Pittsburg Sun, Pittsburg, KS
Obituary of Robert Ratliff

November 17, 1921 PIONEER CITIZEN DIES. Robert Ratliff Had Lived in Pittsburg Forty Years. Robert Ratliff, aged 81, a resident of Pittsburg the past forty years, died Tuesday evening while visiting in Neosho county, Mo. Mr. Ratliff is survived by one son, Benjamin F. Ratliff; and two daughters, Mrs. Louise McCoy, and Mrs. Anna Spencer. Funeral services will be held at 2:30 o'clock this afternoon at the Bowman chapel, and burial will be at Mt. Olive cemetery. Pittsburg (KS) Daily Headlight, Pittsburg, KS December 13, 1921 MORE VETERANS' DEATHS. To the Headlight: In your issue of Dec. 3 is a statement of the women of the G. A. R. by Mrs. Florence Steussi, giving a summary of the losses the G. A. R. post here in November, giving six or seven names including confederates, three have been omitted, Tyler Brown, colored; Columbus Skates, removed to Lyons, and Robert Ratliff, a confederate. Ratliff was councilman in Pittsburg under to old aldermanic system. He was a good confederate. At the last meeting of the old soldiers in Lincoln Park, he informed us by courier that he had a large force of troops and would capture the camp. Pickets were duly posted commanding the strategic points of the camp awaiting the attack. Later in the day, the enemy failing to attack, a reconnoitering party was sent out, if possible to find Ratliff's force. He was found and explained that a squad of "Yanks" from Chicopee had captured his "ammunition" (barleycorn) and he had failed to attack, saying that, in the face of such soldiers as Captain Beck and Captain Watson and Captain Casad without proper ammunition, an attack would be sure death. S. O. CASAD.