southern troops and northern troops as well. General John B. Clark was attacking Glasgow from one side of the river and General Shelby was attacking it from the other side of the river.

The Daring River Reconnaissance

Weaver tells the story of McCoy volunteering to row across a river under heavy fire to inspect a steamboat, surviving over a thousand rounds without injury.

Between the two lines were the federal forts and garrison that were commanded by General Chester Harding. A large steamboat lay at the wharf and General Shelby desired to know if that steamboat was serviceable. If it was, he wanted someone to get it and bring it to him where he could put his troops in it and move them to the north side as well. But he did not want to sacrifice any of his soldiers just to see if that boat was serviceable.

So he called for volunteers. 50 men volunteered. One of them was Arthur McCoy. McCoy begged and pleaded to let him be the man. And he said, "You've got to remember, I've painted steamboats, I've been on steamboats, I know steamboats." And so finally, General Shelby permitted McCoy to go. So McCoy then had just a little skiff, just a little wooden boat. And he had an oar on each side.

And he had to pull with the oars like this. And the way he had to pull, he had his back to the enemy. And just as he began to pull those oars, the Yankees began to fire on him. Now, they were up on a hill. And they were firing down. Collins, who was with Shelby, took his cannon and tried to fire at the Yankees, giving McCoy as much cover as he possibly could. As they continued to fire, this is unbelievable, as they continued to fire, he continued to row the boat. There were, listen to this, there were at least a thousand rounds fired at McCoy. Two hundred Yankee soldiers fired five rounds each.

One of the oar locks was cut. The boat had four holes in it. A lock of his hair was shot off. His hat was shot off and fell into the river. At which point, McCoy stopped rowing, reached out and got his hat, stood up in the boat and bowed to the Yankee that shot his hat off and kept going. He got the boat, to the boat, he got the information, and then he had to row back through the same field of fire. Not one drop of his blood was shed. Unbelievable. Miraculously, he went through all of that fire, and then rowed back through all of that fire, and was never hit. On one occasion, McCoy fought a duel to the death. It was not one of his own making, but he did fight it.

Post-War Life and Mysterious Disappearance

Weaver notes McCoy's association with the James-Younger gang and the uncertainty surrounding his death, with family records suggesting he died in the early 1880s.

I could go on and on. Here's a man that did not know fear. Even in the most fearful circumstances, he was calm. McCoy fought fearlessly. He fought frequently. He fought ferociously. When the Southern generals had to withdraw from Missouri, it was McCoy and a few men, 50 or 60 men, who kept the pressure upon the Yankees. It was McCoy who sent word back to the Southern generals of what was going on and what was happening. After the war, the two James brothers, Cole and John Younger, and Arthur McCoy was known as the Terrible Quintet. In fact, John Newman wrote a book, "The Terrible Quintet," naming these five. John Newman Edwards wrote the book. After just a few months, when the book came out, John Younger was killed in a gunfight with the Pinkertons.

Jesse and Frank James, of course, had became famous, but within 16 years they were out of business. Some say Jesse was dead, some say he was not dead. In fact, there's evidence that his death may have been faked anyhow. But as to Arthur McCoy, it's a puzzle as to what happened. Because John Newman Edwards, who knew all of these men personally, said that he was one of the most five prominent men in November of 1873. There is no confirmed death date for Arthur McCoy. The family believes that he died in Texas in the early 1880s. There are some sources that place his death as early as 1874, several weeks before the Gads Hill train robbery, which he is often named in. But a reliable source places his death as having been in 1880, for Louisa McCoy also lists herself as a widow in 1880. After Arthur's death, she remarried. She moved to Oklahoma Territory, where her second husband died, and then she and her children moved to Oregon and into Idaho where she remained a widow and alive until her death at age 81.

Now I want you to stop and think with me. Here's my question. What can we learn from the life of Arthur McCoy? I can list a number of things. Courage. Coolness. Confidence. Consecration for a cause. And those are just starters. Have you ever stopped to think that courage is absolutely necessary in our personal life? And it's absolutely necessary especially in dangerous situations. And I've got news for you folks.

Lessons for Christians: Courage, Coolness, Confidence, Consecration

Weaver applies McCoy's example to the Christian life, urging believers to develop courage, calmness, confidence in God, and consecration to Christ's kingdom, especially in dangerous times.

If the Lord lets us live another year, I believe our situation in this country is going to get far more dangerous than it is right now. We need courage. We need coolness. We need to have a calm mind and to think calmly in situations. Do you realize in a desperate situation, most people go to pieces? I never will forget one incident that happened to me and I couldn't have been over four or five years old, probably three or four.

But my mother had gone fishing with my father and I was a little boy and I was behind her and she had one of those bass lures with a treble hook on the end of it. And she took her reel like this to throw it. It went behind her. She's left-handed. It went behind her like that. And that thing came back and caught me in the jaw. And when she did like that, it just sunk that hook in my jaw. When my mother saw what had happened, you know what she did?

She picked me up and ran screaming to the house. Now, I want you to understand something. That was still attached to that reel. And that means that she drugged me, she drugged the line, and she drugged the reel, which was pulling on my jaw. Thankfully, my father was there. He chased her down, stopped her, took me away from her, broke the hook off, pulled it back out, and took me to the house of doctor. Dad was calm, mother was not. All I'm trying to say is this folks, when times get desperate, it's not any time to lose your cool. We need confidence. We need confidence in our abilities. We need to know what we can do and what we cannot do. We need confidence in our God. We need confidence in His Word. We need confidence in His gracious providence in our lives. We need to understand what Robert E. Lee said when he said, "Duty is ours, the consequences belong to God." We also need consecration. Consecration for a cause. You know those men who fought in that war, they were consecrated. They were dedicated. They fought. Can we do any less for the cause and the kingdom of Jesus Christ? What did He say in Matthew 6:33?

Scripture Reading — Matthew 6:33

"But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these other things shall be added unto you."

In order to fight fearlessly, with courage, with confidence and coolness, we must have consecration. And we must have consecration to Jesus Christ.

and to His Word. We must consecrate ourselves afresh and anew and to learn to say like Martin Luther when he stood before Charles V and all the hosts of the Roman Catholic Empire, "Here I stand, God help me, I can do no other." We need to learn from the life of Arthur McCoy and ask God to give us some of what he had. May God give us men.

Study Guide

Major Themes

Courage

Summary: The necessity of courage in the Christian life, modeled by Arthur McCoy's fearlessness in battle and commanded by Scripture.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'Have not I commanded thee? Be of good courage, and be not afraid, and be not dismayed' (Joshua 1:9) and describes McCoy as 'one of the bravest and most courageous men about whom I've ever read.'

Coolness Under Pressure

Summary: The importance of maintaining composure in desperate situations, as McCoy did repeatedly when facing overwhelming odds.

Evidence: Weaver recounts McCoy's escape from captivity and his calm deception of Union soldiers, noting 'Here was a man that was so cool, it was unbelievable.'

Confidence in God and Providence

Summary: The need for confidence in God's abilities and providence, drawing from McCoy's self-assurance and applying it to faith.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'We need confidence in our God. We need confidence in His Word. We need confidence in His gracious providence in our lives.'

Consecration to a Cause

Summary: The call to be dedicated to the kingdom of Christ, inspired by McCoy's total commitment to the Confederate cause.

Evidence: Weaver asks, 'Can we do any less for the cause and the kingdom of Jesus Christ?' and cites Matthew 6:33.

Learning from Non-Christians

Summary: The idea that Christians can learn valuable lessons from non-believers through common grace, as exemplified by McCoy's virtues.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'We can even learn as Christians from non-Christians. Not necessarily theology, but there is common grace that is given to men.'

The Real McCoy as Genuine Authenticity

Summary: The phrase 'the real McCoy' signifies something genuine and authentic, which Weaver ties to McCoy's larger-than-life character.

Evidence: Weaver explains, 'When we say he's the real McCoy or it's the real McCoy, we're indicating that something is genuine, it's authentic and it's true.'

Key Arguments

Courage is commanded by God and exemplified by McCoy

Summary: Weaver argues that Scripture commands courage, and McCoy's life provides a powerful example of fearless bravery that Christians should emulate.

Evidence: Weaver quotes Joshua 1:9 and 2 Samuel 10:12, then states, 'Arthur McCoy was one of the bravest and most courageous men about whom I've ever read.'

Coolness in crisis is a learned trait from McCoy's exploits

Summary: Weaver contends that McCoy's ability to remain calm under fire is a quality Christians need, especially as times become more dangerous.

Evidence: Weaver describes McCoy's escape: 'He just simply slips into the water, noiselessly, and then begins to float right down the river, right past all of the guards.'

Confidence in God is essential for facing future trials

Summary: Weaver asserts that believers must have confidence in God's Word and providence, drawing a parallel to McCoy's self-confidence.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'We need confidence in our God. We need confidence in His Word. We need confidence in His gracious providence in our lives.'

