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1214024
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY
3 1833 00828 6582
TRANSACTIONS
KANSAS STATE HISIIICAL Mm,
1903-1904;
TOGETHER WITH
ADDRESSES AT ANNUAL MEETINGS, MISCELL/VNEOUS
PAPERS, AND A ROSTER OF KANSAS FOR
FIFTY YEARS.
Compliments of
IQansas State Historical Society.
Ge». W. Martin,
Secretary.
VUl^. viu .
TOPEKA:
GEO. A. CLARK, STATE PRINTER.
1904.
TRANSACTIONS
i?| 4 ^ 01^ 1 TT^ lUC^TAnTn \ \ OAmmT
x:
1 903-1 fl(U;
TOGETHER WITH
ADDRESSES AT ANNUAL MEETINGS, MISCELLANEOUS
PAPERS, AND A ROSTER OF KANSAS FOR
FIFTY YEARS.
Edited by GEO. W. MARTIN, Secretary.
VOL. YIIL
TOPEKA:
GEO. A. CLARK, STATE PRINTER.
1904.
Past Presidents of the Historical Society.
Samuel A. Kingman, Topeka 1876,
George A. Crawford, Fort Scott 1877.
John A. Martin, Atchison 1878.
Charles Robinson, Lawrence 1879-'80.
T. Dwight Thacher, Lawrence 1881-'82.
Floyd P. Baker, Topeka 1883-'84.
Daniel R. Anthony, Le<iven worth 1885-'86,
Daniel W. Wilder, Hiawatha 1887.
Edward Russell, Lawrence 1888.
William A. Phillips, Salina.. 1889.
Cyrus K. HoUiday, Topeka 1890.
James 8. Emery, Lawrence 1891.
Thomas A. Osborn, Topeka 1892.
Percival G. Lowe, Leavenworth 1893.
Vincent J. Lane, Kansas City, Kan 1894.
Solon O. Thacher, Lawrence 1895.
Edmund N. Morrill, Hiawatha 1896.
Harrison Kelley , Burlington 1897.
John Speer , Lawrence 1898.
Eugene F. Ware, Topeka 1899.
John G. Haskell, Lawrence 1900.
John Francis, Colony 1901.
William H. Smith, Marysville 1902.
William B. Stone, Galena 1903.
John Martin, Topeka 1904.
1214024
Board of Directors of the Society.
FOR THE THREE YEARS ENDING DECEMBER 1904.
Adams, J. B El Dorado.
Brown, W. L Kingman.
Clark, George A Junction City.
Cory, C. E Fort Scott.
Cowgill, E. B Topeka.
Da vies, Gomer T Concordia.
Dawson, J. 8 Hill City.
Francis, John Colony.
Hoch, E. W Marion.
Hudson, J. K Topeka.
Isely, Wm. H Wichita.
McCarter, Mrs. Margaret Hill.. Topeka,
Mack, J. C Newton.
Martin, John Topeka.
Murdock, M. M Wichita.
Park, H. Clay Atchison.
Prentis, Mrs. Caroline Topeka.
Pierce, A. C Junction City.
Remington, J. B Osawatomie.
Rice, Harvey D Topeka.
Richey, W. E Harveyville.
Rockwell, Bertrand Junction City.
Royce, Mrs. Olive I Phillipsburg.
Scott, Charles F lola.
Smith, Chas. W Lawrence.
Smith, F. Dumont Kinsley.
Strong, Frank Lawrence.
Stone, W.B Galena.
Taylor, Edwin Edwards villa.
Thompson, A. H Topeka.
Valentine, D. A Clay Center.
Whiting, A. B Topeka.
Whittemore, L. D Topeka.
FOR THE THREE YEARS ENDING DECEMBER 1905.
Anderson, T J Topeka.
Anthony, D. R Leavenworth
Bailey, W. J Baileyville.
Baker, Floyd P Topeka.
Barnes, Chas. W Topeka.
Bertram, G. Webb Oberlin.
Bigger, L. A Hutchinson.
Calderhead, W. A Marysville.
Capper, Arthur Topeka.
Carruth, W. H Lawrence.
Cole, George E Girard.
Cunningham, E. W Emporia.
Greene, A. R Lecompton.
Harris, Edward P Lecompton.
Hamilton, Clad Topeka.
Hodder. Frank H Lawrence.
Howe, E. W Atchison.
.Junkin, J. E Sterling.
Kingman, Miss Lucy D Topeka.
Leis, George Lawrence.
Leiand, Cyrus Troy.
Plass, Norman Topeka.
Montgomery, F. C Topeka.
Madden, John Emporia.
Moore, H. Miles Leavenworth.
Nof tzger, T. A Anthony.
Bondi, August. Salina.
Riddle, A. P Minneapolis.
Speer, John Wichita.
Veale, Geo. W Topeka.
Ware, E. F Topeka.
Wilder, D. W Hiawatha.
Wright, John K., died Jan. 14,
1904 Junction City.
FOR THE THREE YEARS ENDING DECEMBER 1906.
Adams, Miss Zu Topeka.
Blackmar, Frank W Lawrence.
Chase, Harold T Topeka.
Chase, Julia A Hiawatha.
€onnelley, William E Topeka
Crane, Geo. W Topeka.
Fisher, H. D. Kansas City.
Oleed, Chas. S Topeka.
Griffing, W.J Manhattan.
Guthrie, John Topeka.
Haskell, John G Lawrence.
Hill, Joseph H. Emporia.
Hopkins, Scott Horton.
Hovey, G. U. S White Church.
Johnson, A. S Topeka.
Johnson, Mrs. Elizabeth A Courtland.
Lane, Vincent J Kansas City.
Lowe, P. G Leavenworth.
McMillan, Harry Minneapolis.
Martin, Geo. W Kansas City.
Mead, J. R Wichita.
Milliken, J. D McPherson.
Moore, Horace L Lawrence.
Morrill, E. N Hiawatha.
Munlock, Victor Wichita.
MacDonald, John Topeka.
Randolph, L. F Nortonville.
Ruppenthal, J. C Russell.
Sims, William Topeka.
Smith, William H Marysville.
Vandegrift, Fred L Kansas City.
Wellhouse, Fred Topeka.
Wright, R.M Dodge City.
Wilson, Hill P Hays City.
(iii)
IV
KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
List of Members of tlie Society.
LIFE-MEMBERS.
A. R. Greene Lecompton.
L. A. UiKKor Hutchinson.
W. B. Stono Galena.
Eliza May Stone Galena.
D. R. Anthony Leavenwortli.
John A. Halderinan Washington, D. C.
Grant Horuaday Fort Scott.
J. C. Rupponthal Russell.
ANNUAL MEMBERS.
All newspaper editors and publishers are
publications.
Alma: S. H. Fairfield.
Anthony : T. F. Noftzger.
Atchison : Bailio P. Waggener, H. Clay Park,
E. W. Howe, J. W. Fisher.
Baileyville: W.J.Bailey.
Burlington : Joseph Rolston, Henry E. Gause.
Chanute: Wm. E. Connelley, J. W. Massey,
John C. Carpenter, S. W. Brewster.
Clay Center: D. A. Valentine.
Colony: John Francis.
Concordia: Evalyn Bradford, Gomer T. Da-
vies.
Cottonwood Falls: Archibald Miller.
Courtland : Elizabeth Johnson, George John-
son.
Denver: John Speer.
Dodge City : R. M. Wright.
El Dorado: J. B. Adams.
Emporia: P. B. Maxson, E. W. Cunningham,
Joseph H. Hill, John Madden, W. E. Bray.
Fort Scott: C. E. Corey.
Harvoyville: W. E. Richey.
Hays City : Hill P. Wilson.
Hiawatha: E. N. Morrill, Julia Chase, D. W.
Wilder.
Hill City : John Dawson.
Helton : Case Broderick.
Horton : Scott Hopkins.
lola • Charles F. Scott.
Junction City: John K. Wright, B. Rockwell,
S. W. Pierce, Geo. W. McKnight, A. C. Pierce,
George A. Clark.
Kansas City : Winfleld Freeman, Vincent J.
Lane, J. O. Fife, Geo. W. Martin.
Kansas City, Mo. : J. C. Horton, F. L. Vande-
grift, H. D. Fisher, Irene Stone Clapp.
Kinsley : F. Dumont Smith.
Lawrence: Horace L. Moore, John G. Has-
kell, W. H. Carruth, George Leis, F. H. Hod-
der, G. Grovenor, C. W. Smith, Paul R.
Brooks, W. S. Tougli, Frank Strong, Wilbur
C. Abbott, A. C. Mitchell, R. G. Elliott, R.
W. Luddington.
Leavenworth: P. G. Lowe, Alex. Caldwt'll,
E, T. Carr, H. C. F. Hackbusch, H. Miles
Moore.
Lecompton : Ed. P. Harris.
Lyndon : Charles R. Green.
McPherson: John D. Milliken.
members by virtue of the contribution of their
Manhattan : W. J. Griffing, J. S. Cunningham,
Carl Engle.
Marion: E. W. Hoch.
Marysville: E. R. Fulton, Earl J. Miller, W.
A. Calderhead, Emma E. Forter. W. H.
Smith.
Minneapolis: Harry McMillan, A, P. Riddle.
Newton: J. C. Mack.
Nortonville: L.F.Randolph.
Oberlin: G. Webb Bertram.
Olathe: D. Hubbard, D. P. Hougland.
Olsburg: John Booth.
Osawatomie: J, B. Remington.
Ottawa: W. S. Jenks, L. C. Stine.
Paola : S. J. Shively.
Phillipsburg: Olive I. Royce.
Pittsburg: Thad C. Histed.
Salina : August Bondi, L. F. Parsons, T. D.
Fitzpatrick, A. M. Campbell.
Solomon : Richard M. Wimsatt.
Stanton, Minn.: John J. Lutz.
Sterling: J. E. Junkin.
Tecumseh: J. A. Read.
Topeka: William Sims, Fred Wellhouse, Pat-
rick H. Coney, A. H. Thompson, E. F. Ware,
John R. Mulvane, Clad Hamilton, A. S.
Johnson, John Martin, S. J. Reader, Geo. W.
Veale, Geo. W. Weed, Chas. 8. Qleed, E. J.
Dallas, L. D. Whittemore, A. B. Whiting,
Zu Adams, Lucy D. Kingman, Samuel A.
Kingman, Geo. W. Crane, T. J. Anderson, J.
Ware Butterfield, G. W. W. Yates, Geo. E.
Cole, A. B. Quinton, F. P. Baker, Caroline
Prentis, G. M. Kellam, F. L. Hayes, J. W. F.
Hughes, John Guthrie, Margaret Hill Mc-
Carter, L. S. Ferry, J. G. Wood, John M.
Mead, J. M. Simpson, R. T. Herrick, F. W.
Ellis, A. M. Hyde, Norman Plass, S. G. Stew-
art, Jesse Shaw, Nettie A. Shaw, Geo. A.
Huron, Harold T. Chase, John MacDonald,
E. B. Cowgill, J. K. Hudson, Arthur Capper,
F. C. Montgomery, Chas. W. Barnes, Jona-
than D. Norton, W. W. Phillips.
Troy : Cy. Leland.
White Churcii: Geo. D. S. Hovey.
Whittier, Cal. : R. M. Pock.
Wichita : W. H. Isely, J. R. Mead, Victor Mur-
dock, M. M. Murdock.
Winlield : E. C. Manning.
York, Pa. : L H. Betz.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
United States Land-oflBces in Kansas, with map, by Albert R. Greene, of Le-
compton 1
The Story of the Seventh Kansas, by S. M. Fox, of Manhattan 13
Sherman County and the H. U. A., by E. E. Blackman, Roca, Neb 50
Massacre of Confederates by Osage Indians in 1863, by W. L. Bartles, lola, 62
Along the Trail, by John Madden, of Emporia 67
Indian Reservations in Kansas and the Extinguishment of their Title, with
map, by Anna Heloise Abel, of Salina 72
Black Kettle's Last Raid — 1868, with illustrations, by Hill P. Wilson, of
Hays City 110
Secretary's report for 1903 118
Historical Work in Osage County, by Charles R. Green, of Lyndon 126
Report on Exploration, by W. J. GrifiBng, of Manhattan 133
Mounds and Deserted Villages, by W. E. Richey, of Harvey ville 135
A Famous Old Crossing on the Santa Fe Trail, with illustrations, by George
P. Morehouse, of Council Grove 137
Business Then and Now, by James C. Horton, of Kansas City 143
The Fourth Kansas Militia in the Price Raid, by William T. McClure, of
Bonner Springs 149
Early Spanish Explorations and Indian Implements in Kansas, with map
and illustrations, by W. E. Richey, of Harvey ville 152
Reminiscences of the Yeager Raid on the Santa Fe Trail, in 1863, by D. Hub-
bard, of Olathe 168
The Wichita Indians in Kansas, by James R. Mead, of Wichita 171
The Pottawatomie Massacre, by S. J. Shively, of Paola 177
The Osage Ceded Lands, by C. E. Cory, of Fort Scott 187
Reminiscences of James C. Horton, of Kansas City 199
Along the Kaw Trail, with illustrations, by Geo. P. Morehouse, of Council
Grove 206
An Attempted Rescue of John Brown from Charleetown, Va., Jail, by O. E.
Morse, of Mound City 213
Taking the Census and Other Incidents in 1855, by James R. McClure, of
Junction City 227
The Friends Establishment in Kansas Territory, by Wilson Hobbs 250
Kansas at Chickamaugua and Chattanooga 271
With John Brown in Kansas, by August Bondi, of Salina 275
The Great Seal of Kansas, illustrated, by Robert Hay 289
A State Flower 300
Emigration to Kansas in 1856, by Robert Morrow 302
John A. Anderson, a Character Sketch, by Geo. W. Martin 315
Quantrill and the Morgan-Walker Tragedy, by John J. Lutz, of Stanton,
Minn ' 324
The Capitals of Kansas, by Franklin G. Adams 331
The Eleventh Kansas Regiment at Platte Bridge, with illustrations, by S. H.
Fairfield, of Alma 352
(V)
Vi CONTENTS, VOL. VIII.
PAGE
The Big Springs Convention, by R. G. Elliott, of Lawrence .362
In Memoriam — O. B. Gunn. 378
A Kansas Pioneer Merchant, by Geo. W. Martin .380
Railroad Grading Among Indians, by A. Roenigk, of Lincoln 384
A Defense, by Samuel D. Lecompte 389
A Kansas Soldier's Escape from Camp Ford, Tex., by Geo. W. Martin 405
Autobiography of F. B. Sanborn 415
Reminiscences of Frederick Chouteau 423
Biographical Sketch of Judge Rush Elmore, by John Martin, of Topeka 435
Isle au Vache, by George J. Remsburg, of Oak Mills 436
The Battle of the Spurs, or John Brown's Exit from Kansas, by L. L.
Kienie, of Topeka 443
The Establishment of Counties in Kansas, with maps, by Helen G. Gill, of
Vin land 449
High Waters in Kansas — Extracts from the Diary of Rev. Jotham Meeker
and Others 472
The Kansas Indians in Shawnee County after 1855, by Miss Fannie Cole.. . . 481
Recollections of Early Times in Kansas Territory, from the Standpoint of a
Regular Cavalryman, by Robert Morris Peck 484
A Roster of Kansas for Fifty Years 508
Addenda 543
MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
Map of Kansas in 1856 8
Map of Kansas in 1846, showing location of Indian Reservations 88
Cheyenne Village on the Washita 110
Tepee in Cheyenne Village on the Washita 112
Cheyenne Chiefs held as hostages by General Custer 116
A Famous old Crossing at Council Grove 138
Council Oak, under which the Treaty of 1825 was made 142
A Pioneer Store at Council Grove 142
Map of Coronado's March, 1542 152
Indian Implements in Kansas 156, 160, 164
Group of Kaw Indians, including Wa-mun-kah-wa-sha, She-ga-in-ka, two
braves, and Margaret Ma-hun-gah, a belle 138
Old Kaw Mission at Council Grove 206
Ah-ke-tah-shin-gah, a Kaw brave 212
Group of Kaw Warriors — Alle-ga-wa-ho, Kah-he-gawa-ti-an-gah, Fool
Chief II (in the middle), and Wa ti-an-gah 208
Kansas Monuments at Chickamauga and Chattanooga 272, 274
The Great Seal of Kansas 296
The Platte Bridge 352
Maps, showing changes in county lines, 1854-1904 449-471
PREFACE.
TT^ANSAS has closed the first half century of her organized exist-
-^^ ence. As this publication goes to press a general observance of
the anniversary of the passage of the bill creating the Territory of
Kansas, May 30, 1854, prevails throughout the state, in the schools
and clubs, and miscellaneous gatherings of the people. Wonderful
results followed the opening of this fair Territory, consigning to our
pioneers the greatest issue that ever confronted the nation for settle-
ment through the doctrine of Squatter Sovereignty. A writer in the
St. Louis Globe- Democrat says this was one of the most portentious
pieces of legislation ever placed on the national statute-book. "That
day, in 1854, was a great date-mark in the history of the country," he
tells us. "The act which organized those two territories [Kansas and
Nebraska], and which at the same time repealed the Missouri anti-
slavery compromise of 1820, was responsible for a good many very
important things that came afterward. It killed the Whig party,
created the Republican party, precipitated civil war in Kansas, split
the Democratic party in the Charleston convention of 1860, made
Lincoln's election certain in that year, and this sent eleven states into
secession and war against the government, all of which brought
emancipation and several other things of consequence to the country*.''
" According to Atchison, .the Stringfellows, and some
of the other leaders of the proslavery side, the division of the proposed
territory into Nebraska and Kansas, in the act which Douglas pressed
and which Pierce signed, was with the tacit understanding that the North
was to have the upper territory and the South the lower. When the
free state men began to send settlers into Kansas, the Southern leaders
called their conduct a breach of faith and hence the raids across the
border from Missouri." It not only caused all this confusion in the
world's history, but in a generation and a half, it has transformed a
barren and uninviting waste into a commonwealth of wonderful pro-
portions, wealth and enlightenment, one of the most conspicious of
peoples and governments known on the earth, with an activity of
thought and action never surpassed.
Hence the absorbing interest everywhere and at all times in the
history of Kansas. How the people love to linger and revel with the
story of the territorial days of Kansas. What an interminable history
(vii)
viii PREFACE.
this people have made. Examine the papers in this volume and then
consider how lightly they touch the semi-centennial period. There
are forty-seven contributions in this publication, embracing three of
a prehistoric character, fifteen territorial reminiscences, six relating
to our Indian predecessors, six treating of John Brown and the terri-
torial conflict; of the civil war six; five of reminiscences since
statehood, and six of a biographical nature. The Historical Society
would gladly lead contributors to the consideration of events since
statehood, but people generally seem to consider that with which
they are familiar as not history — they love to delve into that which is
old and unsettled. Every state administration should have a chapter
in these Collections. Our territorial history was marked by factional
and personal bitterness, and there will be adherents of all views for
generations to come. Hence it is the purpose of the Society, so far
as in its power, to place first things on record. There is a great
quantity of material on file with this Society, which is not regarded
as something to be carefully locked away in pigeon-holes, but of
right belongs to the public.
There are quite a number of citizens of Kansas still living who
participated in the territorial struggles, and these witnesses are en-
titled to be heard, for soon all living testimony will be closed. It is
a great blessing to be a citizen of Kansas, but how wonderful to have
been a participant in her creation from territorial days down to the
present.
The Society is under great obligations to a number of friends at
various points in the state for able and conscientious contributions
on different subjects of state history. Especial credit is due to Frank
H. Hodder, professor of history in the State University, for three
papers of great practical importance, contributed by young lady
students — members of his class in history. In the seventh volume
is an address by Miss Rosa M. Perdue, entitled "The Sources of the
Constitution of Kansas." In this volume are two papers, one entitled
"Indian Reservations in Kansas, and Extinguishment of their Title,"
by Anna Heloise Abel, of Salina, and "The Establishment of Counties
in Kansas," with maps, by Helen G. Gill, of Vinland. These papers,
prepared under the direction of Professor Hodder, are of infinite value
to the students of history, and show that the people have a very practi-
cal teacher of history at the State University. They involved great
labor and application upon the part of the young ladies, who have thus
made their mark in Kansas history, and naturally suggests, the first
thing, what are the young men doing? Hon. D. W. Wilder writes,
concerning Miss Abel's paper: "Miss Abel has a great but neglected
field. I cannot recall any paper in the Society's proceedings that
PREFACE. ix
equals it in matter and manner. I have not read every page, but
have looked at them all with high respect for the author. We need
such writers in all the states." We know of several instances where
lawyers have consulted Miss Perdue's work on the constitution. And
we are sure the public will regard Miss Gill's work as of exceeding
value and satisfaction.
The roster of Kansas for fifty years is as complete and perfect as
can be made. There has been no systematic method of keeping such
a record, and the sources from which obtained are in a much scat-
tered condition. This list of names recalls many historic characters,
and is suggestive of incidents, untold, of value and interest in form-
ing conclusions as to the purposes and accomplishments of those who
have gone before. As this Historical Society has grown practically
to be the record for all the departments of state, as well as of the peo-
ple at large, there should be more definite legislation concerning pub-
lic records.
G. W. M.
ADDRESSES AND PAPEES DELIVEEED AND EEAD
AT ANNUAL MEETINGS.
UNITED STATES LAND-OFFICES IN KANSAS.
An address delivered by Albert R. Greene,* of Lecompton, before the twenty-seventh annual
meeting of the Kansas State Historical Society.
BY act of Congress approved July 22, 1854, the territory of Kansas was cre-
ated a land district, with provision for the location of a land-oflBce at the
temporary seat of government.
Before a land-oflBce could be put in operation, however, the country would
have to be sectionized, for public surveys must precede private entry. This in-
volved an immense amount of detail and the expenditure of much time as well as
money. Advertisement for bids for surveys, the letting of contracts, the execu-
tion of the work in the field, the office work on the returns, and the inevitable
delays incident to the approval of the completed surveys in Washington and the
issuance of the proclamation opening the lands to entry, vyere some of the pre-
liminaries. ^
On August 4, 1854, John Calhoun t was commissioned surveyor-general of the
♦Albert Robinson Greene was born in Mt. Hope, McLean county, Illinois, January 16,
1842. He is the fifth son of Elisha Harris and Lucy Stacy Greene, of Pawtucket, R. I., and
Saco, Me., who were married December 10, 1832, and removed to Illinois in 1837, and to Kan-
sas in April, 1857. The subject of this sketch attended the district school in Illinois during
the winters until he was fifteen. He lived at Mt. Hope and Metamora, 111., until April, 1857,
when he came to Kansas with his father's family, and settled on a claim in Weller ( now Osage )
county, in Wakarusa (now a part of Ridgway) township, on Elk creek, three miles west of
Twin Mound post-office, in Douglas county. He has been engaged as a farmer, merchant, news-
paper correspondent and publisher, and from August 20, 1862, until July, 1865, he was a soldipr
in company A, Ninth Kansas cavalry. He has served as postmaster at Richland; alternate to
the Republican national convention, 1880; private secretary to Congressman Dudley C. Haskell;
state senator from Douglas county, 1881 to 1885 ; inspector general land-office, 1883 to 1885 ; state
railroad commissioner, 1887 to 1893; private secretary to Congressman R. W. Blue, 1895-'96; in-
spector general land-office, 1897 to 1901 ; chief forestry division, January to August, 1901 ; special
inspector Department of the Interior, August, 1901, to date. He was also department commander,
Grand Army of the Republic. He was married August 31, 1868, to Julia Annie Coblentz, and has
had six children, five of whom are living. His father had a personal acquaintance with James
G. Birney, Owen Lovejoy, David Davis and Abraham Lincoln in anti-slavery work. Mr. Greene
is located at Portland, Ore., temporarily, in the service of the government.
tThe Kansas State Historical Society has a manuscript entitled "A Vindication of
John Calhoun." He was born October 14, 1806, and died at St. Joseph, Mo., October 13, 1859.
He had moved his family to Nebraska City, where he had permanently located, but had spent
the summer at Springfield, 111., his former place of residence, having gone there to settle
his affairs, which, by the mismanagement of a dishonest agent, had become greatly deranged.
He left for Nebraska in quite a feeble state. At St. Joseph he was so ill he could go no further,
and a physician was called, who pronounced his illness a case of exhaustion. On the tenth day
after his arrival at St. Joseph he complained of being more unwell. He was given a prescrip-
tion to take at ten p. m. Very soon after taking it he was seized with excruciating pains, and a
little before twelve expired. He died from the effects of strychnine. Physicians in Cincinnati
investigated the matter and said he had taken enough to kill six men. His family and friends
took a charitable view of the matter, and accepted it as one of those inexplicable casualties
that cannot be fathomed. John Calhoun was president of the Lecompton constitutional con-
—2
2 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
twin territories of Kansas and Nebraska, and ex officio register of filings for the
land-offices soon to be opened in them. Soon after this he opened an office in
Wyandotte and commenced operations. His first report of completed surveys
was made October 20, 1856, and was addressed to Hon. Thomas A. Hendricks,
commissioner of the general land-office. At this date the area surveyed and ap-
proved was 1,864:, 141 acres.. The estimate for the fiscal year ending June 30,
1857, was 2,860,000 acres.
The approved surveys comprised a strip of country extending along the Mis-
souri river to the Nebraska line, and embraced for the most part the counties of
Atchison, Doniphan, Brown, the east half of Nemaha, a small corner of Jackson,
the greater part of Jefferson, and all of Leavenworth and Wyandotte except
Indian and military reservations.
Extensive surveys south of the Kansas river as far as Fort Scott had been
completed in the field, but the office work was not finished at the time of this
report, and not a single township had been reported to the commissioner for
approval.
The base line, u e., the dividing line between Kansas and Nebraska, had been
surveyed as far west as the sixth principal meridian, 108 miles from the Missouri
river, and standard parallels from first to fifth, inclusive, had been established south
from the base line and west to the sixth principal meridian. Or, to state it in
another way, the area included in the exterior lines which had been run at the
date of this report had for its northeast corner the corner of the territory; for
its northwest corner a point 108 miles west of this, and not far from where is now
the village of Mahaska; for its southwest corner almost the identical location of
Wichita, and for its southeast corner a point on the Missouri line opposite Fort
■ Scott. It was 108 miles long on its north line, and 150 miles on its west and south
lines. This was Kansas for the time being.
I have before me Calhoun's map of the two territories at that time, and note
that Kansas had but three towns which he considered worthy of a place — Atchi-
son, Leavenworth, and Wyandotte. But Kansas was three times better off than
Nebraska, which had not so much as one town or post-office shown on the map.
The only watercourse shown in Kansas, except the Missouri, is a section of the
Kansas extending as far west as the eastern boundary of the Pottawatomie
vention , and this vindication by a brother, A. H. Calhoun, shows that he was in favor of submit-
ting- the entire constitution to a popular vote. His brother says: "It was the design of the
Southern element in that body to fasten slavery upon the people of Kansas, and to that end
they embodied a clause establishing the institution and proposed its adoption without submis-
sion to the people. This Mr. Calhoun strenuously apposed, and advocated the plan of submit-
ting the whole constitution to the popular vote. He was in favor of a constitution based on
that of Massachusetts ; indeed, he would have adopted the bay state fundamental law almost
literally, as he told me after he had been chosen a delegate and before the convention con-
vened." This is substantiated by the testimony of A. J. Isacks and H. L. Martin in the report
6f the Covode investigating committee, page 175. The candle-box episode was due entirely to
L. A. Mac Lean, the chief clerk in the surveyor's office. His proclamation of the result of the
election gave oft'euse to the administration at Washington, and he was dropped from thence on,
as Reader, Geary, Walker and Stanton had been, his biographer says. John Calhoun was sur-
veyor of .Sauganion county, Illinois, in lJ-33. In Nicolay and Hay's "Abraham Lincoln," page
115, we find: " Looking about for a youug man of good character, intelligent enough to learn
surveying at short notice, liis attention was soon attracted to Lincoln. He offered young Abra-
ham a book containing the elements of the art and told him when he had mastered it he should
have employment." Edward D. Baker, who was in command of a brigade and killed at Ball's
Bluff, October 21, 1861. defeated Calhoun for Congress in 1841. Lincoln was at that election a
candidate for presidential elector. Calhoun was made surveyor-general of Kansas and Ne-
braska by Stephen A. Douglas. At a state fair in October, 1854, Calhoun and Lincoln had a de-
bate. John Calhoun and Abraham Lincoln were warm friends until the end of life. Id., pp.
90-118.
UNITED STATES LAND-OFFICES IN KANSAS. 3
reservation. A large part of the surface of this small portion of Kansas which
was then for the first time coming into the occupancy of white men was covered
by Indian reservations and trust lands. The latter were, of course, to be opened
for settlement, but upon conditions which were more exacting than those pre-
scribed for the public domain. The country west of the Missouri border had for
a generation before the organization of the territories of Kansas and Nebraska
been the common dumping-ground for the half-civilized Indian tribes which had
surrendered their lands in the East, and hence, when the white men came, they
found the choicest locations covered by the reservations of these people. These
lands comprised the following areas, approximately:
Sacs and Foxes 350,0C0
Sacs and Foxes of Iowa 16,000
Sac and Fox trust lands 75,000
Otoos 28,t00
Kickapoos 140,000
Pottawatomies 575,000
Dela wares 350,100
Delaware trust lands 700,000
Shawnees 500,000
Kansas 200,000
New York ( the part included in the above-stated area ) 1 ,000,000
Miami trust lands 400,000
Peoria and Kaskaskia trust lands 100,000
Piankeshaw and Wea trust lands 150,000
Ottawas 30,000
Otta was of Roche de Boeuf 50,000
Chippewas 10,000
Wyandottes 75,000
4,749,000
It was a big slice to take out of the Kansas pie, but the very fact that these
lands had been selected by the Indians, the acknowledged best judges of land in
the country, made the emigrants all the more anxious to possess the remainder.
Besides, a reservation line has little terror for a land-grabber anyway.
There had been several "temporary" seats of government previous to the se-
lection of Lecompton, in August, 1855, but no occasion for the opening of a land-
office, for the reason stated at the beginning of this paper. When a selection
had been made, however, which bade fair to become permanent, on the j^round
of a compromise between the rival candidates of Douglas, five miles down the
river, and Tecumseh, ten miles up the river from the new location, and when
Congress had made an appropriation of 850,000 foracapitol building, a real land-
office was considered necessary to complete the felicity of the aspiring metropolis
of the young commonwealth.
After the designation of Lecompton as the territorial seat of government, the
provision of law referred to found expression in an order for the establishment of
a land-office there, to be called the Pawnee land-office. The first register was
Ely Moore, of New York, and the first receiver was Thomas C. Shoemaker, whose
appointment was coincident with that of Register Moore, but who served but
little more than one year, so that he was receiver only in name, for the office
was hardly opened for business at the time he was succeeded by Gen. William
Brindle.
Accompanying the commission of Register Moore was an order from the com-
missioner of the general land-office, Hon. Thomas A. Hendricks, directing him
to erect with all possible dispatch a suitable building in which to transact the
business of the office — "the locating of military bounty land-warrants, preemp-
tions, sale of lands, and filings, as well as rooms for the adjudication of contested
land cases."
This was easy enough to dictate from the comfortable distance of Waehing-
ton, but the execution of such an order was something of an undertaking, with
4 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
the base of supplies 500 miles away and the Missouri and Kansas rivers blocked
■ with ice.
When the materials had finally reached the mouth of the Kansas river, it was
found that the water of that stream had followed the ice into the Missouri, and
the only alternative was to freight the stuff by ox team the remaining sixty miles
to Lecompton. It was just fourteen months from the time the order was given
' until the contractor, Antionet, had the building ready for occupancy. It was a
two-story affair, with the land-office domiciled below and the legislative house of
representatives above. This building has since gained a national reputation as
Constitution hall. It is now owned by the Odd Fellows, and is used for fra-
ternal-society purposes.
In May, 1856, the first filings were received in the Lecompton land-office, al-
though there had been a large number of filings in the office of the surveyor-gen-
eral, who had acted prior to this time as a sort of ex officio land-office on his
own account. These latter made no small amount of trouble for officers and set-
tlers alike when they came to be transferred to the regular books of the land-
office, as the numbers were irregular, often duplicated, and not infrequently called
for lands not open for settlement. Also, the plats were incomplete in many in-
stances, there being no lot numbers, and the areas being incorrectly stated,
showing carelessness, and incompetency as well.
It was fortunate for the government and litigants that so able a man as Ely
Moore had been selected for the responsible and arduous duties of register of
this land-office. A brief biographical sketch may be permitted, although it will
,be impossible to accord to many other of the land officers of Kansas more than a
mention of their names.
Ely Moore was born in Sussex county, New Jersey, July 4, 1798, and died in
Lecompton, Kan., January 27, 1861. He came of revolutionary stock, his father
being Capt. Moses Moore, who distinguished himself at the battles of Long
Island, Monmouth, and Trenton. The son had a remarkable career. He com-
, menced as a printer in New York city, and was at one time proof-reader on an
edition of the Bible when Horace Greeley was copy-holder. He served in Con-
. gress from 1834 to 1838, and won national fame in hie reply to Waddy Thompson,
of South Carolina, when the senate did him the honor to attend in a body to
listen and applaud. After retiring from Congress he was surveyor of the port of
New York from 1839 to 1845, when President Polk appointed him marshal for
the southern district of New York. In 1853 President Pierce offered him the
position of minister to England, but he declined, and preferred, on account of
his health, to take an Indian agency in what was soon to become the territory of
Kansas. It is a part of the unwritten history of that time that he was to have
been the first territorial governor, but his health forbade, and he recommended
his friend, Andrew H. Reeder.
With the retirement of Receiver Shoemaker, in September, 1856, Gen. William
Brindle, of Maryland, was appointed to the place, and held it until March, 1861.
He is still living, his home being in Washington, D. C, a courtly gentleman of
the old school, and honored by a wide circle of friends.* Of deliberate, even
*GrEN. William Beindlb died at the university hospital, Philadelphia, December 4, 1902,
aged eiRhty-four years. He was a resident and large property-owner at Gloucester City,
N. J. He was born at Muncy, Pa., and served in the war against Mexico as lieutenant-colonel
of the Second Pennsylvania volunteers. He was made a brigadier-general by act of Congress
for gallantry. After a residence during his term of office ia Kansas he returned to Pennsylvania
and served a term in the legislature of that state. About 1882 he became a citizen of New Jersey.
' For several years ho was superintendent of schools in that city, and was at one time the Demo,
cratic candidate for Congress from the first New Jersey district. He was a student and writer
ou economics. For a year or so he was editor of the Kansas National Democrat, at Lecompton.
UNITED STATES LAND-OFFICES IN KANSAS. 5
plodding modes of thought, tenacious to obstinacy in his political and religious
convictions, and utterly oblivious to the influences of public opinion, he was the
Yery antipodes of the brilliant, impulsive and fiery Moore. But they were alike
in sterling honesty, and in those troublous times when human character, like
human life, was cheap, were never the subjects of an aspersion or a sneer. In-
tense partizans though they were, politics never tempered their official action,
Brindle was editorial writer on the Lecompton Dc/nocrat, the administration
organ of the territory. He was a Presbyterian and doctrinarian of the most pro-
nounced type. His spicy squibs, of three and four columns in length, on foreor-
dination, predestination, abolitionists, damnation and the divine right of slavery
left nothing to be added in the way of sectarian and partizan fervor. But if he
left his politics out of his official life he carried his religion squarely into it, and
it is refreshing to recall, in these days of contemptuous reference to the Deity in
administering an oath in many of our land-offices, the solemn obligation this man"
compelled those to feel who uncovered and held up their right hands in his pres-
ence to be sworn. Sometimes he rather overdid the matter, however, as I re-
naember, when waiting my turn to appear as a witness for a neighbor, and being
impatient to be done with it and off for the tramp of seventeen miles across the
prairies to my home. William Brown was the express messenger on the stage'
between Kansas City and Lecompton, and appeared with his witnesses and pa-
pers to make proof on his preemption claim. Everything was ready, and Moore
being busy in another part of his office, the duty of administering the oath de-
volved upon Brindle. Here is the way he went at it:
Brindle: "What is your name, sir?"
Brown: "Brown — William Brown."
Brindle: "Now, Mr. Brown, look me in the eye, sir. Raise your right hand,
William Brown — yes, sir, your right hand. I am about to administer an oath to
you, sir. Are you ready ? This is a very important act in your life, sir. 'You do-
solemnly swear, in the presence of Almighty God, the searcher of all hearts, that
the testimony you are about to give shall be the truth, the whole truth, and noth-
ing but the truth, and this you swear under the pains and penalties of perjury,
as you shall answer at that great day.'"
When Brindle got within sight of the judgment Brown broke, and landed up
against the register, with a remark which, coming down through the dim vista of
years, recurs to me as something like he "be d if he didn't hunt some one
else" to swear him.
Moore put him over a shorter catechism, much to his delight, and we went
away singing an improvised adaptation of "Nora McShane: "
" 'Tis true I've no money, but then I've no sorrow;
My heart it is light and my head has no pain;
And if I but live till the sun shines tomorrow,
I'll be off to old Johnson and Billy Brown's claim."
These were the men who presided over the destinies of the first land-office and
eat in judgment in the thousands of cases that arose between rival claimants for.
the coveted Kansas lands.
The first man in line on the day of the opening was Jacob Myers, and, upon
consulting the blotter maps, it was found that there was a contestant in the per-
son of one James G. Blunt. After long and acrimonious litigation Myers won,
and Blunt went to the war and became a major-general and a national figure.
The office force was as follows:
register's department.
Head clerk: Cbas. W. Otey, Lynchburg, Va. Deceased.
Entry clerk : Maynard M. Chambers, New York city. Deceased.
Assistant entry clerk : Henry Rauser, Germany. Deceased.
6 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
General clerk: John Haggerty, Cork, Ireland. Deceased.
Filing clerk: T. J. B. Cramer, West Virginia. Deceased.
Examiner: Thomas B. Price, Baltimore, Md. Deceased.
Contest clerk: George Fred, Pentecost, Greencastle, Ind. The great evan-
gelist, later. *
Assistant to above: Andrew P. Walker, Alabama. Deceased.
Docket clerk: David Bailey, Pennsylvania. Deceased.
receiver's department.
Headclerk: Hardman Peterkin, Pennsylvania. Killed at Antietam. (Union.)
Evidence clerk: Henry W. Peterkin, Muncy. Pa. Deceased.
General clerk: Edward W. Wynkoop, Pa. Deceased.
The jurisdiction was coextensive with the boundaries of the territory and ex-
tended from the Missouri line to the summit of the Rocky Mountains and the
Rio Grande. Roughly speaking, it contained eighty million acres of land. To-
day it contains a population of two million souls. Denver, Golden, Blackhawk,
Georgetown, Colorado Springs, Leadviile, Pueblo, Cripple Creek, Aspen, Victor,
Salida, Buena Vista, Canon City, Del Norte, Trinidad and a hundred lesser towns
were destined to spring from its gold-seamed mountains and fertile plains, far
beyond the dreams of urban settlement when its boundaries were first defined.
As its eastern portion was dotted with Indian reservations, so its southwestern
corner was marked with Spanish grants, which had been made as concessions to
adventurous spirits who had come up from the land of the Montezumas. And
while the prairies and valleys of the Kansas river and its tributaries were being
overrun with a rush of emigrants to occupy the virgin soil, the upper Arkansas,
the historic Huerfano, the Rio Grande and their tributaries were resting in the
indolent contentment of pastoral settlements which had existed for a century or
more. Coronado had dedicated these valleys to the cross long before the Pil-
grims "sought a faith's pure shrine" on the shores of New England. Four ma-
jestic rivers, the Platte, the Kansas, the Arkansas, and the Rio Grande, all found
their sources in this same jurisdiction. The crystaled towers of the Spanish
Peaks, of Pike's Peak, of Sierra Blanca, the loftiest in all the Rocky Mountain
chain, and of Harvard, from whose summit the sunlit crests of Arizona, New
Mexico, Utah and Wyoming are plainly visible — all these were within the jurisdic-
tion and belonged to Kansas. And over this older Kansas, this truly historic
Kansas, they looked down on a fair land that had been acquired from France in
part, from Spain in part, and for a part of which the heroes of the Alamo had
laid down their lives.
♦"Who's Who in America" —George Fredeeick Pentecost, clergyman-author, l)ora at
Albion, 111., September 23, 1842; son of Hugh L. and Emma (Flower) Pentecost; apprenticed
to printer; private secretary governor of Kansas territory, 1857, and clerk of the United
States district court, 1858; entered Georgetown University ( A. M., Hamilton, New York ; D. D.,
Lafayette College, Pennsylvania ) : left college to join Union army ; chaplain Eighth Kentucky
cavalry, U. S. volunteers, 1862-'61 ; married, October 6, 1863, Ada, daughter of Dr. Augusta Web-
ber, Hopkinsvillo, Ky. ; pastor Greencastle, Ind., 1864; Evansvillo, Ind., 1866-67; Covington,
Ky.,1867-'68; Brooklyn, N. Y., 1868-'71; Boston, 1871-'80; Brooklyn, 1880-'87 ; evangelical work in
Scotland, 1887-'88; special mission to English-speaking Brahmins in India, 1889-'91 ; minister
Marylebono Church, London, 189l-'97; pastor First Presbyterian Church, Yonkers, N. Y., 1897-
1902; now in evangelical work in Japan, China, and the Philippines. Hois the author of The
Angel in tlie Marble, In the Volume of the Book, South Window, Out of Egypt, Bible Studies
(ten volumes ), Birth and Boyhood of Christ, Forgiveness of .Sins, Systematic Beneficence, and
Precious Truths. His address is Northfield, Mass. "Pente"set type for some time on the
Kansas National Democrat, at Lecompton, in lS57-'58.
UNITED STATES LAND-OFFICES IN KANSAS. 7
The Spanish-American settlements comprised in whole or in part the follow-
ing grants, the area stated being that portion in Kansas territory, viz.:
Beaubien and Miranda: Made January 11, 1841, by Manuel Armijo, governor
of New Mexico, to Charles Beaubien and Guadalupe Miranda, "for faitli-
ful and patriotic services to church and state," in the stilted language of
the parchment 322,560.00 acres.
Sangre de Christo : Made December 30, 1843, by Governor Armijo to Luis Lee
and Narciso Beaubien, " for faithful and patriotic services to church and
state" 770,144.23 "
Kio Las Animas: Made December 9,1843, by Governor Armijo to Cornelio
Virgil and Cerain St. Vrain, " for faithful and patriotic services to church
and state" 126,720.00 "
Bio Don Carlos: Made December 1, 1842, by Governor Armijo to Geracio No-
lan, "for faithful and patriotic services to church and state" 184,320.10 "
Baca location No. 4: Made by Congress, June 21, 1860, to the heirs of Luis
Maria Baca, in lieu of lands confirmed to the pueblo of Las Vegas, New
Mexico 99,289.39 "
Total area Spanish grants in Kansas 1,502,583.72 acres.
Surveyor-general Calhoun states, in the annual report referred to, that "the
number of preemption filings registered in this office to date, for the territory of
Kansas, is 3036." Probably no equal number of filings in any known land-offlce
on the face of the earth ever led to so much litigation, expense and bad blood as
these same mentioned. And all because Calhoun undertook to do something be-
fore he was ready, and about which he knew absolutely nothing.
On November 29, 1856, Commissioner Hendricks made his annual report to the
secretary of the interior, and, under the heading of "Kansas" makes the follow-
ing remarks:
"The returns of the surveys of public lands, Indian trust lands and perma-
nent Indian reservations show that they have been prosecuted with great dis-
patch, considering the severity of last winter, which forced the deputy surveyors
to abandon field operations. Besides this, the disturbances in the country and
the intricacy of surveys under Indian treaty stipulations, which had devolved
upon the surveyor-general, tended to retard the progress of the business. These
accumulated causes deferred the preparation of the Iowa, Delaware and other
trust lands for market as early as had been contemplated, and consequently no
public lands, although surveys to the extent of hundreds of thousands of acres
and plats of the same are prepared, could be brought into market. The eastern
portion of the Delaware trust lands of about ten townships were, however, pro-
claimed for sale, to take place on the 17th of the last month."
This explains, diplomatically, why a surveyor-general, with a force in the field
for more than two years and ample funds at his command, had failed to have an
acre of land on the market I
In March, 1857, Congress provided for additional land-offices at Doniphan,
Fort Scott, and Ogden.
The first register at Doniphan was Gen. John W. Whitfield, who served from
March, 1857, to April, 1861. He had been a delegate in Congress, and was a
prominent person in the early days of the territory.
The first receiver of public moneys at Doniphan was Daniel Woodson, who
also served from March, 1857, to April, 1861. He had been acting governor
under a commission as secretary of the territory much of the time, under two or
three of the governors.
Ashael Low succeeded Register Whitfield, and served from April, 1861, to De-
cember, 1863, when the office was consolidated.
Ira H. Smith succeeded Receiver Woodson, and also served from April, 1861,
to December, 1863.
The Doniphan office was removed to Kickapoo December 3, 18.57, and to Atchi-
son September 6, 1861. In December, 1863, it was consolidated with the To-
peka office and cease to exist.
8 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
The first preemption entry made in Kansas was by Julius G. Newman, of
Atchison, the record in the Washington archives being as follows, in the abstracts
from the Lecompton office : " No. 1. Julius G. Newman, SW 1-4, Sec. 25, Tp. 5,
S. R. 20, E. April 21, 1857."
In June, 1857, Calhoun removed the surveyor-general's office from Wyan-
dotte to Lecompton, occupying the log house on the river bank built and used
as a residence by Sheriff Jones for a few weeks, until a frame house he had or-
dered from St. Louis in the " knock down " could be got ready for occupancy.
There was considerable delay, and the work of extending the public surveys was
still further retarded in consequence, the office work being altogether suspended
for several weeks. One good result of this move was toshutoff Calhoun's mania
for taking filings as a sort of branch land-office.
The opening of the land-office was delayed and greatly embarrassed by a failure
to receive the books and supplies promptly. The safe also added to the trib-
ulations of the officers. This had been billed to Kansas City but by some mis-
take was carried to Leavenworth. In unloading it from the boat the stage broke
and precipitated the safe into the river. When it had been fished out and hauled
to Lecompton the lock was found to be full of Missouri river mud. An expert
safe man had to be brought from St. Louis to open and repair it, and while all
this was being done there was no place for the funds other than a drawer in the
desk of the receiver.
Notwithstanding there were four land-offices in Kansas in 1857, the only lands
sold during the fiscal year ending June 30 of that year were in the Lecompton
district. These amounted to 17,350.86 acres, and brought into the treasury the
sum of $21,688,85.
The Fort Scott land-office was removed to Humboldt, in September, 1861
where it was raided by guerrillas, and the treasure taken ; whereupon it was re-
moved to Mapleton, the county-seat of Bourbon county at that time, on October
3, 1861. It was again removed to Humboldt, May 15, 1862, where it remained,
until December 15, 1870, when it was removed to Neodesha ; and on October 3,
1871, it was removed to Independence, where it remained until February 28, 1889,
when it was consolidated with the Topeka office and ceased to exist.
The list of officers from first to last is a long one, and includes many well-
known and important names.
The first register was William H. Doak, who served from March, 1857, to May,
1858, when he was succeeded by Jesse Morin, who served until April, 1861.
Morin was a Kentuckian, and had settled in Platte county, Missouri, in 1837,
was twice elected to the legislature, was clerk of the circuit court, and a major
in Colonel Doniphan's regiment in the Mexican war. At the outbreak of the
rebellion he returned to Missouri, and was immediately offered a brigadiership
in the confederate army. He returned the commission to the governor, saying
that he could not tight against the flag under which he had won such a good
name.
After Morin came Jonathan C. Burnett, who served to March, 1865, and
gave way to Watson Stewart, who held the position of register until December,
1866, and was succeeded by Olin Thurston, who held it until April, 1867, and
turned it over to Nathaniel S. Goss, who held the place until April, 1869, and
was succeeded by Watson Stewart again, who surrendered it to P. B. Maxson,
who was register until March, 1873, and was succeeded by W. W. Martin, who
held the place until July, 1877, and was followed by Melville J. Salter, who held
it until July, 1885, and was succeeded by Clate M. Ralston, who held the posi-
tion until February, 1889, when, as has been said, it was consolidated with the
Topeka office.
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UNITED STATES LAND-OFFICES IN KANSAS. 9
The receivers of public moneys at this office, which had such a varied history,
were as follows :
Epaphroditus Ransom, from March, 1857, to January, 1860.
George W. Clarke,* January, 1860, to April, 1861.
Charles W. Adams, from April, 1861, to March, 1863.
Francis E. Adams, from March, 1863, to April, 1861.
Josiah C. Redfield, from April, 1864, to April, 1867.
David B. Emmert, from April, 1867, to October, 1871.
Joseph J. Wood, from October, 1871, to December, 1871.
Milton Wellington Reynolds ("Kicking Bird"), 1871 to March, 1873.
E. S. Nichols, from March, 1873, to December, 1873.
Henry W. Waters, from December, 1873, to October, 1885.
Henry Wilson Young, from October, 1885, to February, 1889, when the office
ceased to exist.
The first homestead entry made in the Fort Scott office was while it was on
duty temporarily at Humboldt, and is recorded as follows: "No. 1. Melkes J.
Martin, NE 1-4, Sec. 29, Tp. 23, S. R. 25 E., 6th P. M. Jan'y 1, 1863."
The Ogden office was removed to Junction City October, 6, 1859, to Salina
May 1, 1871, and was consolidated with the Topeka office December 31, 1893.
The registers of this office were as follows :
Frank Emory, March, 1857, to May, 1858.
Ira Norrie, May, 1858, to March, 1859.
Samuel B. Garrett, March, 1859, to April, 1861.
Robert McBratney, from April, 1861, to March, 1865.
George W. Martin, from March, 1865, to October, 1866.
John Willans, October, 1866, to March, 1867.
James R. McClure, March, 1867, to April, 1869.
George W. Martin, April, 1869, to April, 1871.
Thomas L. Bond, April, 1871, to April, 1880.
John M. Hodge, April, 1880, to August, 1886.
Smith M. Palmer, August, 1886, to May, 1889.
John M. Hodge, May, 1889, to December, 1893, when it ceased to exist.
The receivers of public moneys were as follows:
James P. Downer, March, 18.57, to May, 1858.
Findlay Patterson, May, 1858, to April, 1861.
Samuel D. Houston, April, 1861, to April, 1871.
Daniel R. Wagstaflf, April, 1871, to July, 1879.
Lewis Hanback, 1879, to February, 1883.
Harper S. Cunningham, February, 1883, to August, 886.
Oscar F. Searl, August, 1886, to September, 1889.
Charles W. Banks, September, 1889, to December, 1893, when it was consoli-
dated with the Topeka office and ceased to exist.
The first homestead entry in this office was as follows: "No. 1. Robert G.
Titus, NE 1-4, SW 1-4; W 1-2; SE 1-4; NE 1-4; SE 1-4 Sec. 34, Tp. 13, S. R. 2,
E., 6th P. M., January 1, 1863. 160 acres minimum land, 81.25."
The Lecompton office was removed to Topeka in September, 1861, where it
still remains, and to which have been added from time to time other offices, as
has been shown. All the outlying land-offices in the state will eventually be
consolidated with this one, and when there is no longer sufficient business for
the maintenance of a land-office in Kansas the records of all the offices will be
removed to Washington, where application will have to be made for the entry of
any remaining tracts of land in the state.
* There is some conflict regarding the date of General Clarke's receivership of t he Fort Scott
land-office. In 1856 he resided at Lecompton, and was long reputed as the murderer of Barber.
Later he was one of the principal instigators of the troubles in southeast Kansas between the
free-state and pro-slavery men. In 1858 Goodlander mentions him in his "Early Days of Fort
Scott" as receiver of the Fort Scott land-office. Wilder says that in September, 1858, he was
appointed a purser in the United States navy.
10 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
The list of registers of this office is as follows:
Ely Moore, March, 1855, to February, 1860.
James R. Jones, February, 18G0, to April, 1861.
Franklin G. Adams, April, 1861, to November, 1863.
Ira 11. Smith, November, 1863, to April, 1873.
W. H. Fitzpatrick, May, 1873, to January, 1882.
John J. Fisher, January, 1882, to April, 1886.
John L. Price, April, 1886, to April, 1890.
James I. Fleming, April, 1890, to April, 1894.
Herman von Langen, April, 1894, to August, 1895.
John S. Richardson, August, 1895, to March, 1898.
George W. Fisher, March, 1898, to May, 1902.
Charles H. Titus, May, 1902, to .
The receivers of public moneys were as follows:
Thomas C. Shoemaker, March, 1855, to September, 1856.
William Brindle, September, 1856, to March, 1861.
Charles B. Lines, March, 1861, to April, 1865.
David W. Stormont, April, 1865, to March, 1867.
Joel Thurston, March, 1867, to March, 1871.
George Merrill, March, 1871, to January, 1875.
Charles B. Lines, January, 1875, to April, 1877.
Charles S. Martin, April, 1877, to September, 1877.
David W. Finney, September, 1877, to December, 1877.
Harrison Kelley, December, 1877, to September, 1878.
George W, Watson, September, 1878, to February, 1883.
John Q. A. Peyton, February, 1883, to July, 1885.
Charles Spaulding, July, 1885, to January, 1890.
J. Lee Knight, January, 1890, to February, 1894.
James J. Hitt, February, 1894, to January, 1898.
Rudolph B. Welch, January, 1898, to April, 1902.
Joshua G. Wood, May 1, 1902, to .
On June 11, 1870, an additional land-office was opened at Augusta. On Feb-
ruary 20, 1872, it was removed to Wichita, and on February 28, 1889, it was consoli-
dated with the Topeka office and ceased to exist.
The list of registers of this office is as follows :
Andrew Akin, June, 1870, to July, 1872.
W. S. Jenkins, July, 1872, to May, 1875.
H. L. Taylor, May, 1875, to March, 1879.
Richard L. Walker, March, 1879, to July, 1885.
Frank Dale, July, 1885, to May, 1888.
James G. McCoy, May, 1888, to February, 1889, when the office was consoli-
dated.
The list of receivers of public moneys is as follows:
William A. Shannon, June, 1870, to July, 1872.
Josiah C. Redfield, July, 1872, to December, 1876.
James L. Dyer, December, 1876, to October, 1885.
Samuel L. Gilbert, October, 1885, to October, 1888.
Robert F. Coates, October, 1888, to February, 1889, when it was consolidated.
On July 7, 1870, an additional land-office was opened at Concordia. It was
consolidated with the Topeka office February 28, 1889.
The list of registers of this office is as follows :
Amos Cutter, July, 1870, to March, 1874.
B. H. McEckron, March, 1874, to March, 1883.
S. Hollister Dodge, March, 1883, to March, 1887.
Samuel Demers, March, 1887, to February 28, 1889, when it was consolidated.
The receivers of public moneys were as follows :
Thomas J. Sternberg, July, 1870, to August, 1870.
Evan J. Jenkins, August, 1870, to January, 1884.
UNITED STATES LAND-OFFICES IN KANSAS. 11
Thomas Wrong, January, 1884, to June, 1886.
A. A. Carnahan, June, 1886, to February 28, 1889, when it was consolidated.
In June, 1872, an additional land-office was opened at Cawker City, and on
January 4, 1875, it was removed to Kirwin, and on September 11, 1893, it was
consolidated with the office at Oberlin.
The list of registers of this office is as follows:
A. A. Thomas, June, 1872, to April, 1876.
Frank Campbell, April, 1876, to June, 1878.
Thomas M. Helm, June, 1878, to March, 1883.
John Bissell, March, 1883, to March, 1887.
Henry A. Young, March, 1887, to October, 1889.
Webb McNall, October, 1889, to April, 1892.
Lafayette F. Smith, April, 1S92, to September 11, 1893, when it was consoli-
dated with Oberlin.
The receivers of public moneys were as follows :
Thomas Plowman, June, 1872, to May, 187i.
J. M. Hodge, May, 1874, to June, 1878.
Lewis J. Best, June, 1878, to May, 1882.
Robert R. Hays, May, 1882, to July, 1886.
Amos J. Harris, July, 1886, to August, 1890.
William H. Caldwell, August, 1890, to September 11, 1893, when it was con-
solidated with Oberlin.
On June 20, 1874, an additional land-office was established at Hays City, and
in October, 1879, it was removed to Wa Keeney, where it still is in existence.
The list of registers of this office is as follows :
John H, Edwards, July, 1874, to December, 1874
Luther F. Eggers, December, 1874, to October, 1877.
Benjamin J. F. Hanna, October, 1877, to May, 1886.
W. C. L. Beard, May, 1886, to September, 1889.
Lee Monroe, September, 1889, to September, 1893.
Abram Frakes, September, 1893, to September, 1897.
Isaac T. Purcell, September, 1897, to June, 1902.
The receivers of public moneys were as follows:
John C. Carpenter, July, 1874, to December, 1874.
Andrew J. Vickers, December, 1874, to November, 1877.
William J. Hunter, November, 1877, to August, 1880.
W. H. Pilkenton, August, 1880, to April, 1888.
John Schlyer, April, 1888, to March, 1891.
Hill P. Wilson, March, 1891, to February, 1894.
Simpson S. Reynolds, February, 1894, to January, 1895.
William E. Saum, January, 1895, to June, 1898.
Frank W. King, June, 1898, to 1902.
On June 20, 1874, an additional land-office was established at Lamed. On
January 25, 1894, it was consolidated with the Garden City office, and on
February 10, 1894, the consolidated office was removed to Dodge City, where it
still remains.
The list of registers of this office is as follows:
Charles A. Morris, July, 1874, to June, 1883.
William R. Brown, June, 1883, to October, 1885.
W. R. Brownlee, October, 1885, to June, 1888.
Henry W. Scott, June, 1888, to April, 1890.
Harlan P. Wolcott, April, 1890, to January 25, 1894, when it was consolidated
with Garden City.
The receivers of public moneys were as follows:
Eli Gilbert, July, 1874, to December, 1877.
Henry Booth, December, 1877, to May, 1885.
2 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Henry M. Bedell, May, 1885, to June, 1889.
Edward L. Chapman, June, 1889, to January 25, 1894, when the office waa
consolidated with Garden City.
In May, 1881, an additional land-office was established at Oberlin, and on
February 5, 1894, it was removed to Colby, where it is still in operation.
The list of registers at both places is as follows:
Thomas H. Cavanaugh, May 1, 1881, to March. 1883.
A. L. Patchen, March, 1883, to December, 1886.
Frank Bacon, December, 1886, to October, 1889.
Cyrus Anderson, October, 1889, to January, 1894.
James N. Fike, January, 1894, to January, 1898.
Kleber E. Willcockson, January, 1898, to April, 1901.
William E. Ward, April, 1901, to .
The receivers of public moneys were as follows:
E. C. Chandler, May, 1881, to June, 1885.
Tully Scott, June, 1885, to April, 1889.
James B. McGonigal, April, 1889, to January, 1894.
Thomas J. McCue, January, 1894, to January, 1898.
Cyrus Anderson, January, 1898, to January, 1902.
Charles C. Evans, January, 1902, to .
In May, 1883, an additional land-office was established at Garden City, and
on February, 1894, it was removed to Dodge City, where it still remains. '
The list of registers at both places is as follows :
H. P. Myton, June, 1883, to March, 1885.
C. F. M. Niles, March, 1885, to October, 1889.
Daniel M. Frost, October, 1889, to January, 1894.-
John J. Lee, January, 1894, to January, 1898.
William A. Scates, January, 1898, to January, 1902.
Henry F. Milliken, January, 1902, to .
The receivers of public moneys were as follows:
A. J. Hoisington, June, 1883, to July, 1885.
Samuel Thanhauser, July, 1885, to July, 1889.
Jesse Taylor, July, 1889, to January, 1894.
George T. Crist, January, 1894, to April, 1895.
Albert B. Beerer, April 1, 1895, to March, 1898.
Lewis J. Pettyjohn, March, 1898, to 1902.
This completes the list of Kansas land-offices, and traces the official history of
each to its merging in the present four offices at Topeka, Wa Keeney, Colby,
and Dodge City. It will be seen by the above that the Topeka office, which is
the original Lecompton office, no new office ever having been established in To-
peka, contains the fourteen series of books of the offices of Atchison, Doniphan,
Kickapoo, Fort Scott, Humboldt, Mapleton, Neodesha, Independence, Ogden,
Junction City, Salina, Augusta, Wichita, and Concordia; Colby contains the
records of the former offices of Cawker City, Kirwin, and Oberlin, besides its
own; Wa Keeney has the records of the Hays City office besides its own; and
Dodge City has the records of the former offices of Lamed, Garden City, and a
part of the old Wichita and Augusta offices.
The Topeka office was destroyed by fire (November or December, 1869) a
number of years ago, and all of the original records of the Lecompton, Doniphan
and the older offices went up in smoke. These have been duplicated in part from
the files in Washington for business purposes, but the old papers and signa-
tures of the notable men in the Kansas struggle, which would be interesting
historical relics, are gone forever.
Among a mass of misinformation in the official records which have been con-
THE STORY OF THE SEVENTH KANSAS. 13
suited in the preparation of this paper are many amusing things, but want of
space forbids their mention here. I will, however, give one or two, at the risk of
having them pruned out when the editorial knife is applied.
Here is a sample of the correspondence that whitens the hair of the average
land oflBcer, for it is an inflexible rule that every communication must have a
courteous answer.
"Hon. RegesTer find enclosed forten monnie audor and my fileing Papers, if
Dejected for eny caus Plas Stat causlf Filed upon Previus State Wher and When
and By Hoom filed Pleas Let Me Her from you at one." [No description of the
land accompanied the filing papers.]
But it is not alone the illiterate who make a misfit in history. The following
is from a former commissioner of the general land-office who undertook to do
Kansas a friendly turn in a description of her natural advantages :
"The Kansas, the principal river, is formed by the confluence of the Repub-
lican and Smoky Hill forks which rise in the Rocky Mountains and flow, the
former southeast and latter almost due east, uniting at Fort Riley: it continues
thence east to the Missouri river, being navigable to Fort Riley. . . . With
the exception of the Kansas, none of her streams are navigable, having generally
broad, shallow channels."
Accompanying this article is a map of Kansas territory as it was when the
the first land-office was established, showing boundaries and natural features, to
which I have briefly referred.
In closing, I desire to express my grateful thanks to Hon. Granville N. Whit-
tington, chief clerk of the central land-office, for valuable assistance in collect-
ing the data for this paper. His thirty years' service in that position fits him in
an eminent degree to become the colaborer with any man in the compiling of
records pertaining to the public lands.
But it must be left for a Wilder or a Gilmore or a Stillwell to elaborate and
correct this, so far as the personnel of the offices here mentioned is concerned.
I shall feel flattered if they are constrained to notice the paper to that extent.
THE STORY OF THE SEVENTH KANSAS.
An address made before the twenty-seventh annual meeting of the Kansas State Historical
Society, December 2, 19C2, by S. M. Fox,* Adjutant General.
rpHIS it not intended to be a history, but is a sketch, based, from a lack of suf-
-'- ficient records, on a memory which at times may be at fault. From the
conditions, the story can but be rambling and incomplete. The history of a cav-
alry regiment that nearly every day during its four years of active service was in
the saddle would fill many volumes with stories of adventure and hardship and
then be a tale half told.
* Simeon M. Fox was born in Tompkins county, New York, August 28, 1842. When he was
eleven years old he moved with his family to Elmira. He was educated in the high school at
Elmira and the Genessee college at Lima. His father came to Kansas in 1855, and located at
Highland ; the mother came later, and the son remained East attending school. In the spring
of 1861, upon the close of school, the son came to Kansas, immediately enlisting in company C,
Seventh Kansas regiment. He served nine months as a private, then was made a corporal, a
regimental sergeant-major, and then first lieutenant and adjutant, which place he held until
mustered out. At the close of the war he settled in Manhattan, and engaged in the book busi-
ness. He was appointed adjutant general of the state in 1895, serving during the administra-
tion of Governor Morrill, and was reappointed by Governor Stanley in 1899, serving six years.
The Kansas regiments during the civil war have a disjointed and very imperfect record of
their service. There is a wide-spread impression that their service was practically limited to
14 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
At the beginning of the civil war Kansas had just been admitted as a state,
the machinery of government was hardly in working order, and the people were
very poor; yet when the call of the president for troops came the response was
immediate, and always in excess of every demand. Eight regiments were organ-
ized and placed in the field during the year of 18G1. Much confusion existed in
the organization of these regiments, resulting from the action of the War Depart-
ment at Washington in giving Senator James H. Lane authority to raise troops
and organize regiments of volunteers in Kansas independent of state authority.
The first two regiments were, however, practically organized before Senator Lane
appeared, armed with a brigadier general's commission, to begin his independent
recruiting. These two regiments had been ordered on the 2.3d of May to ren-
dezvous, one at Leavenworth and one at Lawrence. The regiment rendezvoused
at Leavenworth was mustered into the United States service on May 30 as
the First Kansas volunteer infantry, under the command of Col. George W.
Deitzler, and immediately ordered into the field. The secretary of war, deeming
the draft too heavy for so young a state, hesitated about mustering in the second
regiment. When, however. General Lane arrived in Kansas, on Friday, June 7,
Governor Robinson sent his quartermaster-general, George W. Collamore, post
haste to Washington, who after persistent urging finally secured the following
order.
War Department, June 17, 1861.
To his Excellency Charles Robinson, Governor of Kansas :
Sir — This department will accept, for three years or during the war, two regi-
ments of volunteers from Kansas, in addition to the one commanded by Colonel
Deitzler and mustered already into service, said regiments so accepted to be the
ones commanded by Colonels Phillips and Mitchell, respectively ; and the muster-
ing officer ordered by the adjutant general to muster them into the service is
hereby directed to make such requisition as may be necessary to supply them
with arms and ammunition, clothing, etc., they may require, and also to supply
any deficiency that may exist in Colonel Deitzler's regiment.
Simon Cameron, Secretary of War.
The Second Kansas volunteer infantry was mustered into the United States
service for three years at Wyandotte immediately thereafter, under the command
of Col. Robert B. Mitchell. Many recruits had enlisted in this regiment with
the understanding that it was for three months' service; they expressed dissatis-
faction, and the regiment was finally ordered to be mustered out on October 31,
1861, but nearly all its members soon after joined other regiments. The Second
Kansas cavalry, organized later. May 7, 1862, was practically a new organization,
although commanded by Colonel Mitchell and retaining in its ranks a number
of the officers and men of the old Second Kansas infantry.
The Third and Fourth Kansas volunteers were regiments of mixed arms, and
were organized by General Lane. These two regiments, with the Fifth Kansas
patrolling or bushwhackiDg along the border, or leisurely camping on the plains. Because of
the controversy between Gov. Charles Robinson and Senator James H. Lane, the organizations
of some of the regiments read like chaos. The directors of the Kansas State Historical
Society, prompted by the military pride of the people, and their observation of the value
of patriotic ancestry, determined to gather the story of the state's soldiery as complete as pos.
sible, in justice to the descendants of those who made a record as brilliant as that of any of the
nation's defenders. Adj. Gen. S. M. Fox, who served with the Seventh Kansas during its entire
enlistment and was mustered out as regimental adjutant, at tlie solicitation of the Society, pre-
pared " The Story of the Seventh Kansas," herewith published, which shows a strenuous service
at the front, and which it is hoped may be an incentive and guide to the members and friends
of other regiments. The Kansas State Historical Society has the story of the Nineteenth,
Twentieth, Twenty-first, Twenty-second, and Tv/enty-third, also well told. See volume 6,
Historical Collections. For further sketch and muster roll of the Seventh Kansas, see Adjutant
General's Report, reprint 1896.
THE STORY OF THE SEVENTH KANSAS. 15
cavalry, constituted what was known as "Lane's brigade." The Third was
mustered into the United States service at Mound City on July 24, 1861, under
the command of Col. James Montgomery. This regiment took the place of the
third regiment authorized by the secretary of war in the order of June 17, pre-
viously quoted. The Fourth Kansas volunteers was mustered into the United
States service about the same time, under the command of Col. William Weer.
The Fifth Kansas cavalry was mustered in under the command of Col. Hampton
P. Johnson,- who was killed in action at Morristown, Mo., on September 17, 1861,
and was succeeded in command by Col. Powell Clayton.
The Sixth Kansas cavalry was mustered in at Fort Scott on September 10.
It was commanded by Col. William R. Judson.
The Seventh Kansas cavalry was mustered into the United States service as
a complete organization at Fort Leavenworth on October 28, 1861, under the
command of Col. Charles R. Jennison.
The Eighth Kansas volunteer infantry was organized with eight companies
during October, 1861, and commanded at its organization by Col. Henry W.
Wessels.
It will be remembered that in June the secretary of war was hesitating about
authorizing a second regiment, for fear of making too great a draft on a young
and sparsely settled state, yet four months later eight regiments had been organ-
ized and were in the field, and all this was done without one dollar being offered
or paid by the state to secure enlistments.
I have given this brief sketch of the eight regiments recruited in Kansas in
1861 as preliminary to the story of the Seventh Kansas, and to show the patriotic
conditions that existed when this regiment was organized. All these regiments
helped to make history, and have left records of unfading glory. The First and
Second Kansas fought on the bloody field of Wilson Creek, and their heroism
there has given a luster to the name of Kansas that time can never dim. One
hundred and six men was the death record of the First Kansas alone during that
terrible day, and this regiment marched off the field in perfect order when the
battle was lost. The Second Kansas, although not suffering so great a mortality,
left a no less brilliant record for bravery and discipline. The Third and Fourth
Kansas regiments were never complete organizations, but, with the Fifth Kansas
cavalry, did excellent service along the Missouri border, and their presence there
undoubtedly saved Kansas from rebel invasion when, after the dearly bought
and doubtful victory at Wilson Creek, the Confederate general. Sterling Price,
marched north to Lexington, in September, 1861. The Third and Fourth Kan-
sas volunteers were broken up in February, 1862, and assigned to other regiments.
The infantry companies were consolidated, and became designated thereafter
as the Tenth Kansas volunteer infantry; the cavalry companies were trans-
ferred to the Fifth, Sixth and Ninth Kansas cavalry, and helped to complete the
organization of those regiments. The Fifth and Sixth Kansas cavalry regi-
ments served to the end of the war in Missouri, Arkansas and the Indian Terri-
tory with great credit, and took part in all the principal battles west of the
Mississippi fought after Wilson Creek. The Eighth Kansas infantry served in
the army of the Cumberland. The regiment lost heavily at Chickamauga, and
was one of the first regiments to reach the summit of Missionary Ridge, in the
famous charge of Wood's division at the battle of Chattanooga.
In the absence of records, it is difficult at this late date to know under whose
authority some of these regiments of 1861 were organized. Governor Robinson
resented the interference of the War Department in sending General Lane to
Kansas to raise troops independent of the state government, and when General
16 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Lane began to recruit, and usurp what the governor considered his constitutional
rights, he went ahead and raised troops himself and ignored Lane as far as pos-
sible. The governor also made matters as uncomfortable as possible for him ; he
started a tire in his rear by appointing Fred P. Stanton to fill the vacancy as-
sumed to have been created in the senate when General Lane was confirmed as a
brigadier general, and the senator general was given much trouble to maintain
his seat. The First, Second, Seventh and Eighth regiments were clearly raised
under state authority, and the Third and Fourth regiments by General Lane;
the Fifth cavalry, while a part of Lane's brigade, was practically organized under
state jurisdiction; the Sixth cavalry originated under authority of General Lyon,
who authorized the organization of several companies for the defense of the bor-
der near Fort Scott; additional companies of the Sixth were organized by order
of Major Prince. This action seems to have been approved by Governor Robin-
eon, and the Sixth was practically organized under state authority.
It was natural that a state made up of the hardy settlers who came to Kansas
to make it a free state should be patriotic. The men all had convictions, and
they knew that the war was inevitable, and expected when the time came to take
a hand in the game. Military companies began to report to the state government
as soon as Kansas became a state, and before the end of June, 1861, there was
scarcely a hamlet that did not have its military organization that met nearly
every night for drill. Leavenworth city alone had twenty-three companies;
Atchison and Doniphan county and the settled counties to the westward were
organized and asking for arms. The border counties from Wyandotte to Bourbon
kept their old companies, organized for the protection of the border, alive, and
organized others in addition. All through the state, as far west as Junction
City, these companies were drilling and preparing for the trouble to come.
Many of these organizations enlisted in the United States service in a body and
were the nucleus of the permanent volunteer regiments. Whenever a company
so enlisted, another company was organized to take its place at home. There is one
thing that must be said: many of the soldiers in the Kansas volunteer regiments
came from other states, directed here by motives that were various, but this class
was mostly made up of men of abolition belief who wanted to help strike a blow
at slavery in the name of Kansas. They left states where large bounties were
being offered and enlisted in Kansas, a state too poor to pay an additional bounty,
and composed of a class of citizens so patriotic that no such inducement to enlist
was ever required.
It will be observed that the Kansas regiments were numbered consecutively
without reference to the arm of service they represented.
About the Ist of August, 1861, Governor Robinson gave authority to Dr.
Charles R. Jennison to raise a regiment of cavalry. Something of a glamour
surrounded Jennison in those days; he had been conspicuous as a leader in the
early days of border troubles, and his " jayhawkers" had inflicted damage on the
pro-slavery sympathizers that ranged all the way from blood to loot; indeed, he
carried the latter to such an extent that the pedigree of most Kansas horses, it
was said, should have been recorded as "out of Missouri by Jennison." So
when Jennison began to raise his regiment the organization became immediately
known as "the jayhawkers," a name that followed through its whole history, as
the war records will show. Much conjecture as to the origin of the word "jay-
hawker" has been indulged in; one story is that it was a modification of "gay
Yorker," an appellation applied to Doctor Jennison when he first came to Kan-
sas, he having been of sportive proclivities and hailing from the Empire state.
There are always persons who take a great deal of trouble to explain or account
THE STORY OF THE SEVENTH KANSAS. 17
for a very natural or commonplace thing. The predatory habits of the jayhawk
would indicate that the name as applied to Jennison's men was singularly ap-
propriate and one need not speculate as to what suggested the application. The
"jayhawkers" did not certainly originate then, for as early as 1849 a little band
of Argonauts from Illinois, who made the overland journey to California, called
themselves "the jayhawkers" ; they were lost in Death valley, and the thrilling
story of their suffering and final rescue has often been told.* I have seen it
somewhere, but I cannot now recall where, that the name was of common appli-
cation in Texas during the struggle for liberty, but of this I am not sure.
Colonel Jennison was commissioned as such on September 4, 1861, and re-
cruiting began immediately. Burning placards were posted in the villages offer-
ing inducement in way of proposed equipment that would have made every man
a portable arsenal. The recruit, in imagination, saw himself bristling with death
*The most interesting party that ever crossed the plains, the discoverers of Death valley, of
silver in Nevada and of the great niter deposits in the desert east of California were the " jay-
hawkers of '49." The party was made up at Galesburg, 111., from which place they started,
April 5, 1849. They crossed the Missouri river at Omaha. Since 1872 the survivors of this party
have held annual reunions. The first was held that year in Galesburg, 111., and the last one was at
Lodi, Cal., February 4, 1903. On the 4th of February, 1850, John B. Colton, who now resides in
Kansas City, Mo., saw the first sign of vegetation, and on that day thirty-two of the thirty-six
emerged from Death valley terribly emaciated wrecks. Seven of the party are now known to
be alive. The Historical Society has had letters from three of tliem, one being from Mrs.
Juliette W. Brier, the only woman in the party, now past ninety years old. When the party
reached a Spanish ranch, big, strong men were nothing but wrinkled skin clinging over visible
skeletons. Their teeth showed in outline beneath clinging parchment cheeks. At the last re-
union but three attended, Mr. Colton, from Kansas City, a gentleman from San Jose, and the
hostess, Mrs. Brier. Mr. Colton has a newspaper scrap-book, containing as much as 3000 col-
umns of reading-matter, about the " jayhawkers of '49," and yet the world cannot get away from
the impression that the word originated in a Kansas raid on Missouri. John B. Colton, of
Kansas City, Mo., in a letter, gives the origin of the word :
" For the information of the Bostonese, who is endeavoring to fix the origin of the word 'jay-
hawker,' I will say that it was coined on the Platte river, not far west of the Missouri river, in 1849,
jong before the word 'Kansas' was known or heard of. I cannot tell him why, but I was
there. Some kind of hawks, as they sail up in the air reconnoitering for mice and other small
prey, look and act as though they were the whole thing. Then the audience of jays and other
small but jealous and vicious birds sail in and jab him, until he gets tired of show life and
slides out of trouble in the lower earth. Now, perhaps this is what happens among fellows on
the trail — jaybirds and hawks enact the same role, pro and con —out of pure devilment and to
pass the hours of a long march. At any rate, ours was the crowd that created the word 'jay-
hawker,' at the date and locality above stated. Another thing : in the mountains and mines of
California, in those early days, words were coined or born, climatic surroundihga materially
contributing. The words were short, like the latter-day ' tenderfoot ' ; ' shorthand ' meant a line,
a sentence, and perhaps a whole page. I have heard a word that meant a whole lifetime to the
other fellow. Now, when these Argonauts of early times returned to the states, those shorthand
words clung to them and were distributed among the surrounders, and they took them up and
perpetuated them. Possibly an early-timer, in the troublous times of new Kansas, when they
were settling difficulties in promiscuous ways, may have known or heard the word ' jayhawker'
from the far West, and knew it was a winner, and so adopted it as a talisman. So far as Kan-
sas is concerned, the word was borrowed or copied ; it is not a home product. I knew many of
the leaders in jayhawker times of early Kansas '50's, and have met them at Leavenworth and
other points frequently in those days."
Mr. U. P. Davidson writes from Thermopolis, Wyo. : " In answer, I will state that our com-
pany was made up from schoolboys at Galesburg, 111. We formed an order of our own. One of
our party suggested the name of ' jayhawk,' so that was adopted. Our company has gone by
that name ever since." A few days out from Salt Lake the jayhawkers left a large party
and took a different course. In a day or so more they were joined by Rev. Mr. Brier, wife, and
three little boys. When Mrs. Brier reached the ranch at the end of their march through Death
valley, the Spanish women cried piteously and hugged her to their bosoms as though she were a
child. Mrs. Brier writes that " they (the company ) took upon themselves the name jayhawker
when they started for California,"
18 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
and desolation, mounted on an Arabian barb, breathing flame as he bore his rider
to victory. All this was in strong contrast to the pitiful equipment that was at
first in reality issued.
The field and staff of the Seventh Kansas at organization was as follows:
Colonel Charles R. Jennison.
Lieutenant-colonel Daniel R. Anthony.
Major Thomas P. Herrick.
Major Albert L. Lee.
Adjutant John T. Snoddy.
Quartermaster Robert W. Hamer.
Surgeon ( vacancy ).
Assistant surgeon Joseph S. Martin.
Chaplain Samuel Ayers.
Sergeant-major William A. Pease.
Quartermaster sergeant Eli Babb.
Commissary sergeant Lucius Whitney.
Hospital steward John M. Whitehead.
Hospital steward James W. Lansing.
Chief bugler George Goss.
Chief bugler John Gill.
Company A was organized the last part of August, 1861, principally in Doni-
phan county, although the northern tier of counties supplied recruits from as
far west as Marshall. The original officers were:
Captain Thomas P. Herrick.
First lieutenant Levi H. Utt.
Second lieutenant Thomas H. Lohnes.
The company was recruited by Captain Herrick, of Highland, in conjunction
with Lieutenant Utt, of White Cloud, and was mustered into the United States
service at Fort Leavenworth on August 27, 1861. When the regiment was or-
ganized, on October 28, Captain Herrick was made a major, and Lieutenant Utt
was promoted to captain, and Sergt. Aaron M. Pitts was commissioned a first
lieutenant to fill the vacancy. Second Lieutenant Lohnes remained in his origi-
nal grade until his resignation, February 13, 1862. Major Herrick became lieu-
tenant-colonel on September 2, 1862, and colonel on June 11, 1863. Captain Utt
had served under General Lyon in Colonel Blair's First Missouri infantry and
was a proficient drill master. He molded the company, and it was through his
first training that the company became and always remained the most efficient
and reliable organization in the regiment; and there is no disparagement to the
other companies in saying this; all were good, but company A was a shade better.
Let me say here that the military nomenclature of the civil war differs from the
present; the word " troop" as now applied was not then used ; "company" was,
at the beginning of the war, applied alike to cavalry and infantry; later, in 1863,
the name "squadron" became the designation of a company of cavalry. The
word "squadron" as applied to cavalry, as the equivalent of "battalion" as ap-
plied to infantry, is of much later date.
Captain Utt was one of the most fearless men that I ever saw ; when in the
greatest hazard he seemed entirely unconscious of danger. He lost a leg at
Leighton, Ala., April 2, 1863, while charging a battery with his mounted com-
pany; his horse was killed under him. As soon as the stub healed sufficiently,
he outfitted himself with a wooden leg and came back to the comuiand of his
company. He was promoted major November 17, 1864, which rank he held until
finally mustered out with the regiment. Although a young man, the name "old
timber toes" became his familiar appellation.
First Lieut. Aaron M. Pitts was appointed captain of company D Octo-
THE STORY OF THE SEVENTH KANSAS. 19
ber 3, 1862; the vacancy created was filled by the promotion of Sergt. Bazil C,
Sanders to first lieutenant. Second Lieutenant Lohnes resigned February 13,
1862, and Jacob M. Anthony was appointed to the vacancy from civil life. On
the promotion of Captain Utt to major, Lieutenant Sanders, who had gallantly
commanded the company while Utt was disabled by wounds, became captain, and
under his command the company always maintained its reputation for efiBciency.
Lieutenant Anthony was promoted to captain and assigned to company I on May
16, 1863, and Sergt. Dewitt C. Taylor was promoted to the vacancy. Sergt.
Henry C. Campbell was appointed a first lieutenant to fill the vacancy created
by the promotion of Sanders.
All these officers proved themselves to be brave and efficient. Lieutenant
Lohnes was, however, a deserter from the regular army, but no question as to
his bravery was ever raised ; for cold-blooded nerve he was not often equaled.
After his resignation he followed the regiment as far as Rienzi, Miss. From
there he went back to Kansas and indulged in a little " jayhawking" on his own
hook. He was captured, but while under guard at White Cloud, one cold winter
night, when all the guards had come in to the fire in an old building where he
was confined, he raised up as if to stretch himself, and with a remark about hard
luck, suddenly jumped through the window, carrying away sash and glass. The
guard rushed out but their prisoner had vanished. He was heard from in 1865,
and was then living in Nova Scotia.
Company B was organized by Capt. Fred Swoyer, of Leavenworth; it was
composed of men recruited in Leavenworth and Atchison counties, except about
thirty men brought from Chicago by Lieut. Isaac Gannett. The company was
recruited during September, 1861, and partially organized with two officers. First
Lieut. Fred Swoyer and Second Lieut. William S. Moorhouse. Early in Oc-
tober, when Lieutenant Gannett arrived with his recruits from Chicago, the
organization was completed, with the following officers:
Captain Fred. Swoyer.
First lieutenant Isaac Gannett.
Second lieutenant WilHam S. Moorhouse.
Captain Swoyer commanded the company until he was killed, January 3,
1863. He was succeeded by Capt. William S. Moorhouse, promoted from second
lieutenant. Lieutenant Gannett was absent from the regiment on staff duty dur-
ing most of his term of service and lost out on promotion in consequence. Moor-
house was succeeded as second lieutenant by Charles L. Thompson, advanced
from first sergeant. Lieutenant Thompson deserted February 18, 1863.
Captain Swoyer was a man of great physical courage, but exceedingly reck-
less. In the winter of 1861-'62 he did a little steeple-chasing down Delaware
street, in Leavenworth, and while putting his horse over a sleigh loaded with
cord wood, standing across the street, the animal fell and broke the captain's
leg. He limped through the rest of his life. His death was the result of his
recklessness, but he was brave and patriotic and did splendid service while he
lived. After the death of Captain Swoyer the company was temporarily com-
manded by Capt. Bernard P. Chenoweth, of the First Kansas infantry, who was
with the company for a short time; after his departure Moorhouse was made
captain, as above stated. Captain Chenoweth was a gallant officer, who had done
splendid service at Wilson Creek with his regiment. He was very punctilious,
and exceedingly neat in his dress; he always wore a black regulation hat with a
long white feather trailing down his back, but you can be assured that, like the
white plume of Navarre, it would always be seen dancing in the forefront of
20 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
battle when the fight was on. Moorhouse became captain April 22, 1863, and
Chenoweth returned to his old regiment. Moorhouse commanded the company
most efficiently until he was mustered out, March 7, 18C5.
Sergt. John A. Middleton, a member of company B, who deserted at Ger-
:maDtown, Tenn., in February, 1863, gained a later notoriety; he was the des-
perado, "Doc" Middleton, who terrorized a portion of Nebraska some twenty
years ago.
Company C was recruited in Leavenworth city by its first captain, William S.
'Jenkins. About twenty-five men recruited in Doniphan and Brown counties
completed the organization. Recruiting began September 5 and the organiza-
tion was perfected at Kansas City on October 10, with the following officers:
Captain William S. Jenkins.
First lieutenant Francis M. Ray.
Second lieutenant James Smith.
Captain Jenkins commanded the company until his promotion to major. May
27, 1863. He was promoted to lieutenant-colonel March 21, 1864, and resigned
November 14 of same year. Lieutenant Ray resigned December 8, 1861, and
was succeeded by First Lieut. James D. Snoddy, appointed from civil life. Lieu-
tenant Snoddy was later temporarily transferred to company G, and left the
service in December, 1862. Snoddy was succeeded by Lieut. John A. Tanner,
promoted from second lieutenant of company F. Lieutenant Tanner resigned
July 23, 1863, and was succeeded by the promotion of Second Lieut. Bayless S.
Campbell. Captain Jenkins was succeeded by Capt. James Smith, promoted
from second lieutenant July 1, 1863. Lieut. Bayless S. Campbell, promoted
■from sergeant, filled the vacancy created by the advancement of Smith; when
Campbell was promoted to first lieutenant he was succeeded by Second Lieut.
John H. Wildey, promoted from first sergeant.
Captain Jenkins was an efficient officer and deserved his promotions. Lieu-
tenant Ray and First Sergt. John H. Gilbert were the original drill-masters of
the company. They had both served in the regular army, and were efficient, and
soon had the company whipped into excellent shape. Lieut. James Smith, later
captain, was a native of the East Tennessee mountains, and had an intense hatred
for a rebel. He was a big, awkward fellow, with very light hair, which he always
wore close cropped ; he never escaped the name of ' ' Babe, ' ' given him at his first
enlistment. He was perfectly fearless and would fight an army rather than re-
treat, and, when he held the command of the company, had always to be watched
and ordered back in a most peremptory manner or he was liable to stay too long.
He would have died any time rather than surrender, as the story of his death will
attest. After his discharge from the service he went to southern Kansas, where
he jumped, or rather took possession of, a claim deserted by the original preemp-
tor; a party of men who considered him an interloper rode out to drive him off.
He did not drive, and when they opened fire he promptly returned it, and killed
two of their number before he himself fell. As one of the posse bent over him to
ascertain if he was dead, he suddenly raised his pistol hand and sent a bullet
through the brain of his inquisitive enemy, and with a look of grim satisfaction
■joined him on his unknown journey. Poor old Jim ! His men always loved him,
and when he was twice deprived of promotion by the appointment of officers from
outside the company over him, they made it so uncomfortable for the intruders
that they were glad to be transferred to more agreeable surroundings. Lieuten-
ants Campbell and Wildey were brave men and made good officers. Lieutenant
Campbell commanded the artillery detachment attached to the regiment in 1863.
THE STORY OF THE SEVENTH KANSAS. 21
Ex-Gov. E. N. Morrill was a member of this company during the first year of its
service. He served as company commissary sergeant until he was promoted to
captain in the subsistence department.
Company D was recruited in Bureau county, Illinois, and vicinity. It was or-
ganized at Wyanet, by Capt. Clark S. Merriman, in August, 1861. The company
had not been assigned when it came to Fort Leavenworth on escort duty, and .■
was induced to cast its fortunes with Jennison's regiment, then organizing at that t
post. The company was made up of a fine lot of men and was always considered
a great acquisition. The officers at organization were :
Captain Clark S. Merriman.
First lieutenant Andrew Downing.
Second lieutenant Isaac J. Hughes.
Captain Merriman was promoted to major October 3, 1862, and resigned July ,
13, 1863. Lieutenant Downing remained with the company until the close of his-
original term of service, September 27, 1861:. Lieutenant Downing was writing
poetry then, as he is to-day, and I have a printed sheet of his poems of 1861, writ-
ten under the nom de jj'ume, "Curley Q., Esq." Second Lieutenant Hughes'
was not a success, and resigned June 2, 1863. Hughes was at first familiarly
known as "Shang Hai," which was soon abbreviated into"Shang." He once had'
an exceedingly narrow escape from death. At Coffey ville, Miss., he was in com- •
mand of his company, and, when it was dismounted and ordered on the firing line, '
sent it in under command of First Sergeant Hinsdale, while he personally took
charge of his lead horses in the rear. The gallant Hinsdale was killed. The
vacancy created .by the promotion of Captain Merriman was filled by the ad-
vancement of Lieut. Aaron M. Pitts, of company A, who commanded the com-
pany until its final discharge. When Lieutenant Downing was mustered out, •
First Sergt. William Henry was promoted to first lieutenant to fill the vacancy.
No appointment was made to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Second
Lieutenant Hughes. Lieutenant Henry was an exceptionally fine officer, abso-
lutely fearless, and, although a boyish-appearing, smooth-faced young fellow, ■
had a remarkable control over men.
Company E was originally organized at Quincy, 111., in the month of August,
1861, by Capt. George I. Yeager. Tho members of the company were mostly
from Chicago. The company arrived at Fort Leavenworth on September 22 and
moved immediately to Kansas City, where it joined the other companies of the
regiment recruited up to date, that were temporarily stationed there. The origi-
nal officers were :
Captain George I. Yeager.
First lieutenant Charles H. Gregory.
Second lieutenant John Noyes, jr.
Captain Yeager became very unpopvilar with his men, and was forced to re-
sign on October 8, 1861, and First Lieut. Charles H. Gregory was commis-
sioned captain, and First Sergt. Russell W. Maryhugh was appointed first lieu-
tenant, on October 18, 1861. Captain Gregory was promoted to major April
8, 186i, and Second Lieutenant Noyes was promotedcaptain to fill the vacancy on
May 19, 1864; the vacancy in grade of second lieutenant was never filled. First
Lieutenant Maryhugh was mustered out October 12, 1864, by reason of the ex-
piration of his term of service, and was succeeded by the promotion of Corp. .
Edwin T. Saunders, of company A. Captain Gregory was a man of the greatest
22 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
bravery and dash and had the knack of doing just the right thing at just the
proper time. His gallantry produced brilliant results and much of the credit
earned by the regiment was due to him. Noyes and Maryhugh were both sturdy
and reliable soldiers. Lieutenant Saunders was little more than a boy, but he
never knew what fear was.
Company F was organized by Capt. Francis M. Malone, of Pana, 111., in
September, 1861. The company was recruited largely in Christian county and
vicinity. Captain Malone brought his men to Kansas and joined Jennison's regi-
ment in October, 1861. The original oflBcers of the company were:
Captain Francis M. Malone.
First lieutenant Amos Hodgeman.
Second lieutenant John A. Tanner.
Captain Malone was promoted to major August 12, 1863, and to lieutenant-
colonel November 19, 1864, and was in command of the regiment during the
most of its last year's service. Lieutenant Hodgeman was promoted to captain
and assigned to company H June 23, 1863. Second Lieut. John A. Tanner
was promoted to first lieutenant of company C, and First Sergt. Edward Col-
bert was promoted to second lieutenant to fill the vacancy October 31, 1862,
and promoted captain October 26, 1863, and was in command of the company
until its muster-out. First Sergt. John Clark was promoted to first lieuten-
ant October 26, 1863, and resigned February 15, 1865. First Sergt. John W.
Moore was appointed first lieutenant July 17, 1865, and was mustered out with
the regiment. The vacancy in the grade of second lieutenant, occasioned by the
promotion of Lieutenant Colbert, was never filled.
Captain Hodgeman was a brave officer and was killed in action. Captain
Colbert had previously served in the regular army and was a good officer and
most excellent in the field.
Company G was recruited in Linn county, Kansas, and vicinity, by Capt.
Edward Thornton, and was mustered into the United States service on October
12, 1861, with the following officers:
Captain Edward Thornton.
First lieutenant David W. Houston.
Second lieutenant Christopher C. Thompkins.
Captain Thornton commanded the company during its full term of service.
First Lieutenant Houston was promoted captain of company H September 30,
1862, and promoted lieutenant-colonel July 1, 1863. Lieutenant Thompkins re-
signed February 1, 1862. Sergt.maj. Harmon D. Hunt was promoted to first
lieutenant, to fill the vacancy created by the promotion of Lieutenant Houston.
Lieutenant Hunt resigned November 30, 1864, and was succeeded by First Lieut.
Zachariah Norris, promoted from second lieutenant January 17, 1865. The va-
cancy in the grade of second lieutenant created by the resignation of Lieutenant
Thompkins was filled by the appointment of Richard H. Kerr from civil life.
Lieutenant Kerr was dismissed from the service November 24, 1862, and the va-
cancy created was filled by the promotion of Corp. Zachariah Norris, who was
promoted to first lieutenant as above. Private William A. Pease was appointed
second lieutenant to fill the vacancy. Captain Thornton was a generous whole-
souled man, and made an excellent company commander. Lieut. Zach. Norris
had been a soldier in the old Second Kansas infantry, and had been severely
wounded at the battle of Wilson Creek.
THE STORY OF THE SEVENTH KANSAS. 23
Company H was organized by Capt. Marshall Cleveland, of jiyhawker fame,
and was mustered in at Fort Leavenworth on September 27, 18G1, with the fol-
lowing officers:
Captain Marshall Cleveland.
First lieutenant James L. Rafety.
Second lieutenant Charles E. Gordon.
The original company was largely made up of members of Cleveland's old band
of jayhawkers, that had operated along the Missouri border. Captain Cleveland
was one of the handsomest men I ever saw; tall and rather slender, hair dark,
beard dark and neatly trimmed. He was very neat in his dress and his carriage
was easy and graceful. As a horseman he was superb. A stranger never would
get the impression from his appearance that he was the desperate character that
he was. His real name was Charles Metz. He was a native of New York state,
had been a stage-driver in Ohio, and had served a term in the Missouri penitentiary.
After his graduation from this institution he had for a time called himself " Moore,"
but later settled down on to the name "Cleveland." He did not remain with
the regiment long; he could not endure the restraint, and one evening at Fort
Leavenworth the culmination came. The regiment marched out for dismounted
dress parade ; Colonel Anthony was receiving the salute and, as the regiment was
formed, took occasion to censure Captain Cleveland for appearing in a pair of
light drab trousers tucked in his boot tops. Cleveland immediately left hie sta-
tion in front of his company and advanced directly towards the colonel; all ex-
pected bloodshed, but it only culminated in a few characteristic and pointed
remarks on the part of the two officers immediately involved, and Cleveland
passed on. He mounted his horse and rode away to Leavenworth city, and im-
mediately sent in his resignation, and we saw him no more. He soon gathered a
band of kindred spirits about him and began his old trade of jayhawking.* He
was quite impartial in his dealings with rebels and Union men at the last, and if
there was any question he took the benefit of the doubt. He made his head-
quarters at Atchison and eluded for a time all attempts to capture him ; once or
twice he captured the posse sent out after him and, after taking their horses and
arms, sent them home on foot, as may be supposed, somewhat crestfallen. He
* John James Ingalls published in the Kansas Mac/azine, April, 1872, an article entitled
"The Last of the Jayhawkers." Two paragraphs will suffice :
" The border ruffians in '56 constructed tlie eccaleobion in which the jayhawk was hatched,
and it broke the shell upon the reedy shores of the Marais des Cygnes. Its habits were not
migratory, and for many years its habitat was southern Kansas; but eventually it extended its
field of operations northward, and soon after the outbreak of the war was domiciled in the
gloomy defiles and lonely forests of the bluffs whose rugged bastions resist the assaults of the
Missouri from the mouth of the Kaw to the Nebraska line.
"Conspicuous among the irregular heroes who thus sprang to arms in 1861, and ostensibly
their leader, was an Ohio stage-driver by the name of Charles Metz, who, having graduated
with honor from the penitentiary of Missouri, assumed, from prudential reasons, the more eu-
phonious and distinguished appellation of Cleveland. He was a picturesque brigand. Had he
worn a slashed doublet and trunk hose of black velvet he would have been the ideal of an Ital-
ian bandit. Young, erect, and tall, he was sparely built, and arrayed himself like a gentleman,
in the costume of the day. His appearance was that of a student. His visage was thin ; his
complexion olive-tinted and colorless, as if slicked over with the pale cast of thought. Black,
piercing eyes, finely cut features, dark hair and beard, correctly trimmed, completed a tout en-
semble that was strangely at variance with the aspect of the score of dissolute and dirty des-
peradoes that formed his command. There were generally degraded ruffians of the worst type,
whose highest idea of elegance in personal appearance was to have their moustaches dyed a
£l, villainous metallic black, irrespective of the consideration whether its native hue was red or
H brown. It is a noticeable fact that a dyed mustache stamps its wearer inevitably either as a
W^. pitiful snoi) or an irreclaimable scoundrel."
I
24 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
finally ran up against the inevitable while trying to escape across the Marais
des Cygnes, when pursued by Lieutenant Walker with a squad of company E,
Sixth Kansas cavalry ; he was shot and killed by a sergeant. He sleeps peace-
fully in the cemetery at St. Joseph. The headstone which marks his grave bears
this gentle epitaph :
"One hero less on earth,
One angel more in heaven."
Cleveland was succeeded in command of the company by Capt. Horace Par-
dee, appointed from civil life. Captain Pardee led a strenuous life during the
few months he was with the regiment. He was wounded at Columbus, Mo. He
resigned May 15, 18G2, and was succeeded by Capt. James L. Rafety, promoted
from first lieutenant. Rafety was dismissed August .31, 1862. Capt. David W,
Houston, promoted from first lieutenant of company G, was next in succession,
and commanded the company until his promotion to lieutenant-colonel, July 1,
1863. He in turn was succeeded by Capt. Amos Hodgeman, promoted from first
lieutenant of Company F, July 23, 1863. Captain Hodgeman died of wounds re-
ceived at Wyatt, Miss., October 16, 1863. Capt. Charles L. Wall, promoted from
first lieutenant April 6, 18Gi, was Captain Hodgeman's successor, and commanded
the company until its final discharge.
The first lieutenants of the company were: James L. Rafety, promoted and
dismissed as above ; John Kendall, promoted from second lieutenant May 15,
1862, and dismissed the service November 22, 1862 ; and Charles L. Wall, pro-
moted from second lieutenant September 1, 1862. Lieutenant Wall having been
promoted to captain, was succeeded by the promotion of Lieut. Samuel N. Ayers
from first sergeant, May 28, 1864. Lieutenant Ayers resigned March 20, 1865,
and First Sergt. Wallace E. Dickson was promoted to fill the vacancy, and held
the rank until the muster-out of the company.
The second lieutenants were: Charles E. Gordon, who resigned February 11,
1862 ; John Kendall, promoted as above ; Charles L. Wall promoted from ser-
geant May 15, 1862, and later promoted to first lieutenant and captain ; Samuel
R. Doolittle, promoted from first sergeant September 1, 1862, and resigned March
3, 1863. Doolittle was succeeded by Joseph H. Nessell, promoted from sergeant
April 8, 1863. He was dismissed the service April, 1864, and the vacancy was
never filled.
Company H was made up of splendid fighting material, but did not have the
proper discipline at first. After Cleveland's resignation, many of his old men
deserted and joined the band their old leader was organizing. When Blunt was
made a brigadier-general, Jennison, who was an aspirant for the promotion him-
self, was highly wroth, and made an intemperate speech while in camp at Law-
rence, during which he practically advised the men to desert. That night a
number of men, principally from company H, took his advice and disappeared.
Jennison himself sent in his resignation, which was promptly accepted on May 1,
1862, and the regiment was relieved of a worthless officer. Houston, Hodgeman
and Wall were fine officers and brought the company out in excellent shape.
Some of the best and most daring men of the regiment were in this company.
Capt. Amos Hodgeman did much to discipline and make company H what it
eventually became. He was a man of great bravery, and I believe was liked by
his men. He was dark, with a countenance that gave him an almost sinister
appearance ; he rarely smiled and did not talk any more than necessary. He was
mortally wounded October 10, 1863, while leading a charge at Wyatt, Miss. A
severe fight was in progress between the cavalry forces under General Hatch and
General Forrest. As we were forcing the rebels back, they made a determined
THE STORY OF THE SEVENTH KANSAS. 25
stand around a log house on a ridge. A charge had been made and repulsed,
and Captain Hodgeman was leading the second assault when he fell, mortally
wounded; he died on October 16, 1863. Hodgeman county was named after him.
Hie was born in Massachusetts, and when the war broke out was a carpenter and
builder in Leavenworth city.
There is a pathetic story connected with hie life that may here be told. After
he joined the regiment he married a pretty young woman who served drinks in a
Leavenworth beer hall. In the spring of 1863 he brought her to the camp, at
Corinth, Miss., and she remained there for a number of weeks. The wives of a
number of the other officers were there, but Mrs. Hodgeman made no attempt to
push herself into their company; she seemed contented with her husband's so-
ciety, and busied herself in taking care of hie quarters. They were very fond of
each other, and that was enough. The camp became liable to attack any day from
Forrest, and the women were sent North. After Captain Hodgeman's death, she
came to the regiment dressed in deep mourning, and went out with her husband's
old company under a flag of truce, secured his body, and took it away for burial.
Soon after she entered a military hospital at Cincinnati, Ohio, as a nurse. She
was never very robust, but she steadily performed her duties, growing a little
less strong each day. She was always patient and gentle, and worked on until
she could work no more. She did not have to wait long before death came to
her as her reward. Poor Kitty Hodgeman ! There are heroes who deserve to be
"enskied and sainted" other than those who, striving for principle, go down in
the forefront of battle.
One of the members of company H has since become famous — W. F. Cody,
"Buffalo Bill." He entered ae a veteran recruit, and was mustered out with the
regiment.
Company I was recruited by Maj. Albert L. Lee in Doniphan county. Major
Lee lived at Elwood, opposite St. Joseph, and a number of recruits came from
that city. Lee was made a major at the organization of the regiment, and on
May 7, 1862, was promoted to colonel. The company was recruited in October,
and was mustered into the United States service October 28, 1861, with the fol-
lowing officers :
Captain John L. Merrick.
First lieutenant Robert Hayes.
Second lieutenant Edwin Miller.
Capt. "Jack" Merrick resigned November 27, 1862, and was succeeded by
Capt. Jacob M. Anthony, promoted from second lieutenant of company A. First
Lieut. Robert Hayes died of disease at Corinth, Miss., September 20, 1862, and
was succeeded by the promotion of Second Lieut. William Weston. Second Lieut.
Edwin Miller resigned September 27, 1862, and First Sergt. WMlliam Weston was
promoted to the vacancy. When Weston became first lieutenant the grade of
second lieutenant remained vacant. Company I was steady and reliable at all
times, and did splendid service; it was made up of a lot of unpretentious men
who came promptly when needed and remained until orders directed them other-
wise. Capt. Jack Merrick was something of a character: he was somewhat Fal-
stafflan in his proportions, and used to wear a pair of big cavalry boots that
slopped down about hie heels. His oft-repeated phrase, "If the court knows her-
self, and I think she do," rings in my ears yet. Captain Anthony, who succeeded
him, was a brother of Daniel R., but he had been molded from more plastic and
tractable clay. He had courage and staying qualities, and made up in persist-
ency what he lacked in aggressiveness. He was an excellent company commander,
26 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
and I believe that he, of all the officers appointed from civil life who came to the
regiment after it went into the field, overcame the resentment of the men and
served through to the end.
Lieutenant Weston was a quiet soldier who did his duty always, and the regi-
mental commander always knew that if he was sent to accomplish a purpose it
would be done, if within the limits of possibility.
Company K was originally organized at Jefferson, Ashtabula county, Ohio,
by John Brown, jr., on September G, 1861. Captain Brown sent the company on
to Fort Leavenworth under the command of First Lieut. Burr H. Bostwick, and
remained for a time in Ohio to finish the recruiting. Company K reached Fort
Leavenworth on November 7, 1861, and was mustered into the United States
service on November 12. The officers at the original muster were:
Captain John Brown, jr.
First lieutenant Burr H. Bostwick.
Second lieutenant George H. Hoyt.
Captain Brown was the son of John Brown of heroic fame. He was with the
company very little, on account of ill health; he soon found that he could not
perform the service and resigned May 27, 1862. Second Lieut. George H. Hoyt
was made captain to fill the vacancy ; he was jumped over a man better qualified
in every respect for the command of the company. Hoyt had the good taste to
resign on September 3, 1862, and Bostwick was given his deserved promotion.
He commanded the company during the remainder of its term of service. The
vacancy in the grade of second lieutenant was filled by the appointment of Fred
W. Emery from civil life, May 27, 1862. Emery was promoted first lieutenant
and adjutant October 30 of same year, and Sergt. Thomas J. Woodburn was
promoted to fill the vacancy in the company. Lieutenant Woodburn was killed
in action at Coffey ville. Miss., on November 5, 1862. Sergt. William W. Crane
was appointed second lieutenant August 15, 1863, and first lieutenant Septem-
ber 30 of same year, the vacancy in the grade of second lieutenant remaining
unfilled.
As may be supposed, company K was made up of abolitionists of the intense
sort. I believe that it was this company that brought the John Brown song to
Kansas; at least, I had never heard it until they sang it, immediately after their
arrival. For a while after the company joined the regiment the men would as-
semble near the captain's tent in the dusk after "retreat" and listen to the deep
utterances of some impassioned orator ; the voice was always low and did not
reach far beyond the immediate circle of the company, who stood with heads
bent, drinking in every word. The speaker always closed with "Do you swear to
avenge the death of John Brown ?" and the answer always came back low and
deep, " We will, we will " ; then would follow the John Brown hymn, sung in the
same repressed manner, but after the last verse of the original song was sung it
would be followed by a verse in accelerated time, beginning with "Then three
cheers for John Brown, jr." This almost lively wind-up of these nightly exercises
had the same effect on me as the quickstep that the music plays immediately on
leaving the enclosure after a soldier's burial. At first the whole regiment used
to gather just outside of the sacred precincts and listen, but soon it ceased to at-
tract, and the company itself became too busy avenging to hold their regular
meetings.
Of the officers, Bostwick, Woodburn, Emery and Crane were all efficient.
