Yancey and his brother, Billy, rode with Quantrill during and after the Civil War. They hated the Union and they, along with their gang of thieves, rapist, and killers, were raising hell along the border close to Fort Clark. When they robbed a saloon in Brackett and killed two soldiers along with several townspeople, an Calvary patrol, with Tye scouting, was dispatched to bring them in—dead or alive.