When the cost of getting him acquitted was put into the Bolton & Dickens business accounts, Thomas Dickins protested fiercely and the firm was ultimately dissolved.

Following the American Civil War, as various parties requested in court that firm's accounts be settled and remaining funds distributed, tensions rose again.

[1] In Slave-Trading in the Old South, Frederic Bancroft described the circumstances of McMillin's death, writing that he was "a well-known trader, who for years had ranged over Kentucky searching for slaves for Lexington and Memphis dealers.

By some rare, good fortune the negro obtained the aid of a lawyer of integrity and by suit recovered his freedom; and the Boltons were compelled to refund the money they had received for him.

"[2] An 1898 retelling of the Bolton-Dickens feud described the young man who was sold as being about 23 years old (thus born about 1833) and "possessed of some education and considerable common sense".

[1] An 1875 Memphis Avalanche newspaper account of the Bolton–Dickins family feud provides additional detail:[3] Over 20 years ago a colored lad was purchased somewhere in Kentucky at a public sale who had been manumitted by a will of his master and who was to be set free after he arrived at a certain age.

He was conveyed to their mart in this city and the firm subsequently sold the boy for the sum of $1800 to Thomas B. Crenshaw near Morning Sun in this county.

[1] McMillin claimed that Lexington-based Wash Bolton (who ran the firm's office and jail there) knew all about the legal circumstances of the laborer, and had determined that they should take the risk.

[11] In approximately 1868, a man named James "Green" Wilson and female servant, Nancy Dickens, were shot and killed during a nighttime raid on Thom Dickins' house.

In 1869, two men, Inman and Morgan, believed to be involved in the murders of Nancy Dickins and James Wilson "were tracked into a cave in North Alabama and killed.