Captain Brown never had the opportunity to show the stuff he was made of, his
broken health forcing him to resign very soon. Lieut. Tom Woodburn was
THE STORY OF THE SEVENTH KANSAS. 27
a brave, dashing fellow, with a clean cut, attractive face : he went gallantly to his
death leading his company at Coffeyville. Lieut. Fred Emery was a man of
unusual ability and had a strong personality, that would even override the regi-
mental commander if his opinions went counter to the adjutant's idea of matters
in question. He was promoted to the staff department as assistant adjutant gen-
eral June 30, 1863. Captain Bostwick was an energetic officer and fearless of
danger. He was quick to execute a command, and in case of a sudden attack hia
company was under arms and out to the defense before any other. Capt. George
H. Hoyt was a combination of ambition and cruelty; posing as a defender of
John Brown at his trial at Harper's Ferry he went after and secured a commis-
sion as an officer of the young John Brown's company. He did nothing to de-
serve the promotion that he received over a better and more deserving man. The
company and regiment were well rid of him when he resigned.
These ten companies as described made up the Seventh Kansas cavalry. At
the beginning of the civil war the cavalry regiment of the United States army
was a ten-company organization, and it was only after the war had progressed a
year or two that the twelve-squadron organization was adopted. The Seventh
Kansas, although making repeated efforts, was never able to secure the privilege
accorded to the other cavalry regiments from the state, of recruiting the two ad-
ditional squadrons. The numbering of the regiment as the "Seventh" was not
done until in the spring of 1862; previous to that time the regiment designated
itself as the "First Kansas cavalry." In December, 1861, the governor, in mak-
ing his report to the War Department, designated it as "1st Calvary or 6th Regi-
ment," and he designated Judson's regiment, which became finally the Sixth
Kansas cavalry, as the "Seventh regiment." Some time during the spring of
1862 the numbering was definitely fixed and Jennison's regiment became the
Seventh and retained that designation thereafter.
In the beginning I gave the field and staff as first organized. Many changes
occurred during the career of the regiment. Colonel Jennison performed some
acts worthy of commendation, conspicuous among which was his resignation.
Jennison was succeeded by Col. Albert L. Lee, advanced from major. Some
trouble arose at the time of Colonel Lee's appointment from an act of Lieutenant-
governor Root, who, assuming that he was governor in the absence of Governor
Robinson, who had gone beyond the limits of the state, issued a commission to
Charles W. Blair, as colonel of the Seventh. Governor Robinson himself, im-
mediately after his return, issued a similar commission to Colonel Lee. Colonel
Blair appeared at Fort Riley, where the regiment had been stationed, one morn-
ing just as the command was forming for its march to Fort Leavenworth, pre-
paratory to moving South. He assumed command of the regiment, put it in
motion toward the Missouri river, and promptly disappeared. The day following
Colonel Lee met the regiment and assumed command also: he rode with it a
short distance and finally ordered it into camp. He had "assembly" sounded,
and, after he had made a speech to the men, vanished also. Colonel Lee went
directly to Washington and submitted his case to Attorney-general Bates, who
decided the contention a few weeks later in his favor.
Colonel Lee ranked from May 17, 1862; he was promoted a brigadier-general
November 29 of the same year. He won his star at Lamar, Miss., where the
Seventh Kansas alone, although two miles from any supports, attacked Colonel
Jackson's Confederate cavalry division over 4000 strong, and routed them with
great loss. Colonel Lee was succeeded by Col. Thomas P. Herrick, who had
passed through the successive grades of captain, major, and lieutenant-colonel.
28 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Colonel Herrick was not an officer as impetuous as Lee, but he was brave,
and a safe and judicious commander and an excellent disciplinarian. lie was
a lawyer of fine ability, and was in demand when a detail for court martial
service was required. He died of cholera not long after his discharge from the
military service. After Colonel Herrick left the service, the regiment was com-
manded by Lieut. -col. Francis M. Malone, until the final discharge of the com-
mand.
Lieut.-col. Daniel R. Anthony commanded the regiment during its early
service; Colonel Jennison was nominally in conamand part of the time, but he
was too busy playing poker over at Squiresville, or elsewhere, to find time to
take the field in person. Colonel Anthony was equal to the occasion, and the
regiment led the strenuous life while he exercised his authority. He resigned
September 3, 1862. The succeeding lieutenant-colonel was David W. Houston,
who retired from the service on account of disability February 1, 18G4. Maj.
William S. Jenkins was promoted lieutenant-colonel March 27, 1863, and re-
signed November 14, 186i. Lieut.-col. Francis M. Malone was next in succes-
sion, and held the grade until the regiment was discharged.
The majors who served with the Seventh Kansas were, Daniel R. Anthony,
Thomas P. Herrick, and Albert L. Lee, accounted for above. Maj. John T.
Snoddy followed next; he was promoted from adjutant July 22, 1862, and re-
signed March 6, 1863, on account of ill health. He died April 24, 1864. Next in
succession was Clark S. Merriman, promoted from captain of company D ; he
resigned July 13, 1863, and was succeeded by William S. Jenkins, who was
promoted to lieutenant-colonel March 21, 1861. Maj. Francis M. Malone came
next; he became lieutenant-colonel November 19, 1864. Majs. Charles H. Greg-
ory and Levi H. Utt were the last, and were mustered out with the regiment.
Gregory was an officer of especial brilliancy and dash, and performed many acts
of distinguished bravery. He had splendid judgment, and never failed of success
when he made an attack. It was to his dash the regiment owes much for its
victory over Jackson at Lamar. Major Utt was also brave to a fault; he had no
conception of what fear was, and yet was watchful and a safe officer. He lost a
leg at Leighton, Ala.
Lieut. John T. Snoddy was the first adjutant. He was succeeded by Lieut.
Fred W. Emery, who was promoted to the staflF department. The vacancy was
not regularly filled, but Lieut. Harmon D. Hunt acted until the promotion of
Sergt.-maj. Simeon M. Fox to the position, which he filled until the regiment was
discharged. Lieut. William O. Osgood was battalion adjutant for a time, but
was mustered out by order of the War Department in the fall of 1862.
The quartermasters of the regiment were Robert W. Hamer, Ebenezer Sny-
der, and James Smith, who filled the position successively in the order named.
Lucius Whitney was the original commissary, and held the position during
the full term of service.
Maj. Joseph L. Wever was the first regular surgeon ; he resigned June 7, 1864,
and was succeeded by Maj. Joseph S. Martin, promoted from assistant surgeon.
Martin was the original assistant surgeon, and, on promotion, July 18, 1864, was
succeeded by Lieut. Joel J. Crook.
The chaplains were Samuel Ayers, who resigned August 31, 1862, and Charles
H. Lovejoy, appointed April 19, 1863, and discharged with the regiment.
When Price moved north to the capture of Lexington, Mo., all available troops
were pushed forward to the defense of Kansas City. Companies A, B and C being
organized, were hurried to Kansas City from Fort Leavenworth and remained
THE STORY OF THE SEVENTH KANSAS. 29
there until all danger had passed ; they were later joined by company E and, I
believe, by some of the other companies as rapidly as organized. After Price had
begun his retreat these companies were returned to Fort Leavenworth by river
transport. October 28, 1861, all companies having been recruited, the regiment
was regularly organized. Company K was not present, but was on its way from
Ohio ; it arrived November 7 and was assigned its designating letter. The regi-
ment was mounted and equipped at once ; the equipment was disappointing, how-
ever, as pertains to carbines ; companies A, B and H received the Sharp's carbine,
but the other companies had at first to content themselves with nondescript
weapons that ranged from the obsolete horse-pistol mounted on a temporary stock
to the Belgian musket. Later the Colt's revolving rifle was issued to the seven
companies, and it was not until the last year of the war that the regiment was
uniformly outfitted with the Spencer carbine. The Seventh Kansas, as soon as
the equipment was completed, marched South and went into camp near Kansas
City, companies A, B and H on the Majors farm, located about four miles south-
east of Westport, and the rest of the regiment on O. K. creek.
On the evening of November 10 Colonel Anthony received information that
the rebel colonel, Upton Hayes, was in camp on the Little Blue, about thirteen
miles out. He at once moved, with parts of companies A, B, and H, and surprised
the camp early on the morning of the 11th. The enemy was driven out and the
camp captured, with all the tents, horses, and wagons. The rebels, however, re-
treated to an impregnable position among the rocks beyond and made a stand ;
they numbered nearly 300 and Colonel Anthony had but 110 men. The attempt
to drive the enemy from the rocks cost the jayhawkers nine men killed and thirty-
two wounded. The camp was destroyed and our boys retreated, bringing off the
captured property. The fighting was most desperate and lasted several hours,
and although not entirely successful caused Up. Hayes to retire from the neigh-
borhood, and, moreover, showed the fighting qualities of the regiment to be all
that could be desired.
From Kansas City the regiment marched back towards Leavenworth and
went into camp at a point about nine miles south of the city. This camp was
named "Camp Herrick," after the major. Here the first pay was received.
Camp was broken soon after, and the regiment returned to the vicinity of Kansas
City and went into camp on the Westport road, just north of the old McGee
tavern, and scouted the country in that section. Independence was raided and
the citizens were given a little touch of the misfortunes of war. Colonel An-
thony made a characteristic speech to the citizens, who had been rounded up
and corraled in the public square.* The secession spirit, which had been ram-
pant in Independence since Price's raid on Lexington, was much subdued after
this expedition. The regiment moved from Kansas City and was camped at In-
dependence, Pleasant Hill, and West Point, in the order named, scouting and
making it uncomfortable for the guerrillas in the vicinity. On December 21 the
command moved from West Point to Morrietown, arriving there after night. It
was a bitter cold day, and the march was made in the face of a blinding storm.
Camp was made in the snow and an uncomfortable night was passed. The win-
* Brittou, in his "Civil War on the Border," attempts to give an account of this raid on In-
dependence. He fixes the date as the latter part of September, and places the command of the
expedition under Colonel Jennison, whom he accredits with the speech at the court-house
square. The facts were that the Seventh Kansas was not organized at that time. The raid was
towards the middle of November, and under the command of Col. D. R. Anthony. Colonel An-
thony made the speech at Independence. Colonel Jennison was not present, nor was he in per-
sonal command of the Seventh Kansas (or First Kansas cavalry, as then known) while doing
active service in Missouri at any time while he was colonel of the regiment.
30 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
ter of 1861-'62 was spent in tents. New Year's day was devoted to a raid out into
the vicinity of Rose Hill and Dayton. The latter town was burned.
On January 5, 1862, a foray was made into Johnson county, Missouri, by a bat-
talion under command of Major Herrick. His force was composed of companies
A, B, D, and F. The battalion went into camp at Holden and detachments
were sent out to scovit the country in different directions. Company A went to
Columbus and camped for the night; a considerable force of the enemy was in
the neighborhood, but as Captain Utt was on the alert they did not attempt to
attack. After company A had moved out company D came up and occupied
the town. As Captain Merriam was leaving the village his company was fired
on from ambush and five men killed, and he was compelled to retreat. Soon
after. Captain Utt, learning of the disaster, returned to Columbus, buried the
dead, and burned the town. He remained in the vicinity until nightfall, but the
rebels failing to attack, he moved with his company back to Holden. Two days
later the entire detachment returned to Morristown.
On January 31 the Seventh Kansas marched to Humboldt, Kan., wherecamp
was established until March 25. On this date the regiment broke camp and
moved to Lawrence, remaining there until April 22. From Lawrence the com-
mand proceeded, via Topeka and route south of the Kaw, to Fort Riley, where it
was joined by Mitchell's brigade of infantry, cavalry, and artillery. The orders
were to remove to New Mexico as soon as grass had started sufficient for grazing.
On May 18, however, this order was countermanded and the entire brigade
ordered to march to Fort Leavenworth and from thence to move by river trans-
ports to Pittsburg Landing, Tenn. The command embarked at Fort Leav-
enworth on May 27 and 28, and was carried as rapidly as possible to its
destination. The landing was made at the Shiloh battleground and the boys
were permitted to see the wreck and desolation that resulted from the great bat-
tle recently fought.
A pleasant incident occurred here that will always cling to my memory.
While at Morristown, Mo., the regiment had been brigaded with a battalion of
the Seventh Missouri infantry, under Major Oliver. While coming up the Ten-
nessee river our leading transport, " The New Sam. Gaty," had joined in a race
with another river steamboat, and our boys in their zeal had burned up all their
" sow-belly " to assist in getting up steam. When we arrived at Pittsburg Land-
ing we were hungry and out of rations. An infantry soldier on the levee, who
was of the Seventh Missouri and one of our old comrades, discovered this condi-
tion and immediately ran down the levee yelling that the jayhawkers were there
hungry and out of grub. In half an hour a formal invitation to dinner came,
and the entire boat load was fed. The Seventh Missouri had divided their ra-
tions and I have no doubt went hungry in consequence.
As our army had occupied Corinth on May 30, the pressing need for cavalry
had passed and the regiment was once more ordered on board transports and
carried down the river and around to Columbus, Ky. From Columbus it moved
south on June 7, as a guard for the working parties occupied in repairing the
Ohio & Mobile railroad to Corinth. While performing this duty the regiment
was camped for a time at Union City, and while there Colonel Anthony, in the
absence of Gen. R. B. Mitchell, was in temporary command of the brigade. Dur-
ing this time he took the opportunity to issue bis celebrated order, dated June
18, 1862, and containing the following language : "Any officer or soldier of this
command who shall arrest and deliver to his master a fugitive slave shall be
summarily and severely punished according to the laws relative to such crimes."
General Mitchell, on returning, ordered Colonel Anthony to rescind this or-
THE STORY OF THE SEVENTH KANSAS. 31
der. Colonel Anthony refused, stating that as he had been relieved from com-
mand he had no authority to countermand a brigade order. General Mitchell
then said hotly, " I will place you in command long enough for you to rescind
it." Anthony then asked, "Am I in command of the brigade?" General
Mitchell replied "Yes." Then said Colonel Anthony, "You, as an oflBcer with-
out command, have no authority to instruct me as to my duties." If this order
was ever rescinded it was not Colonel Anthony who did it. It will be remem-
bered that the government was handling the question of slavery very gingerly in
the early part of the war, and every encouragement was being given Kentucky to
maintain her attitude of non-secession. Colonel Anthony was deprived from
command, but remained with the regiment until September 3, 1862, when his
resignation was accepted. Major Herrick succeeded Colonel Anthony and com-
manded the regiment until Colonel Lee returned to relieve him.
There was an incident consequent on this order of Colonel Anthony's that
should not be lost to history. The regiment was marching towards Corinth
when, on July 3, late in the afternoon, tired and dusty, it entered Jackson,
Tenn. Gen. John A. Logan was just convalescing from wounds received at
Shiloh, and was in command of this post. While the regiment was halted in a
shady spot at the south part of town waiting for details to fill canteens at a well
near by, an aide-de-camp rode up and said, "General Logan orders this regiment
moved immediately outside his lines," and rode away. The regiment did not
move with any great degree of alacrity, and was standing to horse, waiting
for the canteens to be filled, some twenty minutes later, when the same aide-de-
camp dashed up in great wrath and said: "General Logan orders this d
abolition regiment outside his lines or he will order out a battery and drive it
out." The men at once passed along the word and were in the saddle instantly,
and the answer came promptly back, "Go and tell Gen. John A. Logan to
bring out his battery and we will show him how quick this d abolition regi-
ment will take it." The officers tried to move the regiment, but the men eat
grim and silent and would not stir. No battery appeared, and finally a com-
promise was made ; the regiment was moved around General Logan's head-
quarters by a street to the rear, and marched back past his front door with the
band playing "John Brown." The command moved out and camped on a
stream just south of town, but inside of General Logan's lines.
General Logan was no doubt incensed over Colonel Anthony's order and other
conditions were irritating to him. As soon as the jayhawkers arrived in the
South it became the immediate custom for all depredations committed by other
troops to be done in their name, and in consequence the Seventh Kansas was
■ compelled to bear opprobrium largely undeserved. The men averaged with the
men of other regiments, and were no better or worse as far as honesty went, but
at this time they were bearing the aggregated transgressions of regiments from
other states. A day or so previous the Second Illinois cavalry had broken into
the railway station at Trenton, Tenn., and had appropriated a considerable
quantity of sugar; company A of the Seventh Kansas came up later and also
augmented their supply of sweetness. Really not $100 worth of sugar was taken
all together, but the owner made a great outcry, and complained through General
Logan to General Grant. In September, when the paymaster came to pay the
troops, the Seventh Kansas was informed by a messenger from General Grant that
if the men would voluntarily consent to the stoppage of two dollars against the
pay of each man, to reimburse for this sugar, the men would receive their money;
otherwise they would not be paid. It was disrespectful, but word went back by
the messenger for "General Grant to go to hell." The stoppage would have
32 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
amouDted to over $1500, and no claim had been made on the Second Illinois cav-
alry, who were the principal aggressors. The regiment Anally received its pay,
but it was nearly nine months later when the paymaster made the disbursement.
The First Kansas infantry served with the Seventh in the sixteenth army
corps for some time and, of course, sympathized with us, but we never knew how
far this sympathy extended until late in the year. While General Grant was
making his attempted move toward Vicksburg by way of the Mississippi Central
railroad, one morning, as the infantry column was moving south out of Oxford,
Miss., the line of march carried it by General Grant's headquarters, and the
general himself was sitting on the front veranda smoking and viewing the troops
as they passed. Each regiment as it came up was wheeled into line and gave
three cheers for the "hero of Donelson." As the First Kansas passed the
same program was attempted. The evolution was made all right, but when the
cheers were ordered not a sound followed ; the men looked up at the sky or away
towards the distant landscape, but never at the general, and their lips remained
closed. However, as they broke into column and were being led away by their
discomfited commander, an old ram in an adjacent corner lot lifted up his voice
in a characteristic bleat; the men took it up, and as they marched away down
the street plaintive "baas" came back to the ears of the great general.
The regiment arrived at Corinth, Miss., on June 10, and went into camp to
the eastward of the town, at Camp Clear Creek. The line of march to camp led
by the extensive infantry camps, and the usual interest was manifested. The
jayhawkers were something of a curiosity, and as soon as it became known what
this passing cavalry regiment was the road was lined by infantry soldiers. The
usual badinage was attempted by the lookers-on, but no response was elicited —
the Seventh Kansas rode by with their faces set straight to the front, apparently
oblivious to the surroundings; they might have been passing through the desert,
as far as any expression of their countenances indicated. The jokes grew fewer
and finally ceased entirely, and the infantry men became only silent lookers on.
As the rear of the regiment passed one big sergeant said, "I '11 be d ." That
was the only remark that came to our ears. I mention this, for it was a charac-
teristic of the regiment to ignore surroundings of this nature.
Colonel Lee took command of the regiment on the 17th of July, and on the
20th marched it to Jacinto and from thence to Rienzi, Miss., arriving there on
the 23d. Rienzi was the extreme southern outpost of the Northern army. The
Seventh Kansas was assigned to the second brigade of the cavalry division ;
Col. Philip H, Sheridan was our brigade commander; he was at that time a
diminutive specimen and did not weigh more than 110 pounds. When he (later)
was transferred to the Army of the Cumberland, Colonel Lee became com-
mander of our brigade. Gen. Gordon Granger commanded the cavalry division.
The camp of the Seventh Kansas was at this post until its evacuation, Septem-
ber 30. Typhoid fever was prevalent, nineteen deaths resulting in the regi-
ment during a period of about a month. The Confederate army lay about twenty
miles to the south, with their advance outposts at Baldwyn and Guntown, and
our cavalry was constantly in the saddle. Skirmishes were frequent between
opposing scouting parties, and Colonel Lee showed himself to be a dashing and
capable cavalry officer. Colonel Sheridan led us on many dashing expeditions,
and raids were made into Ripley and through the enemy's lines at Marietta and
Bay Springs. At the latter place the Confederate camp was captured and de-
stroyed.
A detachment of the Seventh Kansas had a lively skirmish with a guerrilla
leader, who bore the Teutonic name of Funderberger; the affair was always
THE STORY OF THE SEVENTH KANSAS. 33
known in the regiment as "the battle of Funderberger's Lane." It was a dash-
ing, picturesque engagement, fought at dusk and after dark, and the flashing of
small arms was exciting and beautiful. It was a running fight, and Funderber-
ger was driven down the lane badly beaten.
On August 26 Faulkner's rebel cavalry drove in our pickets under Captain
Eaton, of the Second Iowa cavalry, who were guarding the Ripley road, and
charged in nearly to our camp. Most of the command was out on a scout to the
south, and matters looked a little dubious for a few minutes. The "sick, lame,
and lazy," however, rallied and drove them off. All available men were mounted
and started in pursuit; the enemy was routed, and pursued for ten miles. The
next day Captain Malone with his company ( F) was attacked while scouting on
the Kossuth road ; he lost four men killed and eight wounded, one of the wounded
men dying afterwards. The company rallied and charged the enemy, routing him.
Our dead and wounded were recovered, and the Confederates lost three killed.
The dead were buried and the wounded brought off the field. About this time
Colonel Sheridan received his promotion as brigadier-general and went to Ken-
tucky with Granger's division, and Colonel Lee assumed command of the bri-
gade. Companies B and E took part in the battle of luka, fought on the 19th of
September, the remainder of the regiment operating on our right flank. General
Rosecrans said in his report: "I must not omit to mention the eminent services
of Colonel Du Bois, commanding at Rienzi, and Colonel Lee, who with the Sev-
enth Kansas and part of the Seventh Illinois cavalry, assured our flank and rear
during the entire period of our operations." Colonel Lee had not only to guard
the flank of Rosecrans's army, but he had to prevent the enemy moving on Cor-
inth, then almost denuded of troops.
After the battle of luka the Confederates began to organize for a movement
against Corinth. Reinforcements were rushed to them, and the 1st of October
their advance began. The Seventh Kansas operated on their right flank and
harassed the movements of the Confederates, participating in several sharp
skirmishes. On the night of October 3 the regiment entered Corinth by the
Kossuth road in time to take part in the terrible battle of the next day. When
the regiment entered, it was supposed the Kossuth road lay a half mile to the
right of the Confederate flank. Lovell, who commanded their right, had, after
dark however, extended his lines across the road, it being the Confederate plan
to open the battle in the morning by an attack by Lovell on College hill. He did
not want to expose the new disposition of his troops, so let us pass through his
lines, expecting to have us the next day anyhow. It was a bright moonlight
night, and the way appeared innocent enough, but Lovell could have swept us
out of existence any moment with the artillery and musketry masked in the
brush along our line of march. I have often wondered if the Confederate Colonel
Jackson, whose cavalry division, formed on the right, was guarding this road,
ever knew that the regiment he permitted to pass by in safety was the same that
less than two months later assaulted and decisively whipped his whole division in
the Lamar lane. The Seventh Kansas operated mostly on our left flank, and
were deployed in the abattis as sharpshooters. The regiment was conspicuous in
the pursuit, until it ended at Ripley; it took part in many sharp skirmishes, re-
peatedly defeating Baxter's rebel cavalry brigade and capturing many prisoners.
The night we entered Ripley, during the pursuit, Captain Houston, with com-
pany H, was stationed as picket on the road leading south from town. Suspect-
ing a move on the part of the enemy, he caused a fire to be built, and arranged
dummies in imitation of soldiers lying asleep about the smoldering embers,
and then posted his company in the brush down the road. Sure enough, about
—4
34 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
two o'clock in the morning a Confederate company came stealing up the road and,
deploying, moved silently on their supposed sleeping victims. Houston noise-
lessly deployed his company in their rear and stealthily followed. At the proper
distance the Confederates drew a bead on the dummies, and the captain exult-
ingly demanded a surrender. "Had you not better surrender yourself ?" said
Captain Houston, quietly ; the startled Confederates turned and discovered a
line of Yankee carbines, with a man behind each one, drawn level at their heads.
They promptly obeyed Captain Houston's injunction and surrendered. It was
a neat job and resulted in over forty prisoners, including several officers.
Referring to prisoners, I wish to record here that the entire number of the
Seventh Kansas made prisoners of war during over four years of active service
would not aggregate a score, and in but one instance was ever more than one
taken atone time. The exception was Lieutenant Osgood, and, I believe, two
men, picked up near Rienzi, Miss., in the fall of 18G2. Several times were squads
and companies nearly surrounded by superior numbers, but they fought their
way out and made their escape.
The battle of Corinth is a matter of history and students of the civil war
know how severe the fighting was. Our forces numbered about 20,000 and the
Confederates about 40,000. We, of course, had the advantage of position and
the chain of redoubts that strengthened our line. The writer was an orderly at
General Rosecrans's headquarters during the last day of the engagement, and
was privileged in seeing more of a severe battle than usually falls to the lot of
one individual. Orders went out thick and fast and staff officers and orderlies
rode the lines with rapid frequency. When the victory was achieved, I had the
privilege of riding in the train of the great general when he rode along the lines
and thanked his regiments for the victory they had given him: The Confederate
dead still lay along our front, and, especially in front of Fort Robinet, the slaugh-
ter had been fearful.
On its return from the pursuit the regiment went into camp for a few days
east of Corinth, on the Farmington road. From this point a raid was made
across Bear creek into Alabama, as far as Buzzard Roost station. Roddy's com-
mand was met and driven back, badly whipped. A most gallant act was per-
formed here by Sergt. Alonzo Dickson and three men of company H, who led the
advance. As they came in sight of the Confederate outpost, although it con-
sisted of about fifteen men, they at once dashed forward, and the rebels mounted
their horses and fled in a panic. Dickson and his squad pursued them over a
mile, killing over half of their number and capturing several; but two or three
escaped.
Oh the return of the regiment from this expedition, it received orders to
move to Grand Junction, where General Grant was concentrating an army for a
movement against Vicksburg. The Confederate army, under General Pember-
ton, was encamped along the Coldwater, about twenty miles to the south. On
November 8 a reconnoisance in force was made under the command of General
McPherson towards Hudsonville. The Seventh Kansas led the advance on the
main road and moved about two miles ahead of the infantry column. Near La-
mar it came on the flank of the Confederate cavalry division under the command
of Colonel Jackson, General Pemberton's chief of cavalry. Captain Gregory,
who held our advance with his company (E), immediately attacked, and was fol-
lowed by an assault by the whole regiment. The Confederates were completely
routed, and fled, leaving their dead and wounded and many prisoners in our hands.
They left thirty-six dead and 400 or 500 prisoners, many severely wounded, and
nearly 2000 stand of arms. The glory of this victory will appear more pronounced
THE STORY OF THE SEVENTH KANSAS. o5
when it is understood that the attack w&a made by one small regiment, number-
ing about 600 men, nearly two miles away from any support, and against a divi-
sion numbering 4000. This defeat caused the retreat of the entire Confederate
army to a point below Holly Springs, and the victory gave Colonel Lee his star.
The regiment advanced the same evening to the enemy's lines and drew his artil-
lery fire, but his cavalry were too badly demoralized to offer any opposition. On
the return to the camp at Grand Junction the regiment w^s received by the in-
fantry with cheers. jL(<d-i_^.A->','C'l
November 27, 1862, the advance of the army began. The Seventh Kansas led
the advance of the main infantry column, and on the morning of the 28th charged
into Holly Springs, capturing the pickets on the Hudsonville road, routing the
garrison, and driving the Confederates beyond the town. The regiment was given
the post of honor and held the extreme advance most of the time during the for-
ward movement, fighting almost constantly from dawn until well into the night,
and then finding rest disturbed by the playful shells which the enemy would ex-
plode over its exposed bivouac. The Confederates contested every foot of the way
between Holly Springs and the Tallahatchie with cavalry and artillery, but the
Seventh Kansas steadily pushed them back. Ten miles below Holly Springs a
Confederate force supporting a twelve- pound gun was charged and the gun cap-
tured. The enemy finally retired within their fortifications that stretched along
the Tallahatchie river, and as the jayhawkers camo within range of their big
guns proceeded to give them the benefit of the concentrated fire of some forty
siege pieces. Half an hour later, when the infantry supports came up, the First
Kansas infantry led the advance. They came on at the double-quick, and as they
piled their blankets and knapsacks and deployed in the field beyond our left
each company would give hearty cheers for the jayhawkers and the jayhawkers
returned them as heartily, telling them to ''Give 'em Wilson Creek." Shells
were bursting overhead or ricochetting across the fields, and the Seventh was
much relieved when the infantry came up, and it was especially pleasing to have
this splendid fighting regiment from our home state come to our support. Sev-
eral times during this advance would we see an infantry regiment away across
the fields tossing their caps in the air and cheering; we knew that it was the
First Kansas, who by some infallible means always recognized their brothers
from home and sent them greeting.
At nightfall the infantry fell back out of range, and left the Seventh to picket
the advance line. During the night scouts were sent forward; Sergeant Honry,
of company D, with two men, crept within the forts on the left of the road, and
confirmed the suspicion that the Confederates were evacuating. Sergeant WilJey
and one man of company C crawled through their pickets and across a cotton
field on the right to the vicinity of the bridge, and returned with a ccafirmation
of the report. At daylight the Seventh Kansas advanced and found the earth-
works dismantled, the enemy in full retreat, and the bridge over the Tallahatchie
destroyed. Again the jayhawkers led the advance on the main road. It had
rained heavily during the night and the roads were very muddy, but that did not
delay to any great extent. The enemy's rear guard was struck soon, but was
easily pushed back until within a mile of Oxford, where they were reenforced,
and a strong stand was made, supported by one piece of artillery. They opened
at short range with double-shotted canister, and did considerable damage to
the oak undergrowth. Lieut. James Smith led company C in a charge di-
rectly against the artillery, but they were handling the gun by fixed prolonge
and succeeded in dragging it out of reach. At the edge of town the entire regi-
ment dismounted and deployed for the final rush; first, however. Captain
30 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Swoyer led company B in a mounted charge in column down the main street,
but, meeting a heavy fire from the public square, was forced to retire. When the
formation was complete the order to advance was given, and the men went in
with a yell. Strong opposition was met, especially at the court-house square,
but this force, seeing that they would be flanked, fell back with the rest, leaving
a number of dead and prisoners in our hands. During the fight a man was no-
ticed standing on the observatory of a large house watching our advance through
a field-glass. A bullet fired at him struck the railing near by. He disappeared,
and in a few minutes was seen galloping away to a place of safety. That man
was the Hon. Jacob Thompson, formerly secretary of the interior under President
Buchanan.
The next day the regiment pushed forward as far as Water Valley, skirmish-
ing the entire distance and capturing nearly a thousand prisoners, who were
straggling behind the retreating army. Late in the afternoon a captured drum-
mer boy was trudging back along our column to take his place with the other
prisoners: "Where are you going, Johnny ?" was asked him; "Back to the rear
to beat roll-call for Pemberton's army," was his prompt answer. That evening,
as the regiment was formed in a hollow square around the prisoners, our boys,
who had supplied themselves with a bountiful store of tobacco at the expense of
the Oxford merchants, discovered that the prisoners were destitute and fainting
for a "chaw of stingy green," and so began to pitch whole plugs of "flat," which
was a luxury, to the suffering Johnnies. It created a transformation; despond-
ency disappeared and contentment took its place; three cheers for the jayhawk-
ers were given with a gusto, and the little drummer boy of the afternoon came
forward and regaled the regiment with the rebel version of the "Happy Land of
Canaan," a song much in vogue during the first years of the war. One verse still
clings to my memory :
"Old John Brown came to Harper's Ferry town,
Old John Brown was a game one;
But we led him up a slope, and we let him down a rope,
And sent him to the happy land of Canaan."
, That night the regiment picketed the main road at the burning bridge across
the Otuckalofa. Fording the river early in the morning the pursuit was continued,
the Seventh Kansas still leading the advance. Sharp skirmishing continued dur-
ing the day until after noon, when the resistance grew lighter. The cavalry had
pressed forward nearly thirty miles in advance of the infantry supports and the
enemy, cognizant of this, had prepared a surprise. About a mile north of Cof-
feyville, Lovell's infantry division had been posted in the timber with two six-gun
batteries masked in the brush, and a large cavalry force on each flank. Com-
panies A, G, I, and K, deployed as skirmishers, were advancing dismounted across
an open field when they were received by a withering volley from the rebel in-
fantry and artillery. These companies fell back to the belt of timber in the rear,
and rallied on company C coming forward in support; the five companies then
fell slowly back, contesting the Confederate advance every inch of the way across
a field to the rear until our main line, which was rapidly forming along the edge
of the timber on the next slope, was reached. The Confederates numbered from
8000 to 10,000, supported by two batteries, while the Union forces were scarcely
4000 dismounted cavalry, with but two twelve- pound guns, and entirely without
reserves; yet our position was maintained for over half an hour, and until the
Confederate force had swung around our flanks and had us nearly surrounded.
Our loss was heavy but that of the Southerners very much greater. The Seventh
Kansas, with detachments of other regiments, made a fine stand at a bridge across
THE STORY OF THE SEVENTH KANSAS. 37
a deep stream to the rear and repulsed the final charge of the rebels. The entire
command fell back to Water Valley.
The battle of Coffeyville was fought on December 5, 1862, Our regimental loss
was eight killed and about forty wounded. Lieut. Tom Woodburn, a gallant of-
ficer, fell at the head of his company; Lieutenant Colbert was wounded and Col-
onel Lee's horse was wounded beneath him. We lost no prisoners. Our artillery,
supported by the Seventh Kansas, was served until the charging Confederates were
within a hundred feet of the muzzles and then was successfully dragged away at
fixed prolonge, with a sergeant riding the last gun, facing to the rear with his
thumb to his nose at the eluded rebels, who sent a shower of bullets after him.
The report of the Confederate general says: "The tactics of the enemy did
them great credit." Among our dead was Private Francis Schilling, a German
of fine education and great refinement. He came to Kansas from Chicago and
joined the Seventh Kansas, led hither by his extreme abolition belief. He was a
frequent correspondent of the Chicago Tribune. He fell with his face to the foe,
dying for a principle, if ever a man did during the history of this world.
The cavalry division fell back to the Yocknapatalfa and encamped at Prophet
bridge. From this point company A scouted back to the vicinity of the Coffey-
ville battle-field and secured information of the raid against our line of commu-
nication, just starting under the leadership of the rebel general. Van Dorn.
Securing complete details of the movement, the company returned rapidly and re-
ported to Colonel Dickey. He received the report with incredulity and neglected
to report to General Grant until eight hours later. When General Grant finally
received the information he instantly ordered all the cavalry by forced marches
to Holly Springs. The Seventh Kansas moved out in advance and rode the forty
miles with scarcely a halt, and with jaded horses reached Holly Springs at about
ten o'clock the next morning, in advance of all the rest, but about an hour after
the rebels had destroyed the vast amount of supplies stored there, and had moved
north. The delay of Colonel Dickey had been fatal. Had he sent the informa-
tion forward without delay, reenforcements would have easily reached Holly
Springs in time to have beaten off Van Dorn and saved the town, with millions of
dollars' worth of stores. The regiment immediately pushed north to Bolivar, Van
Dorn's next objective point, reaching there in advance of the rebel raider. The
garrison was small, but a determined show of force was made, and Van Dorn
feared to attack, and immediately began a hasty retreat. The Seventh Kansas
followed, constantly skirmishing with him until he passed south of Pontotoc,
The regiment returned to Holly Springs, and on the 3lst of December moved
north to Moscow, Tenn., and later to Germantown, where the command wintered.
The march north was in the wake of our retiring army ; buildings and fences were
burning, and frequent detours had to be made to pass places too hot for comfort
or safety of ammunition. I wish some of our ultra sentimentalists who are posing
at the present day, and whose souls are full of metaphorical tears for the cruel
acts of the American army, could have seen some of the gentle touches of the
civil war. But most of these gentlemen, if of a suitable age, took extremfe care
to be absent from the scenes of ignoble strife.
At Germantown Colonel Lee received notice of his promotion as brigadier-
general, and took leave of the regiment. He was a fine officer, brave, dashing,
and ambitious. General Grant commended him highly, and placed him in com-
mand of the brigade when General Sheridan was transferred to Kentucky. In
a dispatch to General Halleck, dated November 11, 1862, General Grant said:
"Colonel Lee is one our best cavalry officers ; I earnestly recommend him for
promotion." Lieutenant-colonel Herrick continued in command of the regiment
38 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
after Colonel Lee'a promotion. While stationed at Germantown the regiment
was almost constantly in the saddle, patrolling the roads and scouting far out
into the country. A number of sharp skirmishes were fought, with unvarying
success to our side.
On the loth of April, 186.3, the Seventh Kansas moved to Corinth, Miss., ar-
riving there on tbe 17th, and the next morning marched to join General Dodge>
who waa concentrating a considerable force at Bear creek, preparatory to a
movement into Alabama. The army crossed Bear creek on the 24th. At Tus-
cumbia the regiment attacked the rebels under General Roddy and drove them
out of the town, carrying the place by a brilliant charge. The capture of Tua-
cumbia was followed by the immediate advance of the cavalry brigade, under
command of Colonel Cornyn, of the Tenth Missouri cavalry, an impetuous leader,
who hated a rebel as he did the devil. The enemy was met a short distance out.
He opened up on the Seventh Kansas, leading the advance, with artillery, but
was soon driven back to within a mile of Leighton, where he made a determined
stand with artillery strongly posted on an elevation to the left of the road. The
Seventh held the left of the line and advanced against this position. The Tenth
Missouri held the road with a mounted battalion, with the rest of the regiment
deployed dismounted in the field on the right. A light mountain battery of five
guns, supported by a battalion of the Seventh Kansas, was advanced close under
the muzzles of the heavy cannon of the enemy and fairly smothered them with
their rapid fire. Captain Utt at the same time led a charge of three companies
around the left against their battery. Companies B and H judiciously swerved
to the left and opened fire with their small arms from the shelter of the timber,
but Captain Utt led company A square in the face of the artillery. It was an-
other case of the sunken road of Ohain ; an impassable fence intervened — one
of those straight fences bound together with hickory withes. Captain Utt's leg
was carried away and his horse killed beneath him by a charge of grape. The
company was compelled to retreat.
The whole command then assaulted and the rebels were driven back two
miles beyond Leighton. Colonel Cornyn withdrew his cavalry at nightfall to
Tuscumbia, where he lay until the morning of the 27th. This engagement was
fought against a superior force, but the result was a splendid victory. General
Dodge in his official report says, relative to this battle: "The command con-
sisted on our part of the Tenth Missouri and Seventh Kansas cavalry, about
800 in all, driving the enemy eight miles. The enemy's force was 3500, besides
one battery. The fighting of the cavalry against such odds is beyond all praise."
A second advance was made on the 27th, led by Cornyn's brigade. The
enemy was met in force and driven beyond Town creek. At that stream a severe
engagement took place. The infantry supports came up and a heavy artillery
duel, which lasted several hours, occurred. From Town creek the entire in-
fantry command fell back to Corinth. The cavalry fell back to Burnsville, Miss.,
and then moved rapidly to the south. This last movement was in conjunction
with the advance of General Grierson, just ready to start on his great raid
through Mississippi. Cornyn's brigade moved on the left and in advance of
Grierson. The enemy were soon met, and constant skirmishing was kept up un-
til the command reached Tupelo.
At this place, on May 5, was met a strong force under the command of the
rebel Generals Gholson and Ruggles. The rebels were preparing an elaborate
plan to capture our whole command, and they had the force to do it, but Cornyn
did not do his part to make it a success. Instead of deploying at the bridge and
being two or three hours forcing a crossing, the Seventh Kansas charged it in
THE STORY OF THE SEVENTH KANSAS. 39
column, was over it in five minutes, and the enemy were caught with their forces
divided. Company A of the Seventh came suddenly on the flank of a rebel cav-
alry regiment moving down under the shelter of some timber to take the Tenth
Missouri in a similar manner. Lieutenant Sanders attacked at once, and the
surprised Confederates were driven down on the Tenth Missouri, who charged,
and the entire rebel regiment was captured. A number were killed and wounded,
and many of the prisoners bore marks of the saber that played a conspicuous
part in this division of the fight. Company A lost but one man killed, Corp.
Edwin M. Vaughn. While this fighting was going on General Gholson, suppos-
ing their plan was meeting with success, came up through the timber on the left
with his infantry, to catch our column on the flank and rear and complete the
conquest. He ran into the Tenth Missouri's mountain battery, supported by
companies I and K of the Seventh Kansas, and met a galling fire of double-
shotted canister and rapid volleys from the supporting companies. Company C
charged in on his right flank and poured volley after volley into his charging
lines. Gholson'e infantry were largely raw levies and could not stand the cross-
fire they were subjected to; they wavered, then turned and fled, in a panic. The
timber was strewn with corn bread and haversacks as far as our pursuit ex-
tended. They did not attempt to follow when, at night, according to plan,
Cornyn fell back, nor did they molest Grierson's column as he passed. The loss
of the enemy was heavy in killed and wounded, and the prisoners numbered
several hundred, including a large number of officers.
The regiment had permanent headquarters at Corinth after its return until
January 8, 1864. The duties performed during the summer and fall of 1863 were
arduous — scouting and skirmishing daily, and keeping a constant surveillance
over the movements of the enemy. Many severe engagements with Forrest were
fought, and the work was always well and bravely done. Until the fall of Vicks-
burg, constant watch was maintained to prevent reenforcements going to Johns-
ton. On July 11, 1863, Lieutenant-colonel Herrick was promoted to colonel, and
Captain Houston, of company H, lieutenant-colonel.
On the 26th of May, 1863, Colonel Cornyn, with a mounted force consisting of
the Seventh Kansas, Tenth Missouri, and one battalion of the Fifteenth Illinois
cavalry, and the Ninth Illinois mounted infantry, moved towards the Tennessee
river. The river was crossed at Hamburg during the night, and the whole force
advanced towards Florence, Ala., the Seventh Kansas leading the advance.
During the day two companies of the regiment made a detour to Rawhide, out
on the left flank, and destroyed the large grist-mill and the cotton and woolen
factories located there and employed in manufacturing material for the enemy.
The Confederate cavalry were met about ten miles out of Florence. They con-
tested our advance, but were easily forced back. Their pickets were driven in,
but the forces composing the garrison of the place were found posted along the
west edge of town, supported by artillery. Their cannon were quickly silenced
and the place carried by assault, and their entire force, which was commanded
by General Villepigue, driven beyond the town. A large quantity of fixed am-
munition and a number of shops making war material were destroyed, and seven
large cotton and woolen factories were burned; also large quantities of corn and
forage belonging to the Confederate government. As the command moved out to
the southward after nightfall it was attacked, and a severe encounter took place.
The enemy was driven off but returned to the attack repeatedly, and more or
less skirmishing lasted during the night. A major and about fifty men were
captured by a charge of a company of the regiment; after that the enemy be-
came more cautious. The Seventh Kansas covered the rear while the brigade
40 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
was crossing the river on the return, and repulsed several sharp attacks, and,
finally, making a countercharge, drove the enemy back over a mile. The brigade
returned to Corinth on the 29th. During this raid the Seventh Kansas was in
the saddle constantly during five days and four nights, never resting more than
two hours at any one time.
Col. Florence M. Cornyn, of the Tenth Missouri cavalry, who commanded
our brigade for several months, was a red headed Irishman, absolutely fearless,
of iron constitution, and untiring while in the field. He never stopped to ascer-
tain the number of the enemy's force, but attacked at once wherever he was met.
His audacity always won out and never failed to score a victory. He was shot
and killed by his lieutenant-colonel in a personal encounter in the fall of 1863.
The raids that we made under him were dashing and always produced great re-
sults, and it used to be said in discussing the forays that he led, that "Solomon
in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these."
It will be too long a story to go into detail in describing all the engagements
which the regiment participated in during the season of 1863. It was a year of
constant work and weary night marches, through mud and rain or stifling dust,
and many sharp encounters occurred with Forrest.
It will be remembered that the year 1863 — the turning-point in the war — was
a season of great activity. In northern Mississippi Forrest was operating to
keep reenforcements from Grant and Rosecrans, and the Union forces, which
were really the outposts of Grant's army operating before Vicksburg until after
Pemberton's surrender, were constantly employed in scouting and watching to
prevent reenforcements going to Johnston. Forrest was the most skilful of all
the Confederate cavalry generals. He was almost ubiquitous, constantly on the
move, and, operating as he did in a country friendly to the cause of the South,
gave us no end of work. Forrest never seemed to think the life of a man of
much consequence when he had a purpose to accomplish. He exposed his men
recklessly and suffered heavy losses, but at the same time forced the Union
cavalry frequently to take desperate chances to offset his movements. In telling
the story of 1863, one can give but little idea of the constant strain the little force
in northern Mississippi was subjected to. The Seventh Kansas, nominally in
camp at Corinth, spent very little time there ; the raids into the Tuscumbia valley,
to Tupelo, and across the Tennessee river to Florence, already briefly described,
are but samples of the work performed until the regiment was veteranized
and went North on furlough. After the fall of Vicksburg, every effort was made
to hold Forrest with as large a Confederate force as possible in Mississippi and
prevent his reenforcing Bragg. Movements to the north and east as well as to
the east and south were made, and numerous affairs that entailed more hardship
than loss of life resulted from frequent contact with the enemy, and many small
encounters of more significance than appeared on the surface will be passed over
in this story, in which only the most conspicuous affairs are described.
On March 12, 1863, a fight with Richardson near Gallaway station, Tenn.,
ended in a rout of the enemy. Colonel Looney, Major Sanford and Captain
Bright, of the Confederate army, were captured, together with a considerable num-
ber of enlisted men.
On March 16, near Mount Pleasant, Miss., the Confederates were whipped
and their rear-guard captured.
On April 2-6 a series of sharp engagements occurred, which resulted in the
defeat of the enemy.
On September 30 companies A and C attacked the rear-guard of a Confed-
erate force crossing the Tennessee river at Swallow Bluffs, Tenn. The rear-guard
THE STORY OF THE SEVENTH KANSAS. 41
of the enemy, consisting of a major and thirty men, was captured. The fighting
was severe. Our loss was one man killed and five wounded. The enemy lost
several killed.
On October 12 and 13 the regiment participated in a sharp battle with
Forrest at Byhalia and Wyatt. The Seventh Kansas made a number of brilliant
charges, and Forrest was eventually driven across the Tallahatchie with heavy
loss in killed and wounded. In this engagement Capt. Amos Hodgeman was
mortally wounded, while leading a charge against the enemy. He died on the
16th. The fighting lasted three days, begining at Quinn's mill, south of Colliers-
ville, and ending with the severe cavalry battle at Wyatt, on the 13th> A num-
ber of prisoners, including several prominent officers, were captured.
The cavalry engagement at Wyatt was an affair of considerable magnitude,
and during the first-year of the civil war would have easily ranked as a battle.
Sharp fighting began about three o'clock in the afternoon, and lasted with
little intermission until ten at night. Our force consisted of the Seventh Kan-
sas cavalry, the Third, Sixth and Seventh Illinois cavalry, Ninth Illinois mounted
infantry. Third Michigan and Sixth Tennessee cavalry, and eight pieces of ar-
tillery. The rebel force was a cavalry division numbering about 6000, reenforced
with artillery. A severe thunder-storm, with heavy downpour of rain, lasted
during the whole time. Our last charge was made by Phillips's brigade, consist-
ing of the Seventh Kansas, Third Michigan and Sixth Tennessee cavalry, and
Phillips's own gallant regiment, the Ninth Illinois mounted infantry. The troops
were dismounted, and the charge was made at nine o'clock, in pitch darkness,
and the enemy's position indicated only by the flashing of small arms and ar-
tillery. Over fences, across ditches, and through mud, our men went up and
carried the enemy's position, driving him across the Tallahatchie river, and, fol-
lowing close on his heels, prevented the destruction of the bridge, which he at-
tempted.
That grim sense of humor that can see a joke in the face of death found an
opportunity for exercise just before this charge began. Major Malone, who was
mounted, rode out in front of the regiment, preparing to lead the coming charge,
with the remark that "we '11 drive 'em to hell!" and then vanished from sight.
A smothered and distant voice from the bowels of the earth at last indicated his
whereabouts. Halter-straps were spliced and let down, and he was dragged up,
considerably jarred, but not otherwise injured. A measurement was made the
next morning from the surface to the saddle on the dead horse; the distance was
thirty-two feet. The well was dry and not walled, and the caving earth proba-
bly broke the fall and saved the life of the major. When we asked him what he
thought as he was going down, he said: "Thought? I thought that I was going
to hell on horseback."
On December 1 the regiment was engaged at Ripley, with a superior command
led by General Forrest in person. The Seventh Kansas had been sent to retard
the advance of the rebels on the Memphis & Charleston railroad. The action
was severe and full of hardship and danger, but the Confederates were held back
and the jayhawkers came off with honor. Maj. W. S. Jenkins was severely
wounded in the head in this engagement.
On December 24 a battalion of the regiment defeated a detachment of For-
rest's command at Jack's Creek, Tenn.
On the 1st day of January, 1864, while the Seventh Kansas lay in temporary
camp below Wolf river, south of La Grange, Tenn., the subject of reenlisting as
veterans was taken up. The men were bivouacked in the snow without shelter,
and the weather was bitter cold ; they were returning from a raid into Mississippi,
42 • KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
and the last two days' march had been made through rain, sleet, and snow. Be-
fore night over four-fifths of the regiment had signed the reenlistment papers and
stood ready for " three years more." The Seventh Kansas was the first regiment
to reenlist in that part of the army, and was the only Kansas organization to en-
list as a regiment and maintain, as veterans, the full regimental organization.
The regiment at once moved to Corinth. On January 18 camp was broken and
the command proceeded to Memphis, where, on January 21, the veterans were
mustered, to date from the 1st of January, 18Gi. The men who did not reenlist im-
mediately became known as the "bobtails." They looked sad as the regiment
went aboard the transports to go North to their homes for a month's furlough,
and a number, who could stand it no longer, reenlisted at the last moment. The
"bobtails" were assigned to other regiments and remained in the field and con-
tinued to do excellent service. They joined the regiment again on its return South
in June, and served with it until their discharge.
At Cairo the veterans were paid, and then proceeded towards Kansas by way
of Decatur and Quincy, 111., and St. Joseph, Mo.: the objective point was Fort
Leavenworth. The men enjoyed themselves on the journey, and made no end of
fun. At Decatur, 111., the men discovered that the landlord of the eating station
was charging them seventy-five cents for dinner, while he was charging civilians
but fifty. The landlord was up against trouble at once, and, realizing it, fled
from danger and hid in the attic. He was soon found and dragged out, and,
begging for mercy, promised restitution. Probably not more than a hundred of
the men had eaten at his hotel, but the whole regiment suddenly assembled and
fell in, and, when payment began, as soon as the man on the right received his
twenty-five-cent shinplaster he would drop out and fall in again on the left.
Had not the train for Quincy pulled out soon that hotel-keeper must have been
a bankrupt. At Weston, Mo., the ferryman refused to cross the regiment to the
Kansas side at the expense of the government, because he had had difficulty in
collecting pay for similar service. The captain of the boat was promptly set on
shore, Lieut. D. C. Taylor took the wheel, while several men manned the en-
gines below. As soon as loaded, the boat swung out, made the crossing, and
never knew that it had changed crews.
At the landing above Fort Leavenworth the regiment was met by a delegation
of Leavenworth citizens and received with honors. The men were accorded the
freedom of the city; formal action in this direction was unnecessary, for the boys
would have taken it anyhow.
At the end of their furloughs the men assembled at Fort Leavenworth and
again were paid off', and March 12, 1864, sailed towards Memphis. At St. Louis,
however, the regiment was halted, and went ashore and remained there in camp
on the old Camp Gamble grounds until June 6. Having been reequipped, it
moved by river transports to Memphis, Tenn. On the 17th of June the Seventh
Kansas left Memphis and moved out along the Memphis & Charleston railraad,
to cover the retreat of a portion of Sturgis's command, defeated at Guntown,
Miss., by General Forrest.
On July 5 the regiment moved from La Grange, Tenn., as the advance-guard
of Gen. A. J. Smith's infantry column, starting south on its expedition against
General Forrest. General Smith had detached the Seventh Kansas from Grier-
son's cavalry division and given them the post of honor with the main column,
which it retained until Pontotoc was reached and captured, and then on the
never-to-be-forgotten 13th of July was trusted to cover the rearguard during the
movement from Pontotoc to Tupelo. The advance from the beginning was op-
posed by the enemy in considerable force, but the Seventh Kansas kept the main
THE STORY OF THE SEVENTH KANSAS. 43
road clear, and the march of the infantry column was never retarded ; the re-
maining cavalry force operated on the flanks.
On the 10th a sharp fight was had with Barteau's cavalry, and they were
badly whipped and driven back, with the loss of five men killed and left on the
field. Approaching Pontotoc on the 11th, the enemy was met in force, and a
sharp engagement followed. He was driven back on Pontotoc with heavy logs,
but General McCulloch, with a brigade of rebel cavalry, held the town. The
Seventh Kansas was reenforced by a brigade of infantry and drove in the rebel
skirmishers. Grierson's cavalry attacked at the same time from the east. The
Confederates were driven from their position and retreated in disorder, leaving
their dead and wounded in our hands. The main force of the enemy was fortified
on Cherry creek, about eight miles south of Pontotoc. General Smith rested on
the 12th, and gave General Forrest an opportunity to come out and attack, which
he failed to take advantage of. Early on the morning of the 13th Grierson's
cavalry was pushed rapidly to the east, with instruction to seize a position at
Tupelo, about eighteen miles distant. The infantry, followed by the train,
pushed out immediately after, leaving the Seventh Kansas drawn up in line of
battle waiting for the Confederate advance. The attack came soon after day-
light, and the regiment slowly fell back, contesting every inch of the way. For-
rest had thrown his infantry forward to the east, on a parallel road to Pontotoc,
and sent his cavalry to our rear to pursue. Twice during the day he attacked in
force from the right, but was repulsed by the Minnesota brigade guarding that
flank of the train.
To the Seventh Kansas, under the command of Colonel Herrick, had been
assigned the duty of guarding the rear of the train against a division of cavalry.
It was done, but how it was done is difficult to understand; it was the accom-
plishment of a seeming impossibility. Every point of advantage was seized and
held to the last moment. Squadrons were detached and fought in isolated posi-
tions on the flanks, to give impression of a stronger force. Early in the day com-
pany A was dismounted and placed in ambush, at the risk of probable capture.
They caught the Confederate advance coming on too confidently and emptied
many saddles, sending their advance regiment back in confusion. Company A
regained their horses in safety, and this deed had a restraining influence on the
Confederate cavalry during the rest of the day. The enemy immediately brought
up artillery and shelled the timber in advance, as a precaution against similar
attempts. Company C fought once on the left in an isolated position until nearly
surrounded, and then cut their way out and escaped. The Confederate advance
was made in three columns ; if you checked one the others came on and threatened
your flank. The Seventh Kansas covered the rear alone during the whole fore-
noon; later. Colonel Bouton, commanding a colored brigade, dropped back to
its support. During the day three distinct charges were made on the rear of the
column, which were handsomely repulsed by the Seventh and Bouton's brigade.
Forrest says in his report, relative to the conduct of the Seventh Kansas that
day, " He took advantage of every favorable position, and my artillery was kept
almost constantly busy."
This tells but little of the constant fighting done by the jayhawkers from five
in the morning until nine in the evening, when they passed to the rear of the in-
fantry line of battle, formed to meet the attacks of the following day. Supperless
the men dropped to sleep, and lay as dead until the enemy's shells bursting over-
head in the early morning caused them to turn, and at last one by one to raise
up and utter maledictions at the "man that shot the gun." This day's work
was one of the best that the regiment ever did, and Colonel Herrick showed how
44 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
much genuine BtuflF there was in him during the trying time when desperate
fighting and skilful maneuvering were necessary to hold a much superior force in
check.
The Seventh Kansas with a portion of the cavalry division guarded the right
of the line during the battle and was but lightly engaged. The battle of Tupelo
was a bloody engagement, and the Confederates suffered terrible loeses; some
regiments were wiped out of existence.
At noon on the 15th General Smith began to move north by the Ellistown
road, the Seventh Kansas taking the advance and skirmishing constantly, until
camp at Town creek was reached. On the day following the regiment took the
rear, and contended all day with McCulloch's Confederate brigade until Ellis-
town was approached; here a sharp, almost hand-to-hand engagement was fought,
which resulted to the discomfiture of the enemy.
During the afternoon Major Gregory, who had been sent back on an inter-
secting road with two companies to guard against an attack on our flank, had re-
mained too long, and, as he finally came down through the timber that lined the
road to join the main column, discovered that the head of the Confederate cav-
alry advance was passing the intersection of the roads and was pushing on rap-
idly after the rear of Our regiment. Gregory had not been seen, and could have
easily withdrawn his command and, by making a detour, regained the regiment,
but that was not his manner of doing things. He instantly ordered his men to
draw pistol and charge by file down upon and along the flank of the enemy.
The movement was brilliantly executed ; the Confederate cavalry was taken abso-
lutely by surprise, and our men rode by, Gregory bringing up the rear, emptying
their revolvers into the rebel flank without a shot being returned. Many sad-
dles roust have been emptied, but our men were not waiting to count dead John-
nies. With a parting shot they galloped across an intervening ford and rejoined
the main column without the loss of a man.
From Ellistown the march was unmolested, and the regiment arrived at La
Grange on the 19th of July, 1864.
On August 9 General Smith again moved from La Grange to Oxford, Miss.
The Seventh Kansas, assigned to Hatch's division, moved on the 1st to Holly
Springs. On the 8th a severe engagement was fought at Tallahatchie river, in
which the regiment was engaged. The enemy was whipped and driven across
the river in retreat. On the 9th heavy skirmishing continued eight miles to
Hurricane creek, where the enemy was found in force occupying the heights
on the opposite side. He was driven back with loss and his strong position car-
ried. The pursuit continued to Oxford. At this point the enemy made a stand,
supported by artillery; he was again driven back, with the loss of his caissons
and camp equipage. Our cavalry force then fell back to Abbeville. During
this expedition a considerable portion of Oxford was burned by our troops.
Much censure was heaped on General Smith's command for this act of vandal-
ism. I wish to state here that the day this was done Southern newspapers fell
into our hands glorying over the burning of Chambersburg, Pa. This was the
first news that we had received of this act of incendiarism, and Oxford was
burned in retaliation.
On the 13th a second advance was made, and Forrest was again found occupy-
ing his former strong position on the opposite side of Hurricane creek. The
Seventh Kansas was a part of HerriCk's brigade, which composed the left wing.
The enemy's right was assaulted and driven back across the stream. In the
meantime heavy fighting was going on at the left and center, where the enemy
was badly beaten and forced to retire. This defeat caused him to withdraw his
THE STORY OF THE SEVENTH KANSAS. 45
right, and Herrick advanced and occupied his position. The enemy retreated
rapidly on Oxford and the Union forces were again withdrawn to the Tallahatchie.
This last battle at Hurricane creek was an afifair of considerable magnitude: it
was purely a cavalry battle, no infantry being engaged.
Grim-visaged war, if not always able to smooth his wrinkled front, must even
in times of stress sometimes let a crease or two slip down to the corners of his
mouth, to create the semblance of a smile; otherwise the monotony of solemn
things would become too serious to be borne. A smile may be permitted here,
after twoscore years, and all about a pair of trousers.
Just as this expedition moved from La Grange in the lightest of marching or-
der. Captain Thornton appeared arrayed in a pair of buckskin breeches; "Not
regulation," he said, "but durable." We had all recently returned from a simi-
lar expedition with trousers showing many a gaping rift, created by the constant
friction of the saddle, and he would not be caught that way again, he said, not
he. The day before the cavalry fight at Hurricane creek it rained, and we were in
the saddle during the downpour and thoroughly wet through, and Thornton's
buckskin breeches, soaked and soggy, became a sort of tenacious pulp. That
night he improvised a clothes-line and hung them out to dry. At early reveille
he sought his trousers ; they were there. But you know what can be done with
wet buckskin! Some evil-disposed person, under the cover of the night, had
streched them until they looked like a pair of gigantic tongs — they were twenty
feet long if they were an inch. The cavalry battle of Hurricane Creek was
fought that day, and Thornton led his company, but it was in a costume that
must have made pleasant to him the knowledge that the exigencies of war de-
barred the presence of the female sex. There was a hiatus between the extrem-
ity of the undergarment that obtruded below his cavalry jacket and his boots.
Thornton was a Scotchman, and we accused him of coming out in kilts. He
turned his trousers over to his colored servant in the early morning, and the
faithful darky rode that day in the wake of battle with the captain's breeches
wreathed and festooned about his horse, industriously employed in trying to
stretch and draw them back into a wearable shape. He reported progress to the
captain's orderly (sent back frequently during the day with solicitous inquiries),
and by the following morning, after cutting off about five feet from each trouser-
leg, the captain was able to appear in attenuated and crinkled small clothes, so
tight and drawn that it was difficult to know whether it was breeches or nature
that he wore.
About noon on August 23 Chalmers's cavalry division made an attack on
our infantry outpost and met a disastrous defeat. The Seventh Kansas went out
to reenforce, and, when the enemy was driven back, pursued him to the old battle-
ground at Hurricane creek. Here a fight lasting over two hours took place, the
enemy bringing a battery into action, but the regiment maintained its position
until ordered back by General Hatch. Here was killed First Sergt. Alonzo Dick-
son, of company H. A braver man never lived nor one capable of more daring
deeds.
On return to La Grange the regiment met orders to proceed immediately to
St. Louis. It arrived there on September 17, 186i, and reported to General
Rosecrans. It formed a part of the defense against Price, who was advancing
north on his last raid through Missouri. When Price turned west, the Seventh
Kansas moved out in pursuit, while our forces were being concentrated to drive
him from the state. When the troops were organized, the regiment was assigned
to McNeil's brigade of Pleasanton's cavalry division. Skirmishing of more or
less importance attended the advance_across Missouri. On October 22 the enemy
4G KANSAS STATE HISTOKIOAL SOCIETY.
was struck at the Little Blue. He opened up with artillery, but was driven
back ou Independence, which place was captured by a brilliant cavalry charge.
Two cannon complete and over a hundred prisoners were taken. Kansans must
remember that the first sound of firing on Pleasanton's advance, that cheered
their weary hearts and told them that relief was coming, was the thunder of the
two cannon that played upon the Seventh Kansas as it charged in column up
that long street through Independence, and, with Winslow, carried the Confeder-
ate position and captured the guns. Forty of the enemy's dead were left on the
field. After an all night march the Confederates were attacked near Hickman's
Mills, the engagement lasting the entire day, the enemy retiring at nightfall,
leaving his dead on the field. On the 25th, at the crossing of the Marmaton,
the regiment participated in the cavalry charge that routed the Confederates: it
also took part in the subsequent engagement at Shiloh creek, and indeed in al!
the battles of the pursuit.
From Newtonia, where the pursuit of Price was abandoned, the regiment re-
turned across Missouri to the St. Louis district, where it was divided into detach-
ments and stationed at various points. Guerrillas were quite active, especially
around Centerville and Pattison, and the garrisons at these points had plenty to
occupy their attention. Capt. Jim Smith swept Crowley's Ridge and sent over
twenty to their long home in one day's action. A mere boy, a member of com-
pany D, killed the guerrilla leader, Dick Bowles, in open fight, the guerrilla hav-
ing the decided advantage, being behind a fence with a Winchester, while the
boy dismounted under fire and, kneeling in the open road, sent a bullet from his
Spencer through the brain of the desperado. Dick Bowles was as conspicuous
in his neighborhood as Bill Anderson used to be in his. The headquarters of the
regiment was at St. Louis during the winter and until moved to Pilot Knob.
Early in July, 1865, the companies were concentrated at Cape Girardeau, and on
July 18 moved by transports to Omaha, Neb. From thence the regiment marched
up the Platte to Fort Kearney, and went into camp south of the trail to the
southwest of the fort.
The Seventh Kansas had fought its battles and its term of service was draw-
ing to a close, but its story would not be complete without a reference to two or
three enlisted men who bore a distinguished part in its history. There were a
number of men whose fund of humor was never exhausted and whose bravery
was always a subject of admiration. Conspicuous among this class was Sergt.
Morris Davidson, of company A, familiarly known by his nickname, "Mot."
His quaint jokes are as fresh and funny to me to-day as they were twoscore
years ago. In 1861 the original pilot bread was issued to the troops; it was modi-
fied later and an article of a less flinty sort was issued; but the original article
was something to be remembered. It was soon after enlistment when Mot broke
a period of unusual silence, while the boys were at mess, with the interrogative
remark: "Boys, I was eating a piece of hardtack this morning, and I bit on
something soft ; what do you think it was ? " "A worm," was the answer of the
inevitable individual who stands ready with instant information. "No, by G — ,"
said Mot, "it was a tenpenny nail." Mot had a deficiency in the roof of his
mouth, and the defect in his speech, like Charles Lamb's stutter, made his say-
ings seem much funnier than they show up in cold print. He was absolutely
fearless.
At Hurricane Creek he was sent with four dismounted men to scout across a
gap between our left wing and center; a similar gap existed in the enemy's line,
and Mot crossed with his men over the stream and crawled up around the left of
THE STORY OF THE SEVENTH KANSAS. 47
Chalmers's brigade, which opposed us. He opened fire on their left rear from the
brush, and the rebel leader, thinking he was flanked, hastily withdrew his whole
force and rapidly fell back nearly a mile and formed a new line. As our line ad-
vanced and took position across the stream, Davidson and his men were met com-
ing out of the brush, and then the cause of Chalmers's retrograde movement,
heretofore a matter of mystery, became evident. "What on earth were you try-
ing to do, sergeant ? " was Colonel Herrick'a remark, as he stared in astonishment
at Mot and his diminutive army. "Trying to snipe 'em," was the sergeant's
answer as he took his place in line. He had whipped a brigade. In the winter
of 1862-'63, Mot was commanding a picket post of five men on Wolf river, in Tennes-
see. It was a bitter cold night, and, although the enemy was lurking about. Mot
and his men had built a fire in a hollow and were huddled around it trying to
keep from freezing, when they received a volley from the brush on the opposite
side of the creek, "Twenty-five men with me and the rest hold horses!" thun-
dered Mot as he dashed alone towards the enemy, who immediately fled.
Ira B. Cole, bugler of company H, familiarly known as "Buck" Cole, was
another fellow of infinite jest. Colonel Herrick, who never changed expression
or smiled when a funny thing was said, nevertheless appreciated a joke in his
own way ; he used to have Buck detailed as his bugler just to have him near, that
he might hear his jokes, and Buck took advantage of the situation and played
the court fool to his heart's content. He was notoriously sloven in his dress,
but used to say "that he was bound to dress well if he did n't lay up a cent."
He was not always amenable to discipline, and once, while he was carrying a log
of wood up and down the company line as a punishment, was accosted by the
chaplain, who had come for a book he had loaned Buck and had not been re-
turned. The chaplain was a recent appointment, and as yet guileless, and when
Buck suggested that he hold the log while he went after the book, the chaplain
absent mindedly took it and, ten minutes later, when the captain appeared on the
scene, was pacing up and down, thinking over his next Sunday's sermon, with
the stick till on his shoulder. Buck was found peacefully sleeping in his tent ;
he stated to the captain that he supposed the idea was to have the log carried,
and as the chaplain was doing it he thought it would be all right.
There were those who made jokes, and those who enjoyed them, and conspic-
uous among the latter class was Elihu Holcomb, of company A, known in common
as "Boots." No matter how serious and disarranged the surroundings. Boots
always saw something to be amused at, and his mirthful laughter would ring out
above the din and bring a smile to the face of despair. A marked occasion was
at Coffeyville, when the Confederates, after having been whipped and driven for
many days, turned the tables on us and sent us back in retreat across the field
to our rear. Boots deemed this to be an excellent joke, and during the retreat
his laughter was easily distinguished between the crash of volleys, as he gave ex-
pression to his enjoyment.
I could go on and fill many pages with the humor that lived to temper the
hardships of a soldier's 11'-:, and could relate instances of heroic daring that grew
commonplace in thev frequency. I have only referred to those instances which
come uppermofeo in my mind as I write.
There was one incident that I would like to speak of, simple in itself, but it
always left an impression on my mind that I never want to grow less distinct.
When the Seventh Kansas entered Independence, Mo., the first time, in 1861, as
it rode down the long street from Kansas City, toward the court-house, to our
left, a block away, two ladies stood on the upper floor of a double porch waving
their handkerchiefs, loyal to the core. Three years later, when the regiment
48 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
was charging up that same street against Price's artillery, which was sending
shot and shell to meet it, those same two ladies stood on the same porch waving
their handkerchiefs, and although we could not hear them, I know they were
cheering.
The name " jayhawkers," given the regiment, was possibly a disadvantage,
for it was this name that suggested to other regiments to lay their sins on our
shoulders. It resulted in the regiment being declared outlaw by Confederate
authorities, and a tacit understanding existed that, as far as the Seventh Kansas
was concerned, no ijrisoners would be taken. Once Lieut. B. C Sanders es-
corted some prisoners to a Confederate camp in Mississippi for exchange.* This
was the ostensible purpose, but the real object was to locate and ascertain the
strength of the rebel force. That night, in the rebel camp, under the softening in-
fluence of some excellent whisky that our squad had taken along, very cordial
relations were established. A Confederate officer, growing frank iu his discourse,
finally declared that he stood ready to greet any Yankee under like circumstances,
excepting one of those d Kansas jayhawkers; they were outlawed, and
death was too good for them. Lieutenant Sanders, who never touched liquor,
sat watching and taking notes. He smiled grimly, and in a few minutes, when
asked what regiment he belonged to, quietly answered, "the Kansas jayhawk-
ers." The situation looked a little dubious for a few moments, but the Confed-
erates finally decided, in consideration of the excellent quality of the whisky, to
make an exception in this instance, and cordial relations were reestablished. As
soon as Sanders was out of the rebel camp the next morning on his return, he
tore up the flag of truce, saying, "I don't want any white-rag protection; I '11
fight my way through from this time on." And he did. While the name "jay-
hawker" was a reproach among the white people of the South, it was a symbol
of deliverance to the blacks, and in their simple minds a jayhawker was a Moses
who would lead them out of bondage.
At Fort Kearney orders were received to proceed to Fort Leavenworth for final
muster-out and discharge. "Assembly " was sounded at once and the order read
* James Smith, of Topeka, was one of the squad with Captain Sanders on this occasion.
James Smith was born in Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, July 29, 1837. Ho was the oldest
son of Robert and Sarah ( Wray ) Smith. The mother died in 1860 and the father in 1892. The
father and seven sons wore in the Union army in the war of the rebellion — James, John, William,
Matthew, Daniel, Elder, and Henry. Another, Robert, was on the plains freighting, while the
ninth son, George, was too young. All the sons except James were in the army of the Potomac.
John was a prisoner at Andersonville, exchanged, and killed at Petersburg ; Matthew died in the
service, and William was severely wounded at Malvern Hill. James Smith was educated at El-
der's Ridge Academy, Indiana county, and afterward graduated at Jefferson College, Pennsyl-
vania. After graduation he taught school in Mississippi, and in 1860 emigrated to Kansas,
settling in Marshall county. In 1861 he enlisted in company A, Seventh Kansas cavalry, serving
as a private until 1864, when he reenlisted as a veteran. Upon his discharge, September 30, 1865,
he resumed work on the farm. In 1S65 ho was elected a member of the house of representatives.
In 1869 he was elected county clerk of Marshall county, reelected in 1871, holding for four years.
In 1873 he was elected county treasurer, and reelected in 1875. Before the expiration of his sec-
ond term he was nominated for secretary of state, in 1876. He was reelected in 1878, and again in
1880, serving six years — through the administrations of John P. St. John and George W. Glick.
He next served four years as private secretary to Gov. John A. Martin, following this with four
years in the same capacity for Gov. Lyman U. Humphrey. During the receivership of the
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fo he was expert accountant for the master in chancery. He was ap-
pointed quartermaster-general of the state militia by Gov. William E. .Stanley, which position
he now holds. January 23, 1867, he was married to Miss Jane Edgar, of Marshall county. Capt.
James Smith, of comi>any C, was another person. Capt. B. C. Sanders is still living, in Cloud
county, near Concordia, where ho settled upon the close of the war. William H. Smith, a
brother, has held various positions in Marshall county, and lias been a member of the legisla-
ture several sessions. He was president of the State Historical Society for the year 1902. Fivo
of the Smith brothers, James, William, Robert, Henry, and George, settled in Marshall county.
James served for some time as quartermaster of the Seventh regiment.
THE STORY OF THE SEVENTH KANSAS. 49
to the men. In less than an hour thereafter camp had been struck and the regi-
ment was moving down the river on its final march toward home. Fort Leaven-
worth was reached on September 14, and on the 29th of September, 1865, the
companies formed on the parade-ground for the last time. They were formally-
mustered out, and the following day received their last pay and final discharge.
Their tour of duty was ended.
I have called this "The Story of the Seventh Kansas," but the story of the
Seventh Kansas will never be written — can never be written. The story of a
few battles — not a tenth part told; a sketch of many skirmishes — but briefly
related, are mere suggestions of four years of energetic action, of hardship and
suffering, and of gratification that strength had been given to endure it all. I
have not told the story of marches under a midday sun that beat down and
seemed to shrivel up the brain as you grasp for breath in the dust beaten up by
the horses' feet; of marches through mud and never-ceasing rain that soaked
you, saturated you, until you felt that you had dissolved into a clammy solution
yourself; of marches through winter storms of sleet and driving snow, without
hope of shelter or rest ; of struggles against almost irresistible drowsiness when
sleep had been denied you for days and to sleep now would be death ; of weeks
of tossing in the fever ward of a field hospital, where the oblivion of stupor came
to you as a blessing ; of thirsting for water when only brackish, slimy pools fester-
ing in the sun were near to tantalize you — this part of the story has not been
told. The thrill and excitement of battle were wanting in all this; it was only
plain, monotonous duty, made endurable by the grim humor that jeered at suffer-
ing and made a joke at the prospect of death.
Winter or summer, a cavalry regiment in the field has no rest. Picketing, pa-
trolling, scouting, it is the eyes of the army, and must not sleep. It leads the ad-
vance or covers the rear; faraway to the front, the infantry column, moving
along without interruption, hears the dull jar of cannon, or the popping of car-
bines; it is the cavalry sweeping the road. The fences torn down in gaps along
the wayside indicate that the enemy had grown stubborn and the cavalry had
been deployed. A dismounted skirmisher can lie down and take advantage of
cover; a mounted cavalryman is an easy mark for a sharpshooter as he advances ;
but he must take his chances; it is his duty. A cavalry regiment does not usu-
ally suffer a heavy loss in any one engagement ; it is one here, two or three there —
a constant attrition that is ever wearing away the substance ; it is the aggregate
that tells the story. The dead are scattered here and there, buried by the way-
side where they fell. Few have been gathered into the national cemeteries, but
they rest as well, and the same glory is with them wherever they may sleep.
—5
50 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
SHERMAN COUNTY AND THE H. U. A.
An address by E. E. Blackman,* of Roca, Neb., before the Kansas State Historical Society,
at its twenty-seventh annual meeting, December 1, 1903.
SHERMAN COUNTY, as you will learn by consulting a map of this state, is
situated in the extreme western border, and one county south of the north
line. It is in what is commonly called the arid belt, and people have long since
found to their cost that the cattlemen told the truth when they said it was fit
only for range. The mad rush of immigrants, nearly twenty years ago, thought
different then, but they have learned a lesson which they will not soon forget.
A more beautiful country to look at is hard to find. As the prairie-
schooner began its westward sail from Colby or Oberlin, the heart of the immi-
grant gladdened as he beheld the almost level surface and saw the dark, rich-
looking soil. The larger portion of Sherman county was entered at the land-office
in the winter of 1881-'85, and the claims near the center of the county were
deeded or proved up as soon as possible, that the county-seat might be located
at that particular point, and the owner find himself rich in a single day.
People settled in the north part of the county first — a number of ranches
could be "proved up," and the town of Voltaire was laid out on one of these
ranches. Voltaire was four miles north of the center, but it was an active candi-
date for the county-seat at an early day.
Itaska was near the center of the county, but not exactly so; Gandy estab-
lished a town not far off. In time these two towns moved together on new land
and pooled their interests, calling the place Sherman Center.
Early in the spring of 1885 a number of men, with P. S. Eustis and O. R.
Phillips at the head, organized the Lincoln Land Company, and laid out the
town of Eustis.
This put three towns in the field actively striving for the county-seat. The
history of intrigue and fraud practiced by the "other towns" would fill volumes;
those of you who have passed through a county-seat fight know, and those who
have not are in luck. We will not try to tell the history — others can do it bet-
ter — but you have a glimpse of the field as it stood in the autumn of 1886. Vol-
taire had won one election, Eustis claimed the second election, but Sherman
Center was growing and bid fair to win in the autumn of 1887, when the next
election would take place. In that case, the question would be submitted once
again. At best, the settlement seemed a long way off.
Sherman Center had its set of officers and was running the county in its own
way. Eustis had its set of officers, and was contracting debts. Voltaire, I think,
was rucnicg the public affairs its way. Between them all, one did not know
wheie to i ay hie taxes, and few tried to learn ; as usual, the honest man was the
victim, and in cot a few cases he lost all he had in the mad shuffle.
* Elmeb Ellsworth Blackman was born August 16, 1862, ia Scott county, Iowa. He was
d ucated in the common schools. In 1885 lie was teaching school in Sanborn, O'Brien county,
Iowa, when he visited Sherman county, Kansas. Ho intended to return to his duties as school-
teacher in Iowa, but he was so pleased with the natural beauties and future possibilities of the
new country that ho preempted the southwest quarter of section 1, township 10 south, range 41
west, and lived there until 1889. He sold out and moved to Lincoln, Neb. There he taught school
until 1901, when he was called to the position of archpeo'.ogist of the Nebraska State Historical
Society. August 19, 1903, he married Miss E. Margaret Woods, of Fort Calhoun, Neb. His
home is at Roca, Neb.
SHERMAN COUNTY AND THE H. U. A. 51
While all these town affairs were agitating the minds of speculators, out in the
surrounding precincts the actual settlers were trying to make a home and sub-
due a farm. The cattlemen had held undisputed possession of these range lands
so long, that great herds of range cattle roamed at will over the settlers' crops as
well as the unbroken prairie. A herd of 500 head of cattle would come down on
a settlement and in one night all the fodder for the settler's little bunch of stock
would be destroyed.
No herders were with the cattle; they were "rounded up" once a year and
the branding was done. The owners of the stock never saw the cattle — their
pasture was from Texas to Manitoba, and not a few settlers thought it no ein to
kill a beef once in a while. How much of this was really done is not possible to
tell, but some cattle were killed in the winter of 188G-'87.
The cattlemen sent cowboys out to protect the cattle and punish the culprits.
However, it is safe to say they did not catch the settlers killing cattle. Those
who knew how the cattle were killed say that five minutes was time enough to
kill and dress a beef on a foggy night — the brand was cut out of the hide and
then proof of ownership was lacking.
The cattle men offered $500 for evidence to convict a man of killing range
cattle ; this came pretty near home. Every community has some one or two
men who, under some circumstances, will give their beat friends away. The
people, who bought the range beef were as liable as the one who killed it, and there
were very few of the settlers not guilty of eating range beef that winter. A man
would kill one of his own yearlings and sell twenty quarters of beef to his neigh-
bors. One man who had sold beef to a company of bachelor neighbors began to
get alarmed and the boys proposed that the settlers organize for protection.
I am not sure who first proposed the matter, nor do I know much about the
first meetings held in an informal way, but there was a man in the neighborhood
whom they suspected of a design to wreak vengeance on this man who had sold
beef and they wished to give him a scare.
The three or four prime movers in the organization I knew quite well, but the
real cause of the move — the man most interested^! never knew personally, and
was never sure which one of two or three it might be.
Billy Blackwood, Frank Oldham, Douglas Sylvester and two or three others
on their corner were the prime movers.
I had a very graphic description of the first real secret meeting ever held. It
was in a dugout belonging to Mr. Stahm. The Homesteaders' Protective
Association had been the talk for some days, and a select few were asked to join.
The one particular man that they wished to scare into secrecy was one of those
invited. He was taken through many oaths — not to contest a neighbor's claim
during his absence, not to tear down the house of a neighbor while he was away,
and many other ostensible reasons for the "protective association," until the
last, most solemn oath of all: "I do solemnly swear not to tell anything
that may in any way lead owners of cattle which are running at large contrary
to law and destroying the settlers' crops to discover who has killed or crippled
or in any way injured these same cattle, when driving them away from the crops
or at any other time. If I do, then I shall expect this society to use me thus" —
here a straw man, with a rope around his neck, was suspended before the aston-
ished candidate, who said "I do" so quickly he bit his tongue. Let me say
right here that he never told anything for money after that. The society pros-
pered, others came in, and new lodges were organized throughout the county.
I was a notary public and did a little land business. I was pushing the in-
terests of a little town in the western part of the county, and when I asked to
52 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
join the society they rolled the black balls against me — ostensibly because I was
obliged to contest claims for other people, as I practiced before the land-office ;
so I was not eligible to membership.
They bought a case of Winchester rifles and held meetings all winter. When
thirteen lodges had been organized and the Homesteaders' Protective Associa-
tion had assumed proportions never dreamed of by the originators — when the
first reason for the organization had passed away and the range cattle had all
been rounded up — Billy Blackwood, who seemed to be spokesman for the or-
ganization, came over to my shack and gave me the whole s'tory of the organiza-
tion, and asked me to join. "If you will join, we will organize a central lodge
and settle this county-eeat fight." At first I was inclined to give the organiza-
tion a wide berth, but I knew most of the leading members, and I saw the great
need of active measures to prevent speculating town companies bankrupting the
county by contracting debts that we would have to pay or repudiate — and either
horn of the dilemma meant ruin.
A mass meeting of H. P. A.'s only was called. The password was taken at
the door. The building was thoroughly guarded, and a very enthusiastic meet-
ing was held.
This meeting was called to order by Douglas Sylvester June 18, 1887, in the
town of Eustis. A. M. Curtis was chosen president, and E. E. Blackman secre-
tary.
The thirteen lodges existing at this time had each a different constitution
and by-laws. All that held them together was the general password and secret
grip and signs. They were really thirteen separate units. The object of this
meeting was to cement these thirteen unite into one strong unit, that the strength
might be felt and pressure brought to bear on the county-seat question. It was
an open secret that the whole energy of the organization should be directed to-
ward a settlement in some manner of this vexing question. Every member of
these various thirteen lodges had a financial interest in this settlement.
Some had lots in one of the three towns ; some had friends who had property
or business interests there ; some lived near one town or the other, and, should
that particular town succeed, the price of their land would double; others were
paid tools of one town or the other, who joined the lodge to keep the various
town companies posted on the secret workings. This last number was few,
iiowever, and the earnestness of the association soon carried the petty interests
to the wind and the best interests of all became the single aim. The majority
were honest in their endeavors and spent time and money unsparingly for the
'Cause.
There was a general feeling of distrust in the mind of almost every one; each
member watched the movements of his neighbors with suspicion, and some of
the leaders were accused, from time to time, of working for the interests of the
town of their particular choice.
In an old community, where every one had a history, and where that history
was known, such an organization could never be effected. Here all were strangers.
Scarcely a man knew the power or the nature of his neighbor. This un-
certainty of material gave a strength to the organization which became a wonder
to the student of sociology. The wise heads said, "They will not stick together."
Scarcely a single person expected to see the association accomplish anything. I
have yet to hear of a like instance in all history. I think the fact that all were
strangers to each other had more to do with the success than anything else.
Then there were a few strong intellectual men in the lodges who directed the
forces and who guided the destinies of the organization from a subordinate poei-
SHERMAN COUNTY AND THE H. U. A. 53
tion. The chairman, A. M. Curtis, was a strong character and did much to bring
success. The feeling of distrust worked his defeat at the second election, but I
am certain it was unfounded. He declined reelection and this feeling of distrust
prevented the society urging him to accept : he labored in behalf of the organiza-
tion behind the scenes and much of the ultimate success is due to his efforts and
good judgment.
But this is not a history of people, and I aim to mention as few names as pos-
sible. One of the first acts of this mass-meeting was the appointment of one
member from each lodge to draft a subordinate lodge constitution. Ye who
believe in the unlucky thirteen, observe the work of the association, built of this
committee of thirteen men, and note the results. On June 25, 1887, this com-
mittee met in a 12 X 14 frame shack a half mile west of Eustis, which belonged to
Mr. Parkhurst, a banker in Eustis.
The old gentleman loaned money at 300 per cent, per annum until he had no
more to loan, then he closed his doors, and has long since passed to the other
shore. He was a genial, kind-hearted old fellow, despite his Shylock proclivities,
and many a very pleasant hour have I spent by his fire. He had no faith in the
organization and but little in the country. I asked him what he raised on his
"claim." "Well," said he, "some people succeed in raising 'Cain' wherever
they are; I have tried to raise a disturbance but did not get my breaking done
in time. Last year I raised 'hell and watermelons.' This year it is too dry to
raise anything; I shall try to raise the mortgage next year and skip."
A. M. Curtis was chosen president of this deliberate body; E. E. Blackman
and W. J. Colby were secretaries. The whole proceeding was secret — not a
scratch of the minutes was allowed to be preserved. The completed constitution
for the subordinate lodge was the result, and it took thirty-eight hours of argu-
ment and discussion to produce it. All that time we were confined in the house;
a committee went to the nearest well for water, and the merchants at Eustis sent
over some crackers and cheese which the outside guards passed in. All night the
guards paced their weary beats, and all night we contended each for his special
feature. The finished constitution was a compromise at best and really suited
no one. However, competent critics have pronounced it a work of art as a work-
ing basis for such an organization.
The following is an exact copy :
PREAMBLE.
We believe the cause of agriculture and the interests of the laboring classes would be ad-
vanced by uniting in an organization to be known as the Homesteaders' Union Association;
hence we adopt this constitution for subordinate lodges.
Article I.
Section 1. This association shall be known as the Homesteaders' Union Association, of
Sherman County, Kansas.
Sec. 2. The object of this association shall be to protect the laboring classes in our county,
and for the advancement of their interests financially, morally, and socially.
Aeticle II.
Section 1. The elective otBcers of this association shall he president, vice-president, sec-
retary, treasurer, captain, chaplain, together with three representatives to the grand lodge,
who shall be elected at the first regular meeting in July and January of each year, and shall
hold their respective offices for a period of six months, or until their successor is elected and
qualified.
Sec. 2. The appointive ofiicer shall be outside guard.
Sec. 3. The president shall be deemed duly qualified when he has filed with the secretary of
the grand lodge his acceptance of the office and the number of weeks for which he is elected,
over his own signature.
Sec. 4, The secretary shall be deemed duly qualified when he has filed with the secretary
of the grand lodge his full name and post-office address, together with his acceptance of said
office, over his own signature.
Sec. 5. The representatives to the grand lodge shall be deemed duly qualified when they
have received a certificate of election, signed by the president and secretary of the lodge at the
time of tlieir election.
Sec. 6. All other officers shall be deemed duly qualified at the time of their election.
54 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Article III.
Section 1. The duties of tho officers shall be such as devolve upon the corresponding: offi-
cers in all orders governed by parliamentary rules, and as may be prescribed by the rituals of
this order.
Article IV.
Section 1. Every male citizen over tlie age of twenty-one years shall be eligible to member-
ship in this order; provided, that his interests do not conflict with the interests of this order.
Sec. 2. No person shall be eligible to membership in this order who shall contest or assist
iu contesting any claim for speculation.
Sec. 3. Any person wishing to become a member of this order shall petition through one of
its members.
Sec. 4. Upon the receipt of an application for membership the president shall immediately
appoint a committee of three members, whose duty it shall bo to investigate the qualifications
of the candidate, and report at the next regular meeting. It shall then be tho duty of the presi-
dent to order a secret ballot to be taken ; and should the ballot be clear, the candidate shall be
declared elected ; but should two b'ack balls appoar by the report of the president, there shall
be a new ballot taken; and if two black balls again appear, the candidate shall be declared re-
jected.
Sec. 5. A candidate that has been rejected shall not be eligible to membership until the
expiration of three months from date of rejection.
Sec. 6. It shall be the duty of the secretary of any sublodge, when a member or a candi-
date has been expelled or rejected, or from which a member has withdrawn, to inform by letter
the secretaries of all other subordinate lodges, and it shall be the duty of the secretary of each
lodge to keep a record of all such names reported.
Sec. 7. It shall be the duty of the members of this association to inform the president of the
lodge to which he belongs of any misdemeanor in the vicinity as soon as possible.
Sec. 8. All members at time of initiation shall pay into the treasury of the lodge which he
joins an initiatiou fee of not less than ten cents nor more than one dollar.
Article V.
Section 1. Upon presentation of charges and specifications in writing against any officer
or member, signed by three members of the order, an othcer may be impeached or fined, and a
member may be fined, suspended or expelled ; provided, first, that he shall have been duly noti-
fied ; second, that he may be heard in his own defense; and third, that two-thirds of the mem-
bers present at that meeting, after hearing the testimony on both sides, concur in the charges
and specifications presented.
Sec. 2. Any member wishing to withdraw from the order shall, upon filing with the secre-
tary a written request, receive a certificate of withdrawal, signed by the president and secre-
tary, and shall not again become a member without due process; provided, that the president
and secretary may, upon presentation by a member of good and valid reasons, issue to said
member a certificate of standing, and a letter to some other lodge, and may accept members of
other lodges on the same credentials, or may again admit the member to the same lodge by a
majority vote, but by no other way.
Article VII.
Section 1. This association hails with pleasure any equitable adjustment of all difficulties
between its members, and, where practicable, recommends arbitration.
Article VIII.
Section 1. This constitution shall not be altered or amended except by a two-thirds ma-
jority of all the lodges, taken separately, after a notice of thirty days has been given, and not
then exept a two-thirds majority of tho grand lodge concur therein at one of its regular meet-
ings.
Obligation.
I do solemnly pledge my sacred word and honor that I will not divulge any of the signs,
grips, passwords, or any of the secret workings of this order, directly or indirectly, and that I
will not vote against any case at issue on personal grounds, and that I will in all my acts do
that which I believe to be to the best interests of Sherman county, and that I will do all in my
power to promote justice, equity, and morality.
Order of Business foe the Grand Lodge,
1. Calling the mooting to order by the president.
2. Roll-call of otlicers by the secretary.
3. Appointments to fill vacancies.
4. Taking the password by the inside guard.
5. Prayer by the chaplain.
6. Reading of the minutes of tho last meeting,
7. Appointment of committee on credentials.
8. Report of committee on credentials.
9. Unfinished business.
10. New business.
11. Report of standing committee.
12. Report of special committee.
13. Election of officers.
14. Reading and correction of minutes.
15. Benediction by the chaplain.
16. Adjournment.
The secret work was never written, even in cipher, and I have forgotten most
of it. I remember the man (I have forgotten his name ; however, he was a Mor-
mon preacher, I have since learned, and he gave us the secret workings of the
SHERMAN COUNTY AND THE H. U. A. 55
Endowment House) who gave us the idea, and seemed to have a very perfect
system.
The grip was made by dividing the fingers so that the little finger was left
out, and the thumb pressed the second knuckle. This is the best description I
can give. Some one told me later that it is still the Mormon Endowment House
grip; so if you ask a Mormon preacher, he can tell you, if he will.
The secret work was really very fine and gave the society much dignity. A
copy of the constitution was pen-written for each of the thirteen societies or sub-
ordinate lodges. The name was changed to "Homesteaders' Union Associa-
tion," after many hours' wrangle over a suitable name. The committee
adjourned in the afternoon of the second day. The report was accepted at the
first grand lodge meeting, held in Eustis, July 12, 1887.
A committee of three was appointed to draft a constitution for the grand
lodge, but after a number of reports were rejected and much valuable time
wasted the committee was discharged and another appointed, with like results,
and the last I knew no report had been made, and the grand lodge of the H. U.
A. struggled through its short but vigorous life without a constitution.
It was governed by the rulings of the president and motions of its members
(at times by the emotions of its members, as some of us well remember; but more
of this anon). The grand lodge was composed of three delegates from each subor-
dinate lodge, and the grand officers were elected from this body. The first regu-
lar election of officers occurred at this first regular meeting, July 12. It is a
mystery to me, now, as I look back, how much real business was transacted at
one of these meetings.
The first election resulted in J. N. McDanniels for president ; Alex. Martin,
vice-president; E. E. Blackman, recording secretary; A. Swan, corresponding
secretary; W. J. Cobby, treasurer; and David Robinson, chaplain. This list
was easily elected, but there was a split on captain (it was supposed by some
that there would be some real fighting with guns before the affair was over ; so
two factions contended for the office of captain) ; S. Poff and L. C. Moore entered
the contest. Moore was defeated by eleven votes. The roll-call gave Poff twenty-
one and Moore ten.
I must stop here and tell you of the first mass-meeting, on June 18. It was
held in Allen's hall, above his store. There were over 300 present, and the hall
was crowded until all were standing. The floor was occupied by Fred Albee, who
was afterward county attorney, and was accidently killed down on the Smoky
Hill while hunting ducks.
This is the first time I ever saw Albee, but he was a talented young attorney,
holding down a claim at that time, and his speech produced a profound sensa-
tion. Everybody cheered to the echo, and the stamping of the crowd began to
tell on the underpinning of the fragile building. Fred saw the condition ; he
raised his old slouch hat, which he had been swinging vigorously, and com-
manded silence. In an instant you could have heard a pin drop. Fred turned to
A. M. Curtis, who presided ; he took the hint, and the president ordered the room
cleared in a systematic manner. Two men moved down the center and quietly
separated the weight, then the center was cleared, and, after some repairs, the
room was again used. The floor settled a few inches but no one was hurt, chiefly
on account of the tact of those two men. The account of this organization is in-
complete without a few of the many little incidents which are a part of it.
One affair which happened about this time serves to illustrate the condition
of affairs outside of the lodge. A citizen who lived as near Eustis as he did to
Sherman Center came to the Eustis Town Company and told them he was going
56 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
to leave Sherman Center and vote for Eustis, and, as he was a man of no little
influence, the Eustis Town Company realized the advantage of his influence and
vote. They promptly offered him 8250 — §200 when Eustis was successful and
$50 cash. He took the bills in. his fingers, drove to his old town, Sherman
Center, and flourished the money in everybody's face, telling how he got it and
where, at the same time advising every one to vote for Eustis. There is no
honor in a county-seat fight at best, and this is but one instance of money being
passed — there are many.
The second regular meeting of the grand lodge was held in Eustis July 30.
This meeting was chiefly devoted to organization and education. A committee
reported the county indebtedness at both Eustis and Sherman Center, and the
county-seat question was an open discussion. Many had joined the lodge think-
ing that the great aim of the society was to protect homesteaders in their rights
while they were away from their claims earning a living; now they saw the flimsy
excuse was" but a pretense, and the living issue was brought forward.
A certain faction thought that the meetings should not be held in a town,
and they succeeded in having the meeting called in a sod house a mile north of
Sherman Center. On August 1.3 the members began to arrive, and before long
it was found out that the house was not large enough to hold the crowd. There
were no seats and the room had such a low ceiling that the air became difficult
to breathe, even before the president called to order. During the filing of cre-
dentials ( which always preceded a meeting) many were clamoring for adjourn-
ment to better quarters. The motions were made for Eustis, for Sherman
Center, and for the prairie, but all were voted down ^ it looked to me as though
the rank and file meant to stay.
My labors as secretary were exhausting, and the heat was intense. Alex. Mar-
tin, the vice-president, presided. I stood it about half an hour, when I closed
my books, and, addressing the chair, said I would not record another scratch in
that oven. Some ugly replies were made by a gang who wanted to show ofT.
Almost every man carried a gun out there those days, and a general feeling to-
ward the belt took place all around, and for a minute I was sorry I had been so
demonstrative. The president leaned my way and whispered, "Stick to it." A
few replies were made that would not sound well here, about plenty of men who
would act as secretary, etc. , and two guns were drawn with much bravado. Then
one of our sober-minded men, who had opposed moving and who never carried
a gun in his life, jumped in front of the ugly men and ordered the guns up or he
would not be responsible for consequences. The guns went back into the belts,
and the gentleman gave a sober, sensible talk of five minutes, winding up with a
motion to move to Allen's hall in Eustis.
He told them that no one else could do the work of accepting credentials but
the present secretary, as no one else knew where to find the proof of each
lodge's standing; so, if the secretary objected to working here, he was in favor of
moving. The motion was put, and not a voice said no. I am not sure, but I
think this man was the former president, A. M. Curtis.
We loaded up and nearly fifty teams drove to Eustis in a body. The county
officers barricaded the court-house door and prepared to fight (they said), because
they thought Sherman Center was coming to take the books. But Sherman
Center did not want the Eustis books at this time, as they had books of their own
and claimed the Eustis books were illegal.
We had a good meeting in a comfortable place and much was accomplished.
Both towns were inclined to ridicule this "farmer move" as they called it, and
not a few in the lodge expected to see the association go to pieces any time.
SHERMAN COUNTY AND THE H. U. A. 57
The next meeting, August 27 (being the fourth), met in Eustis again. The
various town companies were asljed to submit propositions at a prior meeting,
and it was expected that a decision would be reached at this meeting. Excite-
ment ran high and the town was full of teams. All the men, what few women
and children the county boasted and nearly every team of horses in the county
were in Eustis that day. No business was transacted in the stores — everyone
was too full of interest in the great pending question to think of anything else.
Little knots of men were scattered here and there and every one spoke in con-
strained voice.
I think the various town companies (who had their secret spies out to report
every move) began to think the H. U. A. had the thing in its own hands. It
was estimated that nine-tenths of the entire vote of the county was in the organi-
zation, and I think it was true. Most of them were ready to vote as the majority
said.
The advantage which the little town of Eustis had that day cannot be over-
estimated. Such a chance come& but once to any one. If they could have gone
before that meeting with a good, clear proposition that would have cost them
8100,000 to make, they could have taken time by the forelock and secured the
decision. Had they realized the situation, as some of us on the inside did, Eustis
would adorn the map of Kansas to-day. The strongest faction in the H. U. A.
was for Eustis at heart, but they dared not say so. One reckless individual, who
was up near the head, called three of the leading members of the town company
together and argued for an hour, but they were obdurate. O. R Phillips had
said: "It won't amount to anything; don't recognize them; we have one elec-
tion and are all right." The Lincoln Land Company had plenty of money to use
on election day, but one-half what they used that day would have made every-
thing secure on this 27th of A ugust.
The meeting was called to order and propositions were submitted by Voltaire,
Sherman Center, and a private individual (one B. Taylor) who owned deeded
land near the center of the county. Eustis came in to ask a two weeks' stay of
proceedings, but made no offer.
The lodge wanted the town company which they selected to uphold, and whose
town they made the county-seat, to build a court-house and jail free of cost to
the county. This was all they really expected to get, but they were ready to
settle it once for all and stop the expense and agitation, even if they got nothing.
Much more than their simple demands was offered by all but Eustis, which only
asked for a wait of two weeks to prepare an offer.
Eustis had a court house under way, and they said on the side that it was to
be presented to the county, but they did not even tender that much at this meet-
ing. When the vote was taken a two weeks' stay was granted, which in itself,
at this heated stage of the game, only proves the strength Eustis had in the grand
lodge.
Everything was harmonious, and the meeting adjourned, to meet September 5.
In the meantime, a few people at Sherman Center began to see how matters were
going. Sherman Center had some shrewd business men mixed up in it, but they
were shy on the money question. They had no rich Lincoln Land Company back
of them, but they had ability to scheme and sense enough to know a good thing.
One of their party said he would give $50,000 for the chance Eustis had August
27, "but," he remarked, "they won't get the chance again." Nor did they.
I do not know just how it happened, but before the next meeting there was a
new company in the field. "A new broom sweeps clean," you know, and so did
this new company.
58 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Ed. F. Madden, of Hays City, who adh barrels of money at his command,
joined with A. B. Montgomery, a shrewd business man, and bought some land
near by. They formed a company, with new men it, and persuaded Taylor and
Sherman Center to join with them. They gave lot for lot in all the other towns
but Eustis, and before the next meeting had an office up on the new site. I think
they offered Eustis lot for lot, too, but am not sure. I do know that many active
Eustis men were given lots in the new town, and the H. U. A. was asked to name
the town.
The new company offered to do more than the H. U. A. asked: They would
build a $20,000 court-house, and an $8000 jail, and give a block with each; they
would deed forty acres for a fair-ground and lots for school buildings, churches,
etc. When Montgomery stated the offer in the grand lodge, he wound up a five
minutes' talk with: "We will do more; we will pay off every cent of the county
debt in all the towns, and let the county start the day after election with a clean
elate."
The enthusiasm knew no bounds, and a unanimous vote was ready then and
there, but the level-headed ones said "No" ; they wanted to take a secret vote
by ballot, and it was done, after all the towns had been heard from. Thirty-one
subordinate lodges voted, with a total vote of ninety-three ; after the various
propositions had been carried back and discussed in the home lodge, the vote
stood 75 for the new town, 12 for Eustis, 3 for Voltaire, and 3 for no town at all.
Arrangements were made by which the provisions of the offer should be car-
ried out.
A committee of three was appointed as trustees to receive the deeds and money
in trust for the county. Fred Albee, W. W. La Rue and O. H. Smith were ap-
pointed on this committee, and served with credit. Not one crooked move was
made, and the county interests were well taken care of.
A meeting of the grand lodge was called two weeks later to arrange for nomi-
nating a county ticket, as party lines were not drawn at that time.
October 11, 1887, a delegate convention was held, which nominated a full
county ticket. The county-seat question was in a fair way to be settled, a ticket
was in the field, and the necessity of a grand lodge meeting did not appear.
There was an active campaign, which involved the interests of all, and before
the day of election even Eustis knew how the matter would go. I cannot stop to
enumerate every step taken, nor is it necessary. My work is the history of the
H. U. A.
You all know how the election went. Goodland is still the county-seat of
Sherman county, and the court house still stands, although old settlers are scat-
tered and new faces are about town.
A few years ago I was in Goodland. I went to the court-room and looked up
at a circle of wood bearing the letters H. U. A., and forming a circle for the
chandelier. Not a soul in that building had ever noticed those letters, and no
one knew what they meant.
Send them a copy of the report of this meeting lest they forget, lest they for-
get.
The result of the election in numbers and majorities I cannot give, but it is a
matter of record and may be found. The majorities were overwhelmingly for
Goodland, but Eustis had the books, and the supreme court had recognized that
town as the temporary county-seat against Sherman Center; so the returns were
made to the old officers, and the "official " count was delayed as long as possible.
Eustis claimed fraud on the part of Goodland, and was threatening to contest
the election. Possession was nine points of the law, especially in a county-seat
fight where no principle but money is involved, and Eustis had possession.
SHERMAN COUNTY AND THE H. U. A. 59
The town was guarded, sentries were placed at every road, and every one
coming into the town was halted and questioned. Rifle-pits were dug and a
posse of men with Winchesters held possession of the town.
By this time the court-house at Eustis was nearly done, but the county rec-
ords were kept in the second story of a building immediately across from Allen's
hall, and a company of men with Winchesters was stationed in the hall, with
orders to shoot any man who attempted to take the books from the building
across the street. They were to ask no questions, but were to shoot the first
man who mounted the stairs.
Hank Carpenter, half cowboy and half citizen, one of those bold, dashing
men of the frontier who enjoyed a round with guns better than a good dinner,
and the laugh after it was over better than all the rest, had mustered a posse of
like creatures and some real cowboys who cared no more for the life of a man
than most people do for the life of a dog. They ofl'ered to bring the books to
Goodland for a stipulated amount of money in time for the new officers to be in-
stalled on January 1, 1888. This may not seem just the thing, but you will
remember that right usually goes with might, where law is lax. The officers
could be regularly installed if the books were there, and there was some fear
that Eustis might destroy them or hide them, so causing more trouble.
Early one morning (I cannot give the date, as this is written wholly from
memory; there were no notes made at the time) a number of cowboys drove a
team into the street at Eustis, captured one of the old county officials, forced
him to mount the stairs ahead of the cowboys and unlock the safe.
The cowboys were aware of the guard across the street, and knew the orders
they had, but Carpenter conducted the raid as though he was ignorant of any
danger. He threatened to fire the town if a shot was fired, and declared he
would shoot the first man who showed his head.
The books were quickly loaded, and not a man appeared until the rising sun
showed the departing cowboys. A few shots were sent after them to arouse the
town, but it was too late; the county-seat was at Goodland, not only by a ma-
jority vote but by right of possession, which was more effective.
In two weeks from that day Eustis was, as it still is, a few deserted cellars.
Every building was removed to the new town.*
*A business man of Eustis, absorbed by Goodland, and whose prominence and usefulness
have extended, was William Walker, jr. He was born at Peru, 111., in 1858, and settled in Sher-
man county in 1885, identifying himself with Eustis. When Eustis pulled down her colors, in
1888, Mr. Walker promptly moved his business to the successful town of Goodland. He was a
member of the drug firm of Ennis & Walker, which continued until 1889, when the latter retired,
and engaged in the implement business. During the second term of Grover Cleveland Mr.
Walker was made postmaster. He was subsequently elected sheriff of Sherman county on the
Democratic ticket, serving three years. In February, 1904, he changed his residence and busi-
ness to Lincoln, Kan. During his service as sheriff, one of the most startling events in the his-
tory of western Kansas happened. On the 5th of August, 1900, about midnight, two robbers
boarded the Union Pacific train near Hugo, in Colorado, and held up several of the passengers,
killing a passenger named William J. Fay, from California. The Union Pacific Railroad Com-
pany offered $2000 reward for the robbers, dead or alive. The robbers were known as the Jones
brothers, of Missouri, although some of the papers referred to one of them as Teodoro Arretano,
of Arroya, N. M. Hugo is about 100 miles west of Goodland, and from the 6th until a few days
before the 11th the robbers managed to reach Goodland and stop with a family named Bar-
tholomew, living two and a half miles northeast of the town. Sheriff Walker heard of them,
and his suspicions were aroused. On the morning of the 11th he deputized John B. Riggs and
George Cullins. They dressed up as cowboys and gathered a bunch of horses which they were
supposed to take to some pasture. They reached the Bartholomew house about nine A. m. In
this manner they got within ten feet of the house, when they began inquiries about a certain
pasture. One of the robbers was standing in the door ; he reached for a revolver in his left
breast. Walker attempted a little parley in order to get the family out of the house, bat one of
()0 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Voltaire alone remained intact; it was far enough away to still exist, and I
believe it is a poet-oflice now.
The H. U. A. held one meeting after election, which developed into a sort
of love-feast or gratification meeting; no business was transacted, and the
whole time was devoted to speeches. This was the last of which there is a
record; another was called for December 10, but no one came, and the H. U. A.
has never been mentioned since.
The organization goes down in history as the most unique on record. It
saved the county at least 8100,000, and effectually settled the county-seat ques-
tion before a railroad built into the county. Goodiacd had strength enough to
draw the Rock Island railroad. It was made a division, and is now a railroad
town of some importance.
One hair-lifting experience which I witnessed at a meeting in Sherman Center
should be related before this is complete. Jim Stevenson was actively employed
in pushing the interests of Eustis. By some means he became a member of the
H. U. A., and so gained admission to the grand lodge as an honorary member
— they had a rigHt to talk but not to vote.
As soon as the meeting at Sherman Center was called to order, he got the
floor and began a harangue for Eustis. Stevenson was a good talker, and, had
he been less aggressive, would have drawn many his way, as the rank and file
stood for Eustis at first, but he became so pointed in his remarks that a few be-
gan to call "Put him out." In a short time the confusion became so great that
no one could be heard. The excitement began to grow to fever heat, and every
one jumped to his feet. There were about sixty men in the room, and at least one-
half had a gun strapped on. In Ibss time than it takes to tell it, a dozen or more
guns were drawn, and the ominous click of the hammer was heard in all parts of
the room. Men in that frame of mind might do something rash.