Consecration to Christ's kingdom should match McCoy's dedication

Summary: Weaver argues that the dedication of Confederate soldiers should inspire Christians to greater consecration to the cause of Christ.

Evidence: Weaver asks, 'Can we do any less for the cause and the kingdom of Jesus Christ?' and references Matthew 6:33.

Common grace allows learning from non-Christian examples

Summary: Weaver posits that God gives common grace to all people, enabling Christians to learn virtues like courage from individuals like McCoy, regardless of their faith.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'I understand common grace and I know God can give men lots of common grace so that their lives are decent without giving them special saving grace.'

Scripture References

2 Timothy 3:14

Context: Weaver uses this verse to introduce the idea of learning from individuals who have made an impression, applying it to the life of Arthur McCoy.

Joshua 1:9

Context: Weaver quotes this verse to show that God commands courage, a trait exemplified by McCoy.

2 Samuel 10:12

Context: Weaver cites this verse as another biblical command to be courageous and 'play the men' for God's people.

1 Chronicles 19:13

Context: Weaver references this parallel passage to reinforce the call to courage and valiant behavior.

2 Timothy 1:7

Context: Weaver alludes to this verse, stating that God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power, love, and a sound mind.

Matthew 6:33

Context: Weaver quotes this verse to emphasize seeking God's kingdom first as part of consecration.

Historical References

Arthur C. McCoy

Context: Confederate soldier, spy, and smuggler whose life is the subject of the sermon; known for his courage and daring exploits.

General Joe Shelby

Context: Confederate general under whom McCoy served as a captain; known for his cavalry raids in Missouri.

Captain William McCoy (rumrunner)

Context: Prohibition-era rumrunner whose high-quality liquor supposedly gave rise to the phrase 'the real McCoy.'

Kid McCoy (Norman Selby)

Context: American welterweight boxing champion whose name is another possible origin of the phrase 'the real McCoy.'

Jesse and Frank James

Context: Notorious outlaws and former Confederate guerrillas with whom McCoy rode after the Civil War.

Quantrill's Raiders

Context: Pro-Confederate guerrilla group led by William Quantrill; McCoy fought with George Todd, a captain under Quantrill.

Battle of Shiloh

Context: Major Civil War battle in which McCoy fought with the 1st Missouri Confederate Infantry, which was nearly decimated.

John Newman Edwards

Context: Confederate officer and journalist who wrote about McCoy and the James-Younger gang, including the book 'The Terrible Quintet.'

Alton, Illinois prison

Context: Notorious Union prison where McCoy was being sent before his escape; known for harsh conditions.

Martin Luther at the Diet of Worms

Context: Weaver references Luther's stand before Charles V as an example of consecration and courage, saying 'Here I stand, God help me, I can do no other.'

Important Quotes

Arthur McCoy was six feet and over, a little stooped about the shoulders, very long in the arms, having a stride like a racehorse, and a nervous energy expending itself even while he slept. All the lower face was massive, the lower jaw especially square cut and huge. The eyes were that cold, glittering, penetrating, blue that might be cruel as a serpent's, and then soft and tender as the eyes of confidence and trust.

Significance: This vivid description from a contemporary author captures McCoy's imposing physical presence and the duality of his fierce and tender nature.

He seemed never to know the meaning of fear. He begged incessantly to be sent upon forlorn and desperate service.

Significance: Highlights McCoy's absolute fearlessness and eagerness for dangerous missions, which Weaver holds up as exemplary courage.

McCoy has one of those peculiar organisms whose possessors seem to deserve no credit for their courage. His bravery, which is absolute, is a sort of second nature. The result, not of pride or the fear of being called a coward, but of a fierce insensibility to danger and a total recklessness of personal hazard that gives him nerve under all circumstances.

Significance: A newspaper editor's analysis of McCoy's innate courage, emphasizing that it was not motivated by pride but by a natural disregard for danger.

I don't know how he will die, but I suppose as he has lived violently, though I will venture to assert that when he does lie down with his boots on forever, those who brought him down will not soon forget the circumstances unless they should forget it immediately by keeping him company.

Significance: A grimly humorous prediction about McCoy's eventual death, underscoring his deadly reputation and the fear he inspired.

Duty is ours, the consequences belong to God.

Significance: Weaver quotes Robert E. Lee to illustrate the principle of consecration and trust in God's providence, applying it to Christian duty.

Here I stand, God help me, I can do no other.

Significance: Weaver cites Martin Luther's famous declaration as a model of consecration and courage for believers.

Discussion Questions

How does the biblical command to be courageous (Joshua 1:9) apply to our lives today, especially in the face of increasing cultural opposition?

Context: Weaver emphasizes that courage is commanded by God and exemplified by McCoy, urging believers to develop this trait.

In what ways can we learn from non-Christians like Arthur McCoy without compromising our faith?

Context: Weaver introduces the concept of common grace, suggesting that virtues like courage can be observed and emulated from non-believers.

What does McCoy's coolness under pressure teach us about handling crises with a calm and sound mind?

Context: Weaver recounts multiple instances where McCoy remained composed in life-threatening situations, contrasting it with panic.

How can we cultivate a deeper confidence in God's providence when facing uncertain or dangerous circumstances?

Context: Weaver calls for confidence in God's Word and providence, using Lee's quote about duty and consequences.

What does it mean to be consecrated to the cause of Christ, and how does McCoy's dedication to his cause challenge our commitment?

Context: Weaver contrasts McCoy's total dedication to the Confederate cause with the call to seek first God's kingdom.

Why is it important to maintain a 'cool head' in desperate situations, and how can we prepare ourselves spiritually for such times?

Context: Weaver shares a personal story about his mother's panic versus his father's calm, illustrating the need for composure.

Applications

Develop Courage

Summary: Believers are commanded to be courageous and should actively cultivate bravery in their personal lives, especially as societal pressures increase.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'We need courage. We need coolness. We need to have a calm mind and to think calmly in situations.'

Maintain Composure in Crisis

Summary: Christians should learn to remain calm and think clearly in desperate situations, following McCoy's example of coolness under fire.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'when times get desperate, it's not any time to lose your cool.'

Trust in God's Providence

Summary: Believers must place their confidence in God's sovereign control and His Word, rather than relying on their own strength.

Evidence: Weaver urges, 'We need confidence in our God. We need confidence in His Word. We need confidence in His gracious providence in our lives.'

Consecrate Yourself to Christ's Kingdom

Summary: Christians should dedicate themselves wholly to the cause of Christ, seeking first His kingdom and righteousness.

Evidence: Weaver asks, 'Can we do any less for the cause and the kingdom of Jesus Christ?' and quotes Matthew 6:33.

Learn from Exemplary Lives

Summary: Believers can learn valuable lessons from the lives of others, including non-Christians, by observing virtues like courage and dedication.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'We can learn from every individual. We can even learn as Christians from non-Christians.'

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-06T01:32:01Z

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T15:27:38Z

Clean Transcript

The Real McCoy

Clean readable transcript. This view follows the Commentary.net cleaned segment text while preserving timestamps for audio follow-along.

