a follow-up to the above post -
The unit from Putnam county was also sent to Howard county the first week of November 1864 to give a military presence at polling stations for the presidential election that year. Since that area was heavy with rebel sympathy, they couldn't get much support from the locals to do what the Union command wanted.

I've heard from one person that the people in that area resented the Putnam County Militia being there and a lot of blame was put on them for some "executions" of more than one or two civilians and a lot of property destruction in Howard and Chariton counties. I can't determine if any of it was warranted or not. The "History of Putnam County" written in the 1880's suggests the Putnam county units were falsely accused of many atrocities and were almost the perfect soldiers.
Probably the truth is somewhere in between and we may never know for sure what really did or didn't happen.