the other question had to do with what happened to some of the other towns like o selah. selah was destroyed september 26, 1861. osceola rebounded. pleasant gap was completely destroyed. it never returned. papen phil was completely destroyed in base county. butler was destroyed. it did return, and it is still the county seat. west point, missouri, the largest town on the missouri-kansas border, was completely destroyed in december of 1861, and it never returned. a lot of those towns never returned. another reason is after the railroads came, it was like the interstates today. if you were on the interstate and you could get an exit, your town would do well. in those days, if you were on the railroad and you could get a depo, you did well. wherever the railroads went, the town's seem to thrive. if you missed the railroad, your town dried up. >> my question is why were this particular area of missouri selected for this punishment. the whole state of missouri was a slave state, was it not? why was this little strip particularly chosen for this punishment? tom: i think that th