2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 14. And I want to just use this verse as a beginning. I will not be expounding this verse, and you will see why, because the message is basically a historical one, certainly with biblical principles. Notice 2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 14. The apostle Paul says, "But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them." So Paul writes Timothy and he tells him that you've learned a number of things and you've been assured of these truths. But he said you also must know of whom thou hast learned them. So he learned them particularly from the Apostle Paul. You know it's interesting that we can remember certain things that we've learned from certain individuals simply because they've made such a vast impression upon our minds. I can sit here today and tell you many things that I've learned from individuals and when I learned those things because they were indelibly marked upon my brain.
#1 | 0:15 to 1:25 | cleaned
Well, the point I'm trying to make is this. We can learn from every individual. We can even learn as Christians from non-Christians. Not necessarily theology, but there is common grace that is given to men. And just because someone is not necessarily a Christian does not mean the individual does not have talents and gifts and abilities from which you and I may profit.
#2 | 1:26 to 1:54 | cleaned
Now I said that to show you the title of the message today is "The Real McCoy." The Real McCoy is based upon the life of Arthur C. McCoy. All of us have used this phrase "the real McCoy." When we say he's the real McCoy or it's the real McCoy, we're indicating that something is genuine, it's authentic and it's true. It's the real thing and it's not a substitute. I don't know if you've ever wondered where we derive our phrases from or why we say what we say. I have a book in my library and the title of the book is "Why We Say What We Say." And it has the origination of a lot of words and phrases and how they came into our vocabulary. I searched that book for "the real McCoy" and I did not find it.
#3 | 1:55 to 2:55 | cleaned
So I had to do some research on my own. But when you hear the phrase "the real McCoy," you can think of other phrases like "the whole nine yards" or "the full money" or "okay." And "the real McCoy" is up there with some of the phrases that we use most frequently and most often. So I did a little searching on the internet and I found that the word or the name McCoy is derived from Mackay or Mackay is how it would be pronounced in Scotland from Missouri's Mackay in Edinburgh who made a fine brand of whiskey from 1856 onward and they promoted their whiskey as "the real Mackay." And undoubtedly these people were probably from the clan from Rhea Scotland so it could have been "Rhea Mackay" which then would come as "Real McCoy." So the Scots National Dictionary said this, "the Real Mackay," M-A-C-K-A-Y, we would say Mackay but they would pronounce it Mackay, is a Scots phrase that first appeared in print in 1856 as "a drappie o' the real Mackay" or "a drop of the real Mackay."
#4 | 2:55 to 4:17 | cleaned
It's the same phrase that was adopted as a slogan to promote the whiskey. Webster's Dictionary quotes Robert Louis Stevenson in 1883 in a letter saying, "he's the real Mackay" or "the real Mackay." So in Scotland, as I pointed out, Mackay would be pronounced as the word "I." But when these people moved to Ireland, it was changed to McCoy. So the Irish families who are named McCoy, McKay, Mackey, McGee, and Magee all came to Ireland in the 13th century. And so we say "the real McCoy." Now, there are several originations given of this phrase.
#5 | 4:18 to 5:04 | cleaned
That was the first one. The second origin of the phrase is said to be derived from the Scotch whiskey that was smuggled into the United States by Captain William McCoy during the era of prohibition because only McCoy's whiskey was known as the real stuff.
#6 | 5:05 to 5:23 | cleaned
Now here's a quote and you will appreciate this quote. To quote "Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Plunges into History Again," a great nearly 100% accurate source of trivia, page 144: "The most infamous rumrunner was Captain Bill McCoy whose liquor was of such high quality that it led to the expression 'the real McCoy.'" There's a third possibility and I doubt this one is really real because it happened too much later in time but some say the phrase originated with the boxer Kid McCoy who was actually Norman Selby who fought under that name.
#7 | 5:23 to 6:12 | cleaned
He was born in 1873, died in 1940. He was an American welterweight boxing champion and as the story goes and there's various versions of it, that he was challenged by a drunk to prove that he was the real McCoy and not some lesser boxer fighting under his name. And so it is said that Norman Selby, the real McCoy, then took his fist and knocked the drunk to the ground. He said the drunk got up and was rubbing his chin and said, "Oh yes, he's the real McCoy."
#8 | 6:12 to 6:46 | cleaned
Well, whatever the origination of the phrase or wherever it originated, when you consider the life of Arthur C. McCoy, who was a Confederate soldier, a freedom fighter, and a larger than life spy and smuggler, you will be forced to confess that he was indeed the real McCoy. Now I have not found any reference to the Christianity or the lack of Christianity in the life of Arthur McCoy.
#9 | 6:47 to 7:18 | cleaned
He was however one of the bravest and most courageous men about whom I've ever read. He has faced death and he did face death on numerous occasions with a smile and with a cheerful attitude. I do not know how anyone who could live as he lived and not know Jesus Christ savingly. Even in the heat of battle, he would uncover his head and kneel and pray fervently over a fallen comrade.
#10 | 7:19 to 7:55 | cleaned
Now, I understand common grace and I know God can give men lots of common grace so that their lives are decent without giving them special saving grace. But at any rate, I believe as Christians, there are so many things that we can learn from the life of Arthur C. McCoy. Whether he was a genuine Christian or not, I know not. I told you already that he was one of the most courageous men I've ever read about. Do you realize that we have been commanded to be courageous? In Joshua 1:9, Joshua was told, "Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest." But notice this, "Have not I commanded thee? Be of good courage, and be not afraid, and be not dismayed." So God then has commanded us to have courage and not be fearful, and not be dismayed. In 2 Samuel chapter 10 and verse 12 we read this: "Be of good courage, and let us play the men for our people, and for the cities of our God: and the Lord do that which seemeth him good."
#11 | 7:56 to 9:15 | cleaned
And you have the parallel passage in 1 Chronicles chapter 19 and verse 13 where the word of God says, "Be of good courage, and let us behave ourselves valiantly for our people, and for the cities of our God: and let the Lord do that which is right in his own sight." And so over and over in scripture, we've been commanded to be full of courage. The Bible tells us that we are not to be moved with fear at all for God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
#12 | 9:16 to 9:52 | cleaned
Now Arthur McCoy was a captain under General Joe Shelby. Later on he fought with guerrilla leader George Todd who was associated of course with Quantrill. After the war McCoy did ride some with Jesse and Frank James. Now McCoy was so fierce and so brave and so courageous. I want you to listen to one author. Here is the quote: "Federal soldiers, cotton speculators, Yankee agents, itinerant preachers, and psalm singing schoolmasters, these would be Yankees, fled from McCoy's scene of operations in ludicrous haste, spreading the most frightful reports of guerrillas, demons, giants, and whatnot. McCoy once suggested to a federal colonel under a flag of truce that as the vocabulary of epitaphs had been exhausted upon his men and upon himself, he would thereafter ask as a special favor that he and all of his men might be called guerrillas." Not gorillas, but guerrillas. Well, Arthur C. McCoy was known as the wild Irishman who served under General Joe Shelby.
#13 | 9:53 to 11:19 | cleaned
He was born in Ireland in 1825 and he came to America where he went to finally the gold fields in California. He was a 49er. In 1850 he was in Centerville, California which was not far from Placerville, California where Drury James had a claim. Drury was the uncle of Jesse and Frank. And you have to remember that Jesse and Frank's father, Robert, also went to California and died in the gold fields.
#14 | 11:20 to 11:56 | cleaned
He was a Baptist preacher. Now, whether he was preaching or whether he was looking for gold, I don't know, but he died there. So, you have to wonder, since the James family and McCoy were so close together, whether or not their lives ever met in 1850. It would have been a great coincidence if they did, because McCoy's life was closely connected with Jesse and Frank in the 1860s and 1870s.
#15 | 11:56 to 12:27 | cleaned
Now before the war, Arthur McCoy lived in St. Louis, Missouri, where he worked as a coppersmith in Blackman and McCoy, which was a stove and a tinware business, which he shared with William L. Blackman. Shortly before the outbreak of the war, he changed occupations and he went into business as a painter. But he was not just simply painting houses. He also painted steamboats as well. His knowledge of steamboats gave him a working knowledge so that later on in the war he would be an able burner of steamboats. It may surprise you to learn that during the war years over 60 Union steamboats were sabotaged and burned on the Mississippi River. McCoy also was a member of the Liberty Fire Company, one of the volunteer fire companies in St. Louis, Missouri, until paid fire companies were established in 1858. So being in the fire company business gave him great opportunity to know both sides and to be associated with some of the leading people of St. Louis.
#16 | 12:28 to 13:49 | cleaned
In fact, the mayor, John M. Wymer, was also a prominent member of the Liberty Fire Company as well. And it may surprise you to learn this, that most of the major secessionists were members of these fire companies. McCoy went into business with Thomas Farmer, and he named his painting business Farmer and McCoy. And it seems as if McCoy also met his wife through the fire company. In December of 1855, he married Louisa Gibson, who was baptized Heloise, who was the youngest daughter of a well-to-do St. Louis family. His brother-in-law, Robert Loudon, who also became a notorious Confederate spy, mail runner, and saboteur, married Mary Gibson, Louise's sister, whom he met through the fire company as well. So, McCoy then had a great connection with the fire companies. He went to Alton, Illinois for a little while but he came back to St. Louis in 1859.
#17 | 13:49 to 15:00 | cleaned
By 1860, Arthur and Louisa had two sons, Joseph, born in 1856, and Arthur William, born in 1858, and their first daughter, Elizabeth, was born in 1861. Now let me tell you very quickly about another Confederate officer, only to give you a quote from him. Basil Duke was a Confederate officer during the War of Northern Aggression. His most noted service was that he was second in command to John Hunt Morgan. He was also John Hunt Morgan's brother-in-law. And Basil Duke then wrote a popular account of Morgan's famous raid, and it's titled "1863 Morgan's Raid." After Morgan was shot and killed by the Yankees, then Basil Duke took over Morgan's command. Basil Duke happened to also be one of the bodyguards of President Jefferson Davis when he fled from Richmond, Virginia down through the Carolinas. Now I'm telling you about Basil Duke just to give you what he said. He said that Arthur McCoy was one of the founding members of the Minutemen, the secessionist organization formed in response to the Unionist Wide Awakes.
#18 | 15:00 to 16:20 | cleaned
The thing that gets me is this. Everybody in this room has heard of the Ku Klux Klan. Everybody. I don't care where you go, you hear KKK. But have you ever heard of Washington's Klan? Have you ever heard of the Loyal League? Do you realize that the Northerners had their equivalent? In fact, the Congressional Commission that investigated the original KKK said that had not the Washington Klan or the Loyal League been in existence the KKK would have never arisen.
#19 | 16:22 to 17:01 | cleaned