The room had a high platform in front, where the chairman and secretary
sat, at least three feet above the level of the floor. Stevenson was in front, near
the platform, but not up on it. He was wound up, and just had to unload; he
was not afraid of anything, guns and all. Of course he was excited, and the
more they tried to shut him off the harder he poured it into the opposition. One
of the more sober individuals, who knew how things were going, jumped to the
front of the rostrum and got the attention of the house; he began to pour oil on
the troubled waters, and Stevenson stopped to listen. I am not sure that Steven-
son realized hia danger until that moment. After a conciliatory talk of a few
minutes, the hammers came down one by one and the guns went back into the
belts. Stevenson quietly left the room later and business was resumed.
In all this hard fight it was a battle of words and money after all; not a
single accident, and no one was hurt through it all. They do say that fools and
drunken men are the special care of the gods.
the deputies jumped out of his saddle and unthinkingly placed his hand over his right hip,
which induced the robber in the door to signal the one in the liouse, and this prompted the
sheriti to sudden action, and he ordered him to throw up his hands. Walker and Riggs entered
the house, firing at the robbers, being only twelve feet apart. One of the robbers ran outdoors
and fell dead in about forty feet. Four other citizens joined the party, having followed in a
carriage. Tlie second robber remained in the house pouring bullets at the officers as rapidly as
he could shoot. The posse exhausted their ammunition, and did not succeed in capturing him
until five o'clock in the evening, and did so then by firing the house. There were i)robably 500
shots fired from rifles after the crowd arrived. Mr. Riggs was shot through the left breast, and
Mr. Cullins was shot in the back by the sheriff, who in the movements mistook him for one of
the robbers. Riggs and Cullins recovered. The Union Pacific doubled the reward, and paid
1100 for the house destroyed. The one dying in the house was a bulk of blackened flesh. They
were buried in one grave. The coroner's jury warmly commended Sheriff' Walker and his
deputies.
SHERMAN COUNTY AND THE H. U. A. 61
Through the dim vista of fifteen years, we can look back on these wild scenes
with complacence and be thankful that it was not more serious.
Some of the leading characters in this H. U. A. movement are still in Sher-
man county, but by far the larger part are scattered.
A. B. Montgomery, who carried the Goodland Town Company to success, is in
Boulder, Colo., and has become very wealthy.
John Bagly, secretary of the Eustis Town Company, is in Oregon. He has
made a success of life and is a prominent lawyer.
Thomas Leonard, who was one of the leading men in old Itaska, is running a
hotel in Goodland.
Call Russell, who was the prime mover in Sherman Center, has a coffee plan-
tation in Mexico.
J. K. Warrington, who got $10,000 for a half-interest in the town site of Good-
land, is in Iowa, and M. A. Low, who paid the $10,000 to Warrington, is in
Topeka now.
W, J. Cobby is a prominent lawyer in Denver, I have lost track of all the
other active officers of the H. U. A.
O. H. Smith is in Lexington, Neb. In Lincoln there are many of the men who
helped to make Sherman county.
J. C. McKesson is the governor's private secretary, in Lincoln. D. K. Sham-
baugh and family are in Lincoln. Also, Mr. Hottell, Doctor Swister, E. A. Comp-
ton, Art. Gentzer, O. H. Mulrane, Frank Parks, Jim Stevenson, George Webb,
and the Oxley boys — there may be others whom I have not met.
Now, I will say to the Kansas Historical Society, this is a move in the right
direction. In fifty years from now, when we who took part in these historical in-
cidents are all passed away, it will be impossible to gather the data for these early
reminiscences. In the main these facts are all true, as I have the documents be-
fore me, but much more can be added, and did time permit I would be pleased to
supply many incidents of people. The documents will be preserved and in time
deposited in your vaults ; now, while yet some of the active participants are living,
I prefer to keep their secrets sacred.
This list of the presidents and secretaries of subordinate lodges, with the cor-
responding number of each lodge, is gleaned from the credentials filed in the
grand lodge secretary's book:
Lodge Xo, President. Secretary.
1 A. W. Willard W.J.Blackwood.
2 James W. Cobby W. D. Pagan.
3 W.W.LaRue T.T.Roberts.
4 W.V.Moore Aquilla Johnson.
5 I. S. Ellenberger Fred A. Albee.
6 W.J.Smith.
7 S. F. Meeker John Cameron.
8 M. M. Wellman J. B.Jacobs.
9 J. N. McDanniels J. W. Navert.
10 W. H. H. Pratt.
11 J.H.Wheeler M. F. Lanborn.
12 H. Sonner.
13 J. W. Hedges Geo. H. Dyer.
14 J. W. McKiney M. Greenlup.
15 G. D, Potts W. C. Wellborn.
16 E. S. Teagarden W.B.Swisher.
17 Herman Hengstler Warren Carmichael.
18 L. Rodgers James W. Robinson.
19 J.D.Stone Isaac M. Fergason.
20 E.D.Adams A. Swan.
21 A. Ericson A.L.Rich.
22 Solomon Parker Frank L. Jones.
23 H. D. Blagrave.
24 J.C.Brown.
25 W.H.Brown James H. Springer.
26 H.E.Spencer W. S. McClintock.
27 D. Sylvester.
28 James Ballinger Clarence Thorp.
62 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Lodqe No. President Secretary,
31.!!!!! Henry B. Slight !!!!!!!!!!!!!! Calvin N. Graves.
32 Theodore Williamson Virgil Numan.
33 J. A. Corkil.
34 Newton Wells Hart S. Harris.
35 James H. Hodge Martin Heauchamp.
36 Jolin F. Mock Joe 8. Williams.
37 I.Huston. John Carson.
Note.— No credentials were ever filed for Nos. 29 and 30. They were probably never organ-
ized, or it may be a misnumbering of the lodges caused the error. \
Any errors that can be pointed out I shall be glad to correct, as some of this
paper is from memory, after fifteen years have passed.
MASSACRE OF CONFEDERATES BY OSAGE INDIANS
IN 1863.
An address delivered by W. L. Bartles,* of Tola, before the twenty-seventh annual meeting of
the Kansas State Historical Society, December 2, 1902.
TN the month of May, 186.3, the time when the events herein occurred, the town
-^ of Humboldt was the extreme southern town occupied by the United States
forces in this section of the country. The garrison at the time mentioned
consisted of troop G, Ninth Kansas cavalry, commanded by Capt. Willoughby
Doudna, numbering 100 men.
The country to the south was occupied by bands of Indians belonging to the
Osage tribe. These bands were camped over the country in villages, but made
their general headquarters at Osage Mission, where the priests maintained a posi-
tion of neutrality, extending hospitality to Union and Confederate forces alike.
The sympathies of the Osages, however, were with the Unionists, and numer-
ous half-breeds joined the Union army, some being members of troop G; notably
Thomas Moshier, now clerk of the court at Pawhuska, Okla., and to whom I
am indebted for assistance in preparing this paper.
South of the country ranged over by the Osages was the nation of the Chero-
keee. The majority of these latter Indians were active sympathizers with the
Confederacy, and it was from them, and particularly the Indian contingent com-
manded by Standwaite, who twice raided and once burnt Hunaboldt, that the
border towns had most to fear. Thus itvvae that the Osage country was the
scouting-ground of both armies.
Scouting was the main duty devolving upon the garrison at Humboldt, as no
supply trains went south of there, and those coming had their own escort.
One scouting party of fourteen men, commanded by a sergeant, left Humboldt
and were gone ten days, going south of the present site of Arkansas City into Ok-
* William Lewis Bartles was born in Muskingum county, Ohio, May 11, 1842. His father,
Christian Bartles, was born in Hanover, Germany, in 1808, came to the United States in 183,5,
and in 1840 married Sarah Pryor. In 1851 he moved to Bureau county, Illinois, and in 1860
brought his family to Kansas. He preempted a quarter-section in lola township, Allen county,
where ho died in 1878. His widow died at lola in 1898. "Lew" Bartles, the subject of this
sketch, enli.sted August 10, 1861, in company G, Ninth Kansas, and his first service was in pur-
suit of the rebels who sacked Humboldt. He passed througli some very active service, and was
discharged at Devall's Blutf , Arkansas, January 16, 1865, after three years and a half. He farmed
for four years succeeding the war, and then learned the saddler's trade. In 1874 ho opened busi-
ness in lola. For four and one-half years he served as a deputy revenue collector for fourteen
counties in eastern Kansas. He then engaged in the hardware business at lola, and retired in
1899. March 22, 1863, he married Miss Sidney Tibbetts. Mr. Bartles served two terms as mayor
of lola.
MASSACRE OF CONFEDERATES BY OSAGE INDIANS. 63
lahoma, and sighting Cody's bluff, a famous landmark of those days. Fre-
quently these scouting parties would meet like parties sent out from the garrison
at Fort Scott, and occasionally a party of the enemy would be encountered, with
an exchange of compliments. In spite of the ceaseless scouting, the country to
the south was, to the little settlement and handful of troops, an ever-present
source of danger and dread, from out of which, at any moment, might come
their destruction and death.
One afternoon, just after the troops had had dinner, two Indians rode up to
the camp, in the public square, and reported to Captain Doudna that their band
had had a fight with some white men, and that the white men were dead. They
would make no further statement, except that it had been a big fight, and that
the chief wanted the captain to come to his camp.
Captain Doudna was a man of action, and in a few moments was on the
move with half his troop en route to the Indian camp.
It must be borne in mind that at this time the identity of the dead men was
unknown. They might be a stray scouting party of our own or the enemy's, or
they might be an advance party of an approaching hostile force. In the latter
event, there was no time to be lost. The horses and men were seasoned to rough
riding, and before midnight the command rode up to the camp of the Indians,
and, picketing their horses, lay down in the tall grass to sleep.
Sleep, even to tired troopers hardened by two years' campaigning on the plains,
was well-nigh out of the question. On a rise in the ground near our bivouac
were bodies of two warriors slain in the fight. Painted and decked for the long
journey to the happy hunting-ground, they had been placed in a sitting posi-
tion, with their backs to a tree. In front of each warrior was a squaw, sitting
flat upon the ground, her hair hanging over her face, and at intervals her low,
mournful moans rose in a tremulous, wavering cry to a long drawn-out, soul-rend-
ing wail of indescribable sorrow. It is a cry which once heard is never forgotten,
and its unutterable sadness cannot be expressed in words. Beside the mourning
cries of an Indian squaw, the distant howl of the coyote is cheering and the lonely
call of the whippoorwill is mirth-inspiring. Other squaws, scattered through the
grass and in the camp, occasionally added their voices to the cries of the two
principal mourners. Few, if any, of the troop slept that night, but at last the
morning brought welcome relief from that night of horror. Escorted by about
100 mounted Indians, we rode out to the scene of the first encounter. Here it is
best to tell the story as gathered from the Indians, simply stating that, from what
had already been learned from the Indians, we were fairly certain that the dead
men were not our comrades in arms, but either a party of the enemy or one of
those bands infesting the border who claimed either side, as suited their conven-
ience, and preyed upon both. The Indians were exceedingly anxious as to the
outcome of the investigations, fearing they had committed an overt act in attack-
ing the party and would suffer the displeasure of the government.
Two days before the messengers arrived in Humboldt, a small party of In-
dians, numbering eight or ten men, had started from the Big Hill village to the
mission. When not far from their camp they discovered the traces of a recently
abandoned camp and at once took up the trail, soon overtaking a mounted force
of white men. This party numbered twenty or twenty-two men and had no
wagons. Riding up to this party the Indians inquired who they were, and re-
ceived the reply that the' party was a detachment of Union troops, and were a
part of the command stationed at Humboldt. To this the Indians replied that
they knew the troops then at Humboldt and failed to recognize any familiar
faces in the party. The Indians stated that the government held them respon-
64 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
sible for what occurred in their country, and asked the party to accompany them
to Humboldt, to be identified by the commander of the post, when they would
be allowed to go anywhere they pleased. To this the white men would not con-
sent, and started to continue their march. The Indians, growing more suspi-
cious and insistent, sought to restrain them, and in the altercation which followed
one of the whites shot and killed an Indian,
The Osages being outnumbered, dropped over on their ponies and were soon
out of range. Racing for their village they aroused the camp, with the news of
the killing of one of their number by the war party of strange white men.
This village could muster over 200 fighting men, and the entire force of the
village turned out in pursuit.
They struck the party of white men about five miles from a loop in the
Verdigris river. Over that entire five miles there was a running fight. The little
party of whites, hemmed in on all sides by the circle of death, were striving to
beat off the Indians and reach the timber they could see in the distance. In
this running fight the Confederates, for so the whites proved to be, lost two men,
whose bodies were abandoned where they fell. Being well armed and in the
open, they were able to keep the Osages at some distance, and killed at least one.
The timber they fought so valiantly to gain proved their undoing. Not being
acquainted with the country, they entered it where it ran back into a loop in the
river. Back from the edge of the timber they were forced by the ever overlap-
ping Indians. Step by step they retreated, contesting every foot of ground. The
odds were too great, and they found themselves forced to the bank of the river
and out onto a sand-bar at the water's edge, under a terrible fusilade from the
Osages, now concealed and protected by the timber.
At their backs ran the river, at this point wide and deep; on the opposite
shore a high and precipitous bank ; in their front an enemy in whose game of war
the white flag was unknown.
Wrong though these men were, and on a mission which almost bars them from
our sympathies, yet we cannot but feel proud that they faced their doom with
that unflinching bravery which the men of our nation have ever displayed. To
the last cartridge they held their enemy at bay, and when they had been fired
the survivors stood in a little group, their dead around them, and met the rush
of the Indians with clubbed carbines and revolvers, and fell one upon the other.
It was brave blood that reddened the little sand-bar in the Verdigris that day.*
* Petee Peecival Eldee was born ia Somerset county, Maine, September 20, 1823. He
came to Kansas in the spring of 1857, and settled in Franklin county. He aided in the organiza-
tion of that county, and was first chairman of the board of county commissioners. He was a
delegate to the Osawatomie convention in 1859, which organized the Republican party in Kan-
sas. He was a member of the territorial council in 1860 and 1861. President Lincoln made
him agent of the Osage and Seneca Indians, at Fort Scott, which position he filled for four
years. He induced a regiment of the Osages to enlist in the service of the government during
the civil war. In 1865 he resigned, and engaged in the banking business at Ottawa, where he
still resides. He was elected to the legislature many times, and was twice speaker of the
house, in 1878 and 1891, and was lieutenant-governor in 1870. He served also as chairman of the
ways and means committee of the house. Governor Elder also wrote, August 30, 1864, to General
Curtis, urging the enlistment of a regiment of Osage Indians, and oifering to take command of
them. He had much to do with holding the Osages loyal to the government. In the official
Records of the War of the Rebellion, series 1, volume 22, part 2, page 286, is the only official
reference to this incident to be found, made by P. P. Elder, and is as follows :
" Office Neosho Indian Agency,
.. ,, . T ^ „, . r .IT' Foet Scott, Kan., May 17, 1863.
Maj.-gen, James O. Blunt; Lem^enworlh, Kan,:
"Dear Geneeal — I have often written you on matters appertaining to mutual and the
public interest, without making any apparent impression on your mind. 1 feel prompted, from
the deep regard I feel for people living on the Osage reservation and along the northern
boundary, to say that raids are constantly being made into that country by small bands for
MASSACRE OF CONFEDERATES BY OSAGE INDIANS. 65
Captain Doudna and his detachment went over the scene of the running fight
and into the timber, which showed the marks of the heavy firing. Down on a
sand-bar, in a space some four rods square, were found the almost nude bodies
of the Confederates, badly decomposed and horribly mutilated. The heads, be-
sides being scalped, had been, according to the Osage custom, severed from the
bodies. Long gashes had been cut the entire length of the bodies. The sight
was a terrible one, even to men accustomed to Indian butcheries. We had come
prepared to bury the dead, and, digging a trench, we cut hooked sticks from the
bushes and dragged the bodies into the trench. The men engaged in the work
had sponges containing assafoetida tied over their faces, but in spite of that the
stench was bo terrible and the sight so loathsome that many were made sick and
all had to be frequently relieved.
The heads were all collected, some being found at a considerable distance,
and placed in the trench with the bodies.
One of the dead men, who, from what we could learn, had been in command
of the party, was entirely bald, but had a very long and heavy full beard. This
head had not been scalped, but the beard had been removed, and was hanging
on a pole with the scalps in front of a tepee in the village. The bodies of the two
men killed in the running fight were buried on the prairie where we found them.
Of one body only the skeleton remained ; the other had not been touched by the
wolves.
After the burial the troops returned to the Big Hill camp, and were enter-
tained with a war-dance in honor of the victory. Prior to the dance the mounted
warriors were drawn up in line, and on the fact that their front exceeded the
front of two troops of cavalry is based the estimate of their fighting force.
The captain in the meantime was endeavoring to ascertain the identity of the
dead men. Numerous articles of confederate clothing and equipment in the pos-
session of the Indians plainly showed to which army they had belonged. The
predominance in the plunder of officer's uniform and equipment led to the belief
that it was no ordinary scouting party. Captain Doudna stated to the chief and
head men that he had no desire to take the horses and arms they had captured,
that they could keep them as spoils of war, but he wanted all papers that had
been captured. The Indians replied that they did not have any papers; they had
taken a few, but they were so bloody that they threw them into the river. This
proved to be false, and, the captain suspecting as much, was insistent, and finally,
after some time, numerous papers were produced. It came out afterwards that
the demand for the papers was unexpected, and the Indians being fearful of any-
thing written, and not yet certain that they would be held blameless in this mat-
ter, had been gaining time for Big Joe, a mission-educated Indian, to read the
papers. Big Joe having satisfied himself that there was nothing harmful to the
Indians, they were turned over.
the purpose of plunder, and I am informed that official information has been conveyed to you
(which you are bound to respect ), that the Osages are in collusion with these rebel bands.
This I utterly deny, and the achievement of the 15th clearly proves their loyalty and good feel-
ing. I write for the purpose of suggesting the propriety of organizing one company of Osages,
under one of the captains of Osage companies, who are not now on duty, aud who have not been
mustered out, and detail them on duty in this country, to report to and be under command of
Captain Doudna. They know that country, and will, in my opinion, protect it against all in-
vasion, for which they should be paid. This, it seems to me, can be done under the old organ-
ization.
" On the 15th they met a party of robbers on the Verdigris. After the proper inquiries, and
receiving no satisfaction from them, they attacked them and killed the entire party (nineteen
in number), leaving no one to tell the tale. They cut off their heads, over which they held a
war-dance. Two Osages were killed.
" If this suggestion should meet your view of the exigencies pending, I should, with pleas-
ure, render any assistance in my power. They are in high glee, and have been furnished with
ammunition. They are anxious to be thus organized and act for their mutual protection.
Very respectfully yours, etc., P. P. Elder."
66 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Captain Doudna made a careful examination of the papers, assisted by mem-
bers of the troop, and the investigation brought to light the astounding fact the
party had been composed entirely of commissioned officers, one ranking as colonel
and the others being captains and lieutenants. Only the name of one officer,
Captain Harrison, is now recalled. Papers signed by Gen. Kirby Smith, then
commanding at Little Rock, were found. From these and other papers it was
learned that the massacred party constituted a commission to treat with the tribes
of the West and Southwest and incite them to war. The officers composing
the party were to divide up among the tribes and endeavor to secure cooperation,
and to receive supplies and to assist the Indians in every way in the war of exter-
mination which was to be waged more particularly against settlements in Kansas.
Harassed by the wild tribes on one side and the no less savage foe on the other,
it would have been a wonder if Kansas had not been wiped out. So the Osages,
as they swarmed through the timber, in the bend of the Verdigris, were, though
they knew it not, striking a blow for the security of more than one frontier home
and settlement and making a mark on the pages of Kansas history.
It is a matter of regret that of this incident, like so many others of war-time
history, so little is now known. The name of only one man of the party, Captain
Harrison, remains. A diligent inquiry by one who is well acquainted in the tril)e
and possessing the confidence of the Indians has resulted in the finding of only
one Indian who admits being present at the fight. Indians know nothing about
the statutes of limitation, and while they will talk freely concerning intertribal
wars, they are silent when it comes to discussing dead whites.
A love-letter faken from one of the bodies by a member of the burial party
remained in his possession for a number of years. It was written from Cross
Hollows, Miss., and the name of the writer was signed in full, the surname being
Vivian. This letter was shown to a lady visiting in lola, who recognized the
name of the writer as that of a former schoolmate in southwest Missouri, before
the war. At the outbreak of the war Miss Vivian had accompanied her parents
to Mississippi and the other lady had come to Kansas and lost trace of her former
schoolmate. The letter has passed into the keeping of the lady.
It will be remembered that in giving the strength of the Confederates it was
put at twenty or twenty-two men. The bodies of two were found on the prairie
and eighteen on the sand-bar. Leading from these bodies were the boot tracks
of two men walking side by side and close together, as if one might have been
supporting the other. There were no tracks leading bacli to the bodies. Care-
ful search up and down both sides of the stream failed to disclose any tracks
coming out of the water. It is probable that these men were shot while in the
water, in attempting to swim across the stream. It is possible they made good
their escape.
This fact and the incident of the letter are related here, and the name of
Captain Harrison is given, in the hope that they may meet the attention of some
one who can give additional information concerning this event.
The subsequent general uprising of the Indians that very year, which has
often been attributed to the machinations of the Confederates, gave us a taste of
what we might have experienced if they had acted in unison, and been led and
directed by the men whose career came to an abrupt end in the loop of the Verdi-
gris. Kansas has, much charged against the Indians on her books, and it is but
due to the Osages that this one little item of credit should not be overlooked.
ALONG THE TRAIL.
ALONG THE TRAIL.
An address delivered by John Madden* before the Kansas State Historical Society, at its
twenty-seventh annual meeting, December 2, 1902.
"PVERY country has its historic age, and the men who contribute to such
-■-^ periods, in time, pass into eong and story, and become a part of the leg-
endary lore of the people. Thus, we find in the heroic age of Greece the names
and labors of Hercules and Jason's men,
"Earth's first kings, the Argos' gallant sailors —
Heroes in history, and gods in song."
In:the traditional period of Rome we find Romulus and Remus, the builders
of the walls — the strong, wolf-suckled boys of the Tiber: among the strong men
of Germanic stock, the names and labors of Thor of the Hammer and Odin of the
Twibill, who fought the forces of nature in the twilight of the gods. And so we
might enumerate of every nation and of every tribe of men, when we go back to
the traditions of the past, and place in the Pantheons the strong men who loved
and labored and died, and passed through the trail of stars to become demigods.
As the past recedes, and the beautiful opalescent coloring of romance softens
the rugged outlines of prosaic history, the mere dry annals, clothed with the
drapery of thought and action, bring out the strong faces of the men who moved
through the lines of action, until they appear to us strongly chiseled, like the
faces in the frieze work of a Grecian temple. We then unconciously' begin to
realize that history is passing through that transition period known as legend
and tradition. We look through the enchanted fields of the years, as we realize
these things, and, like the other tribes and nations of men who have preceded us
begin to understand that we are growing old as a people, and that we have our
heroic age, and with it our demigods. We, being more practical than the peo-
ple of a more immature age, and having something like written history to depend
upon, do not clothe these men with the same coloring as did the Greeks, Romans
and Norse, but place them in their proper relation, and pay to them the tributes
denied them in the past. To me, the men who made the trails of the West, and
carried the banners of their nations through the mountains and across the prairies,
who faced death in a thousand forms, and built their camp-fires along the streams
as they passed, are the men who are entitled to be remembered, because they
blazed the pathway for others to follow. The eastern portion of our country has
never been as rich in the treasure-trove of action as the West, with its trails, and
its rapidly-shifting scenes along these great highways of the past. We may pity
the fate of De Soto and his deathless men, and say they were foolish in pursuing
the ignis fatuus of gold; and yet, through different lines, we are engaged in the
same quest. Hence, we ought not to criticize too closely the action of the Span-
iard, or to seek to assume that we are wiser than he. While we may pity the
fate of De Soto's expedition we cannot help but admire his heroism, and remark,
in passing, that from Tampa, Fla., to New Madrid, Mo., he blazed a trail that
must always remain as a red line of action in the history of the new world. We
may not be impressed with the character and leadership of his lieutenant, Mos-
coso, after the death of his commander, but we must remember that he crossed
the prairies of Kansas long before the Pilgrim fathers settled at Plymouth Rock,
* See page 40, sixth volume, Historical Collections.
68 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
and that with his coming he impressed upon the minds of the savage tribesmen
that the man with the pale skin, in coat of mail, belonged to the line of the
world's conquerors. Although he passed away, leaving behind him a trail of
blood and fire, he left to the men of succeeding generations lessons of devotion,
sacrifice, and heroism, which shall not be forgotten.
The pure-minded Coronado, from his capital of Compostello, in Mexico, led
an expedition to the north, which he hoped would rival in glory and wealth the
expedition of the great Hernando in the valley. In his long march through the
mountains, over the desert sand, by the pueblos of the ancient tribesmen, into
the fertile valleys of the Canadian, the Arkansas, and the rivers of Quivira, he
was following out the line of his life's destiny, and leaving to the world an
example of endurance, devotion and fortitude that up to that time had not been
equaled in the new world. While his line of march is well defined, and its ex-
tent and duration well authenticated, yet it seems to me that after 360 years it
would be practically impossible for even the archaeologist to locate with any de-
gree of certainty, any of the villages of the shifting, roving tribes through which
he passed in Kansas. I am inclined to knock on these uncertain locations, and,
while I feel kindly toward the men who made these investigations, I feel that, as
a student of history, there should be less strife and more of a general desire to
bring about something like certainty. The location of Quivira near Junction
City, and the erection of a monument on the supposed site of an ancient village,
strikes me as a little mythical, and to some extent humorous. While as a work
of art the monument may be valuable, yet as a matter of history it is a little mis-
leading. Arrow-heads and spear-heads and the usual weapons of war known to the
savage tribes are so much alike, and are scattered over such a vast extent of terri-
tory, that they cannot be said to be the indicia of any particular tribe or village.
I am inclined to think that Mr. W. E. Richey has produced much stronger evi-
dence of the route of Coronado than any of the others — in the Spanish sword
which he found. It is more authentic than spear-heads or arrow-heads, and indi-
cates that the white man must have passed over the route, and left behind the
distinct evidence of his line of march. It seems to me that the monument build-
ers, while correct on the general lines of the trail, have lost out on the location
of the Indian village. In fact, they are somewhat in the same predicament as
was the Indian in search of a trail in the forest, who, when asked by the hunter
if he were lost, answered: "No, Injun not lost; wigwam lost."
The old Spanish and French trailsmen left no personal marks along the trails
they made. It was left for the American to do that. And so we deal with him,
and he is more to our liking, and his work possesses more historical merit than
that of his predecessors. The Spaniard was a romancist, who failed to catch the
beauty of sky and landscape, and whose only thought was to find wealth, in order
that he might return to the castle land of his fathers, and among the hills and
valleys of his childhood enjoy the gold he had wrung from the heathen. He did
not understand himself, and consequently we are not surprised that he misun-
stood the Indian, and that the Indian understood him and his purposes. The
tribesmen who resisted his advance and barred his way were wise, and the strug-
gle which they made against the invader is more creditable to the Indian than to
the Spaniard. While he was a savage man, and lacked the refinement of the
gay cavalier of Madrid and Seville, yet he did not lack the courage that moved
into the dusky ranks of action, and stood like a wall of flame before the invader,
who challenged his right to live.
The Frenchman was a voyctgeiir, whose gay abandon and community feeling
made him a favorite in the wigwam of the tribes. The careless life of the woods
ALONG THE TRAIL. 69
appealed to him, and he easily became a habitant of the Indian village. His
priests moved out into the forest and erected the tabernacles of testimony,
and appealed to the natives. They acquired the dialects of the tribes among
whom they lived, and in the warrior speech of the tribesmen told them the ten-
derest story that had ever been told to men — the story of Him who died on the
cross that all men might be saved. They recognized the broad and catholic
principle that "God has made of one blood all tribes and nations of men." The
Frenchman wedded the dusky maiden of the wigwam, and cast in his lot with
the strong, fleet-footed hunters of the prairies.
The American was different from the Spaniard and the Frenchman. He was
a nation builder, and came to stay. When he moved out into the lines of enter-
prise he asked no questions; neither did he count the cost. Along his line of
march he left the cairns of the dead, to remind coming generations of the fact
that here the death fight raged, and the Saxon passed on to conquest, or to
death. The savage tribesmen soon learned the difference in character between
the last comer and his predecessors. They found that the men who followed
Pike and Fremont along the trails they broke were serious, determined factors
placed in the restless, uncertain life of the prairies and woods, and, when placed,
made everything certain. The wild foeman might attack the cabin of the fron-
tiersman, but the latter met the danger in common with his neighbors and fought
it out. He had no explanations to make to rude barbarians who questioned his
right to live. His rifle was his companion, and, when challenged, he played the
work of death, unmindful of results. He loved his wife and children, and
covered them with a roof made by his own hands. He was constant in his love
to those who shared his life, but as terrible as fate when roused by danger. He
hated the Indian with an undying hatred, and despised the white man who took
up with the life of the wigwam and became what he called a "squaw man."
This pioneer type is fast disappearing, and it is with much sadness we note the
change. The world will never again witness such determination, constancy and
devotion as was shown by this class of men who made states out of the old
Louisiana purchase. Their camp-fires have gone; the trails they traveled have
grown dim; they passed over the range and laid down to rest wherever death
found them.
Like the boy at school, when asked by the teacher who was the first white
man, answered, "George Washington — first in war, first in peace, and first in
the hearts of his countrymen." When informed that Adam was the first man,
he tossed his head, with that peculiar pride common to the American, and said:
"Well, if your are speaking of foreigners, I suppose he was." Like the boy in
the story, to me the first men are Americans. They came to stay. They built
their homes, founded their towns and villages, and constructed states in a savage
wilderness, and thus demonstrated to the world that the most powerful factor in
civilization is the determined, constant home-builder. Hence, I am not disposed
to waste words in dealing with men of other races. If I had time I would like
to speak of the expedition of Pike, and more particularly of the heroic enterprises
of General Fremont, who opened up the trail from the Missouri river to the
South Pass, in Wyoming, so as to afford a highway and a safe passage through
the mountain ranges for the emigrants who were beginning to move from the
frontier settlements of Missouri to California and Oregon. I would like to speak
of the fierce battles that raged around the South Pass, where the Sioux and
Saxon fought their last great battles for supremacy. I would like to speak of that
mountain Thermopylte in Montana, where Custer and his 300 men rode to their
death. I would like to speak of the devotion, the constancy and the courage of
70 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
the men who held in their veteran grip the swords of conquest, and passed away
among the Western mountains to join their brothers of the "light brigade" who
had passed beyond the stars. But this paper must necessarily be brief, and deal
particularly with those portions of the trails that belong to our state.
There is one minor trail, the history of which has not been written. While
the history of Santa Fe, Utah and California trails has been well preserved, yet
but little has been said of the old Kaw trail. This trail commenced at Big John,
on the Kaw reservation, near Council Grove, and passed through the counties
of Morris, Chase, and Marion, to where Florence now stands; and thence to
what was known as Big Timbers, on Turkey creek, where it intersected the old
Santa Fe trail. This was distinctly an Indian trail, and so its history and tradi-
tions are local, and belong to the Kaw tribe and the settlers living along the
route. Over this trail the Indians traveled on their hunting expeditious every
year, and some traces of it may yet be found on the rising ground west of Flor-
ence and also on the Doolittle farm, on Diamond creek, in Chase county. In my
boyhood days I have seen the Indian hunters passing over the trail and return-
ing with the results of the chase, which they were always ready to "swap" for
flour and corn-meal. The long lines of ponies dragging teepee poles and carrying the
squaws and pappooses were quite familiar in those days. It was not an uncom-
mon thing to see among the hunters an occasional blue coat, indicating that the
wearer had served as a soldier in the war of the rebellion ; for it is a fact that the
Kaw tribe furnished many sharpshooters to the government, and these men per-
formed their duty well in dealing with the bushwhackers of Missouri and Ar-
kansas. I remember, with some degree of tenderness, that these blue-coated
braves were always kindly received and treated well by the settlers along the
trail.
I may be pardoned if I relate a personal reminiscence of this old trail, and of
a frightened condition that existed among the settlers during the Cheyenne raid
of June, 1868. It will be remembered that Little Robe, with a band of Cheyenne
warriors, came in from their tribe lands to fight the Kaw Indians, located on the
reservation near Council Grove. Many of the settlers fled in dismay and sought
protection in the little towns, where they erected fortifications to resist attack.
Our family remained in the little log cabin, on Doyle creek, near where Florence
now stands. For a week we had not seen a white face, and the horrible uncer-
tainty of the situation began to impress itself upon us. My father, who but re-
cently had been a soldier in the civil war, and who was a man of great courage,
refused to leave, preferring to take chances of an Indian attack rather than lose
the little crop he had planted. Night after night he walked back and forth in
front of the little log cabin, with his gun on his shoulder, keeping guard while
his family slept. At last he began to feel that depression which even the bravest
will feel, after days of uncertain waiting in the midst of danger. One day he
asked me to take a horse and go to where the nearest neighbor lived, and ascer-
tain if he had returned, and what news, if any, there was to be obtained of the
whereabouts of the Indians and the result of the fight at Council Grove. I rode
through the old cow trails, where Florence now stands, and had some difficulty
in getting through the sunflowers, which had grown so high as to impede progress
and at the same time to be very uncomfortable for a small boy's bare feet. I
went to the house of this neighbor and did not find a soul about. I began to
have that uncanny feeling common to lonely situations, and imagined that In-
dians were everywhere. On my return I made but slow progress through the
sunflowers, and sought to get my bare feet up on the saddle to avoid the rasping.
As the stalks dragged across my feet I looked toward the west to the head of a
ALONG THE TRAIL. 71
little draw and saw a warrior's plumes waving, as though he was moving rapidly
on his pony. All I could see was the plumes. I stuck the brass spur, which I
had on my bare heel, into the horse's side until he doubled up like an ox-bow. I
thought he did not moye fast enough ; so I slipped oflf and ducked down under
the sunflowers, and moved along the path as fast as I could, like a young quail
seeking cover, and reached home before the horse. That night was one of dis-
may and uncertainty. We were now thoroughly frightened, and realized our
helpless, hopeless condition, in a strange, new country, surrounded by savage
foemen. We were glad when morning dawned and brought us the welcome faces
of the returning settlers. I then went to investigate and find, if possible, the
trail of the Indian whose plumes I had seen. I ascertained that all my fright
was due to a sumach bush at the head of the little ravine, and this had caused
us all the uneasiness of the previous night. I might relate a hundred humorous
incidents that happened during the Cheyenne raid, but space will not permit.
I might tell many interesting stories of the log-cabin days along the old Kaw
trail. If I possessed the gift of Ian Maclaren, I might weave into story the de-
votion, the pathos, the loves, the fortitude and the courage common to the set-
tlers who made up the little communities along this old trail, in the wild land of
the West. They might lack the quaint expressions of the little village of Drum-
tochty,',that make such pleasant reading in "Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush,"
but they would contain as much tenderness and as much self-devotion, all of
which were common to the people of that early period. This old trail is now de-
serted. The Indian hunter, the squaw, the pappoose, the ponies, the teepee
poles and the dogs no longer stir its lines with life. The mimosa was not more
tender to the touch of the trusting foot of the Indian pony than were the hearts
of the settlers along this trail, when grief and sorrow struck into the log cabin
of a neighbor. The frontier funeral brought out all the tender sympathies of
these hardy men and faithful wives of the border. Then the cheek that never
blanched in the face of the Indians' fire grew soft, and
"Something upon the soldier's cheek
Washed off the stains of powder."
These thoughts come down the trail of the years, filled with the perfume of
the heart life of the frontier, which was as pure in joy, and in sorrow, as the deli-
cate odor of the wild flower of the prairies. If the giddy mountain heights of
Tahiti are adorned with vaporous arcades, among its beautiful palms, through
which the rays of sunshine glide like spirits, so the clouds of a dreamy May day,
chasing each other across the blue sky above the old trail, cast shadows within
the sunshine, like hooded nuns and cowled monks, hurrying away to the spirit
world. The lone tree by the spring, or on the edge of some rocky hill, standing
like an anchorite of the grassy dells, was a feature of Western beauty, distinctive
in its character, and as truly natural to the prairies as its tiny handmaiden, the
sensitive rose — the shrinking wonder of the plant world. There was a charm
about the prairies natural to themselves alone. In this respect they asserted the
individuality — if I may use the word — of Western beauty, fresh from the hand of
nature. The red glow on the cheek of the Indian maiden and the red glow of
the summer sunset behind the gathering darkness of the woodland did not seem
so distant from each other, but seemed kindly to blend and form a kinship in
this wondrous Western land of trails. The tinted hues, the rich coloring of tree
and ehrub, of grass and flower, of sky and land beneath, filled up and>efreshed
the soul with a baptism of pure thought and feeling surpassed only by the purity
of the dewdrop o£-a May morning in the open heart of a prairie rose.
72 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
INDIAN RESERVATIONS IN KANSAS AND THE
EXTINGUISHMENT OF THEIR TITLE.
Thesis prepared in partial fulfilment of the requirement of the University of Kansas for the
degree of master of arts, by Anna Heloise Abel,* of Saliaa, and read before the Kansas
State Historical Society, at its twenty-seventh annual meeting, December 2, 1902.
THE LOCATION OF THE INDIAN RESERVATIONS.
SOME thirty years previous to the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill the
trans-Missouri region became an integral factor in the development of the
United States Indian policy. Those of us who are accustomed to regard the
tariflf, the national bank and negro slavery as the all-important issues that made
and unmade political parties prior to 1861 forget how intimately the aborigines
were concerned with the estrangement of the North and the South. That they
were intimately concerned in that estrangement no one who has made a careful
study of the period can conscientiously deny; and, strangely enough, that part of
the "Great American Desert" which, on account of its sunny skies and brilliant
sunsets, has been called "the Italy of the New World" was destined to be the
testing-ground, or experimental station, of the two principal theories connected
with the sectional conflict — squatter sovereignty and Indian colonization. Truly,
Kansas has had a remarkable history.
The Indian colonization plan, involving the congregation of eastern tribes
west of the Mississippi river, dates back in its conception to the days of Jefferson.
Even if conceived earlier, it was not rendered practicable until the purchase of
Louisiana had placed an extensive territory, unoccupied by white people, at the
disposal of the central government. In drafting the constitutional amendment
which, it was thought, would validate the acquisition of foreign soil, Jefferson
proposed! that all the land lying west of the Mississippi river, east of the Rocky
Mountains and north of the thirty-second parallel should be left in the possession
of the native inhabitants, and that thither the eastern tribes should be gradually
*Anna Heloise Abel was born in Sussex, England, 1873, of Scotch and Welsh-English par-
entage. Her father and mother settled in Kansas comparatively early — having preempted land
here in 1871 ; but afflicted with ague and wholly dissatisfied with frontier life, they soon returned
to the British Isles, and did not venture West again until 1884. About sixteen months later, their
daughter, the author of this article, who had been left behind at school in London, came with
two younger sisters to Saline county, and late in the fall of 1887 was enrolled as a pupil in the
Salina public schools, with which she was identified until 1893. Then, after teaching two years
in the Parsons district, directly east of Salina, she entered the Kansas State University, from
which institution she was graduated with honor in 1898. While at college her favorite studies
were English (particularly Anglo-Saxon and argumentation), history, constitutional law,
and philosophy, and it was in those subjects that she took her A. M. degree — her master's
thesis being " Pessimism in Modern Thought." For a short time after graduation. Miss Abel
taught English and Latin in the Thomas county high school, and tlien returned to the State Uni-
versity as head manuscript reader in the English department. In 1900-'01 she pursued graduate
work at Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y., and from that time until tlie summer of 1903 taught
American history and civics in the Lawrence high school. All her leisure time for the last four
years has been devoted to research work on the political and legal status of the North American
Indians. The present article is, in part, a result of that work, although an introductory chap
ter on the nature of the Indian title has been withheld from publication on account of the lack
of space. The merits of the article were recognized by Yale University in the award of the Bulk,
ley fellowship in history, and it is at that institution that Miss Abel is now studying, intending
to offer for the degree of doctor of philosopliy a dissertation on the " History of the Westward
Movement and the Migration of the Indian Tribes." — Ed.
t Works, 8:241-249.
INDIAN RESERVATIONS IN KANSAS. 73
removed. This was the real origin of the famous removal policy of the United
States government.
It is difficult to explain why the plan of Indian colonization was not put into
immediate execution. No constitutional use was made of the draft in which it was
embodied, yet a clause in the Louisiana territorial act of 180i* shows that the
ideas of Jefferson, even at the time of their inception, were not wholly disre-
garded. Years passed away, however, before any serious effort was made to re-
move the eastern tribes, and, in the meantime, white settlers established an
illegal preemptive right to a large part of the Louisiana purchase.
After the close of the war of 1812, Southern politicians attempted to revive a
national interest in the removal project. Their reasons for so doing were mainly
economic. Some of the most valuable agricultural districts south of the Mason
and Dixon line were occupied by the Choctaws, Chickasaws, Creeks, and Chero-
kees — powerful tribes whose integrity had been repeatedly guaranteed by the
treaty-making power. Nothing could have been more detrimental to the com-
mercial development of the plantation states, and therefore their criticism of the
national policy was bitter and persistent. Georgia took the lead in opposition,
and historically justified her own action by a liberal interpretation of the com-
pact of 1802. t Her construction of that document was not consistent with the
facts in the case; for the federal government had not promised to expel the In-
dians from Georgia, but only to extinguish their title within the reserved limits
of the state "as soon as it could be done peaceably and on reasonable terms."
The Southern states were not alone in desiring compulsory migration of the
Indian tribes. The white population increased so rapidly northwest of the Ohio
river that the Indians in the "hunter stage" became a nuisance and a serious
impediment to progress. New York speculators made a desperate effort to get
the present state of Wisconsin reserved as an Indian terrritory, so as to force the
remnants of the Iroquois beyond their ancient boundaries. As a general thing,
however, the movement in the North was a trifle less mercenary, less indicative
of race animosity, than that in the South. Indeed, at times it was actually philan-
thropic, for isolation appeared; to an occasional zealous missionary like Rev. Isaac
McCoy, X the only possible way of preserving the red men from moral degradation
and from ultimate extinction.
* 2 U. S. Statutes at Large, pp. 283-290.
fAmerican State Papers, class 8, " Public Lands," 1 : 126.
^Rev. Isaac McCoy was born near Uniontown, Fayette county, Pennsylvania, June 13, 1784.
He speut his youth in Kentucky. In 1817 he commenced his missionary work among the Miami
Indians in the Wabash valley, Parke county, Indiana. Here he remained until 1820, when he
opened a school at Fort Wayne. When the Pottawatomies were granted a reservation on the
St. Joseph river, in Michigan, in 1820, he went to them. In 1826, in company with others, he estab-
lished the Thomas mission, on Grand river, among the Ottawas. Here the idea came to him that
if he could get the Indians removed from the vicinity of white settlements greater progress
might be made in elevating them. In January, 182-1, Mr. McCoy visited Washington and sub-
mitted a scheme for the removal of the eastern tribes to the west of the Mississippi to John C.
Calhoun, then secretary of war. Calhoun approved the idea, and from that time on was a valu-
able friend to the measure. From 1824 to 1828 Mr. McCoy made vigorous efforts to further the
object, and in the latter year an appropriation was made for an exploration of the territory de-
signed for the tribes. On the 15th of July, having been appointed one of the commissioners for
the purpose, he arrived at St. Louis, with three Pottawatomies and three Ottawas, to explore
the country now Kansas, and, if desirable, select homes for those tribes. On the 21st of August
he started with his northern Indians to explore a portion of the territory purchased of the
Osages and the Kaws, and east of the country of the Pawnees. The party crossed Missouri
and reached the Presbyterian mission of Harmony, on the Marais des Cygnes, a few miles from
the south line of Bates county, Missouri. With a half-breed Osage for a guide, the party fol-
lowed the Osage and Neosho rivers until they came to the head waters of the latter, and then
crossed over to the Kansas, returning down stream on the south bank to the Shawnee settle-
74 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
During the presidency of James Monroe the strict constructionists fought for
the expulsion of the aborigines in real earnest. At national headquarters Indian
rights were, in a sense, still respected. At least, they were considered to the ex-
tent that nothing but voluntary removal was to be thought of. In certain local
communities, on the other hand, it was evident that force and force only would
suffice. The questions became involved with that of the territorial extension of
slavery, and John C. Calhoun, disappointed in the loss of Texas, is said to have
planned in his elaborate report of 1825* the undoing of the work of the Missouri
compromise. His idea was to give the Indians a perpetual property right in an
extensive tract west of the Mississippi river. Had he stopped there, suspicion of
an ulterior motive could no more have been directed against him than against
Jefferson; but unfortunately he went on to arrange for the definite location of
the individual tribes; and in placing them as a permanent barrier west of Lake
Michigan and west of the Missouri river, he exposed himself to the charge of en-
deavoring to block free-state expansion in its legitimate field north of the inter-
dicted line.
The administration of John Quincy Adams offered, in its political disturb-
ances, a rare opportunity for Georgian partizanship to work its will. The schol-
arly president did his best to maintain his own dignity and to protect the Indians;
but he was no match for Gov. Geo. M. Troup. In the controversy that arose
over the setting aside of the fraudulently obtained treaty of Indian Springs,
charges of bad faith were hurled with vituperative fierceness against the federal
executive. His authority was ignored and even openly resisted. Georgia was
dangerously near the brink of secession ; and, had not some faint, lingering hope
of reelection caused Adams to modify his opposition to Southern aggression by
advocating the policy of removal, it is not difficult to surmise what would have
been the outcome.
With the election of Andrew Jackson, the Indians were given to understand
that their removal westward, voluntary or compulsory, just as they pleased to
make it, was only a question of time. There was to be no more wavering, no
more sentimental talk about justice. For several years fragments of tribes had
emigrated under the direction of the treaty-making power; but now Congress
was appealed to as an aid to systematic migration. In 1830 a law was passed!
which legalized removal and prepared for the organization of an Indian country
west of the Mississippi that should, in theory, embrace all the federal territory
that had not yet been preempted by the insatiable pioneers. It is believed that
ment on the Missouri state line. He was d irected to make another tour, covering north and west
Kansas, but the Pawnees being on the war-path, he went south to White Hair's village, on the
Neosho, about five miles soutli of the present town of Oswego, in Ricliland township, Labette
county. In January, 1829, Mr. McCoy visited Washington and submitted a report and map of
his explorations to the department of Indian affairs. On the 27th of July, 1829, he started on a
trip into the territory occupying twenty days. In 1837 he was sent out again by the government,
and was absent four months. From this time until his removal to Louisville, Ky., he labored
unceasingly for the advancement of the tribes in the West. He died at Louisville in 1846. The
Kansas State Historical Society has Mr. McCoy's manuscripts, correspondence, journals and
diaries, business papers, etc., covering a period from 1808 to 1819, bound in thirty-eight large
volumes, and pamplilots publislied by him as follows: The Practicability of Indian Reform
and their Colonization, 1827; second edition of the foregoing, with an appendix, 1829; An
Address to Philanthropists, written on the Neosho river, 1831 ; Annual Register of Indian
Affairs, No. 1, 1835, and No. 3, 1837; Proceedings of the American Indian Mission Association,
1843; the same for 1846; and the Indian Advocate, 1846. The Annual Register was printed in
Kansas, the first number by "J. Meeker, printer, 1835," and the third number by "J. G. Pratt
printer, 1837."— Ed.
*Gales and Seaton's Register, 1, appendix, pp. 57-59.
t4 U. S. Statutes at Large, pp. 411, 412.
INDIAN RESERVATIONS IN KANSAS. 75
a few of the most broad-minded statesmen hoped that an Indian state in the
Union would ultimately be created : and, indeed, a small federal reserve was laid
off in Franklin county, Kansas; but, unfortunately, long before the emigrants
were ready for statehood, or for anything approaching it, they were obliged to
move on.
Some of the tribes indigenous to the trans-Missouri region had been in trade
relations with the United States since the early years of the century. Neverthe-
less they were anything but peaceful, and were disposed to be a serious obstacle
to the planting of Indian colonies. In recognition of that fact, the federal gov-
ernment, without actually committing itself to the removal policy, opened
up negotiations for the extinguishment of the primary title. Its object was
to introduce the reservation system — not to drive the natives westward, but
simply to restrict their territorial limits, and thus make room for the would-be
emigrants. Two powerful tribes, both of Dahcotah lineage, dominated the terri-
tory under discussion ; and it was with them that the government had first to
deal. With the Arapahoes, Cheyennes, Kiowas, and Comanches — Indians of
the plains, as they were called — it had no intention of interfering; because their
hunting-grounds lay beyond the line of immediate need. Other tribes, like the
Pawnees, the Otoes, and the Missourias, were likewise, for the time being, left
unmolested; because infectious diseases and internecine wars had placed them
in no condition to dispute the entrance of foreigners.
Up to 1825 the Kansa Indians, more familiarly known in the vulgar language
of to-day as the Kaws, claimed an ill-defined hunting-ground north of the Kan-
sas river. They constituted the only tribe whose territorial limits were exclu-
sively within the present boundaries of Kansas, and, therefore, it seems eminently
fitting that they should have given their name to the sunflower state. Their
blood relations and hereditary enemies, the Osages, were somewhat similarly
situated south of the river, although the best part of their tribal lands extended
east of the Missouri line and south of the thirty seventh parallel. It was with
these two tribes that the United States saw fit to negotiate, in order to prepare
for Indian colonization.
The Kaw and Osage treaties of 1825, drafted by Governor Clark,* of Missouri,
were of a complex character; but their real object was sufficiently well accom-
plished in the cession of an immense tract of territory, the greater part of which
was to be paid for on a sort of instalment plan. Thus did the United States
transfer to virgin soil its pauperizing system of annuities. Such lands as were
not ceded, either directly or in trust, were retained as reservations — the first to
be recorded in the history of Kansas.
* Gen. William Claek, born in Virginia, 1770, died in St. Louis, 1838, was joint commander
■with Capt. Merriwether Lewis of the expedition across the Rocky Mountains to the mouth of
the Columbia river, 1804-'05. He was appointed Indian agent at St. Louis in 1807, and the same
year brigadier-general for Louisiana territory. He served as governor of Missouri territory
from 1813 to 1820, and as superintendent of Indian affairs at St. Louis from 1822 until 1838. The
library of the Kansas State Historical Society has among its St. Louis Indian office manuscripts
ten volumes of the correspondence of General Clark between the years 1812 and 1839, embracing
volume on Indian surveys in Kansas, 1830''36. The Society also has his original diary and
meteorological record kept at St. Louis, 1826-'3I, and one of the manuscript volumes of the Mis-
souri Fur Company, with which he was connected. ( See pages 49 and 125 of the Society's third
volume of Collections.) Coues says that General Clark had the respect and confidence of the
Indians, and that "during his long administration of Indian affairs he was instrumental in
bringing about many important treaties, not only between his government and the Indians, but
also between different tribes of the latter." —Ed.
7() KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
KANSA.
The Kansa Indians, at different times, occupied two distinct reservations in
the trans-Missouri region. In 1825* one was carved out of their original posses-
sions; the other in 184G,t out of unoccupied territory in the neighborhood of
Council Grove. The first reservation had practically no western boundary, ex-
cept as it was naturally limited by the presence of other Indians ; but it began at
a point twenty leagues up the Kansas river and extended westward with a uni-
form width of thirty miles. In 18d6 the Kaws sold the eastern part of it, thirty
by thirty miles in extent, to the federal government for the use of the Pottawato-
mies; and stipulated that if the diminished reserve proved destitute of timber
adequate to their needs, it should be exchanged for lands of equal value farther
south. The timber was really scarce, and accordingly Maj. Richard W. Cum-
mins, with the approval of Supt. Thos. H. Harvey, staked out a new reservation,
which was, most unfortunately for the future peace of Kansas, not regularly sur-
veyed until several years had elapsed. S. Eastman's map, generally adjudged
authentic, represented the reservation in a particular position, which the official
survey of Montgomery, in 1856, declared to be inaccurate. Meanwhile settlers
had inadvertently trespassed upon the lands of the real reserve. They refused to
vacate the premises until the government had indemnified them for their im-
provements. Their removal became an issue in local politics; but in the long
run the Indians, as usual,' were held responsible for the carelessness of the federal
government.
The treaty of 1825 made special provision for the Kaw half-breeds, who seem
for the most part to have been the offspring of French traders. The full-blooded
Kaws shared the reserve in common, but the half breeds received an individual
interest in twenty-three sections of land, which were subsequently surveyed by
Maj. Angus L. Langham and located pretty generally side by side on the north
bank of the river. In the absence of exact data, their relative position can be
best understood by remembering that section 4 constitutes the site of North
Topeka, and that section 23 is almost directly opposite Lecompton.
The title to these centrally situated lands became in after years the subject
of much litigation. A question arose as to whether the restriction placed by the
treaty of 1825 upon the alienating power of the full-blooded Kaws applied with
equal force to the half-breeds. In 1860 Congress declared that it did ; f but two
years later reversed its own decision § Much mischief had been caused by the
uncertainty, and it is interesting to know that it was ostensibly for alleged specu-
lation in the Kaw half-breed lands that Andrew H. Reeder, the first territorial
governor of Kansas, and Judges Rush Elmore and Saunders W. Johnson were
removed from office.; Another controversy arose as to what property rights
were transmissible to the children of the half breeds. Did the title lapse with
the grantee? The case was argued before the supreme court, and there decreed
that the word "heirs," as used in the congressional enactment of 1860, signified
such individuals as were there recognized as heirs by the laws of Kansas.^
OSAGE.
In 1825 the' federal government pushed the Osages as far south of the Kansas
river as possible. Their reserve was fifty miles wide and extended westward
*7 U. S. Statutes at Large, pp. 244-247.
t Revised Indian Treaties, pp. 410-414.
1 12 U. S. Statutes at Large, p. 21.
§12 U. S. Statutes at Large, p. 628.
II Kansas State Historical Collections, vol. ,5, pp. 225-234.
IT Brown et Brovyn v. Belmarde, 3 Kan. 41.
INDIAN RESERVATIONS IN KANSAS. 77
from White Hair's village, an Indian encampment which is supposed to have
been situated on the Neosho river about " six miles below the present city of
St. Paul."* The treaty provided that the western boundary should be " a line
running from the head sources of the Arkansas river southwardly through the
Rock Saline " — probably as far west as the Osages had ever dared to assert an
occupancy claim. Nevertheless, governoaent maps invariably extend the reserve
to the old United States line, or the one-hundredth meridian. Such a discrepancy
between authoritative data can be satisfactorily explained only by revealing the
duplicity of the official who superintended the survey of the Osage trust lands
in 1865. Instead of leaving the matter entirely to the management of the sur-
veyor-general, as was customary, the secretary of the interior let the contract,
for political reasons, to private surveyors, and permitted them to charge just
double the regular cost of such work. Naturally it was to their advantage to
represent the reserve as large as possible, and so they arbitrarily extended its
western boundary to the one hundredth meridian.
An additional provision in the Osage treaty of 1825 deserves at least a passing
notice; because it created a "buffer state" between Missouri and the reserva-
tion. The object was to prevent hostile incursions of one race upon the other.
It cannot, however, be said that the land was absolutely surrendered to the
federal government. It was simply neutralized, and the Osages retained a
nominal interest in it by establishing a hilf-breed settlement between Canville
and Flat Rock creeks. This was in accordance with a clause of the treaty which
had set aside forty-two sections of land on the Neosho and Marais des Cygnes
rivers. About 1825 some wandering Cherokees, an advance-guard, so to speak,
of the banished tribe, settled in the southeastern corner of the "buffer state" ;
and in 1836, the federal government having extinguished the Osage half-breed
title, sold the whole of it to the Georgian exiles. Henceforth it was called,
very appropriately, the Cherokee neutral lands.
* Nelson Case, History of Labette County, pp. 18, 26 ; Kansas State Historical Collections,
vol. 6, p. 148; Gov. Sam'l J. Crawford's message, January 11, 1865, pp. 26-31.
From the following correspondence, it will be seen that there was some controversy regard-
ing the initial point of the survey of the Osage reservation, ending in favor of the survey of
1859, at least, so far as the northern boundary was concerned, which coincides with Miss Abel's
location. — Ed.
State of Kansas, Executive Office,
ToPEKA, September 15, 1865.
Dear Sik— Some time ago I referred the question as to the boundary lines of the Osage and
Cherokee reservations to the secretary of the interior, at Washington, which was by him re-
ferred to the commissioner of the general land-office, and he reported adverse to our claims,
taking the survey and report of Deputy Surveyor George C. Van Zandt as his basis, and ignor-
ing previous surveys. The only way we can settle the question definitely is, to ascertain the
exact locality of the "old White Hair village," its distance from the western boundary line of
the state of Missouri, and the 87 or southern boundary of Kansas. Also the location of.the sub-
sequent villages laid out and called by the same name of White Hair Village. If you will, at
your earliest convenience, go down and ascertain these facts, together with the names and lo-
cation of parties now living, who know them to be true, and report them to me, (in person, if
possible,) I shall be able to have a new survey made and the boundaries of these reservations
properly established. I am satisfied that a great fraud has been committed, and think we
should use every eii'ort to have it corrected. Answer.
To G. J. Endicott. Yours truly, S. J. Crawford, Govertior.
To his Excellency, Gov. S. J. Crawford :
Sir — In accordance with your instructions, I proceeded to ascertain the bounds of the Osage
and Cherokee neutral lands, and have the honor to report that during the month of November,
1865, 1 proceeded, incompany with John A. Cramer, Wm. Howard, Jacob Youstler, John Q.Adams,
and George W. James, to ascertain, by actual survey and measurement, the exact boundary line
of the Osage Indian reservation and the Cherokee neutral lands ; also the Seneca, Quapaw and
Shawnee reservations.
The first and most important question for us to determine was the exact location of the
original "old White Hair village," the place designated in the Osage treaty of June 2, 1825, as
the starting-point for the described boundary of their reservation, and from wliich the bound-
ary line of the Cherokee neutral lands is established.
Starting at a point on the western boundary line of the state of Missouri, 136i4 miles south
from the Missouri river, and forty-one and a half miles north from the southwest corner of the
state of Missouri, thence running on a due west line for twenty-seven miles to the original "old
White Hair village," which is situated on the right or west bank of the Neosho river.
From the "old White Hair village," to the thirty-seventh degree of north latitude (the
78 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
SHAWNEE.
Aa 80on as the Kaws and Osages had left a clear field in which to plant col-
onies, the United States set to work to effect an exchange of lands with the east-
ern tribes. The Shawnees, whose ancestors had been parties to the Pennsylvania
compact of perpetual peace, were the first emigrants. In the long course of
years their tribe had become greatly disintegrated and fragments of it had wan-
dered away in different directions. Some of the exiles had settled in Missouri,
on the Carondelet grant, and it was with them that the federal government treated
in 1825. Governor Clark superintended the affair, and induced the Shawnees to
exchange their Cape Girardeau lands for a Kansas grant of fifty miles square.
The selection was first made in the southeastern corner of the Osage cession : but
it was not altogether pleasing to the Shawnees, so they made a second choice, di-
rectly south of the Kansas river. The reservation was deeded to them May 11,
1844.*
A peculiar clause in the treaty of exchange gave rise to a transaction in which
the honor of the United States was seriously compromised. The Missouri
Shawnees very magnanimously made their brethren of Ohio beneficiaries of
the treaty, and promised them 100,000 acres of the new reserve if they would
emigrate to Kansas. The Ohio Shawnees were slow in complying with the con-
dition, and, when they did at length decide to emigrate, permitted the federal
government to superintend the sale of their old lands. The result was that the
agents abstracted from the net proceeds a sum equivalent to seventeen cents an
acre, on the pretense that it was to pay for the 100,000 acres in Kansas. The
whole Shawnee tribe objected to the double payment, and preferred a claim for
indemnity against the United States, In 1852 Congress thoroughly sifted the
matter, and ended by refunding the ill-gotten gains. "j"
DELAWARE.
The history of the Delawares is intimately connected with that of the Shaw-
nees, and therefore it was perfectly natural that, pursuant to the supplementary
treaty of 1831, J a new colony should be planted on the Kansas river, this time on
the north bank, opposite the Shawnee settlement, and that there the Delaware
southern line of the state of Kansas ) is eleven and a half miles, but to the present survey of said
line, only four and a half miles.
At this village I found three mounds of stone, and a large mound of earth with stone in the
center, which, I am satisfied, was the original starting-point for the boundary line of the Osage
reservation,
The southeast corner of the Osage lands is the same as the southwest of the Cherokee neu-
tral lands, which is found by starting at the southwest corner of the state of Missouri ; thence
north on said line of Missouri one and a half miles to Honey creek — first running water —
(original southeast corner of the Seneca lauds) ; thence west to a large mound of earth, origi-
nally seven feet square, and six and a half feet high, with a rock in it, on which is inscribed
" Cherokee lands," west of which mound (about forty chains), is a mass of rock; running from
said mound of earth twenty-five miles east, to a rock and three post-oak trees ; thence north fifty
miles, to a mound of earth, originally six feet square and five and a half feet high ; thence west
twenty-five miles, to the northeast corner of the Osage lands, which is a mound of earth six feet
square and five feet high. No timber in the vicinity.
And I further state that the Cherokee neutral lands now embrace within their limits all the
Seneca, Quapaw and Shawnee reservations.
I also superintended the running of the line from tteorge White Hair village to the west line of
the state of Missouri, tliirty-two miles, seventy-one chains, and twenty-nine links, striking said
lino of Missouri nineteen chains and fifty links south of milestone 111 from the Missouri river.
From a number of the oldest Indians in tlie nation, including a grandson of the "old White
Hair," and a son of George White Hair, wlio laid out and located the present White Hair vil-
lage, which stands on the west bank of the Neosho river, about thirty-three miles west of the
state line of Missouri, and from the house of George White Hair to tlio state line of Missouri
thirty-two miles, seventy-one chains, and twenty-nine links; and about twenty-nine miles nortli
of the original "old Wliite Hair village." It was from the village laid out by George White
Hair, a son of the original White Hair, that Dept. Surv.-gen. George C. Van Zant is supposed to
have started his line when he surveyed those lands in 1859. ( Signed) G. J. Endioott.
♦Congressional Globe, 26, pp. 811-814.
t Congressional Globe, 26, pp. 811-814; Harvey's History of the Shawnees, chapter 31.
1 7 U. S. Statutes at Large, p. 327.
INDIAN RESERVATIONS IN KANSAS. 79
Indians should slowly congregate. They ceded certain lands in Indiana * and ac-
cepted in exchange an extensive tract lying within the Kaw cession. The reserva-
tion, as it was originally laid out, extended from the confluence of the Missouri
and Kansas rivers to the eastern limit of the Kaw lands, thus encroaching upon
the twenty-three sections that had been already granted to half-breeds. Bicker-
ings and disputes followed, as a matter of course, and continued until 1860, when,
in the settlement with the Kaw half-breeds, the Delawares were reimbursed by
the United States for the surrender of the title.! In addition to the actual re-
serve the Delawares were given an "outlet," which implied that they were to have
free access to the hunting-grounds lying west of their reservation limits. This
outlet, ten miles in width, extended along the entire northern boundary of the
Kaw reserve. J
OTTAWA.
The Ottawas, or Ottois, as their name is more correctly pronounced, came
originally from Canada. Indeed, some of them are still within British dominions.
Those that emigrated therefrom first settled in Michigan, and then gradually
moved southward until they occupied lands around Toledo. In 1832 some of
their number entered into treaty arrangements with the United States, and, as a
result, agreed to remove to Kansas. § The Ottawas of Blanchard's Fork were
promised 3i,000 acres and those of Roche de Boeuf 40,000. The two assignments
were comprised, however, in a single compact body of 72,000 acres. It was lo-
cated on the banks of the Osage river, and the present city of Ottawa, founded
by Isaac S. Kalloch"T and C. C. Hutchinson, in 1863, is situated almost in its
center.
* By treaty of October 3, 1818, the Delawares ceded to the United States their land in In-
diana, with the proviso that they might retain the use of their old improvements for three
years. In return, they were to be given lands upon the west side of the Mississippi. The lands
given them were on the James fork of the White river, in southwestern Missouri, though John
Johnston, of Piqua, Ohio, whose name is signed to the treaty of 1818 as "agent,'' says in Cist's
Cincinnati Miscellany, December, 1845, volume 2, page 241: "I removed the whole Delaware
tribe, consisting of 2400 souls, to their new home southwest of Missouri river, near the mouth
of the Kansas, in the years 1822 and 1823."
1 12 U. S. Statutes at Large, p. 1131.
i This is the only instance in which an outlet was marked oS in Kansas. It was a rather ex-
traordinary arrangement, but seems to have occasioned no particular trouble in the case of the
Delawares. The Cherokee outlet, in the Indian Territory, had a somewhat more eventful history,
owing to the fact that for a long time the government land-office was disposed to regard No
Man's Land as its western extension. Such a view was, of course, quite erroneous ; because the
Cherokee outlet, having been granted previous to the Mexican war, could not have been extended
beyond the old United States line.
The tract known as No Man's Land was originally part of Texas. It became separated from
her in a peculiar way. By the joint resolution which admitted her to the Union as a state, Texas
was forbidden to have slaves north of the Missouri compromise line. Consequently No Man's
Land and all the rest of the territory that lay north of 36^ 30' became excluded from her limits.
When the southern line of Kansas was first run, it was placed considerably farther south than
it is to-day, and No Man's Land lay to the north of it. Later on, when the government moved
the southern boundary of Kansas to the thirty-seventh parallel, expecting to make it correspond
with the dividing line between the Osage and Cherokee reservations. No Man's Land was left
outside. It was not even incorporated with New Mexico when her boundaries were determined,
and therefore came to be considered by some cattlemen, squatters and traders who settled
on Beaver creek, subsequent to 1870, as outside the limits of any jurisdiction whatsoever.
Eventually it was attached to Oklahoma.
§7 U. S. Statutes at Large, pp. 360, 361.
IRev. Isaac S. Kalloch was born at Rockland, Me., in 1832. He died, after a most tem-
pestuous career, at Whatcom, Wash., December 11, 1887. He became a Baptist minister, and
began life as pastor of the First Baptist Church at Rockland, where he remained five years.
He removed to Boston and was pastor of Tremont Temple for two years, when, in January, 1857,
80 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
The first Ottawa emigrants came to Kansas in 1837. They were singularly
susceptible to civilizing influences, and made, under the guidance of the Rev.
Jotham Meeker,! both spiritual and material progress. Vet they suffered more
than some other tribes from the radical change in climate. Mr. Roby, the
Indian agent who conducted them to their new home, reported that "out of
about 600 emigrants, more than ,300 died within the first two years, because of
exposure, lack of proper food, and the great difference between the cool, damp
woods of Ohio and the dry, hot plains of Kansas." It is even said that at no
time during their comparatively brief sojourn in Kansas did the natural increase
more than equal the mortality. They also suffered from the great flood of 1844,
which devastated the whole valley of the Marais des Cygnes.
he was tried in the civil courts for adultery — all of which he donourci^d as persecution because
of his fearless interest in free-soil Kansas. He was a matchless orator, with a flow of language
rarely equaled. After one of the most exciting trials in all the history of the country, he re-
signed the pastorate of Temple church in 18ii8, when he came to Kansas, remaining until 1860.
In this latter year he was given a unanimous call to the pastorate of the Laight Street Baptist
Church, in the city of New York. He served in that place throe years, and in 1864 returned to
Kansas. He drifted to Ottawa, and in company with C. C. Hutcliinson* started a paper called
the Westfrn Home Journal. This he afterwards removed to Lawrence, where he formed a
partnership with T. Dwight Thacher and Milton W. Reynolds in the publication of the Jir-
publican. This firm soon dissolved, and Kalloch started the Spirit of Kansas. He served a
year or so as superintendent of the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston railroad. He was land-
lord of the Eldridge House for a while, ran a stock farm, traded horses, and indulged in poli-
tics. In the Hammond revival, in 1871, he "experienced a change of heart," and returned to the
ministry. He was a candidate for the United States senate in 1867, and in 1868 was a presi-
dential elector. He was a member of the Kansas legislature in 1873. He was pastor of the
Baptist church in Leavenworth, at $3000 per year, and between 1873 and 1877 he went to San
Francisco as pastor of the Metropolitan Temple, at $5000 per year. He soon became mixed in
politics with Dennis Kearney and the sand-lotters, and on the 3d day of September, 1879, he was
elected mayor of San Francisco by this element. In 1880 articles of impeachment were pre-
ferred against him. In the summer of 1879, Charles De Young, of the San Francisco Chronicle,
shot and wounded Kalloch for some reflection upon bis family in a speech. Kalloch recovered.
De Young came to Kansas and worked up a pamphlet about Kalloch's debaucheries, and for
this I. M. Kalloch, the son, entered the Chronicle office and killed De Young. About the 1st of
March, 1885, Kalloch and his family moved to Whatcom, Wash., to make their home.— Ed.
* Clinton Carter Hutchinson was born at Barnard, Windsor county, Vermont, December
11, 1833. He was educated in the common schools, and prepared himself for civil engineering.
At the age of nineteen he entered the service of the Rock Island & Pacific Railroad Company,
at Iowa City. In 1854 he bought a farm near Chicago for three dollars per acre. In 1856 he sold
the farm and moved west, and arrived in Lawrence May 14, and immediately joined a free-state
military company. After making a trip east that summer in the interest of the free-state cause
he settled on a claim ten miles south of Lawrence, on which he resided two years. He became
connected with a newspaper in Lawrence. In 1860 he went east again, soliciting for Kansas,
and was mainly instrumental in getting $50,000 from the New York legislature. In 1861 he was
appointed agent for the confederated tribes of the Sac and Fox, Chippewa, Munsee and Ottawa
Indians. In 1863, associated with Kalloch, he located the town of Ottawa, in Franklin county.
He identified himself with the building of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, and in November,
1871, located the town bearing his name, which has been ever since the county-seat of Rouo
county. He represented Reno county in the legislature of 1873. He was the author of a book
entitled " Resources of Kansas," of which the legislature purchased 2500 copies.— Ed.
t Rev. Jotham Meeker was born at Xenia, Ohio, November 8, 1804. He worked on the farm
during boyhood, and became a thorough printer before reaching majority. Under the supervi-
sion of Rev. Isaac McCoy, he commenced missionary work among the Pottawatomies, at Carey,
Mich., in 1825. In 1827 he became superintendent of the mission among the Ottawas, at the
neighboring station of Thomas. In 1830 he married Miss Eleanor D. Richardson, one of his co-
workers. While at Thomas he applied the English alphabet to the phonetic spelling of Indian
words so successfully as to greatly lessen the labor of the Indian children and adults in learn-
ing to read. His method was adaptable to all Indian languages. At the instance of Rev. Isaac
McCoy, he came to Kansas in the fall of 1833, bringing with him the first Kansas printing-press,
which was set up at the Shawnee Baptist mission, in what is now Johnson county. The first
issue was the Delaware First Book, in March, 1834. Of the many books and pamphlets printed by
INDIAN RESERVATIONS IN KANSAS. 81
PEORIA AND KASKASKIA, WEA AND PIANKESHAW.
It is difficult to determine just when the Wea, Peoria, Kaskaskia and Pianke-
ehaw Indians first came to Kansas. They made treaties of cession in 1833 ; but
allusions in those treaties show that some of their number had already emigrated.
It is still more difficult to disassociate any one of the four tribes from the other.
They were neighbors in their old Illinois home and neighbors in Kansas. They
are almost always mentioned together in the government records, and it is not
at all surprising that they eventually affiliated as a single tribe.
In 1833 the United States increased the Indian emigration to Kansas by agree-
ing to possess the Peorias and Kaskaskias* of 96,000 acres, and the Weas and
Piankeshaws of 160,000. t The two reservations were located side by side, imme-
diately south of the Shawnee lands. The larger of the two fronted Missouri, and
extended fifteen miles north and south by sixteen and two-thirds miles east ard
west ; the smaller lay to the westward and bordered upon the Ottawa reserve.
KICKAPOO.
By a very early treaty, that of Edwardsville.J negotiated in 1819, the Kicka-
poo Indians were promised a grant of land which should be situated within the
territory of Missouri. That grant was resigned some fourteen years later in favor
of another which bordered upon the Missouri state line and the northern part of
the Delaware lands. §
QUAPAW'.
In 1834 the Quapaws, the unfortunate remnants of the old Arkansa Indians,
were placed upon a tract of. 150 sections. Ten years earlier they had been the
victims of Southern politics ; that is, they had been prevailed upon by the United
States to vacate their own lands, in order to make way for the possible emigra-
tion of the Choctaws. They were the first western Indians to feel the ill effects
of the removal scheme. For a time they dwelt with the Caddoes, of Louisiana,
and then applied for a separate reservation. One was assigned them as an act of
justice in 1834, "^ only twelve sections of which lay in Kansas, as was discovered
when the state line was run, in 1857.** In 1867 the Quapaws disposed of those
twelve sections by ceding eleven and one-half to the federal government and pre-
senting the remaining one-half to Samuel G. Vallier.ll
CHEROKEE.
In 1834 the Cherokees, realizing that not even the decision of the United
States supreme court could protect them against injustice, JJ prepared to emigrate
Mr. Meeker at this station and at the Ottawa mission, to which he moved in 1837, the Historical
Society has the following : Cahta Holisso, cikosi aikhana ; Shawnee Baptist mission, J. Meeker,
printer, 1835. The History of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, translated into the Delaware
language, in 1806, by Rev. David Zeisberger ; retranslated by I. D. Blanchard ; J. Meeker, printer,
Shawnee Baptist mission, 1837. Original and Select Hymns in the Ottawa Language, by Jotham
Meeker, Shawnee, I. T., 1845. Ottawa First Book, and Ottawa Laws, by Jotham Meeker, second
edition, Ottawa Mission, 1850. Isaac McCoy's Annual Register was also published by Mr. Meeker.
The Society has also four large manuscript volumes of Mr. Meeker's correspondence, and his
diary, 1832-'5o, in three volumes. He died at Ottawa Mission in January, 1855. — Ed.
*7 U. S. Statutes at Large, p. 404,
t7 U. S. Statutes at Large, p. 410. ■
?7 U. S. Statutes at Large, p. 200.
§7 U. S. Statutes at Large, p. 391.
•[7 U. S. Statutes at Large, p. 424.
**Act of Congress, July 8, 1856, 11 U. S. Statutes at Large, pp. 27, 139.
ft 15 U. S. Statutes at Large, p. 514.
t;7 U. S. Statutes at Large, pp. 156, 414, 478.
— 7
82 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY,
west of the Mississippi. President Jacksoo had already given them to under-
stand that there was to be no more temporizing. Go they must, because the
sovereign state of Georgia, coveting their lands and particularly their gold-fields,
had so decreed. A tract of seven million acres, lying mostly in the present Indian
Territory, was set apart for their use; but even then they had fairly to be driven
into exile, and Gen. Winfield Scott, at the head of a strong military force, was
detailed for the accomplishment of the work. Had the Cherokees contented them-
selves with these seven million acres they could not have properly been called
Kansas emigrants ; because their reserve extended only a very short distance be-
yond the thirty-seventh parallel.* In 183G, however, they purchased the Osage
"buffer state" from the general governmeift for SjOO.OOO.f It comprised about
800,000 acres ; but the Cherokees never actually occupied it. It lay directly east
of the Osage reserve, and presumably bordered upon the Quapaw strip. That
proved a mistaken notion when the land came to be surveyed ; for it was then
found that, between the two tracts, lay a tiny ribbon of public domain. J
CHIPPEWA.
Between the years 183.3 and 1836, the United States entered into several treaty
arrangements with the various Chippewa bands. In 1836 the Swan Creek and
Black River Chippewas were granted land in what is now Franklin county, Kan-
sas. § It was a small reservation, covering approximately 8320 acres, yet proved
amply sufficient for their needs. In 1838 the Saginaw band of Chippewas, by
treaty with the federal government, •[ were promised a reservation southwest
of the Missouri river. A later treaty, amendatory ** in its nature, located the
land a trifle more definitely on the head waters of the Osage. That would have
brought the hitherto scattered bands very close together; but apparently the
Saginaws never came to Kansas.
IOWA, SAC AND FOX OF MISSOURI.
In 1837 two tribes, the lowas and the confederated Sacs and Foxes of Mis-
souri, || each received a grant of 200 sections lying immediately north of the
Kickapoo reservation, and extending a considerable distance beyond the fortieth
parallel. Their grants might very aptly be called the twin reservations, as they
were made by the same instrument and were exactly the same size and shape.
The entire tract of 400 sections was in the form of a rectangle, and Rev. Isaac
McCoy, who, by the way, surveyed the greater number of the Kansas reserves,
assigned each of the two parties its 200 sections in such a manner that the
original tract was divided diagonally from the northwest to the southeast, the
lower half being given to the Sacs and Foxes of Missouri and the upper half to
the lowas.
POTTAWATOMIE.
Early in 1837 a treaty was proclaimed J J by which, in consideration for the ces-
sion of much coveted lands in Indiana, the Pottawatomie Indians were promised
a tract of country on the Osage river, southwest of Missouri, "sufficient in extent
and adapted to their habits and wants." The treaty was negotiated, as Indian
* Report of the United States Land Office, 1867, pp. 89, 90.
t7 U. S. Statutes at Large, p. 478; Report of the Indian Commissioner, 1859, p. 163.
i Report of Secretary of Interior, 1869, p. 71 .
§7 U. S. Statutes at Large, p. 504.
1 7 U. S. Statutes at Large, p. 530.
**7 U. S. Statutes at Large, p. 548.
ti-7 U. S. Statutes at Large, p. 511.
H Revised Indian Treaties, pp. 710-715 ; 7 U. S. Statutes at Large, p. 533.
Indian reservations in kansas. 83
treaties so often were, to our national discredit, in a rather questionable manner;
for, instead of dealing with the tribe in its authorized council, the federal agents
conferred with individual chiefs. Notwithstanding, the senate ratified the treaty
in due season, and McCoy was instructed to lay out a reservation in the Marais
des Cygnes valley. The Indians occupied it for about ten years and then moved
northward in 1847-'48.
The second Pottawatomie reserve was situated in one of the most fertile dis-
tricts of Kansas. It was a part, and that the most eastern, of the old Kansa re-
serve. Its eastern boundary lay two miles west of Topeka and sixty-two miles
west of the Missouri river.* A few weeks before the arrival of the Pottawatomies
some Jesuits established St. Mary's Mission f almost in the center of the reser-
vation, and the Indians very conveniently made it the nucleus of their new set-
tlement. The Pawnees, who had agreed with the United States in 18.S4 J to retire
north of the Platte, resented the presence of the Pottawatomies and continually
committed depredations upon them. In 1850 a regular war § was declared.
Henceforth the immigrants were left in undisturbed possession. T[
NEW YORK INDIAN.
The treaty of Buffalo creek, negotiated in 1838, attempted to provide a home
in Kansas for the Senecas, Onondagas, Cayugas, Tuscaroras, Oneidae, St. Regis,
Stockbridges, Munsees, and Brothertowns, who had been the victims of un-
scrupulous speculators. The history of the affair goes back to the compact of
1786, which conceded to Massachusetts a preemptive right, based upon charter
grant, to certain lands in western New York.** Such a preemption right signified
nothing more nor less than the privilege of buying out the Indian occupants ; and
after passing through various hands it was transferred to the Ogden Land Com-
pany.
In the decade succeeding the war of 1812, the holders of the preemptive right
*St. Mary's Times, October 25, 1877.
t Father Christian Hoecken, a Catholic missionary to the Kickapoos, visited the Potta-
watomie Indians on Sugar creek, Kansas, in 1837. The following year he established a perma.
nent mission among them. He appears, from the records of St. Mary's Mission, to have ■
accompanied one of the first parties of Pottawatomies to their new reservation on the Kansas
river, in the fall and winter of 1847-'48. Mr. W. W. Cone, in his " History of Shawnee County," un-
der "Auburn Township," says: "A mission was established by the Catholics in the fall of 1847 for
the Pottawatomie Indians at the junction of the east, middle and west branches of the Waka-
rusa river. . . . About twenty log cabins were built here by them. In the spring following
the Indians found that they had located by mistake on Shawnee lands, and, as they could not
draw their annuity until they were on their own land, they moved to the north side of the Kaw
river, near the center of the reservation, and established a mission there. . . . On the 12th
day of August, 1854, Mr. J. W. Brown purchased of the Shawnees some of these cabins and their
right to a part of the land."— Ed.
1 7 U. S. Statutes at Large, p. 448.
§" From the time of the arrival of the Pottawatomies at their new home they lived at peace
with the government, and had no difficulty with the neighboring tribes, except in 1850, when, on
account of frequent depredations committed by the Pawnee tribe, the Pottawatomies declared
war against them. The first engagement between the warriors of the two tribes was on the east
side of the Blue river, near the Rocky Ford, and on territory now included within the limits of
Pottawatomie county. In this engagement the Pottowatomies were victorious, and compelled
the Pawnees to retreat west to Chapman creek ; here the Pawnees rallied, and here was fought
a fierce and bloody battle, in which some of the Pottawatomie braves displayed great valor and
won for themselves great fame as warriors among the members of their tribe ; one of the braves,
Now-quah-ge-zhick, particularly distinguished himself by daring feats of bravery and the num-
ber of scalps of the enemy which he took in the battle . The Pottawatomies came off victorious,
and forever after lived in peace."— James S. Merritt, in Wamego Tribune, June 6, 1879. — Ed. .•
*T The Westmoreland Recorder and Period, January 7, 1886.
** Journal of Congress, 1787, vol. 4.
84 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
conspired with speculators, political demagogues and a few traitorous chiefs to
dispossess the New York Indians by inducing their removal to Wisconsin. A
personal appeal was made to President Monroe; yet there is no evidence that
either he or Congress sanctioned the matter. Nevertheless, it was represented to
the unsuspecting Indians that they might purchase of their own accord a reser-
vation in the neighborhood of Green Bay. They did so, but their title was soon
contested, on the ground that Indians could not purchase in their own right.
An adjustment of the dispute over the Green Bay lands was amicably sought
for in the negotiation of the treaty of 1838; but speculators, concerned only with
their own selfish interests, managed to defeat the ends of justice. They suc-
ceeded in bribing the Massachusetts commission and the United States agents
to make removal a prominent feature of the treaty. The main body of the In-
dians stubbornly resisted, but the chiefs again proved perfidious. Indeed, a most
suggestive fact was brought out in the later senate speeches on ratification. It
was then shown that every chief that had knowingly signed the document to re-
move his people westward held a private contract with the Ogden Land Company.
Such as had signed it unknowingly were, at the time, too intoxicated to need
further bribe. Van Buren declared the whole transaction "a most iniquitous
proceeding." The treaty went to the senate and was there bitterly contested.
It was finally ratified, through the casting vote of the vice president, on a day
when many of the really honest friends of the Indians happened to be absent,
March 25, 1840.*
President Van Buren proclaimed the treaty of Buffalo creek in due season,
but the Indians were not satisfied. "Fearful and sullen, they refused to leave
Wisconsin. The action of President Jackson with the Seminoles of Florida
could not be repeated with the Senecas of New York. They could not be forcibly
transported. Investigations in New York, in Massachusetts, and in Congress,
largely stimulated by the Society of Friends, laid bare the whole plot, and
threatened to bring about the amendment of the treaty, which, by the way, was
never constitutionally ratified in the Council of the Six Nations. As the title of
♦innocent purchasers' from the Ogden Land Company seemed to be imperiled,
a compromise was effected in the shape of the supplementary treaty of 1842."
Thereupon the territory in New York, secured under false pretenses from the
Senecas and their allies at the time of their removal to Green Bay, was in part
restored to its rightful owners, who, in turn, agreed to exchange the Wisconsin
purchase for 1,874,000 acres west of Missouri.
The New York Indian reserve was laid off in rectangular form, north of the
Osage and the Cherokee neutral lands ; but in years that followed only thirty-two
persons applied for patents for the 320 acres which the treaty provided should be
given on application to every individual. This gave rise to a very interesting
lawsuit. A proviso in the treaty had stipulated that "should the Indians not
agree to remove within five years, or such time after the ratification of the
treaty as the president might determine upon, they should forfeit all right and
interest in and to the reservation." In 1860 President Buchanan declared the un-
occupied reserve public domain and threw it open to settlement. The Indians
protested, and preferred an indemnity claim against the federal government.
The matter was pending in Congress for nigh upon twenty years. Finally, under
the provisions of the Bowman act, March 3, 1883,1 a resolution was adopted re-
ferring the case to the court of claims to find the facts. Then the Indians, upon
the basis of those findings, demanded payment. In January, 1893, Congress
♦Congressional Record, January to April, 1840; 7 U. S. Statutes at Large, pp. 550-561.
122 U. S. Statutes at Large, pp. 485, 486.
INDIAN RESERVATIONS IN KANSAS. 85
passed an act authorizing the court of claims to render judgment upon the facts
found,* with the right of appeal to the United States supreme court resting in
both parties. Thereupon the court of claims dismissed the petition, or, in other
words, decided in favor of the government. In 1898 the Indians appealed the
case, with the result that the decision of the lower court was reversed and their
own claim allowed.!
MIAMI.
In 1839 the United States agreed J "to possess the Miami Indians of and to
guarantee to them forever a country west of the Mississippi river, to remove to
and settle on, where the said tribe [might] be so disposed." A second treaty, §
confirming the grant of the first, was made in 1841. "In 1846, eight hundred
Miamis settled on Sugar creek, in the southeastern part of Miami county. Their
reservation, estimated to contain the equivalent of their old lands in Indiana, or
about 500,000 acres, was situated west of the Missouri line and between the New
York Indian and Wea-Piankeshaw lands. In 1847 a second emigration from
Indiana took place, and three hundred souls were added to the Sugar Creek set-
tlement. The following year five hundred recrossed the Mississippi, and the
federal government acquiesced in their departure. The settlement in Kansas
was then moved from Sugar creek to the Marais des Cygnes.]]
SAC AND FOX OP MISSISSIPPI.
In 1841, in exchange for about three-fourths of Iowa, the Sacs and Foxes of
Mississippi** were granted a reservation of thirty miles square, west of theChip-
pewas. Their agreement with the United States simply specified that "the
president should assign them and their descendants a permanent and perpetual
residence upon the Missouri river or some of its waters." They came to Kansas
in 1845, numbering less than a thousand souls. "At first they lingered on the
banks of the Wakarusa, and later established themselves in their wickyups near
Quenemo."tt
WYANDOT.
In 1848 the Wyandots, reputed nephews of the Delawares, urged the United
States government to purchase for them from their uncles a small tract of land
which lay in the fork of the Kansas and Missouri rivers. It was part of the
Delaware reserve ; and, in compliance with the Wyandot plea. Congress adopted J J
a resolution authorizing its transfer. §§ This small reservation — only thirty-nine
*27 U. S. Statutes at Large, p. 426.
t30 Court of Claims Reports, 413 ; 170 U. S. 1, 614 ; 173 U. S. 964 ; 18 Supreme Court Reporter,
531, 735 ; 19 Supreme Court Reporter.
J 7 U. S. Statutes at Large, p. 569.
§7 U. S. Statutes at Large, p. 582.
IE. W. Robinson, History of Miami County.
** 7 U. S. Statutes at Large, p. 596.
ft James Rogers. History of Osage County, in Edwards's Atlas; Report of Indian Commis,
sioner, 1859, p. 152.
tt 9 U. S. Statutes at Large, p. 337.
§§By the treaty of 1842 the Wyandots ceded their lands in Ohio and Michigan to the United
States, and were promised in return " a tract of west of the Mississippi, to contain 148,000 acres."
This land, they understood, was to be located on the Kansas river, but upon examination "it
was found, however, that there was no land in the vicinity in which they desired to locate which
did not belong to some of the tribes which had previously been removed. On December 14,
1843, a purchase of 23,040 acres of land was made from the Delawares. This tract included the
present town of Wyandotte."— Andreas, 1883, p. 1227. By treaty of 1850, the government made
final settlement with the Wyandots for the unfulfilled provisions of the treaty of 1842, one item of
which was a sum "to pay and extinguish all their just debts, as well as what is now due to the
Delawares for the purchase of their lands." The Wyandots emigrated to Kansas in July, 1843 .
86 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
sections in extent — was not, however, the only Wyandot land in Kansas, although
it was all that the tribe held in common. Such other lands as the Wyandots pos-
sessed in the trans-Missouri region have been very significantly designated the
"Wyandot floats," and the meaning of the term can best be understood if
their history be told. By the treaty of 1842,* certain members of the Wyandot
tribe were given the right to choose 640 acres of public land apiece anywhere
west of the Mississippi. These preemptions, or "floats," were located very gen-
erally in Kansas. They were extremely convenient for town sites; because they
could be acquired without the trouble and expense of complying with the ordi-
nary preemption laws. This would not have been possible had they been held
by the usual occupancy title. It is interesting to know that Lawrence was
located on the Robert Robertailet float, and West Lawrence on the Joel Walker
float. Topeka, Manhattan and Emporia were also built upon Wyandot floats.
Some of the floats were illegally located on the Shawnee reserve prior to July 9,
1858, at which date that land was publicly thrown open to settlement. J
MUNSEE.
The last Indian reservation to be laid out in Kansas was the Munsee, a tiny
subdivision of the Delaware, provided for by one of the Manypenny treaties of
1854. § It consisted of four sections of land situated near the city of Leavenworth,
and is now the site of the Old Soldiers' Home and of Mount Muncie Cemetery.
The fathers of the emigrants, perchance even they themselves, were among the
survivors of the terrible Gnaden Hutten massacre; and the story of their wan-
derings in search of the Kansas refuge for Indian exiles reads like a romance of
the olden time.]] But they came to Kansas too late to enjoy peace, and after a
sojourn of four years sold their reservation, under the sanction of an act** of Con-
gress, to A. J. Isacks.
II.- EXTINCTION OP THE RESERVATION TITLES.
Scarcely were the emigrant tribes fairly established on their respective reser-
vations when a movement arose in the political circles at Washington to dises-
tablish them. So soon had the nation forgotten its sacred guaranty that Kansas
should be an Indian territory forever, and that the reservation lands should belong
to the red men "as long as the grass should grow and the water should run."
One important objection to the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill, and an
objection heretofore overlooked, or at least unremarked, was that the territory,
the organization of which was in contemplation, could not be legally appropri-
ated until the Indian occupancy title had been extinguished. This was an ob-
jection more fundamental in its nature than any other presented, because it
involved the faith of the nation as that faith had been most solemnly expressed
in treaties. It is said, and doubtless with truth, that, among the many occa-
sions for the repeal of the Missouri compromise, was the fear that, unless some-
thing were done, and that quickly, the broad plains lying east of the Rockies
would, as a permanent Indian reservation, be forever closed to civilization.
It is a matter of common belief that, prior to 1854, Kansas was untraversed
*7 U. S. Statutes at Large, app. v, p. 608.
tTliis spelling accords with the U. 8. Revision of Indian Treaties, 1873, p. 1020. Connelley, in
his Provisional Government of Nebraska, p. 420, spells the name " Robitaille."
JMcAlpine v. Henshaw, 6 Kan. 176; Walker v. Henshaw, 83 U. S., 16 Wallace, 436. Another
instructive case on Wyandot floats is Gray v. Coii'man, 3 Dillon, 393. A complete list of the Wy-
andot floats may be found iu Senate Documents, 1857-'58, vol. 2, pp. 274, 275.
§10 U. S. Statutes at Large, p. 1051.
^1 Sen. Docs. 1839-'40, vol. 2, No. 355; Report of Indian Commissioner, 1857-'58, No. 524.
**11 U. S Statutes at Large, p. 312,
EXTINCTION OF RESERVATION TITLES. 87
by white men. This is a mistaken idea. Aside from regularly organized ex-
ploring expeditions, various things, such as trade routes, mission stations, mili-
tary posts, and the Mexican war, had enabled the hardy pioneer to become more
or less familiar with the "Great American Desert." Up to the time of Mexican
independence the hostility of the Spaniards was a great obstacle to commercial
intercourse with the Southwest. None the less, from the beginning of the nine-
teenth century the trade along the Santa Fe trail was a highly profitable one,
especially after a right of way had been secured from the Great and Little Osages.
The Mexican war caused a temporary break, but peace brought renewed activity,
and among the many material advantages derived from that most unjust of
American wars, acquaintance with Kansas was certainly not the least. The
soldier was succeeded by the California gold-seeker, and the "forty-niner," in his
turn, by the Mormon enthusiast. Their passing through was the signal for the
Indian to decamp. He lingered on the prairie only just long enough for the gov-
ernment to give a legal coloring to his expulsion and then was again an exile.
Although it was a well-understood thing that the trans-Missouri region was
to belong exclusively to the Indians, the very coming of the red men induced the
coming of the white. Coexistent with the establishment of the Indian reserva-
tion was the establishment of the military post. A cantonment on the present
site of Fort Leavenworth was erected in 1827, and by the spring of 185i Kansas
was wholly under military supervision. It would hardly be fair to say that the
soldiers were brought here to keep the Indians in subjection, although, as the
Indian bureau was then a subdivision of the war department, it would be a
natural supposition. The excuse for the soldiers' presence was primarily the
protection of the frontier, and secondarily the maintenance of peace among the
widely differing tribes. Civilians followed in the wake of the army; for white
men cultivated the military reserve, white men conducted the Indian trade, and
white men presided over the Indian schools and missions. Furthermore, Kansas
was the starting-point for all expeditions that followed the Oregon trail. It was
the connecting link between the far Northwest and the far Southwest. Is it any
wonder, then, that steps were taken in the early '50'3 to undo what had been
done in the '30's ?
The first indication that the idea of breaking faith with the Indians had
gained ground at Washington, and that the administration was favorable to it,
was seen in the visit which George W. Manypenny paid to the emigrants in the
winter of 1853-'54. If, as Indian commissioner, his sole object was to negotiate
treaties of cession, he succeeded most admirably, and during the months subse-
quent to May, 185i — at which time the Douglas measure became a law — Presi-
dent Pierce was able to proclaim treaties that his agent had successfully
consummated with the Otoes and Missourias, the Delawares, the Kickapoos, the
lowas, and the Sacs and Foxes of Missouri.
OTOE AND MISSOURIA.
The first treaty of secondary Kansas cessions to be ratified after the passage
of the organic act* was that to which the Otoes and Missourias t were a party.
These Indians were native to northeastern Kansas and southeastern Nebraska;
but, being constrained by the treaty of 1834 J to remain north of the Little Nemaha
*10 U. S. statutes at Large, p. 277.
tin 1723 BourgmoQt located the Missourias on the river of that name, thirty leagues below
the mouth of the Kansas. Soon afterwards the tribe was greatly reduced in numbers by war
and smallpox, and the majority of the tribe took refuge with the Otoes in Nebraska, and were
living in a village near the Otoes on the Platte river, a few miles above its mouth, in 1842.
1:7 U. S. Statutes at Large, p. 429.
88 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
river, they would not be entitled to consideration in this thesis were it not for the
fact that their reservation, as laid out by the government, extended a short dis-
tance south of the fortieth parallel. In the winter of 1853-'54, George W. Many-
penny gained their consent* to the relinquishment of all their territory west of
the Missouri river except a strip ten miles wide and twenty-five miles long which
was situated on the waters of the Big Blue. This cession was conditional upon
the payment of annuities. For several years thereafter the Otoes and Missourias
lived quietly upon their diminished reserve; but finally, as might have been ex-
pected, would-be settlers staked out illegal claims. Complaints from the Indians
amounted to nothing until, by act of Congress, March 3, 1881, t the whole band
was given permission to remove to the Indian Territory.
In recent years the quieting of the title to the Otoe and Missouria lands in
Kansas and Nebraska has caused considerable discussion. The congressional
enactment just mentioned arranged for an auction sale of the diminished re-
serve; and preliminary thereto the government appraised it. The estimated
value was $256,000. Cattlemen, anxious to prevent bona fide settlement, took
an active part in the auction; and, by means of "straw bids," raised the price
far above the means of the settlers and above the appraised value. The sale was
set aside as fraudulent and nearly all the participants were sentenced to a term
in the Penitentiary.
Later on, a second auction sale of the Otoe and Missouria lands was provided
for, the result of which can best be understood in the light of later events. The
settlers, fearing to be outbid a second time, and resting under the impression that
they had the verbal guaranty of the land-office commissioner that, no matter
what they might bid, the lands would be assured to them at the appraised value,
offered $516,000; but when the Indians insisted upon the payment of that sum,
the settlers cited the promise of the commissioner in order to free themselves from
the obligation. For nearly twenty years the settlers lived upon the lands, tax
free and rent free, without paying a single cent of either principal or interest to
the Indians, who clamored for the payment of the debt. Finally the settlers had
the impudence to ask Congress to effect a compromise, and, in the end, the
matter was adjusted to their satisfaction. J
DELAWARE.
The Delaware reserve, lying near the Missouri line and north of the Kansas
river, covered a region so productive and so advantageously situated that it
proved an early prey to the squatter. A treaty was proclaimed July 17, 185i.§
It provided for two cessions, the one conditional, the other unconditional. The
unconditional cession comprehended the transfer of the "outlet" to the general
government for a cash payment of $10,000. The conditional cession was a con-
veyance of lands in trust, and included all of the reservation proper excepting
the thirty-nine sections that had already been sold to the Wyandots, four sec-
tions that were about to be sold to the Munsees, and a tract that was to be re-
tained for the use of the tribe. The last named constituted the "diminished
reserve" and, "extending westward forty miles from the western boundary of
the Wyandot lands, was ten miles wide at its western extremity." A clause,
said to have been inserted at the suggestion of Senator David R. Atchison, in
order to prevent men too poor to hold slaves ^j from possessing any of the land,
* Revised Indian Treaties, pp. 633-641 ; 10 U, 8. Statutes at Large, p. 1038, et passim.
t2l D. S. Statutes at Large, pp. 380, 381.
i'Si U. S. statutes at Large, p. 59.
S Revised Indian Treaties, pp. 340-345 ; 10 U. S. Statutes at Largo, pp. 1048-1052.
* Webb Scrap Books, 1 : 60, Kansas Historical Library.
/7
IS.
Indian Reservations
In territory included in Kansas, 1846.
1637.
KICKAPOO RESERVE Esiablisfiea und
DELAITARE RESERVE AND OUTLET Esta
I PESEHVE Est
EXTINCTION OF RESERVATION TITLES. 89
stipulated that ae soon as the trust lands had been surveyed they should be put
up at public auction. Such as remained unsold were to be "subject to private
entry, and, after three years, graduated in price until all had been disposed of."
The Delaware trust lands covered a part of the counties of Leavenworth and
Atchison, in addition to about one-half of Jefferson. By order of the Interior
Department, their sale was advertised to begin at Fort Leavenworth November
17, 185i, to be limited at first to the land lying east of ranges 18 and 19, and to
continue until December 13, 1856. The land west of those two ranges was sold
at Osawkie* in the summer of 1857.
The approaching first sale j produced great excitement, owing to a misconcep-
tion of the real nature of Indian trust lands, which are not in any legal way dis-
encumbered of the occupancy title, but only temporarily conveyed to the general
government, in order that they may be sold " upon the account and for the
benefit" of the reservees. The legal title, domain and jurisdiction are in the
United States, to be sure; but the equitable beneficiary interest remains in the
original owners. Contrary to this view, the would-be settlers were inclined to re-
gard the trust lands as public domain, and therefore immediately subject to pre-
emption under existing laws. They also professed to believe that the sixteenth
article of the Delaware treaty, which extended the application of the act of
March 3, 1807, J had been nullified by the act of July 22, 1854, § which had ren-
dered Kansas and Nebraska subject to the operation of the preemption law of
1841."^ This gave rise to a dispute over the relative importance of a treaty and a
statute. It was entirely irrelevant, however, because the congressional enact-
ment in no sense contemplated the preemption of territory in which the Indian
tribes held a reserved interest.
For several weeks prior to the auction, the Delaware trust lands were the
scene of dire confusion. At first log cabins, and later such rude contrivances
as four crossed sticks, were used to mark the staking out of claims. Meanwhile
the squattera beguiled the time with riotous living. They even gambled away
the fertile farms that, for them, as yet lay only in the bright land of prospect.
The greed for territory was contagious. Army officers and territorial officials
shared in the general uproar, and, as later investigations into their conduct**
divulged, they even connived at every possible invasion of Indian rights.
In 1860 another treaty was concluded with the Delawares, whereby provision
was made for a portion of their diminished reserve tt to be allotted in severalty,
not only to members of the tribe at the time residing in Kansas, but likewise to
some absentee Delawares dwelling with the southern Indians, if they would re-
turn to their own people. Until they did so return, the land intended for them
was to beheld in common by the resident Delawares. The treaty further pro-
vided that the Leavenworth, Pawnee & Western Railway Company might have
the privilege of buying what remained of the diminished reserve. The condi-
tions under which the railroad company was to have the land were not complied
with, and, in 1861, it was found necessary to make other arrangements with the
same corporation. J J A sale of 223,890.94 acres was finally effected; but a note-
* Historical Society Collections, v. fi, pp. 367, 375.
fAndreas's History of Kansas, pp. 419-422.
i 2 U. S. Statutes at Large, p. 445. § 10 U. S. Statutes at Large, p. 310.
15 U. S. Statutes at Large, pp. 456-460.
** House Ex. Docs., 33 Cong., 2d session, No. 50.
tt Revised Indian Treaties, pp. 345-350; Andreas's History of Kansas, p. 500; 12 U. S. Statutes
at Large, pp. 1129-1134.
H Revised Indian Treaties, pp. 350-362 ; 12 U. S. Statutes at Large, pp. 1177-1185.
90 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
worthy circumstance connected with it illustrates remarkably well the advantage
so often taken of the too- trusting Indians. The railroad company paid down no
money whatever, but gave a mortgage on a part of the land to secure to the poor
Delawares the payment of the whole.
In 1866 the same Indians, having become weary of living a restricted life on
their separate allotments, resolved to emigrate to the Indian Territory and re-
sume the old life in common. Accordingly a treaty * was drawn up by which
they ceded in trust all of their remaining Kansas lands. The secretary of the inte-
rior was authorized to sell the same, if possible, to the Missouri Pacific railroad.
The sale was made the following year; but in the meantime, "in order to vest
every future holder of the real estate with a government title, all the lands were
deeded in trust to Alexander Caldwell, who gave a deed to each Indian holding an
allotment under the treaty of 1860. The lands then remaining unsold and unoc-
cupied were sold at $2.50 per acre to the railroad syndicate — Thomas A. Scott, of
Pennsylvania, Thomas L. Price, L. T. Smith, Alex. Caldwell, Oliver A. Hart
and others to the number of thirteen."! Thus abruptly was the Delaware his-
tory in the trans-Missouri region brought to a close.
KICKAPOO.
By one of the so-called Manypenny treaties of 1854, J the Kickapoos ceded un-
conditionally to the general government the larger portion of their reservation,
"which seems to have occupied parts of Brown, Atchison and Jackson coun-
ties." The cession comprised the whole of the tract of 1200 square miles con-
veyed to them in 18.33, with the exception of 150,000 acres in the western part, at
the head of the Grasshopper river.
Several years later another treaty, negotiated in 1862, and ratified with an im-
portant senate amendment in 1863, § provided for the disposition of the Kickapoo
dimished reserve. Every chief signing the treaty received 320 acres, every head
of a family 160 acres, and every other person in the tribe forty acres; but only
those sufficiently advanced in civilization and desirous of severing their connec-
tion with the main body received an allotment in severalty. The others received
their shares in an undivided quantity, and held the tract in common by the same
tenure as the entire tribe had held the original reservation. Upon the president
was conferred the discretionary power of granting to the allottees a title in fee
simple whenever they should be "sufficiently intelligent and prudent to control
their own affairs." The land, when conveyed in fee simple, could be alienated
by the Indians and taxed by the state.
An additional provision was made in the Kickapoo treaty of 1863 for the set-
ting aside of 1120 acres for miscellaneous purposes, and of forty acres for each
Kickapoo absent with the southern Indians, provided he returned to Kansas
within one year from the ratification of the treaty. The remaining Kickapoo
lands were ceded in trust to the United States, for the purpose of selling them to
the Atchison & Pike's Peak Railroad Company, whose agents, it is said, prac-
tically drafted the treaty. At any rate, they went around among the Indians
and secured individual marks, instead of trusting to a possible ratification in the
general council of the tribe. In 1865 the United States succeeded in selling
123,832.61 acres, lying mostly in Brown county, to the railroad. Almost imme-
diately the lands were advertised, and, as "all time purchasers were required to
improve one-tenth each year, the reserve was soon dotted over with farms."
♦Revised Indian Treaties, pp. 362-369; 14 U. S. Statutes at Large, pp. 793-798.
t Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Wyandotte County, p. 154.
J Revised Indian Treaties, pp. 443-447; 10 U. S. Statutes at Largo, p. 1078.
§ Revised Indian Treaties, pp. 447-454 ; 13 U. S. Statutes at Large, p. 623.
EXTINCTION OF RESERVATION TITLES. 91
The Kickapoos still own a much diminished reserve in Kansas. Ever since al-
lotment in severalty was first permitted, the Indians have been given a personal
interest just as quickly as their progress has seemed to justify it, so that at the
present time only 6168 acres remain unallotted. That tract is held in common.
In 1896-'97 the commissioner of Indian affairs reported that out of it a lease of
5828 acres had been made in favor of George W. Leverton for a period of live
years. The remaining 610 acres are temporarily reserved for school purposes.*
IOWA, SAC AND FOX OF MISSOURI.
The cessions made in 1851 by the lowas t and the Sacs and Foxes of Missouri X
comprised land lying almost entirely in Nebraska, and are therefore not entitled
in this paper to a detailed description . Suffice it to say, that the lowas ceded a large
acreage in trust, which, embracing some of the best lands in Brown county, were
sold at Iowa Point from June 5 to June 9, 1857. They retained a diminished re-
serve which, with the exception of 16,000 acres, they ceded J nine years after-
wards to the general government for the use and benefit of the Sacs and Foxes
of Missouri, who at the same time made a new disposition of the fifty sections
which the tribe had retained in common under the treaty of 1851. They set
aside one section for miscellaneous purposes and one and one eighth sections for
various individuals, 160 acres for Joseph Tesson and for each of three chiefs, and
eighty acres for George Gomess. At the present time nearly all the Sacs and
Foxes of Missouri have taken allotments and have received their head rights.
Their reservation in consequence is reduced to about 8000 acres, of which per"
haps one-third lies north of the fortieth parallel.
MIAMI.
