Thomas Buck came all the way from Indiana in a wagon drawn by a team of horses in the 1840s and built a farm just east of the future town site.

Dr. Jaquillian M. Stemmons actually owned eight inherited slaves himself; however, he and the other town leaders were Unconditional Unionists and remained aligned with newly elected president Abraham Lincoln.

In spite of being engulfed by the Confederacy, the United States flag continued to fly over Avilla, boldly hoisted to the top of a flagpole in the town center park and guarded by the townsmen.

[11][12] Dr. Jaquillian M. Stemmons, an early settler, town leader and staunch Union man, organized a company of local men and neighbors in Avilla for the protection of their own homes from roaming bands of bushwhackers.

In 1861 this town militia, also known as the "Avilla Home Guard", was one of the first in the area and consisted predominantly of the oldest citizens, as most of the younger men were leaving to join regular military forces.

By March 1862, the town militia had been tipped off about an impending assault and General James G. Blunt at Fort Scott, Kansas, had pledged reinforcements, but they had not yet arrived.

After nightfall on March 8, 1862, a group of over a hundred pro-Confederate guerrillas believed to have been led by William T. Anderson attacked northeast of Avilla, routed perimeter sentries and engaged defenders at Dr. Stemmon’s home.

The rebels surrounded the two-story log home and were met with heavy gunfire, but the doctor and three of his sons, Bud, Pole and Jimmie were trapped inside with many of the men.

After numerous attempts to penetrate the defense, amidst flying buckshot and bullets, the attackers managed to ignite the cabin and it eventually burned to the ground.

The guerrilla force instead ended the attack and rode east toward Springfield, where the two elderly prisoners were later "given stern warnings to leave the state" and released.

Nevertheless, the "defiant and heroic actions" of Dr. Stemmons, Mr. Duncan and the town militia's "bold resistance" undoubtedly repelled further violence and probably prevented the burning of Avilla on that or ensuing dates.

Names that are known of the courageous militiamen and allies defending on that night also included: Miles Overton, George Moose, Jap Moody, Ben Key, Cavalry Chapman, Robert Seymour, Orange Clark, Humphrey Robinson, Tom Driver, James S. Carter, Reuben Fishburn, William Club (seriously wounded), Nelson Knight (taken prisoner), Rabe Paul and Coleman Paul, Isaac Schooler, "Dutch" Brown (taken prisoner), Nip Walker, Peter Baker, Renard Napper and Cpt.

Tanner from Fort Scott (The Captain was a Union Army Recruiting Officer and reportedly continued to fight after taking a shotgun blast to the face).

The rebel attack on the Stemmons home was intended to terrorize and diffuse but essentially had the opposite effect, infuriating the townsmen and altering the defensive efforts to offensive as everyone in Avilla took up arms.

The Union Army gained possession of Missouri in 1862, but the terrain encompassing Avilla remained plagued with bushwhackers and occasionally small bands of Confederate regulars or guerrilla raiders on horseback.

Tents were erected and storehouses, barns and homes were converted to temporary Army barracks & headquarters which housed hundreds of soldiers at various times, and a number of refugees.

Being situated in open grassland Avilla was able to maintain a formidable and effective defense and became a sanctuary for refugees of nearby burned-out towns such as Carthage, but the county remained dangerous until the end and even for some time after the war.

Much of Jasper County lay in ruins, and local merchants and businessmen grew wealthy during the rebuilding of Carthage, Sarcoxie, and other nearby war-damaged communities.

[8] Farmland was the primary natural resource and without industry the population never increased after this time, and regular stage lines were eventually discontinued.

Two months later, the new Avilla unit was escorted by flag-bearing GAR members to the Carthage Train Depot, and with music from the Light Guard Band were ceremoniously sent off for battle in the Spanish–American War.

The Bank of Avilla was the target of a successful armed robbery on May 18, 1932, by members of the notorious "Irish O'Malley Gang", which also resulted in the kidnapping of the cashier.

Local lore has it that Clyde Barrow entered the Bank of Avilla, looked Mr. Russell in the eye, and then saw his .45 holstered while he stood behind the teller window.

Population growth had already apexed before the 20th century but the town continued to make modern improvements such as a volunteer fire department, a hardware store & lumber yard (owned by Raymond Ziler, burned in 1971), a barbershop, a beauty salon, (Florida Melugin's or "Old Flo's") tavern, The Avilla Cafe (Jack & Nadine "Sours" Couch), several auto service stations (in town and close proximity) and repair shops for farm equipment and automobiles, a farm implement sales (Chapman-Follmers), a seed mill, a Boy Scout meeting hall (Scoutmaster Joseph A. Norris Sr.) and in later years even an arena grounds was constructed for the Avilla Rodeo (Avilla Saddle Club) 1 mile (1.6 km) west of town.

Avilla had actually started to decline in the 1940s after World War II, when greater numbers of people (especially young adults) from the already small community began moving to larger industrial cities for employment opportunities.

In 1971 a large fire broke out at the Avilla lumberyard which destroyed several buildings including most of the lumber company, the Boy Scout Meeting Hall and some private residences.

Many antique country home' and farmhouses can be seen dotted about the Avilla countryside and long established family traditions in livestock raising and agriculture continue in the area.

Although it has been threatened with closure because of government cut-backs, 21st century visitors and residents can enjoy the nostalgic and well-preserved 1915 bank building, complete with the old time teller windows, vault and vintage postal equipment as it continues to fly Old Glory and serve as Avilla's US Post Office.

[25] [26] [27] Homer L. Hall[28] Award-winning American journalist, educator and widely published author of teaching and students' textbooks, including the critically acclaimed High School Journalism.

The town was founded by Andrew L. Love and David S. Holman, merchant-landowners who basically wanted to sell goods and property at the edge of the frontier in the mid-1850s, but little information was recorded by them, and even less about them.

The legend of the “Avilla Phantom Bushwhacker” of the "Death Tree Legend", also known as "Rotten Johnny Reb", is an enduring Avilla ghost story describing various hauntings involving the ghost of a dead Confederate Bushwhacker whose remains were never properly buried, and an old tree charged with dark or evil energy after his skull was hung on it.