So here you have the Minutemen who were southern men and they came together in opposition to a group that were already formed the Wide Awakes. It was Arthur McCoy's wife Louisa who sewed the secessionist flag that flew tauntingly over the Berthold Mansion in St. Louis. And Arthur McCoy was also one of the individuals who helped raise the Missouri state flag over the courthouse. Now you say, but the courthouse already had a state flag. You've got to remember the Yankees had already come in and were taking control over St. Louis. In fact, they ran off the governor, they ran off everybody, and they placed in control individuals who were pro-North. Well, let me give you what one author wrote about Arthur McCoy, and you're going to find out there's a little discrepancy between these accounts as to his height, which really doesn't matter. Some say he's six feet or over, some say he's 5'11", but listen to what one author said.
#20 | 17:03 to 18:21 | cleaned
He said it very plainly. He said, "Arthur McCoy was six feet and over, a little stooped about the shoulders, very long in the arms, having a stride like a racehorse, and a nervous energy expending itself even while he slept. All the lower face was massive, the lower jaw especially square cut and huge. The eyes were that cold, glittering, penetrating, blue that might be cruel as a serpent's, and then soft and tender as the eyes of confidence and trust."
#21 | 18:22 to 18:55 | cleaned
"When the battle was dubious, that is doubtful, or desperate, or when the wreck was darkest and thickest, and the dead lay rank and plentiful, his eyes seemed to transform themselves and become absolutely scintillate, that is they flashed or threw off sparks. He sang little snatches of song in battle. He rode out in advance of his own skirmish line and challenged federal skirmishers to single combat. He would get down on his knees under fire, uncover himself, and pray fervently beside some mortally wounded comrade. He seemed never to know the meaning of fear. He begged incessantly to be sent upon forlorn and desperate service."
#22 | 18:56 to 19:43 | cleaned
"He was a spy without peer in either army. He was a scout that seemed to have leagued with the devil and received from his majesty invaluable protection papers. He charged pickets for pastime and rode yelling and shooting through federal outposts at the head of 50 or 60 followers at all hours and in any weather. Seven times during the war, through the federal lines and past scouts, patrols, cantonments and militia and predatory bands, McCoy came into St. Louis with a thousand letters at a time and departed fence with as many more."
#23 | 19:43 to 20:19 | cleaned
Now the problem is this, it's not a problem but the truth is this, he smuggled more than letters. He also smuggled caps for the Confederate rifles and pistols. After the war McCoy rode with Jesse and Frank James on several occasions. So the question is how in the world did he get in with Jesse and Frank James because McCoy was a city boy from the eastern part and not from the western part of the state.
#24 | 20:19 to 20:51 | cleaned
Well first of all let me answer it like this. McCoy would have gotten in with Jesse and Frank and Cole and Jim and Bob Younger because he was a captain remember under General Joe Shelby. Well John Jarrett was also a captain under General Joe Shelby and John Jarrett had married Cole Younger's sister Mary Josephine. So there's a connection right there.
#25 | 20:52 to 21:22 | cleaned
Secondly, he rode and fought some during the war with George Todd who was a captain under Quantrill. So obviously then there was this connection and he could have met these boys at any particular time.
#26 | 21:22 to 21:37 | cleaned
Now, before I give you what I'm going to call some of the most courageous illustrations I've ever read in my life, I want to give you a newspaper editor's account of Arthur McCoy. Now, what makes this newspaper editor so credible is that he worked with John Newman Edwards and John C. Moore. Now Edwards was adjutant to Joe Shelby and also Moore was a captain or an officer under Joe Shelby. So McCoy and all of Jesse and Frank and all these others, John Jarrett, and even when Quantrill and some of his men would come under, they would still be under General Joe Shelby.
#27 | 21:37 to 22:31 | cleaned
So there would be a relationship that is formed and orders that are formed. So this editor was in with John Seymour and John Newman Edwards. So you had three editors here at the Kansas Times and here's what he said: "Agreeable to your request, I give you some sketches of the notorious band of Missouri highwaymen whose latest exploit, the robbing of the train on Iron Mountain Road, is the sensation of the hour."
#28 | 22:33 to 23:01 | cleaned
"I go of course on the presumption of the telegraphic dispatches that the perpetrators of the robbery were Arthur McCoy, the Younger Brothers, the James Boys, and Will Shepard." Now listen to this: "If this presumption is mistaken, I hope these young gentlemen of the highway will pardon me." He doesn't want to get in trouble with them. "But it must be said that there is nothing in their records at least that would tend to throw doubt upon the assumption of the telegraphic dispatches to the press."
#29 | 23:03 to 23:33 | cleaned
"My knowledge of the boys dates from the time when I was associated with John Seymour and John Newman Edwards conducting the Kansas City Times. The boys had been Confederate soldiers serving part-time with Shelby and Marmaduke, and Moore and Edwards had been sometime their commanders and had been, before the boys became outlaws, their associates and friends. Thus, I learned much of their personal history whenever their exploits made them the theme of conversation in the Times office which by the way was quite frequently. Arthur McCoy who may be said to be the executive officer of the band is a remarkable man with a somewhat remarkable history."
#30 | 23:34 to 24:15 | cleaned
"Before the war he was a resident of St. Louis where he occupied a respected position in society from some time which he partially lost by his reckless behavior during the two or three years immediately preceding the outbreak of the conflict, which means secessionism. At this time he joined one of the fire companies of St. Louis and his combative propensities soon gave him an unenviable notoriety. He was probably the worst customer to fool with that ran the machine in St. Louis at that time, which is saying as much for his fighting capacity as can be put into a few words."
#31 | 24:16 to 24:56 | cleaned
Now listen, "McCoy is about 5 feet 11 inches high, dark complexion, had dark brown hair, a well-portioned altogether handsome face, and weighs, I suppose, about 175 pounds. He is well-educated. That is, he has a common education and is a man of considerably more than average intelligence. During the war, he did a great deal of service as a spy. And this was the school from which he graduated, the desperado that he is. I have not time or space to record any of his adventures as a Confederate spy."
#32 | 24:57 to 25:32 | cleaned
"But those who know what sort of warfare was waged west of the Mississippi, know that the part he played often involved desperate work. And there are several instances which go to show that none of it was ever too desperate for him."
#33 | 25:33 to 25:47 | cleaned
Now listen, "McCoy has one of those peculiar organisms whose possessors seem to deserve no credit for their courage. His bravery, which is absolute, is a sort of second nature. The result, not of pride or the fear of being called a coward, but of a fierce insensibility to danger and a total recklessness of personal hazard that gives him nerve under all circumstances. His hand goes to his revolver butt or to his knife hilt by an instinct as a tiger."
#34 | 25:48 to 26:24 | cleaned
"Like as the aim of his bullet is infallible and the thrust of his bowie is decisive. I don't suppose McCoy ever shot at a man whom he did not hit, nor that he was ever in a situation where his judgment was not as clear as his impulses were suddenly and deadly." And you'll understand this statement a little bit later. He said, "I don't know how he will die, but I suppose as he has lived violently, though I will venture to assert that when he does lie down with his boots on forever, those who brought him down will not soon forget the circumstances unless they should forget it immediately by keeping him company. I don't know how many thousands of dollars in rewards are set on the head of Arthur McCoy, but it amounts to a considerable more than a year's salary of a cabinet officer. Quite a snug little fortune. Though avaricious as I am, I have the remotest idea of attempting to make money by earning those rewards."
#35 | 26:24 to 27:33 | cleaned
"As between the two, I think I would prefer to undertake to earn the same sum by swimming over Niagara Falls. Moreover, most men who know McCoy earn the same fix that I'm in." So, here's a newspaper editor says, that is saying, obviously McCoy is not someone to be harassed or provoked or riled because he did not tolerate exasperation and all who knew him knew absolutely of his courage, his bravery, and his determination. McCoy also happened to be in the Battle of Shiloh.
#36 | 27:34 to 28:16 | cleaned
He was always eager to fight. In fact, at the first tap of the drum, he espoused the cause of the South and he joined the 1st Missouri Confederate Infantry. And he also joined Bowen's Immortal Regiment. And I say immortal because that regiment was practically decimated at the Battle of Shiloh. Just a few of the 1st Missouri were left alive. As they marched past General Beauregard, General Beauregard took his hat off to the Missourians and he says, "I salute 1st Missouri."
#37 | 28:17 to 28:58 | cleaned
"I uncovered a courage that has never been surpassed." Arthur McCoy was in that regiment. He was one of the few who came out alive. Courage, coolness is exemplified in every area of his life. Here's a man who knew how to fight and he knew how to fight without fear. On one occasion, when a Yankee officer, Clayton, was in the area, McCoy hovered around him closely for three days. In three days, he cut off two picket posts, captured seven wagons, killed a notorious Union bushwhacker living near Pine Bluff, and returned loaded with arms and accoutrements. Just in three days. Now, I'm going to tell you the one time McCoy was captured. This to me is just absolutely unbelievable. The only reason McCoy was captured was because his horse was killed.
#38 | 28:58 to 30:22 | cleaned
McCoy and five other Confederate soldiers had a running battle with 78 Yankees for 11 miles. So you've got to talk about 6 Confederates fighting off 78 Yankees and it finally took them 11 miles just to even kill his horse. Well, interestingly, the Yankee officer who received McCoy was Clayton whom he had been fighting against previously. But Clayton took him and treated him very kindly. Here's what happened.
#39 | 30:26 to 31:15 | cleaned
One day a man showed up at Shelby's camp. The man was unrecognizable. His hair was matted and wet had all kind of trash in his hair, in his beard. There was mud and sand and sediment all over him. And he approached the sentry and said that he needed to see General Shelby. And the man was allowed into Shelby's camp and they washed the dirt off of him and combed out his hair. It was Arthur McCoy. What had happened was this, they had taken Arthur McCoy first to Pine Bluff and then they took him to Little Rock where they thought the penitentiary there was too good for him and they put him on a boat and they were going to take him to Alton, Illinois and put him in the penitentiary there. Now Alton, Illinois was a notorious Yankee prison and if you got sent to that prison you pretty well died a miserable death. It's kind of like Marion, Illinois today. There's a federal prison in Marion, Illinois.
#40 | 31:17 to 32:39 | cleaned
The water is so poor and everything is so bad. If you get sentenced to Marion, Illinois, you're either going to come out dead or broken in your health. And it was the same thing there. So they had him on the ship and they were taking him to Alton, Illinois. Well, General Shelby had launched an attack. By the way, he's been captured at least a month or so. He's been going from place to place.
#41 | 32:39 to 33:03 | cleaned
And so they have him on this boat. And Shelby is attacking a certain town. And he's attacking a boat, the Queen City. And McCoy hears the guns. And he knows Shelby's guns and he knows there's a fight going on and he can tell by the sound of the guns it sounds like the Confederates are winning. So what McCoy does is he gets the engineer of the boat or the captain of the boat and McCoy dresses in a workman suit as he was a workman on the boat and he goes up with the captain or the engineer to the top deck.