Miami county, Kansas, bears a most appropriate name, for, of all the Indian
tribes that helped to colonize it and the surrounding country, the Miami was de-
cidedly the most important, both in point of numbers and of influence.*^ After
the organization of Kansas Territory, white people, as has been already inti-
mated, encroached to such an alarming extent upon the Indian lands that the
federal government was forced, with unseemly haste, to extinguish the occu-
pancy title. Naturally the lands adjoining Missouri were the first to be disen-
cumbered and preempted. The Miami reservation, easily accessible to the
South, was coveted almost as much as the Delaware and the Shawnee. It was
soon seized by squatters, and in order to allay the apprehension of the Indians,
the federal government purchased the greater part of it for §200,000, in August,
1851.**
The reservation contained originally about 500,000 acres. The Miamis kept
72,000 acres and sold the rest. The tract reserved was to be apportioned as fol-
lows: 610 acres to be set aside for educational purposes, 200 acres to be assigned
in severalty to every member of the tribe, and the residue, about 20,000 acres, to
be held for the time being in common. The treaty provided, likewise, that the
president "might cause patents to issue to single persons and to heads of families
for the lands selected by or for them, subject to such restrictions respecting leases
and alienation as the president or Congress of the United States" might "im-
pose, and the lands thus patented " should "not be liable to levy, sale, execution,
* 13 House Documents, p. 39.
t Revised Indian Treaties, pp. 403-407; 10 U. S. Statutes at Large, pp. 1069-1073.
t Revised Indian Treaties, pp. 758-762: 10 U. S. Statutes at Large, pp. 1074-1077.
§ Revised Indian Treaties, pp. 777-781; 12 U. S. Statutes at Large, pp. 1171-1175.
•[ Miami Republican, March 21, 1879.
** 10 U. S. Statutes at Large, pp. 1093-1100.
92 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
or forfeiture; provided, that the legislature of a state within which the ceded
country" might be thereafter embraced might, "with the consent of Congress,
remove such restrictions." In 1873 Congress did remove the restrictions in cases
where title had legally passed to white citizens.*
In the later 'GO"s, the anti-Indian feeling in Kansas was exceedingly bitter.
Utterly regardless of the fact that the land had only a short time before been
assured to the tribes in perpetuity, settlers viewed their presence as an intru-
sion. Such presumption was excusable only when due weight was given to the
atrocities of the Indians of the plains, and now we know that those same atroci-
ties were often excited by the barbarous cruelty of the troops. To allay the ex-
citement, the federal government opened up negotiations with various Kansas
tribes. The result was the omnibus treaty of 18G8. Thereupon the Miamis
agreed to dispose of their remaining lands west of the Missouri river and move
to the Indian Territory. They selected a place on Spring river and settled there
in IBTl.f
A congressional act approved March 3, 1873,1 arranged not only for the sale
of their school-section and unallotted lands, but also for the abolition of their
tribal relations and the union with the Wea and other Indians § of such as did
not wish to become citizens of the United States. A commission appointed
under this act^ appraised the Miami lands, and its report was duly approved
by the Department of the Interior. The unoccupied lands, including the school
sections, were advertised for sale February 20, 1874, and sold under sealed bids.**
WEA, PEORIA, KASKASKIA, AND PIANKESHAW.
By 1854 the Wea, Peoria, Kaskaskia and Piankeshaw Indians had become
confederated as a single tribe, and one of the Manypenny treaties provided for a
cession in trust of the greater part of their consolidated reserve. If Certain lands
were withheld froiB the cession ; namely, one section for the American Missionary
Society, ten sections for a reserve in common, and more than enough besides to
give every individual of the united bands a quarter-section allotment. Selections
to the allottees were approved by President Buchanan August 28, 1858, and the
land over and above the allotments was sold to the highest bidder for cash. The
sales of some of the trust lands were approved July 1, 1859.
The confederated Indians, like their neighbors, the Miamis, figured as parties
to the omnibus treaty of 1867-'68.JJ By its terms provision was made for ad-
mittance to citizenship, for removal to the Indian Territory, and for the final
disposal of Kansas land. A schedule attached to the document throws consid-
erable light upon Indian methods. In the first place it shows that the ten-
section reserve — which in reality contained only nine and one-half sections — was
sold to actual settlers for cash ; and in the second place, that the red men were
often as accomplished in the art of trickery as the white. In the final division
of the land, minors were often counted as adults with large families. One of the
minors was Kimolaniah, the son of an Indian interpreter, Baptiste Peoria, who
sold the land of Kimolaniali and of Kimolaniah's reputed children, under the pre-
*17 U. S. Statutes at Largo, p. 417.
^ Miami Republican, March 21, 1879; Robinson's History of Miami County.
% 17 U. S. Statutes at Large, pp. 631-635.
§ Report of Indian Commissioner, 1880.
TI Report of the Indian Commissioner, 1873, pp. 18, 200.
♦♦Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1874, p. 19.
ft Revised Indian Treaties, pp. 426-432; 10 U. S. Statutes at Large, pp. 1082-1087
it Revised Indian Treaties, pp. 839-852; 15 U. S. Statutes at Large, pp. 513-529.
EXTINCTION OF RESERVATION TITLES. 93
tense that the owners had died and that he was the heir at law. Many lawsuits
grew out of the attempted fraud.
SHAWNEE.
Perhaps the most important of the Manypenny treaties ratified in 1854* was
that by which the Shawnees surrendered their immense reserve of 1,600,000
acres and received one-eighth of it back again for distribution among the tribe.
The re-ceded tract lay almost wholly within the limits of Johnson county, and its
nearness to the Missouri border made it an inevitable prey to illegal settlement.
Voluntary allotment in severalty was a prominent feature of the treaty, and the
division of the diminished reserve was to be made upon the basis of 200 acres for
every individual, including absentee Shawnees, Shawnees by adoption, females,
minors, and incompetents. Such as preferred it might, as communities, receive
their portion in an undivided quantity; and, at the time of the cession, the fol-
lowers of Longtail and of Black Bob seemed disposed to profit by the arrangement.
Before proceeding to discuss the distribution of the Shawnee land, it might
be well to show how the simple fact of receding to the tribe a one-eighth part of
the original reserve produced trouble for the tax collector. It all turned on the
question whether or not allotment in severalty constituted an extinguishment of
the Indian title. The local authorities of Johnson county were disposed to think
that it did, and that, therefore, the allotted lands of the Shawnees were subject
to state taxation. The holders refused to pay the taxes, however, on the ground
that the land was still Indian, and because, under the act of admission, | the state
had bound itself never to interfere with the primary disposal of the soil.
The case came before the courts for settlement in 1866, and the district judge
for Johnson county rendered a decision adverse to the Indian claim. The In-
dians appealed the case by petition in error to the Kansas supreme court, and it
was there argued that the treaty of 1854, although not expressly stating the fact,
had, by necessary implication, invested the individual Shawnees with an abso-
lute and complete title in fee simple. In other words, it was held that the cession
of the entire tract had been a surrender of the usufruct, or ordinary occupancy
title, and that the retrocession had conferred a new title upon the grantees
which was not merely possessory, inchoate, and non-transferable, but of exactly
the same legal value as that held by the United States and its citizens. Again
the case was appealed on a writ of error, but the second time to the United
States supreme court. J The result was the decision of the state court was re-
versed, its construction of the treaty of 1854 being altogether untenable.
In the winter of 1856-'57, Lot Coffman , a surveyor, was appointed by the federal
government to take a census of the Shawnees and to distribute the land in ac-
cordance therewith. He found that the Longtail families, comprehending twelve
members, now preferred allotments; but that the Black Bobs were still true to
their original purpose. He therefore set aside for them, in the present Aubrey
and Oxford townships of Johnson county, 33,392.87 acres, approximately the
equivalent of 200 acres for each of 167 persons. This tract, lying southeast of
Olathe, has every since been known as the Black Bob land, and has been, as
we shall presently see, the occasion of much legal and political controversy.
The treaty of 1854, in making provision for the absentee Shawnees, who had
gone down to dwell with the southern Indians, stipulated that their individual
grants of 200 acres each should be conditional upon their return to Kan-
*10 D. S. Statutes at Large, pp. 1C53-1063.
1 12 U. S. Statutes at Large, p. 127.
i5 Wallace, 737.
94 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
eas within the space of five years, at the expiration of which time all un-
assigned lands were to be sold. As it happened, the absentees did not return in
due season; so, in August of 18013, President Lincoln issued a proclamation to the
effect that continued absence and non affiliation with the tribe had rendered
their claim nugatory. The lands, which had already been seized, as usual, by
squatters, were ordered to be sold at the land-office in Topeka. The sale did not
take place immediately, however. In fact, it was postponed indefinitely, because
the squatters — the men most interested in the passing of the Shawnee title^ —
were, for the most part, absent in the United States army. After the war was
over, Congress enacted a law, *April, 1809, authorizing permanent and legitimate
settlement.
The main body of the Shawnees took their land in severalty; but the process
of allotment extended through a series of years; and long before some of the
tribe had received their patents, others were ready to sell out and move to the
Indian Territory. Such a condition of affairs was only too evident in 1809, when
all the lands that had been already allotted and patented were put upon the
market. The Indians remained in Johnson county until the early 'TO'sj and
then removed to the Indian Territory, there to be consolidated with the Chero-
kees. Such of their lands as were yet unsold were left in the care of the agency.
During Grant's first term. Dr. Reuben L. Roberts was appointed United States
agent to transact business for the Shawnees and to finish up the allotting of the
land. Henry McBride, of Olathe, acted as his secretary, and assumed almost
complete control of the business. Doctor Roberts being little more than a figure-
head. Under the treaty, the allottees were powerless to convey land without the
consent of the secretary of the interior. This fact, together with the neglect or
incompetency of Doctor Roberts, worked as a first cause to produce some of the
great legal complications that have distracted Johnson county during the last
forty years.
Trusting implicitly in the Indian agent, the settlers formed the habit of pay-
ing his secretary a small fee in order to get him to transmit their Indian deeds to
Washington for approval. In many instances the approved deeds were not re-
turned to the settlers, and additional fees were charged, from time to time, osten-
sibly to hasten official action at headquarters. When at length a barn in which
Mr. McBride kept his papers was destroyed by fire, the settlers insisted upon re-
ceiving their approved deeds ; but were told that the documents had all disap-
peared in the conflagration. This placed the settlers in a fearful predicament.
The Shawnee records were also destroyed, because, when the agent had been
ordered to send them down to the Indian Territory, where the tribe then dwelt,
his secretary had simply sent abstracts and had retained the originals. Strangely
enough, too, the Indian office at Washington had no duplicates or anything to
prove that the settlers were the legal occupants of the land.
As always happens under like circumstances, unscrupulous lawyers took ad-
vantage of the awkward situation, and until Hon. J. D. Bowersock J succeeded
* 16 U. S. Statutes at Large, p. 53 ; Report of the Secretary of Interior, 1878, p. 144.
tBoport of the Indian Commissioner, 1871, p. 497.
t Justin D. Bowersock was born in Columbiana county, Ohio, September 19, 1842. At the
close of his course in Oliio common schools he engaged in business as a merchant and grain
dealer at Iowa City. In September, 1866, he was married to Miss Mary C. Gower. He removed
to Kansas in 1877, settling at Lawrence. He became interested in the water-power, and estab-
lished several manufacturing plants. In 1887 he was elected to the house of representatives,
and in 189.5 to the state senate. In 1898 the Republicans of the second district nominated him
for Congress. He was reelected in 1900, and again in 1902. He also served two terms as mayor
of the city of Lawrence.— Ed.
EXTINCTION OF EESERVATION TITLES. 95
in getting a law passed through Congress to quiet the title, settlers in the region
of disputed ownership, that is, in Monticello, Lexington and Olathe townships,
were at the mercy of all who chose to assail them. One lawsuit after another
summoned them into the court-room, and the pity of it was that no amount of
litigation of that kind could ever settle the point at issue. Without the inter-
ference of Congress the thing might be repeated ad infinitum. An undisturbed
possession of thirty or forty years availed nothing as far as the settlers on the
Shawnee lands were concerned ; for the state law, which gives title after fifteen
years of quiet occupancy, is inoperative when applied to land held under Indian
title. Whatever it may have done once upon a time in Georgia, state law can
never deprive an Indian of his property rights in Kansas.
The material on the Black Bob controversy would make a thesis in itself.
The story is a long one and involves much that is too delicate for consideration
here. During the civil war the Black Bobs fled from Kansas, leaving their
lands open to encroachment and to the unmolested occupation of settlers. Some
people say they were scared into flight by troubles on the border ; others that they
went voluntarily, having never been really satisfied with the location of their
communistic settlement. Settlers on the deserted lands remained in possession
for several years without the payment of taxes on realty or rents of any kind.
Finally the Black Bobs were induced by speculators to petition the general gov-
ernment to allow them to make selections and to receive patents as other Shaw-
nees had done. The prayer was granted ; then came the episode of the Black
Bob frauds.
Speculators, eager for the opportunity, swarmed into the Indian Territory,
hunted up the patentees, and obtained, or professed to obtain, conveyances of a
large portion of the Black Bob reserve. The conveyances were immediately
filed with the secretary of the interior for approval ; but as the settlers, believing
them to be fraudulent, entered a protest, that officer refused to approve them.*
For the same reason, Congress passed an act, July 15, 1870, forbidding the issue
of patents to any more Black Bob allottees. This injected the affair into politics,
and for years thereafter it was an issue that knew no party lines save only those
that its own peculiarly local character determined. Both the speculators and
the settlers maintained a lobby in Washington to procure favorable legislation.
The Indians, having interests distinguishable from those of the white man, hired
a special agent, T. S. Slaughter, of Olathe.
At the time when interest in the Black Bob fraud was at its greatest height,
Sidney Clarke, | of Lawrence, "the tall young oak of the Kaw," was the only
United States representative from Kansas, and the settlers depended upon him
to see that justice was done them. He deferred action from one year to another,
* 16 U. S. Statutes at Large, p. 310.
t Sidney Claeke was born at Southbridge, Worcester connty, Massachusetts, October 16,
1831. His grandfather was an ofiBcer in the revolution, and was present at the surrender of
the British army under General Burgoyne, at Saratoga, and his father served in the war of
1812. Until eighteen years of age he remained on the farm, and then engaged in mercantile pur-
suits. In 1854 he became the publisher of the Southbridge Press. His first vote was cast for
Hale and Julian, in 1852. In the spring of 1858 he came to Kansas, and in 1859 settled in Law-
rence. In 1862 he was elected to the state legislature. In 1863 he was appointed assistant adju-
tant general by President Lincoln, and assigned to duty as acting provost-marshal general for
the district of Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, and Dakota. In 1863 he was made chairman of the
Republican state central committee. In 1861 he was nominated and elected by the Republicans
as their candidate for Congress. He was reelected ic 1866 and 1868, and defeated by D. P. Lowe
in 1870. In 1878 he was elected to the legislature from Lawrence, and was made speaker of the
house in 1879. He has since become a resident of Oklahoma, and is now engaged in the state-
hood movement.— -Ed.
96 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
held 86 lenient, so to speak, in abeyance, in order that he might be elected on
the same issue again and again. He served three terms in Congress, and managed
to do something for distressed settlers in other parts of the state, but never any-
thing for those in Johnson county. The people then supported Stephen A. Cobb
as congressman for two successive elections, and he was similarly inactive. He
came up once more for reelection, but the people had grown weary of empty
promises, void of tangible results, from men of their own political faith, and gave
their support to the Democratic nominee, John R. Goodin. He was elected, and,
in a community where the men were, on national questions at least, nearly all
Republicans of the stalwart type, he carried the vote by an overwhelming ma-
jority. This shows how, independent of party, the settlers were determined to
aecure a man who would truly represent them and their immediate interests. In-
deed, it was commonly reported in those days that Johnson county went Demo-
cratic or Republican according to the politics of the man who, in the heat of
campaign strife, would promise to support the settlers' cause. Goodin, like his
predecessors, promised great things, but accomplished nothing. He failed of re-
election in consequence. Dudley C. Haskell,* a Lawrence merchant, was his
successor; and within twelve months after taking his seat he succeeded in get-
ting a joint resolution adopted which gave the settlers a colorable right of occu-
pancy, and which, by introducing the legal phase eventually settled the whole
matter.
The joint resolution,! which passed Congress March 3, 1879, authorized and
required the attorney-general to cause a suit to be commenced in the United
States circuit court for the district of Kansas for determining the validity of
what were known as the " '69 patents." The United States was made the com-
plainant in the suit, while the speculators holding deeds of conveyance, the
Black Bob band, the individual Indian patentees and the settlers occupying the
land were all made defendants. Geo. R. Peck and J. R. Hallowell, United States
attorney for the district of Kansas, signed the bill as solicitors for the govern-
ment. Later on, W. C. Perry and W. J. Buchan, of Kansas City, Kan., ap-
peared in the case for the settlers; and W. H. Rossington, C B. Smith, A. L.
Williams, C. W. Blair and A. S. Devenney for the speculators. The Indians were
represented by special counsel appointed by the government.
Four years afterwards a "consent decree was entered as to part of the land,
* Dud LEY C. Haskell, was born at Springfield, Vt., March 23, 1842. He was the son of
Franklin Haskell and Almira Chase. The father came to Kansas with the second Lawrence party
September 15, 1854. Dudley C. Haskell came to Kansas with his mother in March, 1855, being
then thirteen years old. The father was mainly instrumental in organizing Plymouth Church,
in Lawrence, and offered the first public prayer on that historic town site. Dudley immediately
became interested in the free-state cause, and enlisted under James H. Lane. In January, 1857,
the father died. In 1857 he returned to Springfield, Vt., to attend school. In 1858 he returned
to Lawrence, and engaged in business. In 1859 he went to Pike's Peak, and prospected for two
years. Upon the breaking out of the war he returned to Kansas and became a master of trans-
portation, and for two years he engaged in the most hazardous service iu Missouri, Arkansas,
Kansas, and the Indian Territory. He participated in the battles of Newtonia, Cane Hill, and
Prairie Grove. In 186',^ he entered Williston's Seminary, Easthampton, Mass., to complete his
education. He graduated from Yale, in the scientific course, in November, 1865, Ho returned
to Lawrence, and engaged iu merchandizing until the fall of 1876. He was elected to the Kansas
legislature in 1872, 1875, and 1876, in this latter session being elected speaker of the house. In
the fall of 1876 lie was elected a member of the forty-flftli Congress from the second congressional
district of Kansas, reelected in 1878 to the forty-sixth Congress, and to the forty-seventli, in 1880.
He served with distinction as a member of the ways and moans committee and as a tariff
leader. He was elected for the fourth time in 1882, but failing healtlj prevented him from tak-
ing his seat. He died iu Washington, December 16, 1883. He was married December, 1865, to
Hattie M. Kelsey, of Stockbridge, Mass.— Ed.
t20 U. S. Statutes at Largo, pp. 488, 489.
EXTINCTION OF RESERVATION TITLES. 97
under which the patents were approved, the speculators' deeds also approved,
and the settlers required to pay to the Indians or to the speculators, as the case
might be, a certain amount of money for every quarter-section occupied." Simi-
lar decrees were entered from time to time as occasion oflFered. All were in the
nature of compromises, although the interests of the settlers and of the Indian
patentees appear to have been sacrificed. It must be understood, however, in
crediting such a remark, that the decrees were merely advisory to the secretary
of the interior as to his duty to approve the deeds. The settlers finally obtained
a clear title at an average price of ten dollars an acre, and it is said that the In-
dians managed to secure about four dollars of that amount. The rest went to
the speculators.
In October, 1890, a similar proceeding was begun in the United States circuit
court for the district of Kansas to settle the title to the remaining Black Bob
lands, and David Overmyer was appointed special master in chancery to collect
testimony. The suit was upon a bill filed by the United States district attorney,
J. W. Ady, under the direction of the United States attorney-general, whose name
was attached to the bill on behalf of the government. There was no consent de-
cree in this case. Overmyer took the depositions of witnesses, and his find-
ings of facts and conclusions of law were afterwards confirmed by Judge Foster.
Voluminous evidence was introduced to show that the deeds had been drawn up
with all due formality, and that a reasonable amount of consideration money had,
in every case, been paid. The decree in the second suit was entered September
7, 1895.*
WYANDOT.
In the early part of March, 1855, a treaty f with the Kansas Wyandots went
into effect, whereby each member of the tribe was invested with the right of
claiming citizenship under the laws of the United States. The significance of
such a provision can be fully appreciated only by bearing in mind the general
superiority of the Wyandots to most of the Indian emigrants. As is well known,
they had considerable political ability ; and in 1852, when the organization of a
Kansas territory was the subject of discussion, it was their leading men who
called for the election of delegates to Congress, and William Walker, first pro-
visional governor, was one of their number.
The citizenship clause was, nevertheless, only an incidental feature of the
treaty of 1855. It was necessarily so, because other clauses provided for the dis-
position of much-coveted soil. The thirty-nine-section reserve was ceded to the
general government, and then, almost in its entirety, reconveyed to the tribe un-
der a new and better title, i. e. , declared open to allottment on a fee-simple patent.
Of the lands not reconveyed, some were to be consecrated as a common burying-
ground, and the rest, eighty acres, transferred to institutions. A slight revival
of the old promise — the redeeming feature of so many Indian treaties — that the
reservations should always remain outside the limits of a state or territory, was
seen in the concession that Wyandot patented lands should be exempt from tax-
ation "for a period of five years from and after the organization of a state gov-
ernment in the territory of Kansas."
The most peculiar thing about the Wyandot treaty of 1855 was its division of
the Indians into two classes, competents and incompetents, according as they
were capable or incapable of managing their own affairs. The land granted to
the competents was held by an absolute and unconditional title in fee simple,
* Report of David Overmyer, Special Master in Chancery, Journal S, United States Circuit
Court, pp. 159-190.
t Revised Indian Treaties, pp. 1022-1028; 10 U. S. Statutes at Large, pp. 1159-1164.
98 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY,
and its future conveyance required no outside approval whatever. The lands of
the incompetents were to be inalienable for five years and to be patented at the
discretion of the commissioner of Indian affairs, but the courts decided that as
soon as the restrictions had been removed title by prescription might be ac-
quired.* The competent Indians seem to have had a decided advantage over
their less fortunate kindred, and there is some suspicion that the division into
two classes was a scheme for the abler members of the tribe to make away with
the property of the others. Heads of families took land in severalty for their
wives and children and were held to possess the fee-simple title to the whole.!
In fact, minor children remained incompetents after coming of age. J As time
went on, however, both competents and incompetents became so impoverished
that they were glad to avail themselves of the omnibus treaty of 1869 § and emi-
grate to the Indian territory. Before going the competents wisely destroyed the
books of the council in which the guardianship records were kept.
KAW.
If Council Grove had been made the capital of territorial Kansas, as Governor
Reeder wished, the Kaw reserve would have been one of the first opened to set-
tlement. As it was, all efforts to negotiate a cession previous to 1859 failed. In
October of that year, Alfred B. Greenwood, who had been especially commissioned
to treat with the Kaws, called them together in executive session without notify-
ing the local agent of his intention. That in itself was a suspicious circumstance
and might have been taken as a premonition that all was not well. As soon as
the Indians were assembled. Greenwood presented a treaty that had been secretly
drafted by the Indian ring in Washington, and provided for the sale of 150,000
acres under sealed proposals to the highest bidder. As soon as the terms of the
treaty became known, the settlers were aroused and measures were set on foot to
defeat its ratification. Rush Elmore, a federal judge, was sent as a delegate to
Washington and succeeded in getting the senate to amend the treaty so as to re-
imburse the unintentional trespassers on the Kaw reserve for the loss of their
improvements.
The treaty was ratified in 1860.]f It provided for a division of the original
reservation into trust and diminished reserve lands. Out of the latter, which
lay in the southwest corner, nine by fourteen miles in extent, allotments were
to be made in severalty. Each head and member of a family, each single adult
male, and each of thirty-four half-breed Kaw children, residing on the north
bank of the Kansas river, had the privilege of selecting forty acres, which they
were to hold as inalienable property under certificate title. The trust lands were
to be appraised immediately and advertised for sale under sealed proposals. The
settlers were not made aware of the amount of the official appraisement, but an
employee of the Interior Department volunteered some information which they
concluded to act upon. He pretended to be their friend, and gave them certain
figures which they supposed equaled the value placed by the government upon
the trust lands. Great, then, was their chagrin when they found that he had
deceived them and had caused them to offer bids that were too low by only a few
cents. A speculator named Bob Corwin offered a few cents more and obtained
nearly the whole of the coveted lands. The fraud was so evident that the bids
ware rejected and new proposals called for.
*Schrimpcher v. Stockton, 58 Kan. 758.
t Summers v. Spybrick, 1 Kan. 370.
J Frederick v. Gray, 12 Kan. 399.
§ Revised Indian Treaties, p. 844 ; 15 U. S. Statutes at Large, pp. 516, 517.
TI12 U. S. Statutes at Largo, p. 1111.
EXTINCTION OP RESERVATION TITLES. 99
In the meantime H. W. Farnsworth negotiated a new treaty, supplementary
to that of I860.* It was proclaimed in March of 1863, and although its avowed
object was the relief of the men who had ignorantly settled prior to the Mont-
gomery survey, it availed them little, because it stipulated that they should be
reimbursed for their improvements in Kaw land scrip; that is, in certificates
which had a cash value, and, indeed, were supposed to be receivable as cash in
payment for the Kaw trust lands. The scrip soon depreciated, and the settlers
holding it were rarely able to realize more than fifty cents on the dollar.
In 1863 Congress passed an actf which authorized the president to treat for
a removal of all the Kansas tribes to the Indian Territory. Excitment ran high
in Morris county, and there was so much party feeling between the settlers and
the speculators that nothing could be done. A treaty was negotiated, it is true,
in 1866, which provided that the southern branch of the Union Pacific, now
known as the Missouri, Kansas & Texas railroad, should have the privilege of
buying all the unsold trust and diminished reserve lands. The treaty was sent
to the senate and "hung fire for six months." The people of Kansas were be-
ginning to object seriously to monopolistic control of Indian lands, and their com-
plaints echoed and reechoed throughout the length and breadth of the land,
Hon. Sidney Clarke, of Lawrence, took up the settlers' cause and eventually
succeeded in procuring the rejection of the treaty.
The excitement was not quieted, however, and Senators E. G. Ross and S. C.
Pomeroy were urged repeatedly to bring pressure to bear upon Congress, so as to
force the Kaw lands upon the market. In 1871 emigrants went to Morris county
in great numbers, and the demand for the extinguishment of the Kaw title grew
ever more fierce and bitter. In 1872 the trust lands were appraised, preparatory
to a sale; but again the appraisement proved unsatisfactory to the settlers and
was set aside. In July, 1876, Congress authorized a new appraisment,J which,
being made in the following year, enabled the Kaw lands to pass without further
trouble into the hands of actual settlers. The Indians had already emigrated to
the Indian Territory.
CHIPPEWA AND MUNSEE.
The treaty of 1860, made§ with the Chippewas of Swan creek and Black river,
divided their reservation, which lay about forty miles south of Lawrence, into
two parts, the ceded and the reserved. The former consisted of 3410 and the
latter of 4880 acres. Out of the reserved land assignments in severalty were
made, not to the Chippewas alone, but likewise to the Munsees, or Chris-
tians, who had a short time before agreed to pay $3000 for a share in the Chip-
pewa reserve of thirteen sections. The allotments in severalty comprised tracts
not exceeding forty acres for each member of a family and for each orphan
child, and tracts not exceeding eighty acres for each unmarried person not con-
nected with a family. The assignments having been made, there remained a
surplus of about 1428 acres, which was appraised in 1865, preparatory to a sale.][
The sale began in 1871, and the Chippewas then asked permission to sell such
lands as were held by certificate title and to move to the Indian Territory.**
In 1896, the Department of the Interior reeommer.dedjt that the Chippewa
* 12 U. S. Statutes at Large, p. 1221.
tl2 U. S. Statutes at Large, p. 793.
± 19 U. 8. Statutes at Large, pp. 71-76.
§ Revised Indian Treaties, p. 229; 12 U. S. Statutes at Large, pp. 1105-1109.
r Report of the Indian Commissioner for 1865, p. 45.
**Report of Indian Commissioner for 1871, p. 462; ibid, for 1876, p. 75.
tt Report of the Interior Department, House Documents, 12, p, 62,
100 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
and Munsee allotted lands be patented and their remaining vacant lands sold.
For that purpose final action was urged upon house bill No. 7569, introduced at the
preceding session of Congress. The ninth section of the Indian appropriation act,
approved June 7, 1897, thereupon provided* that, "with the consent of the In-
dians, a discreet person should be appointed to take a census of the Chippewa
and Munsee Indians, of Franklin county, to investigate their individual title to
the several tracts of land within their reservation for which certificates were is-
sued under the treaty of 1859-'G0." The act of Congress further provided for
the issue of patents in fee to those entitled to receive them, for the appraisement
and sale to the highest bidder of the residue lands, and for the distribution per
capita of the trust funds credited to the Indians on the books of the United
States treasury. The Chippewas and Munsees were duly notified of this legisla-
tion and were convened in general council to act upon it. Both men and women
debated. t Hon. C. A. Smart, of Ottawa, now district judge for the coun-
ties of Douglas, Franklin, and Anderson, was appointed special commissioner.
In March, 1901, a large part of the Chippewa and Munsee lands were sold at
public auction at the Topeka land-office, J and final payment was made to the
Indians at Ottawa November 5, 1901.
SAC AND FOX OF MISSISSIPPI.
The Sacs and Foxes of the Mississippi band from Illinois and Iowa made a
treaty of cession in 1860, § by which they ceded in trust to the general government
"all that part of their reservation lying west of range line 16, comprising about
.300,000 acres," and retained 153,600 acres as a diminished reserve.]] The treaty
of 1860 conceded head rights by assignments of land, which were to be inalienable,
except to the United States or to other members of the Sac and Fox tribe. The
lands of the diminished reserve were to be disposed of in this wise: Every full-
blooded Indian was to receive eighty acres, and the agent 160, while another quar-
ter-section was to be set aside for the establishment and support of a school.
The Sac and Fox trust lands included "all that territory lying south of the
Marais des Cygnes, and extending to Coffey county and into Osage county. "** The
treaty provided that, after 320 acres had been given to every half-breed, and to
every squaw married to a white man, the remainder of the trust lands should be
sold under sealed bids for the benefit of the Indians,!! and especially for the liqui-
* Report of InteriorDepartment, House Documents, 13, p. 404; 30 U.S. Statutes at Large, p. 92.
t Reports of the Indiaa Commissioner, 1897-'98, p. 78.
$ Kansas City Star, October 27, 1901.
§ Revised Indian Treaties, pp. 762-767; 15 U. S. Statutes at Large, pp. 467-471.
1[ Charles R. Green, of Lyndon, Kan., who is engaged in writing a book on the "Tales and
Traditions of the Marais des Cygnes Valley," describes in Cia-rent Remark, February 20, 1896,
the Sac and Fox cession as comprising the western twelve miles and the eastern six miles of the
original reserve. He says, further, that the six-mile strip of 76,800 acres lay almost entirely
within Franklin county, and seems never to have been offered by the general government to
actual settlers, but was soon allowed to be appropriated by speculators. Chief among those
speculators was John P. Usher, secretary of the interior under Lincoln, and William P. Dole,
commissioner of Indian affairs. Judge Usher was, as his wife is at present, a resident of Law-
rence, and afterwards owned an extensive farm near Pomona. J. H. Whetstone, who was coo
of the founders of that town, purchased 15,000 acres of the Sac and Fox trust lands.— Ed.
**Ottawa Republican, October 4, 1877.
tt A largo part of the trust fund was expended, contrary to the wishes of the Indians, in the
the erection of about 1.50 little stone houses. Some sharpers, led by Robert S. Stevens, it a
later time a represenative in Congress from New York, secured the building contract. When
the houses were completed, the Indians sold the doors and windows for whisky, and used the
frames as stables for their horses. A similar story is told of the Kaw Indians, and, strange to
say, Stevens seems to have been the prime mover in both affairs.
EXTINCTION OF RESEKVATION TITLES. 101
dation of their debts. Accordingly, some time in that same year, they were sur-
veyed, but it was not until late in 186J: that the secretary of the interior invited
sealed bids. "A good many bids were offered by persons then residents of the
territory ; but those men were either overbid by parties at Washington or awarded
lands of an inferior quality for which they had made no bid. Hugh McCuUoch,
the comptroller of the currency, W. P. Dole, commissioner of Indian affairs, and
John G. Nicolay, Lincoln's private secretary, apfieared among the bidders."
The largest bidder was John McManus, of Reading, Pa., who sold the land
awarded to him to Slyfert, McManus & Co., an iron manufacturing corporation.
The McManus purchase was the largest ever made in Kansas on individual ac-
count.
In 1868 the Sacs and Foxes* concluded another treaty,! by which they ceded
directly all that remained unsold, not only of their trust lands, but also of their
diminished reserve, excepting 4096 acres of the latter, which, upon approval of
the secretary of the interior, were to be patented to individuals, as were also the
lands granted in 1860 to half-breeds. In consideration for the direct cession, the
United States agreed to pay the Indians one dollar an acre and to extinguish
tribal debts amounting to about $26,571 plus the accumulated interest. J The
Indians thereupon prepared to emigrate to the Indian Territory. Some of them
had gone in 1867. § By 1871 all but one chief, Mokohoko, and his band, had de-
parted from Kansas.^
* Revised Indian Treaties, pp. 767-775 ; 15 U. S. Statntes at Large, pp. 495-504.
t A peep behind the scenes reveals the fact that a few whites, among them Perry Fuller, of
Ottawa, and some of the most prominent citizens of Lawrence, plotted to secure possession of
the "four-mile strip," situated in the fine bottoms of Quenemo. It is commonly reported that
these men brought about the intoxication of Chief Moses Keokuk, and then obtained, or pro-
tended to obtain, his signature to the treaty of 18B7-'68. After a time he recovered his senses,
but they were already on their way to Washington and the treaty was ratified before he could
enter a protest. Keokuk then brought a suit in Osage county for a thousand dollars damages
against the agent, Dr. Albert Wiley. The money was paid, in order to prevent further dis-
closures. The Indians were so enraged at the fearful fraud which had been practiced upon
them that they tried to kill the interpreter, George Powers, for his share in the matter.
iThe Indian office in 1865 recommended that the unallotted lands should be sold in liquida-
tion of debts. Report of Indian Commissioner, 1865, p. 383,
§ Report of the Indian Commissioner, 1871.
IT The story of Mokohoko, sad as it is, gives a touch of romance to a history that would
otherwise be filled with the recital of shameful episodes only. By the regular succession of
Indian chiefs, Mokohoko ought to have succeeded Black Hawk; but a usurper, commonly
called "Old Keokuk," to distinguish him from his grandson, John Keokuk, of Indian literary
repute, contested his rights, and was sustained in his own pretensions by the main body of the
tribe. When the Sacs and Foxes of Mississippi were banished from Iowa, whither they had re-
treated after the Black Hawk war, Mokohoko refused to recognize the authority of Keokuk,
and instead of going to the reservation on the Marais des Cygnes, joined the Cheyennes. Later
on he became reconciled; but in the fall of 1866 took opposite sides with Keokuk against the
Indian agent, Maj. H. W. Martin. This brought up again the old question of precedence in
rank. The trouble called for a trial before a commission sent out from Washington. H. P.
Welsh, of Ottawa, Kan., was employed as attorney by the disaffected Indians, Keokuk sup-
ported Major Martin, and the court rendered a decision adverse to Mokohoko. When the time
came to approve the treaty of 1867-'68, Mokohoko positively refused to annex his signature, and
obstinately held out against removal. The main body of Sacs and Foxes went south, but
Mokohoko and his band hung around the old home like disconsolate spirits.— Paul Jenucss, in
J^ansns Home JVeii's, January 2, 1880. In November, 1875, when federal troops were sent to
compel removal, the Indians yielded to force and went, but returned immediately. Mokohoko
died in the summer of 1870. His followers were grief-stricken and lingered around Quenemo,
keeping a lonely vigil over the exiled chieftain's grave. After a time many of them wandered
down to the Indian Territory. Those who stayed in Osage county worked for the neighboring
farmers, but in 1886 the troops were again sent to escort them to their friends. They have
never since returned.
102 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
POTTAWATOMIE. '
In 18G2 the United States made a treaty* with the three bands of Pgttawato-
mies that had settled in the eastern part of the first Kaw reserve. Thereupon
the blanket Indians, known as the Prairie band, severed their connection with
the other two bands, the Mission (or Christian) and the Woods, f and received
77,440 acres — eleven square miles — as their share of the tribal domain. The
other two bands, the "citizen Pottawatomies," were allotted land in severalty —
<)40 acres to each chief, 320 to each head man, 160 to each other head of a family,
and eighty acres to each other person. Two institutions were granted 320 acres
each. The residue was offered under the treaty to the Leavenworth, Pawnee &
Western Railroad Company, but no sale was successfully made. In 1867, by an-
other treaty,! a new home was provided for that portion of the citizen Pottawato-
mies, chiefly of the Mission band, that had not yet acquired a personal ownership,
while the land originally intended for their individual use was transferred to the
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad Company at the price of one dollar an
acre, the amount to be paid, not in gold, but in lawful money — that is, in green-
backs.
The disposal of the Pottawatomie lands contained a departure, new in several
respects, from that hitherto followed in releasing Kansas soil from the Indian
encumbrance. Under the treaty of 1862, certificates of allotment were issued,
with the restriction that they be non-transferable except to full-blooded Potta-
watomies. The treaty of 1868 provided that patents might be issued to the hold-
ers of the allotments and that the head of a family might receive the patent for
the lands of his family. For the first time in the history of Kansas, an Indian
was obliged to go before the courts and be citizenized, by a process similar to the
naturalization of an alien. Thereupon he received a patent free from all condi-
tions. A very important question arose, and one of vast practical interest, as to
whether the head of the family took an absolute title to the lands of his family
or only held them in trust. The supreme court of Kansas and the United States
circuit court § held thai, the title of the patentee was absolute. Another novel
provision was ' aat the Indians might resort to the state law to determine heir-
ship. Thus it would seem that the provision by which patents could be issued
was a contrivance of the Indian ring to put the land into the hands of a few per-
sons, so that it could be more easily disposed of. The probate courts were used
as parties to the scheme of plunder. The estates of living Indians absent in Mex-
ico were administered upon and sold.
During the civil war a good many of the Pottawatomies took refuge in Mex-
ico, and while they were absent their estates were administered upon as though
the owners were dead. Several cases ^1 bearing upon the subject were brought in
the United States circuit court for the district of Kansas and dismissed by the
plaintiff without prejudice. The condition of affairs was as follows:
"A memorial purporting to be signed by certain Pottawatomies concerning
their grievances was presented to Congress, and referred to the committee on
* 12 D. S. Statutes at Large, pp. 1191-1197.
jMrs. Sarah Baxter, daughter of the Pottawatomie missionary, Rev. Robert Simerwell,
says, in a memorandum presented to F. G. Adams, late secretary of the Kansas Historical So-
ciety, that the names of the three bands were, respectively, the Prairie, St. Joseph, and Wabash.
1 15 U. S. Statutes at Large, pp. 531-538.
§Veale v. Maynes, 23 Kan. 1-19.
'] United States v. Mkoiiua wakahwsot et al. ; United Statos v. Zebaqna ct nl. ; United States
V. Tabahsug e« ai.; United States v. Kahwsot e< a2.; and United States v. Mazhenahnummuk-
skuk et al.
EXTINCTION OF RESERVATION TITLES. 103
Indian affairs. Complaint was made that certain parties had obtained posses-
sion of the lands of those Pottawatomies through forged deeds, and had obtained
money from the United States by reporting the Indians dead and obtaining let-
ters of administration on their estates.
"In 1871 the business committee of the Pottawatomie tribe filed in the oflBce
of Indian affairs a certain list and certificate, in which it was represented that
patents ought to be issued in the name of the absentees, in order to prevent the
destruction of the timber on their estates.. Thereupon President Grant, acting
with the advice of the secretary of the interior, on the 15th of April, 1872, issued,
under the treaty of 1867, patents to the Pottawatomies reputed to be dead. One
of these patents was issued to Mokoquawa, a woman of the family of which Kahw-
sot was the head, who, being an adult female, was entitled to the beneficial pro-
visions contained in the third article of the treaty of 1861, as those provisions
had been extended by the supplemental article in the treaty of 1866. If she had
been really dead, the title would have accrued to the benefit of her heirs by vir-
tue of the provisions of the act of Congress of May 20, 1836; but as she was not
dead, it passed to and vested in her, not as mere donee of the government, but as
a purchaser, the United States retaining no beneficial interest in the estate, either
legal or equitable.
" Some years later it was rumored that the absent Pottawatomies were yet
alive; and Oliver H. P. Polk, a man of honorable character, as attested by pa-
pers on file in the Indian ofiice, went to Mexico, found the missing Indians liv-
ing with the Kickapoos, and bought their allotments in Kansas. The deeds
given him were certainly not forged, for the Mexican government superintended
the sale. On Polk's return to Kansas, he sold the Pottawatomie lands to Messrs.
Mulvane and Smith, who in turn sold them to actual settlers.
"After the purchase, the United States filed its bill in equity in the circuit
court for Kansas against both the Indians and the purchasers, asking that the
patent issued to the Indians be canceled and the title revested in the United
States. To this bill the defendants put in a general demurrer, on the ground
that the facts stated in the bill did not entitle the cjmplainant to the relief
prayed for. The bill in equity did not pretend to deny tae ho}ia fides of the
parties concerned, but proceeded on the theory that the patents were void for
purely technical reasons. While the suit was pending, Congress passed an act
confirming the conveyance from the absent Pottawatomies, providing it had been
made in good faith and for a valuable consideration, whereupon the suit was
dismissed." *
The Prairie band of Pottawatomies did not emigrate with their kindred to the
Indian Territory. They still live upon a reserve which has been greatly dimin-
ished in acreage since the date of its first assignment. It is situated in Jackson
county, north of St. Marys, or about twelve miles north of the Kansas Pacific
railroad. Nearly all of the lands,! much to the disfatisfaction of the older
Indians, have been allotted; but there still remain 16,000 acres of surplus land,
constituting a tract which is likely to become a subject of contention in the near
future, and there seems to be a growing sentiment in the tribe favoring its sale. J
This compulsory allotment, if it might be called such, is in accord with the
spirit of the congressional enactment of 1890, whereby the Pottawatomies were
directed to select their tracts in severalty before the 1st of September, 1894.
Some of them declined to do bo.§
* Brief of Shannoa & Williams, solicitors for the defendants.
t The Commomcalth, April U, 18*5.
t Reports of Indian Commissioner, 1874; p. 38, 1877; report of the Indian agent, Ho. Docs.
1897-'9«, pp. 13, 151.
gTopeka Daily Capital, September 20, 1894.
104 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
OTTAWA.
In the opening years of the civil war the Ottawa reserve, lying almost in the
center of Franklin county, was besieged by prospective settlers, and once again
the enterprise of white men sounded the knell of Indian progress. The Ottawas
were at first indignant at the influx of the foreign population and then resorted
to a novel expedient to obtain relief. The experience of their race, if not their
own shrewdness, had taught them two things: First, that, as against the greed of
the land-shark, the tribal occupancy of the Indians is little more than a tenancy
at will; secondly, that the individual holding is not a guaranty of security, suf-
ficient to warrant its adoption, unless it is accompanied by citizenship, because,
when separated from the rights conferred by citizenship, it is the shadow without
the substance. Here was a dilemma. Allotment, from its temporary nature,
was not worth the effort necessary to secure it as an alternative to removal, and
citizenship was, perhaps, more than the federal authorities would be willing to
concede. At this juncture two men appeared upon the scene who were destined
to illustrate, in its most glaring form, the miserable farce of government guard-
ianship over an alien race, Although Wm. P. Dole was the person regularly
commissioned to arrange matters with the Ottawas, Isaac S. Kalloch, superin-
tendent of the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston Railroad Company, and C.
C. Hutchinson,* from interested motives, it is believed, "engineered the treaty
of 1862, "t a treaty which marks an epoch in Ottawa history, because its provi-
sions, dealing for the most part with citizenship and the disposition of land,
caused no end of trouble to the reservees.
The first article of the treaty of 1862 indicated the means by which the Otta-
was hoped to protect themselves from future intrusions. It stipulated that,
within five years from the date of ratification, all individuals of the united
bands of Blanchard's Fork and Roche de Boeuf should be admitted to full and
free citizenship in state and nation. This was a provision wider in its scope, be-
cause more immediate in its operation, than that in the Pottawatomie treaty
concluded a few months before. Its constitutionality may well be questioned,
inasmuch as citizenship is coincident with naturalization, and naturalization
ie admittedly an exercise, not of the treaty-making, but of the law-making
power. This was not a serious objection, however, and in the particular case
under consideration does not seem to have been raised at all. Indian treaty-
making, at best, was a questionable prerogative, and can be defended only on
the supposition that the end always justifies the means.
The article on citizenship was introductory to the articles that followed. It
was the fundamental one — the one without which they amounted to little, but
from which the Ottawa beneficiaries confidently trusted a great deal would come.
The 72,000 acre reserve, after being surveyed, platted into eighty-acre tracts, and
diminished by a grant of five sections which was to be distributed in full council
among chiefs, councilmen, and head men, was to be subject to allotment in
severalty under the issue of patents in fee simple. The allotments were of two
sizes — quarter-sections for heads of families and half quarter-sections for every
other individual in the tribe, presumably males and females, competents and in-
competents, minors and adults, share and share alike.
The provision in the treaty which caused the Ottawa controversy of later
*C. C. Hutchinson was United States agent for the Ottawas at the time, and thns was in
a position to carry the treaty through. The real purpose of Hutchinson and Kalloch was to
obtain a town site at the Oiiio City crossing of the Little Osage river, where Ottawa now stands,
and to speculate with both the town lots and the Indian lands.
tl2 U. S. Statutes at Large, pp. 1237-1243.
EXTINCTION OF RESERVATION TITLES. 105
years was that which stipulated for the endowment of a school with 20,000 acres,
plus an additional section, which was to be inalienable, and which was to consti-
tute a site for the erection of buildings. The 20,000 acre endowment was itself
not inalienable; but a board of trustees, created for purposes of supervision,
was somewhat limited in its power to sell any part of it. The proceeds from
sales were to be invested so as to constitute a principal that could never be di-
minished. The interest only was to be available for current expenses.
The intention of the Indians, and the understanding of all who were in any
way concerned with the negotiation of the Ottawa treaty of 18G2, was that the
school so endowed should be devoted exclusively to the education of Ottawa
youth. If white children partook of its benefits, it was to be supposed that the
Baptists, since that denomination controlled the religious affairs of the tribe,
would contribute an equal amount, so as to double the endowment. The treaty
did not so specify; but aa Kalloch, with the help of the American Baptist Home
Missionary Society, proceeded forthwith to raise between $30,000 and $iO, 000, os-
tensibly for the erection of buildings, it would seem that he at least, one of the
leading spirits of the whole concern, was fully cognizant of the tacit agreement.
As soon as Kalloch returned from New York, whither he had gone to solicit aid
from the Baptist Home Missionary Society at its headquarters, he undertook the
management of the school fund, and with the ready assistance of C. C. Hutch-
inson, the special United States agent to superintend the division of the Ottawa
land, started to erect the main building.
It would be too long a story to describe how the Ottawa Indian school fund*
was diverted from its purposes. Kalloch was a long time in erecting his build-
ing; and, in 1870, the Ottawas emigrated, under the omnibus treaty, to the In-
dian Territory. That of itself would not have prevented their participation in the
benefits of their own endowment, because article 6 of the treaty of 1862 ex-
pressly declared that, no matter where they might wander, their rights in the
school should follow them and should never pass away. It is generally believed
that the conditions of the school were changed when the Rev. Robert Atkinson
assumed control in place of Kalloch, who had been forced to resign by the Bap-
tist Home Missionary Society. Atkinson had probably no intention of depriving
the Ottawas of their vested rights; for immediately on his appointment he went
down to the Indian Territory and induced about twenty young girls to return
with him to the school. Besides, later on, we find him, on more than one occa-
sion, standing up for the Ottawa rights against the dishonesty and trickery of
Hutchinson.! The act of Congress of March 3, 1873,J provided for the winding-
up of the Indian connection with Ottawa University, and in the process many
prominent citizens of Kansas so manipulated things that the Indians received
practically nothing from all that was left of the original endowment.
*The Kansas State Historical Society has two pamphlets relating to this suit, "The argu-
ment of Henry Beard, attornej' of the university, before Jacob D. Cox, secretary of the interior,
August 2, 1870," and "Reply of tha Ottawa University, presented to the United States senate
April 20, 1871," by Henry Beard.
tWhen the time came to settle the Ottawa accounts, C. C. Hutchinson was $42,000 behind,
and three men (Enoch Hoag, the Quaker. superintendent of Indian affairs, A. N. Blackledge, a
Lawrence lawyer, and Kalloch) devised a scheme to release him from all responsibility. They
went down to the Indian Territory and called an Ottawa council meeting for May 14, 1870. At
that meeting they distributed the regular annuities and then opened up the subject of the
Hutchinson shortage. The Indians did n't comprehend just what was wanted of them, and Hoag
made them believe, if they released Hutchinson, that they would win in the Ottawa University
case and receive the $42,000 from the United States government. He was careful not to refresh
their memories with the fact that only a short time before the Interior Department had rejected
a receipt which Hutchinson had managed to inveigle from the all too credulous Indians.
^17 U. S. Statutes at Large; pp. 623-625.
106 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
A controversy of less importance, but none the less interesting, because it il-
lustrates the unreliability of government agents, grew out of the fifth article of
the treaty of 1862, which conditionally nationalized the outstanding debts of the
Ottawas to an amount not exceeding $15,000. The condition imposed was that
the claim." should be acknowledged by the Indians and confirmed by the secre-
tary of the interior before any obligations to pay should be laid upon the govern-
ment. The Cusick claim was the one that raised the difficulty. Doctor Cusick
kept a store at Peoria City, and had an account against the Indians for something
between $13,000 and $14,000. Doctor Cusick died before the Indians had, under
the treaty, recognized the indebtedness, and his son and heir became adminis-
trator of the estate.
Thinking that the federal government was responsible for the Indian debt,
young Cusick employed attorney L. B. Wheat, of Leavenworth, to secure a judg-
ment for damages. The court decided that the obligation to pay had not yet
rested upon the United States, and could not so rest until the Indian sanction
had been given. Cusick then applied to Col. John Deford, of Ottawa, to secure
the sanction, but that gentleman declined to act in the matter. Col. C. B.
Mason likewise refused, and referred Cusick to Doctor Glover as the person most
influential with the Indians and the one most familiar with their affairs. Doctor
Glover undertook the task and straightway proceeded to the Indian Territory,
where he secured the Ottawa acknowledgment of the debt. It was made out in
writing, and forwarded to Enoch Hoag, and thence to the commissioner, at Wash-
ington. Hoag received an immediate instalment from the secretary of the in-
terior, but failed to pay it to Cusick. On the contrary, he placed it to his own
credit in the bank, and for the space of three years repeatedly denied, in corre-
spondence with Doctor Glover, that he had ever received anything from the
government. In 187-1 Doctor Glover requested Stephen A. Cobb,* representative
in Congress, to make inquiries respecting the Cusick claim at the office of the
Department of the Interior. Cobb did so, and found to his surprise and that of
Doctor Glover that the account had long since been canceled and the claim
satisfied.
CHEROKEE.
During the war of the rebellion some of the Cherokees joined with other
southern Indians in furthering the cause of the confederacy, and, as a conse-
quence, the federal government, in 1866, justified its demand for a cession, urging
as an excuse that all treaties had been abrogated by the war and that the prop-
erty of the conquered was open to confiscation. f The Indians yielded the point
and consented to surrender, not only Oklahoma, which was to be a place of ref-
uge for the Indian freedmen of color, but also the whole of their Kansas land.
Under the terms of the treaty of 186G, Secretary Harlan made a contract with
a Connecticut corporation — the American Emigrant Company — by which the
whole of the neutral lands was to be disposed of for a very nominal sum. His
successor, O. H. Browning, declared the contract void, because the purchase-
money had not been paid down, and then, with strange inconsistency, negotiated
one with James F. Joy, president of the Kansas City, Fort Scott & Gulf Railway
♦.Stephen Alonzo Cobb was born at Madison, Somerset county, Maine, June 17, 1833. He
graduated in Providence, R. I., in 1858, and read law in Beloit, Wis. In 1859 he moved to Kan-
sas, settling at Wyandotte. In 1862 he was elected mayor, which place he resigned to enter the
army. He rose to the rank of lieutenant-colonel. In 1868 iie was again elected mayor of Wyan-
dotte. He was a member of the senate in 1869 and 1870, and speaker of the house of representa-
tives in 1872. In the fall of 1872 he was elected to Congress. He was defeated for a second term.
He died August 25, 1878.— Ed.
+ Revised Indian Treaties, p. 85; 14 U. S. Statutes at Large, pp. 799-809.
EXTINCTION OF RESERVATION TITLES. 107
Company, that was open to the same objection. A supplement to the Cherokee
treaty of 1SG6* tried to prevent litigation and to harmonize conflicting interests
by arranging that the Aaaerican Emigrant Company should transfer its contract
to Joy, and the latter should assume all the obligations of the former. Eugene
F. Ware says this treaty was ratified while only three senators were present, and
that it was a gross infringement upon the preemption rights of the settlers,
inasmuch as it related back to the Harlan sale and cut off all intermediate occu-
pants of the land. The Cherokee strip was not sold until after the passage of
the act of May 11, 1872, t which authorized its sale and determined the price. All
land east of the Arkansas river was to be sold for two dollars an acre, and all land
west for one dollar and fifty cents.
OSAGE.
The Osages and Cherokees were apparently pretty well out of the reach of the
very early settlers in Kaneas. In 1867 the Osages consented to a division J of
their reservation, and four distinct tracts were laid off. The ceded lands, being
those that passed directly to the federal government for §300,000, comprised a
strip thirty by fifty miles in extent, lying immediately west of the Cherokee neu-
tral lands. The trust lands extended along the northern part of the reservation
throughout its entire length. The deeded lands were sections that had been
usurped by settlers, and were offered in 160 acre tracts to the equatters at a
minimum price of a dollar and a quarter an acre. The diminished reserve com-
prehended all that was left.
In 1868 another attempt was made to secure land from the Osages. The re-
sult was the notorious Sturgis treaty, which emphasized the settlers' grievance
that Indian land, instead of becoming public domain, passed to corporations.
Constitutionally this was an invasion of the powers of Congress, because it antici-
pated and blocked the power of the legislatuve branch over the territory of the
United States. Colonel Taylor, the commissioner sent out from Washington,
allowed Wm. Sturgis, president of the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston
railroad, to be the controlling spirit inducing the Osages to sell their entire di-
minished reservation, estimated to contain upwards of eight million acres, to the
company which he represented, at an average price of twenty cents an acre.
Col. Geo. H. Hoyt,§ the attorney-general of Kansas, was hurried off to Washing-
t)n by the incensed state officials to defeat the treaty, and Congressman Sidney
Clarke exposed it in the house so forcibly that the senate was obliged to reject it.
This was the last attempt in Kansas to convey Indian land by treaty, and, in a
great measure was the cause of the abandonment of the treaty- making policy
in 1871.]!
The Osage ceded lands were a source of much contention. In March, 1863,**
Congress passed an act granting land to the state of Kansas to aid in the con-
* J. B. Grinnell's Men and Events of Forty Years, pp. 378-383.
tl7 U. S. Statutes at Large, pp. 98, 99.
t Revised Indian Treaties, p. 584; 14 U. S. Statutes at Large, pp. 687-693.
§ George H. Hoyt v^as born at Athol, Mass., in November, 1837. He died February 2, 1877,
aged thirty-nine years. He studied law in Boston, and came to Kansas in territorial days. He
enlisted as second lieutenant of John Brown's company K of the Seventh Kansas, and was
made captain, but resigned on account of ill health. He became lieutenant-colonel of the Fif-
teenth Kansas. In 1866 he was nominated and elected attorney-general, and in 1867 he was ed-
itor of the Leavenworth Conservative. In 1868 he was a mail agent, and in 1869 resigned. He
returned to Athol in 1871. In 1859, at the age of twenty -two, he was one of the counsel for John
Brown, at Harper's Ferry.— Ed.
*; Act of March 3, 1871, U. S. Statutes at Large, p. 3G6.
**12 U. S. Statutes at Large, pp. 772-774.
108 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
struction of certain railroads, and among them was the Leavenworth, Lawrence
& Galveston. In July, 18G6,* an act of similar tenor was passed, making the
Missouri, Kansas & Texas railroad the beneficiary. When the Osage treaty of
1867 came to the senate, it was amended so as to recognize the force of those
acts, and in virtue of that senate amendment the two railroads, in passing through
the Osage lands, claimed alternate sections for ten miles on each side of their re-
spective tracks. The odd-numbered sections were accordingly certified to them.
This precipitated a political controversy of great magnitude. The secretary of
the interior, O. H. Browning, supported the corporations, and his opinion was
sustained by the attorney-general of the United States. The settlers called im-
mense mass meetings, organized resistance societies, and pledged themselves to
appeal to the courts and to support no candidate for any political office what-
ever who was not an adherent of their cause. They contended that the acts of
1863 and 1866 covered grants in prcnsenti, and could not be applied to lands that,
at the time of their passage, were reserved under treaty guaranties to Indian
tribes. After many disappointing failures, Sidney Clarke succeeded in getting a
joint resolution passed through Congress in April, 1869, which seemed to promise
success to the settlers' cause, but both Browning and his successor, Cox, were
determined to recognize the validity of the railroad claim.
In 1871 the case was thoroughly argued before the Department of the Interior.
Judge William Lawrence appeared as counsel for the settlers, and B. R. Curtis
for the railroads. Atty.-gen. W. H. Smith was appealed to, but in the end Sec-
retary Delano decided for the corporations. Then a suit was commenced, October,
1S70, in the district court for Labette county — James M. Richardson v. M. K. & T.
Railroad. Maj. H. C. Whitney, of Humboldt, acted as attorney for the settlers,
but, on being accused of mismanaging the case, handed it over, February, 1871,
to Messrs. H. C. McComas and J. E. McKeighan, of Fort Scott,
The first suit in the local court was dismissed on a technicality. Others were
instituted, but withdrawn because the settlers had decided to seek a hearing in
federal courts. The impression prevailed, however, that the United States had
no jurisdiction in the matter; so the Kansas legislature memorialized Congress,
in order that a bill might be passed authorizing action. On December 17, 1873,
Senator Crozier acted upon the memorial bj' introducing into the senate a bill em-
powering the attorney- general to bring suit in the United States circuit court
against the two railroads"}"; but, without waiting for any such authority, George
R. Peck commenced action. The settlers employed Governor Shannon, Judge
Lawrence and the Hon. J. Black as additional counsel. Judgment was rendered
in October, 1874, J and the railroad patents were ordered to be canceled. An ap-
peal was made on a certificate of error to the United States supreme court, but
the decree of the lower court was in every point affirmed.
The Osage ceded lands were then in a fair way to become the property of
actual settlers, and as the joint resolution of April 10, 1869, § had expired by limi-
tation. Governor Shannon outlined a bill which should enable the settlers to ob-
tain a title. The bill was pushed through the house by John R. Goodin,][ and
* 14 U. S. Statutes at Large, pp. 289-291.
t Congressional Record, pp. 41-43; vol. 2, pt. I, pp. 254-257.
t92U. S. 733.
§16 U. S. Statutes at Large, pp. 55, 56.
^ John R. Qoodin was born at Tiffin, Seneca county, Ohio, December 14, 1836. The father,
John (jdodin, was county treasurer for several terms, state senator in Ohio, and agent for the
Wyandot Indians at Upper Sandusky. John R. Goodiu was admitted to the bar in 1857. In 1858
he was married tu Miss Naomi Monroe. In 1859 they settled in Humboldt, Kan, He lost every-
EXTINCTION OF RESERVATION TITLES. 109
finally became a law August 11, 1876.* The Osage diminished reserve was dis-
posed of under act of Congress, 1870, f and, in the same year, the Indians con-
sented to remove to the Indian Territory. J
The Osage reserve seems to present the first instance of the disposal of Indian
land by act of Congress. The Indian title had invariably been extinguished
and the lands secured by white men without any regard having been paid to the
school sections. In his inaugural message of January 14, 1863, Gov. Thomas
Carney called attention to this fact; and the first move in the right direction
was taken by the joint resolution of April 10, 1869, which stipulated that the
sixteenth and thirty-sixth sections in every township of the Osage ceded lands
should be reserved to the state for school purposes, according to the provision of
the act of admission. Several years afterwards ex-Gov. Samuel J. Crawford
managed to obtain as indemnity from the federal government "an amount of
public land equal to all the sixteenth and thirty-sixth sections in the Indian res-
ervations, plus five per cent, in cash for all the Indian land sold for cash." §
A general survey of the Indian cessions subsequent to 1854 shows : First, that
the cessions corresponded fairly well to the " great wavesof immigration," and that
they were nearly always made in groups— 1854, 1860, 1863, and 1867; secondly,
that, in practice, there have been several ways of extinguishing the reservation
title — by direct cession in fee to the general government for a consideration, by
cession in trust, by direct sales to individuals or to corporations, by conditional
grants in severalty, by patents without restrictions, and by the preemption of
lands already occupied by settlers. All have, however, resulted in removal, and
the departure of the Osages was a very fitting close to the story of Indian colo-
nization west of the Missouri river. Remnants of three tribes— Pottawatomies,
Chippewas, and Kickapoos— still remain in Kansas; but their identity is almost
obliterated. Never, never again will the Ishmaelites of the desert know the wild,
free life of the Kansas prairie. The broad plains east of the Rockies are closed
to them forever.
thing he had in the raid on Humboldt. In 1866 he was elected to the Kansas legislature. In
1867 he was elected judge of the district court, and reelected in 1871, which position he filled
until February, 1875, when he resigned to take a seat in Congress. He was a Democrat in an
overwhelming Republican district, and could not secure a second term in 1876. He died Decem-
ber 18, 1885.
*19 U. S. Statutes at Large, p. 127.
tl6 U. S. Statutes at Large, p. 362.
i Topeka Record, September 17, 1870.
§ Kansas State Historical Collections, vol. 5, pp. 09-71,
110 KANSAS STATE EISTORIOAL SOCIETY.
BLACK KETTLE'S LAST RAID — 1803.
An address by Hill P. Wilson,* of Hays City, before the Kansas State Historical Society,
at its twenty-seventh annual meeting, December 2, 1902.
THE conquest of the frontier, that began with the settlements upon the
shores of the Atlantic and the Pacific, was completed by the construction
of the Pacific railroads. They spanned the wastes that lay between the eastern
and western civilizations and abolished the border.
The remnants of the aborigines, who had vainly contested the occupation of
their country, vaguely realizing the peril of their situation, engaged in a final
attempt to resist the invader. Pathetic, because of its hopelessness and insig-
nificance, would, perhaps describe this effort. There was some leadership, and
individual exhibitions of courage and skill that placed in history the names of
Geronimo and Red Cloud, Chief Joseph, Roman Nose, and Sitting Bull, along
with those of the most illustrious of their race. These chiefs gave battle in a
hundred places in the Southwest, and they made memorable the Lava Beds,
Fort Phil. Kearny, Arickaree Fork, the Washita, the Rose Bud, the Little Big
Horn, and Wounded Knee. As to the leaders on our side, Crook and Miles won
their stars; Canby and Custer won fame and — monuments.
The writer was the post trader at Fort Hays at the commencement of this
X)eriod of war. The post, in its isolation, was like an island in the sea. The un-
inhabited wastes stretched away to the south hundreds of miles and to the north-
ward to the pole. The summer winds from these quarters came not then, as
now, laden with the odors of alfalfa blooms and the fragrance of newly mown
hay; they blew not among the branches and foliage of fruit and ornamental
* Hill Peebles Wilson was born at Williamsburg, Blair county, Pennsylvania, Septem-
ber 20, 1840. He was educated in the common schools there and at the Williamsburg Academy,
and at the Chestnut Level Academy, in Lancaster county. His paternal ancestors were English
and Scotch, and on his mother's side Irish and Dutch. His great-grandfather, Jacob Bower, was a
captain in the " flying squadron," Pennsylvania cavalry, in the war of the revolution. Mr. Wilson
commenced his career at eleven years of age as a farm hand, and at sixteen began teaching school.
During the war he served as first sergeant of company B, One Hundred and Twenty-fifth regi-
ment, Pennsylvania volunteer infantry, which was mustered into the service for nine montlis,
August 11, 1862, and assigned to the army of the Potomac. Its service included the second bat-
tle of Bull Run, August 28 and 29; South Mountain, September 14; Antietam, September 17;
Fredericksburg, December 11, 12, and 13, 1862; and Chancellorsville, May 1, 2, and 3, 1863. The
regiment won distinction and a monument at Antietam, sixteen days after it had been mustered
iu. The site of the latter, assigned to it by the United States Antietam Battle-field Board, Brig.-
gen. A. E. Carmen, chairman, is located 100 yards west and north of the Dunker church. It
marks the most advanced position into the rebel lines gained by any regiment iu that battle.
The design of the monument is a soldier with the colors, facing south. It is intended to repre-
sent Sergeant Simpson, of company C, the first of four color-bearers killed in the battle. In
April, 1864, Mr. Wilson went to Nashville in the employ of the quartermaster's department,
under Lieut. S. H. Stevens, Chicago board of trade battery, A. A. Q. M., in charge of depot and
river transportation. The employees were organized into a regiment for the defense of the city,
and Wilson was appointed captain of company I. Later he was assigned to the United States
steamboat Echo, as clerk, and " ran the river," the Ohio, the Cumberland, and the Tennessee,
until June, 1865. The guerrillas that infested the banks of these streams Ajade the service iiiter-
esting. In January, 1865, at Breckenridge Landing, Ky., this boat was captured by them, but
saved from destruction largely through Wilson's diplomacy. In .June, 1865, he resigned his posi-
tion with Stevens to accept tliat of general agent for Col. S. R. Hamill, assistant quartermaster
United States army at Nashville, in ciiarge of United States military roads, military division of
the Mississippi. Hamill was a Williamsburg man, and was serving on the staff of Maj.-gen.
Qeo. H. Thomas. In August, 1867, he resigned his position with Hamill and came to Fort Har-
BLACK kettle's LAST RAID. Ill
trees, nor over fields of ripening corn. The sod was unbroken west of Ellsworth
county.
Denver, 350 miles distant, was the nearest Western settlement, and less than
100 miles of the distance could be covered by rail. We stood in awe of this
silent, trackless country, void of any animated thing in sympathy with us or our
civilization. Toward the north 100 miles the desolation was broken by a band
of men laying the rails of the Union Pacific railway. Toward the south 100
miles away the old Santa Fe trail stretched its sinuous line among the sand-
hills of the Arkansas.
It was from the depths of these southern solitudes that Black Kettle came
with his band to strike a blow against his enemies, the white settlers upon the
border. The teepees that sheltered the dusky families of these warriors stood in
the grassy bends of the Washita, 300 miles away, and they counted them safe
against any reprisals the white man might undertake to make. The fashion
then prevailed among the Indians, when in the vicinity of a military post, to
"come in" and hold a "powwow" and, incidentally, work the commanding offi-
cer for provisions, and trade any skins or furs they had to the post trader for
luxuries.
On one occasion of this kind, the Otoe chief American Horse offered the
writer his daughter, the Princess American Horse, in marriage. I mention this
incident not in a boastful spirit, but as a historical fact. It would give me pleas-
ure to write that my personality had so impressed the stalwart aborigine that the
offer came clear as the morning, and upon a silver platter; but to be historically
accurate, there was a string to the proposition — a stipulation that I should give
him ten sacks of flour and ten sides of bacon. However, it should be borne in
mind that eligible young men were at a premium in that country then, and flour
and bacon came high.
There were no squaws in Black Kettle's band, which numbered about forty
braves; as miserable a lot of dirty, half-clad, sullen savages as can be imagined.
ker, Kan. (now Kanopolis), in the employ of Capt. Geo. W. Bradley, assistant quartermaster
United States army. Later Bradley was relieved by Bvt. Maj. Henry Inman, captain and as-
sistant quartermaster United States army. Supplies being urgently needed by the garrisons at
Forts Hays and Wallace, and by the troops guarding the stations of the Overland Stage Com-
pany, Inmau decided to send the stores by rail, along with the ties and rails, to "thff end of the
track" of the Union Pacific Railway, E. D., then building into Ellis county, and transfer
them there, on the prairie, to wagon-trains for final destination. Wilson was assigned to take
charge of this work, and reported with a cook and three "A" tents, at the cut west of Victoiia,
that being the end of the track. The troops guarding the track-Jayers were a company of the
Third infantry, under Lieut. J. H. Hale, and company I, of the Tenth cavalry, under Capt. Geo.
W. Graham, and Wilson pitched his tents with them. After the arrival of the track at Hays
City, October 10, 1867, upon the request of Lieut. Wm. I. Reed, Fifth United States infantry, A.
A. Q. M., Wilson was transferred from the quartermaster department at Fort Harker to Fort
Hays. In 1868 he was appointed post trader at Fort Hays, by General Sheridan, who at that
time had his headquarters there, directing the campaign against hostile Indians. He was re-
appointed post trader under the "Belknap dynasty," in 1870. He was elected county commis-
sioner of Ellis county in 1872, and as chairman of the board built the first court-house erected
in that county ; elected county treasurer in 1877; appointed postmaster at Hays City in li78;
established the Bank of Hays City in 1879, of which he was president until 1890; elected sena-
tor for the fortieth senatorial district in 1888; appointed receiver of the United States land-
office at Wa Keeney in 1891 ; appointed assistant secretary of state in 1899, which position he now
occupies. He made the first homestead entry in Ellis county, in 1870, while Geo. W'. Martin was
register of the land-office at Junction City, and.in 1873 sowed the first wheat in that county. In
1901 Mr. Wilson compiled and edited a publication entitled "Eminent Men of Kansas" — a
quarto of 650 pages; the Kansas historical article and the sketch of Gov. Charles Robinson,
written by him, with which the book opens, being particularly strong. Mr. Wilson was married
January 20, 1880, to Mary Victoria Montgomery, daughter of W. P. Montgomery, Esq. They
have three children, Esther Mary, Hill Peebles, jr., and Eleanor Jane. The two latter are
students in the Kansas University,
112 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
They came into the post and claimed to be good Indians. All Indians were
good when they wanted to be so, but the opinion prevailed on the border that the
only really good Indians were the dead ones.
The traditional powwow was held, as a matter of course, and on this occasion
the function was eminently successful.
The big chief, with about a dozen or more of his principal warriors trailing be.
hind him, strode into the post headquarters' room, and with commanding ges-
tures formed them in a circle, seated on the floor, their legs crossed in front, and
then, with great unction, they proceeded with the ceremonial of "smoking the
pipe of peace." The farce was executed by their passing around the circle to the
right a lighted pipe with a long stem. Beginning with Black Kettle, each In-
dian, as his turn came, took a few short whiffa at it, and then a full, deep, long
draft; then taking the pipe from his mouth he blew the smoke, with great effect,
far away and high into the air. After each had thus smoked, and all had grunted,
Black Kettle arose, with great dignity, and facing the commanding oflBcer, Maj.
John E. Yard, Tenth United States cavalry, made a speech.
He was a grand specimen of physical manhood, as all the chiefs of blanket In-
dians were. Among them the fittest ruled, and the fittest were the strongest.
The speech was "reported" by Lieut. H. Walworth Smith, Seventh United
States cavalry — "Salty" Smith. The officers called him "Salty" because he
had been a sailor, and to distinguish him from Lieut. Algernon E. Smith, Seventh
cavalry. ("Salty" afterward deserted from the regiment, and Algernon was
killed with Custer at the Little Big Horn.)
Black Kettle said, in part: "Black Kettle loves his white soldier brothers,
and his heart feels glad when he meets them and shakes their hands in friend-
ship. The white soldiers ought to be glad all the time, because their ponies are
so big and so strong, and because they have so many guns and so much to eat.
We would like to be white soldiers, but we cannot, for we are Indians; but we
can all be brothers. It is a long way that we have come to see you, hunting the
buffalo. Six moons have come and gone and there has been no rain; the wind
blows hot from the South all day and all night ; the ground is hot and cracked
open; the grass is burned up; the buffalo-wallows are all dry; the streams are
dry; and game is scarce. Black Kettle is poor, and his band is hungry. He
asks the white soldiers for food for his braves and their squaws and pappooses.
"The Sioux have gone on the war-path, but Black Kettle will not follow their
trail. All other Indians may take the war-trail, but Black Kettle will forever
keep friendship with his white brothers."
The braves all ratified these sentiments with affirmative node and grunts, and
we all shook hands with Black Kettle, and congratulated him on his speech,
which made him look very proud and very happy. The success of the function
was made complete by the major, who directed the commanding officer, Lieut.
David Q. Rousseau, Fifth United States infantry, to issue to them ten sides of
bacon and ten sacks of flour, with a liberal allowance, of beans, coffee, salt, etc.
They were as delighted as stoics ever can be, and that night, August 7, 1868,
they had a royal gorge. In the morning they were gone. Three days later their
hands were red with the blood of their "white brothers."
On leaving Fort Haye the Indians moved eastward, and camped that night on
the Saline river, north of where Russell now stands. The second night out they
camped on the Saline, near the mouth of Spillman creek, in Lincoln county, and
on the next day began their murderous work. They ran off the stock, burned
the cabins, and killed or carried away every settler they found upon Spillman
creek. Then, crossing the divide, they entered the Solomon valley, and camped
near the Great Spirit spring, Waconda. From thence they moved eastward, and
BLACK KETTLES LAST RAID. 113
upon reaching the settlements continued their work of murder and devastation.
Fifteen persons were killed in this raid and five women made captives. Then,
crossing the divide into the Republican valley, they went westward with their
prisoners and plunder.
Immediately the military establishment became active in an eflfort to protect
the frontier from further incursions. Troops were dispatched from Fort Harker,
the present site of Kanopolis, then the headquarters of the military district of the
upper Arkansas, to patrol the border. The state of Kansas was called upon for
a regiment of cavalry, and the Nineteenth Kansas was organized and equipped in
response thereto; the governor of the state, Samuel J. Crawford, resigning his
oflBce to take command of it.
In addition to these troops, on August 24 Maj. George A. Forsythe, brevet
colonel United States army, was directed by General Sheridan, at Fort Harker,
to "employ fifty first-class frontiersmen for six months," to be used as scouts
against the hostile Indians. Lieut. F. H. Beecher, Third United States infantry,
was assigned to duty with Forsythe as subordinate officer. Within two days
thirty men were enrolled: on the 26th they moved by rail to Fort Hays, where
the remainder were enlisted, and on the 29th the cpmmand was mustered into
the United States service, and reported to General Sheridan for duty armed,
mounted, and equipped for the field. Dr. J. H. Moores, of Hays City, was as-
signed to duty with the scouts as acting assistant surgeon.
Under orders from General Sheridan, who had now established the head-
quarters of the department of the Missouri at Fort Hays, Forsythe marched his
troops in a northwesterly direction, crossing the Saline and south fork of the
Solomon to the Beaver, and from there proceeded to Fort Wallace, where he
arrived September 5,
Refitting his command here, Forsythe moved eastward thirteen miles to Sheri-
dan, then the end of the track of the Kansas division of the Union Pacific rail-
way, where a band of Indians had attacked some freighters, killed two of them,
and burned their outfits. Taking the trail of these Indians, Forsythe followed
it westward to the Arickaree fork of the Republican river. Although no In-
dians had yet been sighted, the trail had widened into a broad, well-beaten road,
and gave ample notice that the scouts were pressing close upon a very large body
of them. So m.uch was Forsythe impressed that he deemed it prudent to go
into camp and rest and graze his horses, in anticipation of the impending strug-
gle. They were not kept long in suspense. At daylight next morning, Septem-
ber 17, the Indians began the attack by attempting to stampede the herd, which
was frustrated. Realizing now the peril of his situation, Forsythe quickly moved
his men onto a small island in the dry bed of the river, which afforded the ad-
vantages of some shelter and water. The prompt execution of this movement
alone saved the command from utter annihilation.
The Indians came in swarms over the adjacent bluffs and from the ravine,
and within a few minutes a thousand painted warriors had completely encom-
passed the island. They were under the command of Roman Nose, a Cheyenne
chief, who directed the maneuvers with great skill and courage. For several
hours they directed a continual fire upon the scouts, which only slackened to
enable some adventurous band to attempt to force the position by assault. The
Indians' fire was returned with great spirit and every assault repulsed with ter-
rible slaughter.
Maddened by the failure of his repeated efforts to destroy this trifling band of
white men, Roman Nose massed about 300 of his best warriors and, mounted,
personally led them in the most spectacular assault in the history of Indian war-
—9
114 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
fare. The scouts, armed with the Spencer repeating carbine, held their fire until
the Indians were close upon them, when they poured volley after volley upon the
savage hordes with murderous effect. At the fifth volley Roman Nose was killed,
and fell from his horse. With the loss of the chief the assault failed ; the serious
fighting was then over; the scouts had won; the Indians, discouraged, with-
drew out of close rifle range.*
The fighting had been fast and furious since daylight. The Indians were
beaten, but the plight of the scouts was critical. Forsythe had received two se-
vere wounds — his right thigh had been shattered by a bullet and his left leg
broken below the knee. Beecher and Moores were both killed, and thirty of the
sc9uts had been killed and wounded. The latter, because of the death of the
surgeon, received no medical attention. All the horses were dead and the pro-
visions exhausted. They were ninety miles from Wallace, the nearest point from
which relief could come, and were surrounded by a thousand bloodthirsty sav-
ages. Two of the scouts volunteered to steal through the Indian lines in the
night and carry a message, on foot, to Fort Wallace. They succeeded, and the
remnant of the command was rescued on September 26 by the arrival of Capt.
Louis H. Carpenter, with a company of the Tenth United States cavalry.
The Indian forces now broke up into small bands and retired into the soli-
tudes of their winter camping-grounds.
In the meantime the War Department had decided to attempt a winter cam-
paign against the hostiles; to seek them out and surprise them in the security of
their winter quarters, and administer such punishment as would deter them
from committing further depredations upon the settlements.
So much importance attached to this movement that General Sheridan re-
mained in the field, with his headquarters at Fort Hays, and assumed personal
direction of the campaign.
In support of his operations, the Nineteenth Kansas regiment, cavalry, here-
tofore referred to, was equipped and ordered to report to him at a point to be
established in the Indian Territory (Camp Supply). At the same time an expe-
dition was organized at Fort Dodge under the command of Bvt. Brig.-gen.
Alfred Sully, lieutenant-colonel Third United States infantry. It was made up
of the Seventh United States cavalry, under Maj. Joel H. Elliott, a battalion of
the Third United States infantry, and the remainder of Forsythe's scouts, under
Lieut. Silas Pepoon, Tenth United States cavalry.
The expedition moved south during the latter part of September, but its
operations were not satisfactory to Sheridan. It was advancing into what was
then an unexplored region, occupied by hostile Indians, and Sully proceeded
cautiously — too much so to meet the views of his impetuous commander, who
thereupon applied to the honorable secretary of war to have Bvt. Maj. -gen.
George A. Custer, lieutenant-colonel Seventh United States cavalry, assigned to
duty with his regiment, so that he might ultimately be placed in command of
the expedition. This dashing cavalry leader was at the time serving out a sen-
tence, to wit, "loss of rank and pay for one year," imposed upon him by a
general court-martial, for absenting himself from his command without au-
thority.
It came about in this way : During the summer of 1867 Custer had led his regi-
ment against the Indians in northwestern Kansas. Starting from old Fort Hays,
at the mouth of the north fork of Big creek, he traversed the valleys on the
head waters of the Saline, the Solomon and the Republican rivers. Upon re-
*A thrilling account of this battle, written by General Forsythe, was published in Harper's
Monthly for June, 1895 ; also by Winfield Freeman, in the sixth volume Kansas Historical Collec-
tions, pages 349-357.
BLACK kettle's LAST RAID. 115
porting at Fort Wallace, he heard of the ravages of the cholera at Forts Hays,
Harker, and Riley. The general's wife was at the latter post, and, prompted by
solicitude for her welfare, he left the regiment under command of a subordinate
officer, and with an escort of 100 men, under Captain Hamilton, made a hazard-
ous march of 200 miles to Fort Harker, then the western terminus of the Union
Pacific railway. For this breach of military discipline he was tried, and sen-
tenced as aforesaid.
Acting upon the request of General Sheridan, the unexpired portion of Cus-
ter's sentence was remitted. After reporting to Sheridan at Fort Hays, Custer
joined his regiment with Sully's command, south of the Arkansas.
November 12, 1868, the column moved south into the Indian country; estab-
lished the post, Camp Supply, about 100 miles south of Fort Dodge, and began
the search for Indian villages. " Boots and saddles " was sounded on the morning
of the 23d, and the troopers set out in a blinding snow-storm that had begun on
the 22d. On the morning of the 27th, Major Elliott, in command of a battalion of
the regiment, struck the trail of a war party. As soon as the information reached
Custer the whole command was put in rapid pursuit, and continued with but one
short halt until one o'clock a. m. on the 28th, when the camp of the Indians was
discovered by one of tke Osage guides, whose quick ear heard the distant barking
of a dog. The column immediately halted, and, after the guide had located the
village, the officers, leaving their swords behind, to avoid the possibility of mak-
ing a noise, were taken forward to a position from which they could see the loca-
tion of the village and the adjacent ground. After withdrawing from this advanced
position the plan of attack was quickly decided upon. The troops were divided
into four detachments. Two of them were ordered to make a detour of several
miles and unite below the village; another was to attack from the right; while
Custer, with three companies was to lead the attack from the position the troops
then occupied. Upon arriving at their positions they were to await the dawn and
the signal for the attack to begin, which was to be given by the band playing
"Garry Owen."
Signaling the band to play, Custer at the head of his column, galloped down
through the village, his troopers firing right and left upon the startled savages
as they rushed from the teepees. No quarter was shown in this battle, and it
continued as long as there were any warriors left to fight. It proved to be Black
Kettle's camp, and he and all his warriors were killed, except a few who got
away between the forces of Benteen and Elliott below the village. Many squaws
and children, too, were kilted and wounded, being unavoidably struck by the in-
discriminate firing. It was a terrible slaughter; a terrible vengeance for Indian
atrocities.
The battle being ended. Black Kettle's herd, numbering 500 ponies, was
rounded up, and after the captured squaws had been allowed to select as many
animals as they required to carry them, their children, and their household ef-
fects, the remainder were killed, the teepees were taken down, and with the camp
equipment were placed in piles and burned, making the destruction of the vil-
lage complete.
At this time a new danger developed. Black Kettle's camp was only the first
of a series of Indian camps in the valley of the Washita. These Indians heard
the firing, and in due time as many as 1000 warriors in battle costume swarmed
upon the adjacent hill. They were prudent, however, and fell back wlien at-
tacked, but promptly reformed when the troops were withdrawn. In one of
these encounters Maj. Joel H. Elliott and fourteen enlisted men were killed.
The finding of their bodies and their interment were accomplished by a subse-
116 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
quent expedition. Capt. Louis M. Hamilton was also killed, and Col. Albert
Barnitz shot through the lungs.
A train of thirty wagons, with the camp equipage, rations, and forage, was
coming up on the trail under an escort of eighty men, and there was great dan-
ger that it would be discovered and destroyed by the Indians that now menaced
Custer. To divert attention from that direction and to deceive the Indians,
Custer put his troops and prisoners in motion down the valley toward these In-
dian villages. The ruse was successful; the Indians galloped with all possible
haste to protect their homes; then, as soon as night began to fall, he faced about
and marched rapidly back on his trail to meet the train.
The command arrived at Camp Supply on December 2 without further inci-
dent. Reports of the battle and the victory had been sent by the scouts to
General Sheridan, who was there to meet and congratulate the officers and men
of the splendid Seventh cavalry. Custer made the most of the occasion by ar-
ranging a spectacular parade, passing in review before the general in the follow-
ing order :
First, the Osage guides and trailers in war costume, by turns chanting their
war-song, giving the war-whoop, and firing their guns.
Next came Forsythe's scouts, riding abreast.
Then the Indian prisoners, more than 100, made widows and orphans by the
battle, all mounted on ponies and fantastically dressed. After them the band of
the Seventh cavalry, playing "Garry Owen."
Then Colonel Cook, with the regimental sharpshooters.
Then the regiment, in column by platoons, followed by the wagon train, in
charge of Regimental Quartermaster-sergeant Geo. R. Craig, now president of
the Bank of Natoma. It was a triumphal march, typical of Custer, that day the
proudest soldier on the planet.
At this time Cueter was reenforced by the arrival at Camp Supply of the Nine-
teenth Kansas cavalry, under Colonel Crawford, and, with General Sheridan
along, set out on the 7th of December to complete the conquest of the re-
fractory tribes. To assist in communicating with the Indians, he took with him
three of the captive squaws, to wit: Mah-wis-sa, Black Kettle's sister; Mo-na-
se-tah, a daughter of Little Rock, who had been killed in the fight, and an elderly
Sioux squaw.
On the battle-field of Washita the mutilated bodies of Elliott and his men
were found and buried, except the body of Major Elliott, which was taken to
Fort Arbuckle. The Indians had collected their dead for burial rites, and in
cases where squaws and children had been killed, their bodies were placed be-
side those of their warrior husbands or fathers. The bodies of a white woman
and her child, about two years old, were also found in the adjacent abandoned
Cheyenne camp. The woman had been shot in the head and the child's head
crushed by striking it against a tree.
At Fort Cobb negotiations were had with the Kiowas, Arapahoes, and
Apaches, resulting in the return of these tribes to their reservation. The Chey-
ennes, however, kept beyond the reach of communication, and Custer, with the
Seventh cavalry and the Nineteenth Kansas, to the command of which Col.
H. L. Moore,* of Lawrence, had succeeded, set out March 2 to bring them to
terms. After many days' marching the Cheyenne camp was overtaken on the
Sweetwater.
Mak-na-wis-sa had made it known that two of the white women taken pris-
*Seo the address of Col. Horace L. Moore, "The Nineteenth Kansas Cavalry," sixth volume
Kansas Historical Collections, pages 35-52.
BLACK kettle's LAST RAID. 117
oners by Black Kettle in the Solomon valley, to wit, Mrs. Morgan and Miss
White, were with this band. It was therefore not prudent to attack them, lest
the Indians should kill the prisoners. Diplomatic relations were therefore estab-
lished with them, and negotiations begun for the release of the women and the
return of the band to their reservation. It soon became evident that the Indians
intended to avoid the issue and get away ; therefore, one day while holding a
consultation with them, Custer surrounded the party with a force of armed
cavalrymen, seized four of the principal men, and held them prisoners. One of
thpm was released later, and returned to the tribe with the message that the
other three. Fat Bear, Dull Knife, and Big Head, would not be released until
Custer's demands had been complied with. Still there was delay, the Indians
hoping to receive something valuable in exchange for the women. Custer then
made to the three chiefs his ultimatum, namely, that if the white women were
not delivered in safety at his camp by sundown next day all three would be
taken out and shot. This proved to be "good medicine," for at sundown next
day the two women, half starved and clothed in gowns made of empty flour sacks,
were brought into the camp.
The return march began next day. From Camp Supply the women were for-
warded via Fort Hays to Minneapolis, Kan. The troops proceeded to Fort Hays,
where the Nineteenth Kansas was mustered out of service, and the three Indian
chiefs held as prisoners were turned over to the commanding oflBcer at Fort
Hays. The squaws and children of Black Kettle's band had been sent to Fort
Hays and confined in a large stockade, built for their reception. The chiefs
were placed in the stockade with them, but later, fearing an attempt would be
made by the tribe to release them, it was decided to confine the chiefs in the
guard-house. When the detail appeared to take the Indians out of the stock-
ade, the latter supposed they were to be taken out to be tortured and killed,
whereupon they attacked the guard. Fat Bear driving a knife deep into the back
of Sergeant Hogan, Fifth infantry, sergeant of the guard, inflicting a dangerous
wound; whereupon there was a scrimmage; the guard fired; Big Head and a
squaw were killed ; Fat Bear was run through the body with a bayonet and died
three days later ; Dull Knife was wounded, but recovered.
Later in the summer, the Cheyennes having returned to their reservation and
promised to be good, Dull Knife and the remainder of the Indian prisoners were
released and restored to their tribes.
Custer's operations struck terror to the hearts of the Cheyennes and broke
the spirit of all the southern Indians. He not only annihilated Black Kettle's
band of 130 warriors, killed their ponies, burned their village, and carried off
their squaws and children prisoners, but followed the remainder of the tribe, in
midwinter, into the remotest fastness of their retreat and compelled them to
surrender their white prisoners without ransom, and carried off three of the
principal chiefs as hostages for the prompt return of the tribe to their reserva-
tion.
The white man's vengeance was swift and terrible, but it won permanent
peace and immunity from Indian atrocities for the settlers on the Kansas
frontier.
118
KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
REPORTS FOR 190,3.
SECRETARY S REPORT TO ANNUAL MEETING.
DURING the period beginning July 1, 1902, and closing June 30, 1903,'.there
have been added to the library 2947 volumes of books, 6516 unbound volumes
and pamphlets, 1467 volumes of newspapers and periodicals, 2117 single news-
papers and single magazines containing matter of historical interest, 19 maps,
atlases, and charts, 358 manuscripts, 92 pictures and other works of art, 736
miscellaneous relics. Thus k) the library proper, of books, pamphlets, news-
papers, and periodicals, during the period of twelve months, have been added
10,930 volumes. Of these, 10,700 have been procured by gift and exchange and
230 by purchase.
Below are shown the total accessions to the library, by years, since the begin-
ning:
Yeae.
Volumes
books.
Volumes
newspapers
and
periodicals.
Pamphlets.
Total
yearly
accessions.
Yearly
total
of the
library.
1876
1877
1878
1879
-1880
1881
1882
1883
1884
1885
1886
1887
1888
1889
1890
1891
1892
1893
1894
1895
1896
1897
1898
1899
1900
1901
1902
1903
Totals
280
115
1,237
290
448
414
1,669
307
732
1,088
1,772
753
866
1,269
991
719
1,464
709
751
1,020
1,444
854
1,835
951
1,073
743
630
2,947
27,371
54
150
710
275
448
875
513
403
807
678
1,573
1,007
988
1,053
1,100
1,280
1,219
1.197
1,579
1,248
1,566
1,337
1,321
1,545
1,481
1,412
607
1,467
27.393
74
501
1,184
491
1,146
1,127
2,721
1,088
2,763
2,033
7,975
1,543
7,707
2,248
2,960
4,591
3,119
1,968
3,378
1,462
4,852
2,351
3,135
4,932
2,069
2,590
2,781
6,516
79,305
408
766
3,131
1,056
2,042
1,916
4,903
1,798
4,302
3,799
11,320
3,303
9,561
4,570
5,051
6,590
5,802
3,874
5,708
3,730
7,862
4,542
6.291
7,425
4,623
4,745
4,018
10,930
408
1,174
4,305
5,361
7,403
9,319
14,222
16,020
20,322
24,121
35,441
38,744
48,305
52,875
57,926
64,516
70,318
74,192
79,900
83,630
91,492
96,034
102,325
109,753
114,376
119,121
123,139
134,069
These figures show the largest increase for a year in the past seventeen years.
In the fall of 1902, Hon. John Martin gave his library to the Society, of which
1648 volumes were placed on our shelves, while duplicates were shipped away.
Many accessions came through the government from Porto Rico, Cuba, the Phil-
secretaey's annual report. 119
ippines, and Hawaii, and the catalog work we are at, being in the nature of tak-
ing stock, developed many things missing, and suggested others, for which we
searched, adding completeness and value to the whole. In the past there has
been much criticism about drawing a line, but it has ceased — the duty of one
handling books for the public is to make the sets as complete as possible, because
the world has become so large, and wants and tastes so varied, that to draw a
line would mean distraction. The expenditures of the Society show the style of
books we buy, only 230 volumes per year, while 10,700 were by gift or exchange.
Excepting a rare lot like John Martin's, the books under the head of gifts come
from the government, other states, and from historical, charitable and other
societies, doing business in all parts of the world, upon whose mailing list this
Society appears. Without an accurate count, I should say the United States
government sends us an average of three volumes a day. The duplicate room
mentioned elsewhere has no doubt added much to our accessions, since it is
practically an exchange bureau for Kansas documents and other books. The
state has established a great business in charge of this Society; the world is
going faster and doing more each day, and the state will keep up with less com-
plaint each year.
The additions to the museum during the year have been of more than ordi"
nary character. Mrs. Maude Whitmore Madden, wife of Eev. M. B. Madden,
contributed a Japanese collection of unusual interest. There are sixty-eeven
articles, representing all phases of that interesting people. Mr. and Mrs. Madden
are Topeka folks, who spent seven years in mission work in Japan. Sergt. Wm.
L. McKenzie, of company C, Third Wisconsin Cavalry, since the war a prominent
farmer in Wyandotte county, gave to the Society a pistol with which he killed
two guerrillas, Frank Fry and Bill Rader, and one horse, in the Baxter Springs
maeeacre, October 6, 186.3. James F. Getty, of Kansas City, Kan , has deposited
the certificates of the Wyandotte Town Company, redeemed by title to lots and
restored to the original stubs. Mrs. Isabel B. Hinton, widow of Col. Richard J.
Hinton, forwarded us about 412 letters from prominent men in all parts of the
country, and about fifty photographs of John Brown and his men. Mrs. Susie
J. Searl, widow of A. D. Searl, has donated the transit, tripod and chain with
which her husband surveyed the town sites of Topeka and Lawrence. As Mr.
Searl did a great deal of this class of work before a government survey was made,
this instrument is a very significant relic of those days. It was doubtless used
also in laying out the towns of Osawatomie, Burlington, and El Dorado. J. D.
Quillen, of O verbrook, Osage county, placed with the Society a hand-press brought
to Kansas in 1857, which started in business in Sumner. It attracts much at-
tention as a curious piece of machinery, and it has been mentioned in all the
printer journals of the country as a novelty whose maker and place of manufac-
ture are unknown.
Friends of the families interested have contributed handsome paintings of
Gov. James M. Harvey and Hon. John Guthrie, and life-sized photos of James
R. McCiure, Carrie Nation, Dr. John H. Stringfellow, Frederick Funston,
Wilder S. Metcalf, Ernest Valeton Boissiere, Noble L. Prentis, Vincent J. Lane,
and William S. Blakely.
The correspondence of the Society during the year amounted to 4100 letters
and 1500 postal cards. The postal cards were simply tracers sent out after mis-
sing papers, and some acknowledgments made in this form. Seventy-five per
cent, of the letters were inquiries for information along historical lines, or for
official data pertaining to Kansas. The larger number of these letters were an-
swered offhand, or after a few minutes' examination, but several hundred of
120 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
them were of a nature requiring from one hour to five hours each of research.
The variety of calls makes the labor one of absorbing interest. We are called on
for what we have about Toussaint Charbonneau, interpreter, his wife, and son,
who accompanied Lewis and Clark in 1804; parties down East want an identi-
fication of one of the victims of the Benders; another wants to know all about
"ylrZ Astra per AsjJcra^^ and the great seal, and we are required to do our ut-
most to locate a sod barracks made in July, 1857, on a branch of the Republican
by Colonel Sumner, who at that time had a fight with the Cheyennes. We have
constant calls for the definite location of old towns, forts, Indian battles, or other
points named in early travels. I should judge that there are a score of people
throughout the country writing books about Kansas or in which Kansas will
figure. The amount of personal biography we are called on to furnish is endless,
and when we do not have it, there is oftentimes indignant talk. John Brown,
Quantrill, the sacking of Lawrence, the Louisiana purchase, scores and scores of
territorial and western Kansas incidents, we are asked about. It is not possible
to anticipate the character of the countless questions suggested by the early his-
tory of Kansas.
The legislature of 1903 treated the State Historical Society with increased
liberality. The contingent fund was increased from $500 per year to $800, and
the book fund from $500 to $700; the shelving of an additional room and the pur-
chase of two glass show-cases and two revolving bookcases were authorized, and
the salary of the newspaper clerk raised from $60 to $75 per month. A bill was
introduced authorizing the reconstruction of the old capitol building on the Fort
Riley reserve, at a cost of $1800, and the ways and means committee, while with-
holding the appropriation because of the great demand upon them, said that, if
the military maneuvers were to continue, it would be business for the state to re-
store the building for storage purposes. The old capitol was the center of Camp
Sanger, a camp of 12,000 soldiers, and with the constant improvement of Riley,
and the annual visit of troops, militiamen, and the distinguished military men
from all over the world, it promises to be a point of great interest. The work of
the Society is not only more accessible to all needing it, but is observable to the
whole people. There was a genuine enthusiasm and pride with the last legisla-
ture, as well as with the hundreds of visitors, over the historic collection pre-
served by the state.
We are using these increased funds as judiciously as possible along the line
of our work. Of the making of books there is no end, so that it is as hard as
ever to know what to buy and what not to buy, but we have of late been giving
the preference to local history and genealogical publications. We find an in-
creasing interest in the picture feature of our museum, and with this fund we
have had copied some of the early-day characters overlooked and neglected. We
have been especially diligent in searching for pictures of Southern leaders in our
territorial contest. Enlarged pictures have been placed on the wall of such men
as Israel P. Donaleon, William P. Richardson, Sterling Price, Alexander W.
Doniphan, James G. Blunt, Henry Worrall, William C. Quantrill, Sol. Miller,
Edward Russell, W. H. Adams, who started the Leavenworth Herald, in 1854,
Samuel C. Pomeroy, A. H. Reeder (in disguise), Thomas Ewing, and a number of
Indian and pioneer missionaries. There are others we will have as we move
along. This expenditure of money delights the public. Then we desire to have
a number of maps and illustrations in the next volume of collections, which are
never paid for out of the gene al printing fund.
The duplicate room in the cellar and the care of all the surplus books about
the capitol building, given this Society by the Executive Council in the year
secretary's annual report. 121
1902, have been of great ralue in the distribution of publications among libraries
in and out of the state. From December 1, 1902, to December 1, 1903, there were
shipped to libraries, institutions and individuals 10,658 books and pamphlets,
and for the fraction of the year preceding, 3303 books and 8890 pamphlets, or
22,851 to date. That seems much better than destroying them. Every institu-
tion and person was anxious to get them, and many regrets expressed that there
were not more. The sets, however, have been broken, so that from now on
books will not go out so rapidly. About 2500 books were added by friends of the
Society to this great stock of duplicates. Of this contribution, many were used
to fill in and augment the Society's collection, and practically all that were not
needed were placed in libraries connected with schools in Kansas. But of the
state's own publications, running back as far as 1870, there may be fully a car-
load on hand. There are some state officers' reports for which there is no de-
mand, while others are all gone. We have a superabundance of public documents,
from 1877 to 1882; state auditor's reports during the '90's; insurance reports,
some) early ones and some during the '90's: railroad commissioners' reports, first
and ninth and late numbers; labor report for 1889; Mineral Resources, 1897;
and "Kansas at the World's Fair," 1893. The law gives the Society, for ex-
change, sixty copies of everything published, and I suppose the necessity is upon
us of handing over to the junk dealer all but sixty copies each of those of which
there is an excessive quantity. All the Collections of the Society are out of
print except volumes 6 and 7, and of these about 1000 each are on hand. At the
rate they are going they will last scarcely two years.
The act of the legislature of 1903 requiring the teaching of Kansas history in
the public schools has added much to the interest in these Collections of the His-
torical Society. The publications for which there is a demand are, the reports
of the State Board of Agriculture, the Collections of the Historical Society, reports
of the Labor Bureau, State Horticultural Society, and of the Board of Charities.
The constant and wide-spread study of sociological questions gives these particular
books some value. It has become the custom of state officers to place the surplus
books received by them in this duplicate room, and many of these have been
used to advantage. Hundreds of duplicates of government publications gathered
from the various officers in the capitol building have been shipped back to
Washington, or distributed in local libraries, a postal frank always being fur-
nished us for this purpose. We have forwarded to the congressional library at
Washington, during the past year, thirty-six complete volumes and 506 loose num-
bers of government and miscellaneous publications, and received in return six-
teen complete volumes and 692 loose numbers. Only last week we received on
this account publications for which we would have to pay a second hand collector
thirteen dollars.
Several years ago much work was done toward cataloging the Kansas portion
of this collection, but it was abandoned for lack of help. So many years have in-
tervened since the work ceased, and methods improving greatly, it was concluded
best to begin anew. The legislature of 1903 was asked for authority to publish a
catalog. The senate, by unanimous vote, passed a resolution, as follows:
"Whereas, The large and valuable collection of books, newspapers, manu-
scripts, portraits, pamphlets and relics possessed by the State Historical Society
of Kansas is being classified and cataloged by the Society ; and
"Whereas, The publication of a catalog by the Society is of a large public
and historical interest to the state: therefore, be it
'■''Resolved by thn Senate, the House concurring therein, That the catalog
of the State Historical Society, when completed, be printed and published at the
expense of the state and paid for out of the funds available for public printing."
122 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
A unanimous sentiment seemed to prevail als6 in the house for such aresolu-
lution, but a legal point was raised, requiring that the subject-matter be placed in
the printing appropriation bill. As the legislature could not appropriate beyond
June 30, 1905, and it was deemed impossible to make the copy and print the book
before that time, the matter was dropped.
The Executive Ceuncil kindly furnished us with a typewriter adjusted to
catalog work, and a little more than one-quarter of the job is done. A change
in our force and a readjustment of service gave us two persons who could put in
their whole time on this class of work, and the Executive Council gave us a sec-
ond typewriter, which will enable us to complete the task before the next session
of the legislature. It will make quite a book, but it will be of immense value to
the public service, and to historical and educational interests, affording an index
to men and women and their actions for the whole state for fifty years, and to
pioneers and Indians beyond that. We carry along with this work additions to
our card catalog of the library, pictures, manuscripts, etc., for the daily use of
the patrons.
The Society has adopted for its printed catalog of Kansas books the form
used by Thomas M. Owen, founder of the Southern Historical Association, in
his bibliographies of Southern states, as published in the annual reports of the
American Historical Association. This indexes books by authors, with subject
references. We have a constant demand for material on Kansas events, facts,
people, and places. It is the intention to make the catalog an index to all such
material as is hidden away in the various books, pamphlets, maps, newspapers,
etc., gathered up by the Society. For instance, the history of the Kansas Indi-
ans has never been properly conipiled. The Andreas History, or "Herd-book,"
has a fair history, but necessarily brief. The following are a few of the refer-
ences where other material can be found: Bourgmont's visit among the Kansas
in 1721, found at least in four different forms — in Du Pratz, French and English
editions, in Margry, and in manuscript; reports of the commissioner of Indian
affairs, yearly, from the early part of the last century to date; reports of mis-
sionaries, explorers, travelers; state and government reports; reminiscences.
We have now forty entries, and they will probably be doubled. We have now
seventy pages of index devoted to the Indian tribes of Kansas, numbering 980
single entries.
During the past year the Society has compiled a list of Kansas documents
for R. R. Bowker's "State Publications," which is now in proof. It is safe to say
that the Kansas list rivals those of the older states which did not begin so early
in their history to save.
The society will be grateful to all Kansas authors who will bring in their pub-
lications, no matter in what form, magazine or special newspaper articles.
The subject of marking the Santa Fe trail through the state has made some
progress. It was brought before you one year ago by Mrs. Fannie G. Thompson,
in behalf of the Daughters of the Revolution. Mrs. Thompson was made chair-
man of the committee which took charge of the matter. She did some work in
the way of correspondence and agitation, but she was taken from us by death
February 17, 1903. Her work, however, was not lost, for friends outside and
among the Daughters had caught her inspiration and zeal, and so a lively in-
terest continues.
At the annual convention of the Daughters for the state of Kansas, held Octo-
ber 14 to 17, a committee was appointed to continue the work in conjunction with
the State Historical Society. The Daughters are of the opinion that, if suitable
maps are furnished of the route through each county and school district, they
secretary's annual report. 123
can enlist the school-teachers and pupils in raising mounds of stone or simple
markers on the road through their particular districts.*
I believe that the year 1904 will see much, if not all, of this done. Mr. A. S.
Peacock writes from WaKeeney, hoping that the Daughters will have great suc-
cess, and that " then the Denver trail may be similarly marked. However, I sug-
gest that the work be done under the direction of your Society, according to law,
as it will require some show of authority to preserve the markers. Let a mark
be placed every mile, at the crossing of streams, etc. ; and at such places as
'Threshing Machine Canyon' and 'Fort Downer,' a stone might be set up to
mark the site. Such a plan I think would not only preserve history, but it would
be a stimulus to study on the part of young Kansans, and help them to under-
stand and appreciate the difficulties encountered by the founders of the state
and in the settlement of the plains." It would be a great undertaking for one
authority, without means ; hence I think the Daughters have the right idea, as it
is possible to enlist the school-teachers and school children to care for the few
miles in a given school district. The resolution of this Society covered the Den-
ver and other trails. During the year the Daughters placed a tablet in the side-
walk on Kansas avenue, Topeka, marking the lots on which the Topeka
constitutional convention assembled, and where Col. E. V. Sumner dispersed
the Topeka legislature. The Historical Society should do much to encourage
this work.t
The great flood in the Kansas valley in the year 1844 has always been regarded
as something of a myth. There were but a few witnesses — army officers and mis-
sionaries ; there was no property to destroy and no wrecks covered the land, and the
Indians generally were regarded as romancers. The only visible evidence left for
the early white settlers was the debris high up in the forks of trees. So improbable
seemed the story of the flood of '14 that the residents along the valley generally
would not believe possible what actually occurred in 1903. That a body of water
200 miles long and from a mile to three miles in width and from five to ten feet
in depth, ever covered any portion of iiansas for a period of five or six days, will
need some very strong testimony in forty or fifty years from now. Lack of faith
in what trifling evidence we had concerning the flood of '44, I have heard it said,
was responsible for half the loss of life and property in 1903. All the newspaper
publications covering the flood of 1903 have been clipped and pasted, enough for
four good-sized volumes, and we have about 100 photographic views of the water
and the destruction from Salina to Kansas City. Mrs. Congressman Charles
Curtis gave to the Society her family Bible, with the backs gone and encased
in mud; also, we have the pulpit Bible of the Congregational Church, North
Topeka, and an Episcopal hymn-book picked up on Kansas avenue in Armour-
dale, each with mud for covers. The water reached a depth of six feet in the
* Upon the suggestion of Prof. F. H. Hodder, of the State University, and the favor of Hon.
Victor Murdock, members of the directory of the State Historical Society, we have found in
the War Department at Washington copy of a survey of the Santa Fe road, made in 1827, by
Joseph C. Brown. The survey and field-notes we will have copied, at an expense of about thirty
dollars, to be paid out of the membership-fee fund.
The following constitute the committee of the Daughters : Mrs. 8. S. Ashbaugh, Mrs. Eliza-
beth Barnard Rose, Mrs. William E. Stanley, Wichita; Mrs. F. Dumont Smith, Kinsley; Miss
Jennie Brooks, Miss Grace Meeker, Miss Laura Sheldon, Ottawa ; Mrs. Paul R. Brooks, Mrs.
John G. Haskell, Lawrence; Mrs. Clara McGuire, Topeka. The committee on the part of the
State Historical Society to cooperate is as follows: Mrs. Caroline Prentis, F. H. Hodder, J. D.
Millikon, J. R. Mead, and R. M. Wright.
tThis year, in memory of Mrs. Fannie G. Thompson, who was an honored citizen of Topeka,
the local chapter has offered prizes of ten and twenty dollars for the two best essays on the
Santa Fe trail by the students of the Topeka high school.
