Daniel Haston > Isaac Haston/Hastin > John Wesley Hastin > Dave J. Hastin
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We don’t know much about the war experiences of Isaac’s son, John Wesley Hastin, but we know (1) he was suspected of supplying cattle for the Confederate army and (2) after the war, he fled to Fannin County, TX, “where other Missouri refugees (pro-Confederates) found new homes.” And we know (3) his son, David J. Hastin, was one of the most feared Confederate guerrilla fighters in SouthWest Missouri.
Confederate 1st Lieutenant David J. Hastin
January 11, 1863 – John Wesley and Anna Hastin’s son, David J. (Johnson) Haisten (sic, Hastin), served as a lieutenant in Hunter’s Regiment of Joseph O. Shelby’s Confederate “Iron Brigade.” The brigade participated in 4 major raids into Missouri, earning the reputation as the most formidable brigade in the theater. David Hastin was badly wounded in the January 11, 1863, Battle at Hartville, Missouri, but lived until May 2, 1908.
David Haisten/Hastin’s injuries at Hartville, MO, did not end his service for the Confederacy. Here are just a couple of examples of the kind of guerrilla activity David J. Hastin participated in during the war. One source names him, along with two others, as some of the most dreaded Confederate guerrilla fighters in Southwest Missouri.
February 15, 1863 – A month and four days after his serious wounds in the Battle of Hartville, David Hastin, along with James Miller, and Lafayette (known as “Fate” and as “Pete”) Roberts, were accused of, “with force and arms,” robbing George Fullington in Dade County, Missouri. Among other things, they stole sixty dollars in cash, a double-barreled shotgun, a rifle, and an army jacket. The plaintiff sued to attach their property, which only affected James Miller. The sheriff stated, “The other within-named defendants have no property in my (Dade) county that can be found.”
Source: “George Fullington vs. Miller, Roberts and Hastings,” Dade County, Missouri Circuit Court, c43230_B0059F0012, 1864. Accessed February 22, 2026, https://www.sos.mo.gov/Images/Archives/Judicial2/c43230_B0059F0012.pdf.
Fullington said he believed “the defendants in the foregoing action have absented themselves from their usual place of abode in this state so the ordinary process of law cannot be served upon them.” The incident, apparently, was not presented to the Dade County Circuit Court until August, 1864.
June 14, 1864 – David (D.J.) Hastin participated in a raid of about 150 Confederate guerrillas on the village of Melville* in Dade County, Missouri.
At daybreak on June 14, 1864, Kinch West and Lafayette [Fate] Roberts, at the head of about 150 men, raided the little town of Melville*…robbing the stores and afterward applying the torch to every building in town. All were completely destroyed except three dwelling houses, which were saved by the women, who fought the flames heroically and succeeded in extinguishing them as the bushwhackers withdrew. After the war, the village of Melville was rebuilt and renamed Dadeville, Missouri.
Source: The Springfield (Missouri) Leader and Press, October 24, 1965, 29, 32.
Eyewitness claimed the “guerrillas charged into the town, shooting indiscriminately, killing and wounding a dozen citizens.
Later that year, David and more than twenty other guerrillas, including leader Lafayette Roberts, were sued in the Dade County Circuit Court for the destruction and property losses caused by the fires and theft. “D.J. Hastin” is named in more than a dozen of those lawsuits, such as the one in this image.*
Source: “Francis M. Compton vs. Jeremiah Bigley, et. Al. Dade County, Missouri Circuit Court, c59150_B0061F0003-1.pdf. Accessed February 22, 2026, https://s1.sos.mo.gov/Records/Archives/ArchivesMvc/JudicialRecords/Detail?id=65836.
*Out of the approximately 150 guerrillas, how did the plaintiffs know the names of the ones who were served with lawsuits? As the story goes, a group of Union militia ran upon the guerrilla band in a forest while they were auctioning off the goods they had stolen. The guerrillas fled, leaving behind a list of those who had purchased at the auction.
As with the February 15, 1863, incident, the court documents admit: “The above-named defendants have absented themselves from their usual places of abode in this State so that the ordinary process of law cannot be served upon them.”
I suspect that these examples are just the “tip of the iceberg” about David J. Hastin’s guerrilla war experiences. In the following article, I will share his defense of his reputation. Also, I will tell you about David J. Hastin, the post-war man.
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