#42 | 33:05 to 33:52 | cleaned
And here the soldiers are walking their guard, Yankee soldiers, supposed to be, you know, keeping him there. He determined to escape and the engineer was helping him.
#43 | 33:53 to 34:07 | cleaned
Now you've got to remember, McCoy painted steamboats. So he knew a lot of these engineers. Robert Loudon, his brother-in-law, also painted steamboats. Loudon also had a friend, Ab Grimes, Absalom was his name, Absalom Grimes, Ab Grimes, who happened to be a pilot. And so any friends of Loudon would necessarily become friends of McCoy. And the Yankees noted that all riverboat men were notoriously southern leaning.
#44 | 34:07 to 34:54 | cleaned
And so here the captain is up on the deck with McCoy and he's the engineer and the captain looks at McCoy and he says, "I tell you, we can't move from the wharf until this thing is fixed," motioning to some part of machinery. And McCoy says, "I tell you, that dang thing can't be fixed until you sent it to the Little Rock Foundry." The captain and the engineer said, "I know better."
#45 | 34:55 to 35:24 | cleaned
"You come with me and I'll show you." And so here the guard is hearing every word, not even receiving that Arthur McCoy is a Confederate officer. He seems to think that there are two boatmen arguing over a piece of machinery and the engineer, the captain of the boat, and McCoy go down to the wheelhouse where McCoy just simply slips into the water, noiselessly, and then begins to float right down the river, right past all of the guards, past all of the other ships, and he floats down that river for several miles.
#46 | 35:25 to 36:04 | cleaned
Finally, he's tired, and he pulls over to a little sandbar to rest, and lo and behold, as he looks down the river, within 300 yards is a Union gunboat. Well, he can't cut through the woods because at this point the White River is about 10 miles wide and it's nothing but swamps and mud. And so what he does, he gathers some canes and some reeds and he kind of bundles them up.
#47 | 36:05 to 36:39 | cleaned
And he pushes them out in the water and he gets on the other side of them. And he floats right past the gunboats, right past all the Union sentries, and he goes another eight miles down the river until he gets to the place where he knows Shelby's camp is located. And that's when he gets out and goes to the camp with all the mud and sediment covering him.
#48 | 36:41 to 37:05 | cleaned
Here was a man that was so cool, it was unbelievable. He required, after several months of captivity, he required three days of rest. After three days, he heard about a Yankee steamboat, the Mariner, that was in the Mississippi River, that had struck a sandbar. He knew that area. So he took a group of men, cut through the woods, surprised the sentries who were guarding the steamboat. He took his men and waded about 200 yards out in the river, waist deep. And the steamboat, by the way, was loaded with coal. He got the officers of the boat, all the men of the boat, he captured them. He got all the rifles and pistols off the boat. Then he set fire to the boat and burned it while it was sitting in the river.
#49 | 37:06 to 38:15 | cleaned
I mean, here's a man that just simply would not stop and could not stop. It seemed like he never ever ran out of energy. Not only did he not run out of energy, here's a man that begged to be sent on desperate missions. In fact, General Marmaduke, who was resting at Springfield and planning another attack at Cape Girardeau, needed musket caps and caps for the pistol. So he sent to General Shelby and he said send me 10 men that I can send to St. Louis. And remember St. Louis now is controlled by the Yankees. He said send me 10 men that I can send to St. Louis to get us some caps. General Joe Shelby just sent him off to McCoy. Just one man. When McCoy got to Marmaduke, General Marmaduke said, "Where are the others?" McCoy said, "We don't need any more." He said, "All I need is one man. The two of us can get in and get through a whole lot easier than ten." So, and by the way, he begged to go on this mission as well.
#50 | 38:16 to 39:43 | cleaned
Now you've got to remember, all of this area in Missouri is controlled by the Yankees. McCoy chose Captain John W. Howard to accompany him. They left on January the 13th. You've got to remember January 13th, snow and ice in Missouri. They had no passport. They had no diplomatic documents. They had nothing but their courage and their determination along with several hundred letters that were to be mailed from Confederate soldiers to their families.
#51 | 39:45 to 40:23 | cleaned
Slowly and painfully they had to work their way to St. Louis because General Davidson's cavalry was everywhere. They were doing everything they could to avoid General Davidson's cavalry. When they got to Pilot Knob, they found an old man there, and you've got to remember now that Howard was dressed with a blue overcoat except for his gray pants. McCoy was dressed in a federal uniform, had a blue overcoat as well. When they got to Pilot Knob, the old man was very glad to see the boys in blue. And so the old man asked McCoy if he would take some letters to his sons. He had sons in the militia who were in St. Louis. And Captain Howard said, "Any money in them?" "No," said the old man, "just business." "Good," said McCoy.
#52 | 40:25 to 41:33 | cleaned
"If there's money in them, the dang Secesh might try to rob us for the valuables." And so they took this. They got all the information they could from him and kept going. And another interesting thing on this same trip, they keep stopping in houses, because remember there are no inns, there are no motels, and you have to be fed. So they stopped at one house, Mrs. Smith, who had southern leanings, but she had two sons who were in the Yankee militia. And so they stopped at her house, and she fed them, and they asked if they could rest a while. And about that time, her two Yankee militia sons came and said, "Why yes, you can rest. I'll post my boys out to keep you from danger." And so two Yankee militia stood sentry while McCoy and Howard, two Confederates, took a three-hour nap. After they took a three-hour nap, they went on down the road.
#53 | 41:33 to 42:37 | cleaned
They met a Mr. Stovall. And McCoy asked him, he said, "Are you a good Union man?" Mr. Stovall said, "As good as the best." Then he said, "Have you seen a passel here red-headed man riding a little shaved tail mule?" And he had heard about this man down the road. And yes, he said, "I saw him just recently." "Well," said McCoy, "he's a deserter from General Davidson's cavalry."
#54 | 42:37 to 43:05 | cleaned
And he said, "And I'm on his trail. And I must have a guide to get me through this territory so I can get to St. Louis, because that's where he's going." And the man said, "I can't go myself." But he said, "I've got a neighbor who knows this territory well, and he's also in the militia." So McCoy said, "Go get him." And when the neighbor came back, Mr. Stovall said, "Captain, here he is," and McCoy looked upon this man, and he was a vicious militiaman, mounted on a fine horse, well armed. McCoy says, "I hear you're a good guide."
#55 | 43:05 to 43:56 | cleaned
"I desire you to accompany me." And the militiaman said, "I'm sorry, I cannot accompany you." McCoy reached in his saddlebag, pulled out an official looking letter and said this, "General Davidson has given me this document for my authority. It empowers me to impress or to kill and I am willing to do either one or the other or my name is not Captain McKeever." And the militiaman said, "Very well, I will accompany you." And so here's a Yankee now leading two Confederate soldiers through this territory.
#56 | 43:57 to 44:47 | cleaned
The interesting thing is they come up upon a cavalry encampment. By this time it's raining, it's cold, it's wet. And the Yankee militiaman says, and the cavalry by the way had gone about 30 yards, 40 yards off the road because of the rain, they weren't going to just stand out in the rain. And the Yankee that was leading them said, "Well we'll have to stop or they'll shoot." McCoy said, "I'm not stopping for anybody in this rain."
#57 | 44:49 to 45:24 | cleaned
And he said, "Howard, close up." And Howard took his reins and hit the Yankees horse and all three of them rode straight through, no shots at all.
#58 | 45:25 to 45:37 | cleaned
Finally, they got to where they were supposed to be right outside of St. Louis. When they got right outside of St. Louis, they pulled up, dismounted, got them a room, took them a bath, leisurely shaved, and then went soldering into a public bar room. When they get into the saloon, there's about 20 Federals that are in there drinking. McCoy shouted, "Hello infantry, come and take a drink with some of the crack fellows from Davidson's cavalry."
#59 | 45:38 to 46:19 | cleaned
And all of a sudden all these Yankees swallowed around them just so they could get free whiskey and of course they begin to ask about Price and Marmaduke and the rebels and the bushwhackers and all of this. Finally, one of those men who was a very brawny man, came up to Captain Howard struggling to identify him. Finally he said, "Who are you? I know you. I've seen you before in St. Louis."
#60 | 46:20 to 46:51 | cleaned
Howard's composure was absolutely wonderful. Howard said, "Well of course you've seen me in St. Louis. Very likely, I've been there often. I'm Captain Beard of Hubbard's 1st Missouri Cavalry Battalion." And since all of these Yankees were infantry, and most of them had not been to the front lines yet, they had no earthly idea that they are now being overawed by these two fine cavalry officers in the Yankee Army, and yet they had no idea that they were literally Confederate soldiers. Once they got into St. Louis, the first thing that they did was to have two fine Confederate uniforms made for themselves by the seamstresses in St. Louis. They not only had the uniforms made, they had all the lace, all the gaudiness, everyone on them.
#61 | 46:52 to 47:53 | cleaned
Finally, they were within, they passed within two feet of the sentries at the armory. McCoy said, "I'll get the caps." He went in and got over 40,000 caps. Put them in his saddlebags. And he looked at Howard and he said, "I'm not leaving this city till I have a little fun." So McCoy and Howard then went into one of the places where there were ladies there that played the piano, you know, entertain people, that kind of thing. I mean, real ladies. And so, as they were there, two Yankee majors came in. They'd been sitting around talking, the ladies playing the piano. All of a sudden, McCoy got up, went into a coat room, took off that blue Yankee overcoat.
#62 | 47:54 to 49:01 | cleaned
And there he stood in full Confederate uniform. He came out and he said, in all of his golden lace, he said, "This farce of being a Yankee has played out. Miss, give us Dixie." And the woman jumped up to the piano and started playing Dixie. And as she did, the two Yankee majors turned and started going for the door. In time, they did. The pistols were out.
#63 | 49:03 to 49:28 | cleaned
McCoy and Howard said, "Gentlemen, you might as well stay and enjoy the night." He said, "We're not about to get hanged over having a little bit of fun." And so what they did was make the Yankees drink. And while Dixie was being played, by the way, there's two endings of this story. One of them is the Yankees finally got drunk and were put to bed. But there's another ending too. And I have read it on several different places that before the night was over, McCoy made one of the Yankee soldiers put on a Confederate uniform and dance to Dixie while the other one sat there and applauded the whole time. But anyhow, whether he danced or whether he didn't dance, they were solidly, totally drunk. And of course, they went to bed and by early the next morning, McCoy and Howard were on their way out. McCoy had the 40,000 caps. At this point, Howard separated from McCoy and went southward in order to organize a company to take to Arkansas. But it's not over.
#64 | 49:29 to 50:42 | cleaned
I mean, McCoy's not even back. This is just one mission. As he rode out of St. Louis in the cold, gray, early morning, he passed Benton Barracks. And as he passed Benton Barracks, there was a Yankee sentinel standing by the road with his rifle at right shoulder shift. McCoy rode up to him and he said, listen to this, he looks at the Yankee with a rifle on his shoulder and he says, "I'm a Confederate officer. I represent the Confederate president."
#65 | 50:42 to 51:16 | cleaned