124 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
church in North Topeka, and the mud left when the water receded was from one
to two feet and a half deep. The organ and the furniture floated about, and the
Bible was about fifteen feet from the pulpit; a list of those who shoveled the
mud was furnished with the book. This Society should encourage and aid in the
placing of stones for water marks at different points along the river ; for what has
happened twice will happen again, and to be forewarned will save millions and
millions of dollars.
The newspaper clippings have been pasted up to June 30, last, and the clip-
ping continued to date. This is not as complete as it might be, because to be as
close in detail as the professional bureau would require one or more additional
employees. As we do it a wide field is covered, and these clippings are an end-
less fund of historical reference, culled over every day by newspaper men and
others.
Since May, 1888, this Society has had possession of the two shin bones and
of a lock of hair of William Clark Quantrill. They have not been entered among
the accessions or exposed to the public because of an obligation not to do so until
after the death of the mother. Mrs. Quantrill died Monday, November 23, at
an Odd Fellows' home in Springfield, Ohio, aged eighty years. These relics of
the most historic devil developed by the civil war were taken from his grave in
Kentucky by W. W. Scott, of Canal Dover, Ohio, assisted by Mrs. Quantrill.
The grave was opened to satisfy the mother of his death. Mr. Scott found two
men who were with Quantrill when he was wounded in a fight with federal guer-
rillas, about June 1, 1865, one having been with him since leaving Kansas and
who was in the massacre at Lawrence. Mr. Scott was a schoolmate of Quantrill,
and spent twenty -five years in the study of his life. A response received Novem-
ber 30 from Mrs. Scott informs us that Mr. Scott died about a year ago, and
thus is lost the most elaborate work concerning the famous guerrilla. In one of
his letters Mr. Scott says that all the correspondence and papers accumulated in
his investigation shall come to the Historical Society.
The territorial settlers of Kansas are rapidly passing away. Soon al personal
source of information for that period will be closed. The year 1901 will bring on
a number of semicentennial anniversaries of events of the greatest importance —
the beginning of a decade not surpassed in the world's history, during which
the pioneers of Kansas enjoyed an inspiration rarely vouchsafed to any other
people. There have been other heroic pioneers in the westward development of
things, but the sacrifices and successes of those of Kansas have left upon the
world an impress the most enduring and attractive. There are events in the
history of Kansas that will never cease to be discussed. The act of May 30, 1854,
creating the territory of Kansas, transferred to this region the greatest issue
that ever confronted the nation, marking our first ten years with violence and
war. We passed through great bitterness and travail, emerging among the most
conspicuous states in the Union, with a history as creditable as it was startling,
commanding the constant attention of the people of the world. Our history has
been personal, factional, and controversial, and we have listened to all sides with
the utmost patience, which has added to the value of the work of this Society.
The splendid collection, now the property of the state of Kansas, is due to the
fact that this Society began work while practically all the participants were yet
in this life. Scattered all over the state there are yet many citizens in seclusion
who passed through those stormy days. There were no listless men then. Every
man appreciated the seriousness of the times. Lately I have visited several of
these old men, and I am amazed at the new and unheard-of things they tell,
backed by corroborating papers and incidents, showing that modesty has kept
secretary's annual report. 125
much valuable material from the world. I have the promise of many interesting
things, but men from seventy-five to eighty-five years of age, in Kansas, think
they have abundance of time for fulfilment. The sin of delay and the uncer-
tainty as well as the certainty of the grim reaper interfere very much with the
workings of the Society. During the past month I called at Arkansas City on
Mr. I. H. Bonsall, who was said to have many pictures of territorial individuals.
He was a photographer at Leavenworth in 1857-'58, an ardent follower of James
H. Lane. Up to three or four years ago, when they were destroyed, he had the
pictures in good shape of all of the members of the Lecompton constitutional con-
vention. He doubtless has many very interesting things yet, of which He promises
the Society a portion. He gave a picture of Lane, taken in the morning, after an
all-night's ride.
The year 1904 promises to be one of great inspiration, a renewal of local and
state pride. The men and women who have spent their lives during the past
forty or fifty years in Kansas have a right to be unspeakably proud of their
citizenship and achievements. This should manifest itself in every school district
in the state during the coming year. There has been no general effort in the
way of historical collection since the year 1876, when the centennial thrilled the
people with pride of the past. In some of the western counties of the state 1876
scarcely saw the beginning of things. It is hoped that the enthusiasm which
characterized that year may not only move the older portions of the state to
bring such work up to date, but that the newer counties on the western border
may interest themselves in their local history while there are so many of the
first settlers still living. The local newspapers in 1876 did great work along this
line.
Several points in the state will observe with great demonstrations not only
the semicentennial of territorial organization but the same anniversary of their
local settlement. Topeka, Leavenworth and Lawrence are already moving along
this line. The territory was created by the president signing the bill, May 30.
On the 13th of June the Leavenworth Town Company was organized, and first
lots therein sold October 9. The Atchison Town Company was formed July 27,
and lots sold September 2. August 1 and September 1 the first and second par-
ties of emigrants arrived at Lawrence. A newspaper appeared September 15,
under a tree at Leavenworth. October 7 the first governor arrived in the ter-
ritory. December 5 Topeka was founded. There were very few incidents occur-
ring, but they were significant, while the whole country was preparing for the
struggle which followed. We have been blessed with such remarkable success
in a material way, and have achieved such a high position otherwise among the
communities of the earth, that I think the entire year should be given to thanks-
giving and jubilation.
May 30 next is a holiday, the outgrowth of a contest which began with the
organization of Kansas territory, and the people who cast flowers on that day in
memory of those who died from 1861 to 1865 may extend their thoughts and
sympathies backward covering a period from 1851 to 1861. Nothing could be
more fitting than a combination of the two events, for Kansas was the product
and the prize of that great struggle.
I thiuK every school district in Kansas should have a celebration and the
people do honor to the territorial pioneers, and thereby to themselves. There
ought to be a census taken by years of all those who lived in Kansas prior to
statehood and who may still be with us May 30, 1901.
The death list during the year emphasizes the fact that the early settlers of
Kansas are disappearing. Harvey D. Rice, a Kansas farmer, made a visit to
126 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
New England as early as 1858, in the interest of what is now Washburn College;
the Rev, Peter McVicar, D. D., gave more than a third of his life to this institu-
tion; and W. W. Phillips was an active and earnest man for good in 1855-'56;
Mrs. Fannie Geiger Thompson was brought to Kansas in hor childhood, her
family settling in Ellsworth in 1867. These four persons attained unusual promi-
nence in the affairs of Kansas. They served as members and directors of the
Kansas State Historical Society for several years. Rev. Francis L. Hayes, D. D.,
Rev. D. M. Fisk, D. D., and A. B. Whiting, were appointed to prepare a paper
on the life and character of Harvey D. Rice; and Rev. Richard Cordley, D. D.,
Rev. J. G. Dougherty, D. D., and Prof. F. W. Ellis, on Rev. Dr. McVicar.
The list of directors and the membership of the Society are now on a practical
basis. To be a member one must contribute a newspaper file or one dollar per
year, and there are no names on the directory because of influence or position
not legitimate members of the Society. There has been no solicitation for the
membership as it stands, and quite an interest has sprung up to be on the
directory. The work in charge of this Society — its great collection of books,
newspapers and pictures, relics and curios, representing the progress and accom-
plishments of this people — should appeal to the pride and patriotism of all. It
ranks very high among similar institutions in the country. The work it calls for
is responded to as a labor of love by citizens proud of their state, with ability, ac-
curate research and literary merit of a high order. It should be the leading rep-
resentative body of citizens in the state, as the list of its past presidents shows
that it has been. The founders of the Kansas State Historical Society builded
better than they knew. The membership list should pass the 500 mark next year.
HISTORICAL WORK IN OSAGE COUNTY.
By Charles R. Green,* of Lyndon.
I am asked to make a report of my historical work in Osage county to the
Society. I never have made a written one before, and do so now with pleas-
ure, hoping that others may be thus encouraged, when reading my report, to look
up local data in their respective communities, as I have in mine, and afterwards
live to reap some of the fruits of their labors.
I joined the Historical Society January, 1892, and have paid out some fifty to
seventy-five dollars cash since then as dues, traveling expenses and board in at-
tending the annual meetings of the Society, at Topeka. I own a printing-office,
and have operated it entirely in the interests of historical work for six years, but
♦Charles R, Green was born Novembers, ISih, at Milan, Erie county, Ohio. His father
followed farming in Wakefield and Clarksfield townships, Huron county, where the subject of
this sketch was raised, the eldest of ten children. He obtained such education as possible in
the neiKhborhood. In the fall of 1861, at the age of sixteen years, he tried to enlist as a soldier
in the Fifty-fifth Ohio regiment, but he was rejected because of his age. In the summer of 1862,
after the seven days' battle, he succeeded in getting into company A, One Hundred and First
Ohio. Nine enlisted from Clarksfield, Green's home town. Four were killed and two wounded.
Judge E. W. Cunningham, of the Kansas supreme court, was one of the nine. Green was the
only one of the nine to serve his time and return home with the company, although he was
wounded three times in the battle of Chickamauga. Upon his return from the war he attended
school for two years. In April, 1867, he settled in Kansas, at Lenape, in Leavenworth county.
After a couple of months at this point he moved to the state-line bottoms in Kansas City, Mo.
In the summer he joined a surveying party and made a trip through New Mexico and Arizona
to California. In a year he returned by Panama and Old Mexico. He taught school in Leaven-
v/orth county and farmed some. He returned to Ohio and spent six years there. In 1880 he set-
tled in Osage county, Kansas, December 28, 1869, he was married in Tama county, Iowa, to Miss
Flavia Barbour, a playmate in childhood, who died March 21, 1883, leaving six children. He
married Miss Annie Kring November 17, 1887. Mr. Green resides two miles south of Lyndon.
HIgrrORICAL WORK IN OSAGE COUNTY,
127
still I do not seem to come under the class that my brother editor does, who con-
tributes his local newspaper to the Society, rides on his pass to the meetings, and
thus, without dues, enjoys the same privileges that I do at so much^cost.
In this time, as an active member of the Society, I have given many days each
year in driving around over the country and taking down narratives from old
pioneers' lips, gathering historical data, and copying from our county records
hundreds of pages of valuable matter referring to our county affairs, to assist the
pioneers in their memories. While our county-seat was on wheels the first
twenty years of its existence, being in no less than three places, the records were
well preserved. I was able to find, by diligent search in old boxes, nearly all
the papers to establish my official early history of the county, which took the
name of Osage in 1860.
The following-named pionefers, many of them now dead or moved away, have
thus contributed to my "bureau of historical data" in these twelve years.
In and (wound Lyndon, and year of coming to Kayisas :
Allison's History of School District No.
62, 1870.
William Allison, 1869.
George Antrim, 1878.
Wm. J. Armstrong, 1884.
Henry Austin, 1869.
Wells P. Bailey, 1866.
Judge John Banning, 1855.
Mrs. Elias A. Barrett, 1870.
Sam. Black and son Walter, 1859.
James F. Blackwell, 1877.
Judge Alex. Blake, 1870.
Solomon Bowes, 1857.
Moses Bradford, 1866.
Joel H. Buckman, 1886.
Lucas Burnett, 1858.
Mrs. R. H. Chittenden, 1879.
Dr. David D. Christy, 1876.
David P. Coon, 1869.
W. A. Cotterman, 1870.
Charles Darling, 1866.
C. C. Deaver, 1871.
Fred Downs, 1869.
James K. Duff, 1871.
G. Alec Fleming, 1883.
L. D. Gardener, 1870.
Flavins J. Glenn, 1857.
Wm. Gregory, 1870.
Wm. H. Green, 1872.
Wm. Haas, 1868.
Mrs. Benj. G. Hall, 1870.
Monroe W. Heaton, 1877.
John Hedges, 1869.
James J. Henton, 1868.
John R. Henton, 1869.
Nelson Hollingsworth, 1872.
Samuel H. Holyoke, 1857.
Mrs. John Howe, 1868.
Henry Howell, 1870.
Andrew J. Huffman, 1857.
Jas. R. Humphrey, 1869.
Archie Ingersoll, 1876.
Henry Ingraham, 1862.
Horace W. Jenness, 1866.
Henry Johnson, 1870.
Henry Keeler, 1870.
James S. Kennedy, 1869.
Leander Kimball, 1859.
Henry Lamond, sr., 1868.
Dr. George Lash, 1868.
M. L. Laybourn, 1872.
Wesley A. J. Mavity, 1867.
George McMillan, 1869.
Geo. Miller, son of Abra. Miller, 1856.
Dr. G. W. Miller, 1859.
Capt. G. W. Morris, 1868.
Warren W. Morris, 1869.
John W. Nicolay, 1866.
Mrs. Ellen Leavery Nihizer, 1868.
Edward Norris, 1870.
Elisha Olcott, jr., 1863.
Prof. L. A. Parke, 1885.
Robert F. Patterson, 1876.
John Payne, 1871.
Soren Petersen, 1869.
Pete Peterson (of Dragoon), 1858.
Robt. D. Pleasant, 1879.
Abram Primmer, 1878.
J. A. Reading, 1871.
Lewis A. Reynolds, 1893.
Francis Marion Richards, 1856.
Mrs. M. W. Richardson, 1860.
Wm, Rock, 1870.
Ezekiel Rogers, 1887.
128
KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
A. J. Roy, 1872.
Chas. W. Ruggs, 1869.
John Rynerson, 1866.
A. M. Sanderson, 1878.
Wm. H. Seever, 1863.
Mrs. Sarah E. Shoemaker, 1871.
Jacob Smell, 1870.
James Smith, 1878.
James Hurd Smith, 1868.
Orlando S. Starr, 1869.
William Stavely, 1878.
Mrs. Amanda Still, 1885.
Mrs. Julia Stonebraker, 1869.
Isaac Stump, 1870.
Edmund Tarver, 1868.
Dr. Eber Topping, 1867.
Silas B. Tower, 1870.
Mrs. P. M. Tyler, 1866.
David Uber, 1870.
Former Burlingame pioneers inter
coming to Kansas:
Lucien R. Adams, 1856.
Mrs. Sophia McGee Berry, 1854.
James Bothel, 1854.
Joseph Bratton, 1854.
Grandma Caruthers, age 97, 1860.
J. M. Chambers, supt., 186-. History
of first twenty school districts.
John H. Crumb, 1857.
Thomas R. Davis, 1856.
George J. Drew, 1855.
Josiah Drew, 1855.
Wm. J. Drew, 1855.
Mrs. Levi Empie, 1857.
Judge Robert Heizer, 1858.
Bidgetvay, Carbondale, Scranton,
Lars Anderson, 1859.
Elijah S. Boreland, 1859.
Wm. Brown, 1858.
D. B. Burdick, 1857.
W^m. T. Eckart, 1857.
Charles G. Fox, 1859.
Ansel B. Hackett, 1857.
Alvin Hamilton, 1870.
Mrs. Hiram H. Heberling, 1855.
S. L. Heberling, 1856.
Osage City:
Dr. Albert C. Brown, 1871.
James H. Kibbie, 1865.
Sam Marshall, 1857.
Jesee Underwood, 1871.
Mrs. Rachel Varner, 1869.
Matthew M. Waddle, 1876.
Thomas M. Wallace, 1874.
James M. Watkins, 1869.
George Weber, 1867.
James Wells, 1878.
J. Milt Whinrey, 1873.
Leivonia Pryer Whinrey, 1869.
Horace Whitman, 1868.
Prof. J. S. Whitman, 1868.
George Wiggington, 1884.
Geo. M. Wilden, 1870.
O. C. Williams, 1858.
Lewis T. Wilson, 1883,
Charles Woodward, 1868.
Robert H. Wynne, 1869.
Mrs. Nancy E. Wynne, 1860.
James Yearout, 1867.
viewed or notes obtained from date of
Ellis Lewis, ex-county attorney, 1872.
Wm. H. Lord, 1855.
Mrs. Isabella Rambe Mercer, 1856.
Frank M. Nelson, 1871.
Mrs. Anna Todd Palmer, 1855.
George W. Perrill, 1858.
N. A. Perrill, 1858.
Mrs. Mary Hoover Pratt, 1854.
James Rogers (the historian), 1856.
Henry D. Shepherd, 1858.
Mrs. H. D. Shepherd, 1857, daughter
of Abial T. Dutton.
John Smith, 1854.
Ithiel Street, 1854.
''110," Valley Brook:
Wm. Hupp, 1854.
Aaron Kinney, 1855.
John Kinney, 1855.
George McCullough, 1858.
Isaac B. Masters, 1858.
Mrs. Geo. W. Metzler, 1869.
Charles Rubow, 1854.
Judge John G. Urie, 1858.
Capt. Robert D. Watt, 1854.
Charles S. Martin, 1866.
Horace E. Strong, 1857.
Mrs. Nellie Norton Strong, 1856.
HISTORICAL WORK IN OSAGE COUNTY.
129
Quenemo Junction and Pomona:
J. C. Curry, 1877.
Mrs. Sarah Duvall, 1860.
Dr. E. B. Fenn, 1866.
Robert G. Graham, 1868.
John Krauss, 1871.
George Logan, 1858.
Arvonia, Olivet, MeJvern:
Arvonia residents, 1873-'74:.
Cyrus Case, 1869.
Charles Cochran, 1860.
Noble G. Elder, 1869.
Wm. Francis, 1868.
Joseph G. Grant, 1872.
Lewis Humphries, 1859.
James W. Jessee, 1866.
Robert Jones, 1872.
Santa Fe Trail:
Mrs. Elizabeth Clousing Eden, of Al-
len, Lyon county, 1861.
Judge Robert Heizer, Osage City, 1858.
On the building of the Union Pacific railroad from Kansas City iqy the
Kaw to Topeka, 1863-''65, and incidentally various ittms of Delaivare In-
dian history:
Josiah Middleton, 1866.
Dr. David B. Moore, 1865.
John C. Rankin, 1865.
Mrs. Lida Savior Fox, 1869.
W. K. Thomas, 1869.
Henry Wiggans, 1855.
Charles C. Judd, 1869.
Henry Judd, 1856.
Thos. B. McGregor, 1883.
Max Morton, 1870.
Lemuel W. Powell, 1870.
John Price, 1871.
Asher Smith, 1859.
Lemuel F. Warner, 1860.
Jacob Van Natta, now of Burlingame,
1860.
Mrs. Joseph Glimpse, Linwood, 1866.
Merlin C. Harris, Tonganoxie, 1865.
John C. Hindman, Linwood, 1858.
Capt. W. T. Hindman, Lawrence, 1858.
Martin Kapp, Linwood, 1867.
Rev. A. M. Richardson, Lawrence, 1870.
Thomas A. Shaw, Wyandotte, 1863.
John Tudhope, Linwood, 1866.
George C. Wetzel, Linwood, 1868.
Thomas Williams, Linwood, 1860.
Henry Ingraham, Lyndon, Second Ohio
volunteer cavalry, 1862.
John Broivn days on the Pottawatomie:
Wm. H. Ambrose, Greeley, Anderson J. N. Baker, Greeley, 1851.
county, 1857.
D. Bradley Randall, Greeley, gives an excellent history of his youth in Ohio,
1840-'58, and civil-war history, 1871.
Quantrill raid matters:
T. J. Hadley, Kansas City, Mo., lieu-
tenant in Fifth Kansas, 1863, 1856.
George W. Hanes, Waverly, Coflfey
county, 1856.
In a several hours' talk with Lewis Kellerman, Burlington (1866), which I
made notes of, he tells how in 1828 he was postillion on a horeerailway from Bal-
timore to Frederick City, Md., later the Baltimore & Ohio railroad; was also a
freighter on the United States national road, from Cumberland to Indianapolis.
This talk was in 1901, shortly before his death, at the age of eighty-nine.
Mrs. Sarah A. Whistler, Stroud, Okla. (1S47): Widow of Hon. Wm. Whist-
ler, of Osage county, daughter of Julia Goodell, a Sac Indian, and John Goodell, a
white man, interpreter for the Sac and Fox tribes, 1840-'60. In several inter-
views when she was here, spring of 1903, visiting the Cappers, relatives of hers,
—10
130 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
she gave me the genealogy of the Whistler family in Kansas and their history.
She and her sister, Mrs. Fannie Whistler Nedeau, of the Sac and Fox agency,
have given me a good deal of Sac and Fox history in many interviews.
A total of 212 names and dates are given.
The presentation of these names and dates of their coming to Kansas does not
reveal the fact that they have been pioneers of many early-day places otherwise
than Osage county. But their narratives, often the work of a half-day to take
down, or, if sent me by mail, the work of days for them to remember and write
out correctly, introduced to us history on almost every phase of Kansas life and
struggle since 1854 — life on the plains, army life, the golden days of '49, the re-
moval of the Indians from Kansas, and many other subjects too numerous to be
mentioned.
Two hundred or more pioneer narratives, mostly by old people, who are in-
variably invited to commence with their youth and give a life sketch, give the
historian material fresh from life and true as life itself. All honor to our fathers
and mothers, who came here, fought the battles and endured the privations that
now, a half-century later, make Kansas foremost in the van of states, and we
live to enjoy. We will prize their stories in the years to come. So many of
them, I notice, have passed away in the ten years. I preserve these notes and
records of theirs with great care in my vault, where they are systematically filed
in a large case, and where I can find them on short notice.
I have considerable historical data, drawn from personal examination of hun-
dreds of books, pamphlets and manuscripts in the possession of our Kansas
State Historical Society, during the eleven years I have belonged, mostly bear-
ing on the Sac and Fox Indian history. The Mississippi band of those Indians
was removed to Kansas in 1845, and to the Indian Territory in 1869. Weller
county, in 1855, only had a narrow strip of two and one-half miles wide by twenty-
four miles long of territory outside the Sac and Fox reserve, which covered all
the rest of the county, and what few folks settled in it considered themselves a
part of Shawnee county. It was never organized as a county until 1859, when a
change of name to Osage, and the addition of a nine-mile strip from the south
end of Shawnee, with a part of the Indian reserve thrown open a year or two
later, brought the county into prominence. Superior was its first county-seat.
Today a barn and well are about all that are left of that once busy place. By
close inquiry I have found a few of its former citizens.
In my field-work I have visited and made plans of the old Sac and Fox agency,
established in the county in 1845-'46. By considerable correspondence I have
been able to get possession of the papers, some sixty, of the late United States
Indian agent, Albert Wiley, who was the last agent of the Sacs and Foxes here
in Kansas, and who helped to select their reservation in the Indian Territory. I
have to pay for their use, and return them as soon as convenient. I am engaged
now in compiling the material of this ten years' gathering, along the Sac and
Fox history line, into a suitable volume, that will be printed by some one of our
book-making firms during 1904, a permanent monument, I trust, to the memory
of our old Sac and Fox reserve pioneers, as well as to the old Sac and Fox In-
dians themselves.
When the Indians settled on this reservation, now embraced mostly by the
counties of Franklin and Osage, about 1816,* they numbered about 2000. A visit to
* Mr. Green, in a letter dated February 20, 1904, says regarding the removal of the Sacs and
Foxes of the Mississippi to Kansas:'" They left Iowa in tho fall of 1845, traveling to Brunswick,
Mo., on the Missouri river; thence Keokuk, during the winter, came up to the Wakarusa, south
of Lawrence, where the tribe had permission from the Shawnees to camp, and where they
HISTORICAL WORK IN OSAGE COUNTY. 131
their present home in Oklahoma, November, 1903, by the writer, developed the
fact that only 492 are living there now. Some returned in the early years of their
Kansas experiences to their old hunting-grounds on the Iowa river, and pur-
chased a little land, 1500 acres, in Tama county, where they yet live. This was
contrary to the policy of the government, but in the confusion of the war days,
change of parties, and the fact that they bought the land out of their own
savings, and could not be lawfully dispossessed, allowed them to get permanently
settled. They are known as the Mesquaka* band, and now number about 300.
They are mostly the Fox branch of the tribe. Their most noted chief of the last
century, Pow-e-shick, died here of good age, and was buried at the junction, be-
fore Kansas was made a state. Iowa has not only honored this chief, but many
other of the Sac and Fox chiefs, by naming her counties and towns after them.
Another band of the Sacs and Foxes lives now upon the Nemaha river, in north-
eastern Kansa3 and southern Nebraska. They removed direct from Iowa with
the loway band of Indians to that place about 1837. I think now that there are
less than 100 of the Sacs among them. Intermarriages, however, take place often
between these widely separated bands. The Indians have caught on to the white
man's ways, and, having plenty of money after their payments, they take the
cars and make these trips speedily. They even go down to Old Mexico to hunt,
where some of the Kickapoos live.
The Sac part of the tribe here in Osage county had a noted chief, Moko-
hoko, who, at the head of a following of some 100, more or less, refused to sign
the treaty of 1868, to cede these lands to the United States. They had become
attached to this Marais des Cygnes valley, and, like theMesquaka band,of Iowa,
they determined to stay here, and only by force were they removed with the rest
of the tribe in 18G9. They immediately returned from the new home. Some of
the teamsters who hauled them down said the Indians beat them back here. In
1876 they were removed again, but the larger part came back the second time.
Their houses were along the banks of the Marais des Cygnes, above and below
Melvern, for ten miles. For the next ten years they were left alone, though they
did not buy any land. Indulgent settlers tolerated them because they were honest,
and the adults became good assistants at farm labor. Inl886, after Mokohoko's
death, they were removed again, and guarded a year at their new home, until
they got over their homesickness, and found the annuities paid them there a
greater advantage than the half-vagrant life they led here. They are known
there now as the Kansas band of Sacs and Foxes. I have many portraits and
much history of these Indians who lived among us so long.
The great dearth of any printing matter about our Osage county pioneers
and early history of the county induced me, in 1896, to go into the publication of
many pieces in our local newspapers, in order to arouse a greater interest in
historical matters.
Our county has been one of great activity in politics. When Governor Hum-
phrey was elected, November, 1890, Mrs. Mary E. Lease, then an obscure woman
of Wichita, a day or two after election was invited here to Lyndon, and in a larg»
mostly stayed during the season of 1846. During this time John Beech,' the agent, was arrang-
ing about the buildings for the agency, which in the '50's was known as the Greenwood Sac and
Fox agency, on the Marias des Cygnes river, several miles southeast of Pomona, Franklin
county. This was on the eastern boundary line of the Sac and Fox reservation. The Goodell
family, interpreter, remained at Brunswick two years. Many of the tribe went via other
tribes, visiting and hunting a year or two, but Moses Keokuk said, in 1SS3, that over 2000 came
out with his father. Before leaving Iowa they numbered 2400 or more."
*This word is spelled "Muskwaki" in Royce's "Indian Land Cessions in the United
States, and " Mus-qua-kie "' by Horace M. Rebok in his pamphlet on the tribe, 1900.
132 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
mass-meeting, well represented from all over the county, she declared from the
rostrum "that the tyranny of such Republican tactics as were then in vogue by the
state of Kansas ought to be put down, and that the new party, then known as
the Farmers' Alliance in Osage county, or People's party, ought to march upon the
state capital armed with pitchforks, scythes, and other handy implements of
yeoman's toil, and take the state government into their own hands." From that
time on, the next several years were hard ones for me to do any great good here in
the public press, as a bitter political war raged, to the exclusion of all other mat-
ters. My best material was often in the ranks of the opposite party, where an
unguarded word from me closed all historical talk and started politics. Through
it all I avoided politics, and carried on my historical work in such a manner that
to-day some of my best supporters of the work are what used to be known here
as " Pops."
The publication of my books has been delayed, as I have seen up to this time
no profitable market for my labor Two books, "Annals of Lyndon," an edition
of 240 copies, 400 pages printed, and "Early Days in Kansas," an edition of 200
copies, 215 pages printed, both octavo works, printed in my own printing-
office, tied up in bundles, lie here in my library room, reminding me of about $300
in typesetting, paper and ink that I have expended, besides my labor as editor
and printer for several years.
I have a large fire- proof room, well lighted, where I keep all my records, mu-
seum, and a library (at present numbering over 1500 volumes, along historical
lines), and this enables me to get much of my reference matter, so necessary to a
historical writer, right at home without delay ; whereas, in the past I used to make
two or more trips to Topeka yearly, often spending the whole week in the His-
torical Society rooms. Now, by a large correspondence with various societies,
and an annual visit to Topeka, I get along very well. My requests for informa-
tion from our Society are met as promptly as the nature of it and the force there
employed admits. Thus, as a Kansas farmer, legitimately sticking to that as a
livelihood, as I have prospered in this world's goods, instead of putting the
money into another farm, I have invested it in this line of work, until in all its
parts it equals the value of my homestead, and, at the age of nearly sixty, when
one must begin to lay aside manual labor, affords me far greater pleasure and
more agreeable work than that of the farm, where, in these late years, work has
been so difficult to carry on from the want of laborers hunting farm work.
Coming to Kansas after the civil war, in which I participated three years as a
member of the One Hundred and First Ohio volunteer infantry, I was so fortunate
as to get appointed, at Wyandotte, May, 1867, a member of Gen. W. W. Wright's
Union Pacific survey party, to make the preliminary survey of that railroad to
the Pacific coast via New Mexico, Arizona, and Los Angeles, Cal. The Santa
Fe now runs over the route we surveyed. Returning to Kansas in 1868, I com-
menced teaching my first school in Leavenworth county that fall, in the empty
Delaware Indian trading store, at a station on the Union Pacific in the Kaw val-
ley, about thirty-two miles from Wyandotte, known first as Journeycake, later
Stranger station, and, in 1875, Linwood. Having met the Delaware Indians
there the year before, and learning much history about them in my school-
teaching days up to 1874, I have in these later years interviewed many pioneers
of that section, and recently visited the Delawares in their homes among the
Cherokees, south of Coffeyville, Kan. I have made contributions of several
articles to the Tonganoxie Mirror along these lines,- whose columns have always
welcomed such data. I have much unpublished matter about the Delawares.
COMMITTEE ON EXPLORATIONS. 133
Mrs. Lawrence D. Bailey, of Lawrence, widow of the late Judge Bailey,* of the
supreme court first after Kansas became a state, has let me have for publication
quite a good deal of his old papers — printed ones. The judge was the president
of Lyndon's first town company, later editor of a paper at Garden City. I com-
piled from his papers a 100-page octavo pamphlet, and issued a small edition
entitled "Border Ruffian Troubles in Kansas." I have issued seven other pam-
phlets, all being prominent chapters in my books "Annals of Lyndon" and
"Early Days in Kansas." One was a directory of Lyndon, Kan,^ — a historical
geneological list of 3200 men, women and children for the years 1895-'97 in an
area of fifteen miles in and around Lyndon.
These pamphlets seem to keep up interest best in the people's minds about
our historical work, and in no wise detract from the prospective sale of my his-
torical books.
COMMITTEE ON EXPLORATIONS.
By W. J. QEiFFiNG.t of Manhattan.
As a member of the committee on explorations, I have the following to re-
port: The last week in August, 1903, Mr. J. S. Cunningham and I, equipped
with a complete camping outfit, started up Wild Cat creek — a stream emptying
into the Kansas river above Manhattan.
This creek seems to have been a favorite camping-place of the aborigines,
there being scarcely a farm of any size along its valley that does not give evi-
dence of having been the stopping-place of Indians.
The abundance of game, fish and flints was probably not the sole reason of
the frequent encampments, as the valley of this stream formed a natural high-
way for tribes living eastward along the Kansas to follow on their way out
to the buffalo plains.
Some of these old village sites still show elevations where earthen lodges once
stood; flint fragments, broken clay pottery, flint knives, scrapers, arrow- and
* Lawrence D. Bailey was born August 26, 1819, at Sutton, Merrimack county, New Hamp-
shire. His ancestors came from Yorkshire, England, in 1638, and built the first woolen factory
in America, at Rowley, now Georgetown, Mass. He was educated in Franklin, Unity, Pem-
broke and Atkinson Academies, but he never entered college. He read law, and was admitted
to the bar July 9, 1846. He practiced at various points in New Hampshire until December, 1849,
when he started for California by way of Cape Horn. He spent four years in California lumber-
ing, gold digging, and practicing law, and editing a Whig paper called the Pacific Courier.
He returned to New Hampshire in the fall of 1853, and practiced law. On the 2d day of April,
1857, he arrived in Kansas, and settled on a claim in Douglas county, near Clinton. In the fol-
lowing September he moved to Emporia, and opened a law office — the first in southwestern
Kansas. In 1858 he was elected to the territorial legislature from a district known as the
"nineteen disfranchised counties." He was elected associate justice of the supreme court of
Kansas in 1859, under the Wyandotte constitution, and reelected in 1862, after statehood, for six
years. In 1863 he assisted in organizing the State Board of Agriculture, and was its first presi-
dent, for four successive terms, and in the same year established the Kansas Farmer. He had
much to do with establishing the State Normal School. He became a large farmer, and, iu 1870,
located the town of Lyndon. He afterwards became a resident of Garden City. Ho died in Octo-
ber, 1891.
t William James Griffing was born on a farm east of Topeka, in Shawnee county, No-
vember 24, 1860. He attended district school until he entered the Kansas State Agricultural
College, from which he graduated in 1883. His natural liking led him to farming and fruit-
growing, at which he has made good success. His first dollar was made while a boy, catching
rabbits at five cents apiece. He settled on a farm near Manhattan, Riley county. He has
served the public officially as justice of the peace and member of the school board, and in ag
ricultural and horticultural clubs, and along historical and archa?oIogical lines. He has been
steward of the Methodist church at Manhattan for several years, and president of the alumni
association of the State Agricultural College. February 17, 1884, he was married to Miss Hat-
134 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
spear-heade are scattered over the ground. At other points the encampments
seem to have been only temporary.
We followed the stream to Riley, crossed over to Broughtou, on the Republi-
can river; here we noted a few burial mounds on the bluffs near to town. Turn-
ing south, we followed the public road down the river, locating the scattered
mounds along the bluffs, and opening the most promising ones. Wo found sev-
eral mounds near Streeter's mill, on Madison creek, two miles above Milford.
C. A. Streeter presented the Society with a fine granite ax found on Shan-
non creek, Pottawatomie county, Kan.
Passing through the Fort Riley reservation, we camped one night at the
government ford on Seven Mile creek. This spot proved to have been a favorite
resort for the Indians, and must have been occupied by a village of considerable
Bize.
We spent two days on the south side of the Kansas river, near Ogden, con-
tinuing the work of the previous year on the land of V. E. Schermerhorn and
Charles Schiller. We were well rewarded for our labor here, and secured a fine
lot of relics to add to the Society's collection.
I have either opened or assisted in opening more than 100 of these burial
mounds, and while there is a slight diversity in the shape of the ornaments
buried, the greatest difference is in the amount of material found. The small
mounds as a rule contain nothing of interest but fragments of human bones,
sometimes charred by fire.
The larger mounds often, but not always, contain war-arrow and spear points,
knives, and scrapers, all of flint; bone, shell and stone beads; bone awls; also
ornaments made of a variety of materials, such as bone, teeth, and stone.
The objects found in the various mounds show a marked similarity, the slight
variations being due to the individual tastes of the artisans.
I have endeavored, by close observation, to gain light on the method of burial
that prevailed among these Indians.
There are several methods of disposing of the dead practiced by Western
tribes; one common among the Sioux was to wrap the deceased in blankets and
place the body on an elevated platform of poles, where it would remain until
complete decomposition of the flesh had taken place; the bones were then re-
moved and buried.
The Kaws, while living at their old village near Manhattan, buried their dead
in graves on the bottom land near the village, leaving no permanent markings of
any kind which might lead to the identification of the spot. In later years,
tie Clarke, and they Lave been blessed with two girls and two boys. He is the son of the Rev.
.James Sayre Griffing and Miss J. Augusta Goodrich. Their parents were both of Englisli an-
cestry. The father was born October 28, 1822, at Owego, N. Y., and died April 'S, 1882. He was
sent by the Methodist church as a missionary to Kansas in 1854, arriving November 4. His
circuit reached from the Wyandotte reservation, at the mouth of the Kaw, to Fort Riley. He
rode this circuit usually alone on an Indian pony, and in 1855 took a claim two miles east of
Topeka. He organized classes wherever possible, the first at Lawrence, witli a membership of
eleven; next at Auburn (then Brownsville), with a half-dozen members; at Tecumseh, with a
morabership of nine; at Topeka early in 1855; Clinton, Douglas county, next; and out at.Juni"
ata, in Riley county, and other points; total enrolment for the first year of 200. He also as-
sisted in organizing tlie Kansas and Nebraska conference, at Lawrence, October 2;i, 1856, and
never missed a conference during the remaining twonty-six years of his life. He was elected
county superintendent of public instruction for Shawnee county. While stationed at Seneca
ho joined a militifi company, wliich was soon ordered out to go after tlie Cheyennes, wlio had
made a raid along the Platte. They went as far as the moutli of White Rock, on the Republi-
can, thence nortli, and buried the dead at different ranches that had been looted. The com-
pany was again called into service dnring the Price raid, in 1864. He planted an orchard in
Kansas in 1858.
MOUNDS AND VILLAGE SITES. 135
stones were heaped over the graves, to protect the bodies from vpolves. Often a
horse was killed over the spot, whose spirit was supposed to convey that of the
departed to the happy hunting grounds. The tribe that occupied the territory
around Manhattan some two or three centuries ago, and constructed the burial
mounds I have mentioned, is thought by the best authorities to have been
Pawnees, who afterward migrated up the Republican river, and to the Platte
river, Nebraska.
The evidence goes to show that before burials were made in these mounds the
bones were broken up, often burned black, and scattered in a layer through the
mound as it was gradually erected by heaping up earth and stones. They seem
never to have been disturbed after the mound was once finished — later burials
requiring a new and different mound. Only once have I ever found an excep-
tion ; this was in a mound in Pottawatomie county, near the mouth of Cedar
creek; here we found the complete skeleton of an Indian buried in a sitting pos-
ture; the other burials in the mound were the same as in all others. It was
plainly an intrusive burial.
REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON MOUNDS AND VILLAGE SITES.
By W. E. RiCHET, Chairman of Committee.
Explorations have been made on the Kansas, Republican, Smoky Hill,
Verdigris and Marais des Cygnes rivers, and interesting Indian relics from
the streams named are now on exhibition in the rooms of the Society. Many
flint implements, buffalo bones and pieces of pottery have been unearthed at a
village site near Lindsborg. A piece of petrified wood was also unearthed here,
which apparently was once the end of a stick drawn by dogs, and on which In-
dians moved their tents and equipage. This is indicated by one end being worn
smooth at a certain angle. The flint implements found on this side are of dif-
ferent colors, showing that the people of the village had communication with In-
dians of remote localities. It is possible that some of them were obtained by
conquest, but the probability is that the greater number were acquired by barter.
This village was situated between two never-failing streams. In places the ground
near the stream rose to a considerable height. When buffaloes came to slake
their thirst at these cooling waters, the Indians of the village could approach the
stream and kill their choice from the drinking herds. The facility with which
these animals were slaughtered here may account for the unusual number of
their bones unearthed on the village site.
The amount of pottery unearthed here is also a noticeable feature. The vil-
lage was likely an important one. Professor Udden, formerly of Lindsborg, wrote
a small volume descriptive of this site and the objects found there.
East of this site, some sites on Gypsum, Holland and Turkey creeks have
been examined, and a number of interesting relics found, among them a mottled
flint hoe. This flint came from a distance, nothing like it being known in the
locality. The indications are that small areas on these streams were cultivated.
It is believed that Coronado crossed these streams on his march from the big
bend of the Smoky Hill to the Kansas river. His narrators speak of corn in
Quivira, and the hoes and digging implements indicate that it was raised there,
but the buffalo furnished the main food.
Last winter Mr. J. A. Johnson, a bridge contractor, in excavating for the
abutments for a bridge on Clark's creek, near Skiddy, Morris county, at a depth
of fifteen feet, came to a fireplace, or hearth, made of stones, matched and fitted
together, and resting on a solid ledge of rock, lower than the present channel.
On the fireplace were found charcoal, ashes, a buffalo bone, a flint knife, and a
136 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
coin-shaped piece of brass. Above the fireplace, and six or seven feet beneath
the surface, an oak tree, two feet thick, had grown. The stump was removed in
excavating. This was undoubtedly a camping-place of white men in communi-
cation with Indians a long time ago. Another fireplace has been found since in
the same locality.
I examined a very interesting village site and fort on the Verdigris river last
spring. Rev. M. E. Eraser, of Neodesha, and Mr. Knaus had written the Society
concerning this site and fort. The fort was built on a part of the site three miles
north of Neodesha, near to and east of the river. The lodge sites occupy a con-
siderable area, and the village seems to have been an important one. Its occu-
pants must have been known for long distances, as small flint implements of
many kinds and colors have been found different from any known there. There
seems to have been no other village of equal importance in that whole section of
country. Shells, stone mauls, flint arrow-points, hammers, rubbing-stones,
scrapers, pitted stones, flint chips and other objects were found on the site.
The presence of pitted stones seems significant. The animal bones found indi-
cate that these Indians derived their main support from the buffalo. On the
highest ground of the site are two parallel lines of pits. The dirt from these pits
had been thrown between the lines of pits, so as to make one line of elevated
places between the two lines of pits. The form of this fort is almost that of a
horseshoe, with the opening toward the east. The pits and the elevated places
between them were from one to two rods long, and the pits were about three and
a half feet deep.
A piece of the butt plate of a gun and an old iron ax beveled only on one side
were unearthed near the fort; also bullets and trinkets, probably traded to the
Indians by white traders, were found. These things and the Indian relics found
are deposited in the rooms of the State Historical Society and on exhibition there.
Conjectures have been made as to the time and by whom the fort was built. It
was quite likely the work of white men, and I do not think it is very old. The
probabilities are that the fort was built while the Indian village was in existence.
This is indicated by the beveled ax and the trinkets found. Investigation of this
fort and site will be continued, and possibly facts may be developed which will
throw further light on both. There seems nothing definite now as to either.
There are mounds in various places in Kansas which may develop interesting
facts. The village sites are continually yielding their treasures of the past. These
should be carefully preserved. They throw much light on the manner of living
of those who formerly held the soil. Back of written records, if a history could
be written of those who roamed over the sunny plains of Kansas, it would surely
be a very interesting one.
Mr. W. J. Griffing has collected during the last year a lot of interesting relics
near Manhattan and deposited them with the Society.
While the members of the committee are interested in the work, it is incon-
venient and almost impracticable for them to get together and make examinations
of mounds and village sites.
Everything seems to indicate that what can be learned of the aborigines of
what is now Kansas is well worthy of investigation and study.
ON THE SANTA FE TRAIL, 137
A FAMOUS OLD CROSSING ON THE SANTA FE TRAIL.
From an address by Geo. P. Morehouse,* of Council Grove, before the State
Historical Society, at its twenty-eighth annual meeting, December 1, 1903.
''I^HE great flood of 1903, which washed away the Main street bridge over the
-*- Neosho river at Council Grove, has called attention to this famous crossing
of the old Santa Fe trail over that stream. This bridge marked the exact loca-
tion, and the city has always preserved a convenient passway down the river
banks to the fine rock-bottom ford, that stock and teams could go over in the
old way. This is right in the center of the town, and has always been a splendid
watering-place, noted as such long before the time of the white man.
The three spans of this bridge were destroyed on the night of May 28, 1903,
when two-thirds of Council Grove were flooded by a sudden and protracted rise
of the river, several feet higher than recorded by the oldest settler. The tradi-
tion of the Kaws, who lived here from 1847 till 1873, that "once the valley was
washed from hills to hills" was verified, but no one dreamed of a wave of water
high enough to carry off this strong structure and to flood every business house
in the city. The Kaws used to tell of this tradition, and say "White man heap
big fool to build big house near river," and for a time last spring we thought
they were correct.
Nothing much remains of this bridge except the abutments and piers, which
stand as mute monuments of not only the power of the highest water ever known,
but also a very noted spot in the history of Kansas. The first structure was of
heavy oak timber, sawed out of the original "council grove," and was built
some forty years ago, and was for a time a toll-bridge, and known as the only
bridge this far west in the state. When a boy, I remember the old oak bridge
leaned fully two feet down stream before it was finally taken down. In early
days it furnished a convenient scaffold from which to drop those sentenced to
death by the court of Judge Lynch, which often held sessions here. The last
execution to take place here was during the winter of 1866-'67. Jack McDowell
was a noted horse-thief and outlaw from Missouri, and understood to have been
with Quantrill at Lawrence and on other expeditions, but his career of crime
came to an ignominious end at this spot. As a suspicious character he lounged
*Geoege Pieeson Moeehouse was born at Decatur, 111., July 28, 1859. His father, Horace
Morehouse, is still living, at the age of 78, a retired merchant and farmer. He was one of the
founders of the Republican party in Illinois. The mother was Lavinia F. Strong, the daughter
of a Presbyterian minister, a lineal descendant of Elder John Strong, who came from England
in 1630, in the good ship Mary and John, and fouBded Northampton, Mass. The family came to
Kansas in 1871, and opened a stock farm at Diamond Springs, in Morris county. George P.
Morehouse started his life in the rough and tumble of ranch life. His first expense money for
school-books was obtained from tlie sale of fur skins and wolf pelts. He went to Albion, New
York, Academy, graduating in 1884, and he also became academic graduate of the University of
New York. Here he won three prizes. He began the study of law in New York, but returned
home, and managed the ranch for two years, which is still owned by himself and brother, fin-
ishing legal preparation at Council Grove. He was admitted to the bar in 1889, and served six
years as city attorney of Council Grove and county attorney of Morris county. He was elected
state senator from the twenty-third district, composed of the counties of Chase, Marion, and
Morris. He is the author of the law making the sunflower the state flower, and of tlie first leg-
islation regulating automobiles ; an active advocate of manual training, and other reforms in
our systems of education and taxation. He is a bachelor, of the law firm of Morehouse &
Crowley, Council Grove, a member of the Presbyterian church, a Modern Woodman, and a
Knight of Pythias.
138 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
around town for several days, and then stole the best span of horses in the valley.
He was tracked into Nebraska by the owner, William Pollard, who took with
him the sheriff of Morris county. They took no chances of delay," but brought
him back without a requisition, a formality too slow for that time. To track a
horse thief or prairie outlaw then was far different than now, assisted as the offi-
cers are by thickly settled country, railways, telegraphs, telephones, and so many
means of communication and interception.
McDowell seemed to have some confederates or friends right in town, who
made a demonstration for his rescue and secretly furnished him with arms. It
failed, however, and two well-known citizens were given "six hours to sell out,
pack up, go, and never return," a frequent order by the mysterious "committee
of safety." They promptly obeyed orders. While preparations were being made
for "the preliminary," that he might be "bound over to the district court," he
wag confined in the old log guard-house. It was a long time to the spring term
of court, and McDowell became so violent in his abuse and unspeakable execra-
tion of his captors, the town, and its leading citizens, whom he threatened with
all kinds of vengeance in the future, and so openly boasted of his numerous kill-
ings, that it became unbearable " to the peace and quiet " of the old town. "After
due deliberation," so called, it was thought best summarily to dispose of him and
not wait for the next term of court to send him to the pen. This decision was
hastened by rumors that some of his old-time friends were coming with a band of
rescuers. One cold, bright moonlight Saturday night after business hours, the
"inner council" of the committee of safety assembled as executioners and took
him down Main street to the old bridge, with a convenient rope coiled around his
neck. The loose end was properly fastened to an extended cross-beam, and Mc-
Dowell was duly rolled off into eternity. When ho saw that his end was near he
became very meek and begged for delay, and confessed his many crimes as a
heartless outlaw and thoroughly bad man that he was. His body was left hang-
ing for a day from this prominent place, as a warning to others.
This old wooden structure was replaced by an iron bridge, which, having no
walk-way, was converted into three country bridges, and the fine structure re-
cently destroyed was erected. Since the May flood, the river has been crossed
in the old way of early trail days, and frequently this summer was too high, and
wagon and passenger traffic between east and west Council Grove has been car-
ried on with much difficulty, giving good examples of the many trials experi-
enced in overland teaming when this was one of the most noted highways in
America.
The extremes to which men would go in old times to get their wagon-trains
across this spot is noted in the following account recently related to me by an
old-timer : Pawnee Bill was a rancher and freighter, and, with a long train of
empty wagons going east, he was detained at this crossing by continued high
water. Becoming restless at the delay, he ordered his men to chain all wagon-
boxes to the gears and prepare to advance. The Mexican "greasers," not given
to such violent baths, objected, and started a mutiny. He ridiculed them as
cowards and children, and said "all such could crawl in the high wagons and
ride, but brave men would ride and drive oxen or swim along with them," as he
would.
He set the example by forcing the head outfit, a wagon drawn by five yoke of
oxen, into the mad current, and arrived safely across. He was an expert swim-
mer, and would go along the side of the oxen, punching them and urging them
on with terrific yells, now on one side, and would even dive under the floating
mass and come up on the other side to urge them along. The entire train fol-
Group of Kaw ludians in fall dress. Wa-inan-ka-wa-sha, with shield; Sha-ga-in-ka, with horns ;
Margaret Ma-huo-gah, with pappoose, belle of the Kaws.
Famous crossing over the Neosho>n the Santa Fe Trail, at Council Grove,
after the flood of 1903.
I
ON THE SANTA FE TRAIL. 139
lowed, some "greasers" swimming, others riding oxen, and when the entire train
reaclaed the east side only two or three oxen were drowned. Many other trains
were stopped that time by the high water, but none tried the strenuous method
of fording adopted by Pawnee Bill. The best view of this old croseing is taken
from the east abutment, lookirg west over the two piers and along Main street,
wtiich bears southwest about fifteen degrees, and which is a part of the original
surveyed Santa Fe trail. This trail was used as a base line from which west
Council Grove was platted, and hence all streets are "askew with the world."
When the city was laid out a few rough log and stone structures had been
erected along the trail, and they were thought to be too valuable to be disturbed.
The Daughters of the Revolution propose the worthy movement among the
school children of the counties along this trail of marking by lasting monuments
its course through the state. It is being obliterated in the grain counties, but
through the large pastures of Morris and other counties, its sod-frozen washes,
ruts and ridges are still plain. Main street of Council Grove and this old
crossing over the Neosho are probably the most prominent, well preserved and
permanent monuments along this noted thoroughfare. Several business places
still stand which date back to the old days, when the long lines of white-covered,
creaking, lumbering prairie schooners, drawn by oxen or mules, crossed the
river at this point, and rolled past on their way to the far Southwest,
The first building to the left is the old trail blacksmith shop, right where the
overland traffic swung up the hill into the broad street, of the last outfitting
town and place where "store supplies" could be obtained. The next building
to the left is the old hotel, substantially built of native lumber, oak frame and
black walnut siding. The third story is an addition of this generation. For
many years this was the most noted man hostelry from the Missouri river to
Santa Fe. During those old trail days, and the great cattle drives of subsequent
times, when vast herds of long-horn Texas cattle were driven through here, it
was of ten the scene of noted events, dances, "social round-ups," "fandangoes,"
and the like, which early frontier belles and boys traveled many miles to at-
tend. Many other quaint and celebrated business places still stand, relics of
those palmy days when Council Grove was the second most important trading
center in "Kansas. To the right, set back from the street is the famous Hays
building, also built of native lumber, and which in some way once stopped a
great fire, after burning a half-block of brick stores. Upstairs was the public
hall, where many noted old Kansans held forth, where court convened, and the-
atricals, which had ventured thus far west, turned back.
A block west of this crossing was the "pioneer store," recently changed some
from its former odd proportions. It was a long, two- story stone building, with
thick walls, and was the "last chance" to buy neglected supplies. Here the
Kaws and other Indians traded buffalo-robes, deer and wolf skins and other pel-
tries for coveted things, and through its wide double doors the festive cowboys
sometimes rode their ponies and traded with the astonished clerks. Here every-
thing needed was kept, from a cambric needle to a complete frontier outfit, and
every luxury could be obtained, from a cathartic pill to a cask of whisky. At
this point people from the "effete East," who had foolishly worn "biled shirts"
or sported stiff or plug hats, discarded these badges of luxury and purchased re-
liable soft sombreros and hickory or woolen shirts. If not, they met trouble, for
it was a frequent custom to smash such hats down over a man's ears or shoot
holes through the crown. This old crossing, camp-ground, grove and bridge
were common and convenient places for meeting to exchange news, trade horses,
sell cattle, outfit for the plains, and gather information upon all subjects from
140 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
the many travelers going east and west. A sort of bureau of general information
and trail etatistics was kept of those who passed, and even now passing suspicious
characters are often noted and facts gained which lead to their destination and
final capture. It was an abandoned horse and buggy crossing here at midnight
a few years ago that gave the clue and led to the capture of that noted outlaw,
mutineer, and murderer, Estelle.
As the number of passing wagons, oxen, horses, mules and tons of merchan-
dise in the trains of the trail days was here noted and booked, so also this is the
place even today where the length and character of modern parades and proces-
sions are counted and recorded. Few places in Kansas have a more favorable
spot at which to congregate large crowds than this grove and crossing. For
forty years some of Kansas' greatest political events have been held here ; events
of more than local importance, as either party could easily gather its devotees to
this Mecca, even from surrounding counties. Spell-binders and sages of all po-
litical faiths have made this old camp ground and grove echo with their elo-
quence. All of Kansas' old-timers have been here, and such noted outsiders as
George Francis Train, Miss Anthony, Mrs. Lucy Stone Blackwell and Elizabeth
Cady Stanton were here in one season. During later years some of these events
have brought long processions over (this crossing, and it has been the custom to
measure the length and count the teams and persons passing, and it is consid-
ered an omen of victory to the political party managing the longest and most at-
tractive display. The Democrats will always boast of the most costly, artistic
and well-managed procession and spectacular display, when Judge John Martin
was their candidate for governor.
The longest procession to pass here, and the one that caused Republicans the
most anxiety, was when, on a cloudy and unfavorable day, Mrs. Lease, as the
"Joan of Arc," and Senator Peflfer, the "prophet of Populism," headed a parade,
with banners galore, which, for two long hours, rolled down the street and
crossed this bridge. It had been quietly worked up, for no previous advertising
announced its coming; but it came — came in long and enthusiastic delegations
— from Morris and adjoining counties, and was a prominent mark of the high
tide of the political fervor of that party. In some respects, the grandest and
most potent political event ever held here was on a favorable October day in 1891,
an "off year," but one of remarkable political activity. It was known as a
"rally and barbecue," and, while a Republican affair, was quite unique and un-
usual, in that the "straight-out" Democrats favored it, and to a degree partici-
pated in cooking the beef and helping in the entertainment. This was in
recognition of the nomination by the Republican party of James Humphrey, of
Junction City, for district judge. The "medicine made that day" and the good
feeling prevailing, probably, were the cause of his election. Fully 10,000 people
assembled — many from other counties — and for about an hour and a half a pro-
cession passed, which for enthusiasm and patriotic display could not have been
excelled. Unlike the other procession, with its caustic and caricature banners
which cut and hurt and rankled, this parade only displayed the stars and stripes,
which decorated every horse, cart, wagon, carriage, and were held by every man,
woman, and child. It presented a remarkable scene — a line of winding, rising
and falling red, white, and blue, as far as the eye could reach. After a barbecue,
which consumed several head of fat cattle and numerous hogs, besides great
stacks of bread and barrels of coffee, ex-Gov. Geo. T. Anthony delivered the po-
litical address. Its earnestness, its logical reasoning, its clear and convincing
presentation of the fundamental principles and powers of government, will never
be forgotten, and had great influence upon the thousands who heard. At that
ON THE SANTA FE TRAIL. 141
time he was five years ahead of his party, which arrived at his reasoning in the
St. Louie platform of 1896, and adopted his arguments in that campaign. I
mention it here because it was an eventful day in Kansas politics, an address
which will long live as a political classic, and was delivered in this famous and
historical spot by one whom some may not have admired, but all will admit had
no superior in our Western country upon the stormy forum of public debate.
The recent flood, which destroyed the bridge at this crossing and submerged
the town for a night and day, had such swift currents across this street that hose-
carts were overturned and men and horses washed from their feet while on the
way to the burning and floating lumber-yard and flooded and blazing buildings.
To reach such a height and force, the river at this old ford had to be about twenty-
five feet above ordinary water-mark.
There has been much speculation as to the earliest use of this crossing, but no
one knows how far back it extends. While it is true that there was no Santa
Fe trail till the white man made it, however, the old Indian traditions and
other proofs clearly establish that, along parts of its very course, there was a pre.
historic, well-marked and used highway to and from the Southwest. There are
strong reasons for believing that back to the days of the mound builders this
natural route was in use. It is well established that it was a common pathway
for ancient Indian tribes hundreds of years ago. Many think that a part of Cor-
onado's expedition crossed here in 1511, as pieces of chain mail and other ancient
relics have been found near here. The first known man who camped at this
crossing on his way to Santa Fe was La Lande, a French Creole, in the year 1801.
The year following, a man by the name of Purcell passed here bound for the
same place. William Becknell, a Missouri trader, crossed this ford in 1821, with
the first successful trading outfit that transported merchandise to the Mexican
civilization of the Southwest.
There is record of three men, guided by a Spaniard named Blanco, who in
1809 went across to Santa Fe, and in 1817 Mr. Choteau, for many years after-
wards a trader among the Kaws, covered the same route. He being at that time
from St. Louis, the erroneous idea prevails that the first trading expeditions to
Santa Fe over this route originated in that city. But to the old town of Frank-
lin, in Howard county, Missouri, belongs the honor of fitting out the first trad-
ing expedition, which was the small pack-train of William Becknell, that made
the journey in 1821.
The trading expedition of Augustus Storrs, of Franklin, Mo., who crossed
here in 1821, and his elaborate report made to Senator Benton, regarding the
trade possibilities with New Mexico and northern Old Mexico, stirred up Con-
gress to make an appropriation for the survey and improvement of this avenue of
coming "commerce of the prairies."
On the 10th day of August, 1825, right here under a monster old oak, "coun-
cil oak," still standing, the United States commission and chief representatives
of the powerful Osage nations met in council for several days, and made that
treaty which led to the establishment of the Santa Fe trail and this crossing,
and gave to this historic spot the name "Council Grove." During the same year,
1825, an expedition under Major Sibley commenced the survey, and for three
years was engaged in formally laying out this highway and securing the proper
concessions for its recognition. Within a few rods of this ford still stand some
of the old giant oak trees, estimated to be over 200 years old, a part of the original
" council grove," which for ages has been, and still is, the largest body of natural
timber from here to the Rocky Mountains. This being the last timber crossing
to Santa P"'e, caravans carried a supply for repairs, which they hung in convenient
142 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
logs or timbers beneath their \vagone, and sometimes they were carried to Santa
Fe and back, when not used in repairing disabled wagons.
The first caravans to cross at this point were composed of pack-animals — Mis-
souri mules. In 1824 a few wagons were successfully used. About 1830 the regu-
lation high-box prairie-schooner was introduced. These wagons were drawn
by from five to six yoke of oxen or as many mules, and had a capacity of about
three tons. These trains numbered at times hundreds of wagons and several
thousand animals, and thus thousands of tons of merchandise were transported.
Is it any wonder this vast wagon commerce left an indelible mark on the plains
or at a crossing like this ?
This fine old forest of oak, hickory, walnut, and elm, with its abundance of
wood and water, its shade and shelter, was a common gathering-place and council
ground of the overland caravans westward bound, and the welcoming oasis, re-
treat and post of recuperation for the returning voyagers from the dust, heat,
fatigue and dangers of the great plains, which, from this beautiful and pro-
tecting valley, stretched —
"In airy undulations, far away.
As if an ocean in its gentlest swell
Stood still, with all its rounded billows fixed
And motionless forever."
It was here at this famous meeting-point, where parties assembled, organized
their long caravans of wagons and pack-animals, and elected their train bosses
and other officers to manage their future journey and enforce the "code of the
plains," which they had adopted and which governed. It was here, in 1842, that
Marcus Whitman, that intrepid Presbyterian explorer and missionary, found
shelter on his historic winter ride from Oregon to Washington, the most-noted
long overland trip in American history; a ride that saved Oregon, now three
states, as he arrived just in time to prevent Tyler and Webster from trading it
(then thought to be "a worthless wilderness") to the British for some fishing
privileges. Whitman avoided the impassable snows of the middle Rockies by
coming around South and striking this trail in New Mexico.
It was near this crossing of the Neosho, in July, 1846, that Colonel Doniphan
and Sterling Price stopped and rested their regiments of Missouri volunteers on
their way to the Mexican war. This march, from Leavenworth to the land of
the Aztecs, 4000 miles, has no rival in the great marches of the world. The word
"Neosho" means a river with water, so different from many Western rivers with
their dry and sandy beds.
Over this crossing have passed most of the famous expeditions to the West
and Southwest, and both man and beast, thirsty and famished, welcomed a river
with water, and naturally lingered in the shelter of this favored spot.
This famous old crossing, with its rich traditions and historic interest, is right
in the busy center of a growing Kansas town, and will always be marked by a
large bridge and a convenient ford across its refreshing waters. This noted
highway at this point has never been closed, but our broad Main street, through
which poured that great overland commerce, and which once resounded with the
creaking, groaning wagons, the tread of thousands of patient and faithful oxen
and sturdy mules, accented by the emphatic imprecations of the drivers, is now
lined with modern business houses, beautiful homes, and at night is made bril-
liant with electricity for a mile of its original course.
Multitudes cross here daily who never think of this historic ground or recall
that primitive civilization of Indians, hunters and plainsmen, freighters, cow-
Pioneer Store on Trail at Council Grove. Built in the early '50 s
Last chance for supplies.
Under this oak at Council Grove treaty was made with the Great and Little Osage.
for right of way of Santa Fo Trail, August 10, 1,S25. Estimated
age of tree, 250 years.
I
BUSINESS THEN AND NOW. 143
boy8, and soldiers, who were the every day actors of those strenuous times, and if
they should remember that period of our historic past, they would probably say :
"Look now, abroad,
Another race has filled these borders ;
Wide the wood recedes, fertile realms are tilled,
The land is full of harvests and green meads."
Years may come and go ; the old " council oak" and the grove may wither, de-
cay, and die; our present civilization may almost obliterate the Santa Fe trail
and scatter its quaint and interesting relics, but as long as Main street of Coun-
cil Grove endures, the course of this noted trail, the magnitude of its trade, will
be indelibly marked on earth, and at no more interesting and historical spot than
at this famous old crossing over the Neosho river.
BUSINESS THEN AND NOW.
An address by James C. Hoeton,* of Kansas City, Mo., before the Kansas State Historical
Society, at its twenty-eighth annual meeting, December 1, 1903.
TN 1861, when Kansas was admitted, the taxable property of the state was
-*- about $16,000,000. It is now nearly $390,000,000. The seven-per-cent. bonds
of 1861 brought only thirty-five to forty-two cents on the dollar. The state at
that time would exchange a hundred-dollar bond for seventy dollars of state war-
rants, there being no money in the treasury for redemption of the warrants,
which sold for about fifty to sixty cents on the dollar. This made the price to
the buyer of state bonds thirty- five to forty-two cents. The interest on every
Kansas bond issued by the state was always promptly paid, and every such bond
redeemed at maturity.
Considering the fact that the debt was limited to $1,000,000, and the state was
forbidden to become a party to any work of internal improvement, this was a
very low figure for the bonds, but those were critical times.
Kansas is now practically out of debt, but could borrow at three per cent., if
needed, on an issue of state bonds.
BANKS OF KANSAS.
There were no banks of issue in Kansas up to 1864, unless, possibly, the Law-
rence Bank, which had a territorial charter, and issued bills which circulated
* James Claek Hoeton, of Kansas City, Mo., was born at Ballston Spa, Saratoga county,
New York, May 15, 1837. He is the son of James W. Horton and Abba Claris. His father was
county clerk of Saratoga county from 1845 to 1885. In November, 1884, he was elected for the
fourteenth term of three years, but died soon after the beginning of the term. He was warden
or vestryman of his church for over fifty years, and chairman of the Republican county com-
mittee for thirty years. Ancestors on both sides were from Connecticut. James C. Horton at-
tended Doctor Babcock's school at Ballston Spa, a school at Lockport, and the Kinderhook
Academy, at Kinderhook, N. Y. He came to Kansas in March, 1857, and settled in Lawrence.
He worked for a year as a copyist in his father's office before coming to Kansas. After settling
in Lawrence, he engaged in manual labor. In 1858 he was made deputy to S. S. Prouty, register
of deeds, and was afterwards elected for three terms to this office. He was then express and
railroad ticket agent at Lawrence until his removal to Kansas City, Mo., in 1878, when, in com-
pany with B. W. Woodward and Frank A. Faxon, the wholesale drug house of Woodward, Faxon
& Co , now Faxon, Horton & Gallagher, was established. He represented Douglas county in the
house of representatives in 1874, and in the state senate of 1875 and 1876. He was chairman of
the ways and means committee of the house in 1874, and chairman of the same committee and of
the joint committee during his two years in the senate. He is a vestryman in Trinity Church,
Lawrence, and Grace Church, Kansas City, Mo. He was married April 23, 1867, to Fannie B.
Robinson, widow of John W. Robinson. His wife died June 14, 1901. iir, Horton is one of the
survivors of the Quantrill raid at Lawrence.
144 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
and were honored. The bills were printed in red ink. I think this bank was
the only one incorporated by the territory.
There were some private institutions in Leavenworth, Atchison, and Topeka,
and a few other of the larger towns, but all together there were not more than fif-
teen or twenty, with deposits of less than $1,000,000. The national, state and
private banks now number over 650, with deposits of nearly $100,000,000.
ONE banker's cheap AND QUICK METHOD OF MAKING COLLECTIONS.
In Lawrence, in 1857, Samuel N. Wood had a bank office in one corner of a
small grocery store on Massachusetts street. There were piles of flour and bacon
in the little building. Wood's corner occupying about eight feet square, with a
bay window in front, in which he displayed land-warrants, gold and bank-notes
in a tempting manner. One day a debtor of this banker passed by in the middle
of the street, being somewhat intoxicated. Mr. Wood rushed out and seized him,
throwing him down and taking his pocketbook. After helping himself to the
amount due him he returned the pocketbook to its place and allowed him to pro-
ceed. This was a novel, but an economical and expeditious way of making a col-
lection — quite a contrast to the delays which creditors sometimes experience in
the courtB nowadays.
THE CURRENCY.
Our currency at the time was gold, silver, and paper, but the paper money we
had was mostly issued by banks either chartered and controlled by a state, as
in Missouri, Indiana, and Ohio, or secured by pledges of state bonds, as in New
York, Illinois, Wisconsin, and some other states. Unfortunately, when the
Southern states seceded, their bonds depreciated rapidly, in some instances be-
coming entirely worthless — and the currency for which such bonds had been
pledged fell far below par.
When I was register of deeds of Douglas county, 1 recall an instance where
an old gentleman was paid $300 in bank bills, mostly on Illinois and Wisconsin
banks, in satisfaction of a mortgage which he held on a farm in that county.
This was in the forenoon. That afternoon the stage brought the Leavenworth
morning paper, which this old gentleman was in the habit of reading every day
soon after it arrived. He always came around to the office to look it over. We
had no telegraph or daily paper in Lawrence at that time. He had not read
many telegraphic items before he discovered quite a list of banks whose currency
was depreciated for the reason above stated. He said he would like to take the
paper home with him, and the next day he sold the bank bills he had received at
par the day before to Simpson's Bank for fifty cents on the dollar, and said he
was glad to get rid of them.
No matter what panic overtakes the country now, the holders of its paper
money, either that of the government or of the national banks, are secure against
loss on that score. In those days a 'Thompson'' s Ba»Jc note Reporter, issued
weekly, was to be seen .in every place of business. No prudent man could be
without it. It described counterfeits, of which there were a great many, and
gave quotations of uncurrent money — nearly all bank issues being at a discount
away from home.
RATES OF INTEREST.
The interest on money at that time ranged from twenty per cent, annum to
five per cent, per month, and in some instances even ten per cent, a month was
obtained. Twenty per cent, a year was considered very reasonable, and thou-
sands of dollars were loaned in the towns where the land-offices were located at
three per cent, a month for the purpose of entering lands. Kansas people are
not borrowing to a great extent now, but rates are from six to eight per cent, per
annum.
BUSINESS THEN AND NOW. 145
In Douglas county, in 1858, the county board determined that it was necessary
to have a jail, and the chairman. Judge Josiah Miller, together with Henry Bar-
ricklow, one of the board, gave a note to a Lawrence merchant, George Ford,
with interest at five per cent, a month, for materials furnished for a jail. It cost
about $800, was built of hewn logs and had a shingle roof, but the windows were
well barred and the jail had a very heavy oaken door, secured with a strong pad-
lock. Soon after its completion an unfortunate individual charged with a slight
offense was incarcerated, but through the kindly aid of a friend, who handed
him a small saw between the window bars, he cut a hole through the roof and
escaped that night.
The rate of interest paid in this necessity was not then considered unreason-
able, but it is quite likely that Douglas county could to-day borrow all the money
it wanted at the rate of four per cent, per annum.
Geary county, four years ago, sold its four-percent, court-house bonds at five
per cent, premium.
BOND VOTING FOR RAILROADS.
About 1868 what Web Wilder called the "bond-voting mania" swept over
Kansas, and many thousands of dollars were voted in aid of railroad enterprises.
Fortunately the state herself could not be involved, as the constitution prohibited
her from becoming a party to works of internal improvement, and limited the
amount of the state debt. It might have been a blessing to Kansas if the Wy-
andotte convention had made that section read: "Neither the state, nor any
county, city, or township, shall become a party to any work of internal improve-
ment."
There was, however, a great desire for railroads, and the people wanted them
quickly; they were tired of hauling their products over muddy roads. As to
prices paid for construction, the iron for the road between Pleasant Hill and
Lawrence was bought in England, and brought by way of New Orleans, costing
$140 a ton in greenbacks (which would have been about eighty dollars in gold).
Steel rails can now be bought for twenty-seven dollars a ton or less, and a steel
rail will outwear twenty- five iron rails.
The railroads were expensive luxuries to the taxpayers, but there were com-
pensations, and the people were glad to get some other mode of travel besides
the stage-coaches.
Sometimes, when roads were bad, it would take from six o'clock at night un-
til six in the morning to go by stage from Lawrence to Topeka, a distance of only
twenty-eight miles.
STEAMBOATING.
All goods for Kansas in the early days were brought up the Missouri river by
steamboat. These were well equipped, carried a great many passengers, and the
service was good, considering the difficulties of navigation at some seasons of the
year. Flour, bacon and other staple articles were imported in large quantities.
Kansas now exports largely both wheat and flour, and in 1903 had the largest
wheat crop of any state in the Union. There are not enough cars and locomo-
tives to handle this enormous crop.
The Kansas river was navigated from 1854 until 1864 at certain seasons of the
year. We had a regular boat at Lawrence which took corn to Kansas City, and
then went to Leavenworth for lumber, making the round trip in about four days.
Boats also went as far as Fort Riley, and one contractor for freight to be
hauled by wagon from Fort Leavenworth to Fort Riley made a handsome profit,
the stage of water being favorible, by bringing this freight up in a steamboat.
Capt. Bertrand Rockwell's father (George Rockwell), then in business in
—11
146 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Junction City, told me that he freighted salt by wagon from Leavenworth and
sold it in Junction City at $6 a barrel. Now Kansas is supplying salt not
only for all the state, but for some distance beyond. The packers in Kansas
City use Kansas salt by the car-load, and in barrel lots it is worth about $1.25.
EXPRESS BUSINESS AND THE STAGE COACHES,
In those earlier days I was express agent at Lawrence, and at that time the
transmission of money was largely done by express, as we had but few banks to
furnish drafts, and postal and express money-orders were unknown. Now the
shipments of currency and specie are by express almost entirely — the large
amounts shipped by banks and the government. Before there were any railroads
thousands of dollars were carried on the stages, much of this money not being
accompanied by a messenger. We had steel-bound trunks which were filled
with money packages and the agents at different points had duplicate keys.
These trunks were usually closely packed with money and valuables. This op-
portunity should not pass without a tribute to the fidelity of the stage-drivers
who had them in their charge. I do not recall one instance on any stage route
in Kansas where a dollar was stolen. These men were experts in driving, had a
pride in their profession, and could handle four- or six-horse teams with ease.
With hardly an exception they were temperate and careful, but not highly edu-
cated men. Some of them swore occasionally, on rainy nights, when roads were
bad, but their integrity was unquestioned and their standard of honor very
high. Acquisition of knowledge, desirable as it may be, does not of itself make
people honest.
ELECTRICITY AS A POWER.
Within the past twenty years the development in the electrical field has been
greater than in any other, and the use of this power is increasing so rapidly it
may be confidently predicted that the time is not far distant when it will super-
sede steam as a motive power on all railroads, both for passenger- and freight-
trains. Since this article was written it is announced that the New York Central
railroad is to adopt electrical power for a portion of its road, at an expense of
twenty to thirty millions.
THE PACKING BUSINESS.
One of the greatest changes in business pertains to the meat supply. Some
years ago every village had its slaughtering establishment. Now the great pack-
ing centers furnish these foods.
Over $300,000 a day is paid out at the Live-stock Exchange, in Kansas City,
for cattle, hogs, and sheep.
The use of refrigerator-cars and cold-storage houses has brought about this
change, as meats, dressed poultry, etc., can now be sent to the seaboard and de-
livered in prime condition. Shipments of dressed meats are made across the
Atlantic from New York, Boston, and Baltimore.
THE MERCANTILE BUSINESS.
Before the railroads were built in Kansas the jobbing trade in all lines was of
course confined to the towns on the Missouri river, principally at Leavenworth
and Atchison, in Kansas, and Kansas City and St. Joseph, in Missouri. While
a large business is still done from the river towns, many of the interior cities now
distribute goods and enjoy an excellent trade. The wants of the people of Kan-
sas have always been varied ; they buy only the best goods, and are good cus-
tomers for merchants.
BUSINESS THEN AND NOW. 147
INCREASE OF GOLD SUPPLY AFFECTING VALUES.
The opening of new gold mines and the improved methods of treating low-
grade ores within the last ten years have enormously increased the world's sup-
ply of gold, and it being the measure of values, it cannot be otherwise than that
the prices of real estate and other property, except watered stocks, will continue
to show a healthy advance.
NEWSPAPERS IN KANSAS.
In 1857 there were only twenty newspapers published in Kansas; now there
are over 750 newspaper publications, and the dailies published in Kansas City,
Mo., have a large circulation in the state. We had some great editors in Kansas,
among them John A. Martin, afterwards governor of the state; T. D wight
Tbacher, D. R. Anthony, both members of the legislature ; Jacob Stotler, speaker
of the house ; George T. Anthony, afterwards governor ; George W. Brown ; Hovey
E.Lowmau; Milton W. Reynolds; Ward Burlingame; Sidney Clarke, afterwads
member of Congress; F. P. Baker; Henry King; George W. Martin, now the
honored secretary of this Society; D. W. Wilder, once auditor of state; O. E.
Learnard, one of the few survivors of the first free-state territorial council, 1857 ;
Albert H. Horton, afterwards chief justice of the supreme court; John J. Ingalls,
United States senator; J. K. Hudson; S. S. Prouty; George A. Crawford; P. B.
Plumb, United States senator : George R. Peck ; Charles S. Gleed, now a director
of the Santa Fe road: Leslie J. Perry, a survivor of Andersonville; John Speer.
R. G. Elliott; E. G. Ross, whose vote saved Andrew Johnson from impeachmect;
B. F. Simpson, once attorney-general, and many times a representative from
Miami county ; Samuel C. Smith ; D. W. Houston, at one time^U. S. marshal : R. B.
Taylor, once a representative from Wyandotte county; V. J. Lane, also a repre-
sentative from that county; Sol. Miller, several times a senator from Doniphan
county; J. C. Vaughan: Champion Vaughan ; J. M. Winchell, president of the
Wyandotte convention; Samuel N. Wood; Noble L. Prentis, second to none in
ability, and one who could write more funny things than any man in Kansas;
Wm. A. Phillips, who was correspondent of the New York Tribune during the
eventful years of 1856 and 1857, and probably did as much as any one in directing
attention to Kansas territory ; he was afterwards a member of Congress, as was
also John A. Anderson, preacher, editor, and the man who gave us two-cent
postage; also, C. V. Eskridge, often representative from Emporia; the Murdocks,
and many others — all have done unselfish work for the business interests cf
Kansas. Thomas A. Osborn, governor for two terms and minister to Chili, was
at one time a typesetter on a paper in Doniphan county, also on the Herald of
Freedom, in Lawrence.
COURT BUSINESS.
In the territorial days we had no court-houses, but courts were held in the
storerooms, halls, and possibly in the summer-time there were some that held ses-
sions in places where trees afiForded a comfortable shade. I remember one justice's
court which was held during a forenoon in the Congregational church in Law-
rence, the building having been just completed. Some horse-thieves were to be
tried, but they were turned over to a crowd in the afternoon, which, after consider-
able and rather boisterous discussion, finally gave them a whipping and ran them
across the river, out of town.
Josiah Miller, probate judge of Douglas county, who was a sort of a " Pooh-
bah," holding several offices, held his court in a small room which had formerly
been used for a meat market. It was in this room that Judge Miller, having be-
come somewhat weary at the length of a trial in a replevin suit for a calf worth
148 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
$3 7"), awoke from a nap of an hour or so in the afternoon of the third day of the
controversy and conamanded that the suit should stop, stating that he would pay
for the calf himself.
Rush Elmore was one of the judges of the United States territorial court. He
was from Alabama, a man highly esteemed for his ability and his integrity by
people of both political parties. In Lawrence the sessions of his court were held
in the old Morrow hotel. The floor of the court-room was covered with sawdust
six inches deep, this being renewed after it had become discolored by the mud
brought in from the street, as there were no sidewalks then.
At one time, the docket in the court having become somewhat crowded, it was
thought best by the court and the bar to have evening sessions. On the first
evening the sheriff was unable to find one of the attorneys, Col. Samuel A.
Young, who represented a party in a case which had been called. Mr. Safford,
another attorney, in a very modest way, suggested to the court that Colonel
Yuung had "gone to the ball." The judge very promptly inquired " wha the
ball was," and Mr. Safford informed him that it was a ball of the German Turn-
verein Society, at Miller's hall. Judge Elmore then announced that "the coht
was adjourned until to-morrow mornin' at nine o'clock," and a few moments
later he was gliding through the giddy mazes of the daqce at Miller's hall.
The courts are closely identified with business interests and Kansas can justly
be proud of her bench and her bar. Thomas Ewing, jr., of national reputation,
was chief justice of the first supreme court. Samuel A. Kingman was one of
the associate justices of that court. Judge Kingman was also one of the framers
of the Wyandotte constitution. He is still living, at Topeka, enjoying the well-
earned honor and the deserved respect of all who have had the good fortune to
know him. David J. Brewer, now one of the judges of the United States supreme
court, was formerly one of the associates judges in Kansas.
RESOURCES OF KANSAS THEN AND NOW.
In those early years we knew nothing of the treasures hidden beneath the
earth's surface. We only knew that Kansas was a fair country; as John Pier-
pont said, in the summer of 1857, looking over the valleys of the Kaw and
Wakarusa from the hill west of Lawrence, where the University now stands,
"God might have made a more beautiful country — but He never has." Only
eastern Kansas was settled then, but hardly touched by the plow, and, in our
conceit, we thought that the great plains west of us were only fit for the home of
the buffalo and the antelope ; yet a few years ago Sedgwick raised more corn
than any county in Kansas, and this year Barton is the banner county for wheat.
Nearly fifty years ago the struggle between the mighty forces from the North
and from the South for the possession of this fair territory occupied the atten-
tion of those pioneers, to the exclusion of their material interests. One would be
rash, indeed, to attempt to prophesy what wealth is in store for Kansas, in her
mines of lead and zinc and coal; in her wells of gas and oil; in her beds of gyp-
sum, clay, and salt; and in her rapidly developing agricultural resources; but,
above and beyond all these, she possesses within her borders an energetic, intel-
ligent, a happy and a generous people; a state which suffered more than any
other for the cause of freedom ; from which old John Brown went to his fate at
Harper's Ferry — yet could send to the house of representatives and to the United
States senate a gallant soldier who rode with "Stonewall" Jackson.
FOURTH KANSAS IN THE PRICE RAID. 1-19
THE FOURTH KANSAS MILITIA IN THE PRICE RAID.
An address by William T. McCluee, * of Bonner Springs, before the Kansas State Historical
Society, at its twenty-eighth annual meeting, December 1, 1903.
THE Fourth Kansas mounted infantry was organized August 31, 186.3, with
William D. McCain as colonel. The headquarters were at Oskalooea, Jeffer-
son county, Kansas. I was a member of company D, at Winchester, and John
Rogers was the captain.
We were called to drill every Saturday afternoon, and received orders for
guard duty for a week at the same time. Our signal for meeting was the firing
of a blacksmith's anvil. We did guard duty and watched for bushwhackers and
thieves.
We were called into active service once, Company D was ordered to Fort
Leavenworth, and stationed inside of the fort, doing guard duty, for thirty days,
while the regular volunteers were out looking after rebels. We were ordered an-
other time to Wyandotte (now Kansas City, Kan,), and guarded the pontoon
bridge over the Kansas river. No citizen was allowed to go over without a pass.
These passes, issued by the United States government, read as follows:
"Headquarters, station Westport, March 26, 1861. — I*ermission ie granted
Archibald Love to reside on the farm known as the Widow McGee farm, in Kaw
township, Jackson county, Missouri, on the road leading from Westport to Little
Santa Fe, about two miles from the station. Archibald Love has blue eyes,
gray hair, fair complexion, and is about five feet six inches high, and fifty-four
years of age, and says he is the head of a family consisting of the following-
named adults: Caroline V,, William T,, James T., Alphas A., and Garland A.
The condition on which the foregoing permit is granted:
" 1. That the said Archibald Love, and each and every member of hie family,
will at all times give every possible aid and information to persons in the service
of the government of the United States, to enable them to find and destroy rebels
and guerrillas, and detect all persons or parties engaged in disloyal acts or prac-
tices.
"2. That the said Archibald Love, and each and every member of his family,
will at all times withhold aid and assistance of every kind from rebels, guerrillas,
and other enemies of the government of the United States.
"Fulfilling the above obligations, they will be protected as far as possible in
life and property by the military authorities of the government of the United
States. — W. W. Green, captain commanding station, Westport, Mo. Approved,
by order of Col James H. Fokd, commanding subdistrict; Edmund L. Ber-
THOUD, A. A. A. General.
"I, Archibald Love, of the county of Jackson, state of Missouri, do solemnly
swear: That I will support, protect and defend the constitution and government
of the United States against all enemies, whether domestic or foreign; that I
will bear true faith, allegiance and loyalty to the same, any ordinance, resolution
or law of any state, convention or legislature to the contrary notwithstanding;
and further, that I will well and faithfully perform all the duties which may be
required of me by the laws of the United States; and I take this oath freely and
voluntarily, without any mental reservation or evasion whatsoever, with a full
* William T. McCldee was born at Adamsville, Ohio, August 10, 1815. He remaved to Kan-
sas with his father's family, landing at Wyandotte April 29, 1860. Lived on a farm with his
father, except tlie time he was in the service, until 1869, when he married Laura M. Allen, and
took a homestead in the south part of Washington county, near Clifton. His wife died in 1874.
He then took a course at the State Normal, and, January 14, 1876, married Sarah C. Glidden, of
Leavenworth. In November, 1876, moved back to Jefferson county, and bought a farm near
Boyle station. Sold in 1889, and moved to Holton, and engaged in the insurance business.
Farmed again, six miles north of Olathe, and in 1893 settled in Bonner Springs, where he is en-
gaged in the real-estate, loan and insurance business.
150 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
and clear understanding that death or puniehmont by the judfrment of a military
commission will be the penalty for the violation of this my solemn and parole of
honor. And I also swear that under no consideration will I go beyond the mili-
tary lines of the United Stales. — Archibald Lovk.
"Subscribed and sworn before me, this 2Gth day of March, 18G4. — W. W.
Green, Captain Second Colorado Cavalry, commanding station."
[seal.]
Our next call was October 10, 18G4, general order No. 53, from Maj.-gen. S.
R. Curtis, at Fort Leavenworth, ordering all men into the military service of the
United States. At this time our regiment was given new guns, the Enfield rifle,
a muzzle-loader, the best the government then had.
We were ordered to Shawnee Mission, near Westport, Mo., and from thence
to Independence, and in a week active duty was on. We were east of Independ-
ence, in front of Gen. Sterling Price's army, October 21. We were compelled to
retreat to the Blue river, on the Kansas City road. This crossing had been well
fortified. I had been in my saddle all the night before, and I felt as though I
would get a good night's rest. But at about five o'clock in the evening we were
ordered into line, and given three days' rations in new haversacks, and told to
take good care of these, because we might need all before we got any more.
We were now ordered to go up the Blue, south six miles, and hold Byron's
ford, and not let Price cross : Colonel Ford, of the Second Colorado, in command.
Our force consisted of the Second Colorado, Fourth Kansas, and two sections of
a battery. Colonel Ford thought best to recross the Blue and go up on the east
side, and about six o'clock we started. When we were out about three miles we
ran into a squad of cavalry from the rebel army, and they were evidently moving
to the right also. A halt was made, and every man was ordered to see that his
gun was well capped and loaded, but not to shoot if it could be avoided. A coun-
cil was held, and we cautiously advanced, stopping every little while to do some
scouting. We were nine hours making these six miles. We reached the ford,
recrossed, and camped on the west side.
I hitched my horse to a rail fence in a corn-field, and laid down in a furrow,
with my saddle for a pillow and gun by my side, and slept soundly. We were
ordered to be in fighting trim in a moment. At daybreak the bugle sounded,
and we were almost instantly in line. Price had evidently started for this cross-
ing ( Byron's) and went into camp, waiting for daylight. Two government wagons
came up, loaded with new axes, and these were issued about one to every three
men. Our horses were sent to the edge of the timber, one man detailed to care
for four horses. The axes were used in felling trees, thus blocking the road and
ford, so that Price's army could not cross. About nine o'clock Price's men came
up, and two pieces of Union artillery commenced firing across the Blue at them.
A sharpshooter with the rebels killed a young man by the name of Cook. A
squad of twenty-five men were sent further up the Blue, and these were all cap-
tured by the rebels. We were ordered to support the battery, and to the right
in the timber we found a rail fence, which we rapidly improvised into a breast-
work by taking the upper rails and stopping the cracks below. Here we re-
mained until noon, tired and worn out, not caring whether dead or alive, trying
to hold in check an army of 30,000. Our entire force was 7000 regular three-
year men and 20,000 Kansas militia. Under a similar call, at this date, Kansas
could place 250,000 men on the border. We were compelled to retreat again.
General Curtis sent his army to our relief, and regiment after regiment be-
gan to arrive, and from out near where Tobner park is we tried them again. We
were now out on the open prairie. A rock fence ran right to make a breastwork
for our men. The Shawnee county militia were here placed and ordered to hold
it, while other regiments were engaged elsewhere. The Eleventh regiment was
FOURTH KANSAS IN THE PRICE RAID. 151
fighting on the east, but the rebels continued to advance, and massed on the edge
of the timber, to make a charge on the rock fence. It was far enough so that a
rifle could not reach it from the timber. They moved out of the woods several
columns deep, and double quick for the fence. The Topeka militia held their fire
until the rebels were within fifty yards of the fence ; then they poured such a deadly
fire that they mowed down nearly all of the first line. This checked the rebel line
for a few moments, but they came again and again, and the Topeka boys lost
twenty-two of their men killed. Night came on, and the firing ceased all along
the line. Generals were busy all night, and great anxiety was felt. The night was
spent in distributing ammunition, some regiments having used all their supply.
The men again slept on their arms.
Sunday morning, October 23, 1864, dawned clear and calm, soldiers and offi-
cers anxious to know the result of the day. At eight o'clock Price again attacked
with a great deal of skill. I believe, if General Pleasanton had not come, Price
would have done us up.
At about eleven o'clock we had twenty- four cannon working on the rebel lines.
At this juncture General Pleasanton came up with 10,000 Missouri cavalry. At
Independence he divided his army into two squads. Five thousand of them
crossed at Byron's ford and attacked Price in the rear, while Pleasanton crossed the
Blue on the Kansas City road, with the other 5000, and attacked Price's army on
the east. Our commander at once ordered a forward movement on the rebel line.
A Kansas yell went up, and all advanced. The rebel lines broke, and they were not
allowed to stop. So ended the fight and Kansas City was saved.
The ground was looked over and the wounded cared for. Monday morning the
dead were gathered. The rebel dead were buried on the field, and the Kansas
dead were taken to Wyandotte and either buried there or sent to their friends at
home. Young Cook lay where he fell at Byron's ford Saturday morning until
Monday. Tuesday morning four women and two old men from Jefferson county
drove into camp with a two-horee wagon loaded with canned goods, dried fruit,
dried beef, and such luxuries as they could gather. They came to help care for
the wounded. Jefferson was my county.
God bless the women of Kansas and of our country.
152 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
EARLY SPANISH EXPLORATIONS AND INDIAN
IMPLEMENTS IN KANSAS.
An address by W. E. Riciiey,* of Harveyvillo, before the Kansas State Historical Society, at its
twenty-eighth annual meeting-, December 1, 1903.
TT'ANSAS is groat in her material resources — her crops, her minerals, her oils
-^^ — but her crowning glory is her history. It is a record of the transforma-
tion of a desert into a garden. The best civilization of the ages is deeply rooted
in the soil once trod by the buflfalo and the Indian. The founding and growth
of our institutions and the marvelous progress and development, marked by the
vast improvements which dot our landscapes and border our streams, have
wrought a story never surpassed by man. But while every Kansan should re-
joice at the matchless career of the state, the first efforts in the great drama of
civilization on our soil, amidst the darkness and discouragements of a past cen-
tury, should not be forgotten.
Special interest attaches to the early Spanish explorations, particularly to
that of Coronado and his companions, because when their armor glittered on the
sands of Kansas they became the first white discoverers of what has become an
empire — a star of brilliant splendor in the constellation of civilized states.* The
narratives of this remarkable expedition are a part of Kansas history. They are
full of interest, and vividly describe the passage over swollen rivers, rugged
mountains, and boundless plains. Many have been the theories as to the terri-
tory traversed. The subject has been treated by scores of books, in various
countries and languages, until it seems to be regarded as a problem of the centu-
ries. In my researches it has been my aim to be guided by a close study and
comparison of the narratives of the explorers themselves, as published in the
Fourteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology.
The object of the Coronado expedition was to explore the country north of
*See sixth volume, Collections Kansas State Historical Society, page 477; also, volume 7,
pages 43, 45.
* Mrs. E. F, Hollibaugh, in " Biographical History of Cloud County, Kansas," 1903, p. 7, says : ■*
"In the home of William J. Ion, of Grant township, the author found among many other
heirlooms a volume of ancient history published in 1670-'71. The manuscript was prepared
forty years prior to that date by the Rev. Samuel A. Clark, a Welsh historian. This intensely
interesting and valuable work was handed down to its present owner from a grand-uncle, John
Ion, who was a son of Mr. Ion's paternal great-grandfather. It was brought to America by Mr.
Ion's mother, Mrs. Maria Williams, of Ebbwvale, Merionethshire, South Wales, Great Britain.
This priceless work was also the property of Mr. Ion's great-grandmother, Maria Gregg, given
her by her father, Thomas Gregg.
■'The following quotation is a facsimile of an article contained on its pages regarding
Quivira, that once included the fair state of Kansas within its boundaries. In the copy which fol-
lows it will be noticed that the letter f takes the sound of s in most instances, making the liter-
ature difKcult to read. The Rev. Samuel A. Clark, who compiled the work, evidently believed
in the fulfillnieut of the scripture which reads: "The first shall be last and the last shall be
first," as this historical volume is published in two editions, the last one being issued first, and
are bound together in that form.
" Next to Mexico is Quivira, which is feated on the moft weftern part of America, over
againft Tartary, from whence probably the inhabitants firft came into this New World, that
fide of the country being moft populous, and the people living much after the manner of the
Tartars, following the Seafons of the Year for the Pafturage of their Cattel ; that fide of America
being full of Herbage, and enjoying a temperate Air. The People defire glafs more than Gold.
Their chief Riches are their Kine, which are Meat, Drink, Cloth, Houfes and Utensils to them:
for their Hides yield them Houfes; their Bones, Bodkins; their Hair, thread; their Sinews,
Ropes; their Horns, Maws, and Bladders, Vessels; their Dung, Fire; their Calves, Skins, Bud-
gets to draw and keep water in ; their Blood, Drink ; their Flesh, Meat, etc.
" In Quivira there are but two Provinces that are known, Cibola and Nova Albion, fo Named
by Sir Francis Drake, when he compafled the World. It abounds with Fruits, jileafantto both
eye and palate. The people are given to Hofpitality, but withall, to Wich-craft, and worfhip-
piug of Devils."
v-i*.^ ^;-'-i
Ei^p fa nation:
Mar en described by J a/ ami Ho and
Re lac I or) del Sicceso
blj C'Orcnado -
bu Castaneda^'
<^
^
Ko-'
^ba^
R
P/
Bridge
7 or 8 aia.tfS
^'5
r- ^ fr V
': o o
Map Showing
Coronados Rode to Cluli/ira
in the Year /S^l
ancL Ciyin^ Distances Bet men Points
Urayvn for
Kansas ///stork a/ Co I lee tion$. i/ol 8
Btf Ceo. /i. Root
190^
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r ^ « . V,4 v^ .
mJ
^
EARLY SPANISH EXPLORATIONS. 153
Mexico, supposed to have much silver and gold, and to add it to the dominions
of the Spanish crown. Reports of the precious metals and great cities north of
Mexico had reached that country at various times after its conquest by the
Spaniards. Indian traders were said to have brought gold and silver to Mexico
from the mysterious region. Renewed interest was created by Cabeza de Vaca
and his three companions, the remnant of the disastrous expedition led into
Florida by Narvaez. These unfortunate men, after much wandering and suffer-
ing, had made their way to Mexico, arriving there in 1536, and giving to the vice-
roy glowing accounts of "large and powerful villages" in the territory to the
north, whence had come tales of gold and silver. The amount of this kind of
wealth found in Mexico and Peru had prepared the Spaniards to expect the same
in other quarters. Mendoza, the viceroy, therefore raised an army for the ex-
ploration and conquest of the "seven cities of Cibola" and the unknown land
which seemed to possess riches like those of the days of Cortez and Pizarro.
This army consisted of about 300 Spaniards, well mounted, and 1000 friendly
Indians and servants. Francisco Vasquez de Coronado was appointed com-
mander. Neither pains nor expense were spared to carry out the object of
the expedition. Arms, supplies, horses, cattle and sheep were supplied in
abundance for the use of the army. On February 23, 1510, the army started
from Compostela on its northward march through the Pacific coast country of
Mexico. The march was slow and difficult. Considerable delay was experi-
enced in getting the cattle across the rivers. The food supply of Coronado's
force was beginning to fail before it reached Culiacan, where fresh provisions
were obtained. This coast city was the outpost of Spanish civilization. Thence,
following the coast and cutting across to the Rio Sonora, the advance body,
under Coronado himself, penetrated the mountains through a pass near the
source of that stream, entered the White Mountain Apache country, and came
in sight of the first of the " seven cities." The food brought from Culiacan and
gathered since the advance force left that point was now exhausted. The
Spaniards made an assault on the city and drove out its Indian occupants, who
abandoned to the captors an abundant supply of corn, beane, fowls, and salt,
common productions of the region.
The significance of the ' ' seven cities ' ' suddenly vanished. The one which the
Spaniards now occupied was a flat-roofed pueblo village, and the others were
found to be similar, such as yet exist in New Mexico.
The Spanish commander next sent out exploring parties to the grand canyon
of the Colorado, Tusayan, and eastward to the pueblos along the Rio Grande
and the Pecos. The main portion of the army, which had been left at Culiacan,
was now ordered forward, and went into winter quarters in the pueblo villages
at Tiguex (Tewa), on the Rio Grande, near the site of Bernalillo. Considerable
corn was left in the pueblos by the Indians, and to this means of subsistence the
Spaniards added the live stock brought from Mexico with the army.
The names of Bandelier, Hodge, Simpson and Winship will always be con-
spicuous in the literature of the Coronado expedition. To these writers we are
indebted for much valuable information, including the identification of the
pueblos known as the "seven cities of Cibola," and the practical tracing of the
line of march to the Rio Grande and the Pecos.
The campaign had been one of privation P,nd disappointment. No gold and
silver had been found. The winter of 1540-'41 on the Rio Grande was severe.
For nearly four months the river was frozen over at Tiguex so that men on
horseback crossed it on the ice. A revolt of the natives was quelled with merciless
]54 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
«
cruelty. Indian warfare was no match for that of the Europeans with the
weapons of civilization.
Indian shrewdness matured a plan to get rid of the troublesome visitors. A
Quivira Indian, held as a prisoner or slave by the people of one of the pueblos,
was persuaded by his Indian masters to represent Quivira to the Spaniards as a
land where gold was found in abundance. This Indian was called "the Turk,"
because he resembled one. He at last admitted that the pueblo Indians bad in-
duced him to lead the Spaniards on the great plains, where water was scarce and
corn unknown, to perish there, or be too weak to make resistance should they find
their way back to the pueblo settlement.
The army was eager to go to this new land of promise. In April, 1541, the
whole force, guided by "the Turk," left the Rio Grande country, and, pursuing a
northeast direction, in eight days came to another river, which was bridged and
crossed. The evidence seems conclusive that this river was the Pecos. From
this point to Quivira we have the accounts of Coronado himself, Captain Jara-
millo, Castaneda, and the "Relacion del Suceso."
THE GREAT PLAINS AS SEEN BY THE SPANISH IN 1541.
Soon after leaving the bridge the army came to the great plains, on which
roamed buffaloes in such immense herds that their numbers seemed incredible.
Among these herds were found two tribes of plains Indians, first the Querechos
and next the Teyas. It is very interesting to study the plains tribes as found
360 years ago. The very existence of these nomads depended on the buffaloes.
Their flesh was used as food ; their hides as clothes, shoes, blankets, tents, and
ropes; their bones as needles; their sinews and wool as strings ; their dung as
fuel ; their stomachs and larger entrails as water-vessels ; and their horns as cups.
The flesh was generally eaten raw, rarely warmed over the fire. When they
killed a buffalo they cut the hide open at the back and pulled it off at the joints,
using a flint knife as large as a finger tied in a little stick, with as much ease as
if working with a good iron tool. Seizing the flesh with the fingers, they would
pull it out with one hand, and with a flint knife in the other cut off mouthfuls.
The blood and the water of the stomachs were used to quench thirst. The flesh
was sometimes cut thin, like a leaf, dried in the sun, and ground into a meal to
keep it and to make a eoup. A handful thrown into a vessel of water would in-
crease much in size. Some poles drawn together at the top in tripod fashion
and covered with hides served as tents. These Indians could make themselves
very w^ll understood by signs. In traveling they exercised discretion. In the
morning they would notice where the sun rose, observe the direction they intended
taking, and then shoot an arrow in this direction. Before reaching this they
would shoot another arrow over it, and in this way they would go all day toward
the water where they intended to camp.
When they moved their tents they carried them on poles. The ends of two
poles were fastened, one on each side of a dog, the other ends dragging along on
the ground. These animals, called dogs by the Spaniards, were undoubtedly
tamed wolves. On these poles the Indians tied their tents and other things.
There were no roads except those of the buffaloes, but the Indians wandered
much among these animals over the country and knew it perfectly. They un-
doubtedly had trails or routes between points for long distances. Coronado was
piloted to Quivira and back to the pueblos by them, but their trails were often
those of the buffaloes, which ran in various directions and especially between
watering-places. Many of these paths, cut deeply in the banks of streams, are
yet visible. At the best crossings these beaten tracks were probably traveled by
animals and Indians for hundreds of years.
EARLY SPANISH EXPLORATIONS. 155
iu killing animals and in fighting, bows and arrows were used with skill. On
one occasion a Teya was seen to shoot a buffalo bull right through both shoulders
with an arrow, "which," the narrator adds, "would be a good shot for a musket."
These Teyas were skilful warriors. They had destroyed one large pueblo vil-
lage. The Spaniards saw many stone balls as large as twelve-quart bowls still
lying about the ruins, and thought they had been thrown by engines or cata-
pults. The contestants had become friendly, and the Teyas spent ihe winters
under the wings of the pueblo settlements. The Indians in the pueblos, how-
ever, would not allow them to enter the buildings after night.
There was an aboriginal commerce on the plains at that early day. The
Querechos and Teyas took tanned skins to the settlements, and spent the win-
ters there, each party going to the nearest settlement; some going to the settle-
ments on the Pecos, others toward Quivira, and others to the settlements in the
direction of Florida. These hides were traded at the settlements for corn, and,
likely, at times for flint weapons, bows, and arrows. Beans and melons were also
raised by the Indians at the settlements, and may have been sometimes traded.
Castaneda says the country was so level that in traversing 250 leagues not a
hill nor a hillock three times as high as a man was seen. The grass raised up,
after being tramped, so that no tracks were left. The advance-guard found it
necessary to make piles of buffalo chips to guide the army.
When the army was resting in a large ravine, a tempest came up one day,
which battered the helmets, broke all the crockery of the army, and caused
nearly all the horses to break away and run up the side of the ravine, so that
they were gotten down with difficulty. Had this storm struck the army while it
was on the plain, there would have been danger of losing all the horses.
This march, over vast and unknown regions, has had few parallels. The
Spanish navigators in Coronado's time had the same daring spirit. In small, in-
ferior and poorly supplied vessels, with crews that were nearly destroyed by
scurvy, they fought their way northward, along the Pacific coast of North Amer-
ica, to the wildest parts of the Alaskan coast, and almost regardless of season.
Prof. George Davidson, an assistant of the United States Coast Survey, who has
identified many of the points visited by these navigators, as recorded in the
Spanish charts, says: "There were giants in the earth in those days."
coronado's march from the RIO GRANDE TO QUIVIRA AND HIS RETURN.
After leaving the Rio Grande, crossing the bridge mentioned and reaching the
edge of the plains or desert, the army guided by "the Turk," marched over the
plains in a general direction of east and southeast, without any guiding land-
marks, until reaching a Teya encampment. These people told the Spaniards that
Quivira was far to the north. With the army was another Indian from a neigh-
boring tribe of the Quiviras called Harahey. This Indian, named Isopete, was
returning to his country, and had stoutly maintained that " the Turk " was lying,
and leading the army too much toward the east. The army was getting short of
provisions, and, at a council of the officers, it was decided that the main body of
the army should return to the Rio Grande, and that Coronado, with thirty picked
horsemen, including Captain Jaramillo, should proceed northward to Quivira.
Isopete was now believed, and he and some of the Teyas were taken with Coron-
ado's detachment as guides. "The Turk" was taken along in chains and after-
ward strangled.
From this point we learn from Jaramillo and the "Relacion del Suceso" that
Coronado's detachment, guided by the compass, pursued a northward direction,
and, after thirty short days' march, came to a river which was given the name of
the St. Peter's and St. Paul's. The explorers crossed this river, and, traveling
156 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
along it toward the northeast for thirty leagues (about eighty miles), came to the
village of a supposed Quivira hunting party. This river was certainly the Ar-
kansas, because it is the only one near the latitude mentioned along which the
Spaniards could have marched eighty miles in a northeast direction. The ex-
plorers must have crossed near the bend below Dodge City in order to follow the
river eighty miles in a northeast direction, which distance would have taken thena
to the site of Great Bend, where the river changes direction from the northeast.,
The village of the hunting party must, consequently, have been in the vicinity of
Great Bend.
The Spanish narratives state that the approximate distance through Quivira,
as marched by the explorers, was twenty-five leagues (nearly sixty-six miles)-
They also described the surface of Quivira as being rough, and state that mul-
berries, plums and grapes were found there. But the country stretching north-
east, and in fact in every direction, from Great Bend is levej, and at that time
had no such fruit.
Many localities have been proposed for Quivira, and rejected because the
Spanish line of march could not be traced to them, or because they could not be
identified by the narratives of the Coronado expedition. Surely no other man-
ner of identification is possible.
In order to locate the Quivira of Coronado, it is evident that his march to that
region and its identification should be established by the narratives of the ex-
plorers themselves, and that the natural landmarks, the distances between them,
the latitude and the topography of the country traversed should all be as de-
scribed by these narratives. They are our only guide and proof. Nothing can
be established without them, and nothing can be eliminated from them.
CORONADO'S MARCH TO THE END OF QUIVIRA.
Let us now aim to trace Coronado and his party to and through Quivira.
Jaramillo says that from the point where the river was crossed to the Indian vil-
lage was six or seven days' march. This, added to the thirty days' march be-
fore the river was reached, would have made about thirty-seven days' march
from the point where Coronado's northward journey commenced to the first Qui-
vira village, near the site of Great Bend.
By a close study of the narratives, I have learned that Coronado, in his official
report to the king, states that from the point whence he and his detachment
started northward it was forty-two days' march to Quivira. This is five days
more than the thirty-seven days stated by Jaramillo. Coronado confirms his
statement by saying in the same official report that he journeyed across the desert
seventy-seven days to reach Quivira. Castaneda says that up to the point where
Coronado started northward the army had made thirty-seven days' march, evi-
dently meaning from the bridge which the army made and crossed before entering
the plains. Everything shows that this bridge was near the edge of the desert or
plains ; in fact, the statements of Coronado and Jaramillo make the distance just
two days' march from the bridge to the beginning of the plains. Deducting these
two days' from the thirty-seven, there would have been, from the beginning of the
plains to the point where the northward march commenced, just thirty-five days,
which, added to the forty-two days from this point to Quivira, would have made
seventy-seven days of desert marching, the exact number officially reported by
Coronado. Thus the double official statement of Coronado shows that from
where he and his detachment started northward it was forty-two days' march to
Quivira.
Castaneda says : " The country is level as far as Quivira, and there they began
to see some mountain chains." These were the high hills along the Smoky Hill
PLATE 1
1^ W. ^
EARLY SPANISH EXPLORATIONS. 157
river, which have the appearance of low mountain chains. Jaramillo says of
Quivira: "It is not a very rough country, but is made up of hills and plains and
very fine appearing rivers and streams." Jaramillo also says the Quivira settle-
ments were found (first) "along good river bottoms," and (second) " good streams
which flow into another, larger than the one I have mentioned."
It is evident that Jaramillo's count of thirty-seven days carried the Spanish
party only to the level country near Great Bend, where the village of the Quivira
hunting party was seen, while Coronado's count of forty-two days carried the
Spaniards five days further, to the hills and " good river bottoms," where the first
settlements were found, not far from the "mountain chains " or high hills spoken
of by Castaneda.
Northeast is the only direction given of the march after the Arkansas was
crossed. Five days' march in this direction from Great Bend would have taken
the Spaniards to the "good river bottoms," the hills and rough country along
the big bend of the Smoky Hill, near Lindsborg, and this five days' march added
to Jaramillo's thirty-seven would have made his statement agree with the official
report of Coronadoas to the distance marched (forty-two days), and also with the
statement of Jaramillo himself as to the hills and the "good river bottoms" at
the place where Quivira was reached.
