Parker and two McClung boys were riding at the edge of a small lake, on the flat land above the gap, when they were found by a bank of irregulars or Bushwackers.  Parker rode his horse down the gap and escaped.  This was a dangerous thing to do, but flying bullets seemed to have helped hom accomplish this outstanding feat of horsemanship.  The McClung boys were captured and forced to stand at a cliff, where they were shot and their bodies allowed to fall over the cliff.  A group of women recovered their remains and buried then the Gaither Cemetary.  A messenger was sent to the two older McClung boys to tell then what happended to their brothers.

It was a dark shadow of revenge that covered the hills as the two men rode home.  The Rebel Bushwackers would have been better off had it heen the Union army on their trail rather than Bud and J.D. McClung.  The horses they rode carried light supplies suitable for fast travel.

The sun was covered with gray clouds as twelve men rode along the Boston Mountains, not realizing death vows had been taken to kill everyone of the Bushwackers.

The guerilla rebels made camp near Cecil’s creek, while Bud and his brother stayed in a cave some distance above the group.  Cold, damp fog hung over the camp as the leader and killer band ate a hearty breakfast.  The eggs and side meat were taken from local farmers, but the coffee and flour to make the bread were in short supply.  The leaders gave orders for five men to take a wagon to Fort Smith for supplies that they couldn’t get at the farms.  Their plans were to raid the farms along Richland creek, then wait for the supply wagon at the Salt Peter Cave.  The cave produced niter, a material used for making gunpowder.

Watchful eyes observed the camp of the enemy breaking up.  They saw seven men ride in one direction while two men on a wagon and three on horses rode the other direction.

Two angry riders followed the wagon and three horses at a safe distance.  The McClungs knew the trail well that the small party took.  The trail took the men by a high waterfall where the road made a half circle.  A good place for an ambush.  Above the waterfall, J.D. observed with deadly accuracy the men who dismounted to drink and allow their horses to water.  J. D. sighted the wagon driver on the seat and pulled the trigger.  The man slumped to the wagonbed, dead.  Bud’s bullets fatally wounded a man beside the wagon.  The horses near the wagon stampeded, leaving three men at the mercy of the two riflemen.  No mercy was shown.

With half of their self-asigned mission completed, they returned to where they had left that morning to pickup the trail of the remaining Bushwackers.  South of Jasper, the McClungs learned that the party they were seeking was at Young creek.  The two men rode across Cove Creek, then through the community of Bass.  They moved up the mountain to the south, turned east along the ridge to Iceledo Gap.  They rode along the shady side of the mountain for a mile.  Here they found little remains of a home, only a pile of burned logs.  This was a sign the devil’s left on the trail.  The riders wasted no time in digging a shallow grave and putting the body of an old man to rest.

The two pursuers rode around the base of Horn Moutain, then along the valley road, where they passed abandoned houses.  Quite often, person took flight leaving all their possessions.  There were miles of level fields, some of the finest cropland the McClungs had ever seen.