"If you should present arms to me, I should consider that you had presented them to Mr. Jefferson Davis himself. Present arms!" The sentinel thought the man was mad or drunk. It was still early mornings. No other soldiers were up yet. And McCoy's revolver was out in a flash on the young Yankee's breast. And he said, "You will not present arms to me not to save your life."
#66 | 51:17 to 51:42 | cleaned
"But you see, I have the drop on you. Do you want me to kill you?" Still thinking that McCoy was one of his own or drunk and just being mischievous, trying to play a prank on him, the young sentinel replied, "Shoot and be damned." McCoy's face darkened instantly as he cocked his pistol and he said, "I will not shoot you unless I give you a chance for your life."
#67 | 51:43 to 52:12 | cleaned
Listen, he said, "I shall ride back 50 paces. Turn my horse and charge you." He said, "You have one shot in your rifle. I have 18 in my pistols." But he said, "I too will only use one shot." So he says, "You have one chance to save your life." And when the Yankee soldier saw him march back 50 paces with his horse, turn and start the charge, he began to see this is serious. So he took his rifle off his shoulder, cocked it, and waited. McCoy charged within 10 paces of him and the young soldier fired at 10 paces, 10 steps, and missed. And as he did, McCoy came by, pulled out his pistol, one shot, shot the Yankee down. Thankfully, the Yankee did recover. And McCoy then turned and just sawed it off. All the Yankees then began to file out of the barracks. Cavalry was mounted.
#68 | 52:13 to 53:31 | cleaned
None of them ever really went after him. He marched away literally unmolested. On this same trip, some 20 miles out of St. Louis, he met trouble. Because he had to cross a bridge. And the Yankees had control of the bridge. And McCoy was on the bridge and right on top of a Yankee sentry before he saw him. "Halt" was the challenge. "Well," says Captain McCoy, "what do you want?" "I want you to get down and show your pass," said the boy in blue. "What, sir?" says McCoy in a voice of thunder.
#69 | 53:32 to 54:24 | cleaned
"Do you dare to insult an officer of the day with a saber by his side with such a piece of insolence as this? Can't you see my rank, sir?" "Well," says the bashed federal in a sorrowful tone, "I was only trying to obey the order of my captain." "Your captain, eh? Where is your captain, sir? Had he done his duty, this thing would not have happened to you."
#70 | 54:24 to 54:47 | cleaned
"He should have taught you to say, 'Halt! Who comes there?' and let me answer the challenge in that shape. Instead, you halt me improperly and show at once you have not been well instructed. Where is your captain, sir?" "Well, he's just passed over the bridge with the rest of the company to put them on picket." "Very well," says McCoy, somewhat mollified, "I can excuse you, but I cannot overlook the negligence in your captain."
#71 | 54:47 to 55:12 | cleaned
"I will go over and straighten him out right now." With that, he just punches first to his horse and took off, left the young sentry and when McCoy got to the other side of the bridge where the woods were he turned to the woods and left the captain without straightening him out. So he avoided the entire company of Yankees just with his coolness, just with his calmness and brazenness. This man is just absolutely astounding. Later in 1864 there was a deed that was done by McCoy that brought forth cheers from both southern troops and northern troops as well. General John B. Clark was attacking Glasgow from one side of the river and General Shelby was attacking it from the other side of the river.
#72 | 55:13 to 56:11 | cleaned
Between the two lines were the federal forts and garrison that were commanded by General Chester Harding. A large steamboat lay at the wharf and General Shelby desired to know if that steamboat was serviceable. If it was, he wanted someone to get it and bring it to him where he could put his troops in it and move them to the north side as well. But he did not want to sacrifice any of his soldiers just to see if that boat was serviceable.
#73 | 56:12 to 56:46 | cleaned
So he called for volunteers. 50 men volunteered. One of them was Arthur McCoy. McCoy begged and pleaded to let him be the man. And he said, "You've got to remember, I've painted steamboats, I've been on steamboats, I know steamboats." And so finally, General Shelby permitted McCoy to go. So McCoy then had just a little skiff, just a little wooden boat. And he had an oar on each side.
#74 | 56:48 to 57:26 | cleaned
And he had to pull with the oars like this. And the way he had to pull, he had his back to the enemy. And just as he began to pull those oars, the Yankees began to fire on him.
#75 | 57:28 to 57:43 | cleaned
Now, they were up on a hill. And they were firing down. Collins, who was with Shelby, took his cannon and tried to fire at the Yankees, giving McCoy as much cover as he possibly could. As they continued to fire, this is unbelievable, as they continued to fire, he continued to row the boat. There were, listen to this, there were at least a thousand rounds fired at McCoy. Two hundred Yankee soldiers fired five rounds each.
#76 | 57:43 to 58:40 | cleaned
One of the oar locks was cut. The boat had four holes in it. A lock of his hair was shot off. His hat was shot off and fell into the river. At which point, McCoy stopped rowing, reached out and got his hat, stood up in the boat and bowed to the Yankee that shot his hat off and kept going. He got the boat, to the boat, he got the information, and then he had to row back through the same field of fire. Not one drop of his blood was shed. Unbelievable. Miraculously, he went through all of that fire, and then rowed back through all of that fire, and was never hit. On one occasion, McCoy fought a duel to the death. It was not one of his own making, but he did fight it.
#77 | 58:42 to 59:59 | cleaned
And the Western Army, you have to remember that there were many Confederate Indians. One of these regiments was a Choctaw regiment. And the young half-breed captain had a pony that was very, very sensible. The pony would do all kinds of tricks, the dance, bow, whatever. I mean, could have been a circus pony, he was so well trained. McCoy owned a very savage stallion, big, but fleet of foot, fast. And somehow that Indian put his pony in with McCoy's stallion. When they awoke the next morning, the Indian had no pony, because the stallion just killed him. The Indian was absolutely incensed and he demanded satisfaction and so he was going to kill McCoy's horse. McCoy stood in his path with a drawn saber and said to the Choctaw, "Arm yourself."
#78 | 1:00:01 to 1:01:15 | cleaned
"Shall it be with a sword or pistol? You want satisfaction? You may have it. My horse's hide is more precious than my own, therefore not one hair upon it shall be ruffled." The Indian chose the saber. A ring was formed and they began to fight. McCoy was cut on the shoulder and in the right temple. The Indian had been slashed several times, once even across his saber arm. Both were getting weak. They had been fighting. Both were losing blood. Finally, McCoy did a feint and when he did the feint, the Indian moved and he just ran him through with his saber. The Indian did die that night.
#79 | 1:01:16 to 1:02:16 | cleaned
I could go on and on. Here's a man that did not know fear. Even in the most fearful circumstances, he was calm. McCoy fought fearlessly. He fought frequently. He fought ferociously. When the Southern generals had to withdraw from Missouri, it was McCoy and a few men, 50 or 60 men, who kept the pressure upon the Yankees. It was McCoy who sent word back to the Southern generals of what was going on and what was happening. After the war, the two James brothers, Cole and John Younger, and Arthur McCoy was known as the Terrible Quintet. In fact, John Newman wrote a book, "The Terrible Quintet," naming these five. John Newman Edwards wrote the book. After just a few months, when the book came out, John Younger was killed in a gunfight with the Pinkertons.
#80 | 1:02:19 to 1:03:37 | cleaned
Jesse and Frank James, of course, had became famous, but within 16 years they were out of business. Some say Jesse was dead, some say he was not dead. In fact, there's evidence that his death may have been faked anyhow. But as to Arthur McCoy, it's a puzzle as to what happened. Because John Newman Edwards, who knew all of these men personally, said that he was one of the most five prominent men in November of 1873. There is no confirmed death date for Arthur McCoy.
#81 | 1:03:38 to 1:04:18 | cleaned
The family believes that he died in Texas in the early 1880s. There are some sources that place his death as early as 1874, several weeks before the Gads Hill train robbery, which he is often named in. But a reliable source places his death as having been in 1880, for Louisa McCoy also lists herself as a widow in 1880. After Arthur's death, she remarried. She moved to Oklahoma Territory, where her second husband died, and then she and her children moved to Oregon and into Idaho where she remained a widow and alive until her death at age 81.
#82 | 1:04:18 to 1:05:04 | cleaned
Now I want you to stop and think with me. Here's my question. What can we learn from the life of Arthur McCoy? I can list a number of things. Courage. Coolness. Confidence. Consecration for a cause. And those are just starters. Have you ever stopped to think that courage is absolutely necessary in our personal life? And it's absolutely necessary especially in dangerous situations. And I've got news for you folks.
#83 | 1:05:04 to 1:05:48 | cleaned
If the Lord lets us live another year, I believe our situation in this country is going to get far more dangerous than it is right now. We need courage. We need coolness. We need to have a calm mind and to think calmly in situations. Do you realize in a desperate situation, most people go to pieces? I never will forget one incident that happened to me and I couldn't have been over four or five years old, probably three or four.
#84 | 1:05:48 to 1:06:28 | cleaned
But my mother had gone fishing with my father and I was a little boy and I was behind her and she had one of those bass lures with a treble hook on the end of it. And she took her reel like this to throw it. It went behind her. She's left-handed. It went behind her like that. And that thing came back and caught me in the jaw. And when she did like that, it just sunk that hook in my jaw. When my mother saw what had happened, you know what she did?
#85 | 1:06:32 to 1:07:13 | cleaned
She picked me up and ran screaming to the house. Now, I want you to understand something. That was still attached to that reel. And that means that she drugged me, she drugged the line, and she drugged the reel, which was pulling on my jaw. Thankfully, my father was there. He chased her down, stopped her, took me away from her, broke the hook off, pulled it back out, and took me to the house of doctor.
#86 | 1:07:14 to 1:07:49 | cleaned
Dad was calm, mother was not. All I'm trying to say is this folks, when times get desperate, it's not any time to lose your cool. We need confidence. We need confidence in our abilities. We need to know what we can do and what we cannot do. We need confidence in our God. We need confidence in His Word. We need confidence in His gracious providence in our lives. We need to understand what Robert E. Lee said when he said, "Duty is ours, the consequences belong to God." We also need consecration. Consecration for a cause. You know those men who fought in that war, they were consecrated. They were dedicated. They fought. Can we do any less for the cause and the kingdom of Jesus Christ? What did He say in Matthew 6:33? "But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these other things shall be added unto you." In order to fight fearlessly, with courage, with confidence and coolness, we must have consecration. And we must have consecration to Jesus Christ.
#87 | 1:07:52 to 1:09:21 | cleaned
and to His Word. We must consecrate ourselves afresh and anew and to learn to say like Martin Luther when he stood before Charles V and all the hosts of the Roman Catholic Empire, "Here I stand, God help me, I can do no other." We need to learn from the life of Arthur McCoy and ask God to give us some of what he had. May God give us men.
#88 | 1:09:22 to 1:09:59 | cleaned
Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow before Thee. We thank You for Your love, for Your truth, for Your grace, for Your mercy. Lord, help us to learn and learn from those, Lord, whom You have used in time past. Give us grace. Give us courage. Give us coolness, confidence, Lord, consecration unto Thee in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, we ask and pray. Amen.
#89 | 1:10:00 to 1:10:27 | cleaned