Jaramillo speaks of the abode of the hunting party as a village or "houses,"
and says the Spaniards proceeded until they reached the settlements, which
must have taken five days, as shown by the fact that they are included in Coro-
nado's official report of the number of days' march, and the different topography
of the country reached by this five days' march.
Thus the narratives, taken together, show conclusively that the Indian village
seen near the site of Great Bend was merely that of a Quivira hunting party, and
that the "good river bottoms" and the hills of the Smoky Hill river near Linds-
borg located the first settlements and marked the beginning of the land of
Quivira.
The approximate distance through the Quivira settlements was as has been
stated twenty-five leagues (nearly sixty-six miles), according to the "Relacion
del Suceso." Of this part of the journey Jaramillo says: "There were, if I
recall correctly, six or seven settlements, at quite a distance from one another,
among which we traveled for four or five days, since it was understood to be
uninhabited between one stream and the other." This indicates about the same
distance as given by the "Relacion del Suceso." An approximate distance of
sixty-six miles from the Smoky Hill south of Lindsborg, in a northeast direction,
would have carried the line of march of Coronado and his companions through
the country south of the Smoky Hill to the Kansas, several miles below where
it is formed by the junction of the Smoky Hill and Republican, and near
McDowell's creek, ten or twelve miles northeast of Junction City. It should
be remembered that the waters of the river with "good river bottoms," where
the first settlements were found, and of the "good streams" on which the other
settlements were found, flowed into a larger river. This was evidently the Kan-
sas. Here was the "end of Quivira," and Jaramillo says the river had "more
water and more inhabitants than the others." The tributary "good streams,"
where the intervening settlements were found, were the creeks which flowed
into the Smoky Hill and the upper Kansas from the south side, in the section
of country extending from the big bend of the Smoky Hill near Lindsborg to
McDowell's creek.
The natural features of the country between the big bend of the Smoky Hill
and the upper Kansas precisely answer the descriptii n of Quivira given by the
158 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
narratives of Coronado himself and the other Spanish explorers. Here are the
hills, plains, springs, rivulets, " very fine appearing rivers and streams," and even
the mulberries, plums, grapes and nuts described by the narratives. At that
time such fruit would not have been found west or north of the Smoky Ilill.
Attention is called to the map accompanying this paper, showing the natural
features of the country traversed and the distances between points. Between
points, the line of march as indicated may be only approximately correct.
It will be seen that the distance was from the beginning of the plains thirty-
five days' march to the point where Coronado started northward, thirty days
thence to the Arkansas crossing, seven days (eighty miles) thence to the Indian
hunters' village near the site of Great Bend, five days thence to the Smoky Hill
south of Lindsborg, and approximately sixty-six miles ( four or five days ), thence
to the Kansas, at the " end of Quivira," near McDowell's creek.
As indisputable evidence, I cite the fact that the beginning of the Quivira
settlements, as located by the "good river bottoms" and high hills of the Smoky
Hill, near Lindsborg, is the distance required by the narratives from the Indian
village near the site of Great Bend, from the crossing of the Arkansas, from the
point where Coronado started northward, from the point where he entered the
desert or plains, and also from the river and settlements at the "end of Quivira."
At one of the meetings of the State Historical Society, Professor Williston
stated that an old sword bearing a Spanish inscription had been found in west-
ern Kanaas. In August, 1901, this sword *came into my possession. It seems
that it had not previously been examined by any one posted on the Coronado ex-
pedition. When found it was partly concealed in the hard ground and roots
of the buffalo-grass, and not in the roots of a tree, as dispatches stated. It was
deeply covered with rust and was rubbed with brick dust until the letters ap-
peared. No vestige of a handle remained. Not including the part which held
the handle, it is a little more than twenty-six inches long, straight, double-edged,
and tapers to a beveled point. From near the broad end two parallel grooves ex-
tend almost half-way toward the point, and in them are these words in capitals:
" NO ME SAQUES SIN RAZON ;
NO ME ENBAINES SIN HONOR."
This, translated into English, is: "Draw me not without reason; sheath me
not without honor."
This inscription was put on Spanish swords during Coronado's time and be-
fore. Between the inscription and broad end are two crosses in the grooves and
four lines across the sword. Between these is the name "Gallego," in script.
Opposite this, on the other side, are the letters "a" and "n" joined. To the
left of the "a" are two marks, evidently a part of a capital "J " and a "u," as
*See sketch at bottom of map accompanying this article.
The following letters and affidavit give the history of the finding of the sword :
" WA.SHINGTON, D. C, November 24, 1899.
"Mr, John T. Clark, Ellin, Knn.: Dear Sir — With reference to your letter of November
14, addressed to Mr. Paul Beckwith, I am informed by Mr. A. Howard Clark, custodian of the
section of American history, that swords having the inscription which you have quoted date
from medieval times down to the period of the revolutionary war. The one in question would
seem to be a Spanish sword, as the inscription is in that language.
Yours respectfully, F. W. True, Executive Curator."
" Garden City, Kan.. July 19, 1901.
"Mr. W. E. Rirhry, Harrevvillp, Kfin.: Dear Sir— The Spanish sword about which you
wrote me some months ago is now about to be disposed of. An offer of five dollars has been re-
fused, as it seems to me that the price at which I hold it (eight dollars) is little enough for such
an interesting relic as this may prove to be. It is in a state of good preservation and I enclose
a reference to it from the National Museum. Please let me know if you still desire to purchase
this sword, and whether the above price is satisfactory. The inscription on the sword trans-
lated is, ' Draw me not without reason ; Sheathe me not without honor.' Across the end are two
EARLY SPANISH EXPLOEATIONS. 159
they appear in the word "Juan." There is also under this word a capital " G"
and an "1" at the distance it would appear in the word "Gallego." The name
can be no other than that of Juan Gallego, one of Coronado's ofBcers. Each
side is a duplicate of the other, except the script letters, as stated. The
sword was likely made at Toledo, Spain. There is some etching. The metal is
steel and exceedingly hard. This and the dry climate undoubtedly preserved it.
Articles of steel have been exposed to the elements for longer periods of time and
still retained letters written or stamped op them.
Double-edged swords were used for cutting armor, but when armor was done
away with, about the year 1600, single- edged swords became common. The find-
ing and authenticity of this sword are verified by affidavit. In fact, it would
seem impossible to bring it to its present condition mechanically. The name,
style, material and the opinions of able archaeologists all tend to show that it is
the sword of Oapt. Juan Gallego. It is the first thing ever found that gives in-
disputable proof of having belonged to any of Coronado's force. I regard it as
undeniable evidence of his presence in Kansas. It was found in 1886, about
thirty miles north and a little west of Cimarron, on the head wate-s of the Paw-
nee. This would seem to be a little off Coronado's march, but he may have sent
a detachment up the Smoky Hill, Walnut, or Pawnee. He states that he sent
"captains and men in many directions." It may have been left by a scouting
party, or it may have found its way into the hands of Indians and been lost.
But if not left here by Coronado's men, I do not think it was carried far.
Castaneda says that Coronado's detachment returned from Quivira lightly
equipped, indicating that some things had been thrown away.
If the sword found its way into the hands of Indians, why should they have
carried it in the direction and to the spot where it was afterward found rather
names in script, and, as they have not been translated, most be proper names. In length this
sword is about sixty-two centimeters, width at hilt about three centimeters; evidently an of-
ficer's sword, as only the point has been sharpened. Hoping to hear from you soon, I am, yours
respectfully, John T. Clark, Garden City, Kan."
"State of Kansas, Kearny county, ss.
"John T. Clark, of lawful age and sound mind and memory, being by me duly sworn, de-
poses and says, that in the year 1886 there was found on the prairie, in what was then Finney
county, an old sword, partly concealed in the grass-roots and was much rusted, which, when
rust was removed by scouring with brick dust, was found to bear this inscription, written in
two parallel grooves running from hilt toward the point:
'no me saqdes sin razon;
no me enbaines sin honor.'
" This sword was about thirty inches in length and one and one-half in width at the hilt.
Sides, or edges, blunt. Point sharpened to a length of perhaps three inches. No handle or
other parts found. Etching on sword and some script words written across broad end of sword,
apparently proper nouns. Sword is quite flexible, very resonnnt, and exceedingly hard. Each
side of the blade is an exact duplicate of the other, including motto, etching, grooves, etc. The
place of finding was near the head waters of the Pawnee, close to the north line of Finney county,
and nearly due north of the town of Ingalls, on the Santa Fe railroad. This sword was found
about seven miles northeast of an Indian burial-ground, known as White Mound, where several
articles have been found ; as beads, teeth, bracelets ( brass, copper), arrow-heads, bones, etc. I
further state that I have disposed of this same sword to Mr. W. E. Richey, of Harveyvilie. Kan.
John T. Clark."
"Subscribed in my presence and sworn to before me, this 2d day of December, 1901.
E. R. Shaepe, Sotary Public. ( My comission expires January 26, 1905.)"
" Washington, D. C, June 11, 1902.
" My Dear Sir: Pressure of official duties has prevented me from giving the attention your
letter of February 5 (kindly handed to me by Mr. Miller ) deserved. I am deeply interested in
the discovery of the sword, and your sketch of it renders a very adequate idea of the relic. The
occurrence of Gallego's name is very significant, it seems to me, and it is not at all unlikely
that the sword belonged to that distinguished member of Coronado's expedition. Care should
be taken, however, lest too much stress be laid on the place in which it was found, for there
seems to be no evidence that it was lost or thrown away at that point by Ih" Spaniards. The
sword may possibly have found its way into hands of Indians and afterward lost; for I have
known Indians to lose things as well as whites. Nevertheless, the relic is most interesting and
important, and I hope that, after it has been fully described in print, that it may be deposited
in some institution where it may be cared for for all time. Thanking you for calling my atten-
tion to it, and hoping that I may have a copy of your printed description, I am, very truly
yours, F. W. Hodge."
100 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
than any other? There seem to be a hundred probabilities that it was left there
by Coronado's men to one against it.
Castaneda states that at the organization of the Coronado expedition Juan
Gallego was one of the gentlemen placed under the Hag of the general with other
distinguished persons; but he became a captain later, and kept the way open be-
tween Coronado's army and Mexico. Castaneda credits him with feats of great
bravery and skill. He evidently regards him as one of Coronado's most dis-
tinguished officers. As he equipped himself fcr rajjid traveling be likely loaned
or gave this eword to some friend, probably at Tiguex. It was quite likely car-
ried to Quivira and thrown away when Coronado's men lightened their equip-
ment for the return journey.
This Bword is regarded by antiquarians as most interesting and important.
Perhaps no one is more thoroughly qualified to judge of it than Mr. F. VV. Hodge,
of the Bureau of Ethnology, at Washington. In a letter to me dated June 11,
1902, he says: "The occurrence of Gallego's name is very signiJBcant, it seems
to me, and it is not at all unlikely, that the sword belonged to that distinguished
member of Coronado's expedition. The relic is most interesting and important,
and I hope that after it has been fully described in print it may be deposited in
some institution where it may be cared for for all time."
A piece of chain armor has been unearthed at the prehistoric dwelling sites
near the Smoky Hill, a few miles south of Lindsborg. About fifteen miles east
of this point, near the S. E. Miller village site of Gypsum creek, the iron part of
an antique Spanish bridle was unearthed, and is now in my possession. Compe-
tent antiquarians say it is as old as Coronado's time. During the first settle-
ment of this vicinity an old weathered inscription was seen on a rock, but it has
since disappeared. Mr. James T. Hanna has furnished me the following proofs
found at other points in McPherson county: The plain marks of an ax near the
center of an oak tree, long dead, and about five feet in diameter; the bones of a
horse found in muck at the bottom of a stock well dug several years ago near a
hill ; a bar of lead with a Spanish brand on it. The ax marks were likely made
by Coronado's men. The horse likely mired, probably in Coronado's time, where
its bones were found, and the hill afterward caved in on it. The facts concern-
ing these finds are fully established by the parties named, and by other reliable
citizens in the same localities.
Last winter Mr. J. A. Johnson, a bridge contractor, in excavating for the abut-
ment of a bridge on Clark's creek, a half-mile south of Skiddy, at a depth of
fifteen feet, unearthed a fireplace, or hearth, of matched stones, nicely fitted to-
gether, on a ledge of solid rock. On this fireplace Mr. Johnson and his workmen
found ashes, coals, a buffalo bone, a flint knife, and a coin-shaped piece of brass.
The flint knife was of a different color from that found cropping out of the hills
near, and had undoubtedly been brought from a distance. It had, very likely,
been used to cut the meat from the bufi'alo bone. Near the fireplace a spring or
vein of water was uncovered. Above the fireplace, six or seven feet under the
surface, an oak tree, two feet thick, had grown. The stump was removed in ex-
cavating. There is an unmistakable trace of an ancient channel a short distance
east of the fireplace, which was, apparently, at one time west of and near this
ancient channel. The present channel is west of and near the fireplace. In the
depression where the ancient channel was many large trees have grown. Every-
thing shows that this fireplace was used a long time ago. Another fireplace has
since been unearthed in the same vicinity.
This locality was an excellent camping-place. Good springs are near. The
probabilities seem strong that this was a camping-place of Coronado's force. It
is directly on the line of exploration herein indicated.
PLATE U
.^^/
1 .
V
"f:
^- j^
PLATE III
k
EARLY SPANISH EXPLORATIONS. 161
Mr. R. P. Church, of Channing, Tex., informs me that an old Spanish armor
was found on the Canadian.
In the sixteenth century the Spanish reckoning of latitude made it too far
north. This is shown by Mr. Hodge, of the Bureau of Ethnology. I have
learned from the records of the United States Coast Survey that nearly forty
points on the Pacific coast of North America, located in Coronado's time by the
Spanish navigators Cabrillo, Ferrelo, and Vizcaino, were all too far north, as
now reckoned. Coronado states that the place where he reached Quivira was in
the fortieth degree. Allowing for the difference in reckoning, the fortieth de-
gree would have been at the "good river bottoms" and high hills of the Smoky
Hill, near Lindsborg, This difference in latitude seems not to have been noticed
by the earlier writers, who, therefore, improperly regarded the Nebraska bound-
ary, which is on the fortieth degree, as the beginning of Quivira.
Castaneda says that when Coronado started northward it took him forty-eight
days to reach Quivira. Castaneda kept with the main army, and did not go to
Quivira with Coronado, Jaramillo, and the author of the "Relacion del Suceso" ;
therefore their statements should take precedence. Castaneda may have in-
cluded a delay during which Coronado sent to the main army for new guides ;
but he most probably included the march through Quivira in counting the
number of days' march. He was evidently confused by what he heard. He
states that the country was level as far as Quivira, but his account of the march
reaches farther than where Quivira began. He says of Quivira: "There are
other thickly settled provinces around it, containing large numbers of men," and
that it " is in the midst of the country." He could not have thought that other
provinces or tribes were around Quivira unless the Spaniards had marched
through one of them. None of the explorers, after the northward march com-
menced, speak of seeing any Indians until the hunting party was met, but Coro-
nado says there were different languages in Quivira, showing that there were at
least two tribes. The narratives also indicate that there were Indians of another
tribe seen in Quivira west of the Quiviras. Castaneda very probably included
the distance through this tribe and to the "end of Quivira," which would prac-
tically make his statement agree with the others.
Jaramillo says that on the return from Quivira the Indian guides brought
the Spaniards back by the same road to the crossing of the St. Peter's and St.
Paul's (Arkansas), and there, "taking the right hand," conducted them to
Tiguex. This indicates a direct route. Careful investigators have pronounced
the Santa Fe trail a prehistoric route, and this was likely it. The narratives re-
peatedly say the only roads were those of the cows (buffaloes), which of course
means the buffalo paths running in various directions. In the spring of 1902 I
examined the Arkansas river at the McKinney ranch, where the river makes a
sharp turn toward the northeast, below Dodge City and for some distance above.
Many old things found here indicate a route and crossing which may have been
preceded by one more ancient. There seems to be no landmark here, however,
except the bend, but there was surely a known route.
In company with Professor Welin, of Lindsborg, I made three visits to the
prehistoric dwelling sites near the Smoky Hill in the vicinity of Lindsborg. We
had a number of these sites plowed and scraped and unearthed a number of inter-
esting objects, but none showing evidence of civilization. The piece of chain
armor before referred to was found here. President Swensson and Professor
Welin, of Bethany College, at Lindsborg, are deeply interested in these sites, and
kindly provided facilities for their examination.
My study of the route of Coronado began thirty years ago. I was led to an
—12
162 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY,
investigation of the Smoky Hill region, about the year 1890, by Hon. W. A.
Phillips, of Salina, now deceased, who told me he had seen thB Spanish flag cut
on stone, presumably by Coronado's Spaniards, on Big creek, a tributary of the
Smoky Hill. I was prompted to renewed researches in the same region by Mr.
L. R. Elliott, several years ago.
During my investigation I have been on explorations in Kansas, Nebraska,
and Indian Territory, and I have also conducted, by correspondence, a number
of lines of investigation with parties in Kansas, Nebraska, Indian Territory, New
Mexico, and Texas.
humana's expedition.
An expedition is attributed to Humana, in 1595, which likely reached Kansas.
Bonilla was the real commander. The party was sent out on a raid against re-
bellious Indians, apparently in 159i-'96. Bonilla, hearing the current reports of
northeastern wealth, determined to extend his operations to Quivira. The gov-
ernor sent Cazorla to overtake the party and forbid the expedition. The progress
of the adventurers to and through New Mexico has no record. They were next
heard from far out on the plains, in search of Quivira. Here, in a quarrel, Hu-
mana killed his commander and assumed command. A little later, when the
party had passed through an immense settlement and reached a broad river,
which was to be crossed on balsas, three Mexican Indians deserted, one of whom,
Jose, survived to tell the tale to Onate in 1598. Once more we bear of the ad-
venturous gold-seekers. While they were encamped on the plains, at a place
then called Matanza, the Indians rushed, thousands strong, upon the Spaniards
just before dawn. Humana and nearly all his men were killed.
onate's expedition.
Governor Onate, of New Mexico, marched with eighty men in search of Quivira
in 1601. Guided by the Mexican Indian who had accompanied Humana on his
expedition, he crossed the buffalo plains and, journeying an estimated distance of
200 leagues in a northeasterly direction, arrived at the territory of the tribe of
Indians called the Escanjaques. These Indians were preparing to make war on
their enemies, the Quiviras. A large force of the former joined Onate's troops,
who entered the country of the Quiviras. The Escanjaques began to set fire to
the Quivira villages. The Spanish commander tried to stop these and other out-
rages, the Quiviras having fled. Enraged at the Spaniards for the interference,
the Escanjaques attacked them and a battle ensued, the Indians losing 1000 of
their number killed. The Spanish loss was slight.
penalosa's hoax.
Don Diego Penalosa, another governor of New Mexico, becoming involved in
trouble with an officer of the inquisition, went to London and Paris in 1673, and
presented to the French government what purported to be an account of an ex-
pedition to Quivira made by himself in 1662, written by Padre Freitas, one of his
friars, and sent to the Spanish king. He never made any such expedition or
submitted any such narrative to the Spanish monarch. The researches of Ban-
croft have shown that the narrative was that of Onate's expedition of 1601, slightly
changed to suit Penalosa's purposes in Paris.
Bancroft says that Onate's battle with the Escanjaques was near the scene of
Humana's defeat. An attempt to locate these fights with the Indians would be
a mere guess. Many indications lead me to believe that the country about the
junction of the Republican and Smoky Hill has been noted Indian ground for
centuries. The name of Quivira was applied to various sections of country after
Coronado's time, but future researches may show that Humana and Onate reached
EARLY SPANISH EXPLORATIONS. ] 63
the lower Republican. A river described by Padre Freitas, Penalosa's friar, cor-
responds with the Republican for one or two days' march above its mouth. The
adjacent country corresponds in topography with that described by Freitas. Mr.
Alvin Gates, of Clay Center, informs me that, near the junction of Madison creek
with the Republican river, large leaden bullets have been taken from near the
center of large trees. As the accounts state that these later expeditions crossed
the buffalo plains to the hills, the inference seems reasonable that they reached
the hilly country. It may be that the fullest narrative of Onate's expedition was
the one written by Freitas for Penalosa's use.
INDIAN IMPLEMENTS IN KANSAS.
Flint hills wore the gold- mines of the Indian. Knowing little of metals, he
wrought flint, his best material, into various implements for his uses. These are
scattered over many parts of Kansas. The typical arrow-point and spear-head are
most frequently found, but pieces are also found which show that they have
been used as hoes, digging implements, sledges, axes, hammers, scrapers, knives,
and drills. Many of these are paleolithic or rough, but some are neolithic or
smooth. Among these latter are celts and axes which have been worn smooth
by rubbing or grinding. These axes commonly have a groove around them, for
facility in hafting. Strings of buffalo or other hide were fitted into the groove
and passed round the handle in such a way that the ax and handle were firmly
bound together, thus making an effective implement or weapon. Wood being
scarce in prairie countries, there were not as many axes used as where timber
abounded. Materials best suited for the purposes of the Indians were eagerly
sought by them, and the localities where they were obtained were known for
hundreds of miles. The catlinite, a soft red stone found in Minnesota, was
wrought into pipes and tablets, after having been carried long distances. Many
of these pipes have been found in Kansas. The material of which they were
made was highly prized, and it is said that such was the reverence for the lo-
cality where it was found that hostile tribes suspended hostilities when near it.
It is very probable that certain Indian implements found in Kansas were used
for more than one purpose. A hammer or ax, besides being a formidable weapon
in war, was also useful for other purposes. The same may be said of arrow-points
and spear-heads. While they were useful in killing animals for subsistence and
to supply other wants, they were the main weapons on the war-path. The bones
of the buffalo and other animals were sometimes fashioned into implements.
The Indians of Kansas, or at least some of them, certainly had a love for the
beautiful. In my collection there are pieces in which streaks of beautiful red
alternate with others of white. Others have an attractive mottled appearance,
while still others have the appearance of miniature rainbows. In my rambles
over the state I have frequently seen intermingled many objects of flint differing
in color and quality from those manufactured from the flint in the vicinity. This
is an indication, if not a proof, that the Indians residing in such localities had
communication with others from remote distances. It is not at all likely that all
or even half, from a distance were obtained by conquest. Near Marquette, on
the Smoky Hill, and in other places, I have obtained some very small pieces of
rare beauty. Some of these were likely used as ornaments, and, indeed, they
would be appreciated as such at the present day. These pieces are very inter-
esting, and the skill by which flint was wrought into such small and beautiful
forms is worthy of our admiration and study.
A certain writer has assumed that the western limit of Quivira was on the
Arkansas, near Great Bend ; and, in support of that theory, he states that some
flint Indian relics have been found near that point, as though that was a signifi-
164 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
cant fact. Old settlers and others have known, since the earliest settlement of
the country, that such Indian relics are found in many localities in Kansas, as
well as elsewhere. He has gone so far as to represent on a map that Quivira ex-
tended from the Arkansas, near Great Bend, to near the mouth of the Smoky
Hill. This would be twice the distance of sixty-six miles, which the narratives
plainly state wasthe length of the journey through Quivira. It is plain that, if
the western limit of Quivira was near Great Bend, as he states, Quivira could
have extended only sixty-six miles from that point. But he utterly ignores and
eliminates this distance of sixty-six miles, and, stretching it about twice its ex-
tent, to some Indian-village sites, declares that the relics on these sites, like the
relics near Great Bend, mark the location of Quivira.
Besides the fact that he eliminates the part of the narratives giving the sixty-
six-mile limit of the journey, and, consequently, does not trace the march to
these sites, they are far beyond the sixty-six-mile limit from Great Bend, his
western terminal, and, consequently, he utterly fails to connect them with the
Spanish line of march.
It is surely obvious that no location of Quivira can be made by ignoring or
eliminating the narratives of the explorers, especially as regards distance.
The significance attached by this writer to the Indian relics found on the
village sites referred to led a few people temporarily, and in a complimentary
way, to give countenance to that theory. It was soon learned, however, that it
had no foundation, for a personal investigation showed that flint implements,
similar to those on the lower Smoky Hill, were found in Nebraska, on the Verdi-
gris, the Cottonwood and other streams in Kansas, and in disconnected localities
elsewhere. Much, therefore, as we might wish that these flint relics would throw
light on the subject, their wide distribution eliminates their evidence, and ren-
ders them inconclusive, if not worthless, as factors in determining the location
of the Quivira of Coronado. Besides this, the most of them may have been
manufactured since Coronado's time.
In the accompanying illustrations I call attention to the similarity of flint im-
plements found on the Smoky Hill with those found on other streams. For con-
venience of illustration, many of the implements illustrated are placed in groups
of two, and in each group one of the implements is from the lower Smoky Hill,
or the region near its mouth, and the other is from the Cottonwood, the Verdi-
gris or some other stream. Mr. G. U. S. Hovey, of Wyandotte county, who has
traveled over Kansas a great deal collecting Indian relics, has found flint im-
plements similar to those illustrated in localities different from those named,
while others have found similar implements in still other localities. Surely these
facts show that a claim of locating Quivira by Indian relics has no foundation ;
there is no warrant or justification for such a claim. Neither Coronado nor his
explorers describe or even mention the flint implements of Quivira. We do not
know that any were found there, if we take the narratives of the explorers as a
guide, and we have no other guide. Fragments of Indian pottery are also found
in many parts of Kansas. It has been asserted that the Quiviras had no pot-
tery, but pottery is found along the lower Smoky Hill, as well as elsewhere. On
the streams flowing into the lower Smoky Hill from the south side, investigation
has shown that pottery is found where it has been alleged that none existed.
PIATE IV
EARLY SPANISH EXPLORATIONS. 165
THE ILLUSTRATIONS.
The illustrations are one-third the size of the objects illustrated. A classi-
fication according to use would be about as follows:
Plate 1.
1, 2. — Grooved hammers.
3, 4, 5, 6, 7. — Fragments of pottery from various Kansas streams.
8.— Bone showing action of fire ; found on a lodge site. The Indians frequently
ate buffalo and other meat raw, but sometimes warmed or roasted it. The burn-
ing of this bone was likely caused in this way.
9. — Copper wristlet.
10. — Small arrow-points from the Big Blue, the Republican, and other streams.
11. — Arrow-point, very thick.
12. — Jaw-bone found on an Indian village site two feet below the surface, the
sand having drifted over the lodge site.
13.— Bone implement, sharpened at broad end and straight side. Probably
used as a skinning knife.
14. — Catlinite tablet bearing Indian pictures.
15, 16. — Pipes showing excellent carving.
17. — Smoothing stone.
18.— Metate, a flat stone for grinding corn, with rubbing-stone upon it.
This metate is made of Sioux quartzite, and, to bring it to its present form, must
have required much labor and patience. Metates were made of other kinds of
stone, and are sometimes worn through in the center.
Plaie 2.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. — Arrow-points of various forms.
13, 14, 15, 16.— Spear-heads.
17, 18, 19, 20.— Drills.
21, 22. — Scrapers, probably used for scraping hides and arrow-shafts.
23, 24. — Hammers, probably used also as tomahawks.
25, 26. — Hoes. The portions near edges are worn by stirring the ground.
Some of these were hafted, and others not. The depressions seen in these and
the hammers were undoubtedly made for hafting. Handles were firmly bound
to these implements by strong pieces of hide or tough wood, which passed around
these grooves and the handles.
27, 28. — Picks or digging implements. The points are worn by digging.
Plate 3.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16.— Knives of various forms. The
diamond-shaped knives have generally four beveled edges, one being on each side
of the diamond form. One edge could be kept sharp, while the others might re-
main dull, to be used in their turn. Many of these sixteen forms are thin, and
show much skill in flint chipping in the process of manufacture. The diamond
shapes seem to be of a later culture than the others. No. 8 seems to be a con-
necting-link between the diamond shapes and the others. Nos. 11 and 12 are
broad and thin, and are marvels of manufacture. How such broad, thin imple-
ments of flint could be made seems a mystery.
17, 18. — Probably used as spear-heads.
19, 20.— Arrow-points.
21, 22. — General utility implements, used for various purposes.
23, 24. — Rubbing-stones, probably used at times for other purposes.
166 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Plate 4.
1, 2. — Diamond-pointed knives.
3, 4, 5. 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. — Knives, many of them showing skill in chipping.
Nos. 3 and 4 are broad and thin, and are fine specimens.
13, 14. — Blades, unused, probably intended for hoes.
15, 16. — Sledges (?). They are thick and heavy. One side of each is flat.
17, 18. — Scrapers (?). Probably used for scraping arrow-shafts.
As before stated, in each group of two, one is from the lower Smoky Hill, in-
cluding the region near its mouth, and the other is from the Cottonwood, the
Verdigris, or some other stream. Many other forms similar to these might be
submitted, but the illustrations prove that the similarity of the implements near
the lower Smoky Hill with those of other regions is complete.
It may seem strange, but it is a fact that this writer assumes that the Qui-
vira Indians, a wild, barbarous tribe, had a "seat of empire," and even pre-
tends to show where this "seat of empire" was, locating it on a stretch of upland
between two creeks.
The bold assumption that this barbarous tribe had a "seat of empire," such
as existed in strong Indian confederacies, or in Mexico, where history, monu-
ments and architecture show that the people had attained to a higher level, is
equaled only by the assurance as to where that supposed "seat of empire" was
located.
The narratives indicate that the Quivira Indian settlements were on streams
and plainly state that the country between the streams was understood to be un-
inhabited.
This supposed "seat of empire" is as far from Great Bend as the village sites
referred to, and, like them, is not connected with the line of march pursued by the
explorers.
It is proper to say that the statements and conclusions of this writer are not
shared by investigators and scholars of Kansas who have studied and under-
stand the subject.
It is to be regretted that one Kansas man, in order to assist the writer referred
to, has given him hundreds, perhaps thousands, of these flint implements, which
have been deposited in a museum elsewhere, instead of being kept in Kansas,
as mementoes of our prehistoric people. These implements are rude and rough —
genuine paleoliths — and frequently indicate the uses for which they were in-
tended. In my own collection, deposited in the rooms of the Kansas State His-
torical Society, at Topeka, are many interesting pieces wrought from flint by
chipping. These include hoes or digging implements, spades, sledges, axes,
hammers, drills, knives, spearheads, arrow-points, and other things. The hoes
and digging implements are worn smooth at the edges, where they have been
used in stirring the ground. The existence of metates or grinding stones is
further proof that corn was raised and ground. The hoes, axes and hammers
are frequently notched and some of them may have been hafted. Some of these
objects may have been rejects but others show marks of use.
Besides these rough, thick implements, thin ones are found, but the fact that
they are intermingled with the others and are also widely distributed shows
that they cannot be attributed to any particular locality.
Similar Indian implements being found in so many different sections of coun-
try, it naturally follows that an attempt to locate Quivira by the implements
found in one locality is an absurdity. The necessities of primitive man often pro-
duced implements of uniform shape and material in widely different regions.
REMINISCENCES OF THE YEAGER RAID. 167
For instance, flint arrow-points and other implements found in America are
similar in form and material with others found in Europe.
For courtesies and encouragement extended during my researches, I tender
my thanks and grateful acknowledgements to various directors and members of
the Kansas State Historical Society, its very efficient librarian, and other promi-
nent citizens of Kansas ; to Hon. Eugene F. Ware, commissioner of pensions, and
Prof. F. W. Hodge, of the Bureau of Ethnology, Washington, D. C. ; to Profs.
F. H. Hodder and F. W. Blackmar, of the University of Kansas ; to President
Carl Swensson,* Professor Welin, and faculty, of Bethany College, at Lindsborg,
and to the Texas Historical Society.
I also thankfully express my obligations to Mr. Alvah Lowman and his
brother, Mr. E. W. Lowman. These gentlemen have shown a praiseworthy zeal
in collecting interesting flint Indian implements, and have submitted for examina-
tion and comparison many typical specimens of their collections, representative
pieces of which are now on exhibition in the rooms of the Kansas State Historical
Society. If there were no other evidence, these implements would prove conclu-
sively that flint implements similar to those found on the Smoky Hill and near
its mouth are found on other streams of Kansas. The Messrs. Lowman have ex-
amined with me many interesting Indian village sites and have given me informa-
tion of others. Thus a flood of light has been thrown on these silent witnesses
of the past and their relation to history. The Lowman brothers are entitled to
much credit.
I also extend my cordial thanks to John Madden, G. U. S. Hovey, W. J.
Griffing, J. R. Mead, Gen. C. C. C. Carr, commanding officer, and Capt. Granger
Adams, an artillery officer, at Fort Riley, Hon. George P. Morehouse, of the Kan-
sas senate, Ralph Sage, Lawrence Coddington, Capt. Robert Henderson, S. T.
Pember, Miss Estella Doyle, Sol. Miller, G. A. Reece, James T. Hanna, Chas. C.
Sorenson, G. P. Farnstrom, A. L. Evers, B. D. Fry, E.L. Falen, C. S. Everhart,
Dr. E. B. Cheney, O. G. Bigford, David Martin, R. P. Church, W. M. Atkinson,
Hon. J. M. Miller, Hon. Frank Nelson, ex-state superintendent of public instruc-
tion, M. D. Umbarger, Mrs. Pracht, Asa M. Breese, G. C. Atkinson, A. L. Loomis,
Mr. Kershaw, W. L. Morris, A. Hill, J. M. Claypool, J. F. Hughes, Mr. Hoflf-
*Rev. Carl A. Swensson, Ph. D., D. D., president of Bethany College, Lindsborg, McPher-
son county, died at Los Angeles, Cal., early in the morning of February 16, 1904. He left Linds-
borg February 1 for San Francisco, where he dedicated a church. He was buried at Lindsborg,
Tuesday, February 23. There were present 150 ministers from all parts of the country, and about
7000 people attended the obsequies. The Messiah chorus of 600 voices took part in the services.
Doctor Swensson was born at Sugar Grove, Warren county, Pennsylvania, in 1857. He was the
son of the Rev. Jonas J. Swensson, for fifteen years pastor of the Swedish Lutheran church at
Andover, 111., and who was at one time president of the Scandinavian Lutheran Synod of North
America. Doctor Swensson was educated at Augustana College and Theological Seminary,
Rock Island, 111., graduating in 1879. He afterwards settled at Lindsborg, in Kansas, and in
1889 became president of Bethany College. Doctor Swensson's efforts brought Bethany to a high
rank among the institutions of its kind in the United States. It was by his efforts for fifteen
years that "The Messiah," the yearly musical festival, was built up. King Oscar of Sweden
was so impressed by Doctor Swensson's work for Swedes in America that he conferred upon him
the Order of the North Star. This carries with it Swedish knighthood. It was conferred at the
yearly musical festival, in November, 1901. He was a personal friend of President Roosevelt.
President Francis, of the St. Louis World's Fair, had asked him recently to dedicate the fair
with a prayer. He was married in 1880 to Miss Alma Lind, of Moline, 111., who with two daugh-
ters survives him. He was a member of the Kansas legislature in 1889, and in 1890 refused to be
a candidate for Congress. He was a delegate at large from Kansas to the convention which
nominated McKinley in 1896. He received the degree of doctor of divinity from his alma
mater and one or two other institutions. The Royal University of Upsala, Sweden, also
conferred on him the degree of doctor of philosophy. He traveled extensively in Europe,
particular in the Scandinavian countries, and at the court of King Oscar was recognized as one
of the Swedish leaders in America.
168 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
hines, D. N. Myers, Geo. N. Norton, H. W. Brown, Edward Nelson, J. P. Noll,
George Johnson, Mrs. Elizabeth A. Johnson, who presented the Pike Pawnee
village site to the state, John Briggs, John Gareneon, John Cameron, L. H.
Langvardt, Bert Brown, J. R. Murie, an educated Pawnee Indian, Daniel McAr-
thur, Alexander Smith, C. S. Martin, Mr. Engel, Charles Shane, John Miller,
J. R. Ingram, J. C. Jones, C. A. Jones, the last three residing near the big bend
of the Arkansas, below Fort Dodge, W. W. Graves, H. W. Brown, Rev. M. E.
Eraser, Rev. J. K. Morgan, Perry Cope, J. F. Hull, John Argo, Warren Knaus,
Doctor McCartney, Thomas Coon, Horace H. Day, and George A. Root.
The parties whose names appear in the last list have all extended courtesies,
furnished Indian relics, or given information. A number of them are residents of
other states.
Much praise and credit are due Mr. Wehe, photographer, of Topeka, for the
illustrations accompanying this paper.
After Coronado's return to the Rio Grande, Father Padilla, one of his faithful
priests, came back to Quivira to preach to the natives, and suffered the death of
a martyr there by the Indians for whose spiritual elevation he was zealous. Thus
was Christianity first carried to Kansas, and the first white man's blood shed on
our soil.
Centuries have elapsed and may elapse, but as long as the Smoky Hill and
Kansas bear their waters onward toward the ocean these noble streams will com-
memorate the marvelous journey of Coronado and his knights of sunny Spain,
which led to the discovery of a land which in glory and progress has eclipsed the
world's past career, and which leads the nations in all that pertains to the eleva-
tion and happiness of mankind.
REMINISCENCES OF THE YEAGER RAID, ON THE
SANTA FE TRAIL, IN 1803.
An address by D. Hdbbaed,* of Olathe, before the Kansas State Historical Society, at its
twenty-eighth annual meeting, December 1, 1903.
A MONG the many important and exciting events of the early years of the war
■^*~ which have held the attention of the loyal people of Kansas by their tales of
suffering and endurance, of fire and blood, there may be some interest accorded
to one of the minor events which filled those trying times. The following ac-
count of the return of Dick Yeager's band to Missouri is gathered from authentic
sources for the purpose of adding to the history of the making of Kansas.
The writer was then living in Marion, Douglas county, Kansas, seventeen
miles southwest of Lawrence, and on the old Santa Fe trail, being engaged in
*David Hdbbaed was born in North Charlestown, N. H., December 3, 1833, and reared on a
New Hampshire farm. Outside of the district schools, he attended Meriden Academy and Nor-
wich University, Vermont. At twenty-one he went to Green county, Illinois, where he taught
school three years. On Marcli 10, 1857, he landed at Leavenworth, and enlisted in the cause of
making Kansas a free state and the building up of a future home. He filed on and improved a
claim on Deer creek, Shawnee county. During a temporary absence from the territory his
claim was jumped and preempted by Ike Edwards, one of Buford's men, from Georgia, who was
afterwards hung by a mob while in jail for killing an Indian without provocation, on a street
in Topeka. [In the winter of 1860-'61.— Giles's Thirty Years in Topeka. rage 377.] He subse-
quently preempted a quarter-section in Marion township, Dougla.s county, where he resided
until September, 1863, when he was employed in the commissary department, with the thir-
teenth army corps, until the close of the war. On returning to Lawrence he was appointed
assistant United States assessor, and moved to Olathe, where he now resides. For several
years he was county surveyor of Johnson county, lias also been engaged in the milling, grain
and lumber business, and at the present time in the loan and brokerage business and farming.
REMINISCENCES OF THE YEAGER RAID. 169
farming and running a small store, post-office, and stage stand. His family con-
sisted of his wife and an infant daughter less than one year old, and there was
living with him Mr. Henry Waters and wife and a daughter about six years of
age. Mr. Waters now resides at lola, Kan.
The summer of 1862 had been filled with raids by Quantrill and his men
upon the towns along the border, including Gardner, Olathe, and Shawnee, burn-
ing and destroying property, and killing many Union men. This had aroused
the public feeling to a high pitch, and was the cause of Governor Robinson or-
ganizing a home guard of militia. In Douglas county, the three townships
through which the Santa Fe trail ran, Palmyra, Willow Springs, and Marion,
each organized a company. The writer was the captain of the one in Marion,
Fortunatus Gleason was its first lieutenant, and William Baldwin was its second
lieutenant. The latter is still living, near Overbrook, in Osage county. It was
composed of about thirty men, furnished with arms and ammunition by the
state, and was called out several times during the year 1862, but each time upon
a false alarm.
In the month of May, 1863, as soon as the grass was sufficient for grazing
their horses, a considerable number of Quantrill's men, under the command of
Dick Yeager, left Missouri and went west on the Santa Fe trail, in squads of
twos or threes, so as not to be observed. This was the same man who was Quan-
trill's lieutenant at the Lawrence raid, the following August, where he won, with
his comrades, a name of undying infamy. These men congregated near Council
Grove, Morris county, and there went into camp. It has never been known to
history just what was the real object in making this movement. Some have sug-
gested that it was their intention to organize a raid in New Mexico. Others be-
lieve that they were bent upon plunder and destruction among the interior towns
of the state. Whatever their purpose, they were evidently foiled by the United
States soldiers stationed in the vicinity.
The following is furnished by Mr. John Maloy, county attorney of Morris
county, and written seventeen years ago, as a part of what he is preparing for a
history of that county :
"With all of their military preparations, our people were unable to prevent
guerrillas from making incursions into our neighborhood. On the 4th of May,
1863, Dick Yeager's band of Missouri guerrillas encamped on the General Custer
farm, now owned by M. K. Sample, near Council Grove, and after insulting and
threatening the lives of some of our best citizens, a portion of them, some ten or
twelve in number, proceeded on the following day to Diamond Springs, and about
ten o'clock at night three of them rode up to the store of Augustus Howell, and,
without any ceremony, shot him to death. His wife was also shot, but recovered,
and afterwards married a Mr. Stokes, of Chase county. During this excitement
C' ptain Rowell, of Colorado, was stationed at Council Grove to protect the people
of ihe county and to guard the mails and merchants, as well as the Santa Fe
trains.
"Yeager rode to Dr. J. H. Bradford's office and had a tooth pulled. He was
visited in his camp soon after he came by M. Conn, now a resident of Kansas
City, then of Council Grove, where he remained for some time. Many criticized
the visit as an act of disloyalty, without inquiring into the object of his visit.
He went to prevail on Yeager not to burn the town and succeeded in his mission,
which was quite up to any reasonable standard of loyalty. He had known Yeager
well in the years before the war. He was a freighter on the Santa Fe route.
They had been friends, which was a most lucky thing for Council Grove."
Thirteen of their number started back on the 8th of May over the trail and
under the lead of Yeager. Nothing is known of their movements or doings unti
they reached Rock Springs, late in the afternoon, near the line between Osage
and Douglas counties. At that time there was a stage stand, formerly kept by
a man by the name of Walters, but the name of the proprietor at that time I do not
170 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
remember. A soldier by the name of George N. Sabin,* of company K, Eleventh
regiment of Kansas volunteer cavalry, was spending the night there. He had
been visiting home on a furlough, and was then on his way to his regiment, at Fort
Scott. Over a dozen bullets were his fate. The next morning he was buried by
the neighbors on the open prairie.
The family of this soldier lived near Auburn, Shawnee county. The widow
could learn nothing of his fate, and continued in ignorance of the circumstances
of his death until two years ago, when, by a most remarkable chain of circum-
stances, the writer's daughter became acquainted with the soldier's daughter at
Salt Lake City, Utah. The soldier's widow then for the first time learned the
facts surrounding her husband's death.
It may be of interest to refer to the remarkable career of the daughter of this
soldier, who was born to him while at home on his last furlough. At the tender
age of eleven years, having a burning thirst for an education, she left home, her
ambition being to reach the State University. After a long struggle, without
any aid or encouragement from any relative, the dream of her life was accom-
plished. During the fourth year at the university she accepted a position in the
Topeka public schools, where she remained until married to a Mr. Rose, who is
now a prominent official of the Illinois Central railroad, being a foreign repre-
sentative of the road, and stationed at London.
The same evening the bushwhackers shot Sabin they arrived at my home,
seven miles farther east. Mr. Waters came in about dusk and said it was re-
ported that the bushwackers were at some point west of us, committing depreda-
tions. The report was treated lightly by us all, and we sat down to supper. The
daughter of Mr. Waters soon came running, and called out that a lot of horse-
men were coming down the road. They came to the door, where I met them, and
I was seized, searched, and questioned as to my politics and the state Icame
from. The answers not being satisfactory to them, Yeager gave the order to
shoot. Three of them obeyed the order. One bullet went through my lungs,
the other two missed — they being less than ten feet away. After going through
the house and taking what they wanted, and taking a horse from the stable, they
left, following the trail east. Among other things, they took Mr. Waters'a
pocket-book. Mrs. W^aters asked the privilege of taking out some valuable pa-
pers, and they allowed her to select some of the most-important ones.
They passed through Baldwin without molesting anybody. At Black Jack,
four miles further east, they met the Santa Fe stage, in which, among others,
was ex-Sheriflf Jones (appointed the first sheriff of Douglas county by the bogus
legislature, at Shawnee Mission, Johnson county), who was on his way to his
home, then in New Mexico. The passengers were all relieved of their money and
watches. Even the notorious Sheriff Jones they did not spare, nor stop to in-
quire as to his politics.
From information furnished by George W. Cramer, now of Paola, Kan., who
was then living with his father, A. Cramer, who kept the Stone hotel, at Gard-
ner, Johnson county, I learned that at some time past midnight Yeager's com-
mand reached Gardner. They first quietly took Garrett Rhue, afterwards
representative to the legislature from that county, who was express agent, and
made him prisoner. They took from him an express package containing $200, t
* George N. Sabin enlisted from Louisville, Pottawatomie county, September 5, 1862.
tThe express package referred to belonged to Mrs. Harriet L. Waugh, and was money sent
to her by her husband, Col. G. M. Waugh, who was away in the army. After a period of forty
years, the last legislature made good to the widow ( who now lives in California ) the original
amount in the package taken. See Session Laws of 1903, chapter 62, page 108.
THE WICHITA INDIANS IN KANSAS. 171
then made him go with them to the hotel and get the hotel-keeper, A. Cramer, to
open the door, saying that they were some men who wanted to stay all night.
The door was opened, and they rushed in and made Mr. Cfamer prisoner at the
point of their revolvers, and ordered him to show them where the other men
were. They were taken up-stairs into the room where G. W. Cramer and Ben
Francis were sound asleep. They jerked them both out of bed and demanded
their money and clothes. Francis answered that the clothes they saw there were
all he had. They answered that they knew better, and that he mupt have better
clothes, and ordered him to show them his trunk, which he did. They smashed
it in with their feet, and, not finding what they expected, said they would shoot
him any away. Francis replied that the clothes were good enough for bush-
whackers. They acted on hie suggestion and gathered up all the clethes, but
did not shoot.
The men were all taken out into the street under guard, while a part of the
gang took Mr. Cramer to the stables and made him get out his best horses,
which they appropriated. They then marched him to the front of the house
and ordered the command to fall into line. It was thought by all that he was
then to be shot; but then Yeager rode up in front and asked him what his
politics were. He answered that he was a Democrat, and always had been; so
his life was saved, and the command were given orders to march.
This is the last that is known of the Yeager raid.
THE WICHITA INDIANS IN KANSAS.
An address by James R. Mead,* of Wichita, before the Kansas State Historical Society,
at its twenty-eighth annual meeting, December 1, 1903.
AMERICAN history has no topic comparable for its enduring interest to that
of the Indian tribes. And of such history Kansas can furnish a generous
share. A true record of the battles fought and tragedies enacted on Kansas soil,
and the deeds of valor, endurance, daring and hardship of her sons, both white
and red, would make a volume of entrancing interest.
Until recent years our brother, the Indian, has occupied Kansas since the
* James Richaed Mead was born May 3, 1837, in New Haven, Conn. His greatgrandfather,
Ebenezer Mead, was a major-general in the revolutionary war, and was shot through the lungs,
but recovered. His home was in Connecticut, thirty miles from New York, and included Put-
nam's hill, down which General Putnam made his escape on stone steps. His father, Enoch
Mead, graduated at Yale, and was a prominent minister of the Presbyterian church. He emi-
grated to Davenport, Iowa, in 1839, and established many Presbyterian churches in that state.
James R. Mead was educated at Iowa College, Davenport. He became interested in the Kansas
struggle, and in 1859 settled in Saline county, and engaged largely in hunting and the fur trade
with the Indians. He spent eight years on the plains as hunter, trapper, and trader. In the
spring of 1863 he removed to what is now Butler county, and established a trading-post. At the
close of the war he removed to the junction of the two Arkansas rivers, and in connection with
others laid out Wichita. He organized the Wichita & Southwestern, was its first president,
and in six months built the road. He aided in building a bridge across the Arkansas, and in
establishing the First National Bank of Wichita. While a resident of Butler county he was a
commissioner, and aided in locating the town of El Dorado. In 1864 he was elected to the
legislature from Butler county, and aided in the election of J?imes H. Lane to the United States
senate. In 1868 he was elected to the state senate from the counties of Morris, Chase, Marion,
and Butler. He was married at Burlingame, December 1, 1862, to Miss Agnes Barcome, who died
April 19, 1869, leaving two sons and two daughters. At Wichita, August 23, 1872, he married
Miss Lucy Inman. Mr. Mead was the companion on the plains of Kit Carson and Colonel Boone,
and he had great influence with the Wichitas, who sought refuge in southern Kansas, during the
war, from the soldiers of the Southern Confederacy. His home is at Wichita, where he continued
his interest in everything to advance Kansas and his immediate locality.
172 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
glacial era, and perhaps for a longer time, as his remains have been found under
the glacial drift by myself and others.
The first Europeans to penetrate this region found him here in thousands
along the Kansas and other rivers. Within the memory of men now living, the
Indian owned or occupied as hunting-grounds the entire state.
There were three indigenous tribes in eastern Kansas; perhaps others. The
Osage, Pawnees and the Kansas, or "Kaws," as they were nicknamed by the
French. To the west were the roving nomads of the plains, who had no particu-
lar abiding-place, whom, I believe, constituted the lost "Paducas" spoken of
by De Bourgmont and other early explorers.
In 1859, when I went upon the plains, I found the Osages, and other frontier
Indians who had hunted buffalo to the west, constantly speaking of the "Padu-
cas," and, on inquiry, they described them as a fierce, savage, warlike tribe of
roving horsemen, ranging the western plains, of whom they were in constant
dread, and described them as being as numerous as the blades of grass on the
prairie, and indifferent to cold or danger.
I believe the Paducas, visited by M. du Tisne in 1719, and M. de Bourgmont
in 1724, on the head of the Smoky Hill river, to have been the Comanches. lam
confirmed in this belief by information I obtained from the aged chief of the
Acomas, in New Mexico, many years ago.*
Commencing about 1832, the Indian population of Kansas was increased by
seventeen tribes, who were located on reservations in the eastern fourth of the
state — occupying about all of that region — a greater number of tribes than had
ever assembled on the same amount of territory in the history of the government.
Evidently the Indians knew a good country, and all wanted to get here.
These were the remnants of once powerful nations of the Eastern and Middle
states, who fought long and bravely to beat back the host of invaders from across
the sea until, decimated, impoverished, the bones of their great chieftains and
warriors whitening many a battle-field, the remnant submitted to the inevitable,
and finally were removed to Kansas.
It may be of interest here to mention that in 1847 these Kansas reservations
were valued by the government at seven cents an acre.
All of Kansas west of these reservations, comprising about three-fourths of
the state, was the best hunting-ground on the continent; contained no perma-
nent villages or settlements; was the common hunting-ground of all the Kansas
Indians and the roving tribes of the plains, who outnumbered the reservation
Indians and were usually at war with them.
When the Santa Fe trail was established, and there was no Santa Fe trail un-
til the white man established it, passing through the center of the state and on
across the plains with its constant stream of travel, it became the objective point
of all the predatory hosts from Dakota to the Rio Grande.
To protect this route of traffic, and later the settlements, the government has
at various times constructed and maintained in Kansas twelve forts and num-
bers of military posts, at vast expense, to keep in check our red brothers and
hold this fair land of ours for those who were yet to come.
Our reservation Indians were promised, by ancient treaties, their lands "so
*" Claudo Charles du Tisne, of Paris, aa ensign in the French marine, was married at Quebec
( 1708 ) to Marie Anne Gautier, by whom he had three sons. La Harpe says that du Tisne went
to Mobile lato in 1714; and the latter's name occurs, at various times, in the early annals of
Louisiana. In 1722 he wss appointed captain, as a reward for his military services. An old
manuscript, published in Compten-Iiendux de VAthrnee Loninia7}ais, mentions him as com-
mandant at Natchez in 1728, and in the Illinois country in 1729; and states that he died in Illi-
nois in 1730."— Jesuit Relations, 1900, vol. 66, p. 345.
THE WICHITA INDIANS IN KANSAS. 173
long as grass grew or water ran," but here the tide of immigration again over-
took them, and it was found necessary for them to move on, and with them
went the hereditary owners of the land — and the red-handed rovers of the
plains, they are gone.
About 1854 began the exodus to the Indian Territory, crowded out by the
advance of a stronger race. Departing, they have left behind abundant re-
minders of their former occupancy in the names of our state, rivers, cities, coun-
ties, towns, and townships.
Our three greatest rivers * bear Indian names. The Missouri ( meaning muddy )
is the name of an Indian tribe. The Kansas, from the tribe who lived along its
valleys since prehistoric times, meaning " smoky water." The Arkansas river
is the Indian word "Kansas" with the French prefix of "Ark," a bow. Neosho
is Osage ( Dakota ) — "ne," water; "osho," clear; clear water, or water you can
see into.
We are indebted to the Indians for the names of our three most populous
cities. And the founders of the second largest city in our neighboring state to
the east came over into Kansas to find and appropriate one of our choicest In-
dian names.
Twelve counties of Kansas are named after Indian tribes; four others have
Indian names, but one is a reminder of the noble animals upon which they sub-
sisted, and one bears the name of a noted Indian trader.
And now I come to a tribe — the last to arrive, and the first to depart — the
Wichitas and affiliated bands. They were transients; fugitives from their distant
homes, driven out by the exigencies of cruel war. To them, Kansas was a haven
of refuge. They asked no permission nor assistance from the government or any
one else, in their coming nor in their going. They built their town of grass houses
at the junction of the two rivers. Big and Little Arkansas, or "Neshutsa,"
and "Neshutsa Shinka" of the Osages, in whose territory it was located, which
became known all over the plains as "the Wichita town," and on their village
site has arisen the third largest city in the state, Wichita.
The Indians comprised in the general term of Wichitas were remnants of tribes
affiliated together when first known to history, more than a century ago. They
were the Wichitas, Wacos, Towakonis, and Kelchis, who speak the Wichita lan-
guage, and the Caddos, lonis, and Nadarkos, who spoke the Caddo language.
The Nadarkos are practically extinct.
Each of these bands lived in separate villages and preserved their tribal iden-
tity. They had their villages of grass houses on the Brazos river, in Texas; and
on the Washita river and its tributaries and other streams in the Indian Terri-
tory; and ranged in former times from Arkansas to the Wichita mountains, and
from the Cimarron river to central Texas.
One tradition, narrated to me many years ago by Chief Towakoni Jim, was
that the Wichitas originally came from the far Northwest, using dogs for pack
animals — as all western Indians did before the arrival of the Spaniards — and
tarried on the Arkansas river, near the southern border of the state, several
years, cultivating gardens and hunting for subsistence, using implements of stone
or bone; while the traditions of the Caddoes are that they originally came from
the Hot Springs, Arkansas.
The Wichitas proper were typical barbarians, coming down from the stone
age unchanged in customs, habits, or apparel. Their language and tone of voice
*W. J. McGee in his " Siouan Indians," Fifteenth Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, p. 162,
says: "J/!ssoM?-i (tribal name), exact meaning uncertain; said to refer to drowning of people
in a stream; possibly a corruption of ni-shu-dje, 'smoky water,' the name of Missouri river,
Kansa or Kanze refers to winds, though precise significance is unknown."
174 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
were utterly unlike any Indians east of the Rocky Mountains, but had a marKed
resemblance in inflection, tone and construction to that of the Indians along the
Columbia river in Oregon.
When I first saw them, in 1863, many of the older women were artistically
tattooed in pink and blue zigzag circles and lines, as was their ancient custom.
The Caddoes were a much milder-mannered people and of pleasant speech.
The summer of 186i found the Wichitas in Kansas prosperous. Buffalo were
abundant — close at hand; they had obtained horses. The women, with great
industry, cleared grounds and planted fine gardens along the Little Arkansas,
and were the first to demonstrate that the Arkansas valley was the garden spot
of the state.
All took a hand in building their very comfortable and peculiar grass houses.
They were usually made of forked posts about five feet high, set in the ground at
intervals in a circle, and twenty or twenty-five feet in diameter. Horizontal poles
were then securely fastened to the top of the posts ; then smooth poles, twenty or
more feet long, were set upright in the ground outside the posts, converging,
cone-shape, to a common center at the top ; very small poles are bound with withes
crosswise, thus holding the whole structure securely together. The squaws
weave the long, tough, reddish bunch-grass in and out in such an ingenious
manner that each bunch of grass overlaps the bunch immediately below. When
complete it is a substantial structure; does not leak; is warm. A low door opens
to east and west, made of grass or skin. Arranged around the inside are raised
bunks for sleeping, and underneath, storage room. In the center a fire, with
opening at top for smoke. The inside and floor are sometimes plastered with
gypsum, and for fifty feet on the outside the ground is kept smooth, hard, and
clean. These houses are unique, comfortable, and unlike all others in America.
I have seen those built twenty years and still in good condition. They are never
covered with sod, as stated this summer in a prominent Eastern magazine.
Not far from these houses were their gardens, surrounded by fences made of
small poles, set upright in the ground. These grew an abundance of their na-
tive corn, pumpkins, melons, and Mexican beans.
These grass houses were built in groups along the Little river for a mile, on
the east bank; the water ojf the river was sweet, clear, and pure, full of fish;
plenty of timber, and game abundant.
Owaha, chief of the Wichitas, was an ideal prehistoric man of 5000 years ago.
A cartoonist could hardly exaggerate his general make-up. Yet he was not a
bad fellow by any means. He would have been a howling success to illustrate
Chancellor Snow's lecture on the evolution of man.
Shaddona, chief of the Caddoes, was his opposite; fine-looking, quiet, intel-
ligent, gentlemanly.
I established a trading-post among them, and part of the time had an Indian
alone in charge. Along in the summer of 1864 the government sent an old gen-
tleman, Maj. Milo Gookin, of Indiana, to look after these Indians, with instruc-
tions to make his headquarters at my home place, known as "Mead's ranch,"
at Towanda, twenty miles east of the Little Arkansas, at that time consisting of
a big spring and my several buildings. Major Gookin knew nothing about In-
dians, and had at first nothing to aid them, and the Indians nearly worried him
to death. I helped him out considerably, as I had abundant supplies and much-
needed experience. Later on the government furnished a small amount of food
and clothing.
The Shawnees, Delawares and Kickapoos settled themselves along the White-
water and Walnut rivers. Some of the wild tribes of the plains visited us occa-
THE WICHITA INDIANS IN KANSAS. 175
aionally. Here, in time of war, came Satanta, the great warrior chief of the
Kiowas, with Heap of Bears, great medicine man of the Arapahoee, to talk about
peace, which resulted in the treaty of the Little Arkansas ; and, by coming to a
good understanding with the wild Indians and the influence of our Wichita
friends, our corner of the frontier escaped the horrors of a border war, and we
came and went over the plains at all times in safety.
The Wichita Indians are remarkable in leaving their name attached to the
localities where they have lived. In Kansas we have the city of Wichita, the
county of Wichita, a Wichita and Waco street, the towns of Waco and Kechi.
In the territory we have the Wichita mountains, old Fort Wichita, the Washita
river, the Little and Big Ouchita rivers — a way of spelling the same name. The
Wichita tribe may become extinct, but the name will remain with us for all
time.
At the outbreak of the civil war the Indians of the Wichita agency were
living quietly and peaceably on the Washita river and other streams, near old
Fort Cobb, Indian Territory, The Indians of the plains and the civilized tribes
of the territory were their friends. They were an agricultural people, had fields
and gardens, an abundance of horses, and lived in a paradise of game — buflFalo,
elk, deer, antelope and wild turkeys constituting their bill of fare, with corn,
beans, melons, pumpkins and wild fruits as side-dishes. Each year at the time
of roaetingears, watermelons, and garden-truck, the Comanches came in from the
plains and spent a season feasting, visiting, and having a good time generally — an
agreeable change from their usual bill of fare, buffalo meat straight.
When the civil war came they were loyal to the Union. To the east were the
powerful civilized tribes, who were slaveholders; on the south, Texas. The
Wichitas were driven out, together with many Shawnees, Delawares, Kickapoos,
and other loyal Indians, leaving all behind except such articles as could be gath-
ered for hasty flight. With their wives and little ones, they fled north across the
pathless wilderness to Kansas and safety. They were pursued, and some of them
killed, on the Salt Fork; a few had wagons, which were mostly broken or aban-
doned on the way. There were no roads or trails to follow. After many hard-
ships, the scattered bands collected in southern Kansas, on the border, destitute,
hungry, among strangers. The government afforded them a scant relief. The
first winter all of their horses starved to death, and many of their people died
from want and sickness. In their distress they sought aid from the Osage In-
dians, who at that time owned nearly all of southern Kansas, including millions
of buffalo, and secured their permission to move to the mouth of the Little Ar-
kansas (Neshusta Shinka), and subsist on the buffalo. So in the summer of
1863 they set out for their new home, afoot, hungry, almost naked, and estab-
lished their temporary camp in the dense timber at the mouth of the Little river,
just across from the present Murdock avenue bridge, Wichita.
They managed without horses or guns to kill enough buffalo to subsist and
lay up a scant supply for winter, when the men went south to their old homes
and gathered up what horses they could find. Others visited the Comanches,
who gave them presents of many horses, a custom among the Indians to their
less fortunate brothers. By spring they were mostly mounted and able to take
care of themselves. They could make their saddles and equipments, arms and
clothing, while the women were industriously at work planting gardens, which in
time yielded abundantly.
Here along the Little river they lived and prospered, until the summer of 1867
brought fresh woes. Inexperience involved the wild tribes of the plains in war.
Troops from St. Louis were scattered along the old Santa Fe trail in small de-
176 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
tachments. With them came the cholera, which spread over the plains of Kan-
sas and the Indian Territory. White men and Indians alike died. A small
company of soldiers were sent to the mouth of the Little Arkansas — an uncalled
for and useless move. Soon the cholera commenced its deadly work among the
Wichitas. Scattered over the northern part of Wichita are the graves of prob-
ably 100 Indians, including Owaha, hereditary war chief; Sam Houston, a noted
Indian, and many others. In the latter part of the summer orders came from
Washington to remove the Indians to their old homes, on the Washita, but no
provision was made for their removal. They refused to go until their crops were
gathered and a supply of food prepared for the winter.
Along in the fall they started down the old Chisholm trail.* Their first camp
was on the Ninnescah, where misfortune again overtook them. They hobbled
their horses one night in the tall grass in a bend of the river on the north side.
During the night a norther set in, driving down upon them a furious prairie fire,
burning eighty-five head of their best horses. This left a large number afoot, as
many of their horses had been stolen and driven off by white outlaws, who had
begun to infest the country that summer. The Indians were compelled to cache
a large part of their provisions, which were afterwards stolen by white men, and
proceeded on their journey, many of them afoot.
The cholera was still with them. They died all along the trail. Some were
buried on the Ninnescah. At Skeleton creek so many died they laid on the ground
unburied, and their bleaching skeletons gave a name to the stream. Whole fami-
lies died in the lodges after their arrival on the Washita, and the lodges were
burned, with the bodies and all their belongings. From Skeleton creek they scat-
tered out in every direction, some parties who had no horses stopping on the Red
Fork (Cimmaron), subsisting on the black-jack acorns and wild turkeys, of
which there were thousands. Towakoni Jim, now chief of the Wichitas, with
a band mostly women and children afoot, camped at the mouth of Turkey creek.
Their food was what nature provided. From acorns they made palatable bread,
by a process of their own. Nearly every evening they could be seen coming down
the creek from the timber laden with acorns, Jim usually bringing home four
or five big turkeys he had killed with bow and arrow.
A blizzard, with severe cold and deep snow, came along about that time. It
was so cold a loaded wagon could be driven across the streams on the ice. (I do
not speak from hearsay.) Big gray wolves and panthers came howling about
their camps.
Late one evening Jim came down the creek loaded with turkeys, and strag-
gling along were women and children with what acorns they could carry,
Jim's young wife among the number. She was weak from lack of proper
*Andreas's History of Kansas, page 1385 : " With the Wichitas ( in 1864 ) came Jesse Chisholm,
a half-breed Cherokee, and an adopted member of the Wichitas. He built his house on the
stream which derived its name from him, east of the city of Wichita, and moved into it with
his family. He also established a ranch between the two rivers, three miles above their junction,
near the present residence of J. C. Davis. In the spring of 1865, Mr. Chisholm located a trail
from his ranch to the present site of the Wichita agency, on the Wichita river, Indian Territory,
distance '<J20 miles. This trail subsequently became, and is still known, as the Chisholm trail.
It was established for the purpose of enabling the traders in the Arkansas valley to obtain
wagon communication with the Indians in the Indian Territory, and the trail was used by those
traders for years in the transportation of merchandise to tribes in the territory. Afterward
the trail was used by Texas cattle-drivers, and is now used by the government in the transpor-
tation of supplies to Fort Sill, forty miles south of the Wichita agency. The principal points
of this trail are Wichita, Clearwater, Caldwell, Pond Creek, Skeleton Ranch, Buffalo Springs,
mouth of Turkey creek, Cheyenne Agency, Wichita Agency, and Fort Sill. Chisholm died on
the North Fork of the Canadian river, in the Indian Territory, March 4, 1868, of cholera morbus,
caused by eating bear's grease that had been poisoned by being melted in a brass kettle."
THE POTTAWATOMIE MASSACRE. 177
food. Darkness comiog on, she became separated from her companions among
the sand-bille and brush, and about a half a mile from camp fell exhausted.
She hung her little shawl on a bush to aid her friends to find her, drew her thin
blanket about her, and laid down to die, with wild beasts howling around. Jim
and others hunted for her all night, and at daylight found her apparently dead.
Tenderly they carried her to camp, and by careful attention revived the faint
spark of life and she recovered.
Later many of the Wichitas congregated up the North Fork of the Canadian,
where Jesse Chisholm had called in the Kiowas and Comanches, and here they
remained until the 4th day of March, 18G8, when he suddenly died. The Indians
then suddenly scattered like a flock of quail. He was their friend, counselor,
lawgiver, and father. Each band went its own way. In the spring, the Wichitas,
what was left of them, finally assembled at their old homes on the Washita, where
the government had sent Col. J. H. Leavenworth with some provision for their
needs, and there they have resided to the present time.
THE POTTAWATOMIE MASSACRE.
An address by S. J. Shively,* of Paola, before the Kansas State Historical Society,
at its twenty-eighth annual meeting, December 1, 1903.
T^HE occurrence of the night of May 24, 1856, near Dutch Henry crossing, on
-■- Pottawatomie creek, in Franklin county, at which time five men were killed,
would only have been such a sensation as ordinary murders create had it been in
any ordinary time ; but it was in the midst of a civil war, in a new territory, over
a great moral issue, and so it became one of the incidents of that war, and the
bearing it produced on the result of the issue to be settled decides its importance.
I will call it a massacre, for convenience, and for the benefit of the sensitive.
This affair was the most important in the slave troubles of Kansas. If right, it
was important, as it changed the attitude of the free-state party toward their as-
sailants, and had much to do in the overthrow of the slave power; if wrong, it
was important, as being the cause of the riot and bloodshed that followed.
Five sons of John Brown, of North Elba, N. Y.,.John, jr., Jason, Owen, Sal-
mon, and Frederick, came to Kansas, and settled on the north side of the Potta-
watomie, about two miles southwest of where the town of Lane now is. Three
of the boys took claims. Their brother-in-law, Henry Thompson, came with
them. They unloaded their goods on their claims February 12, 1855. A man
by the name of Winans kept a store then on what is now the B. Needham farm.
He generally hauled out household goods for the settlers there from West-
*S. J. Shively was born in Mandeville, Carroll county, Missouri, December 12, 1861. His
father was a Christian minister, and enlisted in the First Kansas infantry in the spring of 1861,
seven months before the son was born. He came out of the army in May, 1865, and was introduced
to his son born in war times. The father moved with his large family of seven boys and one girl
to Franklin coiinty, Kansas, in 1869, and settled near Henry Shively, a brother, who had moved
from Missouri In 1856. The Shively farms were three miles south and a little west of Stanton,
and five miles north of Lane. They were between the Marais des Cygnes and the Pottawatomie.
Mosquito creek is a little stream between the two. S. J. Shively received a common-school
education at the coimtry school near Mosquito creek. He farmed in Miami county from 1881 to
1883. In 1883 he attended the normal college at Paola; he then taught a country school in
Miami county for two years. He read law in Paola and was admitted to practice in 1887. He
held the offices of councilman, justice of the peace, and city attorney, in Paola, and was elected
county attorney in 1894, serving two years in this latter position. In 1898 he enlisted in company
I, Twentieth Kansas, and served in the Phillipines. He resumed his practice at Paola, upon
his return home, in November, 1899. He was married, in 1892, to Miss Eva Bryan, of Paola.
—13
<
178 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
port landing. He hauled out some goods for Thompson and the Brown boys.
The pro-slavery settlers soon learned that the Brown boys were abolitionists, and
John, jr., was especially hated, as he was more outspoken, and rather the leader
of the family. At that time it made anti-slavery men about as mad to be called
abolitionists as it did pro-slavery men. The Brown boys never denied being abo-
litionists, but took pride in the term. Allen Wilkinson came from Tennessee,
and first located at Osawatomie, in the fall of 1854. The next March, 1855, he
took a claim between the Pottawatomie and Mosquito creeks, near the mouth of
the Mosquito, in the east edge of Franklin county.
James P. Doyle took a claim north of Wilkinson and a little west, on the north
side of the Mosquito, about a mile from Wilkinson's. Henry Sherman, with his
brother William, two German bachelors, settled on an old, abandoned Indian
farm, partially improved, known as the John Jones place. The Wilkinson place
is now known as the John Powell place. The Sherman place is now known as
the James Walter place. The Sherman place was on the south side of the Potta-
watomie, and now adjoins on the east the Lane town site. Henry Sherman was
called "Dutch Henry," and the ford across the Pottawatomie on his place went
by the name of Dutch Henry crossing.
Shermans and Doyle came out in the fall of 1854.
The election of 1855 was held March 30, and that election district had been
designated by Governor Reeder as the fifth, and the voting-place was at Henry
Sherman's, as he had the best house in the country. The election district ex-
tended from the Missouri line to the Neosho east and west, and north and south
from the Big Osage to the Little Osage. The Big Osage was the Marais des
Cygnes. Wilkinson kept the post-office, and was not a violent, but a smooth,
clever leader. Sherman was not very outspoken, but was sly and unreliable.
Doyle was an ignorant fellow and quite radical. None of these men owned
slaves. The poor whites who upheld slavery were more unreasonable and intol-
erant than the slave-owners. Wilkinson at first claimed he was not for making
Kansas a slave state, but they nominated him for the legislature in order to
"fetch him over." He became a very subservient tool of Atchison and String-
fellow. Wilkinson, Samuel Scott, Henry Younger and W. A. Heiskell were the
pro-slavery candidates for the legislature in that district. Had there been an
honest election they would all have been defeated.
A noisy, drunken mob came from Missouri on horseback and offered to vote.
William Chestnut, one of the judges of the election, challenged them oi> the
ground of non-residence. The mob began to threaten violence, when Colonel
Coffey got up and made a speech, in which he said he did not favor violence, but
if officers did not do their duty it would lead to violence. What he meant by
duty was for Mr. Chestnut to cease his challenges. Wilkinson applauded the
speech, and illegal voting went on. After this Wilkinson lost the respect of all
the free-state men. Mr. Chestnut had in many ways befriended him, but Wilkin-
son was accused of selling out to the slave power after that election. After Coffey 's
speech the free-state men left the polls. Several young men had been posted at
Mosquito creek to turn back free-state men. Among the number were the Doyle
boys, who turned back Uncle Sam Houser, who had walked all the way from
Stanton to vote.
Wilkinson and Sherman entertained and fed the men and the horses of the
men who had come from Missouri to vote at Sherman's. Mr. Chestnut refused
to certify to the returns, but the pro-slavery candidates took their places in the
legislature, notwithstanding they had not a sign of a certificate or line of written
authority. Mr. Wilkinson's associates in that body all but one met violent deaths
THE POTTAWATOMIE MASSACRE. 179
in after-years. Scott was killed. Younger was killed during the war. Henry
Younger never did reside in Kansas, but was a resident of Cass county, Missouri.
He was the father of the noted Younger outlaws. Younger was a bosom friend
of Wilkinson while at Shawnee Mission.
Between the Pottawatomie and Mosquito creeks was a pro-slavery settlement.
Just north of this, between the Mosquito and the Marais des Cygnes, was a
free-state settlement, and just south of the Pottawatomie was a mixed complexion
of politics. The Browns lived right in the hotbed of the pro- slavery nest. Some
free-state men have thought that Wilkinson, Sherman and Doyle were unoffend-
ing, peaceable and harmless men. Wilkinson, elected by fraud and violence, seated
by force and usurpation in a legislature the most infamous ever known, and who
in that legislature voted for the black code, could hardly be regarded as unoffend-
ing. Sherman, who fed and entertained gangs of drunken, lawless invaders,
could hardly be said to be peaceable. Doyle, whose boys drove back old men,
actual citizens, from the polls, could hardly be said to be harmless.
Civil war had been declared by the pro slave papers of Missouri and Kansas,
and the right kind of characters were picked out to be sent to carry out their
declarations. A great many of the free-state settlers on the Pottawatomie were
from Missouri and other slave states, and well knew the men and methods they
had to deal with. The free-state men there, too, were Westerners, and had that
Western disposition not to take any more than they had to.
After the election of 1855 things were comparatively quiet on the Pottawa-
tomie, except free-state and pro-slave men would hardly speak to each other as
they would pass.
John Brown, the father of the boys on the Pottawatomie, came out in October,
1855, and spent most of his time with Rev. S. L. Adair, one mile west of Osawa-
tomie, until the first attack on Lawrence, in December.
During the summer and fall of 1855, Wilkinson, who kept the post-office, would
often misplace the mail and destroy the newspapers belonging to free-state men.
His post-office, called Shermanville, was the concentrating point where pro slave
men would meet and curse and abuse abolitionists, and the ruffian conduct was
sanctioned by the postmaster.
After the first attack on Lawrence matters on the Pottawatomie grew more
exciting. Both sides went to the relief of Lawrence, and when they returned they
were more suspicious of each other.
One day in 1855 Poindexter Manace, after leaving the post-office, was seen
with a copy of the New York Tribune. He was told to throw away the damned
incendiary sheet; he replied that it was the best paper published, and the crowd
jumped on him and nearly beat him to death.
To avenge the outrage on Manace, John Brown, jr., organized his Pottawato-
mie rifles. Judge Lecompte opened court about this time in Shermanville, and
Wilkinson, Doyle, Sherman and George Wilson had presented about every free-
state man's name to the jury, to be indicted for treason. At that time in Kansas
treason did not bear its United States constitution definition, but it meant a re-
fusal to obey writs of bogus officers and refusal to pay taxes levied by the bogus
legislature. John Brown, jr., soon after court began, summoned the "rifles" to
meet on the parade-ground, and court, grand jury and all the legal function-
aries of organized slavery fled to Lecompton. The Pottawatomie settlers escaped
imprisonment for treason.
It was only when a settler from there was somewhere else, like Partridge and'
Kilbourn, that he got arrested for treason. The bogus officers never broke into
their settlement and took one of them.
180 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Early in the spring of 1856 the pro slavery men on the Pottawatomie organ-
ized to drive out free state men, and they invited Buford's men, fresh from the
South, then stopping at Fort Scott, to come up and help them break up the
free-state settlements.
Early in April, 185G, Joshua Baker, who had made some improvements on his
claim on the Pottawatomie, went to Missouri for his family, who were there tem-
porarily from Indiana, and while in Missouri he was arrested and detained for a
long time. About the same time, while Mr. Day, from over on the Marais dea
Cygnes, was at Winans's store, a man rode up and handed him this note:
" This is to notify you that all free-state men now living on the Marais des
Cygnes and Pottawatomie must leave the territory within thirty days or their
throats will be cut. — Law and Order."
As this man was a stranger in the neighborhood he was supposed to be an
advance man of Buford's Fort Scott men.
Soon after this, one of Pate's men drew a revolver on Mr. Day and swore that
Kansas would be a slave state, and then some others burned a cabin near his
place.
After the first Lawrence campaign, in December, 1855, John Brown, sr., spent
most of his time assisting Day to improve his claim, when not on the war-path.
James Hanway, who lived in the settlement at the time, said of the massacre
afterwards:
" I am satisfied it saved the lives of many free-state men. We looked up to it
as a sort of deliverance. Prior to this happening a base conspiracy had been
formed to drive out, to burn, to kill. In a word, the Pottawatomie creek from
its fountainhead was to be cleared of free-state men."
Free-state men about Stanton, Mount Vernon and Osawatomie were being
held up on the highway, many of them having to hide away in the brush at night,
when news reached Osawatomie, May 21, 1856, and Winans's store about the same
time, that Lawrence was being attacked. The Pottawatomie rifles by this time
were reorganized so they now had 130 men, but few of them had arms ; many of
them had only pistols. John Brown, jr., got his company together about four
o'clock p. M., and marched toward Lawrence. They made a forced march, as
they desired to return as soon as possible, for their own settlement was threatened
with Buford's company. They stopped a couple of hours at Mount Vernon, until
the moon arose, when Captain Dayton's company from Osawatomie joined them.
Then they proceeded on their march and stopped for breakfast at Ottawa Jones's.
They there heard that Lawrence had been captured. They then went to Captain
Shore's, near Palmyra, and remained the balance of the day, discussing what was
best to do. They stayed all night at Shore's. The next morning George Grant
came to camp with a letter from John T. Grant, stating that they were likely to
be attacked any night on the Pottawatomie. John Brown, sr. , was detailed to go
down on the Pottawatomie. John Brown, sr., was called old John Brown, to dis-
tinguish him from young John. John Brown, Watson, Frederick; Owen, and
Oliver, and Henry Thompson, Theodore Weiner, and James Townsley, constitut-
ing the famous party of eight, left Shore's about two o'clock p. m.. May 23. Weiner
rode a pony; the rest rode in Townsley's wagon.
They camped that night one mile west of the Dutch Henry crossing. They
remained in camp the next day, and started out on their mission that night.
They had to operate after dark, as their force was small and the pro-slavery set-
tlers were likely to receive reenforcements at any time from Buford's men, on
their way from Fort Scott. It was a bold and daring undertaking for a handful
of men to attack the pro-slavery headquarters in that settlement. On that same
THE POTTAWATOMIE MASSACRE. 181
night three free-state men living about a mile north of Doyle's had been visited,
and were in hiding in a ravine behind the Henry Shively bluff. The Brown
party crossed the creek, and then went north and crossed the Mosquito, and
knocked at the door of the free-state man, to inquire the way to Doyle's. He
was not at home, as he, too, was in hiding from pro-slavery men. They then
went east, and the next house was Doyle's. Fred., Mr. Weiner and Mr. Townsley
stood guard at the road, while the rest went to the house. They brought out
Mr. Doyle and his two soup, William and Drury. They went south and crossed
the Mosquito, when old man Doyle made a turn to the right, in an effort to es-
cape. Old John Brown shot him in the head with a pistol. The two Doyle
boys attempted to get away, when the two youngest Brown boys hacked them with
short swords, and they were left dead. They went a little further south, and
got to Wilkinson's house. The same orders were carried out as before. After
Wilkinson had gone with them a short distance, his attention was called to what
he had threatened about John, jr. W^ilkinson reiterated what he said; so the
youngest boy killed him with a short sword. They then crossed at the Dutch
Henry ford, went east, and called at Sherman's. Henry Sherman was not at
home and Mrs. Harris was present, having gone there to cook breakfast for Bu-
ford's men, who were expected that night. She at first treated the callers nicely,
as she mistook them for Buford's men. When she found out her mistake, she
went to her house and alarmed Henry Sherman and George Wilson. After she
left, William Sherman was taken to the rirer; the youngest boys killed him and
threw him in the river. He, too, was killed with short swords. At Sherman's
the orders were changed some. No one saw Sherman killed but the two boys.
Brown's original intention, when he started out that night, was to capture these
men and hold a trial. After Doyle's effort to escape the plan was changed.
The next morning there was a general supposition that all the rifle company
had returned, on account of what had been done; so the bands on their way to
the settlement came no farther, and all was quiet on the Pottawatomie ever after
that. The pro-slavery power was broken, and that was the end of pro-slave rule
on the Pottawatomie. This was the first free-state victory. It was turning the
other cheek. It protected the homes and families and saved the lives of many
free-state men. From this time John Brown became known to every one — ad-
mired by friends and feared by enemies. James Townsley said at first he thought
the killings were horrible, but afterwards he thought it the best thing that could
have happened. Soon after this affair a little meeting was held near Greeley,
which only a few settlers attended, that passed resolutions deploring the matter.
Within a rponth after that meeting not a single free-state settler would have at.
tended any such meeting. H. H. Williams, who was present, said many times, in
his hardware store, at Osawatomie, that the more he thought about it the more
it looked to him to be the necessary thing. Hendrix Kinkaid, who was living
near there at the time, said that if Brown had not struck when he did, and the way
he did, the free-state people from Stanton to Garnett would have had to leave, or
else some one else would have had to do what Brown did.
John Brown, jr., was the most popular man in Franklin county up to this
time, but he was now in prison, and soon after lost his mind.
John Brown, or old John Brown, was in demand everywhere. The free-
state men knew that he was a leader they could trust. Not a single free-state
man living who lived in or near the Pottawatomie in 1856 but who says it was
an act of justification and necessity to do something by somebody in that part
of the country.
H. H. Day, of Rantoul, John T. Baker, of Lane, J. C. Chestnut, of Osa-
182 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
watomie, and S. C. Wollard, of Olathe, all approved of Brown's action at that
time. All the obnoxious pro-slavery men left the country immediately after
these killings, and no armed rufiians from the South ever came to that settlement
again.
This affair headed off the conspiracy Judge Hanway spoke of. It broke up
the nests and rendezvous of the pro-slavery forces in that part of the country.
After that the Missourians had no place to roost. Other settlements were not
so fortunate; they prolonged retaliation until pro-slave men got the upper hand
and committed many depredations on free-state men, burned many homes, and
touk a great deal of property. The free-state men could get no protection from
federal authority. They had asked the War Department for troops in memorials
and public appeals, but the administration thought the outrages on free-state
men were insignificant affairs and not worth national attention; but when the
Pottawatomie plan was adopted, and free-state men defended their homes in
their own way, then outrages on pro-slavery men were of momentous considera-
tion. Governor, judges, United States marshals, sheriffs and prosecuting at-
torneys called on national authority for troops, and response was speedy. The
peace policy had been tried and failed at Lawrence. The treaty of December
had been broken, and, in the second attack, the pro-slave men were successful.
The Pottawatomie settlers had twice been to Lawrence, leaving their own homes
exposed, to relieve their friends at Lawrence, and had seen their friends there
submit to treaties and peace compacts. The Pottawatomie men did not believe
in the treaty business; they were not diplomats.
John Brown was thought by some to be insane, by many to be reckless, and
by all to be misguided in judgment, and yet events proved his judgment better,
in some things, than the leaders of the free state party. He predicted that the
peace treaty with Lawrence would fail, and that, unless aggressive measures were
adopted, Lawrence would be destroyed. He told the men at Osawatomie, unless
aggressive measures were adopted, their town would be taken.
The men who counseled peace fell victims to the policy, and were imprisoned
at Lecompton. It might have been better if the Pottawatomie men had acted only
on the defensive; but free-state men had been on the defensive for two years,
and that seemed long enough. When should the defensive end and the aggress-
ive begin ? We have a recent illustration. When the Filipinos attacked Manila,
the Americans acted only on the defensive the first day, but the next day they
carried the war into the jungles. Day after day the American forces pursued
an aggressive campaign, until their armed foe laid down his arms. The de-
fensive plan might have been better, but the aggressive policy prevented the
necessity of having to fight any more defensive battles.
Governor Robinson says, in the preface of his "Kansas Conflict," " the actors
in any struggle are unfitted to be the historians of that struggle." I then tell
this story as 't was told to me. The Brown boys and Weiner related the facts of
this affair in early days to Hanway, Houser, Kinkaid, and Partridge, and these
men have told it to the succeeding generation. James Townsley relates some of
the details in an affidavit made long after the event, but he has not told all in
that affidavit that he has frequently told to his neighbors in various conversa-
tions.
There was no intention to harm the peaceable pro-slavery men on the Potta-
watomie, only the obnoxious ones — the ones that gave aid and comfort to the
Missouri invaders, the Buford cut-throats, and Pate's gang. The Pottawatomie
policy enabled the free-state men to stay, and, by staying, saved Kansas to free-
dom. It gave notice to Missourians that no more ballot-box stuffing would be
THE POTTAWATOMIE MASSACRE. 183
tolerated. Had the Pottawatomie policy been adopted sooner, at Leavenworth,
perhaps the shocking cruelties inflicted on R. P. Brown and William Phillips
might have been avoided. In the latter part of May, 1856, the free state men of
Kansas saw their leaders in prison, their newspapers thrown into the river, a
reign of terror in Atchison, blood running down the streets of Leavenworth;
Lawrence, their principal town, destroyed; armed hordes from every Southern
state marching to Kansas; free-state families in Linn and Bourbon counties
leaving by the hundred for their far Eastern homes ; men all over the territory
going to prison for speaking their sentiments ; their champion at the national
capital, Charles Sumner, weltering in blood from slavery's blows for even speak-
ing out against these crimes in Kansas. Another successful stroke and the tri-
umph of slavery would have been complete in Kansas.* This was the situation
when Brown and his seven bold men appeared in the pro slavery stronghold with
only one pistol and a few short swords. The reason these men used ground
knives was because arms were scarce — the Sharp's rifles at that time had all
been sent to the relief of Lawrence. The whole national administration was
using its mighty arm to crush the poor men in the prairie homes of Kansas; all
*The Missouri compromise of 1820 made Kansas free soil, enacting that in all the territory
north of the line of thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes, which is about thirty miles south of
the south line of Kansas, excepting a portion of Missouri, slavery and involuntary servitude
should be forever prohibited. The lavs' of May 30, 1854, creating the territories of Kansas and
Nebraska, repealed the Missouri compromise, and introduced into these territories the doctrine
of squatter sovereignty. In the ordinance of 1787 Jefferson tried to free the whole Northwest-
ern Territory, but failed in Congress by one vote.
Within three months after the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill, people on the western
border of Missouri were organizing Blue Lodges, Social Bands, and Sons of the South societies ,
with intent to take Kansas in behalf of slavery. The purpose of the act of May 30, 1854, was to
remove the interdict of slavery from Kansas and facilitate the legal extension of slavery into
this region. At a meeting of one of these societies it was resolved: "That we will afford pro-
tection to no abolitionist as a settler of this territory ; that we recognize the institution of
slavery as already existing in this territory, and advise slaveholders to introduce their property
as early as possible." California had excluded slavery, and it was essential at that time ( 1854)
that there be a new slave state, and they determined to have Kansas. Undoubtedly there was
an understanding among the bosses, or statesmen, that the South should have Kansas and the
North Nebraska, but Northern people would not stay out of Kansas. The slavery agitators had
developed undergroimd railroads and fugitive-slave laws, culminating in the following inci-
dents chronologically in the settlement of Kansas, leading up to the I'ottawatomie massacre :
November 6, 1854. — David R. Atchison made a speech in Platte county, of which the Platte
Argus reports: " When you reside in one day's journey of the territory, and when your peace,
your quiet and your property depend upon your action, you can, without an exertion, send 500
of your young men who will vote in favor of your institution. Should every county in the state
of Missouri only do its duty, the question will be decided quietly and peacefully at the ballot-
box."
December 25, 1854.— The people of Lafayette county, Missouri, adopt resolution protesting
against steamboats on the Missouri giving aid or countenance to those who intend to abolition-
ize the territory, and threaten a boycott.
February, 1855.— John Brown, jr., Jason, Owen, Frederick, and Salmon, sonsof John
Brown, -settle on Pottawatomie creek, eight miles from Osawatomie. They brought with them
eleven head of cattle, three horses, tents, plows, and other farming tools, and a lot of fruit-
trees and grape-vines, and their first job was to break twelve acres of prairie.
March 30, 1855. — One thousand Missourians arrive in Lawrence to vote. Mrs. Robinson
says: "They were armed with guns, pistols, rifles, and bowie-knives. They had two cannon
loaded with musket balls."
April 14, 1855.— The Parkville Luviinari/ (George S. Park's paper) destroyed by a pro-
slavery mob.
April 16. 1855.— Governor Eeeder threw out a lot of returns of the election of March 30 on
account of fraud, and ordered another election at certain places.
April 30, 1855. — A pro-slavery vigilance committee of thirty members organized at Leaven-
worth. There were nine resolutions adopted, one directing that they " shall observe and report
all such persons as shall openly act in violation of law and order and, by the expression of
abolition sentiments, produce disturbance to the quiet of the citizens or danger to their domes-
tic relations, and all such persons offending shall be notified and made to leave the territory."
April 30, 1855.— Cole McCrea (free-state) kills Malcolm Clark at Leavenworth. The quarrel
occurred at a squatters' meeting, over the right of McUrea to participate and vote, and was
about claims on certain trust lands. The grand jury in September failed to find a bill against
184 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
the wealth and power in the South was being used against them. The pulpit
thundered against them and the press abused them. Against all these odds the
free-state men of Kansas exhibited the most remarkable courage recorded in the
annals of the world.
Fidelity to the cause of freedom and pluck to stay by it were essentials the
people of Kansas in those early days were looking for.
None doubted John Brown's faith, sincerity, or courage. That is why neigh-
bors of my boyhood days spent so many hours and nights counseling with, asso-
ciating with and fighting with old John Brown.
War was declared by the pro slave hosts in the fall of 1854. The pro-slave pa-
pers announced the policy of exterminating abolitionists. It might have been
a good thing to have adopted the Pottawatomie policy in 1854, for it might have
prevented the bogus election of March 30, 1855. It might have saved young
Barber's life. Certainly it was none too soon, after the destruction of Lawrence
and the arrival of Buford's company and the G. W. Clarke raid in the southeast.
No participant of the free-state cause in Kansas should be robbed of his glory.
It required the work of all, for which each was peculiarly fitted — Robinson, the
McOrea. Mrs. Robinson says that at an adjourned term of court, in November, the errand jury,
with srtven new members added, indicted McCrea for murder in the first decree. Four of the
counsel within the bar, including the clerk of the court, were connected with the tarrinsr and
feathering of Phillips on the ntli day of May. Ihe congressional committee (1856) said tliat in
no case of crime had an indictment been found, except in the homicide of Clark by McCrea —
McCrea being a free-state man.
May 11, 1855.— The heaven-wovth He7-ald says: " Suffer not an avowed abolitionist to remain
within your borders."
May 17, 1855.— Tlie vigilance committee before referred to notified William Phillips, a lawyer
at Leavenworth, to leave the territory. He refused, and was seized, taken to Weston, one side
of his head shaved, stripped of his clothes, tarred and feathered, rode for a mile and a half on
a rail, and a nogro auctioneer went through the mockery of selling him for one dollar. He was
killed in his home September 1, 1856, by ruffians, led by Fred Emery. May 20, 1855, the Leaven-
worth ITprald said of the tarring and feathering: " Our action in the whole affair is emphat-
ically indorsed by the pro-slavery party in this district. The joy, exultation and glorification
produced by it in our community are unparalleled." A public meeting in Leavenworth re-
solved : '■ That we heartily indorse the action of the citizens who shaved, tarred and feathered,
rode on a rail, and bait sold by a negro, William Phillips, the moral perjurer." Phillips pro-
tested against a fraudulent election, and he was accused of befriending McCrea at the squat-
ters' meeting, April 30,
B. F. Stringfellow, at Atchison, in 1855. — "To those who have qualms of conscience as to
violating laws, state or national, I say the time has come when such impositions must be disre-
garded, since your rights and property are in danger; and I advise you, one and all, to enter
every election district in Kansas in defiance of Reoder and his vile myrmidons and vote at the
point of the bowie-knife and revolver. Neither give nor take quarter; our cause demands it.
It is enough that the slave-holding interests will it, from which there is no appeal."
June 8, 1855. — A free-state convention participated in by Charles Robinson, John Speer, R. Q.
Elliott, S. N. Wood and others resolved: "That in reply to the threats of war so frequently
made in our neighboring state our answer is: We are ready."
June 27, 1855.— A convention of National Democrats, participated in by James H. Lane,
C. W. Babcock, James S. Emery, and Hugh Cameron, met in Lawrence. " kindly requests citizens
of adjoining states to let them alone," and that they "cannot permit the purity of the ballot-box
to be polluted by outsiders, or illegal voting from any quarter."
Jdly 2, 1855. — Pro-slavery legislature meets at Pawnee, and makes itself solidly pro-slavery
by unseating several free-state members. It meets according to adjournment at Shawnee Mis-
sion, July 16. July 21, Governor Reeder says the legislature is in contravention of the act of
Congress, that it has no right to sit, and can make no valid legislation. It passes laws which
General Stringfellow said " were more efficient to protect slave property than those of any state
in the Union, and that they would be enforced to the very letter." By those laws only pro-slavery
men could hold office. All officials were compelled to take oath to support the fugitive-slave
law. According to resolutions adopted, pro-slavery Whigs and pro-slavery Democrats would be
tolerated; all others were enemies, disunionists, and abolitionists.
Adgdst 16, 18.55.— Rev. Pardee Butler placed on a raft at Atchison, and shipped down the
Missouri river. Several citizens followed, throwing rocks at him. He had the letter R legibly
painted on his forehead. Mr. Butler avowed himself a free-soiler. According to the SQiint-
ter Sdvercign, a committee was appointed to wait on Mr. Butler. They requested his
signature to certain resolutions adopted by a recent pro-slavery meeting. After reading
tliem, he declined to sign, and was instantly arrested. Various plans were considered for his
disposal. I'he Sf/>i(Utcr fiovcrrif/n added : " Such treatment may be expected by all scoundrels
visiting our town for the purpose of interfering with our time-honored institations, and the
same punishment we will be happy to award to all free-soilers, abolitionists, and their emis-
saries." Various flags were placed on his raft bearing mottoes: "The way they are served in
Kansas"; " Car"-o insured, unavoidable danger of the Missnurians and the Missouri river ex-
cepted" ; " Let future emissaries from the North beware " ; " Our hemp crop is sufficient to re-
ward all such scoundrels."
THE POTTAWATOMIE MASSACRE. 185
Btatesman, Lane, the orator, and Brown, the hero, and all other men who leaned
upon these giants of freedom. None obstructed the way, but all contributed.
Lane, by his eloquence, aroused the Kansas freemen, as Patrick Henry brought
to the surface the undercurrent of Virginia in 1775; Robinson was the balance-
wheel of the whole movement here, and Brown drove back the lion of slavery to
his Southern lair.
Let not a single name be erased from the honor roll of fame.
John Brown became more famous than all the rest on account of his work
at Harper's Ferry.
Some Kansas historians are not kind to our own heroes, but historians else-
where, not partizans, but standard authors, put Brown in a proper place.
Schouler, in volume 5 of that splendid United States History, says: "Although
Brown was hung for treason, he was not a felon, but an enthusiast. Like a gal-
lant man he met death, believing his cause to be right; he became a martyr, and
consequently a figure in history."
Professor Andrews, in volume 4 of his excellent work on United States His-
tory, says: "John Brown was an enthusiast; a misguided hero, whose sufferings
in Kansas had frenzied his opposition to slavery."
October 5, 1855.— John Brown joins his sons on the Pottawatomie. He remained in Kansas
until about February 1, 1859.
OcTOBEE 31, 1855.— It was declared to be treason by pro-slavery convention at Leavenworth
to oppose the pro-slavery laws.
Octobee25, 1855.— Samuel Collins, free-state, killed by Patrick McLaughlin at Doniphan.
No punishment for McLaughlin.
November 21, 1855.— Charles W. Dow, free-state, killed by Franklin N. Coleman, pro-slavery
in Douglas county.
November 23, 1855.— The free-state men held a meeting at the spot where Dow was killed.
Jacob Branson, with whom Dow lived, arrested for attending the meeting. Fifteen free-state
men, led by S. N. Wood, J. B. Abbott, and S. F. Tappan, rescue Branson.
December 2 and 3, 1855.— A mob from Missouri at Franklin, a few miles from Lawrence.
December 6, 1855.— Thomas W. Barber, free-state, shot and killed on the road four miles
southwest of Lawrence. Report on Kansas claims, 1861, signed by Edward Hoogland, Henry
J. Adams, and Samuel A. Kingman, page 17, says: "Either George W. Clarke or James N.
Burnes [afterwards a member of CongressJ, murdered Thomas Barber. Both fired at him, and
it is impossible from the proof to tell whose shot was fatal." "He (Samuel J. Jones) said
Clarke and Burnes both claimed the credit of killing that damned abolitionist, and he didn't
know which ought to have it. If Shannon had not been a damned old fool peace would never
have been declared. He would have wiped Lawrence out. He had the men and means enough
to do it." We might infer from John J. Ingalis's eulogy of Burnes in the United States senate
that others besides John Brown might have been crazy at that time.
December 3 to 6, 1855.— Lawrence surrounded by about 1500 Missourians. Ordered to dis-
band by Governor Shannon December 9. Treaty of peace signed by Governor Shannon, Charles
Robinson, and James H. Lane. John Brown and four sons, all armed, are in Lawrence at this
time. The old man opposes the peace negotiations between Robinson and Lane and the pro-
slavery crowd, and says he is for fighting and dying now.
December 15, 1855.— Pro-slavery men destroy Mark W. Delahay's Territorial Register, a
free-state paper at Leavenworth.
December 26, 1855.— The Kickapoo Pionper says: "It is this class of men that have congre-
gated at Lawrence, and it is this class of men that Kansas must get rid of. And we know of no
better method than for every man who loves his country and the laws by which he is governed
to meet in Kansas and kill off this God-forsaken class of humanity as soon as they place their
feet upon our soil."
January 17, 1856.— Murder of Capt. R. P. Brown, free-state, at Easton, by a pro-slavery mob.
The Leavenworth Herald justifies the murder of Brown. Brown had three cracks of his skull
from a hatchet, and they spit tobacco juice in his wounds, because " anything would make a
damned abolitionist feel better."
February 20. 1856.— The .Sr/Mo/<er jS'oi;e?-pjY/»? says: "In our opinion, the only effectual way
to correct the evils that now exist is to hang up to the nearest tree the very last traitor who was
instrumental in getting up or participated in the celebrated Topeka convention."
March 29, 1856.— All boats coming up the Missouri river overhauled and searched for goods
pronounced contraband. All such goods belonging to Northern people stolen."
April 12, 1856.— Grand juries in Atchison and Doniphan counties render bills of indictment
against free-state men for participating in a disorganized election — election under the Topeka
constitution.
April 19, 1856.— Sheriff Jones attempts to arrest S. N. Wood for the rescue of Branson. He
failed, and was shot and wounded.
April 30, 1856.— Pardee Butler returns to Atchison, and is stripped, tarred and feathered,
and covered with cotton. Constant trouble on the Marais des Cygnes after the arrival 9f Bu-
ford's men, in April, 1856. A Vermonter, named Baker, was taken from his cabin, whipped,
186 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
I was raised among friends, comrades and relatives of the old crusader, and
they were all the best of citizens. I have roamed fields in childhood where this
old hero held councils to plan the blotting out of slavery from this nation. In
my youth I walked down a lane to school the famed martyr had often traveled.
Hero worship is not a virtue to be taught. It is not a vice to be condemned. It
is a natural impulse of the human heart. The more the sacrifice, the more the
sympathy. Martyrdom for a cause attracts attention and enlists recruits for
that cause. Many men of the free North had not yet conceived the enormity of
the sin of slavery until men began to die for the freedom of the slaves. After
Brown's execution slavery's foes united.
John Brown was not a statesman, not a philosopher, not even a leader. He
was truly a hero. He belongs to that class of heroes whose mistakes of judgment
are excused for their virtues to be extolled. He belongs to that class of heroes
whose daring and examples of self sacrifice in the establishment of a principle
receives the plaudits of mankind. John Brown was one of those heroes whom
opponents of the cause he espoused attempt to consume his memory with flames
of wrath, and whose friends of his cause smother and perish the flames by heap-
ing thereon verdant wreaths of glory. John Brown is a contrast and yet a par-
allel to Charlotte Corday ; one a beautiful French maiden, the other a stern man
hanged to a tree, but cut down before death, and released upon his promise to leave Kansas-
John Brown, with his sons Owen, Frederick, Salmon, and Oliver, with surveyor's compass and
other implements, run a line through Buford's camp. Assuming- that they were government
surveyors, and therefore "sound on the goose," the Georgians informed them that " they would
make no war on them as minds their own business, but all the abolitionists, such as them
damned Browns over there, we 're going to whip, drive out, or kill."
May 5, 1856.— Grand jury in Douglas county recommends that the Herald of Freedom and
other free-state papers, and the Eldridge House, be abated as nuisances. Charles Robinson,
Andrew H. Reader and others indicted for high treason, for organizing the free-state government.
May 7 and 9, 1S56.— Attempts to arrest Andrew H. Reeder. He escaped, and, aided by Ker-
sey Coates and the Eldridges, gets through Kansas City in disguise, and hires out as an Irish
deck-hand on a steamboat.
May 10, 1856. — Charles Robinson, on his way east, arrested at Lexington, Mo., for treason,
and brought back to Lecompton.
May 11, 1856.— Lawrence again surrounded by Missourians under the guise of territorial
militia.
May 14, 1856. — Citizens of Lawrence make a protest; to the governor and the United States
lyarshal. Judge Lecompte charges the grand jury to indict for high treason or constructive
treason certain parties "dubbed governor, lieutenant-governor, etc. — individuals of influence
and notoriety "—meaning free-state leaders.
May 14, 1856 — Gains Jenkins, George W. Brown, Charles Robinson, George W. Smith, George
W. Deitzler, .John Brown, jr., and H. H. Williams denied bail, charged with high treason, con-
fined in camp at Lecompton.
May 15, 1856.— Josiah Miller, editor of the Lawrence Free (S/rtVe, arrested for treason by
South Carolina soldiers, tried in a tent near Lecompton, and acquitted.
May 17, 1856.— C. W. Babcock, Lyman Allen, and J. A. Perry, appointed by the people of Law
rence, ask the marshal to put a stop to the depredations committed by a large force of armed
men in the vicinity.
May 21, 1856. — Sheriff .lones appeai-ed in Lawrence with a body of armed men. The Eldridge
House, the offices of the IIci aid of Freedom and the Ktmsan Free Stale were destroyed. Stores
were broken open and pillaged and the dwelling of Charles Robinson burned. A grand jury,
referring to the newspapers, "recommended tlieir abatement as a nuisance," and as to the
hotel, they " recommend that steps be taken whereby this nuisance may be removed." The
speech of David R. Atchison, United States senator from Missouri, at the sacking of Lawrence
is too coarse for repetition. He was a great man intellectually, and no doubt a fine man
socially and otherwise, and the speech indicates that there were others then as crazy, if not
crazier, than John Brown.
May 22, 1856.— Preston S. Brooks, of South Carolina, commits an assault on Charles Sumner
in the United States senate, because of his speech entitled "The Crime against Kansas." Up
to this time all the outrages committed by the free-state men wore purely political ; that is, re-
sistance to the pro-slavery territorial organization, and an attempt to organize another under
the Topeka movement.
May 23, 1856.— John Brown, with a company of free-state men, while on their way to the de-
fense of Lawrence, were overtaken by a messenger from home, telling of outrages perpetrated
the previous day on their families and neigiibors by pro-slavery settlers on Pottawatomie creek.
John Brown and his four sons, Owon, Frederick, Watson and Oliver, his son-in-law, Henry
Thompson, James Townsley and Theodore Weiner returned to Pottawatomie creek on the 2',id.
On the night of the 24th they took from their homes James P. Doyle and his sons, William and
Harry, Alien Wilkinson, aufi William Sherman, and killed them. John Brown admitted his
responsibility for the killing.
THE OSAGE CEDED LANDS. 187
of sixty. One struck a dagger into the heart of a tyrant; though a murderess,
she did her part to liberate France. The other, though an offender in the eyes
of the law, did his part to free mankind. One perished at the guillotine, the
other expired on the scaffold. Each takes equal hold upon posterity's imagina-
tion and sublime conscience. After John Brown's death, the champions of
slavery had to fight for their idol.
"They only leaped to ruin's red embrace,
And heard fame's thunder wake,
And saw the dazzling sunburst break,
In smiles on Glory's bloody face."
THE OSAGE CEDED LANDS.
An address by C. E. Coet,* of Fort Scott, before the Kansas State Historical Society,
at its twenty-eighth annual meeting, December 1, 1903.
TTTE are not writing or talking history. What we are doing for Kansas is in
' ^ the way of preparing material for the real historian, who will come long
years after us. When Samuel Pepys was making his notes of the society doings
in the reigns of the Charleses he was not writing history. When Horace Greeley
wrote his "Great American Conflict," when Alexander H. Stevens wrote his
"War between the States," and when Nicolay and Hay were writing "Abraham
Lincoln, a History," neither one of them was really writing history. I take
these three books as my illustrations, because they are the best three samples of
an attempt at contemporaneous history within my knowledge. The authors were
writing notes of things they knew. They were too close to their subjects to
write history. They loved one person because they knew him. They each looked
askance at the other man, because he was an enemy or a rival of their friend
No one of them could do complete justice to the other man. The hero in each
case was a man who had been close to the writer and whose virtues and faults he
knew. The impressions written down were acquired at short distance. Their
personal feelings always colored their character sketches. The man who writes
exact history must be far enough from his subject to get the focus of his glass
upon his object. He must be on the other side of the X-ray machine. He must
look on his subject under the cold, impersonal light of the written observations
of others.
No man of this generation could fairly write the history of Grover Cleveland
or James G. Blaine or William McKinley or Theodore Roosevelt. We are too
close to them. They are of us. Each of us would love the subject and hate his
enemy, or write from the opposite side. No one, unless he were superhuman,
could do justice in either case.
We here are getting material ready. We who talk here are gathering the
clay and the straw, and possibly shaping the brick, but the man a hundred years
from now will shape the building.
There were three Kansas invasions. There was the invasion of the '50's, that
of the later 'GO's, and that of the later '70's. Each of these was a great tide of
people who swept into the territory, and each one larger than its predecessor.
THE FIRST INVASION.
The first one came of those who were ardent on the slavery question — one
side or the other. They were fighters and enthusiasts, every one of them. No
one of them occupied a middle ground, and they would allow no one else in Kan-
*See page 229, seventh volume, State Historical Society Collections, and foot-note.
188 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
sas to occupy a middle ground. They did not come here for financial gain.
They were moral philosophers, who would rather lose a fight than give up a
a cherished dogma. They were not compromisers. They did not think they
were right on the social organization of Kansas — they knew it. They tolerated
no argument, and a man's neighbor was either his friend or his enemy. The
man who attempted to be neutral was despised, as he always has been, and al-
ways will be, and always should be, by strong men and women. This invasion
covered all the eastern third of Kansas, but its greatest force was in the north-
eastern part of the state. In the southeastern corner of the state, of which I
shall speak, the settlements were but few. There were some barn burnings,
considerable cattle stealing, an occasional lynching, but of substantial improve-
ment in civilized life there was but little. Some few farmers, now our best and
wealthiest citizens, stayed through the troublous times, and are on the land yet.
A few villages and some farmers scattered along the creeks was the extent of the
residuum left from the inflow of the '50's. The effect is still there, still appar-
ent, but those pioneers form but a very small percentage of the present popula-
tion.
THE SECOND INVASION.
The second invasion has to do with the story I shall tell. This second Inva-
sion was of an entirely different character from the first; and, because of the
fact that southeastern Kansas had not received such a large influx in the '50's,
its effect was more marked in that part of the state.
After the great civil war had ended and a million sturdy, vigorous young fel-
lows found themselves out of employment, they very naturally decided to go into
new fields. And so it came to pass that they went to their old homes and
gathered up their few possessions and brought their wives and babies with them
to the new West. These were the people who really settled southeastern Kan-
sas. Within ten years after the close of the civil war a man in that region who
had not an army record was something of a curiosity. These people were all
poor. When they went into the army they were boys. During their four or five
years of service they of course had accumulated nothing — nothing but a train-
ing, an education absolutely unique and immensely valuable.
THE THIRD INVASION.
Of the third invasion it is not necessary that I speak at length. It came
when, through the magnificent advertisement of Kansas by our State Board of
Agriculture and the splendid showing made in 1876, at the Centennial Exposi-
tion at Philadelphia, the rest of the world discovered that Kansas was fitted to
become a great commonwealth ; and the thousands came from all parts of the
world.
Notice, then, the condition of the land of which I shall speak at the time I have
in view. The country was practically as well settled as it is now — not so many
people there, but there was at least somebody on nearly every quarter-section of
land. These people were from all parts of the East and North, some few from
the South. They were all young, vigorous, hopeful, forceful — all poor.
THE CEDED LANDS.
The Osage Ceded Lands covered the territory which is now Neosho and La-
bette counties, with a narrow strip surrounding them in Cherokee, Crawford,
Bourbon, Wilson and Montgomery counties. To be exact, the tract was bounded
on the east by a straight north-andsouth line three quarters of a mile east of the
west line of Cherokee, Crawford and Bourbon counties, on the west by a line two
and a half miles west of the east line of Wilson and Montgomery counties, on the
THE OSAGE CEDED LANDS. 189
north by the line between sections 23 and 26, in township 26, that is the north Une
of Neosho county, and on the south by the south line of Kansas.
Its story as a part of the territory of the United States is old.
It was a part of the Louisiana purchase.
Its first condition as a white man's country was as a dependent or appendant
of French Canada.
It was ceded to England in 1763.
It was quickly thereafter transferred to Spain.
It was receded to France in 1800.
It was finally sold to the United States in 1803, by Napoleon, who would
rather the territory should go to the United States than to England.
These lands were a part of the territory taken possession of by C. C. Claiborne,
as special commissioner of the United States, who was appointed by the president
"to the supreme and sole government of the nevf province.'''' In view of recent
discussions on acquiring and governing new territory, just think of that language!
And from Thomas Jefferson, too !
The lands then became, in 1804, a part of Upper Louisiana.
They then were made a part of the district of Louisiana, in the same year,
and attached to Indiana for governmental purposes.
In the next year they became a part of the territory of Louisiana.
In 1812 they became a part of the territory of Missouri.
In 1854 they were made a part of the territory of Kansas,
Observe the peculiar record of this small tract of land — its genealogy, if I
may use that word where no other word fits.
It was first the " land of the Dacotahs."
It was next a part of French Canada.
It was then a part of Virginia, coming under the old grant of 1609, which ex-
tended to the western sea.
It was then a dependency of Spain.
It next, in 1800, became again French territory.
In 1803 it became the property of the United States, and shortly thereafter
a part of Louisiana.
Then it was a part of Indiana.
Again it was a part of Louisiana.
Next it became a part of Missouri.
And finally, in 1854, it was made a part of Kansas.
The people who remark upon the erratic course of Kansas of to-day must not
forget that Kansas has been even as changeful in the past.
THE OSAGE INDIANS.
The Osage tribe of Indians was a branch of the Dacotah family, and their
home, when first met by whites, was southern Missouri and eastern Kansas.
They were a powerful tribe, and one of the few Indian nations who never gave
the whites any trouble. The old name, Ouasash, given to them by the Algon- .
quins, from which, through corruption by the French traders, we have the pres-
ent name, means "bone men," which may give some idea of the way they were
regarded by their neighbors. They were hard fighters. Physically the Osage
is a powerful man, slightly above medium height.
Washington Irving, in the year 1832, in the book, "A Tour of the Prairies,"
says of the Osages :
"Near by was a group of Osages, stately fellows, stern and simple in garb and
aspect. They wore no ornaments ; their dress consisted of blankets, leggings, and
190 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
moccasins; their heads were bare; their hair was cropped close, except a brist-
ling ridge on the top, like the chest of a helmet, with a long scalp-lock hanging
behind. They had fine Roman countenances and broad, deep chests. . . .
"The Osages are the finest-looking Indians I have seen in the West."
They took more interest in agriculture than any other western tribe : and when
the whites came among them there were a great many "squaw patches," that is,
little irregular farms, which had evidently been cultivated for ages. It will be
easy for you toguess why they were called "squaw patches." The Osages were not
quarrelsome, and when the Jesuit Father John Schoenmacher opened a mission
at what is now St. Paul, in 18i7, they all espoused the Catholic religion, to which
they still adhere. The Presbyterians, as early as 1822, had established mission
stations in the Neosho and Verdigris valleys, but they were unsuccessful.
In 1825 a treaty was made with the tribe, by which all its lands were ceded
to the United States, except a strip fifty miles wide from north to south, begin-
ning at the south line of Kansas and extending westward a considerable distance
into Kansas. Their enjoyment of that tract forever was solemnly guaranteed to
the tribe by one of those pie-crust treaties which have so often disgraced our
government. The government guaranteed the land to the Osages "so long as
they may choose to occupy the same."
Subsequent treaties were made and broken and made and broken again, until
finally, on January 21, 1867, the lands whose boundaries I have given were ceded
to the United States, to be held in trust and sold for cash to actual settlers, and
the proceeds used for the benefit of the Indians. They were crowded off to what
was called the Osage diminished reserve, just west of the Ceded Lands. This
treaty was made at Canville trading-post, near where Shaw, Neosho county, now
stands. Then the Osages were again crowded off the diminished reserve and re-
moved to the Indian Territory, just south of Chautauqua county, Kansas, where
they still remain. Thus disappeared the last remnant of that splendid empire,
originally the home of this powerful tribe. They are the wealthiest people on
earth, each man, woman and child having on deposit in Washington the sum of
about $4600.
The bad faith of the government was shown again in a short time. The rail-
road promoting era during and following the civil war led everybody to look
lightly on Indian titles. Congress, by the act of March 3, 1863, had granted
lands to the state of Kansas to aid in building railroads. Under formal certifi-
cate from the Department of the Interior, the governor of Kansas issued patents
to the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway Company and the Leavenworth, Law-
rence & Galveston Railway Company (now the Southern Kansas) as a bonus for
building roads. The railway companies had plainly no right to the land, and
Congress no power to make the grants, and the governor had no right to issue
the patents. The act of Congress provided that each alternate section, within
certain limits, should go to any company building through the state. These two
lines ran so that the grants overlapped on the Ceded Lands. One road took its
alternate section, and the other road took the other alternate section. This
was a very neat and friendly arrangement between the railroads, but hard on the
poor Osages.
In the meantime the second Kansas invasion, of which I have spoken, took
place. Thousands of stout young fellows, just from the army, had settled over
the Ceded Lands. They had come West to make homes for themselves. Their
four years of training in the greatest army of history had made them aggressive
and fearless. They had no respect for assumed rights. The railway company
would sell the land for fancy prices, but the settlers thought the provisions of
THE OSAGE CEDED LANDS. 191
the homestead and preemption laws governed the titles. There were discussions
and disputes, but the companies were insistent.
Finally, two test suits were brought, to settle the title to the land. There
were, in fact, a great many suits brought, but the only ones of importance to us
here were those which finally decided the matter. These were the cases of
Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston Railroad Company v. United States, re-
ported in 92 U. S. 634:, and Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway Company v.
United States, reported in the same volume, page 645. The actions were begun
at the instance of the Settlers' Protective Association of the Osage Ceded Lands,
which I shall talk about after a while. No lawsuit ever tried in the supreme
court from the West showed a greater array of real learning and talent than ap-
peared in this case. There were H. C. McComas,* of Fort Scott; J. E. Mc-
Keighan, of the same place; ex-Gov. Wilson Shannon,! of Ohio; Judge William
Lawrence, of Ohio, and Jeremiah S. Black, of Pennsylvania. There were other
lawyers, but these were the men who did the real work. This Settlers' Protect-
ive Association was a popular body, made up of nearly all the settlers in good
faith on the Osage ceded lands. Such popular societies usually listen to clamor
and employ loud-mouthed pettifoggers as lawyers. These settlers, however,
were especially fortunate about this. Every man they employed was really a
specialist and a great lawyer. Their record is a part of the history of their
country.
The suits I mentioned were commenced in the circuit court of the United
States, at Topeka, and were won by the settlers. They were then taken to the
supreme court, at Washington, and finally, in October, 1875, decided in favor of
the settlers. It had cost a great deal of money ; but it was a fight for a princi-
pality, and was worth it. At the beginning of the litigation an arrangement was
made to pay the attorneys, who were to have a conditional fee. Each settler
executed a promissory note, at the rate of twenty-five cents per acre, to become
* Hamilton Calhoun McComas was born in West Virginia November 9, 1831. His father
was a member of Congress from Virginia from 1832 to 1836. H. C. McComas served in the Mexi-
can war, enlisting when he was seventeen. At the age of twenty-one he was admitted to the
bar. He moved to Monticello, 111., where he served two terms as county judge. He entered
the army during the rebellion as a lieutenant-colonel of volunteers. In 1868 he came to Kansas,
settling at Fort Scott. March 17, 1870, he was married to Juniata Maria Ware, daughter of H.
B. and Minerva Ware, of Cherokee county, and sister to Eugene F. Ware, commissioner of pen-
sions. In 1876 the firm of McComas & McKeighan removed to St. Louis. In 1880 Judge Mc-
Comas became interested in mines in the neighborhood of Silver City, N. M. He had two sons
by a former marriage, and three children by his second marriage, Ada, Mary, and Charlie, the
latter born in November, 1876. In the month of March, 1883, Judge McComas made a trip to
New Mexico to look after mining interests in behalf of a syndicate in St. Louis, taking his wife
and three children for a pleasure trip. On Tuesday, the 26th of March, accompanied by his
wife and son Charlie, he started by team to drive from Silver City to Lordsburg, about fifty
miles, the other children being left with a friend. They stopped over night at Mountain Home,
and at nine o'clock Wednesday morning they resumed the journey. In Thompson's canyon, six
miles from Mountain Home, about noon, they were attacked by Apache Indians. Judge Mc-
Comas and wife were killed, and the boy taken prisoner. The judge was shot seven times, and
the wife once, in the back of the head, and beaten with a revolver, both evidently dying instantly,
Mrs. McComas was found with the buckboard, stripped naked, and her husband about
200 yards distant, also stripped. The bodies of the father and mother arrived at Fort
Scott, Saturday, April 7, and were buried the day following. Every effort was made to secure
the little boy, Charlie, seven and one-half years old, who had been taken down into Old Mexico.
The celebrated Crook expedition into the Sierra Madres was undertaken principally to recap-
ture the boy, but the boy's life was lost in those mountains. This was ascertained both by Gen-
eral Crook and by the Mexican government, which carried on an independent search for him.
tSecond territorial governor of Kansas, serving from August 10, 1855, to August 18, 1856.
For biographical sketch and minutes of his administration, see volume 3, Kansas Historical
Collections, pages 279-337.
192 KANSAS STATE HIFTORICAL SOCIETY.
payable whenever tBe land should be finally declared government land and eub
ject to sale by the government. In the tract of land involved there were, in
round numbers, 1,000,000 acres. This meant, say $250 000 — an attorney's fee well
worth good effort. When the matter was finally ended the settlers were about
as poor a lot of people as could be found in America. A series of bad crops, the
uncertainty of land titles, the low prices of all land products which followed ihe
civil-war inflation, the shiftlessness peculiar to all people who really have no
home — all these causes had produced a condition of poverty which was as pa-
thetic as it was harsh. The lawyers for the settlers, with true lawyer-like im-
providence, did not give prompt attention to their fees, with the result that of
their splendid fee, so justly earned, they got but a pmall fraction.
The litigation was in charge of the Settlers' Protective Association, and while
the notes given to the attorneys were individual notes, the employment was
really by the association. After some efforts had been made to collect the notes,
and some opposition had been made, the proposition was sprung that the mem-
bers of the association were partners in the eye of the law and could each be held
for the whole fee. This caused a few to hurry up and settle, but the greater
number never paid a cent. And so one of the most bitterly fought legal battles
ever won in the West was a bootless suit to the attorneys of the victors.
THE SETTLERS.
The social life of the people on the lands was harsh and uninviting at the timet
but, after all these years, very pleasant to look back upon. There was no envious
clash between the rich and the poor. We were all poor alike. The men and
women did their own work because they had nothing to pay for help. If one
man had a job he couldn't do alone, like harvesting or thrashing, he "changed
works" with his neighborp. If a family got to the bottom of the meal barrel they
could not go out and earn a few dollars. There was nobody able to hire and
pay wages. Everybody was in a struggle for subsistence. I don't mean to say
that there was an absolute dead level of equality. There were some slight lines
of social demarcation drawn. For instance, Uncle Davie Fowler, on Flat Rock
creek, lived in a five room house with a roof of sawed shingles; he actually had
a team of American horses. He was a bloated plutocrat. But then he was so
kind and genial like that we didn't hate him. Then there was a somewhat
larger class of aristocrats who had mustangs and Indian ponies. It must be ad-
mitted that they were a little inclined to be patronizing to us fellows who had to
drive oxen to church. And there was still another incipient grade in society —
the "great plain people," as Mrs. Lease would say. It was composed of those
who owned and drove native oxen. The impecunious fellow who had no team
except a yoke of Texas long-borne did look with just the slightest touch of feel-
ing akin to envy on his neighbor who had a pair of fine native steers, I recall
that one of my Texans died, and I traded for a fine red Durham steer, and then
regarded myself as just breaking into the ranks of the favored classes — kind
of half ennobled ; a sort of younger son to a baronet. My old friend, Alex. Miller,
of Stark, Kan., was telling in later years of the winter "when we lived on corn
straight," "Corn straight," said some one; "what is that?" " Corn straight,"
said Miller; "why that's corn bread and corn coffee and nothing else, by golly,"
And he had it about right.
There were slight differences between us on some other matters. The man
from southern Indiana and southern Illinois insisted that a left-handed plow was
better than a right handed plow. He argued that a left-handed plow pulled
easier. The most of the people, having been raised that way, stood stoutly for
the proposition that a right-handed plow — that is, one which throws the furrow
THE OSAGE CEDED LANDS. 193
to the right — was the natural thing; while the adherents of the other side main-
tained that the only sensible thing was a left-handed plow. This was a question
of deep moment at the accidental neighborhood meetings where we chewed " Star "
tobacco and settled these matters.
Then there were the men from eastern Tennessee and Kentucky, who were
certain that a jerk-line was better than reins for handling horses or mules. A
jerk-line was an ordinary riding-bridle rein on the left mule — the lead nigh mule,
if there were more than two in the team. From this rein there was a single
rope, with which the driver guided the team by certain jerks and orders. I have
forgotten the orders which went with the various jerks of this rope. I asked
Judge Hudson, the other day, at Fort Scott, and he said he had heard the calls
and orders used a good many times, but that they would not do for this address,
and would not do to print. He could not remember all the orders that went with
the jerk-line, but he knew that whenever the driver jerked the line he used cuss-
words. The relative merits of reins and jerk-lines were never finally settled, but
the discussion lent interest to many of our neighborhood meetings.
Church buildings were scarce in those days. The first public buildings were
schoolhouses, and they were everywhere. The different religious denominations
were organized in every neighborhood, but they had to meet in schoolhouses or
in private houses. The dearth of public buildings except schoolhouses is well
illustrated by chapter 125 of the Session Laws of 1876, which provides:
"They (the school board) are hereby authorized to open the schoolhouse for
the use of religious, political, literary, scientific, mechanical or agricultural so-
cieties belonging to their district, for the purpose of holding the business or pub-
lic meetings of said societies, under such regulations as the school board may
adopt."
This provision, I believe, is entirely new in statutory law. The schoolhouses
were the only public buildings, and the people wanted them thrown open for
everything that was good. The Methodists, the Baptists and the Presbyterians
covered the ground very early and held meetings in nearly every district. After
the meetings the crowds would go to different houses in the vicinity and feast
together. They were brothers all, and lived in amity.
It was in the home life that the virtues of the people shone out best. The
average citizen lived in a log cabin or in a shack built of poles and "shakes." This
means a frame made of rough poles cut from the forest, sided and floored with
lumber rough from the saw, and roofed with shakes — split shingles about four
feet long, unshaved. The house with which I was most familiar was both sided
and roofed with shakes such as I have described. It had a stone fireplace with
a stick-and-mud chimney. Some of you young folks may not know what a stick-
and mud chimney means. The chimney was simply built up with sticks like a
child's cob house, only that each side was doubled, and as it was built it was filled
in between the sticks with mud. It made a good chimney and lasted a long time.
The house was floored with puncheons; that is, logs split and laid with the flat
side upward. It was a good house. Many of our neighbors who were poor didn't
have so good. During all the year but a few weeks, this was a sufficient shelter,
but in a bad storm it was no protection, for the snow and rain came in with vicious
force. It was a home, though, and was the scene of many delights.
The corn, along in October, was ripe enough to rasp on a sheet like a nutmeg-
grater made from a tomato can. Then the meal produced was made into corn
bread in a bake-kettle. You who have never eaten the product of a bake-kettle
cannot appreciate the delight of that food. The bake-kettle was a cast-iron pan,
with lege, and with a cover with an upturned rim. The bake-kettle, being charged
—14
19-1- KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
with corn-meal dough, was set upon the live coals from the ever-present fireplace.
Then, on the cover, other coals were piled, until the whole kettle was covered.
When the bread came out it was juicy, tender, nourishing, and attractive. We
have nothing like it now.
The cooking and household arrangements of those days were something mar-
velous. The way those good women would improvise food and delicacies was al-
most past belief. Melon rinds and sorghum molasses made a preserve which
was fine. The ordinary prickly-pear was made into a conserve to tickle the pal-
ate of any one. Persimmon jam and persimmon preserves were food for kings.
They took cubes and triangles of carrots, tomatoes, melon rinds, cantaloups,
cabbage, sweet potatoes, and I don't know what else, and put them into a jar
and turned out piccalilli. The folks now make piccalilli, but it is no relation to
the luscious, toothsome food we got then. And sorghum! You should have
seen what those women did with sorghum. Every possible food, from fruit pre-
serves to hoe-cake, made a call for sorghum; and, really, a good flapjack, with
home-made sorghum, is not bad eating even now. But the finishing marvel, the
final coup, as it were, of these artists, was sheep-sorrel pie. They picked the
common sorrel from the prairies and treated it somewhat as they would have
treated rhubarb, if they had had it, only that they used sorghum instead of
sugar. It was really a good pie. By the way, they don't use this humble plant
for that purpose now ; they have rechristened it by the more patrician name of
"oxalis," and it sits in a jardiniere among the posies.
In another thing providence seemed to be especially kind. During those
early winters there were millions of prairie-chickens. That is not hyperbole —
they were really there by millions. It was scarcely worthy remark to take five
or six from one trap in the morning. Whei-e meat of any kind was scarce, you
may imagine how this food supply was appreciated. Sometimes a farmer lucky
enough to have a few dollars went over into Missouri and brought home a wagon-
load of apples; and when he got back, an invitation to eat at his house was
valued as a snob values a presentation at the court of St. James. Oh, those long
winter evenings with apples, and hickory-nuts, and sorghum taffy!
M. V. Barnett, now of Port Scott, calls my attention to an incident illustra-
ting the poverty of the settlers at that time. He was a half-grown boy, and was
sent by his father to take a small bunch of cattle to a place where they could get
pasture, in a spring following an unexpectedly hard winter. Over on Canville
creek he drove by the farm of Mr. Herron, who had some corn. The cattle were
hungry and many of them down from starvation. Barnett, by pleading and by
almost crying, got a few bushels of corn, on the promise that he would break
prairie later in the spring and pay for it. He broke the corn up and gave it to the
neediest cattle; that is, he broke the ears into small pieces and gave one piece
to each steer. The corn was too precious to give a whole ear at once. Corn was
almost a precious metal. He fed a small section of an ear to each steer that was
about to give out, and thus saved the most of the herd.
One winter Uncle Jim Smart, now of Erie, was so fortunate as to possess a
large crib of corn. He could have sold every bushel for from eighty cents to $1.50,
but he would n't do it. He sold it on time for a much lower price to his hungry
neighbors. Like Jim Bludsoe, he wasn't a saint; but when he hands over his
ticket of admission to St. Peter, it is my belief that he will find a great big de-
posit to his credit in the celestial savings-bank.
A party of Englishmen and Scotchmen came in those days to Hepler and Wal-
nut, just on the east line of the Ceded Lands. They all had money, and they were
young bucks who believed in enjoying life. There were Dick De Lambert, now
k
THE OSAGE CEDED LANDS. 195
of Parsons; Godfrey (Dod) De Lambert; A. R. Mulley, now of Fort Scott, and
one or two other Englishmen whom I never knew. And another was Hugh
Douglas Gordon, a Scotchman of gentle blood, a graduate of Edinburgh, and a
fine scholar, since dead. One Christmas, I think of 1875, they thought to inject a
little of good old English Hallow-mass into the life of the prairies. So, early that
morning, they loaded up an old-fashioned sled with everything good to eat. A
snow of four or five inches had freshly fallen and sledding was good. The load
was all the team wanted to pull. With bells of all sizes and on all points of the
harness, and the men on top, they scurried over the prairies and dropped their
Christmas greeting at the doors of the cabins ; a ham and a package of coffee at
one place, a sack of corn-meal and a pound of tea at another, a turkey and some
sugar at a third ; and so on until the load was ended. They had a peculiar notion
that that was a good way to spend Christmas. You would better understand
that those Christmas morning rollickers looked like angels. They were not that
by a long way, but they acted like them.
THE settlers' PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION,
The Settlers' Protective Association of the Osage Ceded Lands was a peculiar
organization. It was a class by itself. As a working force it was a cross between
the California vigilantes of the early '50's and a trades union. Its mission was
to enforce what should be the law and to protect its members. So far as the
ordinary forms of civil society were involved, the affairs of the Ceded Lands
were at that time the same as in all other parts of the country. County, town-
ship and city governments and courts, with schools and churches, were fully or-
ganized. But there were no land titles. At the first settlement, if I wanted to
sell out, all I could do would be to take so much money and move off and let the
other fellow in. If I had a good farm and my neighbor Tom Johnson had none,
he could come to my cabin and put me off, and if he could whip me or scare me
the place was his. Should a man go to town to buy some groceries, and come home
at night and find some one else in possession, he might become profane about it ; but
if he wanted to recover his land he must use his fists or his gun. Cases of this
kind were frequent. Do not misunderstand me. These people were not outlaws.
They were of the very best of those million hard-headed, virile young fellows who
at the close of the civil war found themselves without employment and without
a home stake laid by. There were young men and women there from all over
the East, from Florida to Maine. Very few people were past middle life and
old people were a rarity. They came West to get homes. The absence of any
law to protect their lands forced them to protect themselves against the " wolves"
that are found in all communities. The code of decency and moral right backed
by physical force was their only recourse, and so they employed that code, and
furnished the force when needed.
This condition could not last long; these people were not built that way.
They were good Americans, and if laws were not made for them in the regular
way they would make them for themselves. That was the genesis of the Settlers'
Protective Association.
Meetings of the settlers had been held from time to time for consultation, but
at every meeting there appeared to be present spies for the railroad companies.
Every discussion and every action taken were reported in newspapers and sent out
in the dispatches. The efforts of the settlers in these meetings were balked and
annoyed by this publicity. Finally the opinion grew that a secret, oath-bound
society was the way out, an opinion afterward justified by experience. This
theory afterward developed, as such things so often do, in an informal way.
Just by chance four interested people met at the home of Father Dick, at Den-
196 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
nis, a short distance west of Parsons. There were present William Dick, novr
deceased; LeRoy Dick, his son, now of Parsons; Dr. Thomas B. Smith, now of
Cherryvale; David D. Lindsey, now of Lawrence.
They organized the Settlers' Protective Association of the Osage Ceded Lands.
It was afterwards more fully organized, with a constitution and by-laws and a
ritual. The first officers were David C Hutchinson, of Ladore, chief councilor;
George T. Walton, of Ladore, grand secretary; and Van Henderlider, of Ladore,
grand treasurer. After the first year, M. J. Salter, lieutenant-governor during
Governor Osborn's administration, was grand councilor during the life of the
society.
The organization as a society was somewhat crude, though effective. It has
long gone out of business, and it will probably be perfectly safe to tell you all I
know about it. I recall very vividly, when I was initiated, that some of the
forms and ceremonies seemed very odd. It seemed singular and a useless waste
of time, for instance, when the chief councilor, at the north end of the room,
told the vice-councilor, at the south, and he told the warden, at the east, and he
told the high privates around the sides of the room, that he, the chief councilor,
was about to open or close the council, as the case might be. I wondered what
sort of a freak it was who got up that ritual — but I found out later.
In the organization scheme there was a council in each municipal township
and a grand council composed of representatives from the township councils.
This grand council directed the general policy of the association. There was an
executive committee, or board of directors, made up of discreet, safe men, scat-
tered over the territory. And then there was an inner committee — a sort of
Clan Na Gael "inner triangle." This inner committee resembled the rear end
of a hornet — it was the business end of the whole society. After a membership
covering several years, I confess that I never knew or heard the name of a mem-
ber of this inside committee. It was like electricity. What it did was sometimes
known. What it was nobody ever knew. For instance, some Ishmaelite would
jump a claim, we will say in Montgomery county. The case would be carefully
and fully investigated. There were none of the thoughtless elements of lynch-
law about it. The facts were quietly and carefully looked into. Then some day
three or four strangers — strangers to each other as well as to the claim- jumper
— would foregather at the farm and the claim jumper would vacate or hang.
These three or four were not a regular committee. They were simply detailed
from different parts of the country to do this particular job. When it was done
they separated and went about their business. There was never any foolishness
about it. Over on Augiste creek, in Neosho county, which the people insist
upon spelling and pronouncing "Ogees," there was a young, unmarried fellow
who had a quarter-section claim. Times got so hard that he was simply forced
to leave it and go over into Missouri, where there was somebody who had some
money, and work a while to get something to live on. He left his little cabin
locked up, with perhaps five dollars' worth of furniture and cooking utensils in
it, and when he came back, in the spring, he found a man in possession of the
cabin and breaking prairie on the claim. The young fellow went to the local
council and complained. A very short time afterward, the complaint having
gone through the usual channels, an incident happened which, perhaps, would
best be told in the language of the claim-jumper.
"I was out north of the house one mornin' breakin' prairie," said he, "with a
pair of Texas steers. Along came a feller on horseback an' asked me whose
claim that was. 'Whose claim is this you 're plowin' on?' sez he, jest like thet.
An' I told him 'twas mine. An' he wanted to know my name, an' I told him.
THE OSAGE CEDED LANDS. 197
An' then, sez he, 'I come to tell you to git off this claim; this claim belongs to
Bob Campbell.' An' then, sez I, 'Who the devil are you?' An' he sez, 't was
none o' my business who he wuz, but he wuz ordered to come an' tell me to git
off. An' I told 'im I guessed I would n't, an' I did n't think he wuz big enough
to put me off. Then he said he did n't want to have no trouble with me, but I
hed better go. So we fussed and cussed each other fer awhile. An' I told him
I guessed I would go on plowin'. An' he sez, 'All right; you goon plowin'.
You might break one or two more furrows, but you '11 hev to go jest the same. Yer
time has come.' An' then along come, over the ridge, two other fellers, horse-
back, an' both on 'em had lariat ropes hangin' to the horn of ther saddles. They
wuz all three strangers to me, an' I don't know wher they come from ner wher
they went to; but these two other fellers said I 'd better get off; and I said I
would n't do it. An' then one feller went to untyin' his lariat rope and puttin' a
slip-knot into it, an' the other two fellers pulled out guns from eumers about ther
close, an' they looked like mountain howitzers. I '11 be damned if they did n't —
to me, any way. They did n't say nothin' more. But thet feller kept foolin' with
his lariat rope and started to git off his horse. An' then, by gunny, I made up
my mind I 'd go. An' I went. An' you bet I hain't ben on thet claim sence."
Every settler was a perfect master of a revolver and a lariat rope. They sel-
dom came to this extremity, but a few instances gave everybody a chance to
know and recognize the right of property-owners. It is doubtful if there was
ever a community on earth which presented such peculiar features. Here
was a population of more than 25,000 people, engaged in building homes, in a
constant and rigorous struggle for food, and with no law concerning their prop-
erty. And yet the community was as peaceable, orderly and well governed then as
it is to-day. The American love for orderly self-government was never more beauti-
fully exhibited.
It is to the honor of these people that while the Settlers' Protective Associa-
tion was engaged in its work not a single instance of wanton exercise of power
is known. The association was practically "the government" in the region. It
had supreme control. It had the mass of the people with it and no one to dis-
pute its rights who had any force. As an organized society, it had almost every
settler back of it. It could do wrong to those who did not join in its efforts.
But it did not; it simply enforced what should have been the law and stopped
at that.
It is true that in later years one or two acts were done which could not be de-
fended. After the titles had been settled in favor of the farmers, and after there was
no need whatever for the Settlers' Protective Association, and after it had gone out
of business, a few officious ex-members used its name to do some improper things.
I recollect that, after the title trouble was over, two men got into a dispute about
a farm on the island in the Neosho river southeast of Osage Mission. Some
parties, pretending to act for the association, attempted to dispossess a man, and
were met with guns. There was some shooting done, and some criminal litiga-
tion followed, but it was not chargeable to the association ; it was simply indi-
vidual lawlessness. It made the fact well known that the Settlers' Protective
Association had finished its work and had gone out of business.
While the association was in being it was necessary for it to have some leg-
islative work done at Topeka and also at Washington. This forced it to go into
politics, which it promptly did. The efforts of the association in politics, how-
ever, were directed alone to its own affairs. When the people of Kansas
learned the effect of this immense power, the politicians were very quick to
curry favor with it. This accounts for the fact of the Hon. M. J. Salter, then a
198 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
prosperous farmer of Neosho county, being selected as a candidate for lieuten-
ant-governor.* Salter was the chief councilor of the Settlers' Association, and,
while not a polished orator but a plain, unassuming farmer, he was one of the
best presiding officers who ever controlled a deliberative body in Kansas, and
when he was selected as a candidate for lieutenant-governor party prejudices
were thrown to the dogs. He received almost the unanimous vote of the settlers.
And so the Osage ceded lands became "God's country." It is the home of
happy and prosperous farmers, wlio have kept up the custom, started under such
peculiar conditions, of obeying the law and making other people do the same
thing.
But why speak of them in eulogy ? They are good Kansans. That tells it all.
Remarks by A. P. Riddle :t The excellent paper furnished by Mr. Cory
has recalled many pleasant memories, but it seems a little strange that Mr. Cory
should be writing of the Osage Ceded Lands, when all of my recollections of him
are as a resident of the Neutral Lands, otherwise known as the Cherokee Neutral
Lands, which furnished another of the great land questions which vexed the early
settler. His descriptions of the character of the people and of the routine of
their lives would apply with equal accuracy to the more eastern tract of country,
and I believe he has unconsciously drawn his picture more from what he knew
of the neutral lands than from what he knew of the other. The episode of
Gordon and Dick DeLambert, for instance, took place on the neutral lands, as
they lived in Hepler, the northwest town of Crawford county, a portion of the
Neutral Lands. There was a settlers' association on the Neutral Lands, too, but it
was formed somewhat differently from the other, and was not always so peace-
ful in its policy. Like the association of the Ceded Lands, a part of its work was
to discourage claim- jumping. The need of some regulation of this kind was oc-
casioned by the fact that there were no titles, and titles could not be secured to
land. The people would not buy of the railroad company, because they did not
believe the railroad company possessed a lawful title to the land, and they could
♦Melville J. Saltee was born in Sardinia, Wyoming county. New York, June 20, 1834.
His grandfather, Peter Salter, was a soldier in the revolutionary army, and served under
Washington in several historic engagements. His father, Davicf N. Salter, was one of the found-
ers of Battle Creek, Mich. Melville J. Salter moved from Michigan to California in 1J>52,
where he remained until 1856. He returned to Michigan, and in 1871 settled in Kansas, on a
farm near Thayer. The next year he was elected township trustee, which position he held for
five years. The people had voted $35,000 of bonds to a paper railroad, and against all manner
of denunciation and lawsuits he refused to sign the bonds or permit their issue. He won out,
and the people ever afterwards honored him. In the excitement which prevailed among the
settlers on tlie Osage ceded lands, he was chosen by them as their chief councilor, and he was
largely instrumental in preserving peace among them. In 1874 he was elected lieutenant-gov-
ernor of Kansas, and again in 1876. In 1877 he was appointed register of the land-office at Inde-
pendence. He was for four years chairman of the board of regents of the State Agricultural
College. October 22, 1856, he was married to Miss Sarah E. Hinkle.
t Alexander Pancoast Riddle was born at Harlansburg, Lawrence county, Pennsylvania,
August 16, 1846. His forefathers served in the war of the revolution and the civil war. He
served an apprenticeship in the office of the Spectator, Franklin, Pa. In the course of his
peregrinations as a journeyman printer he came to Kansas, in 1869. He first worked at Olathe,
and then in Girard. From 1873 to 1885 he was a half-owner in the Girard Picss. In 1885 he sold
out and removed to Minneapolis, in Ottawa county, and purchased the Minneapolis Messenficr,
He was journal clerk of the state senate in 1877 and 1879 ; and state senator in 1881 and 1883, from
the counties of Bourbon and Crawford. In 1884 he was elected lieutenant-governor on the ticket
beaded by John A. Martin, .and reelected in 1886. In 1896 he was appointed superintendent of
insurance. In addition to tlie Messeiiger he also publishes the Kanisas Workman and the
Spriri of Myrtle. He is a past grand master of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and
also very prominent in the Knights of Pythias. December 25, 1878, he was married to Miss Ada
Fuller, of Springfield. 111.
REMINISCENCES OF JOHN C. HORTON. 199
not purchase from the government; and therefore the only right the settler had
to the land was his claim to a right to purchase as soon as the courts would de-
cide where the title rested. The only way to settle disputes as to the ownership
of the claim was by some such method as adopted by the settlers' associations, or
at any rate that was what the settlers believed.
But on the Neutral Lands the association performed another function. There
were some differences of opinion as to the claim of the settlers that the title of
the railroad to the land was defective. Those who believed the railroad title
was good wanted to purchase the land at once and go ahead with their improve-
ments. They did not want to make improvements until they had purchased the
land. But the settlers (those who were members of the league, as it was called)
did not believe it was wise to permit others to make contracts with the railroad
company, and this was "discouraged." The methods of discouragement were
many and radical, but mostly was intimidation — by mysterious warnings —
though personal violence was sometimes resorted to. The history of the Neutral-
Land troubles has been well told in the paper on that subject presented by Mr.
Ware a few years ago. In that case the supreme court of the United States
finally decided that the title of the railroad company was good. This title had
been secured through Mr. James F. Joy, who purchased the lands from the
Cherokee Indians, the secretary of the interior acting as their agent. The neu-
tral lands covered the counties of Cherokee and Crawford and a small strip in
the south part of Bourbon and another strip from the western edge of Labette
and Neosho. * The title secured by Mr. Joy was turned over to the Missouri River,
Fort Scott &, Gulf railroad, as it was then called.
EEMINISCENCES OF HON. JAMES C. HORTON.
Before the Kansas State Historical Society, at its twenty-eighth annual meeting,
December 1, 1903.
President John Martin: We have with us a gentleman who is familiar
with two of Kansas' famous characters — Gen. James H. Lane and Judge John
A. Wakefield. They were eccentric, peculiar, and interesting, and in many
respects were very remarkable men. Our friend, Hon. James C. Horton, of
Kansas City, will entertain us a while this evening with a few characteristic
stories about General Lane and Judge Wakefield, and will give you, in his inim-
itable manner, an illustration of the oratory of James H. Lane, which was
remarkable, and peculiar to himself alone, I take great pleasure in again present-
ing to you our friend, Hon. James C. Horton.
MR. HORTON'S remarks.
Mr. President : I wish first to mention our old friend Anson Burlingame, of
Boston. He epoke once in Lawrence. We had there, in 1857, a deluge of speak-
ers from the East, and he was among them. We always had Judge Wakefield
*Mr. Cory writes: "This is an error. Governor Riddle is mistaken, and this note .should
not be perpetuated in that form. The west line of the Joy lands, or Neutral Lands, was about
three-fourths mile east of the west line of Bourbon, Crawford, and Cherokee, the exact loca-
tion being as I stated in my letter herewith. A part of the town of Walnut, Crawford county,
is now on the Ceded Lands."
"The northwest corner of the Cherokee Neutral Lands was at a point twenty rods south of
the north line and three-quarters of a mile east of the west line of section 26, township 26, range
21, Bourbon county. The north line was a right line from this point eastward to the east line
of the state. The west line of the Neutral Lands was a right line directly south from this point,
with the exception of the dodges at the correction lines, to the south line of Kansas. This puts
the north line of the Neutral Lands twenty rods less than six miles north of the south line of
Bourbon county, and three-fourths of a mile east of the west line of Crawford county."— Ed.
200 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
coijie down from his home, and, after the other speakers were done, a faint voice
would whisper "Wakefield! Wakefield !" and he would respond at once, saying
"Help me up; my friends are calling for me." And he would be "helped up,"
too. Burlingame made a speech in Lawrence one night in front of the old Eldridge
House. In that day he was called "he of the clarion voice." He told about
the contest for speaker in 185o-'5G, which lasted for over two months, when
Banks was selected. This is about the way he told the people about that great
contest for the speakership:
"Fellow citizens, from the prairies of Illinois there came to us at Washing-
ton the cry, 'Stick to Banks!' From the mechanic in his shop in Connecticut
there came to us the cry, ' Stick to Banks ! ' From the merchants in their count-
ing-houses in New York city there came to us the cry, ' Stick to Banks I ' From
the lumber camps of Maine there came to us the cry, 'Stick to Banks!' From
the Adirondack mountains, the home of Silas Wright, there came to us the cry,
'Stick to Banks!' And we did stick to Banks, and Banks, the mechanic of
Massachusetts, was elected speaker of the house of representatives."
Our old friend, Judge Wakefield, lived west of Lawrence, and had one of the
best farmhouses on the California road. Many of you old-timers have un-
doubtedly stopped there. With a friend of mine, I stopped there a very rainy
April day, and sat by the fireplace. My friend asked the judge what was going
on around the neighborhood. "Well," said the judge, "we have our little meet-
ings in the schoolhouse here, and we have our debating society, and we discuss a
good many things; but lately, I have had a great debate with a man over here
at Clinton, six miles from here. He challenged me to a theological discussion.
He is one of these new sects, you know — a New Light, or New Jerusalem Society,
or something like that — and he challenged me. You know I am orthodox my-
self. Well, I went over there; I took my private carriage and went over." (He
had one of those old stage-coaches, a red one, and he would put a farm hand up
on top of it and ride in that in style.) "I went over there in my private carriage,
and we had a very large crowd of people. We commenced the discussion on Sat-
urday at nine o'clock in the morning, and it was continued for two hours. I
carried over with me, when I went over there, thirty-three pages of heads — just
merely the heads — and I completely annihilated that fellow, and had twelve pages
left."
As to Robert J. W^alker, I remember he was here in 1857, about the first year
I was in Lawrence. There was a great crowd out in their shirt-sleeves, and with
guns strapped on. Secretary Stanton got out to make a speech. The people were
not very well reconciled to what they called the "bogus laws," but he told them
he was going to enforce those laws, and if the people did not submit there would
be war — "W^ar to the knife, and the knife to the hilt !" From among the crowd
came low cries of "Never ! " "Never! " Then he began (and it was a very fitting
illustration) to recite from Hiawatha. As nearly as I can recall it, he prefaced
his quotation about this way:
" The Great Manitou came down from the mountains and he lit the pipe of
peace, and the smoke of it floated away and away until it reached from the pine
forests of Maine to the groves of Tuscaloosa; and he said: 'My children, I have
given you lands to hunt in ; I have given you streams to fish in ; I have given you
bear and bison ; I have filled the marshes full of wild fowl, filled the river full of
fishes. Why, then, are you not content ? Why, then, will you hunt each other ?
Wash the war paint from your faces, wash the blood-siains from your fingers;
take the reed which grows beside you; break the red stone from the quarry;
smoke the calumet together; and as brothers live henceforward.' "
REMINISCENCES OF JOHN C. HORTON. 201
He got about half through his quotation and broke down. He could n't go on
with it; but fortunately at that time Mrs. Gates, who was keeping the little ho-
tel, had a copy of Hiawatha and brought it out, holding a candle for him, and he
concluded the recitation by the aid of the candle and book.
Secretary Stanton was from Tennessee, Governor Walker from Mississippi,
both strongly Southern in their sympathies, but they were fair and honest men-
The election in the fall of 1857 was one of the most important held in Kansas.
It was really the last struggle of the pro-slavery element for the possession of
Kansas, and they were desperate. At Oxford, a small hamlet on the line be-
tween Johnson county, Kansas, and Jackson county, Missouri, having a popula-
tion of about thirty, there were polled 1628 pro-slavery votes. The poll list was
fifty feet long, and this vote, if admitted, would change the control of the legis-
lature to the pro slavery party. Governor Walker and Secretary Stanton refused
to issue certificates to the pro-slavery members, notwithstanding the great pres-
sure brought upon them at Lecompton by members of their own party. It was
said that they were threatened with assassination. They, however, gave the
certificates to the free state members of the legislature, who were elected from
that district by a large and honest majority. There are no names more honored
by the early settlers of Kansas, who knew all these facts, than those of Robert
J. Walker and Frederick P. Stanton. They proved that they not only had the
moral courage, but the physical courage, to withstand the tremendous pressure
brought to bear upon them at that time. It afterwards transpired (and this is
something everybody here knows) that this poll-list was made up in the Westport
post-office, and the names were copied from the Cincinnati directory.
As to General Lane, if it were not so late, I might read a short article from
Senator Hubbard, formerly of Wabaunsee county, now living in Connecticut,
written within a week or so to the Alma Enterprise, giving one of the best
sketches of Jim Lane I have ever read,* describing his appearance and his gen-
* Extract from an address delivered by Hon. J. M. Hubbard, before the Army and Navy
Club of Connecticut, at a reunion held in New London, Conn., June 19, 1903. Mr. Hubbard
came to Kansas in the spring of 1856, with the Beecher rifle company, and preempted the south-
east quarter of section 31, township 10, range 9 east, in Wabaunsee county, and another quarter-
section adjoining in Riley county. On the organization of Wabaunsee county, he was elected
probate judge. He resigned to enlist, September 8, 1862, in the Eleventh Kansas. He was lieu-
tenant of company K. He represented, in the state senate in 1861 and 1862, Wabaunsee, Davis
(now Geary), and all the territory to the west line of the state. He was born at Middletown,
Conn., July 16, 1832. At the close of the war he returned to Middletown. In 1886 he served in
the Connecticut legislature. Mr. Hubbard, among other things, said:
"I have left myself but little space in which to speak of him who was our leader of leaders
through all that period of turmoil and strife. This was James Henry Lane, from Indiana,
familiarly known as Jim Lane, and sometimes called by the descriptive title of 'the grim chief-
taia.' Lane was by nature an actor. With him thn dramatic instinct seemed always present
and in control. Always and everywhere he seemed to be upon a stage and acting a part.
Whether addressing himself to one person or to a thousand, this characteristic remained con-
stant. Not always were the characters he assumed consistent with each other, and this led
many people to question his honesty.
" Probably he did not possess that singleness of purpose which belongs to men of the high-
est probity. He was very ambitious, and in whatever course he took it is not likely that his
personal interests were lost sight of. But he was gifted with exceptional power to sway other
men, and it was owing to this quality that he was able to hold his supremacy among men who
were his superiors in almost every other respect. No man, like Lane, could soothe dissatisfac-
tion, quell discontent and reconcile conflicting interests among the divergent and sometimes
discordant elements which combined to form the free-state force in Kansas during those stormy
times.
" And so he held the supreme leadership uncontested, and whatever his faults, it must be
said that he served Kansas well. Lane's figure was spare and slightly stooping. His face, too,
was thin and browned by exposure, and his air and manner suggestive of an eagle scanniag
the field and ready to swoop upon its prey. He was a ready speaker, and his voice, trained by
much out-of-door exercise, had a cutting and carrying force which I have rarely known equaled.
In addressing an audience he was continually in action, often pacing back and forth to the ex-
treme limit of the speaker's platform.
" He was careless in dress, usually wearing a plain sack coat and a low, turned-down collar,
with a slight tie about bis neck. I remember one occasion when he came upon the platform
202 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
eral characteristics, and the differences of opinion as to his character and finally
as to his dress and manner on the platform, where he would come, perhaps wear-
ing that calfskin overcoat, soon throwing that off ; next off would go his under-
coat ; and then, as he warmed up to the work, the vest and necktie would be
thrown aside. He, however, did not always divest himself of these garments.
He seemed impatient of restraint, especially if the hall was crowded aud warm.
In the campaign to which I refer. Lane was making a great many speeches.
He would speak five or six times during the day and then have a big meeting at
night. He was very strong physically, and whatever may be said about him, no
one who knew him would question that he had a great deal of personal magnet-
ism. He could control men. He would address an audience hostile to him at
the outset, and often reconcile and hold it. He was imaginative and fertile in
expedients, and never failed to make votes. There have been a great many polit-
ical contests in Kansas, but I do not believe there has ever been such a fight as
that between Lane and his own party ; none more bitter than that in the years
1858, 1859, and 1860. On one occasion General Lane called a meeting in Lawrence
during the progress of the county fair. He had big handbills put up around
town : "Gen. James H. Lane will defend himself from the assaults of his enemies
at Miller's hall, this evening at seven o'clock. Come one, come all ! "
They all came. The hall was packed. The burden of his speech was that he
had been assailed in his own home town, and that his bitterest enemies were there
in Lawrence ; that he was chai'ged with being a party to a scheme, if he were to be
elected to the United States senate, to sell out the city of Lawrence for the pur-
pose of getting political strength elsewhere; that he would not be true to the
"material interests" of Lawrence. Lawrence was a very aspiring town at that
time, expected to be the capital, and have all the railroads center there. After
Lane had gone a little way in his speech he repeated the story of his enemies
that he would sell out Lawrence. In his dramatic way he said:
"I ask you, fellow citizens, have I ever faltered in my devotion to the holy
thus garbed, and commencod his speech with comparative moderation, but growing earnest and
impassioned as he proceeded, and apparently feeling his coat was something of an impedi-
ment to his action, he tore it oil with a quick motion and threw it upon a chair, without inter-
rupting for a moment tlie torrent of words. Soon his vest followed his coat, and then, as he
thundered out an especially vigorous utterance, the slight cravat about his throat seemed to
annoy him, and, with one grasp and jerk of liis hand, he tore it off and flung it upon the floor
and iinished his speech appareled in shirt and pants only.'
" With one more anecdote of Lane, illustrating his power over the men who followed him,
I will bring this paper to a close. We had spent some little time inactive at Lawrence, and
symptoms of discontent were manifest. ' If there is nothing for us to do here, we might as well
go home,' said the men. Lane knew of this feeling and took his measures accordingly. He pa-
raded the entire force, and, after some few military evolutions, formed the men in line and pro-
ceeded to talk to them. He spoke with warm appreciation of their courage and devotion, as
shown throughout the campaign, and with deep sympathy in their desire to be at tbeir homes,
if their services were not needed elsewhere. But, he proceeded to say, the time had not yet come
when they could be spared. There was yet work for them to do. A movement was in contem-
plation of the highest importance, and for which the full strength of the free-state force was
needed. It was also a service of peculiar danger to which he called them, and, if he was to lead
them, he wanted those only with him who were ready to follow him oven to death, if need be,
for the cause of freedom.
"All this was elaborated in a way to carry the men along with him, and when they had been
brought to the right pitch of feeling. Lane said : ' Now I am about to give the command, " For-
ward four paces, march," and when I do give that command, let those, and those only, obey it
who are ready to follow wherever I am ready to lead. Let every other man keep his place.'
"Then came the word, 'Forward four paces, march I' and the unbroken line moved
promptly forward in response. Lane was near one of the flanks, aud glancing down the rear he
remarked, as if to himself: 'Not a damned man stays back.' Coming back to the front, he
closed his speech with a few words which are impressed on my memory with perfect distinct-
ness, so that I can give you his exact words, but can give you only a faint suggestion of the in-
tonation and emphasis with which they were uttered. 'Bojs,' said Lane, ' we '11 drive those
ruffians to burning hell before we are done with them.' The men responded with a pande-
monium of yells and cheers, and there was no further talk of going home until Lane should
give the word.
" The oicpodition to which he referred, and which soon followed, was declared by one writer
to have touched higii-water mark of audacity on the part of the free-state men. A consider-
able number of prominent free-state men had been arrested on various trumped-up charges, and
were hold in confinement at Lecompton. We marched thither, invested the town, and de-
manded their release, under threat of destroying the town if refused. Governor Shannon
REMINISCENCES OF JOHN C. HORTON. 203
cause of freedom ? Have I ever hesitated when the material interests of Law-
rence were at stake ? / ask you that ! Even now, fellow citizens, at this very
hour, there are assembled in this city, in a room, some of these men who are
conspiring against your humble speaker ! "
A number of Lane's friends were sitting on the front row, and Ed. Monroe, a
huge six-footer, who was directly in front, jumped and yelled, "General, tell us
where they are and we '11 go and clean them out ! " The general continued :
"Fellow citizens, if you do not want me to go to the United States senate, I
can go back to my old office on the other side of the street and earn bread enough
for my family ; but let me ask you this: There is a gentleman sitting over there
who came to this territory from Michigan" — of course, there would be 150
from Michigan, and every one of them would think, " I am the one he means" —
"I ask that gentleman, What built up the city of Detroit ? Was it not because
Lewis Cass was in the senate of the United States from that city and obtained
appropriations from Congress of millions of dollars for the improvement of the
St. Clair fiats and for building those magnificent public buildings in that city?
I ask the gentleman from Illinois, sitting over there. What has built the city of
Chicago?" — and of course there would be at least 200 in the room from Illinois —
"Was it not because the little giant, Stephen A. Douglas, was in the senate of
the United States from that city, and obtained hundreds of thousands of dollars,
yes, millions of dollars, for the improvement of the harbor of Chicago; obtained
deemed it best to purchase the safety of the town by yielding to our demand ; so there was no
fighting after all, and we marched back to Lawrence in triumph.
" Not for a great price would I surrender the memory of those days of trial and danger, but
days also of work which counted for greater results. No life can be counted wholly barren of
achievement which has known genuine service, humble and inconspicuous though it may have
been, with that little band of pioneers who saved Kansas to freedom, and by so doing set
bounds to slavery in the United States, and also with the mighty host which in the civil war
completed the work begun on Kansas prairies, and made our country indeed the 'land of the
free ' as well as the 'home of the brave.' And which service is entitled to rank as of greater im-
portance I do not know."
See, also, address of C. H. Dickson, pages 83, 84, volume 5, Collections Kansas State Histori-
cal Society ; and "Incidents of Pioneer Days," by John Speer, pages 132-134, volume 5; and
John Speer's " Life of Gen. James H. Lane," for specimens of Lane's oratory.
E'or General Lane's march on Lecompton, September 4 and 5, 1856, referred to by Mr. Hub-
bard, see Andreas's History, pages 144-146; Sara T. D. Robinson's "Kansas; its Interior and
Exterior Life," fourth edition, 1856, pages 335-337; and Charles S. Gleed's "Sketch of Samuel
Walker," page 273, sixth volume of Collections Kansas State Historical Society. The following
letter from General Lane to the prisoners in Lecompton and Governor Robinson's answer were
found among the manuscripts lately given to the State Historical Society by Mrs. Hinton,
widow of Col. Richard J. Hinton:
"ToPEKA, August 11, 1856.
" Deae Friend —I am here at last, with a sufficient force and ready to rescue you.
" It were best if you can escape to do so, and let me meet you with my defending force just
outside of your prison-house.
" It is necessary to remind you that time is all-important. My whereabouts cannot long be
concealed from the bloodhounds who are seeking my blood.
" Act promptly. If you cannot escape, I can and will attack 5 our guard, although it were
best policy, if blood is to flow, that it be shed in your defense rather than in your rescue. De-
cide, and that quickly — time is everything. Yours truly, J. H. Lane.
"To his excellency Gov. C. Robinson, governor of Kansas, Judge Geo. W. Smith, Gen. G. W.
Deitzler, G. W. Brown, Hon. John Brown, Gaius Jenkins, Elisha Williams."
"Camp Sacket, August 11, 1856.
"Dear Sir— We have information from Washington that either a nolle prosf-qui wiii be
ordered or a bill will pass Congress removing our trials to Pennsylvania or some other state.
" While such is the case, it is thought best to wait till Congress adjourns. I have no doubt
that something will be done, and to anticipate any such assistance would be prejudicial to our
cause.
" It would afford us great pleasure to see you, and perhaps we may. We have an excellent
officer here now.
"Guerrilla operations are rife now, and they should be attendedto. The Missourians are
evidently intending an attack, but we can siveften them now. The officers here are willing that
our people should put an end to these invaders without troubling them. Roberts is on his way
to the state, and I understand will be ready to call the legislature together when he comes. It
may be desirable to make a new move. Till then, all think best to keep quiet here.
In haste, very truly, C. Robinson."
204 KANSAS STATE HISEORICAL SOCIETY.
land grants for the Illinois Central railroad, and for the fine government build-
ings in that city? I ask my friend from Missouri, sitting over here" — and there
would be more than 300 there from Missouri — "What has built the city of
St. Louis? Was n't it because old Tom Benton was in the United States sen-
ate from that city, obtaining appropriations from the general government of
hundreds of thousands of dollars for the improvement of the Mississippi river
and the building of the post-office, customhouse, and other buildings in that
city? Mate7'ial Interests of Lawrence J Do you want a senator from Law-
rence or do you want one from Superior? Suppose that in the senate of the
United States you had a senator from Lawrence. Suppose, fellow citizens, that
there was a bill before the United States senate providing for a railroad from the
mouth of the Kansas river west to Fort Riley, and on in the direction of the
Pacific ocean. If you had a senator in that body, and he did his duty, he would
rise in his place and say, 'Mr. President, I move you, sir, that before that bill
becomes a law it be so amended as to read, 'From the mouth of the Kansas
river, in the direction of Fort Riley, via Lawrence .'^ Is n't that taking care of
the material interests of Lawrence ? Suppose you had a senator in the United
States senate, and there was a bill before that body for a railroad from Leaven-
worth to Galveston. Your senator would rise in his place and say, ' Mr. Presi-
dent, I move you, sir, that before that bill becomes a law it be amended so as to
read, 'From Leavenworth to Galveston via Lawrence .'' Isn't that taking care
of the material interests of Lawrence?
"And suppose you had a senator from Superior. He would rise in his place
and say: 'Mr. President, I move you, sir, that before that bill passes this body
it be amended so as to read, "From Leavenworth to Galveston via Siqierior,''^''
How are the material interests of Lawrence coming out then?"
Promises that are made in such campaigns are not often fulfilled; but it hap-
pened that when the Kansas Pacific railroad was surveyed, the grading was begun
from Mud creek, east of Lawrence, and ran west over towards the bluff, four
miles north of Lawrence. The same thing happened here at Topeka, leaving
both these towns out in the cold. There was great excitement, and meetings
were held and a committee was formed to go to Washington. Among others,
John Speer, a great friend of Lane's, went to see him. It was the year after the
Quantrill raid. The proposed route was a shorter cut across there, but that
did n't make any difference, especially as the railroads could get so much per
mile for the mileage, and a variation of a few miles only added to their income.
Mr. John D. Perry was also in Washington. He was president of the road, and
they were insisting that Douglas county should give $300,000 to have the road
brought to the bank of the river opposite the town of Lawrence. This would
make quite a bend in the road. Mr. Hallett had charge of the work, and he said
they would not come in there unless they had this $.300,000 from the county.
The people were very much alarmed, feeling that it would ruin the town to
have the railroad go four miles north, and they were to poor to give money or
bonds. General Lane got the signatures of all the Republican senators, of Thomas
A. Hendricks, of Indiana, and a number of other Democratic senators, and a
number of others, requesting the Kansas Pacific Railroad Company to run that
line into Lawrence and into Topeka, or to the bank of the river opposite these
towns. They said they couldn't do it without subsidies. Abraham Lincoln also
signed this request, which, among other things, stated that in view of the situation
in Lawrence and its heavy losses from Quantrill'sraid, and in consideration of the
fact that Topeka was the capital, the road ought to run into these two places.
Still they refused. Mr. Speer was very much excited and anxious. Lane said
REMINISCENCES OF JOHN 0. HORTON. 205
to him : *' Don't you worry ! Don't you worry ! I will Bee about this." The next
day Mr. Perry came around to talk with General Lane, and again he said they
could not comply with his request, and that they would run the road four miles
north of Lawrence unless the county of Douglas would give them $300,000 in
bonds. Lane was ill, and was lying on his bed at the time, and had exhausted
all peaceable means to get the railroad company to bring the road into Lawrence.
He partly arose up on the bed, and said to Mr. Perry, pointing his long, bony
finger at him : " You shall not levy tribute upon that burned and murdered town.
I shall see, sir, that you bring that road to the bank of the river. Don't talk to
me! Don't talk to me!" he said, as the other attempted to reply. The next day
Mr. Perry came around and showed a dispatch he had sent to Mr. Hallett, that
with all possible speed they make a new survey and locate the road as near to the
bank of the river opposite Lawrence as they could get depot grounds. There was
a pledge redeemed by a politician. The railroad company had too many favors
to ask of Congress and could not afford to trifle with a United States senator.
As to Judge Wakefield, I will conclude with a little speech of his which he
made in front of the Eldridge House at the time of the first destruction of that
hotel, in 1856. He was asked, as he always was, to speak, when he came down
from his farm, and he said:
"Feller citizens, I hev hed the honor of bein' a jedge (he had been justice of
the peace) in loway an' Minneeoty an' Ellenois, an' I give it to yer, feller citizens,
'pon my honor as a legal gentleman, that if these here fellers wanted to indict this
here hotel as a nuisance (he pronounced it new-e-sance) they should have pro-
ceeded in the proper manner, and first have obtained a writ of statu squaiv!^^
Down at the convention which was to name a state ticket, James F. Legate
moved that, while the committee on resolutions were out. Judge Wakefield be in-
vited to address the convention, which he did amid great applause. At that time
he wanted to be a candidate for some state office. He said :
"Feller citizens, I feel highly honored at your request that I should make a
few remarks. I have lately been on a 'tower' through the valley of the great
Neosho, seen a great many of my friends, and while, of course, I have my prefer-
ences, should you think, with others, that it is desirable for me to take a place
upon the state ticket, I would feel very much more at home upon the bench.
Feller citizens, I think I have some claims upon your suffrages. I was here in
the days that tried men's souls. I was here, feller citizens, in the dark days of
'56, and at my little cabin, eight miles west of this city, when it was burning over
the head of my defenseless family, there were at that time, feller-citizens, there
were sixteen of the bayonets of the federal government, which could have afforded
me protection — there were sixteen of those bayonets pointed at this poor, old
breast!"
Mr. President, I thank you for your kind indulgence.
206 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY'
ALONG THE KAW TRAIL.
An address by Geo. P. Morehodse, of Council Grove, before the twenty-eighth annual meeting
of the State Historical Society, December 1, 1903.
"Where late the savage hid in ambush lay,
Or roamed the uncultured valleys for his prey,
Her hardy gifts rough industry extends,
The groves bow down, the lofty forest bends;
And see, the spires of towns and cities rise,
And domes and temples swell into the skies!"
THE history of most of the overland highways of the West has been written.
Being the routes of freighting, mail and express lines, white men know all
about them. Some of the border tribes had well-defined trails over which they
passed to and from their hunting-grounds and to engage in warfare. One of the
most important and well known of these was the Kaw Indian trail, which trav-
ersed what is now included in the counties of Morris, Marion, McPherson, and
Rice. Living for many years on this trail, in the southwest part of Morris county,
when a boy, and daily crossing or following along portions of its course, makes me
fairly familiar with its history and use, and, when in doubt, can ascertain the facts
from old settlers, who have lived in Morris county since the '40's, and who have
the fullest knowledge of all the movements of that peculiar tribe of Indians.
Some have erroneously traced its course south from the Kaw reservation across
Chase county, and on to the Arkansas. The real Kaw trail, and the only one the
Kaws and our old-timers knew about, is still visible in many places, and was
started and used under the following circumstances : The Kaw or Kansas Indians
lived for a long time in the Kaw valley east of the present city of Manhattan. In
18i7 they were moved to a reservation in the Neosho valley, adjoining Council
Grove. Their three villages were down the river, and the Indian agency, the
buildings of which still stand, was near the mouth of Big John creek, about four
miles from Council Grove.
They had three separate villages, governed in a manner by three chiefs. Al-
le-ga.-wa-ho, for many years their wisest leader, a man over six feet tall and noted
as an eloquent Indian orator, presided at the village located on Cahola creek.
Kah-he-ga-wa-ti-an-gah, the "fool chief," governed the village near the present
site of the town of Dunlap. Wah-ti-an-gah held forth as chief at the village
near the official agency. The "fool chief" was usually the hereditary principal
chief, and it was a high and honorable title. Originally it was obtained by some
remarkable act of bravery, daring, Indian prowess, even to being rash and fool-
hardy ; hence the term. The " fool chief " only maintained his distinction by con-
tinued personal courage, generosity, and good conduct, and also by being wise in
counsel.
Annually the Kaws went hunting out to the great imperial pasture-grounds
of the buffalo, and going back and forth wore a well-defined trail. It started
from their headquarters, near the mouth of Big John creek, four miles southeast
of Council Grove, and bore almost west, a little southwest, crossing Diamond
creek within a few rods of the present site of the railway station at Diamond
Springs. It entered Marion county near the old post-office of Bethel, on the head
of Middle creek, and not far from the present site of the town of Lincolnville.
From there it passed westward through Marion county and almost through the
ALONG THE KAW TRAIL. 207
center of McPherson county, and on to the forks of Cow creek, about three miles
south of the present town of Lyons, near the center of Rice county. This was its
western terminus, and for many years right in the heart of the finest buffalo-
hunting country, which, for a long time, by common consent, was given up to
the use of the Kaws.
Here they established their camp, pitched their teepees, dried their meat, and
cured their furs and robes. The Kaws were great on "buffalo jerk" and pre-
pared large quantities at their Cow creek camping-grounds. This was done by
stripping or jerking buffalo meat into convenient strips, which were cured with-
out salt in the sun and dry atmosphere of that region, by hanging on slender
poles supported by forked sticks. It was quite an article of commerce and, baled
up and packed home on ponies, frequently came into the hands of white men.
My boyish tastes thought a piece of buffalo jerk was a toothsome morsel while
riding around or hunting. They went out over this trail in early fall, many tak-
ing their families, and often stayed all winter.
One of the reasons for going out to the rich buffalo-grass region was to winter
their ponies; for the blue-stem prairie-grass of Morris county was poor pasture
after the fall frosts. Some returned late in fall, their pack ponies laden with
fresh and dried meat, for the use of those of the tribe who had remained at home.
The fresh buffalo saddles were often brought in with the skin onto keep them
clean. Frequently, friendly white men went along to hunt and trade, and
brought back meat and furs. In this way the Kaw trail became, to a degree,
a wagon road, and it was used as such for several years, until blocked by the
fences of the settlers. It was a very direct route in its direction, and finally the
old star mail route between Council Grove and Marion (Center) used this trail
over much of its course. This supplied the early post-oflBces of Hill Spring,
Diamond Springe, Bethel, Lincolnville, and some others.
The Diamond Springs post-oflBce mentioned is not the famous Diamond
Springs on the Santa Fe trail at the head of Diamond creek, but the post-oflBce
five miles below, and near the present village of Diamond Springs.
This not being understood has caused mistaken ideas as to the course and
crossing-place of the Santa Fe trail and Kaw trail over Diamond creek.
The Kaws might have traveled to and from their Cow creek hunting-grounds
on the Santa Fe trial, but they wanted a road of their own. Their trail was
almost parallel with that noted highway, from three to six miles south, but over
a more broken country. It was more direct, for the Santa Fe trail wound
around to keep on the higher divides, while the Kaw trail was almost "as
straight as the crow flies," going up and down hills, across sharp ridges, when a
slight detour would have avoided heavy pulls. We often wondered why these
Indians were so set on keeping in this " straight and narrow path ' ' over the rough-
est ground, when smoother land was to the north. A ruler placed on a map of
Kansas, one end about three miles south of Council Grove and the other end
about three miles south of Lyons, indicates very closely the exact course of this
trail. It was not a single path, but in places the ground was cut up for a rod or
two in width, and had many evidences of long usage.
We used to find sundry relics along this trail, for the Indians were not
exempt from losing things.
Few of the Kaws ever had first-class firearms of any sort to hunt with. Their
rifles were single-barrel, muzzle-loading, and of inferior grade. While most of
them had rifles, I have seen them go on these hunts armed with only their trusty
bow and arrows and belt knife. I never doubted their ability to kill the buffalo
208 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
with these simple-looking bows and little arrows after witnessing them kill a
number of wild Texas cows in that primitive manner.
The Kaws were not noted for the best breed of ponies, but it was always said
that when they returned from these western trips they had usually greatly im-
proved their stock, bringing back some fine specimens, whether by trading or at
the expense of the Cheyennes or other Indians the deponent saith not. They
ordinarily traveled along the trail in single file, and, when returning, the pack
ponies reeled under the weight of plunder or tugged at loads borne on two long
poles fastened to their sides and extending back like long shafts, dragging on the
ground. Often on top of a load of fresh or dried meat a squaw and pappoose
would be perched, in all the glory of Indian life. The braves rode the best ponies,
and some of them were beauties and very hardy, and some of them made good
cattle ponies. I once owned one, understood to be a Cheyenne pony, that
could travel all day on a brisk canter, and cover from seventy to eighty miles
with ease. The Kaws always brought back large quantities of buffalo hides and
other skins and furs. A trader once told me that he bought in one season nearly
1000 bufl'alo hides from that tribe. While they were good hunters, they never
excelled in making the finest robes. A fine Cheyenne robe was worth as much
as fifteen dollars, but half that sum was a good price for a Kaw robe. Traders
often went out to their Cow creek camp to buy their products, and, in fact, they
always liked to have some white hunters along, for it was a protection against
trouble from other tribes. Sometimes the traders would have some Missouri
apples, and the going rate was a red apple for a muskrat skin.
Indians were great lovers of apples, and my brother once traded a double-
handful for a fine pair of beaded moccasins.
At first, when some of the early settlers fenced the bottom lands, through
which the Kaw trail passed, the Indians resented it and summarily destroye d
the fences and passed on. They felt that this old pathway was sacred and no
one had a right to obstruct it. They said: " Have we not used it these many
years, long before the white man appeared, and is it not ours ? Along this trail
are scattered the graves of our departed kindred and some of the great and wise
men of our tribe. Does this not give us the first right, and is there not room
for the white man's field, without saying to the Indian, ' You must not pass
along the old trail of your fathers ? ' "
I often noticed these graves, usually on the top of some near bluff or high
ground, and they were often covered with slabs of limestone, and invariably, the
bones of the pony that was sacrificed at the burial marked the spot. In many
places along this trail, on the highest points they had erected crude monuments,
piles of rock which were visible for a long distance. This was done when the
trail was first used, in order to direct the proper course. These, with some of
the marked graves, will soon be all that will indicate its location and history ; for
most of the inhabitants along its route know little or nothing about it.
When the Cheyennes, under Little Robe, in 1868, made their famous raid into
Morris county to fight the Kaws, they followed over most of this trail in coming
and going. For several years after the Indians left, the settlers used the trail
as a starting-point to burn back-fires against the consuming prairie conflagra-
tions so destructive in those days. After and even before the Kaws were re-
moved to the territory, in 1873, it was often the route of some of the great cattle
drives which used to be made to Council Grove from the West; for this trail had
better grass and water along it than the Santa Fe trail. From the Kaw reserva-
tion to their Cow creek camp was 100 miles, very picturesque and varied, cross-
ing numerous creeks and fine watering-places, the principal ones of which were
Famous Kaw Chiefs.
1. Al-le-ga-wa-ho ; 2. Kah-he-ga-wa-ti-an-gah, known as the "Fool Chief
3. Wah-ti-an-gah.
ALONG THE KAW TRAIL, 209
Four Mile, Diamond, Middle, Clear and Muddy creeks, Cottonwood river, Tur-
key creek. Little Arkansas river, and Cow creek.
For many years the Kaws claimed the territory now embraced in Marion,
Dickinson, McPherson, Saline, Rice and Ellsworth counties as their exclusive
hunting grounds, and their trouble with other tribes was caused because this
claim was disputed. At some of these creek crossings, where their most favor-
able camping-grounds were located, their wigwam poles were often left standing
in place, ready for the skin coverings the next time they came along. This saved
them work and carrying so many camp equipments. I will have to confess that
we boys were wont to pull them up and carry them away at times.
When the cavalcade of returning Kaws reached their home villages near
Council Grove, great was their reception by those who had remained at home.
It meant a feast of fat things — buffalo meat (fresh and dried), venison steaks and
Btews. It meant buffalo-robes, deer and wolf skins, and other peltries, to be sold
or wrought into needed garments and coverings. Besides, there was a sort of
general rejoicing by the entire tribe, that the hunters had been prospered with
success and safely returned to their secure and comfortable lodges along the tim-
ber-lined banks of the sheltering Neosho. After the usual Indian salutations,
the robes, skins and meats were properly stored or hung up for use. Later on
some of these would be brought to Council Grove and traded for those supplies
which thej craved. This home-coming of the hunters soon wrought up the entire
village into a perfect hubbub of excitement. Powwows, great and small, were
held, and all the experiences of the hunt related in detail, embellished with the
most vivid and boastful language, and it was the opportunity for some of their
peculiar dances.
Those braves who had performed special acts of prowess or skill in the chase,
or perchance in any personal encounter with their old enemies, the Cheyennes or
Pawnees, were given prominent seats in the council circle, and some soon became
so jmffed up with their importance that they strutted about the villages, and
even up to Council Grove, bragging of their valor, and received the plaudits of
the tribe.
The Kaws had three principal dances — sun-dance, dog-dance, and war-dance.
These dances all had their particular seasons and significance. The sun-
dance was always given out-of-doors, and had indications of religious origin.
Originally it was in honor of the "sun hero," a god only inferior to the Great
Spirit, their Manitou or Waconda, who was "the great ghost of heaven and
highest wind god," in the parlance of the Indians, and the god to whom all other
spirits, as the sun hero and moon goddess, were always subordinate. The sun-
dance was circular, as most all their dances, and was accompanied by the usual
music, weird songs, and grotesque movements, but they were not dressed up
in the hideous costumes worn at the dog-dance or the great war-dance. Squaws
often took part in the sun-dance in some of its modifications, and were properly
gowned for the high occasion. Their faces were brilliant with vermilion, yellow,
and green, while their robes, leggings and dresses scintillated with a unique passe-
menterie of bright beads and skilfully wrought quill and quail-bone work.
Their taper arms were decorated with circles of shining brass bracelets and rings
of silver, while shells and other ornaments dangled from their dusky ears. All
the dress toggery and showy valuables and heirlooms of the tribe were donned in
richest profusion by way of personal adornment. The Kaws were always noted
for being able to unpack and display a great wealth of dress ornaments, some of
which had been handed down in the tribe for generations.
The most handsome natural adornment of the squaws was their jet-black
—15
210 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
hair, parted in the middle over their heads and down to their necks behind, and
ending in two beautiful braids of black.
Round and round the circle they moved, in single and double lines, and at
times their movements were not unlike the dances of the whites.
Forward, around the circle by couples they would go; then the braves would
move backward with shuffling step and squaws and girls would follow, and vice
versa, while through it all were the monotone songs and the drumming notes of
the Indian tambourines.
The dog dance was often given in honor of visitors, and in many ways was
nothing more than a war-dance of modified and abbreviated form.
They were not as particular to dress in such fanciful and hideous costumes
as in the war-dance, but often made as much noise. None but braves took part
in the dog-dance, which at times was performed in the largest lodges, but usu-
ally outside, and always around a fire.
They would rush into a lodge containing strangers with such fierce yells that
it was frightful to hear. After shrill songs, they performed the circular move-
ment to the music of rattles, drums, and the Indian flutes or whistles. After they
had exhausted themselves, they rushed out and away as suddenly as they came,
and it was all over for that day.
The Kaws on these occasions had three musical instruments — the usual tom-
tom or drum, strings of rattles, and the flute or whistle.
The drums were really enlarged forms of tambourines, made of a wooden
frame, over which, on one end, was stretched prepared green buffalo hide, which,
when dried and properly pounded with a stick, sent forth sonorous and stirring
sounds. Strings of dried deer's feet were used as rattles, but the best were the
gourd rattles. These were made by taking small dried gourds and by placing
bullets or pebbles inside, and when deftly shaken produced a quick, rattling
sound, which was peculiar to the castanets of these primitive people. The Kaws
made and used a wind instrument, a sort of Indian flute, and some were deft in
executing a subdued music for the more plaintive and weird parts of their dances
and ceremonies.
By far the most interest attached to the great war- or scalp-dance, for in this
ceremony entered the strongest emotions of the tribe. If some of the returned
warriors over the trail had brought proof of their boasted valor — some fine
ponies or a few scalp-locks that once belonged to a hereditary foe of the tribe,
which had been met and vanquished — great was the rejoicing, and the elements
for a first-class war-dance existed. As the day advanced, the entire tribe seemed
to become oblivious to everything except the increasing excitement and the In-
dian fervor displayed. The chief warriors paraded through the villages and
visited the principal lodges. They were followed by shouting, singing mobs of
admirers, who related their deeds of valor and chanted their praises. Decrepit
old braves and squaws came forth and blessed them, while the more active and
younger squaws prepared a feast of the choicest meats for the heroes of their
families and protectors of the tribe.
During the day the^young men cut and piled a huge pyramid of wood, and all
preparations were^completed for the great war-dance. Frequently parties from
Council Grove went'down to witness the unique scene. Stripped to the waist,
in the seclusion of their lodges, the braves performed their fantastic toilets, by
painting their dark skins with; wonderful dotted and striped combinations of
vermilion, yellow, 'green, and black.
The Kaws were among the few tribes whose braves shaved their heads.
They only. left a comb or elongated tuft on top of the head extending back over
ALONG THE KAW TRAIL. 211
the scalp-lock. Their only garments were clout, leggings, and moccasins. The
war head-dress was also worn, being a band around the head, upon which were
often attached two cow horns, and extending down their backs a plait or line of
turkey or eagle feathers. Some sported necklaces of bears' claws or elk teeth.
Each one carried a full complement of arms — bows and arrows, lance, and often
a shield, from which hung any prized scalps they possessed. The measured
tones of the sounding drums announce that all is ready; the fires are lighted,
and the hideous painted and decorated braves come rushing out of the lodges
and wigwams with shrieks and war-cries that none will ever forget. In the full
panoply of all this hideoueness, they quickly gather in a circle around the blaz-
ing fire. For a time they stand and go through all varieties of yells and mingled
war-whoops of triumph and delight, which echo along the valley. The leader of
the band raises his lance and strikes three times on the ground or upon a shield,
the musicians make some extra flourishes with the rattles and drums, and the
great war-dance is on in full blast. Round and round the roaring fire they
circle, now following each other, and now facing the center, their painted and
decorated bodies swaying up and down, in and out, in exact time to the peculiar
rhythm of the music.
Their odd, hitching step was a sort of forward-now- backward movement, as if
they wanted to advance but could not — one knee stiff and the other bent; and
with a monotonous regularity they uttered their war songs, the principal vocal ac-
companiment and continuous repetition of which was "hi' yi, hi'-yi,'^ ad infinitum,
with strong acceot on the first syllable. No matter how long the dance lasted,
usually through the night and far into the following day, this monotonous utter-
ance never varied, but was, of course, interspersed with other shouts, whoops,
and yells, as well as songs. At times their voices seemed to fail, and the bowl-
ings lapsed into a drone of measured and subdued tones and the chanting songs
ceased, but the " hi'-yi, hi'-yi," went on continuously ; neither was there any ces-
sation of rattling gourds nor the throbbing and heavy undertones of the drums
until the dance ended. At times the musicians would enter the great circle and
march round the fire in contrary direction to the moving mass. Now, some one
would step out and chant the deeds of some particular brave, and all the dancers
and all outside the charmed circle would take up the strain and renewed excite-
ment prevailed. The march is quickened, the shrill war whoops rise high above
the monotonous din, while the clashing shields and fluttering scalp-locks woik
them again to a perfect frenzy of tribal fervor, in which all engage — the squaws,
old men, boys, and maidens, as well as the regular dancers.
After a dance was over the ground was marked for a long time by the con-
tinuous circling, which left a beaten ring, something like a horse-power or the
circle of an abandoned circus ring. The dance was usually held in the shelter-
ing opening of some heavy grove near the river. The blazing firelight, the flit-
ting shadows and all the weird and mixed variety of unusual sights and sounds
created an impression upon a casual visitor long to be remembered.
Since 1873 the Kaws, few in number and slow to adjust themselves to the
crowding civilization of the times, have lived on a small reservation in the In-
dian Territory. Few of their noted warriors are alive, but occasionally small
bands of the tribe or solitary individuals visit the Neosho valley and recall the
scenes of other days. They stoically survey the changes around their former
homes. The sites of their three villages are now covered by highly cultivated'
farms, and where their permanent lodges and decorated teepees once stood the
comfortable homes of the present owners of the fee embellish the landscape.
The graves of their ancestors and the course of the trail in the valley are leveled
212 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
and obliterated by the mold and cultivation of years. However, for many miles
west of tbeir old reservation it is plainly visible, and in the large pastures and
on some of the near-by prairie slopes may yet be found the graveyards of the
tribe. These they can visit, and travel for a few miles along their old-time high-
way. But where is Kah-he-ga-wa-ti-angah, their great "fool chief" and brave
warrior? Where is Al-le-ga-wa-ho, for years their head chief and the most elo-
quent and entertaining Indian orator of his times ? Where are Wah-ti an-gah, the
good chief, and old Na-he-da-ba and Shon-ga ne-gah, and other braves and wise
men of the tribe ?
They have passed over the trail for the last time, and live in peace on the rich
ranges of the happy hunting-grounds.
No more they sit by council fires
And praise the prowess of their sires.
No dusky maiden now is seen ;
The valley blooms the hills between.
Where once the Indian village shone,
A city proud with spires has grown ;
Where once they chased the panting deer,
Neosho's fields the farmers cheer.
On these visits they are carried back to those old days when this trail trav-
ersed the delightful little valleys and over the wide, expanding prairies, then
untouched by man, but luxuriant with carpets of grass and decorated with in-
describable loveliness of innumerable varieties of smiling flowers. They remem-
ber their old haunts and the beauties of those primitive scenes, just as they came
from the hand of nature, and when it could be said :
"Breezes of the south ! Ye have played
Among the palms of Mexico and vines
Of Texas, and have crisped the limpid brooks
That from the fountains of Sonora glide
Into the calm Pacific. Have ye fanned
A nobler or lovelier scene than this ?
The hand that built the firmament hath heaved
And smoothed these verdant swells and sown their slopes
With herbage — a fitting floor
For this magnificent temple of the sky —
With flowers whose glory and whose multitude
Rival the constellations."
I
Ah-ke-tah-shin-gah, a Typical Indian Brave.
ATTEMPTED RESCUE OF JOHN BROWN. 213
AN ATTEMPTED RESCUE OF JOHN BEOWN FROM
CHARLESTOWN, VA., JAIL.
An address by O. E. Morse, of Mound City, before the Kansas State Historical Society,
at its twenty-eighth annual meeting, December 1, 1903.
ON November 2, 1859, John Brown was taken from the jail to the court-room
at Charlestown, Va., and sentenced to be hung on the 2d day of December
following. During this interval an undertaking was entered into in his behalf,
of which little is known to the general public. Those parties, with possibly two
exceptions, have passed from life. The purpose of this effort is to gather frag-
ments of the story as they have drifted to me during the more than forty years
that have elapsed.*
♦From the following letters, written in 1859 and 1860, it will be seen that preparations for
an attempt to rescue John Brown were made, and, from the letter of Higginson to Hinton, dated
December 2t, 1859, it is probable that both Montgomery and Soule had been brought on
from Kansas for that purpose ; that Soule was still in the East, and Montgomery was thought
to be. Neither appears to have been concerned in the Harper's Ferry raid. Both were ac-
quainted with John Brown, and felt great sympathy in his cause. Soule's ability as a spy, his
easy disguise, and aptness at mimicry, which made him so useful in the Doy rescue, would
recommend him for this more trying occasion. It is interesting to note the lapse of memory of
Mr. LeBarnes, whose good offices went far in both rescues, and his participation written here
in black and white, when he writes Hinton, June 30, 1894: "I never knew anything about the
Stevens-Hazlett plan." Such forgetfulness is not new to one familiar with the vagaries of
memory as brought to light in the attempts to reconcile statements written thirty and forty
years after an event with the recorded facts at the time. That a number of Kansas men at-
tempted to do something toward a rescue, and that Montgomery and Soule, LeBarnes and Hig-
ginson were concerned in both, seems proven by this written testimony of the time. The following
extracts are from original letters belonging to the collections of the State Historical Society,
a recent gift from Mrs. Isabel B. Hinton :
"Charles P. Carter," ho?;( for Thomas Wentworth Higginson ;" T." is W, W. Thayer (Thayer
& Eldridge, publishers, Boston ) ; "machinist" named is James Montgomery ; "Read" is myself ;
" Dr. R." is Doctor Rutherford, of Harrisburg, which is " H." — R. J. Hinton.
George H. Hoyt, one of Brown's counsel, in a letter to J. W. LeBarnes, dated Charlestown,
Va., October 20, 1859, after relating the incidents of the trial for the day, says: "There is no
chance of his ultimate escape; there is nothing but the mostucmitigated failure, and the sad-
dest consequences which it is possible to conjure, to ensue upon an attempt at rescue. The
country all around is guarded by armed patrols, and a large body of troops are constantly un-
der arms. If you hear anything about such an attempt, for heaven's sake do not fail tv re-
strain the enterprise.''''
Telegram dated Boston, November 26, 1859, to J. W. LeBarnes, Metropolitan hotel. New
York: "Return directly — nothing doing anywhere. — F. Stanley." Indorsed as follows, in
Hinton's handwriting: "This dispatch relates to John Brown business. Don't know wlio 'J.
Stanley' represents — probably Sanborn.- R. J. H. I have certainly ascertained this was from
Sanborn.''
Letter unsigned, dated Concord, November 29, 1859, indorsed in'Hinton's handwriting, " Let-
ter from F. B. Sanborn to J. W. LeBarnes; it relates to talk about a John Brown rescue":
" Deae Friend- I had telegraphed you to return before I got your letter of Friday. You had
not reached New York when my dispatch arrived, but I suppose it waited you at the Metropoli-
tan. We found that nothing was doing in Ohio, and nothing could be done here, and so judged
best to stop operations. You found a letter from S. and one from me at New York, or ought to
have done so, and I hope mailed my letter to M. at Washington. I will have M.'s letter put in
the New York papers before Friday, I think, or else send it to Wise himself. All conclude it
was a trap or a swindle. AH these reports by telegraph of men coming from Pennsylvania and
Ohio must be false, we think. You have seen Hoyt, I suppose, and heard what he has to com-
municate. He is a good fellow, and I hope to know him better. Redpath failed to go to Ohio,
214 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Early in October, 1859, Richard J. Hinton came to Kansas, visited James
Han way, at Dutch Henry's crossing ( now Lane ), and induced Hanway to go with
him to Linn county. Arriving^jat Moneka, they sent for Capt. James Mont-
gomery and Augustus Wattles, both of whom immediately responded, and a con-
ference was held in a room immediately over the post-office, at the Moneka hotel,
then kept by Dr. George E. Denison. This consultation resulted in the planning
for the rescue of Brown. Hinton advocated an attempt by force, which neces-
sitated the transporting of a considerable body of men to Virginia. Wattles did
not approve of this, believing it impracticable, and thinking that chances of suc-
cess were only possible with a carefully selected few, and the exercise of the
keenest tact and highest courage. Nevertheless Hinton's idea had the right of
way for the time, and a list of 75 to 100 eligibles from Kansas, Iowa and the East
was made for the undertaking. Just when and where further consultations, if
any, were held, is not now clear. Certain it is that the plan was changed.
Difficulties ,as to funds, transportation, arms, and provisions, as well as the
almost certain exposure in attempting to rendezvous and handle a large force
but perhaps it's as well now. Nothing seems likely to stop the execution, and our brave old
friend must die. I may be in B. before Friday, but I shall be here on that day, when we have a
burial service in the town hall, at which the clergymen, Mr. Emerson, Mr. Thoreau, Mr. Brown,
our representative, and other good men, will take part. Yours ever."
T W. H. to R. J. Hinton, Worcester, December 22, 1859: "I wish to leave nothing undone to
find Montgomery, Soley (Soule), whom you know is going from here to Kansas soon, and is to
find him and explain my plans. But if he is at the South or East now we ought to find him. If
you think another dispatch to Kansas would do any good, please send it, or do anything else
for that purpose, and I will pay for it. The trial of Stevens may come sooner than we ex-
pected. I agree with you that something must be done without M., if necessary — but he would
be half the battle ; and I wish also to get at Tidd and Anderson, whose local knowledge would
be invaluable. If you know of any way of getting at them, except through Merriam, I shall be
glad to know it. Please do not communicate with any but Redpath and LoBarnes on this sub-
ject. Cordially yours, T. W. H."
Charles P. Carter (Thomas Wentworth Higginson) writes, under date ui (Harris-
burg) probably, to John W. LeBarnes, of Boston, under date February 17, 1860: "I telegraphed
this morning. Eight machines arrived, including (if this be not a Hibernianism) our friend
and his master machinist, who turns out to be the very man of all the world. Read could not
have done better, both as to the whole and the parts. The machinist is strong in hope, and he
is a man to inspire infinite hope in others. Nothing stops him but the snow, which now lies —
that is a hopeless obstacle to the successful working of the machines, but a few days will prob-
ably take it away — and he does not consider the season such an obstacle as T. did, and believes
it can be done. T. is expected to-night, and after conferring with him our machinist will go
and examine the ground for himself, starting, we hope, to-morrow, and absent possibly for
three or four days only, but probably for a week or more. If you can therefore secure your six
machines via New York — not more — with the fools necessary for setting them up, large as well
as small, you might, if you prefer, stay in New York or return to Boston, keeping ready to start
at a moment's notice any time, arranging that the machines shall Be equally ready. I think it
quite certain that there will be a delay of a week, and possibly two, even, for the machinist says
that a thorough examination of the ground is essential, cost what it may. But write me fully
your plans. I saw M. S., who looks coldly on the patent, but subscribed twenty-five dollars.
Why can't you see Thaddeus Hyatt, who has a mechanical turn and might uelp, especially if he
knows that M. is here 1 and ho or Oliver Johnson might tell you of others in New York. Will-
iam Curtis is rich." f " T." stands for Charles Plummer Tidd.]
T. W. Higginson, from Dayton, Ohio, February 2.5, 1860: "I am on my way eastward, and
shall reach Hinsdale Monday, in the night. By Tuesday shall probably have some light. Per-
haps Read saw you. I sent him to New York to clinch the Teutons and for other objects. He
has proved himself very efficient. What I now write for is to say, do not fail to see the artist
while in Boston, and that, if possible, without delay, because we need the money whether we
succeed or fail, and after his friend returns from the inquisition I think he will give it, having
promised to be ' as good as his word.' But it can be claimed with much more force before the
final collapse happens, as I think it will happen, though I have heard nothing since last Mon-
ATTEMPTED RESCUE OF JOHN BROWN. 215
anywhere within striking distance of the objective point, conspired to bring into
phty the more conservative judgment of those having the matter in hand. Hin-
ton had returned to the East to work up the Eastern contingent, which never
materialized. Hanway, as far as is known, took no further part, leaving Mont-
gomery and Wattles to perfect arrengements. A small force was soon deter-
mined upon, and great care and secrecy exercised in their selection and moving
to the East.
The success of a few men from Lawrence and vicinity a few months before in
rescuing Dr. John Doy * from the St. Joseph, Mo., jail naturally pointed in their
direction for a part of the detail. Joseph Gardner, Silas S. Soule, J. A. Pike and
S. J. Willis were selected from the Doy rescuers. James Montgomery, Augus-
tus Wattles, H. C. Seaman and Henry Carpenter went from Linn county. Ben-
jamin Rice from Bourbon county, and Benjamin Seaman, a brother of H. C.
Seaman, went from his home in Iowa.
Gardner, Pike and Willis (Soule had gone East earlier) went to Leavenworth.
Not wishing to visit St. Joseph, for obvious reasons, they hired a team to take
day p. M. With a view to commanding confidence to stockholders, it is better to tell the artist
what master machinist has been engaged." Note of R. J. Hinton : " Letter of T. W. Higginson
to John W. LeBarnes, Boston. 'Artist' is M. Brackett, the sculptor; 'Read 'is R. J. Hinton;
'Teutons,' certain Germans who joined rescue party, 'Hinsdale' is Harrisburg; 'master ma-
chinist' is James Montgomery."
This statement by T. W. H., under date of Worcester, March 24, 1860, is indorsed in Hintou's
handwriting, "Account of expenditure in rescue case " : "I believe I made a mistake in adding
up Thayer's expenditures. They were $171. The whole cost was about as follows :
H. took to Kansas $300 00
Sent to Pittsburg 50 00
Later expenditures by me 2.50 00
Total disbursed by me $600 00
Hinton obtained in Kansas, say 150 00
Thayer disbursed 471 00
' LeBarnes disbursed 79 00
Total ; $1,300 00
" This may all be regarded as squared up, except that $200 aiiair, about which I wrote.
That obtained, all is right."
Letter from T. W. H. to LeBarnes, dated Worcester, February 15, 1860 : " Dispatch received.
Please leave to-morrow for New York. See as many foreign operators as you have funds for,
and be ready for dispatch from me at H. ; but don't come till sent for. I will telegraph to you
in New York to care of Doctor Kapp. That box of machines will be sent to New York to-mor-
row A. M., to Oliver Johnson, editor Ayiti-xlareri/ Standard; please bring it on from there.
Probably you will have to let the Troy man drop and add another German. If you receive and
understand this, telegraph me before ten A. M., care Johnson aforesaid, "AH right.' But at any
rate I must rely on your getting this, as our whole plans must be quickened by Read's dispatch.
I have telegraphed to him. My impression is, even now, that nothing will be done, but it is
possible. A minute description just received of the locality where the machines were to operate
greatly diminishes the chances, which were small before."
Letter unsigned, but indorsed 'T. W. Higginson,' dated Worcester, February 16, 1860:
" Nothing more heard. I leave this p. m., and reach Hinsdale to-morrow night. Will telegraph
from there when anything known, and sign 'Charles P. Carter.' Telegraph to that name there
if you hear anything from H. either way. I mean whether he comes or turns back. I shall try
to find at Hinsdale the man who telegraphed you — Read, I mean. If I hear nothing from him
I may go to Plattsburg, but probably not. I have written to S. J. Willis, corner Thirteenth
street and Tibbitts avenue, Troy, N. Y , to telegraph you now if he is readjj. If you thus hear
from him after hearing from me, please send him by express twenty-five dollars for expenses,
best a check payable to order, and tell him to come to Hinsdale and inquire for Mr. Carter of
Doctor Rutherford. I may have time to send more accurate directions. I shall see Doctor R.
on my arrival and arrange with him. You will receive to-morrow by express a box containing
eight small machines. Please bring them to Hinsdale should you come (and you can put them
if you prefer in your trunk), but please not use them, as they are to be returned if not wanted.
*See Major Abbott's account of the Doy rescue party. State Hist. Coll., vol. 4, p. 312.
216 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
them to EastoD, twelve miles east of St. Joseph. While waiting at the hotel for
a train, they listened to a thorough discussion of Kansas and Kansans, of Law-
rence, and especially of the Doy exploit. They restrained themselves from tak-
ing part in the discussion, and proceeded without further incident to Pittsburgh,
Pa., where Soule joined them, and they journeyed together to Harrisburg.
Of the southern Kansas party. Wattles went in advance of the others. Under
Montgomery's lead, those mentioned above and Dr. C. R. Jennieon (later known
as Colonel Jennison) left Linn county. At Lawrence, Jennison left the party
and returned home. The others proceeded to Elwood, opposite St. Joseph,
where letters from Major Abbott and some others secured them the assistance of
Ed. Russell, Thos. A. Osborn, A. L. Lee, and probably D. W. Wilder. The
party reached Elwood too late to avail themselves of the ferry in crossing, and
crossing that night (a very dark and stormy one) was essential to the carrying
out of their plans. The only rowboat at the place belonged to Captain Blackis-
ton. The oars were carefully put away and the skiff securely locked. "Love
laughs at locksmiths." So it proved in this case. Blackiston's daughter was
Sbriuld I telegrapli to send macliinery on a certain date, please come on without delay. If you
can with the funds in your hands (after deducting twenty-five dollars as above) bring on any
machines additional (I do not mean such as I send you, but those supported on two pins — of
German ware perhaps) do so. That must be at your discretion. I expect to provide for ex-
penses after reaching Hinsdale, should any be needed. Shall see a stockholder in New York, I
expect, and perhaps the German dealer. The experienced business man, whose advice I quoted
to you, still holds the same opinion, but has arranged to go to Hinsdale if needed. Please ac-
knowledge receipt of any dispatch from mo, should the business go on. I shall probably send
the date by which the machinery must arrive. At Hinsdale I shall probably be at some smaller
hotel, and you can find me through the registers or through Doctor R. or through the post-
oflSce, where I shall go twice a day. All right about the captain and the orator; but I wish you
would caution the latter at once about not mentioning it, even to his wife, for she would be
very likely to tell my sister-in-law, who is her particular friend. You will see I note what you
say about the letter H. — as Hinsdale — and also I will say ' via New York,' in the case you name.
Please allude to Read as Western machinery. Please not start without hearing from me, and I
will do all I can to make it clear to you. My impression is that the weaker machinery will
have to be returned unless set up by somebody who understands it very thoroughly. (Should
you hear from Read by ten p. m. to-morrow (Thursday) that he has sent the machines back,
please telegraph to me under my own name at Anti-slavery Standard office, Nassau street,
New York, and also to Hinsdale, as it may not reach me in New York.)"
From Carter to LeBarnes, Hinsdale, February 18, 1860: "To-day brings another snow-storm,
farther depressing the hopes of our machinist. But they do not last long at this season. We
also hear from the machinist whom we left behind, and on whose advice much depends, that
he is still in Massachusetts, and will not be here till Monday p. m. or Tuesday night. This is
bad, as still delaying the prospecting trip of our chief machinist to examine localities, etc. He
cannot start before Tuesday p. m., and will certainly be gone, he thinks, at least a week. I
shall go to Chicago next week to do my lecturing, and you can do what you please until then —
only let me know how to get at you. Please not open the box till necessary, and not use tools
unless necessary, as then they cannot be returned. If you are still in New York, please get copy
of Daily Tribune containing plan of and locality where our machines are to be — it was about
November 30."
A letter by T. W. Higginson, dated Worcester, July 17, 1860, about the insurrection in Ja-
maica, and other insurrections along anti-slavery lines, closes with a reference to a visit from
J. A. Pike and his return to Kansas a few months previous.
Letter from S. S. Soule, dated Coal Creek (south part of Douglas county), May 9, 1860, ad-
dressed to Messrs. Thayer, Eldridge, Hinton, etc. : "I arrived here last Friday. I left Boston
Thursday night for Stonington ; there I took the boat for New York ; left there Friday morning ;
arrived in Philadelphia that noon, and had to wait until six before I ccjuld get oil, and then
had to go with a cargo of emigrants that talked beautiful Dutch. We did n't get to Pittsburgh
until Sunday. It was an awful journey. If it was n't for some girls that had got-up to them, I
don't know what I should have done; as it was we had an amusing time. We crossed the AUe'
gbanies Saturday. If I had been in a hurry I should have walked ; as it was wo walked some of
the time, and waited for the cars, and pushed going up-hill. Pittsburgh is as dirty as ever. I
ATTEMPTED KESCUE OF JOHN BROWN. 217
Russell's sweetheart, afterwards becoming his wife. Through her he got oara and
key. With the assistance of some of the others mentioned of the Elwood party,
the crossing to St. Joseph was safely made, though attended with many dangers,
through the darkness and the overloaded skiff. Some transportation over the
Hannibal & St. Joseph railroad was furnished by Elwood friends, and the addi-
tional amount necessary was put up by Major Tuttle, then agent of the road at
St. Joseph, later a resident of New York, who was thoroughly in sympathy with
the free-state movements in Kansas, as was Colonel Hayward, then general su-
perintendent of the road.
The Montgomery party proceeded direct to Harrisburg without further inci-
dent of historical importance, where they were joined by the Lawrence party, by
Wattles, Ben. Seaman, from Iowa, and R. J. Hinton. While there is no evidence
at hand to show that Frederick Douglass joined the party at Harrisburg, it is
pretty clear that he was in consultation with the leaders in their progress to-
wards Charlestown. It will not be understood that these men were seen in
public together, or that they stopped at the same hotel, or traveled as a party on
went over to the coal-mines and passed ofif for a coal merchant, and was put through in fine
style. I distributed the cards of Thayer and Eldridge all through Ohio and Indiana, as long as
they lasted. I went to St. Louis and got on the boat and took deck passage to Hannibal ; then
the cars to Atchison, boat to Leavenworth, and stage to Lawrence. Tell Walt [Walt Whitman]
that when he wants to get up another book and thinks he has seen all the world, he must take
a second-class ticket to Kansas. Tell Walt that I have a good deal to say about him, and
when he comes out here the folks will treat him well. Now, I must tell you something that will
surprise you. When I arrived here I found a party waiting for me to go to Pike's Peak ; my
brother and cousin [Mr. Glass] were in the party, going with a quartz machine belonging to
Solomon and Parker, of Lawrence, and there was no way but I must go. They started yesterday.
I am to start to-morrow and overtake them. I had not time to go to M.'s [ Montgomery's? ], so
I went to Stewart and told him everything. He is all right ; he brought up three head the other
night, making sixty-eight since he commenced. He met with a mishap yesterday. I went to
Lawrence with him in the morning, and we had not been there more than an hour before a run-
ner came in with word that his place had been attacked and one man taken and one wounded.
We started oS as quick as possible, but could only raise four horsemen, and by the time we got
our arms they were oif a good way. We followed them about six miles, but found that they all
had good horses and were so far ahead that we could not overtake them. When last seen they
were going it, with the boy on behind one of them. He was calling for assistance and one of
them beating him with a club to keep him quiet. He was a free boy that had been here for two
years. They were plowing in the field and had revolvers, but there were five of the kidnappers.
There were fifteen or twenty shots fired, and one only was wounded that we know of. He was
shot in the hip ; the ball went out and did n't damage him much. Things look kind of blue and
some one will be shot before long. It is supposed that H. was one of them. I gave S. those
letters to give to M., as he will see him as soon as anybody, and I told him just how things
stand. He is the man. I hope you will write to him; he don't like G.'s actions very well.
[Charles] Stearns and another man that I was not acquainted with arrived Monday. Stearns
went to G.'s before we got over. I have posted S. about Stearns, and if they get ahead of him
they will have to get up early ; he is going to make a haul of about fifteen next week. He
talked with G., but could n't get him to go. I can't write any more. Give my love to all.
Tell Walt to send that book to me. Direct to S. Soule, Lawrence, Kan., box 43, John E. Stew-
art; if you write to him may be you had better put it inside of another envelope, and direct it
to Amasa Soule, box 43, I am afraid that G. is noD worth a damn."
Letter from J. W. LeBarnes, dated Washington, D. C, June 20, 1894, to R. J. Hinton : " There
was a letter from Hoyt — his first, I think, after he had seen and talked with Brown — in which
he gave the information desired in respect to the situation at Charlestown, the defenses, etc.,
and enclosed a diagram of the jail, showing Brown's cell, the approaches, etc., and in which he
stated that Brown positively refused his consent to any movement looking to a rescue. I do
not think this letter is among those I gave you. My impression is that I gave it to Mr. Higgin-
son or some one else at the time. It seems to me that it must have been Mr. Higginson."
Also the following from LeBarnes to Hinton, dated Washington, D. C, June 30, 1894 : " Yours
of the 29th received. Am glad you are getting along satisfactorily with your book. I never
knew anything about the Stevens-Hazlett plan. By the way, have you got anything in respect
218 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
the trains. They moved apparently independent of each other, representing
themselves as stockmen, grain men, laborers, land-eeekers, or whatever seemed
best to suit the occasion or most fully obscure their real intent. They had a
meeting-place at the office or residence of a doctor (name forgotten), who was in
sym^jathy with their undertaking. At these meetings plans for the campaign
were made and scouts sent out; Seaman, of the Linn county party, and Soule,
of the Lawrence contingent, doing most of this work. Montgomery, Wattles,
Seaman, and Soule, and possibly others of the party, established a meeting-
place in the vicinity of Hagerstown, Md., from which place they pushed forward
their tours" of observation across the river into Virginia, Seaman going to
Martinsburg to examine the rough country in that region, Soule going more
directly to;.Charleetown, securing an audience with Brown under strict surveil-
lance of two armed guards. Under such restrictions no progress could be made
in unfolding or perfecting plans. No others of the party saw Brown, though
very direct communications were kept up through some one whose identity has
been lost in the haze that passing years throws over our memories.
to the German contingent in the rescue business ? A party of about twenty —chiefly revolution-
ist refugees of '48 — was in readiness to join Higginson and Montgomery, as you doubtless re-
member.;' .1 went over to New Yorlf for the purpose, and the then editor of the Stant.s-Zeitviig
put;me in communicationlwith suitable men to make up the party. I expect there are refer-
ences to this matter in papers you have."
J. W. LeBarnes to; R, J. Hinton, Washington, D. C, June 21, 1894: "Hoyt wont to Charles-
town at my instance, and I furnished him with the money for his expenses. H. was living at
Athol, Mass., with his parents, having then recently graduated at law. The morning the news
was received of Brown's attempt at Harper's Ferry, Hoyt came at oncp to Boston, and I met
him at the Republican headquarters, and told him I wanted him to go to Charlestown and vol-
unteer as counsel to Brown. My suggestion was that so youthful and physically fragile a per-
son in appearance' (he was not more than twenty-one, and looked not more than nineteen, and
was slight in figure), would not create tlie suspicion that a more mature man might do, and 1
believed ,'that for this reason he would be more likely to succeed in being allowed access to
Brown than another, and did not believe he would 6e in so much personal danger as another
might be. The purposes for which I wanted him to go were, first, to watch and be able to re-
port proceedings, to see and talk with Brown, and be able to communicate with his friends any-
thing Brown might want to say; and second, to send me an accurate and detailed account of
the military situation in Charlestown, the number and distribution of troops, the location and
defense of the jail, the nature of the approaches to the town and jail, the opportunities for a
sudden attack upon the jail and means of retreat, and the location and situation of the room in
the jail in which Brown was confined, and all other particulars and suggestions that miglit en-
able friends to consult in reference to some plan of attempt at rescue. Hoyt was willing to ac
ceptthe commission if his expenses could be paid, as he had no money himself. Wo went to
South Boston and called on Dr. S. G. Howe and laid our plan before him, with a view of en-
listing some financial assistance. Howe treated the matter coolly, and would not contribute.
He seemed to think that Brown's execution would have a good effect in arousing public senti-
ment. We thought this cold-blooded, and left Howe in disgust. I possessed seventy-five dol-
lars in silverand gave it to Hoyt, and he left that night for Charlestown. Afterwards I sent
him additional funds. George Sennott went down as an individual volunteer, without, so
far as I know, any concurrence with any of Brown's friends."
In a sketch of Edward Rvissell, published while he was living, in the United States Bio-
graphical Dictionary for Kansas, is tbe. following: " In November of 1859 Colonel Montgomery
resolved upon an effort for the rescue of old John Brown, then lying in jail at Harper's Ferry
and awaiting the day of his execution. Colonel Montgomery called upon Mr. Russell for trans-
portation over the Missouri river, and any aid he and his Elwood friends could give for their
transportation farther East. The passes of Russell, Lee and Wihier over the Hannibal & St.
Joseph railroad, and a note from Lee or Wilder to the principal man of the Hannibal & St.
Joseph railroad in St. Joseph, were cheerfully furnished, together with a little ready cash.
After midnight of one of the rainest and darkest nights ever seen on the Missouri river, Mr.
Russell abstractod^oars and key from his father-in-law's house, who, as the owner of the ferry,
possessed the only skiff's at that time in Elwood, and with a boat laden rather deep, even for
pleasant weather and broad daylight, he pushed off for the Hannibal & St. Joseph railroad
ATTEMPTED RESCUE OF JOHN BROWN. 219
While preparations were going on, as related, the weather changed to severe
cold, with a heavy fall of snow throughout the entire region, rendering traveling
through the mountains impracticable. This, with the strong and watchful force
at the jail, and the constant patrolling of the roads, were difficulties seemingly
unsurmountable, and by many of the party they were believed to be real reasons
why the undertaking was abandoned. The managers of the affair found in the
will of John Brown a greater obstacle to their plans than snow, cold, patrolmen,
or Virginia militia. John Brown refused to he rescued. His reasons were:
First, that he had been the recipient of many kindnesses from the jailer and his
wife; that he had had privileges that were secured by his pledge not to take ad-
vantage of them to escape; that the jailer was a faithful and fearless official who
would not be caught off his guard, or give up his prisoner without a struggle, and
for himself he was in honor bound both to his keeper and to his friends outside
to prevent further bloodshed.
Second, he was strongly impressed with the conviction that death on the gal-
lows was a fulfilment of his mission, the rounding out of his effort; the act that
grounds in lower St. Joseph. Though the night was so dark as to render it impossible to tell
by sight or trying the water in which direction the current ran, in due time, which seemed an
age from the danger of the situation, the boat finally landed Colonel Montgomery and party in
safety near the point of destination. The failure of Colonel Montgomery may have been fore-
doomed, with Lis handful of Linn county boys, but unexpected delays in the mountains north
of Harper's Ferry alone prevented his making a bold dash to save the neck of grand old John
Brown."