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-06T01:32:01Z

The Real McCoy

John Weaver | Freedom Ministries

Pastor John Weaver uses the life of Confederate soldier and spy Arthur C. McCoy to illustrate the virtues of courage, coolness, confidence, and consecration. He traces the origin of the phrase 'the real McCoy' and recounts numerous daring exploits from McCoy's life, emphasizing his fearlessness and composure under fire. Weaver then applies these lessons to the Christian life, urging believers to cultivate similar courage and dedication for the kingdom of God, especially in the face of increasing danger.

Introduction and Biblical Foundation

Weaver introduces 2 Timothy 3:14, emphasizing that we can learn from individuals who have made an impression on us, including non-Christians through common grace.

Scripture Reading — 2 Timothy 3:14

"But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them."

Origin of the Phrase 'The Real McCoy'

Weaver explores several possible origins of the phrase, including a Scottish whiskey brand, a Prohibition-era rumrunner, and a boxer, before settling on Arthur C. McCoy as the true embodiment.

Arthur C. McCoy's Early Life and Character

Weaver describes McCoy's background, his physical description, and his reputation for absolute fearlessness and ferocity in battle, quoting contemporary accounts.

Scripture Reading — Joshua 1:9

"Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest."

But notice this,

Scripture Reading — Joshua 1:9

"Have not I commanded thee? Be of good courage, and be not afraid, and be not dismayed."

McCoy's Wartime Exploits and Espionage

Weaver recounts McCoy's service under General Joe Shelby, his capture and daring escape, and his mission to St. Louis to obtain musket caps, highlighting his coolness under pressure.

McCoy's Brazen Acts and Narrow Escapes

Weaver details McCoy's audacious behavior in St. Louis, his confrontation with a Yankee sentinel, and his evasion of capture at a bridge, showcasing his calmness and brazenness.

The Daring River Reconnaissance

Weaver tells the story of McCoy volunteering to row across a river under heavy fire to inspect a steamboat, surviving over a thousand rounds without injury.

Post-War Life and Mysterious Disappearance

Weaver notes McCoy's association with the James-Younger gang and the uncertainty surrounding his death, with family records suggesting he died in the early 1880s.