In Hinton's "John Brown and his Men," pages 501, 502, the following appears: "During
the middle of February a secret message was received by the prisoners and a reply returned.
An intoxicated man was arrested in Charlestown on a Saturday evening and locked up over
Sunday in jail. To all appearances he was a jolly, devil-may-care young Irish laborer [ Silas S.
Soule.l, in whom whisky left nothing but boisterous fun. As he sobered up he became a delight
to the jailer's family by his funny songs and witty words. Discipline had relaxed, vigilance
nodded, and the careless Irishman was enabled to communicate with Stevens and Hazlett. He
made himself known, and told them that their comrades, James Montgomery, Richard J. Hin-
ton, Joseph Gardner, Preacher Stewart and six other Kansas men, with Thomas Wentworth
Higginson, J. W. LeBarnes, and W. W. Thayer, of Boston, assisted by some New York German-
Americans, were ready at Harrisburg, Pa., to make a move through the South Mountain section
of that state into Virginia and attempt their rescue. They were told that Montgomery was
even then in the adjacent mountains making a reconnaissance as to practicability. Both were
deeply affected, but without hesitation declared it to be impossible. Stevens emjjhatically as-
serted that the attempt could not be made without causing other deaths, especially that of the
jailer, Mr. Avis, who would resist to the last. He would not take his liberty at such a cost.
The constant armed force consisted of eighty men, and while it was possible to get away if
Montgomery could reach and attack the place suddenly, yet the lives to be sacrificed would not
warrant the saving of their own. Hazlett sent a personal message to the writer of this volume,
who had been deeply stirred by the fact that his comrade was tried and condemned under a
name himself assumed in writing to Kagi. There was nothing to be done. The daring young
Kausan, who had so successfully used his powers of mimicry, was discharged next day by an
unsuspecting justice of the peace, and made his way out of Virginia as rapidly as he dared.
Montgomery had already returned to Harrisburg and his associate rejoined him in Boston,
bearing there his message to myself."
On pages 520-522 is this farther statement: "The special reason for my desire in that regard
has already been given. In Boston were a few persons who would have risked everything to
have saved John Brown or any of his men. If I give as most active and earnest in this desire
John W. LeBarnes, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, W. W. Thayer (of the publishing firm of
Thayer & Eldridge), F. B. Sanborn, James Redpath, Dr. David Thayer, George Henry Hoyt,
Brackett, the sculptor, and Richard J. Hinton, I shall cover not only those I am permitted to
name, but all that were most actively interested in any such conception. As to John Brown,
that was ended by his message, through Hoyt, from his prison cell. But knowing that in Kansas
there were men brave enough to try the odds, when the relaxation of vigilance began, after the
16tb of December, the desire to save Hazlett and Stevens grew into a hope, and from that into
a plan, which was ably seconded by John W. LeBarnes and T. W. Higginson, as well as sup-
220 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
would make effective all his work for the freedom of the slaves. In his simple
and terse way he said: "I am worth more to die than to live." For himself, he
may have had prophetic vision as he neared his end, and saw not far away enacted
that tremendous tragedy that not only emancipated the slaves but rescued a na-
tion from the thraldom of a terrible crime and the bondage of living openly before
the world a stupendous and wicked lie, and started it on its course to be the leader
and arbiter for the betterment of mankind.
What of the men who volunteered for this hazardous undertaking ? With
the exception of Henry Carpenter, the Kansas men returned to the territory.
Carpenter came to Kansas from Ashtabula county, Ohio, and remained in Penn-
sylvania when the party broke up. When last heard from, fifteen years ago, he
was still in western Pennpylvania. Montgomery, Seaman, Rice, Gardner, Pike,
and Willis enlisted in the army ; Montgomery as colonel of the Third regiment,
Seaman as captain, Rice as sergeant, and Gardner as a private in the same regi-
ment. Pike and Willis enlisted in company A, Ninth cavalry.
When, in February, 1862, the Third and Fourth regiments were destroyed to
advance the interests of a few selfish and ambitious men, Montgomery was
sent to the southern Atlantic coast to organize and command a brigade of colored
troops; Seaman went to the Fifth cavalry, to which his company was assigned;
Rice to the Ninth with his company; Gardner to the Tenth with his company,
being later promoted to a captaincy in the First Colored infantry ; Pike was made
first lieutenant of company A, and later captain of company K of the Ninth cav-
alry; Willis became first sergeant of his company, and later first lieutenant of
company A of the Tenth infantry.
Montgomery died at his home, near Mound City, the 6th day of December,
1871, and is buried in the soldiers' cemetery at that place. Wattles died Decem-
ber 19, 1876, near the same place. Seaman and Soule, the two scouts, were both
killed many years ago by roughs, while serving as city marshals, the first at
Baxter Springs and the other at Denver, Colo. Gardner died at Lawrence in ihe
early '70's. Ben. Seaman died in Iowa; Rice is reported dead; Willis died at
White City, Kan., some years ago. Captain Pike, probably the only survivor,
has a position at the Penitentiary, at Lansing.
By their devotion to the cause of freedom in the early Kansas days, by their
patriotic service in the army and good citizenship afterward, these men made a
record that might well be emulated by any group of American citizens.
ported by Redpath and W. W. Thayer, was pushed thoroughly up to the point where an actual
reconnaissance proved it couhl not be accomplished. Money was raised, and about the middle of
January I started for Kansas. For prudential reasons, I adopted in traveling my mother's name
of Read, except, of course, in Kansas, where I was well known. Proceeding direct to the southern
portion of the territory, I consulted with Capt. James Montgomery, laying before him topograph-
ical maps of the section, plans of the jail, with the railroad and country highways. Careful in-
quiry had been made as to possible 'underground railway' routes and stations, and as to the trust
that could be reposed in the latter. It was very slight, indeed. Messrs. Higginson, LeBarnes
and Publisher Thayer were to look after the pecuniary part of the plan. By the sale of Red-
path's 'Life of John Brown,' a small fund for the benefit of the families had been obtained.
With Mrs. John Brown's consent, this fund might be used temporarily, and that was readily
obtained. Sculptor Brackett promised $'200, Mr. LeBarnes gave liberally and advanced more,
and Mr. Higginson, who was treasurer, obtained other amounts, and met the costs fully, with
what, besides the men, was obtained in Kansas. From that section seven volunteers returned
with me, including James Montgomery, Silas Soule, James Stewart, Josepli Gardner, Mr.
Willis, and two others (from Lawrence) whose names have escaped me. We reached Leaven-
worth early in February, and I found that money expected had not arrived. Taking Col. Daniel
R. Anthony into my confidence, he at once contributed the money needed, placing into Captain
Montgomery's hand $150, and an equal amount into mine. It was deemed best I should go by
way of Weston, Mo., direct to St. Joe, and that Montgomery and his associates should go by
private teams to Elwood, Kan,, directly opposite that place, then the railroad terminus for
that section."
ATTEMPTED RESCUE OF JOHN BROWN. 221
Remarks by Col. D. B. Anthony, of Leavenivoith :
Between 1857 and 1861 the struggle between freedom and slavery in Kansas
was on. No free-state man was safe, nor were his life and property protected,
until the free-state men met the border ruffians with force. Free state men were
murdered and scalped in the county of Leavenworth, and the murderers were set
free by Judge Lecompte, of the United States circuit court. The holding of
slaves in Kansas was not permitted with the consent of the free-state men, and
by common consent the free-state men freed all slaves who escaped from Mis-
souri or elsewhere, and sent them into the interior of the territory for protection.
There was the notorious release of Charlie Fisher, a slave from Mississippi,
who was claimed by his master, who came to Kansas to capture his slave and
take him to his home in the South.
The free-state men assembled in the court-room of the United States commis-
sioner and told Fisher to leave. He did so. I met him as he was leaving the
building, and directed him to take the team owned and driven by Jim Brown,
which took him on a fast trot out on the road to Lawrence. The man in the
lead to recapture Fisher was William M. Pleas, former jjroprietor of the Planters'
House. I barred his way and caught Pleas by his coat collar, and kindly told
him not to be in a hurry. When threats were made weapons were drawn, but
not used because they were not needed, the force of free state men present being
so great that they blocked the way of all pursuers and other slave-catchers.
The result of this and of other similar cases was that the border-ruffian grand
jury presented bills of indictment against the prominent parties who were en-
gaged in the rescue of Fisher and other fugitive slaves, and the penalty of which
was death under the laws which had been enacted by the border ruffians; even
punishing with death a man who would read and circulate the New York Tri-
bune.
At that time the clerk of the United States court had his office in the second
story in the building now occupied by J. W. Crancer & Son. The papers of the
court, including these indictments, were all stored in that room, on the south-
west corner of Delaware and Third streets. During the night Champ. Vaughan,
Judge Gardner and Louis Ledger Weld took those indictments, and all the pa-
pers connected with them, carried them to a secluded spot outside of town, where
they were duly and properly confiscated by burning them, with a witty incanta-
tion of the Witch of Endor. It was reported that the ceremonies upon that oc-
casion were of the most solemn character, as well as impudent and ridiculous as
could be imagined. V^aughan, Weld and Gardner were all very bright men and
they enjoyed the scene immensely.
That night your speaker was awakened from a sound sleep by hearing voices
of these men outside who were clamoring to be let in. They told the story.
The theft of the papers astounded the border ruffians, and Judge Pettit, of
the United States court, in his speech to the grand jury which had indicted a
large number of our people, said: "The men who lay their sacrilegious hands
upon the documents of this court shall be punished to the full extent of the law,
and I will see to it that every means in my power be brought to bear to insure
the greatest punishment against those who have perpetrated such a crime."
The court was to convene in about thirty days, and I wrote to Gen. James
Montgomery, asking him for advice and help. This was done because both sides
seemed to be marshaling their strength for the struggle, which was eure to
come, to decide whether free-state men could live in Kansas.
Montgomery came to Leavenworth with about fifty of his men, who stated
very squarely that the issue was made, that the crisis had come, and that these
222 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
men should not be tried upon indictment — not tried by that court or any other
court. The court was to convene the next morning. At the appointed hour
General Montgomery and his men, with 100 or 200 citizens of Leavenworth,
were in the city hall — the room which is now occupied as the city hall — all
armed. The order had gone forth privately to these men from Montgomery that
if Judge Pettit called these cases for trial he was to be shot, together with the
United States marshal — shot while in his seat as judge. With all these armed
men present, and a large number of others who were there and filled the room to
its fullest capacity, and the hall leading to it. Judge Pettit came in and took hia
seat amid deathlike silence. The marshal opened the court, the judge called
for the reading of the docket, which commenced with the men who had been
indicted. As he read the name of the indicted party he said "Dismissed."
After they had dismissed all of the men against whom indictments had been
had, the free-state men withdrew from the court room. There was no trial and
no proceedings in this case after that time.
In the fall— about November, I think it was — James Montgomery came to
my house, saying that he was in command of a party of men, and was on his
way to Harper's Ferry to, if possible, release John Brown from imprisonment.
He said his party was going by the way of Elwood, crossing over from there to
St. Joe, and thence east. He wanted help from me, and I advanced him S150.
There has been a question, and there is a question now, as to whether Mont-
gomery's trip ever was to release John Brown. My memory is very positive that
Montgomery stated to me that it was the release of John Brown, and that was
his main mission when he went East. I understood that the men of Elwood
aided largely in this movement. I know the fact that Elwood at that time was
filled with men who were radically loyal to John Brown.
[D. W. Wilder * having questioned the accuracy of the foregoing, Mr. Morse
writes further, adding certain corroborating letters which are appended. To give
further light, extracts are appended from letters written at the time. Mr. Wilder
withdrew his criticisms, and returned the following. —Ed.]
D. W. Wilder: In the "History of Torrington, Connecticut," John Brown's
birthplace, written by Rev. Samuel Orcutt, there is contributed a biography of
John Brown, 100 octavo pages long, by F. B. Sanborn, of Concord, Mass; This
biography was published in 1878. Mr Sanborn's "Life and Letters of John
Brown," 645 pages, was published in 1885. In the Torrington biography Mr.
Sanborn says (page 19) of John Brown's campaign in Virginia: " It was the first
decisive act of an inevitable tragedy, and such were its romantic features that,
in the lapse of time, it will no doubt be gravely expounded as a myth to thode
who shall read American history some centuries hence. John Brown was, in-
deed, no mythical nor in my sense dubitable personage."
O. E. Morse: Regarding Mr. Wilder's criticism on my story of the at-
tempted rescue of John Brown, it occurs to me that his whole discussion, boiled
down, simply means that what I wrote was not true because Wilder never heard
of it — a standpoint from which no man is permitted to give testimony in any
court in the world. I refer you to the enclosed written proofs that there was an
attempt to rescue Brown. (See note E, following this article.)
*In the "Annals of Kansas," by Mr. Wilder, published in 187.5, is the following: " March 16,
1860 — Aaron D. Stevens and Albert Hazlett, John Brown's men, executed at Charlestown, Va.
James Montgomery and a few of his men wnnt from Kansas to rescue those men from prison,
but were prevented l?y the deep snow. Thomas W. Higginson organized a New England and
New York party, and they met Montgomery at Harrisburg."
ATTEMPTED RESCUE OF JOHN BROWN. 223
Your predecessor, Judge F. G. Adams, after making investigation, was thor-
oughly convinced that such an attempt was made, as indicated by his two letters
attached, and marked "A"; next is copy of letter of Maj. J. B. Abbott, referred
to in Adams's letter, marked "B," in which he distinctly states, "expedition to
liberate John Brown." Surely Abbott knew what he was talking about. Note C
is a copy of a part of Capt. J. A. Pike's letter written in reply to Secretary
Adams, who had followed Abbott's suggestion and written Pike, wherein Pike
settles the doubt raised by Abbott as to Captain Stewart's participation, and as
distinctly states that Montgomery and party were along. Note D is a letter from
Pike, in which he names Brown, and in which he fixes the year 1859. Note E is
another letter from Pike, written recently, in which he gives some details of
their experience, stating that Soule saw Brown at Charlestown, and also that
Hinton was at the meeting at Harrisburg. Now, this is what Wilder asked for —
written testimony of one of the participants as to the fact that an attempt was
made to rescue John Brown, and that Hinton was one of the party, and that
Montgomery and his men were there. Note F is a letter from Ed. Russell, writ-
ten nearly seventeen years ago, in which he gives no dates, and neither mentions
Brown, Hazlett, nor Stevens. Standing alone, it might apply to any or many of
the transactions of that period. But when it is understood that it was in re-
sponse to a request to write what he knew of the attempted rescue of John
Brown, and was informed that what he wrote would be used in writing up that
occurrence for the Historical Society, then his paper has point and value.
Now, what do I know about this matter personally? First, I knew Mont-
gomery, Wattles, the Seamans, Rice and Gardner in the most thorough and inti-
mate way. I served as a line officer under Montgomery the first eight months of
the war, and had had his confidence and friendship for more than four years be-
fore. Wattles was my wife's father. Henry Seaman was captain and I a lieu-
tenant in the same company under Montgomery, and was a neighbor and friend
for years before; his brother Ben. I knew well, but for a less time, and not so in-
timately. Rice and I enlisted in the same company and had known each other
for three years before. I commanded for a while the company to which Joseph
Gardner belonged, and knew him intimately. Henry Carpenter was in the em-
ploy of Augustus Wattles for a year or more, so his home was on the adjoining
farm, where I "bached." I hardly think Mr. Wilder's acquaintance with these
men gives him warrant to speak for them and of them as I might presume to do.
What he says of knowing one of the Seamans I think is a case of mistaken iden-
tity. The Linn county Seaman he probably knew was Alex Seaman, county
treasurer of Linn when Wilder was auditor of state — entirely unrelated to the
man of whom I wrote.
Nearly twenty years ago James Hanway related to me the incident of Hinton
coming to his place in Miami county, and they two coming to Moneka, this
county, for the conference with Montgomery and Wattles, as related, and in his
talk of the matter it was always for the rescue of Brown — Stevens and Hazlett
were never mentioned. I submit that what Hanway remembered twenty years
ago about a transaction in which he took part is a little better evidence than
Wilder's recollection forty-five years after of an event he had nothing to do with
and knewjnothing about at the time.
In the plan to use a larger force I was one of those selected for that larger
force; therefore had early knowledge of the movement. A little later Henry
Seaman gave me the story of the expedition, giving the names of the members of
the party, places visited, plans, and experiences, and always to rescue Brown.
Much has been forgotten, but a few things were fixed in my memory; among
224 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
them the turning back of Jennison, the meeting at Harrisburg, the character of
of the country south, and the direction in which he scouted. Wattles often re-
ferred to these matters, particularly to Brown's refusal to be rescued, or to have
further risks taken on his account. His family were fully in his confidence;
knew at the time of his purpose of going East; and Mrs. Morse and another
daughter, Mrs. Hiatt, who is living with us now, are certain that their father
took part in an attempt to rescue John Brown. If there was no attempt to
rescue, what occasion was there for Brown to say "the best use they can make
of me is to hang me," and why did he decline to be rescued?
I note what you say about straightening this up to apjily to the rescue of
Hazlett and Stevens. I have no distinct data or information upon which to
base a story of that kind. This is the story of the attempted rescue of Brown,
based upon undeniable facts. To change it to something else would surely be a
"perversion of history." Wilder points out your duty in that line. I don't
question the suggestion that there was some attempt to rescue Stevens and
Hazlett. I am quite certain that there was. I think, too, Montgomery went
East for that purpose. I had no connection or direct knowledge of the matter,
so do not attempt to write of it. It may account for some coincidences that seem
to startle Mr. Wilder. Now, may I not suggest that, to yield to the criticisms,
or be governed by the dictates of any one man, is to narrow the field and cripple
the efficiency of your department.
Note A.
ToPEKA, Kan., July 14, 1887.
Hon. O. E, Morse, Mound City, Kan. : My Dear Sir — Pardon my neglect before to acknowl-
edge your favors and to answer your inquiries. I will get and send you a copy of Major Abbott's
letter. I enclose you Captain Pike's letter. This latter please return when you have read it. It
has not been published. I hope you will write up the entire history of the attempt to rescue
Captain Brown. You can do it more fully than anj body else. Hon. Ed. Russell, Lawrence,
can give you some items. You know all the others. Major Abbott's information, you will see, is
valuable, but limited. The address of Mrs. Clarinda Montgomery is Castle Rock, Washington
territory. Your paper, which I had published in the (:omntoinveullh, is very valuable.
Youry sincerely, F. G. Adams,
Topeka, Kan., August 4, 1887.
O. E. Morse, Esq., Mound City, Kan.: Dear Sir — Your letter of .July 27, delayed in mail,
is just received. If you have not yet received a copy of the Abbott letter, notify me, and I will
send it to you. The second name in Mr. Pike's list is Silas S. Soule, a Lawrence boy.
Yours truly, F. G. Adams, Secretary.
Note B.
De Soto, Kan., June 13, 1887.
Franklin G. Adams, Esq., Secretary Kansas Historical Society, Topeka, Kan.:
My Dear Sir and Friend— Your favor of the 10th instant, with reference to names of per-
sons who accompanied Captain Momtgomery on the expedition to liberate John Brown, was
received on the 11th, and in answer I have to say : Of the Douglas county men (and of the Doy
rescuers) there were Capt. Joshua A. Pike, Silas S. Soule, S. J. Willis, Joseph Gardner, and, I
think, Capt. John E. Stewart; but I am not quite sure as to Stewart. The men from Captain
Montgomery's neighborhood in Linn county I cannot remember ; but it is quite likely that Cap-
tain Pike, now of Florence, Kan., can give you the information that is required. There were a
number of incidents connected with that expedition that might be made interesting reading,
and possibly you might draw the captain out, and get him to write them, although he is rather
modest in giving incidents in which he took any prominent part. But he is the only one left ( I
think ) of the Douglas county boys who wore in that party.
Yours truly, Jas. B. Abbott.
Captain Morse: I could not get a paper containing Major Abbott's letter, so I had this copy
made. I give you a copy of letter from Mrs. Montgomery. I hope you will write up the whole
matter of the attempt to rescue Brown. Yours, F. G. Adams.
ATTEMPTED RESCUE OP JOHN BROWN. 225
Note C.
Jet oeb, Hodgeman County, Kansas.
I will give yon the names as I remember them at this late day, as follows : S. J. Willis, Silas
S. Soule, Joseph Gardner, and myself. John E. Stewart was not with us. Captain Montgomery
had a party of men with him, but I did not know them. Respectfully yours, J, A. Pike.
A. W. Lewis, in a letter to Hinton, dated West Branch, Iowa, Octobers, 1860, says: "John
E. Stewart arrived here on the 13th (September). He said he had enjoyed his trip much, and
that his friends in Boston cheered him greatly. His account of his journey was very interest-
ing to us."
Noto D.
Leoti, August 17, 1887.
O. E. Morse, Mound Citrjy Kan. : Deae Sir — Yours of July 27 reached me after a long trip
over the country. Have considered the contents. Am, as you will see, a long way from home :
have no data to go by, and it has been a long time since '59 to remember. When I go home, if I
can fix up anything that will be of any benefit to you in making history of the old vet. Brown,
will be glad to do so. S.J.Willis, Capt. Joseph Gardner and myself went to Virginia, or to
Harrisburg, Pa., together; remained there several days; made several excursions to Maryland
and Virginia. Silas Soule was also there and was a big scout, and 1 think the best one in the
party. Several things happened on the road there and after we got there that have slipped my
memory now that might help to fill up. When home, will try to fill a little sheet and send you.
Yours truly, J. A. Pike.
Note E.
In the fall of 1859, a few weeks before John Brown was hung ( do not remember the date)
Joseph Gardner, S. J. Willis and myself left Lawrence for Leavenworth and the East. Not
wishing to visit St. Joseph just at that time ( as we had been there a few months before), we
engaged a farmer to take us to Easton, a small town twelve miles east of St. Joseph, on H. &
St. J. R. R. We arrived there Sunday p. m. in time for dinner. Took seats at table; besides
us there were twenty men (no woman). Kansas seemed to be the topic, as the landlord had
just returned from a long trip through Kansas, going as far south as the Neosho river; seemed
much pleased with it all until he arrived at Lawrence, on his return ; town full of niggers and
abolitionists; a tough set; saw three of the Doctor Doy rescue party, and they were toughs;
would not like to meet them after night. Did not know but he meant us, as we had been there.
Dinner over, and was two hours before train time; we took a walk down the railroad-track.
Gardner and Willis had lots of papers that would give them away. They got rid of some of
them soon as possible. As I had left all my papers at home I felt quite safe. When train ar-
rived we took leave of Easton ; nothing of importance till we arrived at Pittsburgh, Pa. There
we met Silas Soule, another boy from Lawrence. He joined our party and went on to Harris-
burg. Hotel de Drovers was our stopping-place, as we were all hay and cattlemen from the
Western country. The day after our arrival we were invited to call on Doctor Rutherford, at
No. , on a front street. We called. There were at that meeting, and at several others, quite
a number of men from I do not know where ; only one, Hon. R. J. Hinton, from New York, I
knew. From that meeting scouts were sent out into Maryland and Virginia. Soule went to
Charlestown and talked with Brown, two armed guards standing over him. After the country
had been looked over carefully, the project was given up. Deep snow, cold weather. United
States troops, police officers at all corners, etc. The whole matter was given up and all sent
home. Yours, J. A. Pike.
Lansing, Kan., November 18, 1903.
Hon. O. E. Morse: Dear Sir — Yours of the 14th received a few days ago; contents noted.
Have written as well as I can remember the details of our trip. If it will help you in any man-
ner, 1 will be very glad. This is not in my line, as you will soon see. Could tell you a great deal
better than I can write. Come up to the Penitentiary and see me ; will find me in shop 9 or
tinker's shop. Pick out what will be of interest to you and throw balance in waste-basket.
Most respectfully, J. A. Pike.
Note F.
Lawrence, Kan., July 30, 1887.
O. E. Morse, Esq.: Dear Sir — Yours of the 27th is received. I am glad to know that you
propose to write up that matter ; and I suggest that you sift your matter as furnished to you
with a great deal of care. After an event becomes a little notorious, more especially if there be
any glamour about it, men naturally picture their share in it in roseate hue. Now, I do not
know that anybody has done so or proposes to do so. I merely mention this as a suggestion to
—16
226 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
your good judgment. An event which took place as long ago as that did does not stand very
clearly in the memory of any person.
In what I say to you, I will try to distinguish between that that I am sure about and that
which may bo hazy througli dimness of memory. As to the dates, I cannot remember any of
them, and shall have to leave yoii to supply them from other information and the records of the
day. But this much I recall accurately, clearly, and confidently: One evening Col. James
Montgomery, with a company, the exact numbers of which I do not recall, came to Elwood, in
Doniphan county, opposite St. Joseph, with letters from, I do not recall whom — probably from
Major Abbott, Col. J. C. Vaughan, and probably some others. In Elwood, at that time, there
was a little knot of us — D. W. Wilder (unless he had already gone to Leavenworth, and I do
not recall as to that; he can tell you, if you desire to know), ex-Gov.Thos. A. Osborn, A. L. Lee,
and myself — who had some hand, most of us, if not all of us, in the rescue of John Doy from the
jail at St. Joseph, at the time that Major Abbott with his party rescued Doy. Among our little
company, I was the only one who could obtain a skiff to row the parties across the river, as they
had reached Elwood too late to cross on the ferry-boat unobserved. I think they did not reach
there until pretty late in the evening of one of the darkest and stormiest nights I almost ever
saw. It was no easy matter to obtain a skitf; and to secure a conveyance was deemed abso-
lutely essential, and immediately. I think Wilder and Lee had passes over the Hannibal <fe St.
Joseph railroad, and, I think, myself, and we furnished these passes to the parties, with a note
to the agent of the company in St. Joseph, who was a free-state man and fully in sympathy with
our free-state and anti-slavery movements — Major Tuttle, now of New York, whose given name
I forget.
All the skiffs at Elwood belonged to my to-be-father-in-law, Capt. E. Blackiston, to whoi-e
daughter I was at that time engaged ; so I made a late call upon my sweetheart, and got from
her the keys necessary to secure the oars and unlock the skiff, and proceeded to the landing,
where Colonel Montgomery and his party met me, with some of the others of our Elwood crowd.
And when the colonel and his party were seated in the skiff, with myself at the oars, the gun-
wales of the skiff were barely above the surface of the Missouri river, and the night was so
dark that no one of us was visible to any other one; but a while the rain had ceased. And
when we pushed out into the current we could not tell from the sky or the earth or the water
whether we were going up the river or down the river or across the river, it was so dark. But
having from early boyhood had a great deal to do with the water and rowing, I endeavored to
keep a course across the river, and in due time we landed on the east shore of the Missouri
river, under the bluffs of St. Joseph. The first we knew that we had reached the other side was
the bumping of the skiff against the bank and the shipping of a few gallons of water; but the
colonel and his company were cool and collected and no accident happened, heavily loaded as
we were. We drifted along the St. Joseph shore until we found a favorable place for landing,
when he and his company landed, and I bid them adieu.
Now, as to knowledge, this is all I know. And I suppose you want only that which is
known to the various parties who may have had knowledge concerning the same. I do know
that Major Tuttle supplied some more passes and transportation over the Hannibal & St.
Joseph railroad, which I presume was entirely satisfactory to Colonel Hay ward, the then su-
perintendent of the railroad, who was a thorough-paced free-state man, though living in Mis-
souri. And I do not suppose either Major Tuttle or Colonel Hayward would object to having
it known that they were parties, at least, in said effort at rescuing John Brown.
Yours truly, Edward Russell.
TAKING THE CENSUS IN 1855. 227
TAKING THE CENSUS AND OTHER INCIDENTS IN 1855.
Manuscript found among the papers of Capt. Jaates E. McCldee, who lost his life July 16,
1903, in the burning of a sanitarium at Bonner Springs, Kan. For sketch of Captain Mc'
Clure, see volume 7, Collections Kansas State Historical Society, page 363.
TN THE spring of 1854, when the act of Congress admitting Kansas as a ter-
-'- ritory was passed, I was living in Brookville, Ind. In 1852 I had been elected,
on the Democratic ticket, prosecuting attorney of the court of common pleas for
the counties of Franklin, Fayette, and Union, for the term of two years. When
I assumed the duties of my office, I found the criminal laws of that state had
been so often violated, without any attempt to enforce them, that the offenders
treated the laws with impunity, and felt secure from prosecution by the oflBcers
whose duty it was to enforce them. The unlawful sale of liquors without license
and the sale of lottery tickets were the most frequent offenses, and my Demo-
cratic friends and supporters were in most cases the offenders. I endeavored
vigorously and impartially to enforce the law, and to spare neither friend nor foe,
and secured the conviction of more men in the two years I held office than had
been obtained for twenty-five years prior to that time. But I made so many ene-
mies among my Democratic friends that I was unable to obtain the nomination
of my party for a second term.
I then determined to leave the state and risk my fortune in the territory of
Kansas, which had just been organized under the Kansas-Nebraska act.* The
newspapers were filled with glowing descriptions of this new country. It was
represented as a land rich in soil, with a healthy climate, containing innumerable
streams of pure, clear water, and unsurpassed in the beauty of its scenery. And
among its other attractions, it was claimed that all kinds of wild game, including
buffalo, deer, and antelope, abounded in all parts of the territory. Like most
young men of an adventurous spirit, I became inflamed with the highly drawn
descriptions of this new country, and, without much reflection and very little
preparation or capital, determined to make it my home, against the advice of my
relatives and friends, who used all their efforts to change my purpose. I had a
young wife, married when sixteen, and two small children, the older one under
two years old. After the payment of my debts I had about $.300 with which to
defray the expenses of my trip and commence life in a new country, and to me
unknown.
I left Brookville on the 22d of October, 1854, and was carried by a canal boat
to my Uncle Hornaday's, and thence by railroad to Chicago, then a city of about
140,000, and from there to St. Louis, where we took a steamboat, the F. X,
Aubrey, to Kansas City.
On the boat I became acquainted with Samuel J. Jones, a Virginian, and his
family, consisting of a wife and two young children, who were going to the terri-
tory of Kansas, like myself, to seek their fortunes. As our destination and pur-
pose were the same, we became intimately acquainted, and our wives formed a
strong attachment for each other. Col. Philip St. George Cooke, commanding^
the Second dragoons, U. S. A., was also on the boat, with a detachment of troops
and a large number of horses for his cavalry regiment.
The Missouri river and the country along its banks presented at that time a
*The following advertisement we find in the Herald of Freedom during the years 1858 and
1859: "J. R. McClure, attorney at law, real estate, and land agent, Ogden, K. T."
228 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
wild and desolate appearance, and, except for the cities and towns, appeared to
be unsettled and in its primitive condition. Our progress up the river was slow,
and our boat frequently grounded on sand-bars and had to be lifted off by spars.
The passengers had all become acquainted.
We landed at Kansas City on the 2d of November, 1854. I will never forget
the depression I felt when I first had a view of the town, then containing about
500 inhabitants. All the business was done on the river front, and the buildings
were old and dilapidated, the sidewalks unpaved, and the streets muddy and cut
up with ruts by the heavy freight wagons. The people were of the lowest type of
frontiersmen, and principally composed of teamsters, Indian traders, backwoods-
men, many of them Mexicans and half-breeds. Kansas City was then the prin-
cipal depot for the receipt of freight for New Mexico and the Indian country.
Goods were shipped by steamboat from St. Louis, and hauled by mule or ox
teams from Kansas City to Santa Fe and other point West and Southwest.
Westport was a larger and more important town, and Kansas City was called
Westport landing.
I found the place full of emigrants on their way to Kansas. The accommo-
dations were very poor, and inadequate for the emigrants pouring in. Col. S.
W. Eldridge had leased a building on the levee for a hotel, called the "Union
Hotel." I was unable to secure a bed at the hotel, but was allowed to spread
blankets on the floor for myself and family. S. C. Pomeroy was stopping at the
hotel, and was acting as agent for the New England Emigrant Aid Company.
At the suggestion of Mr. Pomeroy, Jones and myself crossed the Missouri
river to seek a boarding-place in Clay county. We went some eight miles, to a
farm owned by Thomas Wood, a pro-slavery man, who owned several slaves, and
engaged board for ourselves and families. We then returned to Kansas City,
and had them removed there.
During our stay at this place, I found a very bitter feeling existing in the
neighborhood against all Northern men, whom they regarded as abolitionists
and dangerous characters. Mr. Jones, who was a pro-slavery man, was treated
with great consideration, while I, being a free-state man, although a Democrat,
was looked upon with suspicion and as an intruder. I failed to secure their confi-
dence, or even the privilege of association with them on friendly terms.
Our constant bill of fare while boarding with Mr. Wood consisted of fresh
pork, corn-bread, and potatoes, except game I killed, and Mrs. Wood refused to
cook for fear I would remain. While I was accustomed to this diet, our wives
and children were unable to endure or support themselves on this unalterable or
unchangeable menu, and implored us to seek another boarding-house. Finally
Mr. Jones and myself concluded to visit Parkville and see if we could find some
employment there. Jones wanted to rent a hotel at that place, and I consented
to join him in the enterprise. We started with our guns and my pointer dog,
which I had brought to scent turkeys. After a long and tiresome walk to the
town, we were unable to find any business within the capital we possessed in
which to engage. We returned to our families and decided to move them to
Westport. Jones found a boarding-house in the town, and I secured board for
my family about one mile from Westport, with an old farmer by the name of Ja-
cob Ragan, a Kentuckian. They remained at this place until April, 1855.
In the early part of December, 1854, Jones, myself, and another young man,
whose name I do not remember, made a trip into the territory. We passed
through the town site of Lawrence, which had recently been located, and spent
one night in a large tent, used for a hotel. The tent had two apartments sepa-
rated by goods boxes; one for the women, the other for men. Every person
TAKING THE CENSUS IN 1855. 229
was required to furnish his own bed and bedclothing, which consisted of blankets
spread upon straw laid upon the ground. The bill of fare consisted of bread,
bacon, and very black, strong coffee, without cream or milk. We were kept
awake the greater part of the night by a noisy discussion as to the policy proper
to pursue in order to make Kansas a free state and drive out of the territory the
pro-slavery men who had invaded Kansas for the purpose of forcing slavery upon
her people. Among those who spent the night in this tent was Sam. Wood, and
he appeared to be the loudest talker and the most emphatic in his denunciation
of Southern men. Mr. Wood afterward became quite prominent in the troubles
that followed the settlement of the territory, and was killed a few years ago in
the western part of the state on account of a county-seat fight, in which he was
the leader of one of the factions.
Lawrence had then just been selected by a party of free-state men as the site
for a future city. Everything was in a very crude condition. No permanent
houses had been erected, and the people were living in shacks and tents. The
country was wild and unsettled. A few cabins had been erected on preemption
claims in the vicinity of the town, principally on the Wakarusa river, which was
then regarded as the most desirable part of the territory.
We spent only one night in Lawrence, and the next day we went to the claim
of Judge Wakefield, some seven or eight miles west of Lawrence. The judge
had the best-improved place we had seen. His cabin was quite large and com-
fortable. He was a very prominent man, and had high political aspirations, and
was very fond of expounding his opinions on all subjects, as he had led himself
to believe he was not only thoroughly conversant with all of them, but that his
discussion of them was of deep interest to his listeners. The judge had written
a history of the Black Hawk war, and during our stay I am quite sure he related
to us the whole contents of his book. I have felt so convinced of this fact that
I have never had any desire to read his work.
Jones and I concluded to return to Westport, as we saw no opportunity to
secure a claim that suited us. After we reached Westport, Jones took charge
of the post-office for A. G. Boone, postmaster, and I returned to Mr. Ragan's
aad rejoined my family. Mr. Ragan was one of the original town company of
Kansas City, owning one-fifteenth interest in the town site. He offered to sell
me his interest for $300, which I then thought was an extravagant price, but
have since learned was a lost opportunity to become a miliiooaire.
I made frequent visits to Shawnee Mission, some two miles west of town, and
formed the acquaintance of Governor Reeder and the other territorial officers.
Daniel Woodson was secretary; L B. Donalson, United States marshal; J. B.
Cramer, treasurer; Samuel D. Lecompte, chief justice, and Rush Elmore and
S. W. Johnston, associate justices; A. J. Isacks, attorney-general, and John A.
Halderman, the governor's private secretary. I found Governor Reeder very
conservative in his political views. Although he was a free-state Democrat, he
was disposed to act fairly towards the pro slavery party, and was in favor of al.
lowing the question of slavery to be settled by an honest vote of the people. He
was surrounded by men who were very bitter towards the free-state sentiment,
and who were determined by fair or foul means to make Kansas a slave state.
So intense was this feeling that it was unsafe for a free-state man to venture any
opinions in opposition. Governor Reeder fully realized the situation, and under-
stood the danger he would encounter by any open expression of his sentiments.
He found that I fully indorsed his political views and was a Douglas Democrat,
and he was very frank in explaining to me the dangers and difficulties he ex-
pected to encounter.
230 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
I had an intimation from Governor Reeder's friends that in all probability
the territorial capital would be located at Pawnee, near Fort Riley, and in the
latter part of December, 185i, in company with Robert Klotz, Charles Albright,
and others, made a visit, by way of Leavenworth, to Fort Kiley. We traveled
in a two-horee team, and it required five days to make the trip. On our arrival
we were taken charge of by the officers stationed at the poet. I became the
guest of Capt. Nathaniel Lyon, of the Second infantry, for whom I formed a
strong friendship, which continued until his death, at the battle of Wilson
Creek, August 10, 1861. Col. Wm. Montgomery was in command at Fort Riley.
We found there was quite an excitement over the location of the capital, and
it was confidently claimed that Governor Reeder had decided upon Pawnee. We
found a number of Reeder's friends from Pennsylvania had already corije to the
post before we reached there, and they all apparently had come with the knowl-
edge that Pawnee was to be the capital. A town company had been organized,
consisting of Colonel Montgomery, Dr. Wm. A. Hammond, Captain Ljon, Doc-
tor Simmons, Lieutenant Long, Robert Wilson, and others. The site had been
surveyed and platted, and lots were being sold at fancy prices. Governor Reeder
had visited Fort Riley and indicated to the town company his intention to make
Pawnee the capital. As one of the conditions, he insisted upon the company se-
curing for him 160 acres of land adjoining the town site on the east side, which
had been selected as a preemption claim by Thomas Dixon. Repeated efforts
were made to purchase the land, but Mr. Dixon persistently refused to sell or
surrender his right to the claim. The boundary lines of the reservation had been
surveyed and established by Captain Lyon before the territory was opened to set-
tlement. The eastern boundary as then surveyed was about a mile west of Og-
den, and where it is at this time. When Pawnee was selected for a town site,
and as the future capital of Kaneas, it was necessary, in order to secure title to
the land, to make a resurvey of the eastern boundary of the reservation, eo
that the site would be outside the reservation. This changed the eastern line
from the place where it was first established, and where it is at this time, to a
line about one mile east of the fort. When it was found impossible to induce
Mr. Dixon to sell or surrender his right to the 160 acres, it was determined to
force him off the claim, and for that purpose another Eurvey of the reservation
was made, eo as to embrace this tract in the military reservation. In order to
accomplish this purpose, a line was run so as to exclude the town site but include
the Dixon land. This led to the appointment of a commission of officers by the
secretary of war, who, after an investigation, recommended that the lines of the
military reservation be reestablished according to the original eurvey. This or-
der was made and the lines fixed in accordance with the survey first made by
Captain Lyon.*
*Ttiis statement regarding the boundary lines of the Fort Riley military reservation and
the town site of Pawnee disagrees with that of Lemuel Knapp, as given to Thaddeus Hyatt,
January 5, 1857, and published in the Kansas Historical Society's first volume of Collections,
page 206:
"Pawnee is on the Kansas river, about one mile east of Fort Riley, between One Mile and
Three Mile creeks, and is now included in the military reservation, accordiuff to decision of the
president. Major Ogden laid out the military post known as Fort Riley in the summer of IS.'i;^.
Colonel Montgomery, who is a free-state man, was the second commander. He formed a mili-
tary reserve around the fort, and his imaginary boundaries embraced a space of eighteen miles
one way and nine the other. In the spring of 1854 the colonel was authorized by the War Depart-
ment to have the survey completed. The reservation, as then surveyed, was about eight miles
one way and four the other, mostly on- the nortii side of the Kansas river; Pawnee City site was
not included in the reserve, as then surveyed. The survey was run round north and east of the
town — as far east as two miles beyond Three Mile creek, and north of the river four miles. A
TAKING THE CENSUS IN 1855. 231
At this time there were some eight or ten rough buildings erected on the town
site and a stone building, the walls of which are still standing, in which the first
territorial legislature met, July 2, 1855, and adjourned in a few days after to Shaw-
nee Mission. All persons living upon the town site were ordered by Coloi el
Cooke, commanding officer at Fort Riley, to remove themselves and effects within
a limited time, and those who failed to comply with the order were driven off
by the soldiers. In coneequence of Colonel Montgomery's connection with Paw-
nee, and his order to change the reservation lines, charges were preferred
against him, upon which he was tried, convicted, and dismissed from the army.
During my stay at the post, I made short excursions into the country. Among
other places, I visited Clark's creek with a party of several others. We rode in a
two horse wagon, and when we reached the bluff on the east side of the fort it
required the united efforts of the horses and men to pull and shove the wagon
up the steep road. On our return, after blocking the wheels, we attached a rope
to the rear end of the wagon, to which we all hung, so as to let the wagon down
in safety. I selected a claim some two miles south of Fort Riley, where Waldo
Clark now lives.* Subsequently I abandoned it, and located a claim at the
mouth of Lyon's creek. At this time no settlement had been made on any of the
public land in the vicinity of Fort Riley.
I returned to Westport after an absence of about two weeks, and found a
daughter had been added to the family, born on the 2ith of December, 1851.
We named her Mary Josephine. She is now the wife of Geo. W. McKnight.f
and is the mother of four living children. They were married November 4, 1875.
I made a second trip to Fort Riley in January, 1855. I was accompanied by
two men from Missouri. We had a two-horse wagon and carried our provisions
and bedding, and had to camp out, as there were no places where travelers were
entertained outside the Indian reservations.
On my former visit Captain Lyon bad given me a very glowing description of
a creek some six miles west of the fort, which I afterwards named Lyon creek,
and I determined to visit it. After reaching E'ort Riley we crossed the Kansas
river, and followed up the stream until we struck the bluff, and reaching the
summit we had to drive around a number of ravines, which made the distanciB at
least twice as far as it would have been if we could have crossed them. I pre-
sume this was the first team that ever traveled this route. It took a whole day
to reach the bluff overlooking the valley of Lyon creek, from which we obtained
an extended view of the valley. We could see the creek for several miles. The
bottoms we estimated would average a mile in width, and the stream was fringtd
number of Irish families were settled on the Three Mile creek, and it was said that the desire of
Colonel Montgomery to get them off induced him to extend the reservation in that direction,
and that lie intended afterwards to throw open to settlement the whole of the reservation east
of Oue Mile creek, which would have placed Pawnee City outside of the boundaries, beyond a
shadow of doubt."
" The papers relative to the proceedings of court-martial in the case of Bvt. Lieut. -col.
Wm. R. Montgomery, Philadelphia, 1858," should be examined to obtain a clear understanding
of the controversy.
* Lots 1 and 2 and south half southeast quarter section 5, township 11 south, range 6 east.
tGEOEGE W. McKnight was born in the province of Ontario, and when nineteen years old
made his way to Cleveland, Ohio. In 1871 he settled in Abilene, Kan., and helped organize the
Abilene Bank. In 1872 he moved to Junction City, and became assistant cashier of the First
National Bank. In 1878 he quit banking, and for three years engaged in the lumber business.
For two years he was cashier of the Merchants' National Bank of Kansas City, Missouri. He re-
turned to Junction City and was made president of the First National Bank, which position he
still retains. In 1877 and 1878 he was mayor of Junction City. He served as state senator for
the counties of Geary, Riley and Wabaunsee in the sessions uf 1901 and 1903. He served also as
president of the board of education of Junction City for six years. He indulges also in farming.
232 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
with timber as far as we could see. The valley lay between high bluflfs, formed
of magnesian limestone. We were quite delighted with the beautiful and rich
country we had discovered, and I determined to select a claim on this creek and
make it my home. We drove our team down the bluff, and camped for the night
at a, little stream where Theodore Jones and Thomas Morris afterwards located.
In ihe morning, after a hearty breakfast, we went to the mouth of Lyon creek
and, crossing it, I found a heavy body of timber between the creek and the river,
and decided to locate at that place. My claim included the mouth of the creek.
1 made arrangements with two men to put up a rough cabin in the timber, and
directed them to complete it as early as practicable, intending to move my family
from Missouri to the claim in the spring.
I returned to Westport and joined my family, where I left them, at Mr.
Ragan's. I was employed by the Pawnee Town Company to hire men to erect a
stone building to be used as a warehouse for the reception and storage of goods.
It was then supposed the Kansas river was navigable and that steamboats would
make regular trips, and that a warehouse was necessary for the traffic that
would grow up at that place. I went to Kansas City and in a short time engaged
about twenty men, hired a team, and bought the necessary provisions for the
trip. I accompanied the men to Pawnee and they were all put to work on the
building. A number of these afterwards selected claims and located in this part
of the territory; among the number Mr. Badger, who preempted a quarter-
section of land some eight or ten miles up the Republican river.
During this trip to Fort Riley, in company with Captain Lyon, I visited my
claim on Lyon creek. After an examination of the surrounding country, we
concluded that a town would grow up near the mouth of the creek, and we se-
lected for that purpose a tract of land east of the creek and the claim I had lo-
cated, and organized a town company, with Dr. Wm. A. Hammond as president,
and Capt. N. Lyon, secretary. We named the town Chetolah.* The land was
soon after surveyed by Abram Barry and G. F. Gordon, but, like many other
prospective cities, it failed to materialize. There was never a house built upon it.
When I returned to Missouri Governor Reeder sent me a message to call upon
him at Shawnee Mission. He asked me if I would accept the appointment of
census-taker for the seventh and eighth districts, which embraced all the terri-
tory west of Fort Riley and south of the Kansas and Smoky Hill rivers, and ex-
tending east to the Wakarusa river.f The governor informed me that he had
offered the appointment to young Donalson, a son of Marshal Donalson, but he
had declined to accept for fear of incurring the displeasure of the pro-slavery
element if he made a fair and honest return of the voters, as he knew they would
insist upon a much larger number than could be found. At " 110," near the
present city of Burlingame, at the election for delegate for Congress, held No-
vember 29, 1854, there were reported 597 votes for Gen. J. W. Whitfield, the pro-
slavery candidate. This was more than twice the number of votes he received
at any other voting-place in the territory, and it was evident that a great fraud
had been perpetrated by stuffing the ballot box with fictitious votes. Governor
Reeder informed me that I would probably meet with trouble at this place, if I
consented to take the census, as some of the worst characters in the territory,
led by Fry McGee, had settled there. I consented to accept the appointment,
*In sections 25 and 26, township 12 south, range 5 east.
tSee appointment of James R. McCIuro, February 12, 1855. (Executive Minutes of Governor
Reeder, paye 247, volume 8, Collections Kansas State Historical Society.) District No. 7 was
the neighborhood of " 110," and district No. 8 was Council Grove. Captain McClure was regis-
tered in the ninth district, the census-taker for that district being Martin F. Conway. (Pages
86 and 87, Report of Committee on Kansas Affairs, 1856.)
TAKING THE CENSUS IN 1855. . 233
and assured the governor I would endeavor faithfully to discharge my duty and
make an honest and correct report of the inhabitants of the district. I secured
a good riding horse, a revolver, hatchet, blankets, and lariat rope, and went to
Fort Riley to commence work. There were no roads, and I had to select my
route from a rough map and the best information possible from the officers and
employees at Fort Riley.
Early in the morning of February — , 1855, I started from the post, intending
to follow the valley of Clark's creek until I reached the divide, then cross over to
the Neosho, and from there to Council Grove. It was a very cold, damp day,
enow was falling, and the wind was in my face. I had learned that there was
one settler on Clark's creek, and after some effort I found his cabin. As near as
1 can locate the place at this time, it was just below the mouth of Humboldt.
The name of the settler was Joab Spencer. He claimed to be a lawyer, from
Louisiana. I should judge he was sixty years old. He was alone, and the only
resident I could find until I reached the head waters of the creek. After warm-
ing myself at his generous fire and inquiring the way to Council Grove, I again
mounted my horse and started up the creek. In some way I lost the main valley,
and followed up one of the branches until I became satisfied I had lost my
course. I then tried to find my way by crossing the bluffs; but I became
so bewildered by the numerous ravines and bluffs, that I lost all hope of ever
extricating myself from the unfortunate situation in which I was placed. I
had to stop several times and kindle a fire and get warm. I wandered from one
blviff to another until towards evening, when I determined, if possible, to return
to Fort Riley, remain over night, and take a new start in the morning. I was so
confused and disheartened that I lost all confidence in myself, and was unable to
decide the right direction to the fort. I at last followed down a small stream
until I came to its mouth, and then traveled down the larger creek until I reached
the river, which I crossed, and spent the night with Captain Lyon.
The next morning I again mounted my horse and started on my journey, deter-
mined to follow up the larger stream, knowing it would take me in the direction
of Council Grove. The weather continued very cold, and the air was filled with
fine snow; the wind was strong, and, as I had to face it, I became chilled, and
was anxious to find some sheltered place where I could build a fire and thaw my-
self. After going some eight or ten miles up the creek, I observed smoke in the
timber on the opposite side of the stream, and I decided to find what caused it.
I hitched my horse to some brush, and crossed a short distance in the timber. I
was assailed by a yelping pack of dogs, which threatened, by their savage howls
and rushes, to tear me to pieces. Soon after I saw several Indians, covered with
1 heir blankets, approaching from the place where I had seen the smoke. I con"
tluded to make a hasty retreat without further investigation. I retraced my
steps as rapidly as possible, and after mounting my horse rode at a rapid gait
until I felt assured I was not followed by the Indians.
Some ten miles north of Council Grove I came to a dugout and found a rough,
simple-minded young man living in it. I asked permission to spend the night
with him, as I feared it was too far to Council Grove to reach it before dark.
He reluctantly consented. I found on entering the dugout he had no provisions,
except some parched corn and a quart of New Orleans molasses. The place was
unfinished and full of dirt and filth. He had a fire in the middle of the floor
but no chimney for the escape of smoke. I prevailed upon him to let me have a
few ears of corn for my horse — neither myself nor horse had had anything to
eat since leaving Fort Riley, and it is unnecessary to say we were both hungry.
I partook of the parched corn and molasses in company with this mysterious
234 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
man, and tried to draw him out in conversation, but he persistently refused to
talk, and I was unable to learn anything of his history. I had eome misgivings
as to spending the night with him, but there was no alternative unless I ventured
to reach Council Grove in the dark and cold, without knowing the route. So I
picketed my horse near the dugout, and, with my pistol strapped on my body,
rolled myself in my blankets and slept as well as I could until morning. I after-
ward learned that the man with whom I stayed was demented and lived the life
of a hermit. He shunned society, and preferred to reside in caves and holes
where he would be alone and avoid all intercourse with his fellow men.
I felt relieved when daylight appeared, and at once saddled my horse and
started for Council Grove, which I reached about noon. 1 stopped with T. S.
Huffaker, who was in charge of a mission school established in 1850 for the
Kansas tribe of Indians. Council Grove was then in the reservation set apart
for this tribe. It was on the Santa Fe trail and the last place at which supplies
could be procured west of Independence or Westport. Seth M. Hays established
an outfitting store at that place in the fall of 1847, and kept for sale all kinds of
goods needed by the constant stream of teamsters who followed this old trail.
He pade large profits on his goods and had accumulated quite a fortune. I was
very pleasantly entertained by Mr. Huffaker during my two days' stay at Coun-
cil Grove, and was interested in observing his method of teaching the Indian
children who attended his school. The children appeared very dull and unwill-
ing to be taught, and he had frequently to use the sign language to enable them
to understand their lessons. I learned that it was regarded a degradation for an
Indian to become educated and speak the English language. They lost caste in
the tribe and were looked upon as inferior beings. Those who could talk our
language were used by the chiefs and warriors as interpreters, and treated
with great contempt. I observed subsequently that these educated Indians felt
their inferiority and manifested a great dislike to be used as interpreters. Mr.
Huffaker told me that all his efforts and arguments failed to have any effect in
removing the deep-seated prejudice of the Indians against receiving an education.
The only settlement in the eighth district was at Council Grove, with the ex-
ception of two or three settlers outside the reservation. No claims had been
taken on the Neosho river as far south as the present city of Emporia. Those
living at Council Grove were employed by the United States in various occupa-
tions connected with the Indians or engaged in trade with the Santa Fe trail.
The total number of inhabitants in the eighth district was eighty-three, includ-
ing ten slaves, one of whom was owned, as I now recall, by C. Columbia, the
government blacksmith for the Kansas Indians. There were fifty-six males,
twenty-seven females, and thirty-nine voters.
After completing my work at Council Grove, I left early in the morning for
"110." I followed the Santa Fe trail, and some eight miles from the Grove
stopped at the cabin of a Mr. Baker, on Rock creek. He was at that time the
only settler between Council Grove and "110." After leaving his place, I was
followed by two Indians on foot for a distance of several miles. I urged my
horse to a trot, and then canter, but the Indians increased their pace and ap-
peared determined to bear me company. They were painted, had bows and tom-
ahawks strapped upon them, and I was apprehensive they intended to waylay
or rob me. I tried to ascertain their purpose in following me, but all my efforts
were in vain. They either did not understand me or were not willing to let me
know their object. My pistol was in easy reach and I was careful to let them
see I was prepared to defend myself. I had nothing to offer them except some
tobacco, and this they cheerfully accepted. After keeping by my side for some
TAKING THE CENSUS IN 1855. 235
six or eight miles they suddenly turned oflF on a trail, probably leading to their
camp. From my subsequent knowledge of the Indians I am satisfied they did
not intend to harm me, but to scare me out of such presents as they were able
to get from me.
The weather continued to get colder and I made as fast time as possible, so
as to reach "110" before night, and, after being thoroughly chilled and nearly
worn out, I arrived just about dark. I stopped at a saloon owned by Fry P. Mc-
Gee, who was the leader and recognized head of the pro-slavery element in that
part of the territory. There were some ten or twelve rough characters in the sa-
loon when I entered. I determined to make myself as agreeable ag possible and
avoid any trouble with these men, and especially with McGee, who had been
represented to me as a very desperate and quarrelsome man, and in order to pro-
pitiate them I invited the crowd to the bar and called for the drinks. I could
observe that they were all more or less intoxicated. After a short time McGee
asked me my name and the object of my visit, and wanted to know if I was
"sound on the goose." I told him I had been appointed to take the census of
that district and wanted his assistance and advice; that I was a Democrat and
considered myself "sound on the goose." When he found that my appointment
had been made by Governor Reeder he charged me with being an abolitionist and
one of Reeder's spies. He said he had a list of the voters in the precinct and
would furnish it, so as to save me all trouble in looking them up.* I told him I
would be very glad to examine his list, but as I had plenty of time I wanted to
visit the people and obtain information as to their nationality, age, etc., which
was necessary to complete my report. McGee answered that no d — d Yankee
would be permitted to spy around the place or take the names of the settlers and
voters unless under his supervision,
I found it useless to argue the question with him, and endeavored to divert
the conversation to some other subject. I could see he was determined to get
me into a quarrel, and I used all the diplomacy in my power to avoid it. The
most effectual way I found was to get him drunk, which I succeeded in doing
without any great effort. I determined to find out as well as I could the num-
ber of persons in the place and surrounding country, and this I did without
much difficulty frcm a free-state man who was stopping at the place, and from
whom I ascertained there were but three or four settlers outside of " 110," and
as all the residents of the latter place visited the saloon from time to time, I
could easily count them. McGee finally became so drunk that he was unable to
walk without assistance, and I helped him to his residence. There I found
several of hi^ friends, including a younger brother, James McGee, who regarded
me with evident distrust, and treated me as an unwelcome guest.
A short time after we reached the house, a two-horse team drove to the do(T,
and Charles Albright and S. B. White alighted and came into the house. They
appeared to be in almost an exhausted condition; they said they had lost their
way on the prairie and had been wandering over the country for two days at-
tempting to find some settlement; that they had run out of provisions and were
nearly famished. Albright was from Pennsylvania, to which state he subse-
quently returned, and was elected to Congress. S. B. White afterwards located
near Ogden, and from there came to Junction City, where he continued to re-
side and practice law to the time of his death.
*The report of the special committee on the troubles of Kansas, 1856, contains the names of
607 voters who voted at the electiun of November 29, 1854, at " 110." ( Pages 50-56.) Page 86 of
the same report gives the names of fifty-two voters found by Captain McClure at " 110" in Feb-
ruary, 1855.
286 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
After we had supper and were warming ourselves by the fireplace, young
McGee asked Albright if he was the man who attempted to preempt a claim on
Switzler creek. Albright said he had some days before selected a tract of land
on that creek and laid the foundation for a house, but had since concluded to
abandon it and locate in another part of the territory. McGee answered that no
d — d abolitionist would be permitted to settle in that part of the country; that
all the lands were intended for the pro-slavery men and there was no room for
any d — d Yankees. Albright tried to convince that he did not want the claim
and had already selected another one near Ogden, where Mr. White had located.
McGee said he intended to preempt the 160 acres on Switzler creek on which
Albright had built a foundation and it would be dangerous for any Yankee to
interfere with his claim. Albright told him he was willing to give a relinquish-
ment of all his right and title to the land, and requested him to draw up a
written agreement to that effect. McGee made several attempts to write a re-
linquishment, but failed to word one to suit him. I volunteered to write one
that I thought would be sufficient, but he was not satisfied with it, and insisted
we were trying to fool him. I requested him to dictate such a paper as would
be satisfactory, and this he could not do. I became angry at his repeated in-
sults during this controversy, and finally said to him that while we desired to
avoid any quarrel or trouble there was a limit to our patience. I told him that
Mr. Albright had offered to do all in his power to surrender hie claim to the land
on Switzler creek, and if he would not except the offer, nothing further could be
done, and if I was in Albright's place, I would make no further attempt to
satisfy him.
McGee then turned to me and asked if I desired to take up the quarrel. I
told him there had never been any quarrel on our part and that we were anxious
to avoid one, but I had come prepared to defend myself, and if it became necessary
would do so. McGee then said that we had not been invited to the house, and
we had better leave and seek shelter somewhere else. I answered that if I knew
of any other place to go I would cheerfully do so, but to go out in the storm at
that time of night without knowing where we could find a house to stop at would
be suicide, and that I proposed to stay all night even if I had to fight for it. Fry
McGee during this time was in a drunken stupor and took no part in our contro-
versy. After a good deal more talk, in which young McGee indulged in many
vile epithets against us and Yankees in general, I concluded it was time to find
some place to sleep, and inquired of those in the house where we could find a place
to spend the night. One of the men said if we would follow him he would try to
show us a room. He conducted us to a vacant log cabin without furniture of any
kind or even a fireplace or stove. The three of us spread part of our blankets on
the floor and covered ourselves with the balance, placed our revolvers under our
heads, and spent the night as well as we could with the dread of assassination
constantly in our thoughts, awake or asleep.
We arose early in the morning and determined to leave just as soon as we
could get off. I met Fry McGee and endeavored to obtain the names of the per-
sons I found at "110."* He refused to give me their names or answer any quee-
* By C. R. Green, historian, Lyndon, Osage county : " 110 Ceos9Ing."— So named about 184P,
from the fact that at this stream, the most important tributary of the Osage river from the
n'irth, 110 miles from the Sibley landing, east of Independence, on the Missouri river, tlie
Santa Fe trail from the east came down off the divide, crossed the stream, and from its west
bank the Mormon trail diverged, bearing away in a northwesterly direction across the Kansas
river and up the Republican valley, while the Santa Fe trail bore westward, with Switzler's
crossing the next station, and Council Grove beyond.
"110 Crossing" is in the southeast quarter of section 1, township 15, range 16, Osage county.
It is easily found, being two and one-haif miles east of Scranton, a town on the Santa Fe rail-
TAKING THE CENSUS IN 1855. 237
tions concerning them. All the other parties declined to give me any information,
except one who claimed to be a free-state man, and from him I got all the data I
was able to obtain. From his statement, and my own observation, I found, as
near as I could approximate, 118 residents in the seventh district — eighty-two
males, thirty-six females, and fifty-two persons entitled to vote.
The distance from "110" to Lawrence, where I intended to go, was about
forty miles. The weather was very cold, and the high wind filled with particlt s
of snow was blowing from the northeast, but I preferred to face the severe
weather, rather than remain at McGee's place. I left about nine o'clock in the
morning, following the Santa Fe trail, and riding at a rapid gait. The wind in-
creased and the cold became more intense. The flakes of snow appeared as frozen
particles of ice, and cut my face so that I had to cover it with my blanket, and
guide my horse as well as I could in order to keep the road. The wind penetrated
through my clothes until I became chilled, and was hardly able to keep my seat
in the saddle. My horse also became coverfd with ice and snow and refused to
go faster than a walk. The road was on a high ridge, with an open prairie on
each side, as far as I could see, and the merciless wind had free sweep against
my person. I was then some thirty miles from Lawrence, and knew of no place
where I could secure shelter until I reached there; I finally dismounted and led
my horse, with my back against the wind, and walked backwards for near three
miles, when I observed a cluster of timber some two miles to the north, to which
I walked my horse.
When I reached the timber I was completely exhavisted, and benumbed to
such an extent that I had lost the use of my fingers. I found a fallen tree, and
with my feet I kicked some leaves into a heap against it and then tried to light a
fire. I was unable to hold a match between my fingers and had to grasp them
in my hand, using several at a time. The wind would blow them out before I
could apply them to the leaves. I had with me a full box of matches, and I
wasted nearly all of them before I was able to start a fire. I felt that I was
freezing, and unless I succeeding in igniting the leaves I would never be able to
see my wife and children again. After the fire started in the leaves I pushed
with my feet some dry twigs on top of them, and then some larger limbs on the
twigs, until I succeeded in getting a good fire. Here I remairied until I became
thoroughly warmed. My horse appeared to enjoy the fire as much as myself,
and would stand as close to it as possible. After I had thawed, and once more
felt able to renew my journey, I mounted my horse and followed down the branch
where I had stopped until I struck the Wakarusa river, and then down the river
to Lawrence, where I arrived after dark, and remained there over night.
The next day I reached Westport, and at once went to where my family were
way. At the present day, as seventy-five years ago, the public travel follows a diagonal road
from northeast to southwest through a part of section 1, crossing about the same place on a
bridge as forty-seven years ago, when McGee put in his first bridge. It is one of the two well-
known permanent trail markers of Osage county ; Santa Fe avenue of the city of Burlingame,
which was founded in about 1856, at Switzler's crossing, being the second.
A white man by the name of Richardson married a Shawnee squaw and settled here, open-
ing up a little farm in the late '4G's or early '50's. Fry P. McGee and family, of Westport, Wo.,
journeying to Oregon and back in 1849-'50, recognized the commercial value of such a location
near the north line of the Sac and Fox reservation, andjbought him out. I believe Richardson
had a partner, also a "squaw man." No other could move here on the Shawnee reservation
until it was opened for settlement. July, 1854, Fry P. McGee, wife and three daughters came
here. Mr. McGee died September 19, 1861. I believe his widow is yet alive in their old Kansas
City home. One daughter, Mrs. Sophia Berry, lives in Burlingame. Another daughter, America,
married Wm. D. Harris, who settled on part of the McGee farm in 1857, and lived there until
1870. Some of his children live in the county yet.
In the territorial election of November 29, 1854, "110" voting precinct, one of only some
238 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
stopping. The next day I called on Governor Reeder, at Shawnee Mission, and
submitted my report. The governor informed me that M. W. McGee had just
seen him and entered complaint against me, claiming that I had not properly
taken the census of the Seventh district, and had failed to enumerate all the
voters. I told the governor I would be very glad to see Mr. McGee in his pres-
ence and explain to him the manner of my treatment by his brother, Fry McGee,
at "110." A messenger was sent for M. W. McGee, who very soon made his ap-
pearance, when I gave him a full account of all that occurred at "110" during
my visit. I informed him that, as far as possible, I had returned in my report
all the residents that could be found in the district, and if any were omitted it
was certainly not my fault, but the blame should be attached to his brother, who
had refused to give me any assistance, and forbade me to take the names of
those found at his place. McGee was very sullen, and expressed great indigna-
tion at the treatment of the pro-slavery men by the census-takers, indicating
there was an attempt fraudulently to conceal their strength in the territory.
At the election held on March 30, 185.5, M. W. McGee was a pro-slavery can-
didate for representative, and received 210 votes in the seventh district, while
H. Rice, the free-state candidate, received twenty three. There is no doubt that
at least three-fourths of the votes counted for McGee were fraudulent. Governor
Reeder refused to give him a certificate of election, and called another election
for that district, to bo held for May 22, 1855. At that election seventy-nine
votes were cast — sixty-six for the free-state candidate, but McGee was declared
the duly elected member by the legislature when it convened.
I remained at Mr. Ragan's home two or three weeks, and made frequent visits
to Kansas City. At that time the road was almost impassable. The heavy freight
wagons had cut deep ruts, and in places the mud was so deep that teams had to
turn off into the fields in order to get through. There was great excitement over
the settlement of Kansas, and wherever I went the question of making the terri-
tory slave or free was the absorbing topic. Nearly all the residents of Westport
were in favor of slavery, while there was quite a number of the citizens of Kan-
sas City in favor of a free state.
Immigrants were constantly arriving on steamboats, most of them from the
free states. They would only remain* long enough to procure teams for trans-
portation and supplies, and then move over the line into Kansas. It was a con-
stant source of irritation to the Missourians to see the stream of Northern men
pouring into the territory, and all kinds of threats were made against the invasion
of a country which they claimed belonged to Southern men, and of right should
be settled by them with their slaves.
I had always been a Democrat, but favored making Kansas a free state. I
found it was useless to argue with these violent and unreasonable men. Ac-
cording to their code there were but two parties, one that favored slavery and
the other abolitionists, and every one who was opposed to slavery in their opinion
seventeen in the territory, gained an unenviable reputation. Horace Greeley, in his history,
even choosing it of all Kansas voting-places to show the great disregard of law and order that
the pro-slavery forces of Missouri had, coming here the day before [election and casting 587
fraudulent votes out of a total of 607.
Mr. McQee was determined from the first that no abolitionist should settle on the "110"';
but with a rough exterior, a slave-owner, and quite partizan in politics, the early settlers in
time found him to be kind-hearted, honest, and never known to shed blood. In 1856 it was
known as Richardson post-office. No less than three towns were projected, boomed and went
to the wall in the first twelve years in and about this place, viz. : Prairie City, Washington,
and Versailles. At least two of these had a number of settlors and lots of history. Members of
the family still own land there, and Harris's old stage station and stone barn yet stand, monu-
ments to the departed glory of " 110 Crossing."
TAKING THE CENSUS IN 1855. 239
was an abolitionist. I became especially obnoxious to most of the persons I met,
and I felt a constant watch was kept upon me by a number of parties in West-
port and Kansas City. It was known that I made frequent visits to Governor
Reeder; that he had appointed me to take the census of the seventh district,
and that I had refused to return the list of fraudulent voters which Fry McGee
had prepared for me.
Mr. Ragan and his family had become very much attached to my wife and
children, and particularly to the baby born in their house, and although they
were in sympathy with the slavery element they did not want any harm to hap-
pen tome. Mr. Ragan in strict confidence informed me that I was in constant
danger, and advised me to be as discreet as possible in «11 I did or said. He told
me several persons accused him of harboring a Yankee family, and intimated it
was for his interest to get clear of them; and further, if he failed to do so they
would relieve him of the trouble. After this warning I tried in every way to
avoid conversation with any one, and when the slavery question was broached
took occasion to leave the person or party who started it in ae quiet a way as
possible.
At this time Milton McGee owned a farm west of Kansas City, and kept a
small tavern in a two-story frame house. I had frequently stopped at his place
in going and returning from Weetport to Kansas City. He was a very hospitable
man, and alwajs kept a decanter of whisky on the table in the hotel oflfice, and
invited every one who called to take a drink. I had become well acquainted with
him, and, by avoiding to controvert his political views, obtained, as I supposed,
his friendship. But after my return from taking the census, and he learned of
the complaints made against me by his brothers, he was very abusive and violent
toward me, and I found it impossible to explain my conduct or vindicate myself.
He charged me with being an abolition spy, employed by Reeder to defraud the
pro-slavery men of their just rights. I found he had prejudiced a great many of
bis friends and acquaintances to such an extent that I was looked upon with
suspicion and distrust. I ascertained some years after that a party of pro-slavery
men had conspired to mob me, and either compel me to leave the state or suffer
a worse fate, and that they were only prevented from carrying out their plot by
the interference of Mr. Ragan and some of his friends, who persuaded them to
abandon their purpose, as it was my intention to move my family into Kansas ae
soon as the weather would permit.
The land that Milton McGee then lived upon as a farm is now a part of Kan-
sas City, and is all boilt up and occupied by costly houses. In 1861, when the
Second regiment of Kansas volunteers were stationed at Kansas City for a short
time, before joining the army of General Lyon, in southwest Missouri, the regi-
ment was encamped on McGee's land, and the officers boarded with him. After
the commencement of the civil war McGee became a good Union man, and used
all his influence to put down the rebellion.
I made another trip to Fort Riley, for the purpose of preparing my cabin so
it would be ready to occupy when I moved my family. I found quite a number
of persons had located at Pawnee, and several houses had been erected. John
• T. Price had constructed a stone building for a grocery store; Lemuel Knapp, a
log cabin for a place of entertainment; the stone warehouse had been finished,
and probably twenty or thirty rough structures for temporary residences had
been built.
It was confidently believed by all persons interested in the town that it would
be the permanent capital of Kansas, and lots were selling for high prices and ad-
vancing in value every day. I ventured at this time to object to the location on
240 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
account of the narrow strip of land between the river and the bluffs not afford-
ing sufficient land suitable to build upon, and also for the reason that I antici-
pated trouble would result from a change of the boundary of the military
reservation. I represented that the present site of Junction City was a far more
eligible location; that there was ample room for a large city; that it was just
above the junction of the Smoky Hill and Republican rivers, and would command
the trade of the valleys and their tributaries, and that in every respect it had al'
the advantages for a town site. I had passed over the land several times, and
the place impressed me as one of the most desirable locations for a city of any I
had seen in the territory. At that time there was no bridge or ferry over the
Republican river, and I don't think any member of the Pawnee Town Com-
pany had ever been on the present site of Junction City. At all events, it was
too late to change the location. If the company had first selected the land be
tween the two rivers, where Junction City was afterwards located, which would
have avoided the trouble that was caused by a change of the military reserva-
tion, it probably would have been selected and remained the capital of Kansas.
At this time a number of claims had been settled upon in the vicinity of Fort
Riley, and every day brought to the place many persons who were looking for
lands on which to locate.
I found that my cabin had been as far completed as practicable. It was
built of rough logs and covered with clapboards. It had no floor nor chimney.
It consisted of one room, about fourteen feet by sixteen feet in size, and ap-
peared to be a very undesirable place to bring my wife and children, but it was
the best I could provide at that time, and I concluded to move into it and try
to make it more comfortable afterwards.
I had procured a skiflf at Fort Riley and''taken it by wagon to the mouth of
Lyon creek, and, after my visit to the claim, the two men who had put up my
cabin and I concluded to return to Fort Riley in the skiff. We started early in
the morning, in high spirits, anticipating a pleasant ride to the fort, which we
expected to reach in two or three hours. No one can realize the crooks and
windings of the Smoky Hill river who has never passed through our experience.
We would row around one bend and, after reaching the end, could see the place
where we had started but a short distance above. It appeared we were travel-
ing in a circuit without gaining distance. As soon as we succeeded in passing
around one bend we encountered another. The river was very low, and we had
frequently to leave the skiff and shove it over the sand-bars. We all became
wet and worn out. We had no provisions with us and were hungry and mad. I
had my shotgun along, and suggested, in order to lighten the skiff, that I would
go ashore and walk some distance and try to kill a duck. With some reluctance
and distrust of my intention my companions consented. It was then three or
four o'clock in the afternoon.
When I reached the top of the bank and took a look at the country, I could
see that we were farther from Fort Riley than from the place we started, and
that we could not reach there before midnight. I made up my mind to desert
my friends and walk the balance of the waj to the fort, and let my companions
manage the skiff. I will confess, at this time, that my conscience was not quite
clear in adopting this course, and I had some doubt whether it was the right
thing to do, and if it would meet with the approval of the men in the skiff, but I
finally concluded it would in no way alleviate their distress by remaining with
them, and by walking it would lighten the load and enable them to make faster
time. I further reasoned that there was no use of three persons suffering the
discomforts of a ride on the river when one could escape it without any wrong to
TAKING THE CENSUS IN 1855. 241
the others. I therefore made a bee line for the fort, which I reached after night,
in a very dilapidated and forlorn condition both in mind and body. After a
hearty supper, I laid down in a comfortable bed in Captain Lyon's quarters.
Although I was tired and sleepy, I could not close my eyes or divest my mind of
the experience I had gone through and the fate of the poor men I had deserted.
In the solitude of my room my conscience annoyed me more than it had before,
and, with all my efforts to suppress my troubled thoughts, I failed to satisfy
myself that my conduct was altogether right and would meet the approval of
my friends. I struggled hard to divest my mind of these unwelcome thoughts
and go to sleep, but was unable to do so. In the fitful naps I fell into I had
frightful dreams, in which I could see my companions trying to extricate them-
selves from quicksand bars, when they had stepped from the boat to pull it over,
and gradually sinking, without the power to save themselves, or rushing over an
unforeseen fall, and the boat dashed to pieces against the protruding rocks; and
in their struggles I could hear them in bitter terms denouncing me as a coward
and traitor.
I remained in this unhappy state until about three or four o'clock in the morn-
ing, when I heard a loud tapping at my door. On opening it I saw two miserable
creatures, with their clothes torn nearly off their bodies, blood on their hands,
and covered with mud. I don't think leversaw twomorewobegoneand miserable
beings in my life. I knew they were not in condition nor in humor at that time
to explain the experience they had passed through since I left them, and, in order
to escape their reproaches and distract their attention, I suggested they must be
hungry, and I would endeavor to find them something to eat. I immediately
left the room and went to the kitchen, where I found an ample supply of bread
and meat, which I carried to the room. They were nearly famished, and in silence
devoured all the provisions brought them. After their meal was jBnished they
rolled themselves in blankets and laid down on the floor, where they slept until
the middle of the next day.
After they were in humor to talk they told me a tale of woe I have seldom
heard equaled. They said that after I left them they remained in the skiff and
rowed round innumerable bends of the river until late into the night; that they
were wet, hungry, and nearly worn out; they were unable to estimate the dis-
tance to Fort Riley, but it appeared to them the harder they worked the further
away it was. They finally concluded to abandon the skiff and attempt to find
their way to the fort. They tied the boat to a tree in the bend of the river, about
a mile above the mouth of the Smoky Hill, and then started through the timber
to reach the prairie. It was very dark, and they had to stumble through under-
brush, brier vines, grape-vines, and over fallen logs and other obstructions; that
the underbrush and briers had cut and lacerated them, and torn their clothes so
that they were nearly naked, and that it took them several hours to find their
way out of the timber, and that, after they did so, it was with great effort they
were able to drag themselves to the fort. I tried to extenuate my conduct in
leaving them as well as I was able, but have always thought they were not alto-
gether satisfied with my explanation.
Soon after this I left for Westport, for the purpose of moving my family and
effects to my claim. After I reached them, and in the month of April, 1855, I
hired two teams to haul my family and effects to my claim in Kansas. It was
with many misgivings that I left \yestport to take my wife and children to the
rude cabin in a wild and unsettled country, where I knew they would be de-
prived of all the comforts and even the necessities of life ; but as I had fully de-
termined upon making Kansas my home, and had selected the place where I
—17
242 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
intended to live, I had to make the move. It was with great reluctance the
Ragan family, and especially Mrs. Ragan, saw us start on our journey. She had
become very much attached to the baby, and she parted with it only after re-
peated hoggings and kisses, and the shedding of many tears.
We drove some fifteen miles the first day, and camped near a clear stream of
water. In the morning it was found that one of the horses had become lame
and unable to travel, and it was necessary for the driver to return to Missouri
and procure another horse, and we were compelled to remain in camp until his
return, which required two days.
During our stay. Gen. James H. Lane, with his family and effects loaded in
wagons, passed our camp, on his way to Lawrence. I had known Lane for a
number of years in Indiana, and was a member of his regiment (the Fifth In-
diana volunteers ) in the Mexican war. I also was candidate for district attorney
in 1852 on the Democratic ticket, when he was elected to Congress from the
fourth Indiana district, and assisted him in making a canvass of Franklin
county, in which I resided. Lane had became unpopular in Indiana. His term
in Congress had just expired, and he knew that his party would not renominate
him for another term. He was then in the vigor of manhood, ambitious, and
full of energy, and determined to seek a new field to gratify his irrepressible de-
sire for notoriety and leadership. He fully realized that Kansas was on the eve
of a desperate conflict, in which was to be decided whether she was to become a
free or slave state, and it was the place where a man of his temperament, love of
strife and great ambition could best succeed in securing what he most craved —
office and fame.
Lane had always been a Democrat, and I think intended at that time to support
the side of slavery, but was willing to espouse either cause that he found was most
likely to advance his political interests. He asked me many questions about the
different places I had visited; the advantages they possessed; their probable
growth in the future ; and especially as to the views of the people on the question
of slavery. Lane told me he had not fully determined where he would locate, but
was going to stop at Lawrence for some days and look around. He appeared to be
very much interested in my description of Fort Riley and the surrounding country,
and intimated he would make it a visit, and might decide to locate there. He also
spoke of Leavenworth, and said he would go there from Lawrence, and, if it suited
him, would probably locate there. He remained at my camp some two or three
hours and talked freely on all subjects except politics. He evidently had not then
decided on which side he would cast his fortune, as he carefully avoided any ex-
pression that would indicate the party he would support. Lane, as is well known,
made Lawrence his home, and remained there up to the time of his death. He
took a prominent part in the fierce and bloody struggle that ensued between the
free-state and pro-slavery parties. His life was one of constant strife and excite-
ment. His history is well known to every citizen of the state. No one in Kansas
has ever impressed his character so clearly and deeply upon the minds of her
people. His career was a stormy one, and his death a sad and tragic ending of
a disappointed and discontented man.
After the return of the man who went for a horse to replace the one that had
become lame our journey was resumed. Our way led through the Shawnee
reservation, and we found no settlement until we reached Lawrence, then a small
village of rough cabins and tents. We passed through a beautiful country — a
vast green prairie, untouched by the hand of man, dotted with fringes of timber
along the streams. Nothing unusual occurred on our journey.
We camped at the town of Tecumseh, settled by pro-slavery men, and which,
TAKING THE CENSUS IN 1855. 243
it was then thought, would become one of the prominent cities of Kansas.
It was about eight miles east of Topeka, and I concluded to walk from Tecumseh
there in advance of the teams. I started at four a. m., and after walking some
two or three miles I heard the barking of wolves some distance away. At first
the noise appeared to come from two or three, but as I advanced the number in-
creased, and they were evidently api)roaching nearer. I had heard and read of
men being pursued and devoured by these wild animals. I became thoroughly
frightened and feared there was no way of escape. I pulled my revolver from
the belt, cocked it, and started on a run, which I kept up until I came to what
is the present city of Topeka. During all this time the wolves followed close be-
hind me, their nvimber constantly increasing and their howls growing louder and
louder. It was a great relief when daylight appeared, and I reached a place of
safety. These wolves, I learned afterwards, are great cowards, and seldom
attack a man unless driven to do so by severe hunger, and then only when a
large pack is collected for that purpose. I did not know their cowardly na-
ture at the time, and fully expected to be torn to pieces. I will never forgf t
the terrible ordeal I passed through that morning, and the relief I felt when I
found myself safe from their attacks.
Topeka had been selected as a town site, and, if I remember, there was only
two or three rough shanties built near the river. We crossed the Kansas rivor
on a ferry at the Baptist mission, a few miles west of Topeka, and passed
through the Pottawatomie reservation on the north side of the river. There
were no white men on the reservation except those connected with the Indian
mission at St. Marys, which at that time contained quite a collection of houses
occupied by Indians, and white men employed by the government as storekeej)-
ers, mechanics, etc.
The Big Blue river was crossed at Dyer's ferry,* some six miles north of Man-
hattan. From there we passed through Fort Riley and over the site where
Junction City was afterwards located, and which has since become one of the
most prosperous and enterprising towns in the state. I then recognized its favor-
able location and advantages as the proper place to command the trade of the
two valleys that, just west of Fort Riley, united and formed the Kansas, and
was more than ever impressed with the great mistake made in the selection of
Pawnee for the capital of Kansas. I have always thought that if Governor
Reeder had located the capital at Junction "City it would always have remained
there. We reached a point on the bank of the Smoky Hill river opposite the
mouth of Lyon's creek in the evening, and the teams were unloaded at once:
My brother William, who had preceded me some days, waded the river, and we
consulted as to the best means of crossing rny family and effects over the stream.
* James Humphrey, of Junction City, writes: "The first election held in the territory in
1«55, for the first legislative assembly, for this election district, was appointed by Governor
Reeder to be held at the house of Samuel D. Dyer, at the crossing of the Big Blue river. The
Dyer family and that crossing have disappeared now many years ago, and I presume there are
very few people living in Riley county or this part of the state who know who Samuel D. Dyer
was, or on what part of the river he lived. Samuel D. Dyer was probably the first settler on
the Big Blue. He built a large log house on the east bank of that river before the organization
of the territory, about five miles above Manhattan. He established a ferry in 18.53 and kept a
sort of house of entertainment for travelers. The military road from Leavenworth to Fort Riley
crossed the river there at that time, and until Manhattan began to be settled, and a ferry was
established at the latter point. Dyer's was then the most prominent point in the region of
the Blue, and the focus of political interest in this locality. Dyer was appointed by Governor
Reeder as justice of the peace for Dyer township, Riley county. I knew Dyer and his family
when they lived at that place, but they disappeared many years ago. Dyer dying in February,
1875. The first settlers had to cross the river at Dyer's to get to Manhattan and the region
west of that stream, and many were entertained at his house."
24:4 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
There was no ferry-boat by which they could be crossed over. We found some
dry logs on the bank and pushed them into the river, and nailed across them
limbs of trees so as to form a raft. My wife and children were first safely taken
over, and then we had the goods carried across.
It was a dreary looking place to take a young wife and three children. A
rough log cabin with only one room, without floor, fireplace, furniture, or con-
veniences of any kind, in a wilderness, with no settlement nearer than Fort
Riley. I began to feel the mistake I had made in bringing my wife and children
to this desolate home, and to regret my mistake when it was too late to recall it.
I had no other home, was destitute of money, and all my worldly possessions
were brought to this place. Whatever may have been the thoughts of my young
wife, she did not reproach me nor make any complaints. She had been accus-
tomed to all the comforts and many of the luxuries of life — was only a girl at-
tending college when married — and, on her arrival at our new home, only twenty
years old. I was young, full of energy, and ambitious, and had no regrets on my
own account. I felt able to conquer all the obstacles and difficulties I would
have to encounter in my new life, and did not, as I have since, fully realize the
terrible ordeal this young wife would have to pass through. The longer I live
the more deeply I feel the great wrong inflicted upon her, and honor the noble
conduct of this brave little woman in quietly performing the hard duties imposed
upon her, and faithfully and without reproaches submitting to her fate. I wish
to confess my great fault, and let her children know that I have many times and
do now repent of the wrong I inflicted upon their loving mother. There are few
women who have endured the hardships she passed through during the time she
lived in Kansas.*
Our bedstead was made by boring holes in the logs of our cabin and driving
in small posts or timbers so as to form the legs; slats were then laid upon the
framework, and our bed placed upon them. Our tables and chairs (or rather
stools) were made of splitting a dry walnut log, and hewing and planing the
rough pieces until they answered the purpose. I even attempted to manufac-
ture a rocker, ornamented with various devices. When it was finished I felt a
*Mes. Hestee Pattison McCluee was a woman of eharming manners and lovely charac-
ter. She was much beloved by all who knew her in Junction City and Fort Riley, and quite
easily a leader in society in both places. She had been surrounded with every comfort in her
early home. No pains had been spared in her education, but her school-days ended at the age
of sixteen years. At that time she left the Wesleyan Female Institute, of Cincinnati, Ohio,
tUbn under charge of President Wilber, to become the wife of the young and promising lawyer,
James R. McClure. She thus entered upon a school of experience where the stronger and more
courageous, as well as the finer and more feminine, traits of character were to be developed and
strengthened.
Three children were born to them before she was twenty years old, and they had changed
their residence from an old state to a new, unsettled territory, much disturbed by the question
of slavery. Most of the money brought with them had been exhausted before the final choice
of a home was made, and, this being done, a change was impossible, oven if it had been thought
wise. Therefore this plucky little woman, who had never before felt the weight of responsi-
bility, resolved to hold that homestead of 160 acres of beautiful farming land, at whatever sacri-
fice. In the roughest kind of a log cabin, with the barest necessities in the way of furniture,
entirely cut off from church and social privileges, with her three little children to care for,
cooking, washing, everything in the way of household service to be done by her young, fair
hands, she yet retained her cheerfulness and courage, and her unbounded faith in her energetic,
much beloved husband's ability to bring final success out of all this toil and privation. To do
her part, she would remain to hold the homestead, while he earned money by attending court,
or land-office contests, in the town of Ogden, some fifteen miles distant. A few acres had been
broken up and planted to corn, and, being only partially fenced, the preservation of it from preda-
tory attacks of stray cattle and horses added much to her burdens.
But it was not alone toil, but danger, that beset her. Bands of ludians, not always friendly,
were continually coming and going through the country. Even the friendly ones would enter
TAKING THE CENSUS IN 1855. 245
great deal of pride in my haodiwork. I desired my wife to take the first
rock, as it was made expressly for her. I learned later that the rockers were
not BO placed as to preserve the proper equilibrium. After some hesitancy and
an examination of its construction she consented, but when she attempted to
test its rocking qualities and shoved herself back the rocker fell over and threw
her on the ground. Fortunately the rockers were broken and I never repaired
them. We had no stove nor fireplace, and at first had to build a camp-fire on
the outside of the cabin to cook our food. My brother and I soon constructed a
rude fireplace and chimney, built of stones and plastered with mud, and put it
(in Missouri style) on the outside of the building. We next split out slabs from
a dead tree and dressed them as well as we could and made a floor with them. The
cabin was made as comfortable as possible with the means and material we used.
The spaces between the logs were stopped with mud, aod through a great effort
I obtained some glass and a sash, and put a real window in the front part of the
cabin. I felt very proud of my work and viewed it with the eye of a connoisseur.
I have never since felt more pleasure in anything I have ever done. It was con-
structed under many difficulties and was the work of my own hands. I experi-
enced, only in a different way, the pride and satisfaction an artist takes when
he has completed a beautiful painting or piece of statuary.
I think it was on the 15th day of May that three old bachelors, Cobb, McCoy,
and Bean, selected a claim above mine, and where James Morris afterwards
lived. These men built a cabin where the Morris home now stands. They were
the first settlers, after me, who settled on Lyon creek. We found them very
pleasant and good neighbors, and frequently exchanged visits.
The next settler was Richard Chivers, who located a preemption on land now
owned by Robert Henderson, and his old cabin is still standing, having been
carefully preserved by Captain Henderson as a relic of the past. Chivers was
an English tailor, and he worked for the soldiers at Fort Riley. His card read :
"Richard Chivers, Oxford, Eng., tailor to his royal highness Prince Albert."
He was a very eccentric character and the subject of many practical jokes dur-
ing his residence in this part of Kansas, where he was out of place and never
should have come.
her cabin unasked, and always expected to be fed. Generously she shared with them her reserve
supplies, but the quantity was not always sufficient. Once, when her stock was short, and they
had greedily devoured what was set before them, without feeling their appetites appeased, they
became boisterous and threatening, and called loudly for more. Almost overcome with fear,
but with the thought of her little ones to keep alive her fainting courage, she determined to try
the potency of a determined mind and an assertion of confidence she by no means felt. Draw-
ing herself up proudly to her small height, she looked them sternly in the face, with flashing
eyes, and stamping her foot and pointing to the door, in imperious tones, she bade them "Go ! "
They hesitated, glowering upon her ; but she was unflinching in her manner, and, one by one, they
slunk away and departed. Another time she stampeded them when they became disagreeable
by pointing down the road and asserting that her husband was coming and would punish them.
They derisively said: "No white man come"; "No white man come." "Yes, yes," she an-
swered, and, running to the top of a knoll, gazed off into the distance. To her great surprise
and joy she saw a white man coming, and the Indians, seeing him also, made their way off.
These were friendly Indians, however, and from them she learned many Indian words, by which
she was able to converse intelligently with them. Some of them afterward visited her in her
Junction City home, and were delighted that she remembered them, and could call them by
name.
But there were other bands that went through the country bent on murder and plunder and
devastation ; and of these she was always in mortal terror. Once word was sent her that the
Cheyennes were on the war-path, and she had just time to catch up her two youngest children
in her arms, and, leading the elder, make her way for several miles to the nearest blockhouse
for protection. Another time, in the dead of winter, she crossed the river on the ice, in her
bare feet, her little ones with her, because of a rumor that the Cheyennes were coming. Sup-
246 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
We spaded up a small plat of ground on my claim, near the creek, where the
ground was mellow and easily worked, for a garden. As I had no team, I en-
gaged Cobb, McCoy and Bean to break up about three acres of prairie sod, on
which we planted corn, beans, watermelons, pumpkins, etc. We had an abun-
dance of vegetables during the fall and winter. Our other provisions had to be
procured at Fort Riley and "packed " from there to the claim. During the sum-
mer my brother and I cut and dressed, as well as we could, cottonwood logs for
another and more pretentious house, to be erected on the east side of the creek,
just below the present residence of Mr. Huston.
The country then abounded with game; deer, antelope, wild turkeys, prairie-
chickens "and rabbits were plentiful. During the winter of 1855-'56 we killed
a'oout fifty wild turkeys, besides other small game. I went on a bufTalo hunt
with Cobb, Bean, and McCoy, some ten or twelve miles west of my cabin. We
found an immense herd, covering the prairie for miles. It would be impossible
to estimate their number, but probably there were over 1000. We killed enough
to furnish us with meat for the winter. We only selected fat young cows, as
their meat is more tender and juicy than the bulls.
We spent the winter as cheerfully as we could under the circumstances. I
had brought with me quite a number of books, and spent a great part of the
time reading and hunting.
Lyon creek was a favorite resort for the Kansas Indians. Several hundred
encamped near my claim during a great part of the time I lived there. They had
ft)r many years hunted and fished in this locality, and looked upon the land now
embraced in Geary county as their own. They regarded it as an intrusion upon
their rights for white men to settle and build houses in this part of the territory,
and it required a good deal of tact and diplomacy to keep on friendly terms with
them. I tried to win their confidence and maintain friendly relations with them,
and probably succeeded to a greater extent than most of the settlers who came
to the country afterwards. These Indians had been cheated and deceived so
plies of all kinds had then to be brought from beyond the Missouri, and the shoes had failed
entirely, in the absence of her husband.
But it was not only the toil and tlie fear and the danger that made this pioneer life so op-
pressive, it was the uninterrupted dreariness and loneliness. Days and weeks sometimes passed
without the sight of a human being, without the interchange of thought through speech, and
thoy became exceedingly oppressive. Mrs. McClure was at one time, for more than a year, de-
prived of the sight of a white woman. Hearing at last that one had come to live on a claim
some miles away, she resolved to have a sight of her. Setting one morning early, accompa-
nied by her little ones, she walked several miles. At length, oh, oy ! she stood the cabin
door, and there — there was one like unto herself. They were strangers; their names were un-
known; but they fell upon each others' necks and wept, and then laughed, and wept again.
Oh, that happy djiy, that blessed day of sympathy and relief, to be repeated often afterward.
For the woman, Mrs. Nathan S. Gilbert, had come to stay, and Mrs. McClure and herself be-
came neighbors in Junction City. [Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert now live in Chicago. 1 Another time,
when inclined to be despondent, the young wife was cheered by the coming of her father, Mr.
Pattison, of Indianapolis, Ind. He remained for some days, and she was only too happy to
press his hand and look into his face, and know that one of her loved ones had come to her
from her dear old home.
But at length the weary days were over and the McClure family were housed comfortably
in Junction City. Then still another trial, involving a deeper heartache, came to this brafe
little woman. When the war broke out, in 1861, her husband organized a company and went to
the ficnt as captain. He was wounded in battle and brought home to his wife in an ambu-
lance, carried into his home on a cot, a seeming wreck of his active, vigorous young self. Then,
indeed, his loving wife broke down, and he was obliged to cheer her drooping spirits by rallying
her, and calling her chicken-hearted. She soon recovered, however, and became again his
brave, gentle companion. Though the captain lost his foot, his old energy and vitality tri-
umphed, and they had years of prosperity and happiness before her early death, April 26, 1879,
Four daughters and three sons still live to rejoice in her virtues and revere her memory
TAKING THE CENSUS IN 1855. 247
often by white men that they were led to believe no trust could be placed in any
of them. I first cultivated the friendship of one of the chiefs, whose name was
R?g e-kosh-ee, a fine specimen of physical manhood, a large, well-developed, pro-
portioned Indian, with keen black eyes, commanding appearance, and the bear-
ing of one who was born to lead. I found that he had quick perception, and, in
his way, was intelligent and fully informed on many subjects; that he was hon-
est, and could be trusted by those who treated him fairly and convinced him
they were hie friends. I always invited him to eat at our table when he came to
my cabin, with the understanding that no other Indian should have that privi-
lege unless by my invitation, and he faithfully carried out his part of the agree-
ment. Whenever any of the tribe made themselves obtrusive, or did anything
that was objectionable, it was only necessary to call upon this chief, and he
either rebuked or punished them for their misconduct. Most of them were nat-
ural thieves, but very seldom stole anything from me.
I had brought with me a number of law-books; they made quite a display in
the little cabin and excited the curiosity of the Indians. They would point to
the books with wonder depicted in their faces, converse among themselves, evi-
dently attempting to find for what purpose the books were used and for what ob-
ject I had brought them to this out-of-the-way place. I finally discovered that
they had settled the question in their own minds and put me down as a medicine-
man. After reflection, I concluded it was best to allow them to remain under
this delusion, as it would secure their respect and give me a standing among them
I could not otherwise obtain.
I found it was a dangerous experiment to administer medicine to an Indian;
if the remedy had a bad effect it settled the fate of the doctor; nothing could
convince them that he had not purposely given it to make them sick, and with
the intent to kill. They had great faith in medicine-men, and believed they
possessed supernatural power, and could either kill or cure. They were looked
upon as superior beings and commanded the respect and fear of the whole tribe.
They were regarded with such superstition that they were perfectly safe from
any danger or injury to their persons or property, and could rely upon their pro-
tection and assistance when necessary.
These Indians had evidently, after talking over the subject, concluded I was
an educated doctor and possessed the power to minister to and relieve them of
any disease. I knew all this from their conduct and the signs they made when-
ever they came to the cabin. I also realized the danger I ran in attempting to
play medicine-man, but concluded to take the risk, when one day old Reg-e-kosh-ee
told me one of his wives (he had two), Ka-lu-wende, was very sick, and that
they had no medicine-man with them, and he had therefore called on me to cure
her. With many misgivings, I requested him to bring his squaw to my house
and I would diagnose her case and see what I could do for her. She was brought
in with a number of other squaws. I carefully felt her pulse, examined her
tongue, looked wise, took down several law-books, turned over, and pretended to
master the cause of her trouble. During all this time the Indians watched in-
tently every move I made, and appeared to be satisfied with my professional
skill and ability to cure. I then, after going alone in another place, prepared
several doses consisting of flour, sugar, salt, pepper, and other ingredients, wrapped
them in small papers, breathed upon them, repeated in a slow and solemn voice
several Latin phrases, and then directed the chief to administer one of the powders
in the morning, another at noon, and one at sundown. I did this by putting the
powder in my mouth, going through the motion of swallowing it, and pointing to
the East, where the sun arose, where it would be at noon, and then to the West,
248 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
where it set. The chief understood the directions as clearly as if I had directed
him in his own language. I awaited the result of my prescription with a good
deal of anxiety and apprehension, but fortunately the old squaw got well, and the
whole credit of her cure was attributed to me, and my reputation as a medicine-
man was fully established. I was called upon by several other Indians to doctor
them, but I feared to extend my practice and experiment too often, for fear I
would lose my reputation and incur their anger and resentment by having a dead
Indian on my hands; so I shook my head, andgavethem to understand that it cost a
heap of money to purchase my books, acquire a medical education, and procure
medicine, and I could not afford to go into a general practice without pay; that
I had consented to cure the chief's wife because he was a big Indian and a good
friend of mine.
Reg-e-koeh-ee's wife, Ka-lu-wen-de, about one year after I doctored her, died,
and the chief mourned for her a long time afterwards. His grief was sincere
and, according to the Indian custom, very expressive. Whenever he came to
the cabin, before he would sit down to the table, he would retire to the outside,
where no one could see him, cover his face with mud, mutter a prayer in a dole-
ful and supplicating tone, moan and cry over the death of his squaw, and then
wash the mud off his face, resume his natural manner and expression, and eat
his meal.
I formed the acquaintance of another chief, whose name was Kah-he-ga-wa-
ti-na-gah. I think he was the finest- looking Indian I have tver seen. He was
quite young, handsome, and well-proportioned. He had a dignified and refined
appearance for an Indian. His teepee was put up some distance from the others,
and in his manner and the expression of his face he exhibited a consciousness of
his rank and superiority. He held himself aloof from any intercourse with the
tribe, except to give orders and command them on the war-path or the hunting
excursions. I never could secure his confidence as I did that of old Reg-e-
kosh-ee. He repelled all efforts to secure a close friendship with him, and per-
sistently declined my invitations to eat at my table. There is no doubt he
regarded himself my superior and resented any intention on my part to form an
intimate friendship with him. His wife was a beautiful Indian woman, and in
her manner and dress displayed her superiority over the other squaws. Like her
husband, she held herself aloof from any intimate association with them. Kah-
he-ga-wa-ti-na-gah's teepee, dress and trappings were neat, and far better than
those of any of his tribe. It was evident the Indiana esteemed him very highly
for his mental and physical qualities — for his prowess on the war- path and in the
chase. I found he was looked upon as a brave warrior and an expert hunter. I
have described this chief at length for the reason that I have never met an
Indian who would compare with him in manner and appearance.
These Indians spent a great part of the time in the summer and fall hunting
buffalo, then found in great numbers a short distance from their camp. They
killed all that was required to last them through the winter and spring. The
meat was cut into strips, smoked by the camp-fires, the strips platted together
and rolled up in packages of about fifty pounds each. The buffalo hides were
saved, brought to camp, and cured by the squaws. I could purchase at that
time a fine cured robe that would now command a large price for a few pounds
of flour or sugar. In addition to buffalo, they killed large numbers of deer, ante-
lope, wild turkeys, and other game, and would always supply me with all the
meat I desired without any request, without demanding pay for it, but expected
me to make them a small present of pork, flour or sugar in return.
Late one night, after we had retired to bed, we were awakened by the most
TAKING THE CENSUS IN 1855. 249
dismal and piercing screams and howls I had ever heard. We were unable to ac-
count for this discordant noise, which kept up all night. In the morning I deter-
mined to go to the camp of the Indians, which was near my cabin, and find out the
cause. When I came near the camp I observed all the bucks squatted in a circle,
chanting in a mournful tone one of their songs, which I afterwards learned was a
death- song". Their faces were smeared with mud and they presented a wild and dis-
mal appearance. The squaws were crying, screaming, and throwing their arms
wildly about their persons. At times they would gather up stones and carry them
to a place where the ground had recently been dug up and cast them down. I saw
by the expression of their faces that I was an unwelcome visitor and that it was pru-
dent to go back to my home, which I did without attempting to talk with them.
I afterwards learned they had buried one of their braves who had died from small-
pox. I visited the grave afterwards and found the top covered with stones, and
on an adjoining tree a buffalo-robe and blanket. I subsequently learned that it
was the custom of these Indians to place in the grave ammunition, cooking uten-
sils, and other personal effects of the Indian, so as to supply his wants on his
journey to the happy hunting-ground. The robe and blanket were hung on the
tree, so as to afford him additional covering, in the event of a change in the
weather. The stones were laid upon the grave to prevent the wolves digging up
the body.
The smallpox had broken out among the Indians, and proved very fatal, owing
to their filthy habits and mode of life. It prevailed to such an extent that they
became very much excited and alarmed, and, as I found afterwards, attributed
the cause of the disease to my intrusion upon their 'land and the erection of a
house near their favored camping-ground. A day or two after the burial I wit-
nessed, the chief, his interpreter and several braves paid me a visit and demanded
a talk. They were all armed and profusely painted, and showed in their conduct
and appearance a hostile attitude. After I signified my willingness to hold a
council with them, the interpreter said the chief wanted to know why I had built
my house on their land and close to the camping-ground. I answered that the
"great father" had taken possession of the land, and had given me the right to
settle there, and that I had not done so to interfere with the Indians or prevent
them from enjoying any of the privileges they claimed. The interpreter then told
me that the chief was very mad, and said the smallpox had broken out and was
killing them for the reason I had built my house near their camp. I requested
him to tell the chief I was very sorry and greatly distressed on account of the
terrible disease that afflicted them, and was anxious to do all in my power and
give them such medicine as I had with me to relieve their suffering, but that the
chief was mistaken in accusing me of bringing the disease among them; that I
was a medicine man and their good friend, and if I thought for a moment that
my house was the cause of the smallpox I would tear it down; that the chief and
I had always been good friends, and had never quarreled nor lied to each other;
that I wanted, as far as I was able, to help them, and would give them such
medicine and provisions as I possessed to relieve their sickness and wants. The
talk ended by the chief agreeing to accept a sack of flour, a small quantity of
sugar and coffee, and a number of powders I made up to administer to the sick
Indians. I was careful to say that I did not have much faith in the medicine,
as it was not strong enough to cure smallpox, but it was the best I could give
them, and would try as soon as I went to Fort Riley to procure some strong
medicine for that disease. They appeared to be satisfied with my talk, and,
much to my relief, left me, after shaking hands all round.
These Indians made frequent requests of white men, and especially of those
250 KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
whom they thought had any influence, for letters, recommending them as honest
and good Indians, to use as a passport when traveling from place to place, and
if the letter was embellished with a seal, and especially a red one, they prized it
very highly; but they never felt absolutely certain of the contents of the letters
given them, and showed them with a great deal of hesitancy, for fear they were
written by some evil disposed person, as many of them were, and contained a
warning, to beware of the Indian to whom it was given, as "he was a thief and a
dirty dog," or similar expressions. They showed many of the letters to me, as
they did to others, and had me read them and, while I was doing so, would in-
tently watch my countenance to see from my face, if possible, what impression
they made on me, as they were often deceived by reading them differently from
the contents. A letter commending one as an honest Indian would be stated as
calling him thief and bad Indian, and lyice versa. These letters were exhibited
to so many persons and interpreted in so many different ways that they were
always in doubt of their real contents.
THE FRIENDS' ESTABLISHMENT IN KANSAS
TERRITORY.
Personal recollections of Wilson Hobbs, M. D., among the Shawnee Indians, from November,
1850, to November, 1852 ; with supplement, written at the request of the Kansas State His-
torical Society, November, 1884.
TN the autumn of 1850 I made an agreement with the committee on Indian
-■- affairs of Indiana yearly meeting of Friends to go to their establishment or
mission among the Shawnee Indians, located in the territory of Kansas, as the
superintendent and teacher of their school. At that time I had a little family,
consisting of a wife and two children, a son and a daughter, the former two and
a half and the latter one year old. Besides my service, it was agreed that my
wife should give what time she could spare from the care of her children to the
care of the Indian girls who were connected with the mission, when they were
out of school. My wife and I contracted to serve the committee thus for two
years, upon the conditions that we were to be transported there and back to our
home at the expense of the concern, that we should have our board and other
necessary expenses, except clothing, free, and that we should be paid $400 in
cash for the term.
The special occasion of this engagement on my part was that I had been
some years employed in the profession of teaching in western Ohio, and my
health was proving insufficient. Besides this, my salary as a teacher in that day
was insufficient to support my growing family, so that for three years I had ad-
ded to my other work the study of the medical sciences, and was ready in the
fall of 1850 to take my first course of medical lectures in college. But I had no
money to take me to college, and thus necessity compelled me to stick to my old
profession until something would turn up. This proposition of the Indian com-
mittee seemed to be the something. Besides this, my habits of study had made
my progress in the knowledge of the medical sciences very good, and I thought
myself, as compared with average medical students, quite able to practice among
the Indians, should opportunity offer, and thus I could add a little experience to
my reading.
We set out from Cincinnati, Ohio, in the last week of October, 1850, via the
Ohio river. The river was so very low that none but the smallest steamers were
friends' establishment in KANSAS. 251
runniug. We were nearly a week on our way to St. Louis, and much of this
time the steamer was stranded on sand-bare.
Cholera was prevailing that year, and we had a number of cases aboard. Ex-
cept myself, there was no one on the vessel who had any knowledge of medicine ;
consequently all the eick fell to my charge. Two passengers, a man and a child,
died the day of our arrival at St. Louis. The boat came to land, and the dead
were buried upon the shore.
At St. Louis we took passage on a small stern- wheel steamer for Kansas City.
The Missouri river was very low, so that few boats were running. Every state-
room and berth on our boat was sold over and over again, with promises of de-
livery to the purchaser as soon as we were out from port. When night came, it
was found there were not rooms or beds for one-third of those who had paid for
them, and scarcely room on the cabin floor for all to lie down. Cholera soon
made its appearance amongst us, and as before, on the Ohio and Mississippi
rivers, the care of the sick fell upon me. Before our arrival at Jefferson City my
little daughter took the disease, and we determined to stop at that city for her
better care and treatment. The officers of the vessel refused to return any part
of the through fare I had paid, and they only consented to do this when it be-
came evident that they were in danger of personal violence from the indignant
passengers.
At JeflFerson City there was no objection to receiving us into the hotel, and
after the arrangement of preliminaries I set out in search of a physician. These
were to be found at almost every street corner, but none could be persuaded to
visit my child. Such a set of professional cowards I have not since seen in a
professional life of thirty-four years. Shame on such men !
In my extremity I accepted the services of a eon of the hostess of the hotel
where we had stopped. He had just graduated and commenced practice, but
made no claim to being wise; but he proved to be a gentleman, and brought his
patient safely through.
After three or four days' delay we boarded the next up-bound steamer for
Kansas City. Here we met a Mr. McCoy * (James, I think,) and his wife. They
had just married and were home-bound. Mr. McCoy resided in Jackson county,
Missouri, on the direct road from Westport to Independence — four or five miles
from the former place. This was his second marriage. My wife and I several
times visited this family at their home, and became much attached to them.
They were large slaveholders, and there I first saw the practical workings of the
slave system.
We landed at Kansas City late in the afternoon of November 12, 