Lessons for Christians: Courage, Coolness, Confidence, Consecration

Weaver applies McCoy's example to the Christian life, urging believers to develop courage, calmness, confidence in God, and consecration to Christ's kingdom, especially in dangerous times.

Scripture Reading — Matthew 6:33

"But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these other things shall be added unto you."

In order to fight fearlessly, with courage, with confidence and coolness, we must have consecration. And we must have consecration to Jesus Christ.

The Real McCoy

John Weaver | YouTube

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	YouTube
Media ID	hFfILKYbqm8
Subject	Dominion and Reconstruction
Course	The Crown Rights of Christ
Genre	Sermon
Date	2013-11-01
Dictation Name
Book	Book 063: The Crown Rights of Christ — Chapter 1
Source Timed Segments	89

Lecture Guide

Outline

Introduction and Biblical Foundation: Weaver introduces 2 Timothy 3:14, emphasizing that we can learn from individuals who have made an impression on us, including non-Christians through common grace.
Origin of the Phrase 'The Real McCoy': Weaver explores several possible origins of the phrase, including a Scottish whiskey brand, a Prohibition-era rumrunner, and a boxer, before settling on Arthur C. McCoy as the true embodiment.
Arthur C. McCoy's Early Life and Character: Weaver describes McCoy's background, his physical description, and his reputation for absolute fearlessness and ferocity in battle, quoting contemporary accounts.
McCoy's Wartime Exploits and Espionage: Weaver recounts McCoy's service under General Joe Shelby, his capture and daring escape, and his mission to St. Louis to obtain musket caps, highlighting his coolness under pressure.
McCoy's Brazen Acts and Narrow Escapes: Weaver details McCoy's audacious behavior in St. Louis, his confrontation with a Yankee sentinel, and his evasion of capture at a bridge, showcasing his calmness and brazenness.
The Daring River Reconnaissance: Weaver tells the story of McCoy volunteering to row across a river under heavy fire to inspect a steamboat, surviving over a thousand rounds without injury.
Post-War Life and Mysterious Disappearance: Weaver notes McCoy's association with the James-Younger gang and the uncertainty surrounding his death, with family records suggesting he died in the early 1880s.
Lessons for Christians: Courage, Coolness, Confidence, Consecration: Weaver applies McCoy's example to the Christian life, urging believers to develop courage, calmness, confidence in God, and consecration to Christ's kingdom, especially in dangerous times.

Major Themes

Key Arguments

Courage is commanded by God and exemplified by McCoy

Weaver argues that Scripture commands courage, and McCoy's life provides a powerful example of fearless bravery that Christians should emulate.

Weaver quotes Joshua 1:9 and 2 Samuel 10:12, then states, 'Arthur McCoy was one of the bravest and most courageous men about whom I've ever read.'

Coolness in crisis is a learned trait from McCoy's exploits

Weaver contends that McCoy's ability to remain calm under fire is a quality Christians need, especially as times become more dangerous.

Weaver describes McCoy's escape: 'He just simply slips into the water, noiselessly, and then begins to float right down the river, right past all of the guards.'

Confidence in God is essential for facing future trials

Weaver asserts that believers must have confidence in God's Word and providence, drawing a parallel to McCoy's self-confidence.

Weaver says, 'We need confidence in our God. We need confidence in His Word. We need confidence in His gracious providence in our lives.'

Consecration to Christ's kingdom should match McCoy's dedication

Weaver argues that the dedication of Confederate soldiers should inspire Christians to greater consecration to the cause of Christ.

Weaver asks, 'Can we do any less for the cause and the kingdom of Jesus Christ?' and references Matthew 6:33.

Common grace allows learning from non-Christian examples

Weaver posits that God gives common grace to all people, enabling Christians to learn virtues like courage from individuals like McCoy, regardless of their faith.

Weaver states, 'I understand common grace and I know God can give men lots of common grace so that their lives are decent without giving them special saving grace.'

Scripture References

2 Timothy 3:14: Weaver uses this verse to introduce the idea of learning from individuals who have made an impression, applying it to the life of Arthur McCoy.
Joshua 1:9: Weaver quotes this verse to show that God commands courage, a trait exemplified by McCoy.
2 Samuel 10:12: Weaver cites this verse as another biblical command to be courageous and 'play the men' for God's people.
1 Chronicles 19:13: Weaver references this parallel passage to reinforce the call to courage and valiant behavior.
2 Timothy 1:7: Weaver alludes to this verse, stating that God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power, love, and a sound mind.
Matthew 6:33: Weaver quotes this verse to emphasize seeking God's kingdom first as part of consecration.

Historical References

Arthur C. McCoy: Confederate soldier, spy, and smuggler whose life is the subject of the sermon; known for his courage and daring exploits.
General Joe Shelby: Confederate general under whom McCoy served as a captain; known for his cavalry raids in Missouri.
Captain William McCoy (rumrunner): Prohibition-era rumrunner whose high-quality liquor supposedly gave rise to the phrase 'the real McCoy.'
Kid McCoy (Norman Selby): American welterweight boxing champion whose name is another possible origin of the phrase 'the real McCoy.'
Jesse and Frank James: Notorious outlaws and former Confederate guerrillas with whom McCoy rode after the Civil War.
Quantrill's Raiders: Pro-Confederate guerrilla group led by William Quantrill; McCoy fought with George Todd, a captain under Quantrill.
Battle of Shiloh: Major Civil War battle in which McCoy fought with the 1st Missouri Confederate Infantry, which was nearly decimated.
John Newman Edwards: Confederate officer and journalist who wrote about McCoy and the James-Younger gang, including the book 'The Terrible Quintet.'
Alton, Illinois prison: Notorious Union prison where McCoy was being sent before his escape; known for harsh conditions.
Martin Luther at the Diet of Worms: Weaver references Luther's stand before Charles V as an example of consecration and courage, saying 'Here I stand, God help me, I can do no other.'

Important Quotes

Arthur McCoy was six feet and over, a little stooped about the shoulders, very long in the arms, having a stride like a racehorse, and a nervous energy expending itself even while he slept. All the lower face was massive, the lower jaw especially square cut and huge. The eyes were that cold, glittering, penetrating, blue that might be cruel as a serpent's, and then soft and tender as the eyes of confidence and trust.

This vivid description from a contemporary author captures McCoy's imposing physical presence and the duality of his fierce and tender nature.

He seemed never to know the meaning of fear. He begged incessantly to be sent upon forlorn and desperate service.

Highlights McCoy's absolute fearlessness and eagerness for dangerous missions, which Weaver holds up as exemplary courage.

McCoy has one of those peculiar organisms whose possessors seem to deserve no credit for their courage. His bravery, which is absolute, is a sort of second nature. The result, not of pride or the fear of being called a coward, but of a fierce insensibility to danger and a total recklessness of personal hazard that gives him nerve under all circumstances.

A newspaper editor's analysis of McCoy's innate courage, emphasizing that it was not motivated by pride but by a natural disregard for danger.

I don't know how he will die, but I suppose as he has lived violently, though I will venture to assert that when he does lie down with his boots on forever, those who brought him down will not soon forget the circumstances unless they should forget it immediately by keeping him company.

A grimly humorous prediction about McCoy's eventual death, underscoring his deadly reputation and the fear he inspired.

Duty is ours, the consequences belong to God.

Weaver quotes Robert E. Lee to illustrate the principle of consecration and trust in God's providence, applying it to Christian duty.

Here I stand, God help me, I can do no other.

Weaver cites Martin Luther's famous declaration as a model of consecration and courage for believers.

Discussion Questions

[Question]

How does the biblical command to be courageous (Joshua 1:9) apply to our lives today, especially in the face of increasing cultural opposition?

[Context]

Weaver emphasizes that courage is commanded by God and exemplified by McCoy, urging believers to develop this trait.

[Question]

In what ways can we learn from non-Christians like Arthur McCoy without compromising our faith?

[Context]

Weaver introduces the concept of common grace, suggesting that virtues like courage can be observed and emulated from non-believers.

[Question]

What does McCoy's coolness under pressure teach us about handling crises with a calm and sound mind?

[Context]

Weaver recounts multiple instances where McCoy remained composed in life-threatening situations, contrasting it with panic.

[Question]

How can we cultivate a deeper confidence in God's providence when facing uncertain or dangerous circumstances?

[Context]

Weaver calls for confidence in God's Word and providence, using Lee's quote about duty and consequences.

[Question]

What does it mean to be consecrated to the cause of Christ, and how does McCoy's dedication to his cause challenge our commitment?

[Context]

Weaver contrasts McCoy's total dedication to the Confederate cause with the call to seek first God's kingdom.

[Question]

Why is it important to maintain a 'cool head' in desperate situations, and how can we prepare ourselves spiritually for such times?

[Context]

Weaver shares a personal story about his mother's panic versus his father's calm, illustrating the need for composure.

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